March 12, 2013
Design Paper
This is my paper I wrote after observing a photograph that is located is the SCAD Museum for extra credit.
(I cannot figure out how to attach a paper file onto my blog. So here’s my paper but not in paper form)
Museum of Art: Extra Credit Design Paper By: Lauren Davis
3.1.13
The photograph found in the SCAD Museum of Art captured by former student Jessica Rae Zeigler has many principles of design which makes it a successful piece. First off, the picture is very pleasing to easy but itʼs hard to understand why because it is such unique placement and concept. Variety is a key component in this photo, it has variety of color, shape, size, proportion, and placement. Repetition is also a main element in this photo. The circular shape is repeated throughout the four objects and lines are repeated through the brick wall the back ground and fore ground. Even though the red canister is a much larger object compared to the fruit the piece the piece still feels balanced because there are three fruits are spaced just far enough apart that it almost has the same width of the red canister which makes it appear balanced. The emphasis or focal of the piece is the red canister, the eye is immediately drawn to it. The eye is the drawn straight down the orange and then on to the two star fruits. Because of the simplicity of the piece the eye can easily travel back and forth through the piece. The photograph is an incredible use of economy. The photography could have easily been chaotic, confusing, and not visually appealing, but because of the simple editing and refining it became a very successful piece. The rhythm is this piece is quite unique. Rhythm is shown through the placement on the objects and the color of the objects. The three colors are red, orange, and green which are all three neighbors on the color wheel so they compliment either other very well and create rhythm. Another interesting thing about this piece is the contrast of colors. The entire background is a muted gray color scale and the four objects are brightly colored which creates an interesting contrast.
March 11, 2013
Sound Map
One of our recent explorations in design class was the “Sound Map” project. The assignment was to sit in one place for one hour and record everything you hear, where you hear it in relation to you, etc. Whenever we collected our data we could put it into what ever form or media we wanted. I chose to sit in Starbucks for one hour (which wasn’t hard at all) and then I chose to represent my date with a water color painting.
The circles around the edges represent the sounds and where they came from in relation to me; Me being the brain. And they are all color coated according to what part of the brain processes what. For example the color yellow represents the part of the brain that processes music, therefore the “Jazz music” and “80′s rock band” we colored yellow.
March 10, 2013
Map Project.
Ohhhhhh the map project, sigh*. Such a fun and interesting project this one.
We start out with the assignment of taking a map of any kind and completely destorying it. Doing literally anything we want with it. How fun is that!? I used lipstick, glue, tape, bleach, nail polish remover, paper clips, grape juice, coffee, scissors, my foot, shoving it in my backpack, let it be eaten and slept on by a cat, etc. Needless today this was a fun thing to do!
After we had throughly destroyed our maps, we were then told we had to represent out map and it’s process in any way shape or form we wanted to. This was definitely the most creative freedom we’ve been given in a long time! For me this was an easy conclusion to come to based on an event that took place in my life the day this project was assigned, so I took my emotions put them all into this project and I ended up being very fond of the results. When I was destroying my map I begin to like how destressed it became with nail polish remover and the coffee stains and the burning, so I took a vintage destressed look with me into my project. The arrow is made of foam board, covered with matte board, covered with burlap paper and hand written calligraphy about my story. The flames at the bottom are made from burning the edges of several different style maps. My critique notes were this one were all positive luckily. The class really liked how I took my feeling and literally made them into are and that they could easily see this in an exhibit or in a house. They also said it could have many different meaning and other could apply this in many different ways. Hope you enjoy looking at this project as much as I enjoyed creating it.
ABC & I23
For this project we were challenged to see the world through new eyes, eye’s of designers. We were told to find all the letter of the alphabet and the numbers one through nine that naturally occurred in the world around us. Meaning we can’t make a K with our fingers because we put that there, it has to naturally occur.
And we got to display it in any media we chose! I decided to go clean and simple with mine. I made a solid black and white poster for mine that I created with a collage program and printed at Staples. My focus was soley on defining each letter and that nothing distracted from the letters themselves, I wanted them to be clear and not abstract. My critique on this was one was a good critique overall! Everyone liked my decision to turn it black and white, and they liked that it was so clear to see the letters, no guessing. They liked how clean and simple the overall composition was as well. It turned out even better than I had hoped and I plan to put it in my room when the quarter is over!
Jack & Jill
Our next project we had in design project was definitely a fun one! The concept was the story of Jack and Jill but told using only a certain set of clip art and only using 6 panels. And if that wasn’t enough of a twist….it couldn’t just be normal ole’ “Jack and Jill” it had to be a new version/a new story ANDDDD it was a group project, which I actually enjoyed! We decided that our project would represent the story of Adam and Eve in reverse, meaning Adam “falls” before Eve. Because it was a group project, we had four peoples talent and skills coming together to make a great piece. The part that I contributed was first the story/concept, Christian Gallager was an important part of the group as well because he was able to take all the clipart and manipulate them to fit our design and print them all out for us to trace. I think I speak for the group when I say that the project wouldn’t have been as successful without him. A lot of the concepts, placements, and ideas were brought on by me Kaliegh; and Nick was very helping with the inking part of the project. I think it was more successful as a group project than I could have done alone, and I do feel that all of my ideas were heard and were taken into consideration/or into play. As far as the critique goes we had both positve and negative reviews. The negatives were that the imediate focal point was the bottom middle panel and that it took away from the others. Also they could tell that different people did different panels, meaning they weren’t all completely the same. They all LOVED our idea for the little leave clothes coverings and they loved the overall concept. They also enjoyed the hashtag and that we made our own characters. All in all I think it was a very successful project and we were pleased with the outcome.
The two panels that I drew and inked were the two on the bottom left corner.
February 11, 2013
Inspiration.
As a designer I often get my creative fuel from other designers, and one of the best ways to do that it by looking at their blogs. Websites and bios are helping, but nothing is as raw and as real as a blog. People pour themselves into their blogs and you get to see some of their methods behind the madness. Nowadays, blogs are very easy to find and very assessable, any and every type of blog. In my area of Interior Design there are definitely lots of incredible blogs out there too look at.
My absolute favorite blog in the entire world is that of Brock Davis. http://brockdavis.tumblr.com He inspired the entire year of my life that I spend doing my blog titled, “Project 365: Create something new everyday” http://cre8tionrevolution.wordpress.com He inspires me so much as a designer and challenges me to create art in every situation life offers, and to go beyond the limits of a conventional design. Any designer of any type can appreciate his work, it’s minimalistic, relatable, and so darn clever. I hope you guys enjoy his blog as much as I have!
Another one of the most inspiring and fun blogs to look at for me is Retail Design Blog. For me going into the field of Interior design with a focus in retail/hospitality design this blog is full of pure gold. It shows everything from hotel designs to even exhibit designs. Just looking around on this website makes my heart beat a little faster at the thought of one day being able to design and create places like this. http://retaildesignblog.net
February 4, 2013
Repetition Grid.
Our latest project in Design class was the “Repetition Grid” project.
When you see the picture of the final project you might think to yourself, “Self, that looks so easy! What is this girl talking about, that would only take me 15 minutes to do, Psh*!”
But unfortuntely that was not the case, it was a multiple step process.
So I’ll try & explain that process very quickly & simply.
1.Choose 2 shape and combine together to create a “motif” that is in a 1″ by 1″ or 2″ by 2″ square. My motif was a triangle with a rectangle in the side of it. (a.k.a An arrow) And I chose the 1″ by 1″ because I thought I could play more with the color/pattern.
2. Make a 10 by 10 grid and place motif on grid 5 times, each showing a different layout.
3.Pick favorite layout, glue it down, and use tracing paper to show 5 different ink plans.
4. Pick favorite inking plan, and trace it with another sheet of tracing paper and transfer it onto the illustration board.
5. Mark the graphite transfers with a pen, then paint each line with India Ink.
Phew* That was a mouth full. But all together it was a great project and I liked how mine came together and I loved seeing everyone else’s designs.
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- Motif
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- Motif Shuffle 1
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- Motif Shuffle 2
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- Motif Shuffle 3
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- Motif Shuffle 4
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- Motif Shuffle 5
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- Motif Shuffle 6
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- Ink Plan 1
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- Ink plan 2 (winner)
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- Ink Plan 3
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- Final Project
After it was as finished as art can be finished, it was critique time. Dun dun dun dun. My critique over all was not too bad, the main complaint was the craftsmanship, and I definitely agree. The way my arrows lined up with one another was off from the get-go, which resulted in the design being “off” all together. Looking back now I would have cheated the lines a little to make them all flesh. On a good note my design was received as a very creative approach and complex design, and a nice choice of no boarder because it allowed the piece to go beyond the four walls. In the end, I was pleased with my design and learned a lot about myself as a designer.
Thanks for reading!
Black Square Problem.
Today in class we did an “Exploration”, which is smaller than a project but still gets our creativity working.
This time we had to solve the “Black Square Problem”. The challenge was to take a flat black square of any size or medium and represent 6 different words.
Such as: order, increase, bold, congested, playful, & tension. This was our first time in Design class were we had to actually represent a word, so it was a fun project for me.
We started with doing thumbnail sketches to get some ideas out there, then procede with the final design. I chose to do mine with pen and Sharpie, just because it was most accessible.
If the photos appear too small to see clearly, feel free to click on them to make them bigger! 
January 21, 2013
Past Creations.
January 16, 2013
Re-Design
This is my “RE”design of the combination line design.
In the critique a lot was mentioned about things just being lost in space and not running off the page.
So I choose this one to re-do this one so it could take advantage of all the space.