final 10

Anchorage:

1. icon with a single image:
Since a money cup icon connotes need, the hand is held out to receive.

2. icon with a single word:
My idea was to clarify the knife as a functional tool, rather than something to fear.

3. icon with cropped portion of research:
The word freedom within this juxtaposition anchors the idea that a hitchhiker lives (in reality or imagination) without obligations or restraints of society.

Relay:

4. icon with single image:
I've infused new meaning into this bus by adding a hitchhikers hand. This mode of transportation has been converted to a carefree, traveling caravan. I can almost smell the incense.

5. icon with single word:
Since I have provided a narrow interpretation of what type of need the money cup is fulfilling, I feel this is an example of relay.

6. icon with cropped portion of research:
With the addition of the map and the walking feet, these boots now represent and experienced traveler.

Harmony:

7. with only one icon:
I consider this pattern harmonious since a zig-zag, up-down path can easily be followed within the design. The consistently upright boots also anchor this more on the side of harmony.

8. with more than one icon:
Creating engaging version of harmony within two icons was difficult for me. Points of harmony: Clear striped paths can be followed by the eye and the icons themselves could cohesively represent protection.

Amplified drama:

9. with only one icon:
The use of scale, overlapping, rotation and density, creates amplified drama within this design.

10. with more than one icon:
Scale and the thumbs pointing all directions increase the drama and connote a crazy travelin' fool.

exhibit text integration

coolest flier in the nation

modern & handsome, an agreeable combination

Promotional materials have been completed for Alvin Lustig's upcoming Lecture.

Below is a photo from my flier; I wasn't kidding about his appearance. The text, Born to Challenge Tradition, is a play on Lustig's claim that he was Born Modern. (The photo is from a book cover, with texture intact.)I have learned to repurpose a design to create a cohesive series for a poster, flier and ecard. My goal was to retain my personal style within the context of Alvin Lustig's influence. While creating these materials and gathering information about Alvin Lustig, I have grown an affinity for the artist. He and I even may even have some similarities, if not in style, at least in concept; according to Steven Heller, Senior Art Director of the New York Times, Lustig was a visual poet whose work was rooted in as much emotion as in form.

Below: an earlier poster design within my process. Since Lustig would choose structure over excess, I tried to remove a little fluff, tighten the angles and integrate the type in a cleaner fashion.
Below: the final poster design. One of my concerns was elevating the hierarchy of Alvin Lustig's name within the poster. I simplified the photo to incorporated larger text.
Below: a detail of the fabric texture I have recently incorporated. Since Lustig experimented with letterpress, I tried to restrict the type to angles the letterpress could achieve.
Below: a close up of the background fabric. Since Lustig designed textiles and experimented with photomontage, I've incorporated a giant, abstracted fabric chair in the background.

Previously the zig-zag color strips (which serve as containers for type) were chunky, sharp, vector shapes. I brought the fabric photo into photoshop and redrew the shapes. A slight feather around the edges of the shapes aided my integration.
Since my tendency is to overdesign, I tied my hands up and attempted to create a simple design for my flier.
Communication between the panels was encouraged. The top of the Lustig photo (outside of flier) shares the same height as the art examples section (on the inside). Also, all art work was placed on the same baseline, the text for the captions were left aligned with the art picture's edge.
below: other communications within the flier, the text begins at the same location from the top.
Above: a detail of the artwork section. Below: the image for my ecard with CSS type integrated.

thumbing a ride, a summary

I have chosen to title this system, Thumbing a Ride in order to encapsulate the hitchhiking / wandering nomad theme. The hierarchy has been elevated for History, Culture and Personal Experience, as they have been included in my subtitle as well as enlarged as topics within the diagram. Cardboard signs as the title backgrounds, resonate with the theme, since Rainbow, actually held signs stating her next destination.

Continuity has been established within my design by retaining a collage theme, (with similarities to my original research book). The cohesiveness of the system has been aided by the use of torn edges, roughly-cut shapes, chopped-up text and the repetition of hand rendered text and drawings. The delicate, hand-rendered elements make this story more personal, raw and fleeting.

When my beloved icons were in color, within this diagram, they were invisible. Formally speaking, the crisp, black and white icons create a sense of stability and seriousness within the rough elements of the design. Also, the icons are helpful to give the viewer a quick read of the illustrated topic to follow.

My design devices include yarn roads and dashed lines to help direct the eye. The yarn is unraveling from the glove to give it context. Additionally,since the most unique part of my system is a documentation of personal experience, a background of colored paper has been added to illustrate Rainbow's point of view.



above: detail of the unraveling glove. below: a view of the road with dashed lines.
above: Although this is literally a montage, rather than a collage, I have attempted to give a three-dimensional illusion by the use of a drop shadow behind Rainbow and in the title area.

I should have been a good many of things

I was having a terrible day last Wednesday. Then I met with M. Kidwell for a process review of my book cover designs and he said something that made my day. Your books are so full of meaning, it makes me sick; normally you would punch somebody in the face for a statement like that, but I knew it was laced with love.

My feelings would best be expressed by the words of Jo March in the book Little Women when she stated, I should have been a good many of things. One of the good many of things I should have been is, a dancer. (For Pete's sake, I can jump as high as a deer). Gymnastics was my passion for many years; I meant for it to spill into dance, but never made the move. I suppose that is the best segway I can think of at the moment; the subject of my books are, dance.
My images are vintage, yet The Complete Book text suggests a thorough look at past and present. I added a san serif font to allude to the modern as well.

To establish cohesion with the book designs, I added an image of the dancer in action as well as a symbol to thicken the meaning of the initial read.

From my perspective, tapp is a fast moving dance style. In the bottom right area of my book cover, I placed a dancer with a motion blur trailing behind. The symbol is bellowing smoke following his path.
Since Modern dance exudes freedom, the symbol I chose is a bird escaping from a cage.
For my Jazz cover, I duplicated and blurred the leg behind the title to suggest a kick in action. The secret symbol is glitter and sequence.

Lastly, for Ballet, a very strange headless dancer exists in the background; I placed a motion blur beneath her to exaggerate a ridiculous leap. Symbols include birds flying around her.

thumbing a ride

The following alterations have occurred: I've removed the cardboard signs from behind Rainbow's voice and instead added paper (to reference journal), to remain consistent with my collage theme, I printed photographs on colored paper, tore the edges and scanned the prints. I tried to restrain the mini photograph collages within segments of the design in order to retain some negative space (for deep breaths to occur). Rainbow's voice has been enlarged 110% in places where I have remembered to do so. So far I have made one test print, I am saddened by how everything looks dark and mushy; printing this to reflect the screen may be tricky. One more thing, the background is a light grey.

above: The Thumbing a Ride has been placed on a cardboard sign with a higher saturation than the subtitle, to assist with the hierarchy; I may need to rethink that idea, since the two saturations may look like a big, terrible mistake.

above: The yarn has made an appearance in the top outline of the roads (my original idea was to have one of the gloves unraveling into the road).

lastly, this is a close up of the memory montage: flashes of the city, two views of Rainbow walking, writing in her journal, all placed on a road background.

interesting diagrams

Attractive and inspiring found diagrams: On the far left, I enjoy the sophisticated color pallet, the surprisingly beautiful use of symmetry which appears simplify the complexity of the information and the clever use of multiple type styles (and sizes) to establish hierarchy. In the middle diagram of (Japanese air raid zones) the use of overlapping circles and corresponding airplane color helps to clarify overlaps where planes could be located. In the last diagram, I enjoy the hand-rendered element.

Title Possibilities

title:
American Nomad:

possible subtitles:
-A Personal Story
-A Search for Purpose
-A Journey with Purpose
-Wandering with Purpose
-Wandering for Purpose
-Traveling with Strangers

other options:
Hitchhiking towards Purpose (too obvious with the term hitchhiking, i think?)

Nomadic Life: When all the things you stay in one place for no longer matter
(alright, that one's really long)

American Nomad

during class, I was really stuck.
many hours later, the connections began to materialize.
Although I will not be adding yarn to my final poster, I was enjoying the textural interaction/strange illusion that occurred with the thumb.
Below is an personal story of Rainbow's first hitchhiking journey.
The nature section includes facts about survival, popular backpacking locations and advice from a Rainbow.