final gd project

Somewhere in the middle of working on this, I realized that as much as I love graphic design as a concept and really enjoy when other people do it well, there's something that really really stands between me and success a lot of the time. And I have no idea what it is. Very frustrating. The discrepancies between the sketches for these letterforms and the final project are just....grr.

But I told a friend I'd post 'em so I'mma gonna do that. Crit's tomorrow. Er. Today, actually. Soonish.

Project was to create a letter based on one of our initials. Because I am an overachiever (and because nothing exists in a vacuum and if I'd had time I'd have done the whole alphabet, let's be honest) I did all three.

Black and white:

Upper case in color:

Towards the end of this last summer, Ryan Claytor told me about this video Thought of You by Ryan Woodward, and it's influenced a lot of my work this semester. Most obviously in my paintings--I've spent a lot of time trying to capture motion in still images, especially the sense of it rather than the literal. But that influence is present here too. Most typefaces lend themselves to a sense of balance and stability. No doubt it's part of what makes them readable. I was more interested in making letters that looked like they were in the middle of going somewhere. Maybe even dancing.

The decorativeness on the upper S was almost an accident, but the more I'm looking at it, the more I'm finding it one of my favorite features. It doesn't necessarily belong with this set, but I would be willing to do another one.