Done

So I've finally finished my concept, all that's left is to print it out.  I ended up going though nearly a dozen different versions before settling on one that arguably works.

So the font that I wanted to use to introduce my "speaker" I found online and was miniscule. To scale it up to bigger than a few pixels tall was to re-draw the letters from scratch.  Sorry if it's a bit hard so see because of the transparent background.

So after redrawing the font to a point I was happy with, I arranged them exactly how I intended from my earlier concept.  And I'm fairly happy with how the stark black and white signage looked, however I felt that exploring color couldn't hurt.

I attempted many backgrounds behind the letters.  The green-orange paint splatter looking one is actually an interesting texture concrete that I felt might be interesting.  Then I used the literal wall from the art & design building, simply a monochromatic version of it. But I could never get the lecture title legible enough against the background.

I also got super explorative with my digital drawing tablet, and started creating a flowing organic looking background that was a lot of fun to draw. But it was so super detailed I feared it was too interesting. Then I realized why not use the organic idea as a ribbon over the brick background.

So that was my final signage concept and all that was left was putting everything together. While putting the signs up I realized I could use the ribbon as "wind" so I added just a skoch of blue

 above the three signs to anchor everything together.

I thought it would be a good idea to attempt to show the idea from a slightly different angle, just to see if how it would look.

And lastly a legible, close up of the front on design photo. This project was a lot of fun for me personally. If I were to do it again, I might try a smaller idea.  I think I've got nearly 7 gb of work done for this project, and the files started to make the computer chug. Saving some of the files took 10 minutes or so to save.

Site Scouting

One of the things I'm most grateful for in this class is this project in particular.  Not only does it allow me personal creativity room, it also is letting me place a "banner" at a location that I've wanted to cover for nearly 4 years.

Though I wanted to make a banner, on Budig Hall, that said, "Here Comes Tomorrow," I'm willing to settle for, "I have no idea what I'm doing and it's wonderful."

There was a good point brought up that black and white images wouldn't translate very well on the white-ish stone. So I took a few concept images of how they might look.

These images make me agree that if I do use this wall they must be colored, or have a far stronger contrast than I originally intended.

While taking these shots I became intregued with one of the art and design building's exterior walls, and wondered what my images would look like against a brick wall.

I feel that the red, tan, color of the bricks favors the black and white imagery as opposed to the full colored imagery.  I feel that the Budig wall is far more impressive location for my imagery, but the Art & Design wall fits the audience better. I also think that the colors of the A&D bricks would add to my concept more than the plain white stone.

I still really want to cover that exterior of Budig, but while writing this blog post I've realized that it isn't the better location for this particular project.

Title Project

While discussing my project, and ideas, in a peer group setting I received interesting responses.  Firstly they correctly argued that my title was obscure and kinda stupid.  They felt I should just use the quote that I was taking inspiration from and use it.

"I have no idea what I'm doing, and its wonderful."

Secondly, I've worked down some of my best ideas down.  I'll update with images of the ideas soon, but for the time being, enjoy one of them colored in a potential color palette idea.

Here are a few initial ideas that I had for the project. Please forgive me for getting the title wrong.

Oddly, I felt that the lightbulb and the image of the man flying a bicycle with a flock of geese were the most interesting, captivating images.

However during a group critique, those images were considered too abstract. They preferred the thinker and scarecrow concepts.  

I'm gonna bite the bullet and design using the bicyclist with the geese despite the group's opinions.  I feel it's abstractness adds to the title of the presentation, and is captivating in a way that feels right to what the presentation would be.

Possible Title Designs

So after a quick deliberation, I settled on "Feeling Wonderful with no Idea" as a "promotional" lecture title Paul Sahre might use. It was taken from a quote of him, "I have no idea what I'm doing, and its wonderful."

Using this title as a guide I began to sketch ideas.

Some of my personal favorites of the bunch are: Plotting Charlie Brown, Guy Falling With Balloons,  and the Whistling Broken Lightbulb. 

Ideas for Presentation Titles

With my presentation of Paul Sahre I learned quite a lot about the man.  Now I need to figure out an interesting title for him.  The first idea I had was to use one of his quotes as inspiration.  Then, 

using my presentation as a guide I wrote down key words that would describe the 

type of presentation he might give.

"I have no idea what I'm doing, and it's wonderful."

Minimalist   Invisible   Reimaginated  Text  Repurposing  Absurd  Modern

IDEA #1

Feeling Wonderful With No Idea

IDEA #2

The Invisible Absurd Style of Paul Sahre

IDEA #3

Slightly Minimalist, Modern Repurposing

With ideas 2 & 3 I thought of some imagery that would go along with the titles. Idea #3 would 

use the toothbrush from Leisurama; a simple image of a toothbrush that represents weird modern culture.

With Idea #2 I felt it would be cool to use Sahre's epic sideburns and glasses as a minimalist silhouette.  I really like this concept because it shows aspects of his art style, while also giving an image to think on.  

I find the abstract portrait interesting as it lets the viewer quickly see his physical features as well.

But I guess the design could be used for any of the potential titles.

Describing Paul Sahre

Looking over my research notes on the designer Paul Sahre I found a few simple, 

describing words for his style.

Primarily Works with Book Covers

Some CD Covers

Classically Implied

Abstract

Minimalist

Modern Absurdity

Invisibly Designed

In one of the interviews I read, he felt disappointed in his work if people could identify an 

individual style in his work.The works of his that I already own are tribute works for other 

artists and his beliefs for invisible design are likely the reason for it.  

His approach was to highlight the original works without designing something that altered 

the feeling of the original work.

Examples of his work starting with the two I personally own, Kirby, King of Comics 

and Maximum FF.

Assigned Designer

So I've been assigned to present Paul Sahre to the class, via presentation.  After doing very simple research on the guy I found that I enjoy some of his work and personality.

As a matter of fact I own one of his projects. 

Go figure.

Final Contact Designs

After a few tweaks these are my final designs for a resume and business cards.

    

By leaving spaces on my cards, I can let my art speak for me.

EDIT: After spending an hour or so looking at the resume, I noticed a few typos and many graphical errors that I missed.  Certain alignments went unnoticed and some ideas never made it into the page while I was working on it.

It just goes to show that work is never truly finished.

Resume Temlates

So here are a few template ideas that I had prepared for last Tuesday. The first design with the blue, leafy border was too bold, too clashing, to be considered.  

I felt that a mixture between the two would make a better design, but they needed a small sketch closer to the ID board that I made.  

So I began sketching and here are a few early ideas. I like the feel of the idea on the left, but the addition of blue into the sketch add too much to the visuals.

Finally, a basic concept idea. I also attempted to incorporate a hand written font style I found for my name. I feel that even though it is very different from the rest of the resume, it has a nice looseness that helps the flow.

Visual ID

After browsing through the images I collected for the mood board, I simplified them into categories.  And from there I simplified to elements that occurred the most.  Using these elements that I reduced to, I created a "visual ID" for me. Things that are the most likely to occur within my work, due to their visual interest to me.

Though my mood board did not contain many specific "colors," it contained objects whose color appealed to me. From those objects I identified the "color" that was appealing. 

~EDIT~

During the critique in class, some people were expecting more earth tones in my color choices. They were also expecting colors with greater color saturation. Though I didn't add more saturated colors, I did add a few text options and more earth tones to even out the colors.