GD 201 - Design, Context, & Experience
Oct 2019 - Feb 2020
Collaborators: Lindsay Caslin, Karuna Gangwani,
Ann Salman, Angela Zhong
This project began as a studio project proposal for wayfinding and branding of an upcoming exhibition, and was chosen as the concept that the exhibition team would move forward with in the spring. Within our graphic design team, I managed typography, directional signage, and promotional collateral.
Virtual Martin Luther King Jr. was a one-day exhibition held in NCSU's Hunt Library, focusing on virtual reality recreation and simulation of MLK Jr.'s “Fill Up The Jails” speech given at Black Rock Baptist Church in Durham in February 1960.
Redesigning the Exhibit
Creating a Visual Identity
When we began this project in our studio, our main tasks were to reorganize the layout and flow of the exhibit, which had already been planned once by an interdisciplinary team on campus, and to give the exhibit a strong visual branding presence, which had not been done at all yet. My team and I decided to draw upon a motif of amplification. We drew inspiration from Civil Rights Movement protest signage, jazz posters, and African American liberation art for typography, color, and form. We decided upon shades of blue, red, and their overlapping purple, as well as a light neutral beige. Our amplification motif took the form of irregular trapezoids, and our photo treatments hinged on a refreshed monochromatic style.
Organization and Wayfinding
When we were presented with this project, it already had a proposed layout and organization featuring different locations within the James Hunt Library, but the interdisciplinary team tasked us with improving it. Through observational research in the library’s spaces as well as iterative physical and digital prototyping, we restructured the exhibition’s flow to begin at the first floor entrance and to ascend through the second and third floors chronologically, as opposed to its previous floor 1-3-2 jump. As the exhibit was composed of five facets in five separate locations within the library, we proposed multimedia methods of wayfinding, including a physical pamphlet/map, posters and motion graphics projected on walls, large standees at each touchpoint, and an interactive phone map/app.
Custom Typography
In our initial research for designing a visual language, we took typographic inspiration from Civil Rights Movement protest signs which featured capital sans serif type of varying widths. In order to recall this in our exhibition branding, I managed the design of title text styles in all asset creation. We chose the base typeface Trade Gothic Next, and I manually adjusted character widths on an individual basis, as creating only one alphabet of custom characters would not provide enough variation in achieving our desired style.
Managing Signage
Based on the style guide our team created, I managed the design, creation, and print logistics of physical signage which directed people through each facet of the exhibit. I designed six standees, one for each touchpoint of the exhibit.
In line with our visual language, the standees are all custom sharp geometric shapes which draw upon the motif of amplification. They each stand five feet tall at entrances to the six touchpoints with the purpose of directing and informing exhibition-goers.
In addition to designing these standees, I was tasked with providing our clients and team with a spreadsheet of printing companies, material styles, and price estimates which would provide us with high-quality prints within our allotted budget and timeframe. I also managed communication and purchasing from the company that we decided upon.
Collateral
I managed the design of digital and print promotional collateral, chiefly in the layout of an email newsletter and in multiple versions of postcard invitations.
