Design Systems: Three Concepts

It was rather hard for me to narrow down my results and after talking to a classmate, I began to doubt my choices. This conversion lead me in another direction of research however after doing the research I became more and more comfortable about my results. All of these topics are exciting and I will narrow my selections down to three topics, all of which I could grow from. After receiving five broad topics, transportation, place, ideas, energy, and information, I picked three topics, transportation, ideas, and place. 

I was immediately drawn to transportation because of the sheer volume and body of work that can be produced and the different outlets of design that can be explored. Way-finding and environmental signage, print and screen based work would all be explored. Everything within the system has to be easily digested within seconds, allowing rushed, late individuals to arrive at their destination without getting lost. Scale as well as movement has to be considered. Is your identity legible when a bus is moving at 70 mph on the highway to a passing car or when it is a quarter mile away from a soon to be departing traveler? The research could be very rich, exploring the history of transportation, as well as the city that the transportation system is located in. 

I love parks. They are my most favorite place to be and to experience. I am inspired by sunlight and time and how sun interacts with the foliage. I think that the most magical thing in the world is when sun shines through the leaves at sunset and the color of the leaves become so pure... i can't explain it, it can only be experienced through visual senses. The closest thing I can compare it to is wet paint. The identity would be rather abstract I'm thinking, inspired by what I mentioned above.

The last I will mention is the identity that would fall under ideas. I think that as a designer, you are part of the media, creators of the collection of images that people see everyday. Design is a tool and effects everyone. It can educate and has the ability to reach thousands of people in a short period of time. One of my past instructors, the lovely and talented Brockett Horne once said, and I am paraphrasing, that the reason she like graphic design so much, over

 the fine arts, is the ability to reach thousands upon thousands of people. If you are a fine artist, your work will be shown in a gallery, and the audience of people is quite small, but the work that we will produce, she used the example of a billboard on a highway, will be passed by

 thousands of people in one day. That is not something that should be taken lightly. And that thought leads me to what I would like to do, create a campaign for a charity that can educate individuals on the crisis of AIDS. AIDS is a topic that I am passionate about and can fuel my work and research throughout the semester. The challenge is to rebrand a subject that has already been branded, to create something fresh and powerful. The charity that I am making up will help educate every continent. I would like to create an identity and have sub-identities that would represent continents or countries that are particularly hit by the AIDS epidemic, exploring culture and the best way to communicate to a culture through graphic design.

A current corporate campaign called Product (Red), that donates a portion of proceeds to people suffering from AIDS in Africa. 

 

A parody of Product Red, emphasizing the fact that it is not through buying that we change the world