my process book for the book cover series

its no fun because my blog and the pages are both white!

history of the bathing suit

i want my timeline to focus more on type than images. these are just rough versions of how i want it to look. i wanted the distances between the dates to show time while what happened during that time to create the space above it. the problem is when it gets closer to the present time there is less of a jump between time and it starts going one year after another. I also need to indicate the amount of coverage the suit of that time period had. I was thinking of spacing the lines furthur or closer to indicate this but again when the years become one right after another (94, 95, 96...) you cant do this because there is only one line. I am going to play with different typeface styles to indicate coverage or using the vertical line (how tall it is) to show this.

Journal #5

how good is good? summary

"move from creating cool things to significant things"

GOOD DESIGN + GOOD CAUSE = GOOD

This article talks about the difference from designing things that look "cool" to designing things that are significant. What is interesting is how far you can analyze the how your design impacts others. While designers are looked down upon for advertising and " persuading people to buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, in order to impress others that don’t care” I like how he explains the extremes of design, how you can focus solely on promoting yourself or work only for others. One of my favorite parts of the article is his story on how he was wrong. What i love about design and each new project is the constant trial and error learning that comes along with it. It is refreshing to hear even he makes mistakes.

final bookcovers

incomplete manifesto for growth by Bruce Mau

incomplete manifesto for growth by Bruce Mau

Bruce Mau is the Chief Creative Officer of Bruce Mau Design. He proves that the power of design is boundless, and has the capacity to bring positive change on a global scale.

my mantra of the week...

{ allow events to change you } You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.


I promise i read the entire list... its just coincidence i liked the first one best. This one really struck me because its a great rule for design but also for life in general. In graphics we are constantly running around coming up with creative solutions to problems only to be told (most of the time) to improve on it. Being told this repeatedly gets tiring, or maybe were just sleep deprived. Its easy to get upset and stressed along the way but being open to any suggestions and accepting the fact that we are here to improve is vital to growing not only as a designer but as a person. No one is here because they know everything there is to know about graphic design. We are all learning from each other. Staying positive and open to change will only lead to better design.



the others that struck me...



2. Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome.
When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to
be there.

4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).
Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

12. Keep moving.
The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

15. Ask stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

16. Collaborate.
The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

19. Work the metaphor.
Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

24. Avoid software.
The problem with software is that everyone has it.

25. Don’t clean your desk.
You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

32. Listen carefully.
Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

33. Take field trips.
The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

35. Imitate.
Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

41. Laugh.
People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

43. Power to the people.
Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.

type project two : stage one

the history of the bathing suit

original history of the bathing suit timeline

{ word association list }

prude to sexy
sun
fun
coverage
skimpy
concealed
fashion vs function
coverage: naked to full to skimpy
cloth
synthetic
two piece one piece
speedo
board shorts
ocean pools hot tub sprinkler
brands
lifeguards
bikini
in art
in photography / magazines
sport
achievements in bathing suits
iconic bathing suits
boating
water skiing
tanning lotion oil sand sun
beach
beach changing stations
what would be considered unacceptable
bikini models of the time
on a hanger
on a clothesline
the pattern
the simple shapes of it
bathing suits in the media
boys girls or both?
board shorts
thongs
lane lines
pool increments
spandex
fashion trends
air and water temp
modesty
sun protections
tan lines
synchronized swimming
waves

{ how its changed over time }
purpose: why they wore it
size area covered
what is acceptable/ popular for the time


{ initial image ideas }

abstract : silhouette of swimwear with the material / pattern for background
laying out on towels: view from above
line of people standing on surfboard
sitting on the edge of the pool
line for the diving board
dress up dolls : flaps on edges
shapes and patterns
spf bottles full of pattern

{ sketch stage }

{found inspiration}
after my sketching i decided i wanted to use waves to show time. This example of layering shapes looks like how i want to show the different suits for the different times.

by the way... I realize its biodiesel initiative not initiatives...

biodiesel storyboard

just a few more...