The Project of Olympic Proportions - Thumbnails

After the completion of our projects dealing with pictographs, our visual communication class needed to move on. We spent a day or so learning the basic ins and outs of In Design. It seems like a really neat program. I can definitely see how handy it would be for multiple page layouts. We have the option for using it in our next project, but I'm going to see how far I can go in AI first.

Our assignment is to develop a 8.5" x 11" poster for one of the events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. We need to include some of the game's history, the rules, and the times of broadcast for here in the United States.

Naturally, the first step of the design process is to come up with a batch of thumbnail sketches as a method of brainstorming. I chose three different sports with which to come up with 20 different poster designs. First, I chose soccer because of my love for the sport. My other choices were archery and table tennis. Archery because I've always thought it was pretty cool, and ping pong because I think it's under appreciated.

I like my thumbnails on the whole. On the whole, I think these are stronger than my last bunch. I particularly liked most of the soccer ones. The only problem is that I felt that they would be more successful if they were designs for the FIFA World Cup (ex. the one where it is the world fading into a soccer ball). After talking with Adrienne, I decided to work with the design that placed an image of China in place one of the panels on a soccer ball ( It would be even better if we were working with France, but you can't have everything).

As for the archery and ping pong designs, I think that the designs chosen were definitely the best available (the quiver and the math problem). All that remains to do now is to develop these into some rough designs for Friday 29th.

The Pictograph Project - Finished Product

So, after several several changes to both of my designs, I completed my designs to about my satisfaction. There is still the part of me that feels that things could be a little better, but I'm sure things will be smoother as I grow accustomed to using Adobe Illustrator.

There isn't too much to say about the changes I made to the jellyfish design. I made the person swimming as planned, and had him/her being stung. Otherwise, the only main difference is that I rotated some of the jellies in the background to give it a more natural feeling. Difficulties I ran into were getting the proportions of the swimmer's limbs correct. I feel that this feels about right however. There was also an issue with getting the water to act transparent, but with Adrienne's assistance the problem was resolved.

As for the pictograph dealing with shoes, the redesign went much more smoothly. Here the biggest problem was getting and outline around the arm. It took a lot of playing with the pen tool to get it right. The only problem I have with the finished work is that I wish I could have overlapped the shoes a little bit. I tried for a long while to figure out how to trace the edge of the shoe in white, but ended up settling for the design seen here.

There were little problems here and there, but for the most part I think that the project went smoothly. It was definitely a good way to become accustomed to using a new design program before moving onto more complex projects later in the semester.

The Pictograph Project - Comp Images

The Pictograph Project - Comps

In the end I chose to work with the jellyfish design and the "X-ray shoes". Through out the entire comp process, I was having some difficulty in adjusting to using Adobe Illustrator. There were (and still are) times when I long(ed) for the simplicity of something like Microsoft paint, that would allow me to draw a line, and I could make it whatever color I darn well pleased. I know that I can do this in AI as well, but I haven't figured that part out yet.
For the Jellyfish design, I went with two different ideas. One was supposed to represent a person treading water that was contained scads of jellyfish (or sea jellies, to be biologically correct). This took a little bit of work but in truth it wasn't that difficult. The hardest part was making a human figure that looked like he/she was actually treading water. I felt that I had succeeded but I would later find out that it my human looked like an infant and caused unnecessary stress in viewers. The second design was a person standing in chest-deep water (something I thought everyone did but once again I find myself in the minority. Wave-jumping people!), and this person would be depicted as being stung by a jelly fish. My major problem with this design was the fact that my person looked too boxy. After our critique today, it was decided that for my final design I should combine certain elements of the two while adding new ones. I'm going to keep the deep water, but make the person swimming as opposed to treading water. In addition to swimming, he/she would also be stung. I think this has a lot of potential. (I also plan to give the person more adult-sizes proportions.)
I also came up with two designs for my "X-ray shoes". First, I designed a simple pictograph with a person standing by a basin with a shoe over it. I placed an arrow under the shoe to emphasize that the shoe was intended to be put in the bin. Simple enough. For the second one, I kept the same general principal, but moved it to the lower left corner. This allowed me some space to put a guard and a metal detector in the background. I meant for this to indicate the idea of placing your shoes in the bin to be x-rayed before going through the metal detector. During our critique however, I learned some interesting things. Based on the comments I received, I decided to make these changes:
1) Have the person holding the bin (implies personal ownership/action)
2)Make it a pair of shoes (Yes, the TSA wants to look at both, not just one)
3) Have the person carrying/setting down the bin to/on the conveyor belt (to give passerby more context of what they should be doing)

I think that this will work out well, but we'll see...

I'll post the images of my comps tomorrow.

The Pictograph Project - The Beginning

In the initial stages of the pictograph project, I was a little unclear on just what I was supposed to do. Under the impression that I was trying to create an image akin to that of the "gas tank" shown to us in class, I endeavored to create a series of 30 thumbnails that tried to impart some great activist statement. My first series I created concerning one of my great interests, nuclear weapons. I've always had a horrific interest in these devices, and have expressed this in projects ranging from a Comp paper on non-proliferation and disarmament to a few pieces of artwork previously. I also created a series on global warming, but a little less successfully I'm afraid. Upon arriving to class, I discovered that I had misinterpreted my instructions, and was supposed to have created thumbnails for a series of different signage.
So I was under a little bit of a time crunch, but I think I came up with a few good ideas. At first I was having an extremely difficult time with thinking of subjects that would need signs. I finally hit upon water and water related activities. Some of my thumbnails, like the ones for water-skiing, no propellers, and banana boat rides, are much less successful or unoriginal than some of my others. Talking with Adrienne later, we decided I should focus on either the idea of jellyfish-infested waters, or perhaps working on an improved lifeguard symbol.
My next set I developed in class was based on my recent travel experiences. I traveled to Malta and Tunisia for J-term, and as my (sadly) first time abroad, there was a degree of confusion that (in retrospect) could have been simplified with a good sign. Things that would communicate ideas like have your passport ready, money-changer here, and wave-your-arms like-mad-to-actually-get-the-bus-to-stop would have been beneficial. However, we narrowed down the field to a depiction of putting your shoes through the X-ray machine or perhaps a symbol trying to impress that were "NO PUBLIC BATHROOMS!!!" Here are some images from my sketchbook of the thumbnails, I even included some of my activist ones.