INTRODUCTION:
My name is Elise Anderson, a current freshman at St. Norbert College and a Elementary Education, Art, and Secondary Education major with a Language Arts minor and Spanish certification. This process book is an homage to the beautiful struggles I faced working in a design class, knowing that I will never have the pleasure of teaching my kindergarteners Adobe InDesign. This course has pushed me in ways I could never imagine, and I have come out the other end a more mindful, experimental, and well-rounded artist. This uphill battle has been shortened into a beneficial design practice (or so I’m told), 3 abstract compositions, a gamut of text iterations, a sprinkle of white-tailed deer, and a PSA to get your attention, just in case nothing else did. Working through complex designs while also being in a classroom of 5-year-olds simultaneously has sparked reflection on the journey one goes through between the freedom of a young artist and the pressure of a more mature one, and how those can be balanced into a single artistic practice, therefore sparking the theme for this design book. With the help of some altruistic kindergarteners who were more than thrilled to assist me in the design process, I present the workings of a semester of brainstorming, critiquing, and creating.
leArn to quIckly IdeAte And creAte for the sAke of creAtIng, rAther thAn focusIng on perfectIon. use A peer’s feedbAck, crItIques, And preferences to creAte A sIngle pIece thAt AccurAtely represents them.
1. through engAgIng wIth A reAl person, the dIrectIon my prototype took wAs much more focused on perfectIon And how I felt the other person would hAve desIgned the pIece. normAlly, I Am one who prefers to work Alone rAther thAn In bIgger groups or wIth pArtners, so creAtIng Art for the sAke of someone else defInItely Affected how much thought And detAIl I put Into the prototype, And how much I cAred About how It cAme out.
2. showIng unfInIshed work to Another person wAs nerve-wrAckIng for me, beIng A perfectIonIst. It felt lIke It wAsn’t A true reflectIon of my ArtIstIc AbIlItIes, And somethIng I dreAd Is someone thInkIng I’m less cApAble thAn I Am. Although we were All gIven the sAme pArAmeters, It wAs honestly embArrAssIng And somethIng I so deeply wAnted to ApologIze for, As my project hAdn’t reAched Its full potentIAl of self-ActuAlIzAtIon.
OBJECTIVE:
plAce An emphAsIs on crAftsmAnshIp to buIld stronger perceptIons of AbstrActIon, mInImAlIsm, composItIon, And gestAlt prIncIples. form A fInAl, refIned pIece bAsed off of A gAmut of IterAtIons And InItIAl IdeAs.
for me, I lIve for A well-crAfted object. I love spendIng exorbItAnt Amounts of tIme to get every lIttle detAIl just As I wAnted them, so thIs project wAs perfect for me wIth An emphAsIs on crAftsmAnshIp. beIng A perfectIonIst, I enjoyed hAvIng the AbIlIty to use sImplIstIc shApes In order to most cleArly convey An IdeA. thIs project prompted me to look At AbstrActIon on A much deeper level. whIle I knew much of AbstrAct Art hAd meAnIng to It, I wAs not one to creAte thAt type of Art, so beIng forced to help put me In A mIndset of InterpretIng how AbstrAct Art mAnAges to come together. overAll, I would sAy It greAtly Improved the reputAtIon I prevIously held of AbstrActIon.
The first iterative thumbnails that focused on creating numerous compositions and expending all possible ideas. One of these compositions would then be decided as the most effective and expanded on further.
the orIgInAl composItIon of thIs pIece hAd the dots At A much smAller scAle, but After feedbAck from my peers thAt suggested It gAve off more “oppressIon” thAn “comfort,” I enlArged the sIze of them to gIve the AppeArAnce thAt they hAd more power. the closeness of the dots suggests comfort, wIth the lIne on top ActIng As A shelter or blAnket for them.
I wAnted to convey feelIngs of “bouncIng off of the wAlls” wIth thIs pIece, but mAkIng It so thAt some of the elements exIt the frAme, suggesetIng the engergy thAt they exude cAnnot be contAIned. It’s quIte A busy composItIon, but more elements In the frAme equAte to the chAos of energy.
the IntentIonAlIty behInd thIs composItIon lIes behInd the pAIrIng of colors In thIs 2 dot, 2 lIne pIece. I, In A wAy, wAnted thIs pIece to exude two sepArAte journIes of the dots, wIth theIr hIstorIes pAInted behInd them wIth the lInes. they hAve the freedom to pursue theIr own storIes, And they Aren’t confIned to the frAme, As suggested wIth the blAck dot exItIng It.
Letterforms
OBJECTIVE:
focus on IntentIonAlIty In crAft to ArrIve At meAnIngful IterAtIons bAsed on meAnIng of text. consIder how physIcAl prInts cAn be trAnsformed through typogrAphIc vArIAtIon And dIgItAl AlterAtIons to buIld depth And meAnIng
from workIng wIth letterforms In thIs wAy, I feel As though I've leArned About the power of text/the wAy you present your work As opposed to whAt comprIses the work Itself. we were lImIted to A sIngle font (only In blAck And whIte), yet somehow mAnAged to delve off Into numerous IdeAs to get ImpActful messAges from the sAme foundAtIon. It goes to show how mIndful we As desIgners need to be when workIng wIth seemIngly sImple subjects. If I were to contInue workIng wIth these letterforms, I thInk I would experIment wIth dIfferent words beyond 4 or 5 letters, And I would go much more In depth (I wAnted to try An embroIdery IdeA wIth thIs one, but dIdn't hAve the tIme) wIth meAnIng, especIAlly If I wAsn't lImIted to A chArActer count or deAdlIne. I would Also wAnt to plAy Around wIth tAkIng thIs IdeA And cArvIng my own, unIque font to use for my explorAtIon of typogrAphy.
Typographicstraightprint
Typographicvariation
Quiltedtypography
Familialtypographicphotography
personAlly, I found thAt the geometrIc IterAtIon wAs shockIngly the most dIffIcult for me. As someone who lIkes detAIl And precIsIon, hAvIng to reduce my object to shApes wAs A bIt frustrAtIng. before I hAd worked on my geometrIc, I hAd mentIoned not lIkIng the collAge. now thAt I look bAck, though, I thInk thAt wAs the most enjoyAble. when I hAd to do 5 In A row, It got A bIt exhAustIng wIth All of the detAIls I wAnted to Add, but I love collAge, so doIng 1 At A tIme wAs quIte therApeutIc, especIAlly when I got to mAke sAtIrIcAl meAnIng of It wIth the type collAge--mAybe thAt Is just becAuse I lIked the result over the process though (In thAt cAse, the lIne drAwIng wAs very fun!).
Collage iterations
goIng forwArd, I thInk I leArned just how eAsy photoshop wAs to use, And now I’m not As IntImIdAted by It As I wAs before (stIll not the bIggest fAn of dIgItAl work though). If I hAd kept goIng wIth thIs project, I would defInItely wAnt to represent It through the eyes of other ArtIsts; there were some I wAnted to do but never got to. I Also would lIke to rIff further on how humAns InterAct wIth deer And how thAt tAInts our perceptIon of them.
Final poster!
OBJECTIVE:
work wIth Another person professIonAlly And mutuAlly to explore the ImpAct of text when used expressIvely In A vIsuAl hIerArchy to communIcAte A messAge whIle formIng A bAse workIng from AnAlog IterAtIons.
In theory, It wAs dIffIcult for me
At fIrst to get over the concept of beIng lImIted to only blAck And whIte text (wIth the exceptIon of the colored pAper). but, As I got my text to work wIth And stArted generAtIng IdeAs of typogrAphIcAl vArIAtIon thAt stIll got the vIbe I wAnted Across, It becAme eAsIer And eAsIer, And I thInk I preferred where I ended up As opposed to where I would hAve If I hAd Access to IllustrAtIve chArActerIstIcs.
Initial composition plans
goIng forwArd to work In A school meAns thAt It Is very lIkely thAt I wIll be InvoluntArIly cAlled upon to mAke posters or the works for certAIn orgAnIzAtIons, so knowIng how to creAte strong composItIons wIth the elements beIng very bAre-bones wIll be very helpful, but Also, I thInk thIs project specIfIcAlly helped me to see just how mAny thumbnAIl sketches I cAn come up wIth If I don’t gIve up After sketch number 5, so It tAught me to thInk crItIcAlly, unIquely, And IntentIonAlly About All of my work goIng forwArd.
ARE YOU CALLED TO CREATIVE WORK? IF SO, HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE THAT CALLING? IF NOT, TO WHAT DO YOU FEEL CALLED?
As of rIght now, I cAnnot honestly Answer whether I feel cAlled to creAtIve work, As I Am kInd of At A fork In the roAd of where I wAnt to be goIng forwArd. on one hAnd, I would love to just go And be An Art teAcher, but I feAr thAt I eIther won’t lIve up to the expectAtIon thAt I hold myself to, or thAt beIng Around Art constAntly/mAkIng It Into A cAreer wIll just ruIn It for me, forcIng me to dIstAnce myself further. on the other hAnd, I wAs orIgInAlly goIng to come to snc for engIneerIng physIcs (fun fAct!), And I stIll love the IdeA of goIng Into A fIeld where I won’t wAste my fAscInAtIon wIth mAthemAtIcs. I cAn’t sAy thAt I Am pArtIculArly cAlled to eIther one, so becAuse there’s A sense of questIonIng And IndecIsIon, I would lIkely come to the conclusIon thAt I Am not cAlled to A creAtIve lIfe
WHAT IS THE GREATEST FAILURE YOU’VE EXPERIENCED IN YOUR LIFE (THAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE SHARING WITH OUR CLASS)?
thIs mAy sound sIlly, or pretentIous, or both, but becAuse It Is pArt of the reAson I chose the mAjor I dId, I feel the need to brIng It to lIght AnywAys. I cAn sAy thAt the fAIlure thAt hAs most ImpActed me As A person wAs beIng sAlutAtorIAn InsteAd of vAledIctorIAn. I cAn AlreAdy heAr the sIghs
And the crItIques, but heAr me out. comIng In second plAce to someone who hAd AdmItted to cheAtIng whIle stIll hAvIng over A 4.0 gpA And 28 college credIts In my pocket wAs honestly dIsheArtenIng And IncredIbly humblIng. In cAse you’re wonderIng, the vAledIctorIAn AutomAtIcAlly gets A $10,000 scholArshIp, sAlutAtorIAn gets nothIng. As AforementIoned, I wAs goIng to go Into engIneerIng school orIgInAlly, but If I wAsn’t even good enough to grAduAte top of my clAss, then In whAt world could I mAke It through engIneerIng? thAt beIng sAId, It heIghtened my empAthy entIrely, After I recovered from the heArtbreAk And blIndIng rAge, of course, And It Is pArt of the reAson I fInd myself In educAtIon todAy–so I suppose It wAsn’t entIrely A fAIlure, though It pAInted myself As A fAIlure pretty potently for A whIle, And It stIll Affects my self-esteem todAy.
Who we have to thank for my major choice
thIs book wAs mAde As pArt of IntroductIon to desIgn At st. norbert college In the sprIng of 2025. the fonts used were espIrItu regulAr And scrIpt. It wAs dIgItAlly prInted And sAddle stApled At the st. norbert college prInt center.
