Category: Graphic Design

Technique Development ⬆️

Defining the project:

For this project, I need to create a lyric poster for one of the songs I enjoy. The objective is to experiment with lettering and learn the role of typography in graphics design.  Through the development of this project, I hope to hone my understanding of the design element of type. By exploring fonts, sizes, and arrangements, I hope to create a lyric poster that is both visually pleasing and demonstrates an adequate amount of skill.

Inspiration Padlet: I was most inspired by the orange album cover color scheme and the Fall+champagne colors color scheme. I think it conveyed the mood of the song very effectively. In addition, I was inspired by the poster of a festival in Macau. I really liked the way they combined typography and illustrations.

Link to song:

Final product:

My poster emphasized the element of type and the principle of contrast. The element of type is reflected in the selection of font and arrangement of letters. The song, in general, is very calm, which is why I chose to use mainly neutral colors. However, in order to emphasize certain words that link to the theme of the song, I used a contrasting bright orange to appeal to the viewer’s eyes. Broken glass is added to connect the poster to the meaning of the lyric: “Your heart was glass I dropped it”. The connection between the meaning of the lyrics and the poster can further enhance the communication of the mood of the song. In addition, I used two different fonts to represent the two contrasting emotions in the lyrics. I used the font “Dear Sunshine” for the verse: “Your heart was glass…” because the font resembles hand-written fonts, which is something really personal, like the story the verse is telling. On the contrary, I chose to use a script/cursive font for the lyrics: “Champagne problems”. Champagne problems refer to the problems that are complex to an individual but not cumbersome to society. The script font reflects the complex part of the definition and the sinking motion of the letters reflects the helpless and resigned tone of the verse.

The process of song selection: I chose my song based on the color scheme I wanted to follow. I wanted to follow a fall color scheme consisting of mainly red, orange, yellow, and green. I thought of the artist Taylor Swift and her two albums Folklore and Evermore as I think both albums consist of songs that depict the autumn season very well. I eventually settled on the song Champagne Problems.

I created numerous rough sketches of potential arrangements of the letters,

I made four more detailed sketches and chose to combine two of them to make my final project. I wanted my poster to show correlation to the lyrical meaning of the song as well as have typography that reflects the song’s style.

Feedback: I received feedback both from a classmate and the teacher. The first two pieces of feedbacks were feedback received in the earlier stages of the project. Due to the fact that my initial design is hand-drawn in ProCreate, the typographical elements I later added in affinity seem to contrast the style, making it less appealing to the audience. I proceeded to refine the drawing and traced the different parts using the pen tool to create a digital version of the wine glass. In addition, I added text in the background to emphasize the element of type more in my poster. In the later stages, Mr. Griffin gave me the suggestion to emphasize certain words using different colors. I sampled multiple color schemes from Adobe color and found the color scheme that best contrasts my background to emphasize words.

PNG.

Design Principle Poster – Contrast – PDF for print

• What is the role of elements & principles in graphic design?                          Elements are used to compose a graphic design, and principles are the arrangement of different elements to create a visual effect.
• What is this design task all about?                                                                          This design task aims to deepen our understanding of a specific element or principle and familiarize ourselves with the application of the element of principle in a graphic design.
• Why did you design your illustration this way?                                                    I wanted to express as many ways of contrast as possible using multiple aspects such as shape, color, size, and position. The square frame, the circle, and the triangle all contrast each other by being the three basic geometric shapes. The blue, yellow, and purple are triadic colors on the color wheel, which demonstrates a strong visual impact by heavily contrasting one another. The difference in the size of the circle and the size of the triangle also shows a different contrast. Finally, I changed the outer and inner shadows of the shapes to bring them out and push them in to contrast the position of the shapes.
• 
• my first drafts for the design elements on paper
• My initial five design drafts for contrast in ProCreate
• The feedback I received from my partner for the first revision. My peer provided me their opinions on which designs communicated the theme the most effectively, and which designs looked most visually appealing. We eventually agreed/decided upon the two designs (the underlined ones). The black and white design showed great contrast in a very traditional way, and immediately communicated the principle of contrast very well. However, the use of color is not as prominent as in the black and white design than the final design. In addition, we think that the contrasting colors add another layer/aspect of contrast to the design, which further enhances the effective communicating.  The initial draft of the final design. I made a lot of changes in color to maximize the contrast. I was unhappy with how the colors looked in the first draft as I found it not contrasting or appealing to the eye. After many tries and changes, I settled on blue, yellow, and purple.

What is Graphic Design? A visual design that is targeted to communicate certain messages and ideas. Graphic design can present in various forms from logos, typography, to visual effects and animations.

What inspires me about design? How a variety of ways and forms of ideas can be represented/presented.

What are my favorite design examples? Simplistic fonts that are gentle on the eye. Creative logos that communicate/advertise multiple aspects with one picture/icon. Animations combining real-life elements with doodles.

Who are my favorite designers? Vladimir Tomin，

What would I like to get better at doing as a designer? Effectively communicate ideas and messages with simple designs. Experiment with different strands of graphic design.

What do you already do pretty well? I am very comfortable with creative doodling.

Portfolio poster:

Process:

Initial draftIllstrating characterBackground+details

Reflection:

How does the Style of my Poster Reflect Who I am?                                                   My style of freehand art and use of overall pastel colors reflect my sense of style as well as part of my personality. I chose to use pastel colors because it brings a sense of comfort and unification. I chose a more abstract style of art because I wanted to experiment with the different styles of cartoons from different animations I enjoy.

Some Design Decisions?                                                                                                          I notable design decision I made was to create an illusion of poster art inside a poster art. I was inspired by a template I saw on canvas and thought that it would be a creative idea to execute. I was also inspired by a children’s book I read when I was young, which is why my words were embedded into the giant bubble the girl was blowing. I also created a pink background with a variety of candies with vibrant colors to create a candy-themed background that corresponds with the pink bubble-gum bubble.

Successes and Challenges?                                                                                                     I was primarily challenged by what I could do to give the cartoon character elements of myself so I could be recognized when my acquaintances look at this piece of design. Despite the challenge, I was successful in creating a portrait that had its own style and uniqueness.