Introduction
Graphic designing is the act of incorporating several ideas technically with the sole purpose of producing a visually appealing document. These documents may appear in the form of posters, mostly employed in businesses during promotion activities. This paper brings to light the process of graphic design.
Process of Graphic Design
To illustrate this process, I choose to use a self-promotional poster to show the idea of how I process design by using the idea of a flower blooming. When I start the design process, I start with the question “Why?” This forms the basis of the design brings to light the problem that the designer wishes to solve. The next part of my thought process is the question of “So?” This question triggers the mind of the designer into coming up with the possible working ideas that can help answer the initial question of “why?” The designer can now start putting the ideas (why) together as well as creating design drafts. The next step in my thought process is “Therefore.” This part of the project includes collecting ideas from previous efforts, picking the ones, which work the best. The ideas are then fine-tuned before execution by the designer. The designer, as discussed next, also takes the subject of form and gesture into account.
Form and Gesture
What is a gesture? In graphic design, gesture, viewed as an act, behavior, manner, or an approach to form, is employed to define and give meaning to the form. A chair can serve as an illustration of this issue of gesture. When does it pass for a chair? Can I call it a chair before I sit on it or use it as a chair? Before I sit on it, it can be anything else. It can be a table or a house. Therefore, a gesture has it that it is only after one uses an object to serve a particular function that its name becomes valid. I think that gestures can manipulate the original meaning or the definition of objects themselves. For the case of my design, I created a series of bowls from paper (the material) and experimented with different gestures (inks). The poster made during a Romanian festival held in the year 2010 will illustrate this.
MAFF 2010
This is a poster for Metrion Animation Film Festival held in Oradea, Romania. The theme of the festival was the tower of Babel and how the tower could be reflected in contemporary times. I employed a lot of creativity in coming up with the design for the letters MAFF targeting aligning them with the theme of the festival. I made MAFF letters with contemporary construction images and arranged letters like the tower so that the letters expressed the feeling of the present-day tower of Babel. The HGK Diplom Exhibition is another poster heavy laden with graphic design techniques.
HGK 2010 Diplom Exhibition
The objective was to design the 2010 Diplom Exhibition poster and invitation for the FHNW. This poster shows the interaction between a graduate student and people who come to the exhibition. I took a photo of a student walking through the door with her poster and printed it on a big sheet of paper. She holds the print piece at the same spot where the photo is taken. Therefore, it creates double meaning. One of them is the interaction between people while the other is the presentation of their artwork. Does imagination play any role in graphic design?
Across Island
The objective was to create an island based on the information and my imagination. Across is the Greek word for the acropolis, meaning “highest city” or “city on the edge.” This implies that the island is located at the highest point in the world, the North Pole. Based on this information, I created history and scenery for Acros making it appear as natural as possible.
Volta Mitte
The objective was to create a series of posters, which display the architecture of VoltaMitte, a new mixed-use urban planning project in Basel. Each poster displays a different theme using distinct shapes and a custom typeface based on the triangular architectural elements of Volta Center, a residential building within VoltaMitte’s campus. The custom Voltamitte font is based on Voltamitte’s unique floor plan. Every letterform has a thin and thick line that represents the steel-frame structure of the architecture. The poster on the left illustrates the building’s triangular architectural footprint. Die-cutting allows the background surface (form) to show through, and a folded paper element creates triangular shadows depending on the daylight. A poster was made describing a visual district around the building using a series of straight lines. Fluid lines within the triangle form were incorporated to represent communication in the district.