These are my latest versions of my wasp symbol. The problem statement is to communicate frantic and sluggish. This process was quite a tedious one. One of the most challenging aspect was abstracting something all the while communicating, maintaining elegant form, and be simple enough so even pedestrians will get it in <5 seconds. I’m quite happy with it and even happier that it’s done. Excited now to learn about color, an area where I’m just a neophyte.
I came across this gem while glancing through a book, Notes on Graphic Design and Visual Communication by Gregg Berryman. Short little book that cuts to the meat of what graphic design is with practical teachings and samples. This symbol designed for the California Conservation Corps symbol by Michael Vanderbyl really caught my eye. It’s done in four shapes, two black & two whites. It’s balanced with tension; stable and geometric. I love the simple shapes repeated throughout and the message it communicates. It has very efficient use of white space. Now if I can only do the same for a wasp…
It’s already 4 weeks into the semester and so much has happened so far. Some bad things, but for the most part, some really great and exciting things. During the winter break, one of my goals was to get an internship for the summer/fall, but just a couple weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised by an offer to start immediately. It’s an internship with the CSUS Union. They are the in-house design staff for anything related to the student union and more. It’ll be my first design position so it’s really exciting yet a little scary at the same time. All the designs they produce are very creative and professional looking, and I know it’ll push me to design at the same level.
The only class I’m worried about this semester is GPHD 30. It’s equivalent to last semester’s GPHD 25. Same professor and everything, so high expectations and brutal process. We’re currently working on symbol and it’s very frustrating. It’s such a balancing act between simplicity and ambiguity. I’m learning to not only write down my thinking, but also draw them as well; to express my ideas in form. Our first project is to design a symbols of an ant or wasp, one communicating frantic and the other sluggish. It’s not as easy as simply tracing a silhouette of the insect, but intentionally interrupting the black space with white space to convey form, message, function and simplicity all in one. The form is in recognition, message in expressing the emotion, function in still being readable at 1/2″, and simplicity in instant recognition. Lately I’ve been wasting a lot more time than I can afford. I still have a couple drawings and photographs to submit for the portfolio review in May and I was asked to put some of my work in a gallery in April. Some of my mini goals are to draw and learning Adobe software everyday. This is a recent drawing I finished as a part of my goals as well as to put in the gallery.
experimental side lighting drawing based on photo
4H-8B graphite on 11″ x 14″ paper
