More than a Mixtape

When considering the direction for the final chapter of my senior year in the graphic design department I want to choose something that doesn’t fall short of where I’d like to be and what I am passionate about. Two things that immediately come to mind are graphic design and music. With these two things I plan to answer the question: How can I use graphic design to express and harmonize music lovers and people who understand the effect of music on the human mind and body?

When making the decision to choose the topic of music, I am planning on doing a project that brings together music lovers and exploring the mental effects music can have on a person. Anyone that has ever heard a song and really get it is considered part of my audience. Exploring this x factor of music and creating print media is very important to mirror the feeling of music and how close it can be. Maybe these printed things will become gifts like mix tapes or music videos or motion projects. 

Ivanhoe Possible Directions

After meeting with Dina and discussing the situation(s) of the Ivanhoe community it seemed that there wasn't much luster in the neighborhood anymore. On the walk of taking pictures, a couple of us ran into the pastor of the area. One thing he said stuck with me. He said, "Helping the community starts with the people. It's not making it a pretty place by helping the sidewalks or painting a house. It's about starting with the people."

This has someone controlled where I'm going in my three possible directions for this semester long project.

DIRECTIONS

1. How can you bring a group of people together? Starting with younger generations and their trouble to stay in school, I propose a way to get younger generations in volved. A lot of kids come and go in this community but making a person feel welcome may make them want to stay. Being a kid is rough, especially in a community that has some violence. I'm not sure if bullying is an issue but if it is, a way to try to work against it.

2. Making a first impression is important. Focusing on the incoming families, I want to know what has brought them there and what makes people stay. What makes people leave? Maybe this answer can be solved by picking one of the three other choices.

3. The lack of community shops and togetherness of the neighborhood. Religion brings a lot of people together and many people fund their place of belief. The idea behind this is that folks and start with funding for a building maybe the church has money to buy. Once the property is brought, people can sell made goods and offer services in a collective area. One may be home repair, the other may be making and fixing clothing. Through this, the idea of money becomes 'someone irrelevant' and the idea of trade comes on stronger. This can also create bonds and great experiences to rely on one another – giving them a support system.

4. The lack of cars, cellphones, and use of technology isn't kept up. Where most people have the privilege of owning them, a lot of people in the community do not. Creating a campaign for the best ways around that or creating a way to solve that. Possibly by promoting that things that seem to cost a lot doesn't always mean that they actually do. Inventing affordable cellphone plans, kind of like a EBT card works may be a possible solution – or it may lead to a dead end.

Branding Identities

POSSIBLE CHOICES FOR REBRANDING

1. Kansas City Power and Light District

2. The Gusto Lounge

3. Zebedee's RPM Record Shop

4. Chapman Recording & Mastering

5. Trader Joes

Final Sega Pictures

The idea of the Chaos Emerald energy drink is derived from the definition of the Chaos Emeralds – that they 'give energy to all living things'. What else would be better than playing a Sonic game and needed that hype to carry Sonic on to the next level? Or to give strength to beat the evil Doctor Eggman in combat?

The drink is geared towards the classic Sonic the Hedgehog fans, ranging from ages 18-44. Focusing on this audience, the design of the cans and the box references the 16-bit era of the classic Sonic games.

One of the design elements we incorporated was choosing the gold ring around the top of the can to represent the in-game rings. Another detail to take notice of is the printing method used for the can. It is a dual tone black. The combination of black on process black creates a holographic detail to the label all the way around the can, which is based on the Green Hill zone in Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

Aesthetics of the box include using the item boxes. These item boxes hold much value in the game and we wanted to include the face of Sonic and the iconic gold ring for the other side of the item box, which contains the four cans. All flavours were derived from four of the colours of the chaos emeralds; yellow as lemon, blue as blue raspberry, green as green apple and red as fruit punch.

In this celebrated 4 pack, the consumer can buy and try all of the flavors or share with friends. These people could be the gamers playing the games or just the collectors out there.

Prepping for Sophomore Review

For final review for my sophomore year in graphic design I need to come up with project that can easily represent what I have learned in one whole year in the graphic design department at KCAI. A couple of main points that have come across are: hierarchy, color, form, typography, process, conceptual thinking, motion, narration with type and imagery, and using analog and digital materials and means.

The projects that I wish to present are as follows:

TYPE II POSTER: This poster shows my ability to be conceptual and idealistic in a direction of emphasis on the personality of Sheila Levrant de Bretteville. By using the color pink, replacing the letter "i" with a symbol of a woman, and changing the scale of the type shows hierarchy. Giving all of the type a place to line up in a complex, yet neat and simple grid, made for a very pleasing layout of text. TYPE II // VISCOM II SPREADS & INFOGRAPHS: Tying my theme together with imagery and text was just the first phase of these spreads. By tying the spreads together I made very simply read infographs that correlate to the spreads. Keeping them old looking but making them a little more contemporary put a new spin on things and kept things fresh. IMAGE MAKING: Seven Deadly Sins

With the seven deadly sins book, I was able to conceptually make up a character for each of the seven sins. I also was able to create a scene of people through imagery and tell a story.

VISCOM 2: Line Study Book

My line study books shows successful use of typography on the front page and as you move along it is easy to notice the beautiful juxtapositions that are entailed on each page. This project also was tied together with a narrative, or story, about a journey through life. All of the pictures show balance in color when all spread out do to compositions and order of each spread.
VISCOM 2: Taxonomy

My taxonomy shows my ability to organize and collect information in a interesting manner. Using my typography, research, and photography skill, I created a realistic spread. A spread that is very much like that of a documented police office file. This also presents my skills to move analog shapes and marks and create them into a digital composition successfully.

IMAGE MAKING: Sid Vicious Poster

Doing research on a person and trying to create and actual scene outside of the studio was a lot of fun and a lot of work. Planing for a shoot and coming up with different indexes and symbols of a person used a lot of creative thinking. After that, placement and view came into the picture. And then editing and cropping the image. All of these things came together to create a very successful poster that uses the power of narration to invite the viewer to inspect the poster even more.

Identity & Applications // Title Proposals

For a mock museum exhibition I have come up with the following directions with some possible titles.

DIRECTIONS

Woman's health:

1. She-Problems

2. Only Us

3. Is this Natural (For a Woman)?

4. A Different Kind of Woman

5. My Body's Not Supposed to do That

Native american's today:

1. True Life: Native American Indians

2. Current American History of the Natives

3. Life Today: American Natives

4. Stereotype Vs. Reality

5. White Effect(ed/s/ing) Red

Taxonomy Proposal

I am proposing to classify my marks by the tool which they were used. Once divided, I will then divide my marks from light to dark, dealing with the density of the marks. They layout of the actual book will be 8 inches x 7 inches in the format of a wire o binding. All of the font will be in Helvetica, besides the title page which is to be in Futura. Each page will be able to fit 9 classified marks on it. Click on any of the pages to make larger for a better idea of how each page will look. The front and back cover will be on a thick stock paper; thicker than the inner pages to define them from the inside pages.

A TABLE OF CONTENTS

DENOTATIVE

1. straw

2. grass

3. leaf

4. flower

5. hand

6. hay

7. horse shoe

8. wood

9. branch

10. air

CONNOTATIVE

1. light

2. dark

3. chaos

4. smooth

5. controlled

6. spastic

7. vertical

8. horizontal

9. clean

10. rough