well team…don’t be scared…
I have made an executive decision about this project which I am very happy about. No longer is it a coffee table book. After thinking about being more ambitious and having different types of work in my portfolio, I’ve already done a rather nice coffee table book (my bee book) so I am keeping the layout, content, size, etc. BUT it will not be a mixture of my first thesis idea (segue) and what I’ve been working on….it is editorial now! I’m very excited with this decision. The style is somewhat mod meets rolling stone. I will post work later today (I’m typing from work right now) I have finally been successfull in turning the type into design! I am very proud of this project, my process through it and its (almost finished) outcome! I can’t wait to hear what you all think.
and another new layout
so..team,
I’ve looked around at some other layouts and i started to think that perhaps a rectangular format may be a better choice than the square I was originally playing around with. I have also tried to give everything the same feel so that each page feels more harmonious. The cover is solid colors now. This is because my brother is going to embroider that part. So the outcome will be stitched on there. Also he said he would try embroidering on paper! YAY!!!! I’ going there this Saturday- so I will keep you all posted! I need help with the color of the thread. I’m going to try out as many as he’ll let me and bring them all in on Tuesday; but what are all of your thoughts going into it? I love purple and a lot of the photographs I added a lavender tint. I’m still playing with the type, colors, size, etc. What do you all think? Layouts? Images? type?Some have a yellowy feel to them as well. Thoughts?!
And here is what I have redone since Tuesday: (be gentle, but please please comment-i’m trying not to panic):
1st/2nd idea thesis
-My first idea of my thesis was to create a brand strategy for a florist [me] as I am teaching my self floral. I have been buying/reading books and practicing creating floral designs. This is something that has always captured my interest. I love the way you can play with colors and how emotive certain arrangments can be. I want a name that isn’t as generic as “Flowers by Kristina” because I want the consumer to not only think of beautiful floral arrangements, but of design and art. “Fibonacci” has caught my interest because there are vast studies of flowers and why there petals total a number in the fibonacci series, It also relates to the sprirals all flowers (and pinecones) have. It has a strong scientific foundation, which I’m drawn to and beautiful design methods for exploring.
My Second idea is :SEGUE
Segue was a project I started in 200 when we were tasked to create a ‘zine’. I created a zine, titled ‘Segue’. The basis of the magazine was to take 3 seemingly arbitrary articles and through research discover there hidden connection. For example, the pieces I chose for 200 were an article about the fashion world’s Isabella Blow. She was a talent scout, editor for Vogue England and more (she is known for finding Alexander McQueen). She was very eccentric and was know for her very outlandish hats. She had many photo shoots and one in particular really capture her air. This was taken by famed photographer, David LaChapelle. The article then segues into the story of David LaChapelle. He is a fashion photographer (mainly) and began photographing kids in South Central, LA. He then went on to direct the movie “RIZE”, about kids that grow up with gang violence and how ‘krumping’ and ‘clowning’ (a type of dance) has been agreed as an option outlet instead of joining gangs. The LaChapelle segment then segues into gang violence in South Central, Los Angeles.
For the thesis project I would like to try this again, but with a new spin. I am going to research different stories and I have yet to narrow it down, but this is just my initial thoughts.
-My third idea would be to somehow map people’s behaviors. I have always been very interested in the patterns and tendancies we as humans create. I think we rely on prediction to keep us anxiety free. I also feel that we often repeat the same things through out life in many different facets. So much so, that we don’t know e are doing it or why. I would like to choose 4 or 5 people and began my own type of case study to see how I can visually map their patterns for reacting (and how they react), defensiveness, insecurity, sentivitity and very importantly, where is it that they really feel safe. I think in such a fast paced world with such new technology we as a race are not evoloving as fast as our computers. I think this creates a great deal of stress and anxiety and I would like to further develop that thought.
Perhaps I can even combine the three ideas. There is no reason my Segue zine can’t include studies of social behavior and flowers. It could be part of my research to discover the common third article between the two.
OVERVIEW FOR THESIS:
I would like to create a hard copy (or thick bound) magazine (possibly a coffee table book?).
Title: Segue
Parameters and Goals: I want by project to be educational. I want the audience to be surprised as to what they find out and mesmerized by the pictures and maps.
The magazine will follows three different seemingly arbitrary articles but as you read them you learn how they are all intertwined.
I plan on accomplishing this by using interesting topics that range from the science and math behind flowers, and human behavior (a study following the patterns people have through out their life)
Audience: My audience will be ages 25+. I would like people that are interested in design/photos/etc. and people who are interested in science to read my magazine.
Term-Long deliverables: coupons, online advertising, posters for free (pull out in book)
thank you project process
Week 2:
Our team is still trying to finalize our idea. We have all been brainstorming. We met over the weekend for a few hours to continue coming up with ideas. Will brought a new idea to the table and Jen and I elaborated on it. I think we are all excited about it’s possibilities. The fine tuning is a bit challenging. I have played with different typefaces and titles, made some graphic sketches and written out a concept/plan to get it down on paper. I created a new mood board to show where my inspiration is stemming from for our new idea.
Week 2:
Our team has decided to go back to our original idea of our thank you letter workshop. I have made a new mood board and filled out the criteria portion to make sure it meets all requirements. It definitely does (I feel) and I am much more excited that we are all on board to go ahead with this. We have decided how to break up our tasks and when to meet next to really produce work.
This is my first shot at a promotion poster. it is the second version…i see the typo!
I presented the poster to my group so we could get the ball rolling on the aesthetic we were going for. There were things we all liked and disliked but I was overall happy to at least have a more concrete direction. I am working on an updated poster. One that will have a different grid pattern (I had sketched it out and the group liked it better), a background and a tighter color palette. We are trying to agree on a color palette as of now. We met for a few hours on friday and went over all of this. We brainstormed trying to think of an award (the class critique had suggested an award to give for people being nice- to go along with the thank you). I thought of handing out a little ribbon with the cards. I also suggested that we could give the strangers cookies…but we’re not sure if anyone would take cookies from us! I divided the work up so that for Tuesday we have a lot more visuals to show the class. We are each responsible for bringing in templates of our ‘cut-out’s for the workshop. These are the decorative shapes we will be offering for people to use on the cards during our workshop. I am going to make a practice one too, so the class and Lis (you) can get a better idea of the overall feel of our event. We also want to have the poster finished as far as aesthetic. We hope to tighten it up over the week but we want to have something to present to the class that we all like. Hopefully. I will continue to work on my version and keep getting feedback from flickr from my group and I plan on doing the same for them.
I have been re-doing the second poster. I posted a quick grid to flickr. I wasn’t sure about the corkboard, it was a bit cheesy. Jen agreed. I am playing with different back grounds and color palettes. Hopefully we will all agree on something. I like the ribbon will made and I am working on incorporating it into the grid poster. There is a lot of work ahead of us, so we have to really get a move on.
After getting some informative feedback from flickr, I am feeling excited and a little stressed about our project. I tried to use a color palette the team had liked, but I agree, the colors should be lighter. Everyone is in favor of Will’s award. I think I am going to get a better image of that a play with it more. I am having a hard time incorporating it smoothly. Our idea for the poster was to hae a grid of a bunch of different thank you cards, but i’m not sure that is getting across to the public.
This is my poster 2 and 3 (just playing with the grid and then some color palettes:
and here are some pictures from Lis’ flickr account. They are posters that I think are really beautiful and will be using as my inspiration as well!
(I made this in “paint” at my work-forgive the sloppiness please!)
After working for awhile with these pretty posters as inspiration…I made these notsopretty ones:
…It was an interesting exprience playing with this. I wanted it to be friendly, a gbroup member had suggested vintage so I tried to make a version that looked older. It lacks sophistication to me. Lastly, I ended up going back with the grid. I asked my group if they like the grid idea and they said they did and to keep playing with it. So, my last attempt as of yet is:
I’m still more drawn to this one than the others. It was suggested that I do a background color, but I like the starkness of the white along with the brighter colors. Especially, because that is what we’ll be offering at the workshop.
Well, our team has come a long way from our initial design. In our last critique the class still really liked Will’s simplified poster. However, as a group we really didn’t care for how simple it was. I came up with an idea to make the actual poster a 3d award. The team agreed to this idea so we went to art media, agreed on a color palette and bought card stock and tissue paper. At kinkos, Will printed out the award large so I could trace it onto the card stock and then cut it. It has bene very difficult to cut such thick paper with smooth curves. I’ve gotten as close as I could and now I am going back and sanding it. We also printed out “Thank You” and cut out each letter and the collaged it. We split up the letters so we would all do some. I did the T, A, and K. I think our poster will really project the idea and concept of our workshop. It is hand made and took a lot of time and care. We are finishing tracing and writing the inside tonight. Ideally, the inside would have “say thank you and mean it”, printed on it, but because of cost constraints we can’t really afford to have a printer print something on a thick cardstock in the shape of an award. So, we are again printing out the type in the size and type face we want and tracing it, and then with (hopefully) a very skilled hand we are filling it in ourselves. The rest of the card will be hand written, like the inside of a real thank you card. It is all coming together and I am excited to finish! Here is a post of our poster (as a graphic, not a photograph of the actual one):
And here is a picture of the small flyers we are going to hand out: 
It would be fun to use color, but it is too expensive. I think the black and white look goods though and the organic shape offers more dimension.
touch my heart
I loved reading this article. It was witty, thoughtful and hit a chord that resonated with me well after I finished reading it. Then after looking at images to use for this block I hit a wall. It is really hard to find a design that touches my heart. I find so many that inspire me and maybe that’s because I’m still a new designer, but I got to thinking; when I feel inspired, I feel invincible. I become so excited to recreate what I saw or somehow incorporate it into what I’m doing; I believe that that is something touching my heart. Often times, it isn’t design, it’s simply color, a picture, etc. Stephen Sagmeister refers to that in his intro. That movies, books, etc. get more time to enchant us, while designers just get a few seconds to touch a mass population. Reading that made me feel challenged as well as invigorated, because when achieved, it is such a huge accomplishement. I agree with his list of what makes art, art and what makes it touch his heart. I love the feeling of nastalgia; but for me, it happens most often through scent. But it also happens when an image has something about it that brings me back to a happy time.
For example:
This image reminds me of the Greek Methology book I would look at as a child. I was fascinated with all these picutres and gods and goddesses. I was also very stressed out. One day after looking at the book, I walked up to my mom and said “Mom, I don’t want to be Greek anymore”. My mom asked ‘why’?and I replied, “I just can’t believe in all of those gods”.
While looking at more design, I simply couldn’t post anything that I could safely say ‘touched my heart’ unless it was something I had done. So for now, I’m going to post some picutures that I think are just beautfiul, and throught the term as I find something that does touch my heart I’ll post it here.
Thesis Post! (new location)
Hello!
So, being new to wordpress and blogging it has taken me awhile to get this thing down. I am now posting my progress here…under ‘posts’ as opposed to adding to my page…soon i will understand categories and then it will be easier!…
Anyway, I had a mini melt down and the a mini revelation with my project. I was really wanting to design something more modern but my subject was so antiquated I was having a heard time finding a strong aesthetic that I liked..So, I went to the public library to research and play in the rare book room (very cool) when I came across this amazing book title: New York Fashion 1900-1980. I was so inspired by the fashion throughout the decades and for some reason I hadn’t thought this direction before (don’t ask me what I was thinking) I’ve decided to do the same project but instead of the byline: “A look at the garment district:nyc” It’s going to be something along the lines of “Made in the USA” :a look at the garment district and new york fashion [through the ages]. The substance of the book are they AWSOME photographs I have along with the older ones. I am going to mix them and take you through the fashion world of new york city. Please tell me your thoughts! Do you think there is enough continuity? It will still go chronological, and by using fashion I can incorporate different colors, styles, etc. (but all will have unity) Unfortunately, I am not allowed to take this book out of the library..BUT this wonderful woman that works there said she would scan the items I put a post it on and email them to me…so hopefully she will be able to do that (i went crazy and marked about 100 photographs) so I may be better off buying this book. Ill post images as I get them and my Tuesday have much more to show.
