Some people I have in mind
second of two semesters
In my original proposal I wanted to create graphic portraits or a kind of visual biography. I would have many different kinds of subjects, both people I know and famous personalities. I planned on even doing a visual autobiography. I tried to create a good amount of work to try an d understand what I was actually trying to say. I realized that the posters were not saying as much as I wanted them to. In other words, I couldn't fit as much information on these pieces as I would like. On the other hand I found many aesthetic qualities I had never experimented with before. I was very excited with how the posters looked.
I like to describe my posters as being "beyond kitsch." I was using cheesy and kitschy design styles as I worked with Photoshop, in a way that was almost breaking the glass ceiling. Never in my life have I used computers completely; in fact, I normally try to stay away from the computer.
The aesthetic worked for me and I needed a new place to go. I came upon the idea to conduct interviews, strictly with people I know personally, and to create small (comic book-sized?) books containing the full transcripts of these interviews. I want to transfer the look and feel of my first attempts into this new vehicle. I hope to make anywhere from three to ten books. I still don't know how long I would like them to be, or how long one interview will take to transcribe, and design. So we shall see.
revision 28 sep 04
In the duration of my design seminar class, I propose to create visual biographies in the form of posters and perhaps a book. My definition of a visual biography is a piece of design that gives information about someone and their life. This does not mean that their whole life must be accounted for in one poster. The poster could even tell a single story or fact about a specific person's life. The point is to get across the information, whatever that may be.
I will experiment with different kinds of people. They will include well known figures, people I know personally, created personas, and myself. Experimenting with the variables involved in the different categories will be a large part of my search for how to approach this project. For example, doing a piece on John Lennon would be much different in process than doing one on my mother. I would have much more information on a figure I know on a personal level than someone I've only seen through second hand media. It interests me to discover how I can change a persona by choosing to display or hide certain facts about him or her.
The first half of the semester I will experiment with many different people, hopefully narrowing down to one or two people to focus on. The second half of the semester I will strictly work on those subjects to create a book or series of posters about them.
early sep 04
second semester :
For my next project I would like to take my design out of the visual world a bit. I have been interested in "persona", and "personas" and the way a person can play with there identity. I like the idea of changing the way someone can look at art, music or really anything and have it change a bit because of the different people or ideas it can represent.
I want to create different musical personas based on design and then after that first step is complete write music based on what I think the band or musician would sound like. All of the design that I create will essentially is my own so I do feel confident that I can write music based of my own artwork. I feel in the end, the design will hold a presence as a group and will also be able to stand out separately.
Due to time restraints I will probably write only one, maybe two songs per album/musician, but I would like to create at least five or six different personas.
The actual designed items will be things such as album packaging, Concert fliers/tickets, posters, and possibly other promotional items.
3 February 05
Corinne Back
Eric Bailey
Dave Blank
Brian Cannon
Nathan Hayward
Paul Kinchla
Curtis Levesque
Meghan O'Connor
Nicole Pivirotto
Brian Savignano
Matthew Sexton
Luke Shover
Ron Theriault
completed projects (fall semester)
Dave Blank
Kerriann DiLeo
Rene Dolabaille
Ben Jenness
Hedwiga Kulig
Joseph Lambert
Chung-heng Liu
Nicole Pivirotto