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Margaret Hurd. SUNY Brockport. Graphic Design student.

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My infographic successfully advocates for the adoption of pets from animal shelters. The overall type and image relationship successfully creates a legible, readable, and unified representation of my information; because I stayed with my idea of fun fonts and bright colors, my design captures the attention of my target audience instantly, in a clear and thoughtful manner.  The illustration of the dog helps this as well. If someone walked past and looked at my poster they would get the main idea; with the title “Opt To Adopt” clear and big, and the illustration of a golden retriever; they would know what is being conveyed instantly. If they stopped briefly and started reading the poster, they would see a few statistics that help to further this point in a clear and legible way. I enjoyed the critiques because it gave me insightful information on how to change my original design to make it more effective. My design is stronger because of the organization, and the introduction of a sidebar. The process of this project being broken down into steps also helped the organization of the design. I have used illustrator before and because of that I felt comfortable and prepared for this project. Out of all of the programs, Illustrator is my favorite and it definitely helped me to convey a fun and colorful feel that I wouldn’t have been able to achieve as easily in InDesign or Photoshop.

FONT CREDIT: 

Blow- http://www.1001fonts.com/blow-font.html#more

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Title: Opt to Adopt

Statistics:

Approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.3 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats.  We estimate that the number of dogs and cats entering U.S. shelters annually has declined from approximately 7.2 million in 2011.  The biggest decline was in dogs (from 3.9 million to 3.3 million).

Each year, approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized (670,000 dogs and 860,000 cats).  The number of dogs and cats euthanized in U.S. shelters annually has declined from approximately 2.6 million in 2011.  This decline can be partially explained by an increase in the percentage of animals adopted and an increase in the number of stray animals successfully returned to their owners.

Approximately 3.2 million shelter animals are adopted each year (1.6 million dogs and 1.6 million cats).

About 710,000 animals who enter shelters as strays are returned to their owners. Of those, 620,000 are dogs and only 90,000 are cats.

“In this country tax-payers spend $1 billion dollars annually to pick up, house, and euthanize homeless animals. If only 5% of that total were allocated to spay/neuter programs, we could open 250 public, low-cost spay/neuter clinics across the country and sterilize more than $4 million animals each year.

Percentage of Purebred dogs in shelters: 25% (“But I really want a purebred”)

Lend a paw:

Donate money to your local animal shelter

Provide transportation- a quick search online will help you find shelters nearby that are in need of help transporting soon to be adopted animals!

Donate lightly used goods- they are always in need!

Visit the shelter! -soothing voices or a chance to get out of their cage can be a big relief for dogs in stressful shelters’

Citations:

“Animal Shelter Statistics.” Statistic Brain, 6 May 2017, www.statisticbrain.com/animal-shelter-statistics/.

Frink, Wendy. “13 Different Ways You Can Lend A Paw At Rescue Shelters That Need It.” BarkPost, 8 Dec. 2015, barkpost.com/13-ways-to-help-animal-shelters/.

“Pets by the Numbers.” The Humane Society of the United States, www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html.

“Pet Statistics.” ASPCA, www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics.

“Statistics & Facts.” The Dog Rescuers, www.thedogrescuers.com/statistics--facts.html.

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I chose this specific design in my sketches because I wanted to convey that women are lesser than men in terms of earning wages. I knew I wanted to make a parallel poster in Portuguese because Brazil has the same statistics as the US. Over the course of my project, I changed some ideas. Originally, I had the male symbol just containing one dollar bill while the female symbol was made up of six nickels and five dimes to add up to 80 cents. This didn't work out too well; there wasn't enough coins to make the symbol clear enough. The symbol still sort of came through but it looked messy and not well put together. Once I decided to make clipping mask and use a bunch of bills and a bunch of coins, I realized that the spacing was awkward when the female symbol was 80% of the size of the male symbol; it didn’t look intentional.  In order to create more balance in the piece, I decided to male the symbols the same size, and since the idea that coins are less than bills was already well articulated in my poster I don’t believe it took away from my posters meaning. I also made conscious decisions to put text exactly where the male symbol was pointing to, and below the female symbol so that the eye flowed smoothly. This plays into the hierarchy of text. I made the symbols the most colorful eye catching part of my piece so that they were seen first. I then wanted the eye to move to the “did you know” portion, as that was the next most important piece that conveyed the theme of my design. Finally at the bottom I included the actual article from the Declaration of Human rights, and the logo small, so it was the last thing seen. The words “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” are the smallest thing on my poster, and done this way because although important, it is the last thing that needs to be seen. Once I had the hierarchy down, I was able to create stronger spatial relationships. I organized my information in a way that followed the hierarchy I created but gave the elements extra space, in order to create a stronger design.

After the in class critique, I changed some aspects of my poster to make it a stronger design.  I changed the spacing in between the titles (did you know?) and the information (statistics) so that they match the spacing below of the article and the ‘article 23’.  I ended up adding more dark green to my 1 dollar bills in the English version, because someone pointed out that the color of the ‘Article 23’ wasn’t obvious enough in the illustration to recognize it as being part of the illustration.  I changed the size of the UN logo because it was too overpowering in the first drafts, and I also made the spacing so that it paralleled what was mentioned before. During the first critique I only had made the English and Portuguese version, and someone asked if I could make one in another language so there were three posters in the series instead of two. That’s when I decided to make another in Spanish.

I think that my message was well articulated to get the point across. I am happy with how my illustrations came out; through this project I got plenty of practice with the pen tool. Overall, I like my design and I think it meets the requirements of transcending culture/language.  Although I made it in multiple languages, if you picked one out of the three and observed it, I believe the viewer would have a general idea as to what issue my works are addressing, especially because it is one that is faced across most countries.

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Overall, I am pleased with the design and hierarchy of my finalized post card. On the front, the initials C and G are the biggest which is seen first, and then his names wrapped around them. On the back, all of the information on Claude Garamond is organized in paragraph form. The less important objects like the stamp and the address are included at the bottom, and small, so the eye travels there after seeing the speech bubble of text.

I’m proud of the way that I made the text read in first person; I think it’s a unique alternative to the traditional informational third person. 

I liked using new tools in InDesign, like the text wrap, text fill, the pen tool to create the speech bubble, and learning how to space the text away from the edges. I think that by including the tan color on both the front and the back of the postcard it creates a more unified feel instead of my original design that had the C and the G initials transparent. This also helped resolve my issue of the G getting lost in the background. I don’t think the program hindered me at all; I was able to express what I had planned in my sketches.

I feel like I grew as a designer. I used the Lupton reading as a resource; I originally had my information organized into separate paragraphs by using the enter key as well as an indentation, but realized that the design looked better when I took away the indentation. It made the design stronger and less like a high school book report. 

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My construction process consisted of using a variety of objects found at a bar. I tried to use objects that not everyone might have in their home when they drink to evoke a feeling of going out and celebrating, in order to match the word ‘Cheers!’. I photographed the different objects on the bar top, and made sure to include part of the bar set up, like the garnishes, syrups, shakers and stirrers, etc.

Many of my objects weren’t very flexible which wasn’t an issue because they sill functioned as typographic form. I think that my background and used objects as well as the word ‘cheers’ helped express my theme, and because of this I don't think that the fluidity or stiffness of the typographic form had as much of an impact on the message. However, if my objects had more fluidity, i think it would look more ‘fun’ or celebratory BUT the only way to make them more fluid would be to construct them from the same objects, for example corks, which I think would be much less interesting than a variety of objects.

I didn’t relate my type treatment to anything in the Lupton reading; since I used different objects for each letter it actually looks like a variety of different typefaces.

Overall, I enjoyed this assignment and found it fun to try and create different examples of the same letter in order to try and find which objects would show each letter the best. (The images in black and white are some of the other photos that I took that I didn’t use for my final). I made a few different compositions and photographed them at different angles to see which I liked the best. Some of the letters were difficult, specifically the ‘e’ but I tried to think creatively and think that in the end my message came through in the piece.

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Overall, I didn’t find recreating this piece to be too difficult, but I think that was due to having a simpler poster design. The most difficult (and frustrating) part of this project was trying to recreate the text. In my research, I wasn’t able to find out what font Scher used which hindered me from typing the text in the same font.  I ended up selecting a font called Avant Garde Gothic because it was the closest I could find to Scher’s. I varied the texts weight (bold or light) to try and achieve the effects she did but still had difficulty; some of the letters weren’t thick enough and others not thin enough.  I was able to rotate my text so that it was on a diagonal, however, I was unable to figure out a way to give my text ‘depth’, i.e. making the letters that are closer to the subjects mouth smaller and those that are farther away larger. Because of this, I made the “Public Theater” text in the top right-hand corner on my own with the Avant Garde Gothic, but resorted to copy the text near the subjects mouth using the lasso and the magic wand tool.

Overall, I think working digitally didn’t change the aesthetic or style of the work; the original made on a screen print still had digital elements in the photograph of the subject and the digitally generated fonts.  My techniques differed because I wasn’t using a silk screen to print the poster, but creating it digitally didn’t take away from the original message or style; it looks more or less the same.  Scher must have had to print and create the different layers by hand, where I was able to create the different layers all in one program in Photoshop.

I found that the drastic contrast of the face was a really interesting aspect to Scher’s piece.  I wanted to recreate that same contrast, especially because the face is the main subject of the poster.  I took a picture of my friend Julia with one side of her face considerably lit and the other with lots of shadows.  From there I was able to change the hue, and even further the contrast in Adobe Illustrator and after import that into Photoshop.  Since the subjects are different people, there is a different feel of the poster, however, I think that Julia’s face captures the original expression well.

Towards the end of the recreation process, I discovered a way to warp text in a way that might have been sufficient enough to have used that tool for all of the text.  If I had more time to create this, the first thing I would do is experiment with the warp tool to see if recreating the text this way would be possible. A stronger knowledge in photoshop would have definitely helped me from the beginning, but I can tell that from the hours I put into this project that I have taken away a better understanding of how to use multiple tools that will help me in my future creations and projects. 

 Font credit: Paula Scher

Photo credit: https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18654247/

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IMAGE SOURCE:   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ClaudeGaramond.jpeg

Research:

https://www.linotype.com/414/claude-garamond.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Garamond

http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typeTalk/garamond/biography.html

https://upclosed.com/people/claude-garamond/

COPY:

Claude Garamond was born in Paris, France in the year 1510 (the year is actually unknown with the earliest being 1480, however, the year 1510 is favored due to Garamond’s will pointing to the fact that his mother was still alive at his death). He died in 1561.

Claude Garamond started his career as an apprentice for punch cutting and printing; he later became one of the first independent punch cutters.  Among this career, he was also a type publisher, more specifically an old style letter designer, and towards the end of his life, a publisher.

He is known for is fonts ‘Garamond’ and ‘Grecs du Roi’, the latter which was made when he was commissioned by King Francois I of France.  His font style is loosely based off of handwriting with a pen, and therefore is organic, however, is slightly more structured and upright.  Because of the clarity in the typeface ‘Garamond’, readability is high, making it effortless to read.

Towards the end of his career, in 1545, he began to publish his own books using his typefaces. His works are known for clarity among multiple aspects such as design, large page margins, the quality of his compositions, the paper itself, and his printing and bookbinding techniques.

When he died in 1561, his possessions, such as equipment, punches, and matrices, were then sold, which cause the typeface ‘Garamond’ to be widely used for up to two centuries later.  Garamond is still commonly used today.

MLA WORKS CITED:

“Font Designer – Claude Garamond.” LinoType, LinoType, www.linotype.com/414/claude-garamond.html.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Claude Garamond.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 11 June 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Claude-Garamond.

“The Biography of Claude Garamond.” Pointless Art, www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typeTalk/garamond/biography.html.

UpClosed. “About Claude Garamond.” UpClosed, www.upclosed.com/people/claude-garamond/.

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In the first exercise, I believe my best composition was with the use of the letter z.  I chose the letter z because it is asymmetrical, but has point-reflection symmetry, and because I like the sharp angles z has. I enlarged, rotated, and dragged the letter off of the side of the frame to make it abstract. The figure/ground relationship is balanced, with the diagonal line of the z splitting the frame into two. Although the frame isn't symmetrical, the two white triangle shapes pointing inward give the composition a balanced look.

In the second exercise, instead of picking two random letters I picked a two letter word. The word itself has no relevance to me, but I liked that it is a neutral word that is easily recognizable. I also liked that the o has curved shapes where the k has angles and corners; when combined it gives the piece a more interesting composition. Because I chose a word it impacted my decision on where to place the letters; obviously the o was going to be on the left and the k on the right. I included a black rectangle behind the o in order to make it recognizable, which changed the figure/ground relationship. Without the rectangle, the composition would have looked like a broken apart letter k, floating in the middle of the piece. With the rectangle, the o becomes recognizable and the k extends to have a solid position on the board. From arranging this composition, I learned that a piece can become more interesting when it has asymmetry, diagonal lines, and varying shapes instead of a symmetrical composition that follows the horizontal and vertical lines of the frame. I also learned how to use new tools in Illustrator, like ‘path’. I feel as if this exercise prepared me for the following exercise, because it helped me to look at the arrangement of letters in a word in a different, more creative way.

The third exercise I chose my ‘coffee’ text as my most interesting composition. I arranged and spaced the letters in a way to communicate the shape of a mug without including any actual lines. I included a black shape on the bottom of the frame to imply the outline of a coffee mug. The colors in the piece work well because the black gives the sense of positive space while the white creates a negative space. This exercise was challenging when trying to create implied lines between the letters. I tried the use of capital letters before I made the decision to use lowercase, and I found that the curves from the lowercase letters helped me achieve the implied curves of the mug better than the sharp corners of the capitals.

In the fourth exercise I started to create a hierarchy with font size and weight using Futura. The m and the h are the biggest letters, in bold, and at the top in attempt to draw the eye there first. That combined with the change in color from first letter to the rest of my name was the best way to make my name the first aspect seen. After my name I included my title, smaller but still in bold as it seemed like a natural progression of what I wanted the viewer to see. Towards the bottom, in smaller text, at a normal weight, I included my information hoping that would be the last piece of information the viewer looks at.  The use of hexagons was to create a different visual aspect that I could also start to incorporate a specific color palette. The hexagons aren’t overpowering because they don't have much depth, and I also lowered the opacity so they became more of a background than an object in my composition.

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The Diva is Dismissed is a Poster designed by Paula Scher for the New York Public Theater in 1994.  It was created for Jennifer Lewis’ one-woman show, The Diva Is Dismissed, and displays Jennifer Lewis’ face, screaming, as the subject of the poster. When this was made, Scher was hired by the Public Theater to try and raise awareness and attendance of a diverse crowd. This poster falls in the category of postmodernism, and has themes of Russian constructivism. Scher made this design through the use of serigraph, or a silkscreen print. During my research process, I couldn't find any information on how Scher herself made the serigraph, but I imagine she used the standard process. She would have had to create layers: I originally believed she would have used four because of her use of only four colors, yellow, blue, black and orange, however, there would be no depth in the face of the subject if that was the case; it would look like one solid shape. There is probably one or two other layers for the face, in a lighter blue color in order to give it more depth. This also allows for a high level of contrast in her work: the fewer layers the more contrast. I think that she did the blue facial layer first, then added the black text, then the orange outline, then the yellow background. I believe this because when you zoom in on the image very closely, you can tell there is overlap on the ear of the subject, as well as the orange outline.

Works cited:

Scher, Paula. “Paula Scher. The Diva is Dismissed. 1994 | MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/8837.

“Poster, The Diva is Dismissed, 1994.” Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18654247/.

Heller, Steven. Design literacy: Understanding graphic design. 3rd edition, Allworth Press, 2014, books.google.com/books?id=H-XpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT392&lpg=PT392&dq=the diva is dismissed process&source=bl&ots=wuRKBu34I_&sig=pcpwD-1-44y-sCtP78Yhfdf2Gtw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbiNuTxYDZAhUIvFMKHXq7C58Q6AEITzAH#v=onepage&q=diva%20dismissed&f=false.

Art Directors Club. Art Directors Annual 88: Advertising Design, Illustration, Interactive Photography. 88th Ed. Mies, Switzerland: RotoVision, 2009. Print.

Evans, Greg. “The Diva Is Dismissed.” Variety, 12 Dec. 1994, variety.com/1994/legit/reviews/the-diva-is-dismissed-2-1200439715/.

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About me

Hey, my name is Miggy. I’m a student in my first semester at SUNY Brockport studying graphic design. Before coming to Brockport, I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh where I studied Spanish and Portuguese, with a focus on Latin American studies. Eventually, I would really enjoy combining my past and current degrees, to find a job as a graphic designer that would allow me to create works in multiple languages to reach audiences with a variety of cultural backgrounds.

Outside of classes and school work, I enjoy traveling, spending time outdoors, and playing with dogs. Exploring new places is one of my favorite forms of entertainment.

I have always had a fascination with art, both creating and viewing, and I’m excited to be in an environment that will allow me to do both.