#whatislanguage

In my Chaucer class at my university, we were all talking about the Friar and how he was well-fed and portly even though he was supposed to be against excess and whatnot. Instead of writing “he was well-fed/fat/large” in my notes, I instead wrote, exactly:

he t h i c c 

For the second and third part of this project, we were required to make a Photo Essay and Process Book. The Photo Essay consisted of pictures that showed the progress of building our letters, as well as the final outcome and the locations we photographed them at. The Photo Essay was a lot of fun to create, especially with being able to print at Jayhawk Ink, which was really cool! The Process Book was fine to make too, as well as extremely nice to print off at Jayhawk Ink as well. 

Finishing of Project II - What is Language?

First and Second Image - The main location that we as a group picked for our word CHANGE. It’s placed in front of the visitor’s center, and the 2nd image is all of us as a group posed with our project.

Third Image - Our word in front of the Visitor’s Center.

Fourth Image - Some random students who wanted to pose with our letters in front of Daisy Hill Commons! This is one of my favorite pictures of our word, it was cool to see how other kids interacted with the letters!

Fifth Image - Our word placed in front of current Jay in front of the Union. This was a cool location since the Union is such a popular place to students, and it was also neat to see how students would walk by our word and glance at it, curious and such as to why it was even there! 

Working of Project II - What is Language?

First Image - Letter N and G finally finished with the in progress painting of the current Jayhawk on letter E.

Second Image - In progress painting of the letter E done by me!

Third Image - By the end of the night, Sarah and I had wrapped up the making of letter C, N, G, and E! Along with the letter E painting being finished!

How do I fit within the graphic design industry? I have an obsession with the aesthetically pleasing. Forms that are interesting to look at. We have been talking about stylizing for a bit in this class, and I worried for a little while that I was moving in the direction of stylist. Eugh, stylist. Making things look superficially pretty for no reason other than it's own vanity.

But, the more my fear grew of becoming this stylist thing, the more realized I absolutely am not and never will be one. I have a very specific idea of what I do not want to be as a designer, therefore it won't happen. Ever.

As a designer I make things pretty. But I do not make them pretty for the sake of making them pretty. Pretty things, visually compelling designs, capture attention and communicate information in a way that boring, ugly designs cannot. Nobody wants to look at boring design. But if a design is pretty it automatically makes people more interested in the content. It isn't the information that turns people off, it is the way the information is presented. The presentation is key.