Seeing Anew: Design Projects

Design I

Spring 2024

Judy Birmingham

University of Mount Union

All work for this class had to be done in black ink on white paper. Some digital manipulation was allowed. Each final version had to be accompanied by a Powerpoint slideshow that served as both a paper describing our process (hence, a lot of text on each slide) and as a presentation medium for critique sessions.

Project 1: Identity Logos

"Three Letters" and "A Very Good Year"

Ink on Bristol

Project I Identity Logos Powerpoint (opens in a new window)

Project 2: Point. Line. Plane.

From the Representational to the Abstract

Ink on Bristol (11" x 17")

Points, lines, and planes are the most fundamental design elements in art. We had to take 30 photos of examples of these in Nature, and then create six graphics moving from the representational (a photo) to the purely abstract: 1. Photograph 2. Line Drawing 3. Silhouetted Abstract 4. Notan 5. Symbolic Abstraction 6. Analytical Cubism

Point Line Plane Powerpoint and Animation (opens in a new window)

Project 3: Patterns

"Double Dolphin"

Ink on Bristol (8" x 8")

We had to design square asymmetrical patterns based on shapes found in our blind contour drawings of driftwood. These were then rotated around a point and repeated multiple times.

Project 3 Patterns Powerpoint (opens in a new window)

Project 4: Rotating Cubes

"In the Beginning..."

Ink on Bristol (11" x 17")

For this project we had to draw 8-10 cubes inside a circle, each a different size, a different angle of rotation, and from a different perspective. Cubes had to appear at different distances from the center, and some cubes had to overlap others. Then we had to apply patterns or textures to show the shadowed and highlighted sides of each cube. I opted to use finely spaced text in varying densities to create the dark and light values and provide contrast.