type 2: P2 Final

For my P2 project, I had three keywords guiding my design efforts: passion, unpredictable and energetic. I chose these words, because they reflect upon Charlie Parker himself, bebop music, and/or both. 

The spatial experience I designed depicts a progression of Parker's life: 
1) young & bright beginnings;
2) bold & dark musician lifestyle;
3) a warm tribute to celebrate Parker

The book I designed has french fold binding—the hidden pops of colors and patterns are fitting to the undulating musical notes associated with bebop jazz.

type 2: 4.30

After speaking with Kidwell on Tuesday, I've decided to further my french fold book. Since then, I've added the rest of the content and reworked/added design elements.

Front cover

Back cover

View of patterns from above

A few interior views of the book:

type 2: 4.28

For class today, I brought in my three different print concepts. All of my concepts use the same type combination: Rockwell & Whitney. The type treatment and book formats vary between the concepts.

L to R: French fold, vertical half fold, accordion fold

Vertical half fold (front cover)

French fold (front cover)

Back cover

Accordion fold (front cover)

Back cover

type 2: 4.23

I initially was only going to use red, white and black for the colors, but decided a turquoise blue would add some much needed pop. I drew the the first 3 lines from Charlie Parker's sheet music for "Ornithology." I also illustrated the floor indexes and symbols. 

View from front entrance

 

The 3 Divider walls

type 2: 4.17

For our second project, we will be designing an exhibition space and an accompanying booklet. The subject of these designs will be Charlie Parker, "the Bird," and bebop jazz. Charlie Parker was a great saxophone player with wild originality known for the bebop style of jazz characterized by playing higher intervals of a chord for a melody. After watching the youtube video posted on the class website, I've come up with a list of attributes that I think best describe Charlie Parker. The attributes I think are the most useful for the project are in red.

Story:
After deciding upon these attributes, I came to realize that the beauty and tragedy of Charlie Parker's life is the story I want to convey through this design project. On a musical level, he was a genius and an innovator, but on a personal level he was largely a depressed addict. I think Charlie's story is best summarized by a statement from one of his previous band-mates, "nothin' but soul."

Floor plans:

 










Icons, Indexes & Symbols:

 

Style inspiration:

Exploring the title font:

 























Before the next post, I hope to explore a lot more through drawing and hand lettering!

Hope Simmons: P1 Final

Project 1 was focused on designing typography to convey specific attributes. The attributes I chose to convey were: refinement, confidence and energy. A main component was exploring with type—painting, drawing, hand lettering, computer manipulation, etc. This exploring proved to be addictive, making it hard to know when to stop and when to start refining the final pieces. Overall, this project was very challenging; in the end I learned a lot and created three unique pieces.

Left to right: refinement, confidence, energy

Left to right: refinement, confidence, energy

Refinement: 

For this final piece, I focused on a simplistic approach. During the design process, I moved from a cut and scan method to purely computer. The handmade cut and scan method was not able to provide the refinement I wanted to convey. Therefore, once on the computer I placed each phrase, title and fact on the template with a conscientious effort to use minimal space. In doing so, I created order as well as refinement. The large color fields provide a clean, polished look. The combination of white, yellow and blue adds richness—yellow provides warmth, blue provides strength. I chose a combination of Archer and Gill Sans for my fonts, both having very clean, refined letter-forms.  

Front & Back: Refinement

Confidence:

For this final piece, I focused on a bold approach. During the design process, I used the cut and scan method. I then moved on to use the computer and used a duotone effect to add boldness through color. For colors, I chose red and orange—red provides boldness and orange provides confidence. While placing the scanned cutouts on the template, I combined straight and angled alignments aimed at creating a strong, dynamic look.  I chose a combination of Clarendon and Snell for my fonts—Clarendon being thick and curvilinear, Snell being well-established cursive letter-forms. 

Front & Back: Confidence

  
Energy:

For this final piece, I focused on a dynamic approach. During the design process, I used a cut and scan method. At first, the cereal box appeared too boring. Therefore, I moved on to use the computer and added a duotone effect. I chose orange and blue—contrasting colors that produce a lively affect. However, the cereal box still appeared too boring. I then turned to repetition—instead of repeating with digital fonts (Clarendon + Gill Sans), I decided to use my own hand lettering to overlap the digital type. This effect proved to add energy to the cereal box.

For my client, I propose Energy. It is my most explored piece, and I believe the fun colors and energetic design best fits Rice Krispies cereal. 

Front & Back: Energy

Alternate Energetic View

Back details: Energy

Bottom detail: Energy