The problem statement: explore making abstract images by photographing paper. Use these images to design a series of postcards that communicate the emotions of a play. Design around the postal requirements for a postcard.
The concept comes from the themes of the ballet Carmina Burana: fate, love, and the return of spring. It works because the abstract images are similar enough in nature to emphasize their emotive differences which depict the themes. The intense color palette reflect the dramatic emotions of the ballet.
poster / program
Festival of New American Music
The problem statement: Design a two-sided poster that looks like music and will be used as the concert program. Explore the relationship between type and image, and the complex typological hierarchy of the scheduling information.
The concept is repetition and syncopation of shapes and tones of color, giving an appearance of volume, rhythm, and unity. Typographic principles of hierarchy were used to organize the schedule for readability.
gallery poster and postcards
Water, Essence and Potential
Design a poster and a postcard to advertise a four-person art show, the reception, and the artists’ lectures. Treat all artists equally. The artists supplied all images and written content.
The concept was the round meniscus of water and its conformity to gravity, with the color palette and texture coming from the artists’ works. The Concept works because the artwork was the focal point of the poster and the color palette united the different artist’s works. The rounded shapes created a softness, a hierarchy for the information (isolating the lecture series for emphasis), and a feeling of gravity with the vertical negative space.
The problem statement: explore designing complex systems through the design of a deck of playing cards.
The concept is educating young people about renewable energy. The suits are sources of energy, solar, wind, geothermal, and wave. The imagery is both iconic (looks like) and indexical (is related to) to reinforce the concept. The style is chalkboard, to make learning fun. The numbering systems of each suit comes from the means of measuring that source of energy (solar is octs, wind is knots, wave is velocity, and geothermal is pressure). The name of the deck is Erg, a unit of energy. The concept works because it has unity; every part of the design reinforces the concept.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Book cover and text block
The problem statement: choose any book with a plain text file available for download. Design the cover as a system where each face of the book—front, spine, and back—is interesting in and of itself, yet is not predictable. Any strong design element used should be repeated on all three surfaces, The design should flow to the inside pages.
The concept is duality and transformation. The baize door—a padded door connecting two domains which signals a threshold between staff and employer—is used as a metaphor to represent the duality of human nature and society. The smoke is symbolic of transformation. The concept works because it reflects the style of the writing yet is mysterious, with clues that add interest.
CAP, Create A Purpose, is a fictitious cable channel for programing focused on tapping into the vast potential of solid waste. Combining design skills with disposed material (like PET-plastic, or glass bottles) a community can both clean their environment and raise their standard of living. Projects are social, economical, and ecological in nature and the creative nature of re-purposing makes it fun, empowering, and hopeful. Programing would document projects and give "how-to' instructions.