571 Studio - Project 1 Process Book

Graduate Studio 571: SiGNS & SymboloGySpriNG 2013 | Whitley r. Kemble

PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

This process book is designed to help the reader understand the sequence of events leading up to my final symbols. It features several interactive elements, including bookmarks for the different sections, hyperlinks for inspiration/research, and several scrollable images for many of the icon refinements.

Enjoy!

NOTES ON THIS PROCESS BOOK

571 - SPRING 2013 | WHITLEY R. KEMBLE | PROJECT 1: PROCESS BOOK

I chose to develop symbols for an astronomer and a chemist. These are subjects I’ve always found interesting, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to explore.

My research began with a word map that included related topics, tools and themes.

SELECTION OF TOPICS & RESEARCH


SOURCES OF INSPIRATION: ASTRONOMER(All sources are linked to their images.)

http://wallpapers4free.net/abstract/meteor-shower.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Astrolabe_%28PSF%29.png

http://americanhistory.si.edu/documentsgallery/images/content/starmap/drafting_tools.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Planisph%C3%A6ri_c%C5%93leste.jpg/250px-Planisph%C3%A6ri_c%C5%93leste.jpg

http://www.not-wolf-productions.com/images/pictures/astrolabe.png

http://ericaglasier.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/EricaGlasierXrayAstronomer.jpg

http://d4nations.com/webpubl/images/800px-Starsinthesky.jpg

http://www.clipartpal.com/_thumbs/astronomer_exploration_204560_tnb.png

http://wodumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Invading-alien-Gallaxhar-voiced-by-RAINN-WILSON-in-DreamWorks-Animations-Monsters-vs.-Aliens.-Photo-credit-Monsters-vs.-Aliens-2009-DreamWorks-Animation-LLC.-All-Rights-Reserved-36.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BlackHole.jpg

http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/322544/350wm/R1300111-Astronomer_uses_telescope_at_Culgoora_Solar_Obser.-SPL.jpg

http://purpleopurple.com/inventions-and-inventors/expanding-universe.jpg

http://www.spaceshots.com/images/full/sspnb-42.jpg

http://www.supercoloring.com/wp-content/main/2009_04/astronomer-coloring-page.gif

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&docid=NAgK6pkMx6xhQM&tbnid=A0sQPwA8G3sJMM:&ved=0CAIQjBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelivingmoon.com%2F43ancients%2F04images%2FMoon%2FCrater_Earth.jpg&ei=Fhk8UdO5H-TlyAHYrIHAAQ&psig=AFQjCNEdgX2oecNh8m3Ea743DZlOIFjkWg&ust=1362979474237893


http://sitemaker.umich.edu/socio-functional/View/da.data/000000000000000000000000000000000000000002281787/%5Bimage1%5D/filename

http://nineplanets.org/planetorder.JPG

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02387/ufo_2387810b.jpg

http://www.logodesignlove.com/images/bad/nasa-logo-meatball.jpg

http://www.astronomy2009.org/static/archives/images/medium/logo_sheisanastronomer.jpg

http://rlv.zcache.com/vintage_astronomy_star_chart_planisphaeri_coeleste_poster-r2cc0a65a651d42a6b2f40729052c25f5_8h9a_400.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMwEhESEd8g/TdtBowrsOZI/AAAAAAAAACs/wkV8Wk-7cjk/s1600/observatory.jpg

http://www.businessdevelopmentuniversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/star.jpg

http://www.sdss3.org/images/SDSS_telescope.jpg

http://beautifulhoodriver.com/images/mt-hood-timberline-stars-milky-way_k9a1073-2.jpg

http://www.daytodaydata.com/onearthasinheaven/images/starmap.jpg

http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/217487478/Telescope_BKP15075.jpg

http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Philips_UFO_ibelieveinadv.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VkRwR9RaxBs/T5qU9_6951I/AAAAAAAAQSM/ppZiD7EbxGc/s320/paul-alien.jpg


SOURCES OF INSPIRATION (CHEMIST)

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SOURCES OF INSPIRATION (CHEMIST)

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Over the next few weeks, I developed nearly 80 sketches for each of my two topics. My astronomer sketches, as you will see, tend to be more organic and sometimes oversimplified. One of the greatest struggles was communicating stars clearly, especially as we moved into refinements on the computer.

The following pages organize my symbols by principle, but you may tab through them individually at left here.

ASTRONOMER SKETCHES

<< USE THE ARROWS TO REVIEW THE SYMBOLS












My chemist symbols were much more geometric than my astronomer symbols. Many of the symbols utilized line and mass, as well as more angular shapes.

Going through these made me more aware of some of my design tendencies. Implied shape, for example, is something I like to play with. I also tend to create more contrast between line and mass. The plethora of existing symbols of chemists and chemistry really helped in developing these. Beakers, atoms, and lab safety gear were used in most of my sketches.


CHEMIST SKETCHES















The symbols at left were chosen as the finalists for my symbols. There were a lot of really good ones I had to rule out because of the constraints of the project, but these were among my favorites.

The pages that follow show the progression of each, as well as details on different attempts and how the symbols were modified through the course of the project.

FINAL SYMBOLS & PROGRESSION


contrast of organic/geometric


Movement and direction were strong themes in my astronomer symbols, but this one was an excellent example of radiation. It is also unique among my other symbols, as it is the only badge design. I’m very proud of this fact because I have a natural tendency toward badges.

In the earlier sketches I had a lot of lines, varying the line weight and spacing as I went around the central figure. As I moved through the iterations, lines be-came thicker and fewer in number. I tried several different telescopes, too, finally choosing one that embraced the ambiguity between the radiating lines and the line of sight for the astronomer.

One of the things I loved about this symbol was how wistful it was. My goal was to capture the more ethereal qualities of space as they would be experienced by an astronomer. I tried to incorporate a feeling of grace, too. The hair was meant to allude to the different galaxies and space for the celestial bodies. The initial sketches were very detailed. I tried three with varying amounts of humanity.

As I progressed through the symbol, however, it was becoming clear that some of the human elements (especially the hair and the hands) were disruptive and cre-ated clutter. Later developments reduced the number and placement of the stars and moon. My figure became an elegant silhouette cradled by the moon.

RADIATIONCONTRAST OF ORGANIC/GEOMETRIC FORM


Repetition was another symbol with a lot of options. I ultimately chose to use this symbol because the repetition of elements within was very obvious, and the meaning was very very clear. The final result is a merger of several earlier sketches. I kept the hair (made of atomic bonds), the tubes, and the safety gear.

These images all had strong previous associations with chemistry and chemists. This was one of many symbols I created that featured hands. I was very reluctant to reduce the form, but reducing the number of fingers helped the symbol retain clarity on a smaller scale. The opening of the tubes, though not drastically differ-ent, is slightly clearer than previous examples.

Beakers and bubbles were a consistent theme across my chemist sketches. This guy was actually one of my favorites. I really liked the playfulness of this symbol. Although there were a lot of choices for similarity, I decided on this one because almost all of the elements contained within have a corresponding counterpart.

The left arm of the final is similar to the hand, and the bubbles on the final sym-bol are actually a smaller arrangement of the compound. All of the elements are curvilinear, too, which make this a really unified symbol. My only concern with this one came when a classmate mentioned it resembling the Kool-Aid man. It wasn’t a hard decision to eliminate the extra spout and unnecessary lines.

REPETITIONSIMILARITY


This was my very first symbol, and it remains one of my favorites. I love this little molecular man! Contrast between the positive and negative form and contrast between line and mass are both used here, but I felt he best fit contrast between positive and negative forms because of his eye (positive bubble becomes eye in negative space of glasses), his beaker (the negative space of his shoulder becomes part of the beaker), and the mass contained within the beaker.

While the final symbol is very close to the original, there were several experi-ments. Positioning of the bubbles and beaker, design of the arm, and the pres-ence or absence of certain body parts (i.e., the hand, neck and ears) were all things I experimented with before refining the final design.

For some reason I was loving hands during this process. I had several symbols for astronomer, as well as chemist, featuring a set of hands. For my astronomers, I believe this had some roots in creation stories of a master designer arranging and controlling the cosmos. For a person whose career demands a mastery of cosmic knowledge, this wasn’t much of a stretch.

I had similar issues here with the level of detail and complexity. There were sev-eral variations of this symbol, including the one with the hands forming a heart containing the star. I made my final choice because the hands created a nice frame for the stars. It indicated movement and interaction with the stars, which I felt was important. After much reduction and many iterations, I think it’s a very successful example of focal point.

CONTRAST OF +/- FORMFOCAL POINT


This was another symbol that fit well into several categories. The original sketch played a lot with thick strokes and mass, but through class discussion we decided that the moon was too ambiguous and had to be developed more. The telescope was also too complicated and dissimilar.

The next iteration featured a thicker moon with a similar rounded chair. I tried adding more stars to help reiterate the astronomical theme, but the extra infor-mation didn’t add enough definition to justify the addition. My first sketch on the computer featured an oversimplified line-only telescope. While it wasn’t entirely bad, it became obvious that a more solid one was needed to unify the design.

This was another symbol I really enjoyed, though the iterations leading up to him varied much more than some of the others. Most of my early sketches were either very angular with compounds or very curvilinear with beakers. You can see this in the relationship between the eyewear and the object the figure holds in its hands. The degree of abstraction is something I experimented with a lot, too.

After combining several of the ideas, I had to simplify a lot. The particles in the test tube were exchanged for solid mass, and the outpouring compound was reduced dramatically. I decided to add a lab coat, arm and chin line to help define the body, and after much deliberation in class decided to eliminate the second hand afterall. The resulting shape works well for this principle.

CONTRAST OF BIG/SMALLCONTRAST OF CURV./RECTILINEAR FORM contrast of big/small


Gradation was a difficult principle for me. I tried to develop a few gradation sym-bols for my astronomer, but those attempts were not as successful. The sketches of chemists seemed to be a more natural fit, as the volume of material in the beakers were already an easily understood measurement.

Initially I tried to depict a chemist hugging his beaker. In the second thumbnail there’s almost a close friendship between these two elements, but it seemd too forced. The gradation was nice in that example, but the gradation from body to beaker in the final symbol seemed more natural. After refining the line weights in this one, it was ready to go.

This shape seemed very natural to me. As with several of my other sketches, it plays with gesture. From the earliest iteration, it exemplified a contrast of line and mass, so it seemed to be a logical final choice for that principle.

There weren’t many drastic changes to this one, but I did do several experiments with the number of lines from the star to the figure. I was hesitant to reduce the number of lines because I thought the implied lines of the star would suffer, but I think the final result is still very successful.

GRADATIONCONTRAST OF LINE/MASS


As predicted, anomaly was the most difficult principle to typify. I had a few sym-bols that started to hint at anomoly, but none that really jumped out. The earliest sketches were more demonstrative of repetition and similarity.

I chose to focus on the more molecular symbols, opting to alter my figures to create the anomaly. Throughout the sketching process, I made the figures more and more geometric. The first iterations on the computer were very simple, but off balance. To address this problem, I experimented with positioning and line/mass. The second to last thumbnail, for example, had a filled figure base firmly supporting the atomic structure. The final is unified by a repeated filled symbol and several additional lines to make the sequence more molecular.-

Direction and movement were both very strong themes in my sketches, especially for my astronomers. I tried to tie in some of the star mapping implements in a few of my early sketches, as well as the telescope. As you can see, they range from representative and geometric to more abstract and gestural.

After much deliberation I chose to focus on the symbols with a clear human ele-ment. In the refinement stages, it was difficult to choose between the more solid astronomer and the one leaning into the telescope, but the sense of direction and movement seemed much stronger in the second, so it won out. I tried sever-al different telescopes for him and, with help from the class, decided on the more disjointed one.

ANOMaLYDIRECTION/MOVEMENT


FINAL PRESENTATION OF SYMBOLS

ASTRONOMER

CHEMIST

QUESTIONS? EMAIL [email protected]

Documents

571 Studio - Project 1 Process Book