Project 2: What is Your Signature?
- Readymade – new idea based on recognizable parts Human emotion, irony
- “Figures of speech” or the “Quotes”
- 3% approach
- A compromise between 2 district similar or dissimilar notions
- Signs of “Work in process” – again human interaction
- A societal commentary – has a reason to exist now
- Speaking to the tourist & purist simultaneously
– Virgil Abloh
These maxims structured the 2017 Harvard lecture from the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh. His aim was to push young designers to articulate their “signature,” to stake a clear aesthetic flag in the sand.
Using what you’ve written in your manifesto, I’d like you to design a 12 page zine with a templated cover and back cover. This zine will take 5 words or phrases from your writing and deploy illustration, type, and/or photography to editorialize. One catch: you must use only orange (#ff8200) and white. These spreads will then be the basis for a class compilation publication.
Grading
Your grade for this project will make up 1/4 of your grade for the class. You will be evaluated based on your capacity to curate and present a set of thoughtfully designed visual studies grounded in a single subject, a well-articulated and meaningful statement, and a composition that showcases meticulous attention and professionalism in achieving the objective.
- Part 1: Drafts
- Using the prompt: "What is Your Signature?," you will design 3 separate spreads of 6 pages each. A few constraints:
- You must use your typeface.
- You must use only orange (#ff8200) and white.
- You must use some kind of imagery (be it illustration, collage, or photography).
- You set your dimensions to: 110 x 180 mm
- Using the prompt: "What is Your Signature?," you will design 3 separate spreads of 6 pages each. A few constraints:
- Part 2: Final Publication
- Based on our initial in-class critique, you will select one of the 3 directions and use the entries to develop a final 16 page publication.
- 12 page spread
- Dimension: 5” x 7.8”
- Use photography, illustration, and/or type you will visualize your manifesto
- Cover and Back Cover
- Using a provided template, you will typeset your entire manifesto on the cover of your zine
- 12 page spread
- You will turn in your final publication for an in-class critique. We will make an shared class publication from our individual publication. This will be 208 pages long.
- Based on our initial in-class critique, you will select one of the 3 directions and use the entries to develop a final 16 page publication.
Resources
Readings
- Virgil Abloh's "What is Your Signature?"
- Elizabeth Goodspeed's "The Good, the Bad, and the Iffy"
- Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction"
- Mindy Seu's "On Gathering"
- Panos Kouros's "The Public Art of Performative Archiving"
- Jenny Odell's "Reading the Rocks"
- Claire Bishop's "Information Overload"