Design and Other Nonsense

Let's talk about Design.

First of all, after 7 consecutive weeks of the three-hour long, two days a week torture method known as Design 105, I've actually (surprisingly) learned some things.

In Design 105, my intro to design class, I've had to crank out lots of projects, usually two a week: one on Adobe Illustrator, and one made in the studio. The studio project is usually made with painstakingly slow cuts, precise measurements, and about 5 monotonous hours that I totally didn't wanna spend doing anything else. Yeah.

But the Illustrator projects are usually quick and easy and take no more than 20 minutes for me to crank out 7 or 8 ideas and then refine the best one... Even though I have to stay in the classroom for all. three. hours.

Needless to say, this class has been challenging in the process aspect. It also has taught me WAY more about aesthetics than I'd ever dared to learn. Every project should look like a design, a logo, a pattern-- it can't resemble objects from real life. It's very challenging to create a design that will get me a good class grade that I'm personally pleased with, simply because design itself is so subjective. My first studio project, which took me a painful 6 hours, received a jaw-dropping B- (not everything that's jaw-dropping is good).

Honestly, this class has forced me to change my mindset about art. Design is more formulaic, more solution-driven. I have to use the elements I've learned to solve problems in the most creative way possible. Divergent thinking x 1,000,000.

This past week, I turned in my favorite project so far-- a line book. The prompts are as follows:

1. One dominant line, one subordinate line (visual weight)

2. Two lines which "dialogue"

3. Two lines of contrasting quality, one of which is implied

4. One horizontal, one vertical, and one line of your choice

5. A composition with a fast and slow line

6. One red line, one black line 

7. Different line widths. One black line, one red line

8. A title page with your name

My project wound up having 3 pages designed on Adobe Illustrator, and the rest crafted in the studio on a drizzly Saturday afternoon.

I wound up using red lines throughout the book, in order to create a smooth flow. I wanted my book to make sense visually, so I arranged the pages in an order I thought went well (rather than just arranging them in the order suggested above). 

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the result.. Go Kelsey!

Despite the challenges, I'm becoming more confident in my projects, and my ability to problem-solve aesthetically. Plus, this class has taught me significantly about just how applicable art is to real life. There are thousands of problems to be solved, every single day, and it's up to us to solve them as creatively and effectively as possible!

--Kelsey