Documentation - Christopher Leon - Spring 2019

Selected Works of Christopher Leon [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[Documentation] The Selected Works of Christopher Leon (2017-2019)

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Selected Works of Christopher Leon [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[Documentation] The Selected Works of Christopher Leon (2017-2019)

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Selected Works of Christopher Leon [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

DEDICATION—for Mom, Dad, and Kim. Thank you for believing in me, even when the road was bumpy

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Design is born out of the desire to reflect the world in a visual language accessible to everybody.

The first step in this process is documentation through observation. For a designer, observation and visual re-interpretation are innate, starting long before a project begins. Much as it is with art, design is a cultural documentation of its era.

It is a visual record of the intricacies of people existing in that space and time, re-interpreted for the masses. Great design, as with great art, is defined by the timelessness of its style and the connection it creates with its viewers.

My journey in design is just beginning, but I have been documenting my entire life. Through the connection I have with my work, I my goal will be to evoke a response in my audience that has a clear and lasting impact. My designs are documents of my past experiences, feelings, loves and adventures.

It is my hope that they remain faithful to the memories that inhabit them.

Christopher Leon: Documentation [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[Table of Contents]

01•

On the Road to Automation

02•

Building Better Communities

03•

Passing Memories

04•

Dancing with Words

05•

Driving Business Forward

06•

Going to the Movies

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“Google is working on self-driving cars, and they seem to work.

People are so bad at driving cars that computers don’t have to be that good to be much better.” ~ Marc Andreesen

Chapter 1: On The Road to Automation [•] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[01 • Description] Objective: Produce a full book on a single topic, in this case, the future of autonomous cars.

Title Driving Automation Course Type Systems Instructor David Hake Semester Spring ‘18 Category Typography/Layout

Approach: For the Visual Verve of the book, I utilized “retro-futuristic” styling to capture the idea that while self-driving cars have been around for decades and have been the stuff of science fiction, they are, in fact, a necessary future. To achieve this feel, I treated all of the images with color halftone, giving them a ben-gay effect and counteracted that with the use of the typeface Blender, a modern sans-serif, to offer up a mix of influences, both old and new.

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“Local food is about getting the freshest and best-tasting food.

It’s also about connecting to and strengthening you community.” ~ Anna Lappé

Chapter 2: Building Better Communities [ ] [•] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[02 • Description] Objective: Build a brand from the ground up that solves a real-world problem.

Title The Store Next Door Course Visual Thinking Instructor Sandra Isla Semester Spring ‘18 Category Varied/Layout/UI

Approach: I created The Store Next Door with a goal of getting people to shop local. Once established the brand needed three deliverables and a process book outlining the steps taken to develop it.

Buying local benefits local communities in a number of ways. The brand needed to appear both accessible and high end so that it would appeal to a wide spectrum of clientele. I kept the color palette simple allowing the rich photography to pop. For the typography, I used Bodoni for Headlines and a simple sans-serif to maintain a utilitarian feel.

The central deliverable was an app that would allow the user to order fresh local food that would arrive the same day. In addition, the app would allow the clients to track the positive impact they were having in their communities.

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“No memory is ever alone; it’s at the end of a trail of memories, a dozen trails that each have their own associations.” ~ Louis L’Amour

Chapter 3: Passing Memories [ ] [ ] [•] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[03 • Description] Objective: Create a poster series for an existing movie through experimenting with type.

Title Memento Movie Posters Course Experimental Type Instructor Wioleta Kaminska Semester Fall ‘18 Category Typography/Layout

Approach: The first several weeks were spent experimenting with letterforms, trying to develop a style that would invoke a dream-like state. My approach was eventually narrowed down to letters and words reflected through curved glass.

Interestingly, the letterforms appeared to be slipping away, paralleling the effect of time on memory and how memories are distorted as time passes. The movie Memento was the perfect vehicle for these letterforms with memory being a major theme of the movie. In addition to the letterforms, I used blank black polaroids to create a sinister sense of mystery while also harkening to visual cues from the movies. The goal was for the posters to work both as a set and on their own.

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“If you want to make people laugh or cry about little black marks on sheets of white paper, what is that but a practical joke?� ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Chapter 4: Dancing with Words [ ] [ ] [ ] [•] [ ] [ ] [ ]

[04 • Description] Objective: Develop a three book cover collection for a single author. The books needed to work individually while maintaining a singular visual theme.

Title Vonnegut Book Series Course Type Composition Instructor Jon Nettleton Semester Fall ‘17 Category Layout/Typography

Approach: One of the many defining characteristics of Kurt Vonnegut’s writing was his utter disregard for following established storytelling tropes. I wanted these book covers to emulate that. To accomplish this I took several steps. For the typeface I chose Optima because of the design communities contempt for it, and because it doesn’t fit easily into any category, sharing characteristics of both serif and sans-serif typefaces. From there, all of the text was placed within red boxes against grainy black and white photography to create a jarring visual effect.

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“We at BMW do not build cars as consumer objects, just to drive from A to B. We build mobile works of art.� ~ Chris Bangle

Chapter 5: Driving Business Forward [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [•] [ ] [ ]

[05 • Description] Objective: Redesign a corporation’s annual report in a way both stylish and functional, considering both the content and the economy of printing on a large scale.

Title BMW Annual Report Course Type Systems Instructor David Hake Semester Spring ‘18 Category Typography/Layout/ Infographic

Approach: I chose BMW, and while I have never owned one, I have always admired their cars’ quality and performance and the company’s dedication to a better future for the auto industry and the world. The color palette was a combination of a dusty navy blue and brown, with all of the photography treated with a blue monotone. For the typography, I used Vista Slab for its modern but friendly feel. I kept the overall layout simple and uncluttered so that the information would be allowed to speak for itself.

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“If you are in a movie theater, you can look two people down and they are laughing while you are laughing or you can look three people down and they love that song that you love. It is living proof that you are not alone.� ~ Stephen Chbosky

Chapter 6: Going to the Movies [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [•]

[06 • Description] Objective: Recreate a website for a local business that expanded its business with both a mobile and desktop site available for use.

Title Guild Theater Website Course Digital Design Studio 1 Instructor William Culpepper Semester Summer ‘18 Category Layout/UI

Approach: Going to the movies is an activity I have always loved. Even as entertainment has become easier and easier to access from home, the event of seeing a movie in a theater is wholly unique and cannot be replaced. I chose to recreate the website for the Guild Theater in Menlo Park. The theater has been around for a century, but its website needed a major overall. Because a large percentage of its clientele are baby boomers and families, I felt it was important to keep the layout and design very simple and straight-forward to allow for ease of use. Unlike the original site, the new website would provide a clear calendar of upcoming screenings and allow customers to order their tickets directly from the theater online.

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Epilogue: Thank yous [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [•]

[Thank You] To my family: Thank you for helping me go back to school and discover my true passion. Thank you for supporting me through this whole journey, none of this would have been possible without you all.

Mom Dad Kimberly Grandma Diana Grandma Sherry

To my instructors: Thank you for teaching me the basics of design, for critiquing my work and always pushing me to try harder and do my best. I am the designer I am today because of you all.

Friends

To myself: “To learn without thinking is blindness, to think without learning is idleness.” ~Confucius

Annie Datesh James Hancock Max Wayman-Arndt

Instructors Mary Scott David Hake Hunter Wimmer John Nettleton Sandra Isla Wioleta Kaminska

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Family

To my friends: Thank you for putting up with all my late nights, stacks of paper, piles of books, and early morning classes. I couldn’t ask for a better set of friends.

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Printing and Binding Imagink Photography Chris Leon unsplash.com Contact Chris Leon + 1.607.434.1464 ctleon88@gmail.com chrisleondesign.com Š 2019 All Rights Reserved

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“The goal of a designer is to listen, observe, understand, sympathize, empathize, synthesize, and glean insights that enable him to make the invisible visible.� ~ Hillman Curtis

Chrisleondesign.com