2D II: Zine

I was pretty stoked for this zine project, because I have an undying love for handmade zines and magazines in general. It was even better because Shirley allowed us to use personal works for the contents of our zine. Right off the bat, I thought about making a travel zine. I’ve been wanting to compile my travel photos somehow, instead of having them sit in my hard drive. This was a good chance to actually make something presentable (and hopefully pretty) out of them.

My zine is a photo log of my trip to Sydney right before I entered ADM. I often look back at those eight days fondly. It was a such a good trip, with just the right amount of down time and adventure. The zine is split into three categories:

“Listen to the sea” — photos of the ocean

“Take the open road” — road tripping

“Appreciate the silence” — nature

They represent my favourite parts of the trip.

I wanted to maintain a clean, understated feel with a tinge of wanderlust. I went with a muted pink as my main colour, and made Quicksand my main font, a san-serif typeface with cute rounded edges.

Process

I made a vector illustration of the opera house, and three simple icons for the inside pages.

Inside Icons

Icons representing my different spreadsOpera House Experimentation

Experimentation for opera house vector

Final Opera House

Finalised vector

I spent a lot of time on the opera house vector, because I couldn’t decide on the colours. After experimenting with different colour schemes, I decided to keep it simple with shades of purple, as pink and purple are analogous colours and I thought they looked quite nice together. 

While arranging photos, the three column alignment helped a lot! I made the photo arrangement of the three spreads different, so that the photos didn’t look too static. There are short blurbs on each spread, featuring some anecdotes from the trip.

The layout utilises two main principles of design: directional force and emphasis. In each spread, there is a main photo surrounding two to three smaller ones. It guides the readers’ eyes, telling them where to look first.

Layout Fail

V1: Words were arranged vertically, Shirley said it was uncommon to arrange it this way unless it was Chinese characters. I also felt that the icons looked a little odd at the bottom.

Final Layout Example

V2: I changed the orientation of the words and moved the icons to the blurb section. I also made the text slightly smaller.

Final

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Overall, I’m pretty happy with how this zine turned out. It’s a nice way to end the school year, utitlising skills and design principles we have learned during these two semesters in 2D. :>

2D II: Point of view

This is the first time I’ve played with polymer clay, and it turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought. I was thinking of using real ice cream for some compositions, but decided not to due to the potential messes and lack of control of the medium.

The overarching theme for this series is modern still-life photography in pastel hues. It’s a style I’ve been wanting to try for awhile.

ICE CREAM from the point of view of

a GLUTTON is a DRUG

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Ice cream to a glutton is a form of sustenance, an addictive drug.

PROCESS

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I made tiny scoops of ice cream with balls of polymer clay in pink, purple and white. I added texture with an old toothbrush and a toothpick to make it look more realistic.

I arranged the ice cream scoops in a pill box and left some of them outside the box to show the details on the clay. I shot the composition against a light blue backdrop and brought the image over to Photoshop for enhancement.

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Originally, I placed 2 flu pills together with the ice cream scoops so that people could make the association, but Shirley felt that the pillbox was enough to bring out my intended meaning, so I photoshopped them out.


ICE CREAM from the point of view of

HEAT is a TRAGIC DEATH

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Ice cream is no match for the relentless heat. All it can do is melt away into nothingness, and we’re left with a pastel crime scene.

PROCESS

I kneaded purple and white clay together to form a flat marbled base, then shaped the clay into a dead person laying on the ground. I crumbled up bits of a cone and sprinkled them around the clay figure’s feet. The chalk outline and index cards were added later on in Photoshop.

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I bumped up the vibrance and matched the hue of the background with the other compositions with the same blue backdrop, because I wanted the colours to look coherent throughout. I also had to smoothen certain areas of the clay figure to look slightly more ice cream like.


ICE CREAM from the point of view of

a MAGNIFYING GLASS is

an IMAGINARY ADVENTURE

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Things can look entirely different if you’re looking from a zoomed in, distorted angle. If you use your imagination, you can dream up anything.

PROCESS

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I mixed white and green clay to form a mint green shade. For some reason I wanted to make mint ice cream. I shaped the clay into three mountains of different sizes, then created the texture, pushing down on certain parts with a satay stick to create ridges and ledges so that the formation would look more like a mountain.

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I crushed almonds and cashew nuts into tiny pieces, then lodged a few of them in the clay. These were meant to resemble boulders. The tiny mountain climbers and the flag were photoshopped.

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I also had to colour correct this image, because the background really different shade from the other compositions.


ICE CREAM from the point of view of

a #SOCIALMEDIAADDICT is

a CLAIM TO FAME

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For the millennials with *heavily curated* Instagram feeds. #foodporn #followforfollow!

PROCESS

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This was my favourite composition to make, and I love how the colours turned out. I shaped the clay into a squarish bold font and melded it into a flat piece of clay, then added extra puddles around the main piece. The idea was to make the ice cream flow naturally, while still maintaining an intentional artificial finish.

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I photoshopped many versions of the composition to play up the social media factor, but didn’t really like any of them, until I settled on just the notification bar as a subtle reference (it’s in the final composition).


ICE CREAM from the point of view of

a CONE is THE ULTIMATE

FASHION ACCESSORY

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An ice cream cone can be dressed up with sprinkles, nuts and sauces, but no accessory is more important than a scoop of ice cream on top of its head (yeah… I might have been a bit too imaginative when I thought of this).

PROCESS

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wardrobe-bts

This composition took the most time, and I spent the bulk of it making the wardrobe. I used cardboard and blue poster paint. The paint turned out too dark for my liking, so I had to fix it on Photoshop. I also added the white borders using a Photoshop brush that looked natural enough.

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I poked a hole through the ice cream cones and stringed them together with brown string. Then, I decorated the wardrobe with sprinkles and nuts to make it look more playful.

 


 

ICE CREAM from the point of view of VEGGIES is a SWORN ENEMY

veggies

Guilty pleasure vs nutrition in a Street Fighter style fight.

PROCESS

I used green clay to make the broccoli, then placed the clay items in formation and shot them against a lilac backdrop. The game graphics were inspired by the Street Fighter arcade game, but I stuck to flat vectors and pastel colours. I’m pretty satisfied with how this composition turned out!

 

REFLECTION

 

I’m quite happy with my choice of medium for this project. I’m usually more comfortable with digital work, but combining a handmade element with digital enhancement was a rewarding experience for me. I’m also generally pleased with the way the compositions turned out. It would’ve been great if I had a better camera and a simple light setup, but I had to chase after natural light instead. One of the most fun projects so far! 🙂

2D II: Typographic Portraits

Task: Create typographic portraits by using your name (or part of it) to describe imaginary professions and/or affirmations.

Before fleshing out any ideas, I came up with a list of personal traits, professions or objects I felt reflected my personality.

  • I AM INDECISIVE
  • I AM A DAYDREAMER
  • I AM TIMID
  • I AM IDEALISTIC
  • I AM A CUP OF EARL GREY TEA
  • I AM A COMFY OVERSIZED SWEATER
  • I AM A PERFECTIONIST
  • I AM A WRITER
  • I AM A MEDIATOR
  • I AM A SLOTH
  • I AM AN ORGANISER
  • I AM A PEACEMAKER

With my list, I started to think about the traits I would be able to portray or capture visually in an eye-catching way. I initially wanted to stick with a main theme so that all my pieces had a unifying factor. I was inspired by the works of Kyle Pierce, an American illustrator who layers photographs with hand lettering and illustrations, producing a raw and candid feel.

Hills_like_white_elephants_o kyle pierce things_that_were_lost kyle pierce

I wanted to implement his style into my pieces by placing transparency paper on top of a supporting image, and writing my name in different styles on the transparency sheets. Later on, Shirley pushed me to think further — just by looking at the font, how could someone guess what personality trait I was trying to portray? I needed to communicate my intended idea solely through the font. With this in mind, it was harder to come up with ideas, but also pushed me to go beyond the surface. Breaking down the meanings behind the personal affirmations I chose was helpful, and served as a guide that I could look back on at every point of the project.


I AM A CUP OF EARL GREY TEA

Meaning: When I think of something that brings me peace and calm, I think of a cup of earl grey tea. I am quite serene and calm most of the time, though if you knew what was going on in my mind, you’d think otherwise. I often strive to keep a level head, and keep calm in all situations, so emulating the personality of earl grey tea has become my inner mantra.

IDEA #1:

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I decided to play with food typography for this composition. I’ve always loved what people can create out of everyday food items, and was inspired to try it out. Tea is often associated with elegance and class, so I was thinking of using a serif font. I wanted to make the first letter of my name out of loose earl grey tea leaves, resembling a monogram. The ‘D’ would be printed on transparency paper, and underneath, I was thinking of a plain texture, like white sheets, to keep the royal theme. I rejected this idea later on because I felt it wasn’t dynamic enough.

IDEA #2 (chosen):
I decided to make a calligraphic font out of the tea leaves, as I felt that it would look less static than my initial plan to use a serif font. I tried to bring out a laidback and gentle vibe with stray tea leaves, a mason jar and my kindle.

Inspiration

Beautiful-food-typography-unique-commercial-2

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Process

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First, I wrote my name many times on a piece of paper, varying the flourishes to get my desired look. Then I arranged the tea leaves with the help of a spoon to clean up the edges. It took me a REALLY long time for me to get the font exactly how I wanted it, and I initially wanted to do my whole name, but realised my tea towel wasn’t big enough for it to fit. I was cool with leaving it as ‘Deb’.

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Final

tea leaves


I AM TIMID

Meaning: I don’t like admitting that I’m quite a timid person. It’s probably because I often over-think things, and although I don’t suffer from anxiety, the worrying does get in the way sometimes. I tend to get myself out of situations or hide from things when I feel uncomfortable or afraid. On a separate note, I often find myself in awe of Mother Nature’s wonders, I’m also quite afraid of natural disasters and things than man can’t predict or control.

IDEA #1:

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I initially wanted to emphasize the desire of hiding when I’m feeling timid, so I thought I could use layers of paper with leaves and flowers painted on them, and have part of my name peeking out in the corner. Another method was using layers of clothes to symbolise the desire of hiding under many layers. This idea didn’t work out in the end, because I was using visual aids to communicate the idea, and not utilizing the font to tell my story.

IDEA #2 (CHOSEN):
I wanted to play with the idea of feeling small and withdrawn when I’m scared, so I cut out a rounded font using paper that I crumpled and rolled slightly, and placed them behind roots and leaves, as if the font was hiding from the elements. I set it down on the floor to emphasise how small I feel. I also put it amidst to symbolise my fear of Mother Nature’s wrath.

Inspiration

Jon Gray
Jon Gray

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Pinterest

Process

(PHOTOS OF PAPER TEXT)

I printed out my name in the font Montserrat, a nice rounded typeface, then traced it on drawing block and cut the letters out. I attached the letters on satay sticks so they would stay up, then brought them down to the park to get some shots. It took me a few tries to get the position exactly right, because I wanted the text to be hidden at some points, but I didn’t want it to look too forced.

Final

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 I AM A COMFY OVERSIZED SWEATER

Meaning: I am a fan of anything that keeps me comfy, and that means beanbags, cold weather, and above everything else, soft oversized sweaters. I also like giving people hugs.

IDEA #1:

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I have quite a lot of old clothes lying around at home, and I was thinking of finding interesting fabrics, cutting them up and pasting them on an A5 base. On transparency paper, I would write my name, partially hidden by the fabric layers. I was trying to portray the idea of being a creature of comfort who likes being bundled up and comfortable. I rejected this idea because it was pretty similar to my ‘timid’ composition.

IDEA #2 (CHOSEN): To highlight the oversized-ness, I figured I could make the font look like it was so huge that it didn’t fit the frame. I would use pastel colours to accentuate the comfy aspect, and also because I love pastels.

Process

Comfy-Sweater-BTS

This composition was done digitally from scratch. I started with a clipping mask of the texture, then used the brush tool to add the fur along the sides, then blended more and more to achieve a more natural look.

Final

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 I AM A WRITER

Meaning: For a long time, I was pretty sure I was going to be a journalist once I graduated with my Mass Comm diploma. I worked as a beauty/lifestyle writer for almost 1 year and I loved what I did. It was intriguing to me that although my name must have been seen by many people, almost noone would know me personally, or even want to know more about me. The story always comes first, and a good writer doesn’t do it for the fame. As a writer, you’re sort of hidden behind the words you write, for better or for worse.

IDEA:
I decided to use negative space to communicate the idea of hiding/residing behind the words.

Inspiration

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Process

Newspaper-BTS

I first created the paragraphs with InDesign using lorem ipsum text, then used the text wrap effect so the words would “avoid” the huge D E B letters. Then I brought it over to Photoshop, adding a vignette effect, some brushes and a crumpled paper effect for interest.

Final

newspaper final

 

Reflection:

This assignment was really enjoyable for me, because I’ve always been fascinated by typography and its versatility in evoking different meanings and themes. I’m glad that Shirley pushed me to think harder about how to make the fonts convey exactly what I intended, and I hope the audience can relate to what I’ve created.