Lauren Wade

Lauren Wade Graphic Design II

School of Art and Art History University of Iowa

Spring 2014

Contents

Hierarchy Excersice

Metamorphosis Excercise

CD Packaging

Poster & Ticket

Stamp Design

Beverage Project

Extension/Reflection

Magazine

1 4 8

2327 31

Hierarchy Excersice

Metamorphosis Excercise

CD Packaging

Poster & Ticket

Stamp Design

Beverage Project


Magazine

Hierarchy Excersice

IntroductIon Design may be considered as an instrument of organization. It must perform in response to the human needs. Design is an urgent requirement, not a cosmetic addition. Graphic design can save time by presenting information more clearly. It enhances communication, it helps people to understand a given message and accelerates learning. Design is finding the best solution to a problem within the limitations of the problem. Graphic designers communicate and express themselves in four distinct ways. They need to have a working knowledge of typography, illustration, photography/video, and symbolism.

Graphic Design Basic Concepts and Principles

“To design is much more than simply to assemble, to

order, or even to edit; it is to add value and meaning,

to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify,

to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. To

design is to transform prose into poetry. Design broadens

perception, magnifies experience, and enhances

vision. Design is the product of feeling and awareness of

ideas that originate in the mind of the designer and culminate, one hopes, in the minds of the

spectator.” (Paul Rand, Form + Content)

the GraphIc desIGn process Each design problem has unique differences and an infinite number of possible visual solutions. The process to generate alternate visual solutions to a problem can be described as follows:

Definition of needs, criteria and limits of the design problem (problem identification)

Production of many preliminary sketches (thumbnails)

Refinement of selected sketches (roughs)

Analysis of roughs

Selection/ decision

Implementation (and preparation for print)

After problem identification, the process follows a cyclic pattern from preliminaries through refinement, analysis, and selection to implementation. The process grows by constantly checking backwards. In the design process, the establishment of priorities is essential. Designers must be able to judge and gauge the relative importance of factors as they relate to one another. Priorities set the functional and visual criteria in communications.

perceptIon and composItIon Visual Perception involves a complex interplay of both inborn and learned responses to visual stimuli. The Gestalt laws of perception summarize tendencies that appear to be innate or inherent in our biological heritage and which undoubtedly serve as the basis for our concept of composition in visual art.

typoGraphy is designing with type, not the designing of type. It involves 1) choosing and using type, and 2) the application of design principles to the setting of type: the arrangement, style, and general appearance of matter printed with type.

Spacing Letters and words need to be spaced in a logical, consistent manner to appear optically correct, and achieve optimum readability. In letter spacing there are three standards. Minimum space is used between cursive (oo) letters, or between inclined (xy) letters. Medium space is used between vertical and cursive letters (lol). Between vertical letters (ll) maximum space is used. Good word spacing is achieved by making all space intervals between words “look” the same. Words must not appear to run together or be spaced so widely as to appear to be separate units. One system is to imagine a lower case “n” between words. This gives a moderate word-spacing.

The Grid is an underlying structure organizing data. It articulates space according to a pattern of oppositions: vertical and horizontal, top and bottom, rectangular and diagonal, and left and right. If used well it provides perceptual organization, coherence and consistency. A well-conceived grid alone will not ensure effective design. It is an organizational tool, and it must be used creatively to maximize communications potential. Grids can help answer compositional questions such as balance, proportion, sequence, unity/harmony, and contrast.

Layout: composItIon wIth type and ImaGes Layout involves the following set of interrelated basic design principles:

Balance is created by moving around “optical weights”, big and small items, dark and light items, varieties of shapes.

Good proportion is achieved by deciding on space between images and type, between type and edge of the paper, between columns of type, between type-size, line-length and leading, between different visual elements, etc.

Sequence is created by directing the viewer, for example, through the use of lines, real or implied; by arranging images in such a way that an edge or a force from one flows into an adjoining one. One does not leave to chance the order in which the viewer perceives the items in the layout.

Unity and harmony are achieved by “fitting” all visual elements, type, illustrations, and photos into the style/mood of the layout.

Contrast is achieved through differentiation in size, color, and shape. Giving the same graphic emphasis to several elements will make them compete for attention.

A symbol is a representation, verbal, or visual, of a concept, object, idea, etc., the meaning of which is mutually agreed upon. In graphic design, the effective use of symbolism, combining and relating symbols, enhances the expression of ideas. It creates recognition, association and meaning.

Figure Ground Tendency toward figure-ground: There is a tendency to interpret visual data as objects against a background, or more precisely, figures against a ground.

Similarity Similarity facilitates grouping: Objects which resemble one another tend to be seen as belonging together.

Proximity Proximity facilitates grouping. Objects placed close together tend to form a figure.

ClosureTendency toward closure: Missing visual information is filed in by the brain. The eye closes the parts of a figure because it wants to see a whole rather than a collection of unrelated parts.

Continuity Tendency toward continuity: An interrupted linear figure is similarly filled in by the brain.

The purpose of this exercise was to take the content of the ar ticle and give it

a hierarchal organization, making the headings, paragraphs, and sub-paragraphs

readable . My goal was to make it as clean and cr isp as possible , utilizing

white space and a simple Helvetica font. I incorporated the headings into the

paragraph’s gr id to make it flow; giving them hierarchy by making them bold

small-caps. I set the quote apar t from the body text by giving it a ser if voice ,

with Garamond. The over all result was a classic text in a minimalistic setting.

Metamorphosis Excercises

kkk

aa

The goal of this exercise was to transform the Didot

lower-case “a” to a Didot lower-case “k.” Making the soft

cur ves of the “a” conform to the r igidness of the “k”

proved a challenge. The transformation was eventually

achieved through playing with the fluctuations of the line-

weight and the shapes of the ser ifs.

The second par t of the exercise was to transform a letter,

(a lower-case Didot “u”) into an object that star ts with the

letter (an umbrella.) I wanted to create a melting sensation

in the transformation, alluding to the idea of rain.

CD Packaging

Imagine Dragons

Night Vision

I M A G I N E D R A G O N S

R A D I O A C T I V E I T ’ S T I M E T I P T O E D E M O N S

O N T O P O F T H E W O R L D A M S T E R D A M H E A R M E E V E R Y N I G H T

B L E E D I N G O U T U N D E R D O G N O T H I N G L E F T T O S A Y

B O N U S T R A C K S : M Y F A U L T R O U N D A N D R O U N D

T H E R I V E R A M E R I C A S E L E N E

The constellation Draco (dragon) inspired

the graphic for the CD label, playing off of

both the band’s name, and the CD title .

CD Case Front

CD Case Back

I designed the CD case back to extend past

the front both to fit the booklet and to

show the night sky pattern found inside of

the case. The bright colors connect with the

Album title treatment and round out the

minimalistic style of the CD cover.

IM

AG

IN

E

DR

AG

ON

S



I M A G I N E D R A G O N S CD Case Spine

The Moon image on the CD breaks away

from purple and white scheme of the album

case, and adds a contrast to the simplistic

style of the album layout.

The pocket for the CD was designed to make the CD look like a crescent moon, creating a sense of

interactivity, and tying the CD design into the night sky background.


RADIOACTIVE IT’S TIME TIPTOE DEMONS

ON TOP OF THE WORLD AMSTERDAM HEAR ME EVERY NIGHT

BLEEDING OUT UNDERDOG NOTHING LEFT TO SAY

BONUS TRACKS: MY FAULT ROUND AND ROUND

THE RIVER AMERICA SELENE


CD Case Template

Booklet

The text for the entire project is set in Futura. The font is flexible enough to adapt

to var ying styles such as the band name, with treated with a wide kerning and

light-weight, and the CD name, with a bold-weight and experimental style . It has a

unique style making it ideal for logo and identity creation, yet is also ver y readable

in instances such as the booklet.


Digital Booklet Front Page

I designed the digital booklet in the same minimalistic style as the CD booklet,

utilising many of the same design concepts and using a version of the constellation

graphic as a background tying the whole piece together.

W R I T T E N B Y I m a g i n e D r a g o n s

P R O D U C E D B Y I m a g i n e D r a g o n s

P U B L I S H E D B Y K I D i n a K O R N E R / U n i v e r s a l

R E C O R D E D B Y M a r k E v e r t o n G r a y a t t h e S t u d i o a t t h e P a l m s

A D D I T I O N A L E N G I N E E R I N G B Y R o b K a t z a n d J o s h M o s s e r

M I X E D B Y M a r k N e e d h a m a t T h e B a l l r o o m S t u d i o

A S S I S T A N T M I X E N G I N E E R W i l l B r i e r r e

M A S T E R E D B Y J o e L a P o r t a a t T h e L o d g e

N O T H I N G L E F T T O S A Y

W h o k n o w s h o w l o n g

I ’ v e b e e n a w a k e n o w ?

T h e s h a d o w s o n m y w a l l d o n ’ t s l e e p

T h e y k e e p c a l l i n g m e , b e c k o n i n g

W h o k n o w s w h a t ’ s r i g h t ?

T h e l i n e s k e e p g e t t i n g t h i n n e r

M y a g e h a s n e v e r m a d e w e w i s e

B u t I k e e p p u s h i n g o n a n d o n a n d o n a n d o n . . .

T h e r e ’ s n o t h i n g l e f t t o s a y n o w


I ’ m g i v i n g u p , g i v i n g u p , g i v i n g u p n o w






B e l o w m y s o u l

I f e e l a n e n g i n e

C o l l a p s i n g a s i t s e e s t h e p a i n

I f I c o u l d o n l y s h u t i t o u t

I ’ v e c o m e t o o f a r

T o s e e t h e e n d n o w

E v e n i f m y w a y i s w r o n g

I k e e p p u s h i n g o n a n d o n a n d









I k e e p f a l l i n g , I k e e p f a l l i n g d o w n




I f y o u c o u l d o n l y s a v e m e

I ’ m d r o w n i n g i n t h e w a t e r s o f m y s o u l









Digital Booklet Last Page

Poster & Ticket

IM

AG

IN

E

DR

AG

ON

S

E x c e l E n e r g y C e n t e r

M i n n e a p o l i s , M N

M a r c h 1 4 , 2 0 1 4

7 : 0 0 p m

Tour Poster

$ 4 9 . 5 0

0087345636923E x c e l E n e r g y C e n t e r

M i n n e a p o l i s , M NM a r c h 1 4 , 2 0 1 4

7 : 0 0 p m


W I T H T H E N A K E D A N D F A M O U S

A N D N I C O V E G A

S E C ROW S E AT

B B 7 2 3

Tour Poster

Ticket Front

Ticket Back

I designed the tour poster using the constellation graphic as a star ting point, but

making it much more dynamic and interactive. The tickets combine the minimlastic

style of the CD project, making them more easily read, and the vibrance of the poster.

Stamp Design

alvin lustig

USA49¢

alvin lustig

USA49¢

Alvin Lustig 1915-1955, United States

The New York based graphic designer managed, in his short life time, to produce a body of work that

continues to in�uence modern design. His portfolio represents a sense of eclectic unity, applying his

vision to everything from book covers, to textiles, to interiors and architecture. His work with book

covers and other paper mediums emphasized symbolic typography, relying heavily on letter press

style slab-serifs, contrasted with experimental types and the more modern serif fonts. He also worked

with fragmented images and patterns, constructing organic shapes that interacted with the

typography and the photographs. He incorporated his love of architecture into much of his work by

using heavy linear patterns to create industrial shapes seen in some his print media. Diabetes forced

Lustig to end his career early, leaving him almost completely blind in the last few years of his life,

although his in�uence can still be seen in contemporary design.

This commemorative stamp for Alvin Lustig took inspiration from his work textiles

and book covers. The soft shapes coupled with the harsh black lines reference his

unique combination of organic and industrial. The contrast of the italic fonts and bold

letterpress is commonly found in his work, as is the collage of graphics and photograph.

Beverage Project

Topaz Llama Cabernet Sauvignon

Topaz Llama Cabernet Sauvignon

Topaz Llama Vineyardwww.topazllama.com

GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon general, women

should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth

defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car

or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.

Bottle Model

Mountain Graphic

Wine Cork Top

Label

Topaz Llam

a

Cabernet Sauvign

on

GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon general, women

should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth

defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car

or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.

Topaz Llama Vineyard

www.topazllama.com

Box Diagram


XY

Extension Excercise

gH

Extension Excercise ReflectionExcercise

Magazine

C: 33%M:90% Y:100% K:48% Opacity: 80%

2D/3D Logo

Title Featuring the producer of The Sketches of Frank Gehry,

Ultan Guilfoyle & Chaos Theory, with grunge typographer David Carson.

May 2014

Cover Wire Frame

Spre

ad G

rids

Cover Option 1: Inspired by David Carson

Cover Option 2: Inspired by Frank Gehry

chaos theory by jamie brisick

Which i s to say tha t there i s a lo t o f

chance and chaos theory in Carson’s work ,

bu t somehow the ch ips or the cards or the

drops o f co f fee fa l l in per fec t d i sorder.

David Carson read the handbook of ‘good’ graphic design. Then he

tore it up, rewrote the rules and found a way to leave his mark.

David Carson is an internationally acclaimed graphic designer who hit hard in the

early nineties with Beach Culture and Ray Gunmagazines. His work was intuitive,

daring, loose. He revolutionised the font game and turned traditional typographical

design theory on its head. And by fusing sophisticated, conceptual ideas with

child-like simplicity, he became an art star in a medium that’s generally considered

background. His first book, with Lewis Blackwell, The End of Print, is the top-selling

graphic design book of all time.Newsweek wrote that he “changed the public face

of graphic design.” London-based Creative Review called him “the most famous

graphic designer on the planet”. And David Byrne, Nine Inch Nails and Bush

contracted his unique eye to design their wares, as did Pepsi, Toyota and Microsoft.

But his visual work is only part of it. He lectures internationally, and has garnered a

cult following. He is a lifelong surfer and doting father. I met him in 2001 when we

worked together on Big Surf, an NY-spawned single-issue magazine. His downtown

studio was a mess. Never in my life had I seen so many icons on a single computer

screen. He seemed to be juggling fifty jobs. I was concerned about our deadline, the

precious art sent in by contributors that lay scattered haphazardly about his floor,

whether he even cared. We were a couple of month’s late with the issue, but of

course it won design awards, and is still talked about today.

Some years back he moved his business into a small studio on Pacific Coast Highway

in Malibu. A few yards down the road was a peculiar sign: it read ‘DRUNK DRIVER’

in black, block text, with ‘CALL 911’ just below. Carson marvelled at it. When it

came time to put up a sign of his own he copied the exact font, colour, shape and

scale: ‘GRAPHIC DESIGNER CALL 457-5652’.

David Carson Article

You were a teacher before you were a graphic

designer. How did you make the shift?

I was teaching my first year at a strange little cult religious

school in Oregon. I had grades one through twelve all day, in

one room. When they had a question to ask they either raised

an American flag or a Christian flag, depending on what kind of

question it was. Strange experience! Anyway, I got a postcard

announcing a two-week graphic design workshop during the

summer, and it described what they would be studying. It was for

high school seniors. I read the description and thought, ‘Wow,

that’s a profession? You can be creative, have fun, make stuff and

get paid?’ So I called and asked the school, University of Arizona

in Tucson, if I could come, and they said, ‘Sure.’

I returned to Southern California when I was done teaching, where

I had secured a job with Nancy Katin [Katin surf trunks]. I worked

for a few weeks, not positive if I was really going to the graphic

design workshop or not. Finally I told my boss, Nancy Katin, that I

needed two weeks off in the middle of the summer to attend this

workshop. She told me if I left for the workshop, I would not have

a job when I returned. That made the decision a bit more difficult,

but somehow I felt I had to try this graphic design thing. And I did.

Luckily, I had a very cool, funny and good guy instructor, Jackson

Boelts. It’s hard to say if I would have been as interested had I had

a loser teacher. But at the end of those two weeks it was so clear

to me: That’s what I wanted to do.

Your graphic design work soon expanded into giving

talks and lectures. Now it seems your renowned for

both. And the talks seem to attract far more than

just the visual arts crowd…

My next book is called The Rules of Graphic Design, but it’s really

much more than that. I think it’s about creativity and trusting

yourself and using who you are in your work, whatever that work

is. One of the early criticisms of my work was that it was ‘self-

indulgent’ and I’d say, ‘Hell yeah it is, I’m totally into it, I’m totally

absorbed in it, and part of me hopes it gets recognised and I

wouldn’t want somebody working for me who wasn’t just as into it.’

Early on in my career someone wanted me to talk to this group of

high finance, venture capitalist people, and I was just kind of dreading

it, thinking, ‘What will I have in common with these people?’ And

what struck me afterwards is how almost all of them came up to get

a book signed or to make a comment and I thought, ‘Whoa, there is a

bigger message here than just putting type on top of type!’

How do you like being a father?

I love it, and I love kids. It’s a l ittle tough because when I was

in New York their mother moved them away, and has moved

them around ever since, l ike nine different states in eight

years. But one of the things I’m very proud of is that I have

a very close relationship with my two kids, Luci just turned

eleven, and Luke is twelve.

I gave a lecture in New York two weeks ago, and it was the

first time either of my kids had heard me lecture. It was kind

of a big deal, I was a little nervous about it. I got them special

treatment, front row seats, bought ‘em drinks. It went really

good, and afterward they had a Q&A, and I was shocked to see

my twelve-year-old son raise his hand, and they brought him the

microphone and he said, ‘Well, I have three comments I wanted

to make. Number one, I really enjoyed the show. And number two,

I didn’t realise you were so funny, Dad. And number three, why

were there more pictures of Luci than me?’

There’s a story I heard you tell at one of your talks

about kids being innately creative…

I think every kid is an artist and it gradually gets beaten out of

them as they grow up. ‘No, Billy, cows aren’t purple,’ that kind

of stuff. And I always remember this study where a teacher went

into a first grade class and asked, ‘How many of you are artists?’

And of course the whole class raises their hands. Then he goes

to second grade and asks the same question and gets the same

results, the stuff is hanging on the fridge, the parents love it, all

kids raising their hands. But by the time he gets up to sixth or

seventh grade and asks the same question, only a couple of kids

raise their hands. It’s been beaten out of the rest of them.

Jamie Brisick

Frank GehryBY ULTAN GUILFOYLE, SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY

The Dancing House

Frank Gehry loves to sketch. It is the beginning of his

architectural process. From Gehry’s sketches flow the models,

one after another, each a refinement, that will eventually become

finished buildings unlike any others in the architectural world.

I t is this sketch qual ity, what he cal ls the “tentativeness,

the messiness,” that Gehry cl ings to as a way of guarding

against formula or repetit ion. And it is this sketch qual ity

that Sydney Pol lack was so keen to explore in the f i lm

SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY, seen on AMERICAN MASTERS.

Beginning with Gehry’s own original sketches for each

major project, Pol lack’s f i lm explores Gehry’s process of

turning these evanescent, abstract drawings into tangible,

three-dimensional form: f inished bui ldings of t i tanium and

glass, concrete and steel, wood and stone. Working closely

with his col leagues, Gehry takes his sketch ideas and, as

quickly as possible, makes them three-dimensional, the

better to see how his bui ldings work, how they f i t with their

neighbors, how they function in the most essential way.

Model after model is scanned into a sophist icated computer

and rendered into working drawings.

Speaking of these models and the plans in the f i lm, Gehry

says, “We constantly go back and forth between the models

and the drawings, because (pointing to the drawings) i f this

doesn’t work, that doesn’t work!”

Frank Gehry is that rare kind of architect who has garnered

both critical acclaim and popular fame. Not since Frank Lloyd

Wright has an architect been such a household name. Gehry’s

designs dramatically blur the line between art and architecture,

yet the strong appeal of his sculptural designs does not obscure

the role of function. He follows a painstaking process of subtle

vision and revision both in his sketches and in his model shop.

It is a common misconception that Gehry’s buildings

are constructed as mere containers, built for the sake of

their form. In truth, the buildings are built from the inside

out. Wooden block massing studies are constructed and

reconstructed in step with Gehry’s own evolving sketches.

Gestural models of cardboard, wood, and cloth act as

intermediaries, keeping Gehry conscious of the three-

dimensional implications. The process, as Gehry admits in the

fi lm, forces him to “work in two or three scales at once.” This

forces him to forget about the model as an “object of desire”

and instead to concentrate on how the building works.

Based in Santa Monica, Gehry works with a formidable

team of architects and model makers to bring his sketches

to l i fe. The result ing structures are imbued with the dynamic

energy of Gehry’s or iginal sketches and with the improbable

nature of his study models. The inter iors are both grand

and unpredictable at once. This process is perhaps best

i l lustrated by his two seminal works: the 1978 renovation

of his own house, what has since come to be known as the

Gehry Residence, and the Walt Disney Concert Hal l in Los

Angeles, opened in October 2003.

The work he did on his own house brought him recognit ion

throughout the wide architectural community, i f not any

publ ic acclaim. In the f i lm, Gehry remembers his or iginal

approach to what would, in a way, define him as an

architect: “Berta found the house. I t was comfy and had

a l i t t le garden and we could afford it . When I bought i t , I

real ized I had to do something to it before we moved in. I

loved the idea of leaving the house intact and not messing

with it . I came up with the idea of bui lding the new house

around it .”

“We were told there were

ghosts in the house.

I decided the ghosts

were ghosts of cubism.”

It is a classic piece of Gehry understatement, and of Gehry

humor. He didn’t mess with the old house. Instead, he reworked

the architecture in the most radical way, leaving the original

house almost intact so that it became a house within a house,

where one wall of his new kitchen is the clapboard wall of the

original house, complete with windows, moldings, and wood

details. In the film, the camera moves from the living room (the

old house) to the kitchen (the new house), dramatically revealing

the bravura of Gehry’s inside-out gesture.

Gehry’s house was a way of bringing together his love of art

and his growing confidence as an architect. His love of Picasso

and of cubism is expressed in the shapes of the windows and

chain-link fences that surround the house. As he says in the film,

“We were told there were ghosts in the house. I decided the

ghosts were ghosts of cubism.”

Gehry and his wife, Berta, raised a family in this house, where

they still live, a thirty-year testament to the fact that, for all the

artistic flourishes of his ideas, Gehry’s architecture works, in the

most practical and fundamental way.

When the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003, it was

quickly recognized as perhaps his greatest work-and again, for

reasons, first and foremost, of functionality. The acoustics of the

hall were widely praised, not least by the musicians in the Los

Angeles Philharmonic, under maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Salonen worked closely with Gehry on the design of the hall,

and he describes Gehry’s approach in the film: “No matter how

great the design is, if it doesn’t sound great, it’s going to be a

failure. Frank was very clear about this from the beginning. He

said, ‘This is a hall for the orchestra, and this is a building for

music. And that has to be the first priority, and everything else is

of lesser importance.’ And I thought this was quite a statement

from an architect.”

In the three years since its opening, the Walt Disney Concert

Hall has become one of the great performance venues in the

world, and not just for its acoustics. It has become a symbol of

downtown Los Angeles as a center of culture.

Comparisons between the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Walt

Disney Concert Hall are inevitable. They were designed more or

less at the same time, although the Guggenheim opened some

six years earlier than the Walt Disney Concert Hall, in 1997. The

comparisons go beyond the obvious flamboyance of the shapes

and the functionality of the spaces. SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY

shows Gehry’s concern for the people who live and work in his

buildings, and how his buildings function as spaces for people:

how they embrace and envelop the people in and around them,

and how that embrace is returned.

This is a unique quality of Gehry’s works, and just one reason

his fame is so widespread and universal. People feel welcome in

his buildings; they feel, as artist Julian Schnabel says in the film,

encouraged. Sydney Pollack’s shots of visitors ambling in and

around the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall are

reminders of how connected people feel to Gehry’s architecture. This,

for an architect, is the most welcome validation of all.

Ultan Guilfoyle

Frank Gehry Article



Lauren Wade

Documents