In the narrative unit of Design, we focused primarily on portraying the stories of others through digital images and photography. We explored in greater depth how to manipulate typography to aid us in storytelling. I did street photography for the first time and found it interesting because of the need to quickly discern how to frame a shot to portray a certain perspective.

 

Street Photography

I was challenged to go out on the streets and surreptitiously take shots of people or ask them to pose for the camera. Although I initially was hesitant to do street photography out of fear of being noticed, I eventually became really taken by it. Before doing this exercise, I had never stopped to closely observe what other people did and acted like in public. Please enjoy some examples of my street photography below.

man making phone call

 

Citizen Diptych

My lyrical essay, “Swathes,” concerns an Indian immigrating to America in early adulthood; in writing this essay, I learned more about fighting the feeling of displacement in order to succeed and become integrated into the “land of opportunity.” 

I chose my photograph to exemplify this passage from my essay: “You can make something of yourself, a firecracker lying in wait.” The viewer sees past the chain fence located in the foreground of the photograph, representing a person’s desire to leave the confines of where they currently are to expand their scope of possibilities. I shot the photograph from a low angle to emphasize the formidability of the fences, or the challenges belying the path to fulfilling one’s dreams. The subject has just started their walk through the passageway, and her position in the light communicates the hope of immigrants as they begin their own journeys. Although the end of the passageway (which also is the opening to beyond) is narrow, the prospect of being integrated into a larger institution – the building in the background – is great enough to propel my subject forward. 

My photograph was edited in Adobe Photoshop. I first used the magnetic lasso tool to select my subject and transported the selection to another layer. I then applied a black and white filter to the photograph, specifically targeting reds so that the details of the fence more visible. Using the gradient map tool, I lightened the area around my subject to create a vignette. To ensure that my colorized selection would not look too garish, I desaturated the subject. Additionally, there was a distracting spot of light that drew attention away from the subject, so I used the color complement of the spot and layered multiple brush strokes with varying opacity to tone it down. The font I chose is block-y to affirm the resoluteness of immigrants to succeed. I used the transformation warp tool to place my text.

Resolute

 

Product Label & Product Triptych

I was inspired by Art Nouveau to include a die cut in my label; die cuts emphasize lines and details well and add an organic element to geometric shapes. Due to my desire to have a die cut, I made sure to design my logo with lines in mind. Since the company is called “Cabbie Coffee,” I thought that the brand would be better geared towards younger people and therefore drew my logo in a modern, cartoon style. My color palette is deeply saturated and my lines dynamic to convey an energetic and urban feeling. I chose a roughly textured font to contrast the minimalism in the rest of the label. 

 The first step in my process was to research various label styles. Some of the styles I took note of were Art Nouveau, retro, and vintage. After deciding that I wanted to incorporate elements of Art Nouveau in my label, I then began to sketch out logo ideas with the company name included. My peers helped me to settle upon “Cabbie Coffee” as the company name. After selecting and coloring my favorite idea in my sketchbook, I then used Adobe Illustrator to digitize the drawing using the pen, brush, and blend tools. To select a font, I tested out around ten fonts downloaded from the Internet before settling on my final font. I experienced some difficulty figuring out text placement of the product information, and ultimately decided to manually place and rotate certain characters to resolve kerning (the space between letters) issues; the end result was well-spaced characters that followed a smooth curve.

I learned that font and art style should be chosen carefully, as both can influence a consumer’s impression of the product and brand. What I chose to place my label on mattered too. As seen in my mockup triptych, I chose a tote bag and a mug as additional merchandise items because they are relevant to the younger crowd I was primarily focused on.

Product Label for Cabbie Coffee

 

Product Triptych for Cabbie Coffee

 

Movie Poster

The synopsis of the story that I invented for “Fractals” is as follows: The protagonist, a photographer, goes at night to explore an abandoned hospital and gets cool shots. Strangely enough, one of the operating rooms has all of the medical devices and lights on. The second that the protagonist touches the operating lamp, a ripple travels through everything. Spooked, the protagonist runs out only to find that the hospital is not the same as it was before, and the same operating room is gone. Fragments of a hospital from the past, present, future, and from other dimensions have taken over, and the protagonist gets increasingly lost. Each time she touches a fragment, some of her soul gets left behind. She must find a way to escape without losing herself in another dimension. The scene I depicted in my movie poster is where the protagonist tries to photograph what she doesn’t realize is a portal, leading to her arm and camera being transported into another dimension. I created my movie poster art in Adobe Illustrator after sketching it in my notebook and edited the title block (at the bottom of the poster) in Adobe Photoshop. 

My poster was influenced by the works of a Brutalist Italian architect, Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978). Scarpa appeals to me because despite building his designs of only concrete and glass, he still manages to infuse a sense of mystery and calmness into his works. I tried to reflect some characteristic design components of Scarpa’s buildings (e.g., repeating step elements and strong angles) in my poster; by doing this, I hoped to emulate the eeriness of his works.

 

Magazine Advertisement

An extraordinary amount of money is funneled into the advertisement industry each year. I got to try my hand at advertisement by creating a magazine spread ad for my product, Cabbie Coffee. To do research for this project, I watched the ads of various TV shows and learned persuasive techniques that fell under Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. I created the ad primarily on Adobe Illustrator, incorporating a mockup that I cleaned up in Adobe Photoshop.

My Ad for Cabbie Coffee