Tasked with the objective of forming a theoretical nonprofit organization revolving around water, my group created blú.
We were inspired by the concept of the “trophic cascade”—the indirect, but powerful effect that an ecosystems natural predators have on the lower level organisms around them. Trophic cascades are so powerful, in fact, that they can change the course of rivers or even have an affect on climate change.
Since the human race is considered the top most predator, it is only natural that we have a direct affect on the ecosystems around us—even if we are not conscious of it. It became our mission to bring awareness to land-locked urban city dwellers their affect on the ocean they can’t see, and to reconnect humanity with nature itself.
Our intention: “How can blú ignite interconnectivity in the relationship between humanity and nature to inspire a metamorphosis within the natural world?”
For this project, we were tasked to take a deep dive into the subject of Truth and Journalism. After compiling all of our research on a well-designed content map, we were asked to narrow our interests down to one of the topics we found the most interesting, and devise a campaign for PublicIntegrity.org.
Soundbites are excerpts from a recorded interview—like audible clickbait. Born from competition, sound-bites are often used by news sources to catch the viewer’s attention quickly and concisely. It was a way to summarize the gist of an interview without divulging the audience with every minute detail. I found research that implied that soundbites had grown shorter and shorter with each presidential campaign, and took interest in this particular topic.
With our topics chose, we were then asked to create a poster and brochure that remained cohesive and informative. After trying a multitude of variations to find a color palette I enjoyed working with, these are the results!
For this particular project, I was encouraged to thoroughly explore and understand one of three objects: a hose bib, garlic, or a rawhide bone. Interested in its stiff nature but organic appearance, I chose to work with rawhide.
After various still-life studies, I took to the computer to create a reductive image that would be used in the remained of my mini-campaign.
My first task was to choose 2 words that describe your object and create two compositions in black and white. Create another 2 compositions, one in grayscale using only 3 tones, and one in color, using only 3 colors.
My second task was to choose another three words inspired by a rawhide bone, and design 3D surfaces: a cylinder, a rectangular cube, and a prism. We could not use more than two colors for each object, so our color palette was limited.
My third and final task was to create an informational poster using the research I compiled during my initial study of the object. I chose to focus on dog dental health, and the importance that they chew to remove any plaque build-up—as long as they’re given the right bone for their size.
This project is a manifestation of our “calling intention”—a question we ask of ourselves so that we might inspire change in the world through our designs. I used a combination of photography, hand written text, and vectors to create an abstraction of my intention:
“How can I ignite compassion in humanity to awaken self-acceptance so that we can live connected, fulfilling lives?”
As a class, we were tasked to interview one of our peers and create an accordion booklet inspired by their answers. I interviewed Senada Krvavac, whose favorite aquatic animal is the jellyfish, and whose favorite author is J.K. Rowling. To pay homage to her interests, I made an abstraction of the Portuguese Man o’ War jellyfish and included her favorite quote: “It does not due to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” — J.K. Rowling.
This is a process book of all of the projects I completed in my final semester of college. It details the parameters of each assignment, and the steps I took to reach the final products.
