Art 235 Graphic Design
Creative strategies using a vinyl record
This projects assignment was to pick an object and make 6 designs using that object to represent 6 of 7 creative strategies. I picked a vinyl record.
There are 7 creative strategies...
1. COMBINATION- Bringing together two different or unrelated things to create a new object that still makes some sort of sense.
2. JUXTAPOSITION- Contrast of two objects. You are showing the differences between two things rather than their similarities.
3. ISOLATION- Focuses the viewer on an element in a composition by separating it visually from its surroundings or other objects.
4. METAPHOR OR SIMILE- Focus on the meaning of the image created with your object as it relates to something else.
5. CHANGE OF CONTEXT OR ENVIRONMENT- Contrasts objects with unnatural or uncommon environments to highlight a concept or communicate an idea.
6. PHYSICAL/SHAPE SIMILARITY- Use physical similarities to showcase connections between objects that normally don’t connect.
7. MATERIAL CHANGE, SWAP, OR FOCUS- Swap a material property that we are accustomed to with another.
For my combination design I used Adobe Illustrator and I decided to combine a fish and the record by using the records as the fishes scales. The different record colors and the texture of them portrays a fishes normal characteristics well.
For isolation I decided that bringing new and old ways of listening to music would make an interesting design to look at. Your eyes are really drawn to the difference of the record amongst the CDs because of its shape, color, and size.
With my metaphor I automatically thought of the saying "Music makes the world go 'round". By using Adobe Photoshop I was able to make a record become colored like the earth would look so that you could still see both objects but see them as one.
Change of context took a while to make because I wanted to use my record as the moon but I needed to make sure my design made it so that the record stood out but at the same time didn't look out of place too much. The colors in this design are able to bring the object into it and look cohesive while still making a statement.
This design brought two of my favorite things together; nature and music. I felt like a record really looked a lot like the rings in a tree and as a pieced the design together I was able to match up the rings of the different objects to bring it together and show just how similar they are.
This strategy was the first one I came up with in my head before any others. the records rings look very similar to ripples in a liquid and when I think of a relaxing thing to do I always imagine a cold night bundled up with a good drink and some music going. By using the record as the liquid in the cup it gave a great application of using material swap in this design.
I enjoyed this project and the design process of each strategy. It's interesting to see how even though I was making each design to be a specific strategy a lot of the designs can be interchanged with other strategies other than the ones I assigned them. This project was a great opportunity to learn more about graphic design and hone my skills as I continue to strive to be better at designing.
