A Portfolio in Progress

What Next 2014 - Graphic Design Senior Exhibition

whatnext2014.tumblr.com

This is a wedding invitation that I set for a client. Design direction was by Michael, I set all of the type.

This is the final composition for the internal pages of the Gladiola type specimen. This is Michael's layout design, I set all of the type on these pages.

Hermann Zapf specimen final version.

On Friday I did some more work on the Gladiola specimen for Interrobang. These are show casing some of Interrobang's ornament as well as the Gladiola typeface.

I wasn't quite sure how I was going make the illustration playful, yet. I returned to the idea of spanking, which I find ironic because it was the first erotica novel I had looked at and scoffed at, visually. I thought spanking would be a nice way to show kink using watercolor, because I could just add a tinge of pink to the skin color. It wouldn't have to be too dramatic or scary looking, and spanking doesn't require one to buy any toys, which I think individuals that are less experienced with sex positivity or sex play can be made uncomfortable by.

I'm not much of an illustrator myself but after looking at Picasso's line drawing (realistic but not cute) and revisiting Favre's work (too edgy), I ended up trying to make a heart shaped butt - because how cute is that a heart shaped butt anyway. I also got the inspiration from traditional style tattoo culture, which I found appropriate to reference for the counter culture kinksters.

I was left with the question of classy kink, counter culture kink or a typographic approach that was minimal and referenced neither?

I left this question in my notebook and retired to bed where, once I shut off the light and was dozing off (of course), I got my next train of thought.

When I first started looking for pornography, I started with a source that I am familiar with: fuckyeahsexeducation.tumblr.com. I only started here and not google because I felt like I would yield some of the more consent-informed, sex positive kink on the internet instead of, maybe, run-of-the-mill not-so-feminist porn.

I found what I was looking for in a pretty awesome site called QueerPorn.tv. It was a good jumping off point. Between that an the E4RL porn blog, I came to realize that are two main schools of thought that I can follow here in the porn world: classy kinky or counter-culture kinky.

Counter culture has been popularized more and more in the media lately, with groups such as Suicide Girls adding to the public's perceived normality of "rebellious" things that were once super taboo like tattoos. (I'm not implying that SG is particularly awesome group to endorse from the feminist standpoint, either, just saying they have contributed to a newly accepted aesthetic of "sexy").

Classy kinky is one we have known for a little while, especially since pornography and sexuality have become more accepted in society in general. It has do with a certain aesthetic of lipstick, and pearl necklaces, and stockings, and high heels. There is money and luxury in the classy kinky aesthetic, and it's probably what the general public is more comfortable with viewing. I'm referencing visual material in the media like the Secret Diary of a Call Girl poster, where she wears a perfectly pink feminine outfit and holds fuzzy handcuffs. Or the 50 Shades of Grey magazine cover, we can see our dom holding the classic silk tie, a tool for restraint.

When I first started researching what sort of materials in the porn/kink/sex publishing world already existed, I knew the best place for me to start was with Penguin's new edition of the Kama Sutra, illustrated by Malika Favre. She's a wonderful illustrator and I admired her approach to the risqué topic. I was hoping to continue induing clever examples of book covers after looking at her work, but it turns out that most books to do with sex have highly predictable designs.

From there what I found was generally either a literal representation of the content (photo of red bottom) or the opposite, something that mainly treated typographically with minimal photographic elements.