Here, Here, and Here.

    The first design class a graphic designer takes is Intro to Visual Communication. This is when you learn how to communicate your message through the artwork of your designs. I absolutely loved this class because of all the creative projects and assignments we worked on. This past spring semester, I took Advanced Visual Communication where we focused on the same thing. However, the projects were much larger and took more time. Our last project was all about transformation design called Here, Here, and Here. It was my favorite project to work on and I loved what I created. 

    Through the early steps of working out ideas, the class focused on six characteristics of transformations design: defining and redefining the brief, collaborating between disciplines, employee participatory design techniques, building capacity not dependency, designing beyond traditional solutions, and creating fundamental change. Our professor, Brit Rowe, further explained the project by saying, “You are to first design an outdoor exhibition of original works of art. The work will be displayed at a variety of locations throughout the campus, and possibly the village. The artwork will be transformed into 24"x 24" dots that will be installed at or near specific historical sites related to the history of Ohio Northern University.” Everyone in the class was assigned a different historical site or building on campus and I was picked for the Duke’s Memorial building and the Martin Luther King Jr. visit statue. 

    With my design for the MLK statue I wanted to incorporate his speech that he gave here. I went to his speech transcripts on the ONU website and picked out the most empowering words and key points of his message. I feel like I tied together the history within my artwork, specifically from using words from his speech. My idea came to me right away for this dot, however, I had more trouble with my Duke’s Memorial dot. I found more information about Duke’s and I found out that a lot of different subjects have been in that building. Eventually, I came up with a great idea of show casing all of the past subjects taught in this building on the titles of books in a bookshelves. I love to style my personal bookshelves with books as well as other items to give a better, more interesting look. I thought to do the same with the bookshelves I was designing and incorporated key objects and items that relate to the subjects. 

    I earned a very high grade and am still very proud of the outcome of this project. This project also opened my eyes and I found interest in community based projects. Hopefully I have the opportunity to design something like this and have them actually made and published. Do you think I visually communicated the historical message within my artwork?