Final Review! w00t!

This semester was about exploration. Exploration of type, exploration of image and exploration of a system. In all three classes I had room to experiment. Through my type, and interestingly enough, image classes, I had a chance to get a good grip on my typography. My type became a graphic element on the page, rather than static text slapped onto an image. I had a chance to explore expressive type, with many different approaches that ultimately ended up as applications. It was the same in Visual Communications. The ending result was applications of an already developed experiment. However, the path to that conclusion was different. I took many steps, and many more little steps in those, that all built up to a comprehensive system. Through this process I have learned something about myself. Upon reflection of my work and critical feedback of my teachers and peers, I have figured out that a systematic, step-by-step approach is the best way I can work. This semester, I set goals for myself to employ clean, simple type, immediate imagery and powerful, grasping concepts. I believe I have achieved those goals.

How I Got Here: A VisCom Summary

The Object

The Icon

The Visual Inspiration

The Color Palette



This semester was a long build-up to develop cohesive and communicative system. We first started by analyzing what a system was. We then created a set of icons that could work across multiple application. In this final project we have taken those icons and applied them to a museum exhibit. This sums up the strength of our systems because we could see how effectively our choices show through. For example, I have chosen geometric shapes for my icon system, and now they have contributed by forming interesting patterns. Another example is my color palette. Because I chose to go with a more serious tone, I could focus on more serious subjects with my icons, such as poverty, death and corruption. It is easy to see the success and failure of a system in its applications.

Final Museum Exhibit

Finalizing Museum Exhibit

I'm so close! I can feel it!

Final 10

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I believe these selection best represent the 10 requirements and best represent the extent of my research. The numbers are matched to the requirements posted on the VisCom blog. In the end I decided to juxtapose words with patterns, as can be seen by my final product.

Further Color and Concept Refinement

The colors are now more muted, but still serious. It was important that the icons not be muddied by the background color, yet it add something to the compositions. The font is all the same across all of the words. I have also included the title of the exhibit to the compositions for clarification.

Colors!

I have further refined all my content. I have a consistent theme now, of big san serif font against a pattern set on a diagonal. I didn't know how excatly incorporate the smithsonian logo, so I tried big and small and all different kinds.

I'm So Organized

It's my artboard for my VisCom iterations.

Viscom Crops

I picked my direction and went in and made interesting crops to seven different compositions. I tried to make the crops all different, for example, I had ones that were straight, and ones that were crooked. Ones that were zoomed in, and ones with lots of white space. Ones that focused on the word, and ones that focused on the the pattern. I'm happy with my results, and I feel like I could use all of these, but I think a mostly consistent direction would work better.

Hats: Patterns and Juxtapositions

Here is a good range of my studies for the initial steps in this project. I first started out having my patterns and juxtapositions be separate, but after making the death count composition, I decided that it could be a powerful tool. I tried it with many different options, and am happy with some of my results. I also tried to fish for deeper metaphors with my words. The wheels of the truck that carries the word BATTLE are made from army helmets, therefore the helmets are carrying the weight of war.

The Infograph

We have come to the conclusion of the infograph. This was a completely new experience for me, so I learned a lot. The closest I have come to visualizing information is creating a mind map, or an outline in Word. This was a whole new cookie. First and foremost the organization of the information that makes sense both formally and conceptually was a challenge. I have learned that even after the information is organized, it is very hard to make it visually appealing. I had a lot of difficulty creating a good formal space. I learned that many little details have to be considered when creating such a complex structure. For example, I had trouble integrating the images so they made sense with the style of the infograph. A couple things I would change is, of course, the top part, I need to go through more rounds and get more feedback for it. Also, I think it would be interesting to see my infograph with a different color scheme.

Webtrends Map

This is a very exciting visual map. Every year a design firm called Information Architects releases a visual map of the trends for the past year. They have done it for four years now, and every time it gets better and better. The map is modeled after the Tokyo subway system, the stations corresponding with reals ones, both in location and in the size and flow of traffic through them. I think this it is amazing how they mapped out such a giant thing as the internet.

Iterations! A VisCom exclusive.

oh boy.

Evolution

After adding color and combining some of my earlier ideas I came upon two directions I could go in. In the first version I wanted to have to top section more scattered to contrast the bottom one, as opposed to the second poster where the section is more structured like the rest of the poster. Also, I wanted to highlight the text about protection and fashion, because they were the most important elements in the infograph. I was wondering about the use of the icons in the second version, and if they are as coherent as the first version.

Digitizing the Infograph

The first drafts were all black and white, with no type alteration. It was more about where I wanted to composition to go as a whole.