#designassignment

For a recent college design assignment called "Mashup", we were asked to combine a profession and an object into a fictional brand with a visual identity. My group was given the words:

Profession: Musician Object: Location

We created MeloMap – a mobile app concept similar to Google Maps, but specifically for music lovers. It helps users discover live music concerts, festivals, and gigs happening around them, complete with real-time directions and schedules.

Our brand name "MeloMap" is a blend of "Melody" and "Map", representing how the app bridges the world of music and navigation.

Here's a preview of our logo and design work for MeloMap:

About the Logo:

The logo for MeloMap reflects the fusion of sound and space. We combined visual elements inspired by:

A location pin, representing direction and discovery

A musical note, symbolizing sound, rhythm, and concerts

The design is clean and modern, using curves and minimalist shapes to keep the logo versatile across app icons, banners, and marketing. We chose a harmonious color palette that reflects creativity and movement, mirroring the dynamic experience of live music exploration.

What We Learned:

This assignment taught us the power of creative thinking and collaboration. We learned how to:

Combine two unrelated ideas into one cohesive brand concept

Develop a visual identity that communicates a clear message

Think like brand creators and not just designers

Pitch and present an idea with both logic and imagination

It was a fun and insightful experience that showed how design can turn abstract ideas into something that feels real and usable.

Priscilla Navarro’s ( @pnavarr3design )  C&P#1

Priscilla used shape to make the common fates more recognizable. Color is also a big factor in her piece. Each shape has a different hue of purple, making them more cohesive to their patterns. She allows the circles to overlap the triangles which give them a more 3D aspect to their positioning. The more rectangular shapes follow a parallel form while the other two shapes follow a more curved direction. The title “Words Mean Nothing” most likely means that there is no need to speak when visual aid is given. Sometimes actions do speak more than words. The overall amount of movement without actual illustration of it happening does well to communicate her ideas. overall an amazing piece of art that cohesively shows movement and common fate.

Martin Alanis’s ( @zepvy ) C&P#1

Polpo 

Since this scene takes place in a hotel, I wanted to look at some places that fit the bill and are close by. 

This ballroom is at The Inn at St. John's in Plymouth: 

I like it because the brick gives it an old feel but the sunroof gives it a hip feel, and the balconies allow for us to get high angles. 

Here is a lower angle of the same room so you can see the sunroof. 

A place that was brought up at the producers' meeting was the Detroit Athletic Club. 

This room has a unique ceiling and the high awnings make it look classy. 

Boasting a similar feel and closer to home is the Michigan League ballroom. This might be too identifyingly Ann Arbor, but is also a nice ballroom. 

As far as a scene to pick for this week, the one that immediately came to mind was the apology scene in Mean Girls. In both this scene and our scene, women who have wronged others (and have been wronged themselves) address all of them as a whole and apologize. 

My scene for this week is from Friends' "The one the morning after." Ross and Rachel have taken "a break", and Ross sleeps with a girl named Chloe. He finds out there will be an unexpected visit from Rachel, and then this happens (start at 0:50): 

  In this scene, Ross' inability to keep a straight face and his hilariously awkward attempt at hiding something could be paralleled by Graham/David. Our scene won't have had a whole prior episode to set up this moment, but we still want the audience to feel a similar sense of "oh no!" when the magazine with Kyle on it is found. 

The other thing I wanted to talk about is the location for the a bar scene that happens afterwards. I am assuming we'll film this in Ann Arbor, but here are a couple Chicago bars that I think feel the vibe: 

Billy Sunday (Logan Square): 

The Punch House (Pilsen): 

Celeste (River North):