Well, I never quite got back to elaborating on my classes this quarter as promised. If there be any doubt, I’ve been quite busy this quarter, between three classes, freelance work, training employees at my “new” job, and commuting back-and-forth to greenville, I haven’t had a whole lot of recreational blogging time to keep things up-to-date.

Following that lengthy proviso, I will provide updates to two of my classes, the third is stilll wrapping up. I posted a preliminary paper for Pre-Columbian Art in Mesoamerica a while back, and over the past several weeks, I expanded the material culture method (read: no research) into a real, live, 15-page research paper complete with cool footnotes, figures, and everything. Who said academia is dead? Suprisingly, I already received the paper back from the professor, and aside from minor notes and elaboration on minutia I would have no way of knowing anything about, the paper was well received (for all those keeping track, that was a B+). So, for that class, I just get to present my research on Wednesday for all of the adoring mesoamerican students.

In semiotics, things have also been grand. Lectures have been stimulating, and I’ve had a number of chances to talk about Christianity within the theoretical and philosophical realms as it relates to our diverse and broad discussions (including evaluation of truth, beauty, behavior, creativity, the sacred and profane, color theory, et al). Suffice it to say, semiotics has been a whirlwind of thought and a dramatically affective construct to write within. The paper that I posted below has gone through some changes, hopefully positive, establishing a better overall conception of semiotics, and the essence of style, both in a universal and specific sense. This discussion of style allowed me to synthesize with art history, which is what I really love anyway. Fortunately, only a rewrite (or edit) of this paper was required for final submission (which, incidentally, is today), which becomes even more positive when considering the aforementioned mesoamerican paper, and a large digital studio project that is coming due this week as well.

[Just an editor’s note: if you don’t know what semiotics is (and I sure didn’t before I started my graduate degree), it’s OK. I provide a reasonably concise explanation of the semiotic model in my paper, attached below.]

I’ll just briefly note the digital studio project, since it is still in the final developmental stages. All quarter, my group (consisting of four members) has been developing a web site from the ground up for the Savannah Civil Rights Museum, aka the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum. I was fortunately able to sign on as the technical lead, primarily building out the site in code, while others dealt with the visual design and content. I say “fortunately” with my tongue-in-cheek since one of my group members decided to not do the aforementioned visual design. This resulted in me doing the entire visual design, in addition to all of the other responsibilities I already had. This has especially been evident this past weekend, where I spent three days of my holiday weekend working at this project. My only solace is the fact that the project is due on Wednesday.

Attached Files:

Political and Religious Symbology at Río Bec B: Power as Symbol in Temple B(yes, it’s the same title)

A Semiotic Analysis of Post-World War One Graphic Design: An Associational Study of Signs in De Stijl(same here)

Things have been quite busy this quarter thus far, and I’m finally able to come up for a bit of a breather. I had a major test in Mesoamerican and a paper due in Semiotics this week, so I’m finally able to post a bit of work from the topics I’ve been studying. In the context of Mesoamerican art, I am working on a paper exploring a the concepts of power and religious authority within the scope of a minor Maya site in the Yucatan called Río Bec. I wrote a five page introductory paper using a material culture method of exploration (the [Jules] Prown material culture method). The resulting pre-paper allows exploration into the object itself, and associated cultural connotations without significant research. I have since developed an extensive bibliography, and am now working on a final fifteen-page version due later this quarter.

In the realm of semiotics, lecture has been fascinating, and the paper that I recently completed ties many of the concepts we have discussed into an analytic framework that allows a semiotic analysis of a specific object or movement. I have chosen to work within the graphic design and traditional art movement of the De Stijl in the Netherlands (1917-1928), analyzing the sign functioning of complex gestalts and anti-naturalist features within the style. Further, I briefly explored the movement from introduced complex gestalts to the eventual recognition or comprehension of these complex gestalts as simple, or natural gestalts. This transformation of sign denotatum in the universal context allowed the perpetuation of universal signs, primary as logos and graphic symbols, later in the twentieth century. I’ll be writing a revision and expansion of this paper later in the quarter, hopefully using a more significant portion of my extensive bibliography in my citations.

Political and Religious Symbology at Río Bec B: Power as Symbol in Temple A

A Semiotic Analysis of Post-World War One Graphic Design: An Associational Study of Signs in the De Stijl

This post represents the body of work completed for Print Studio I this quarter. The assignments revolved around a singular identity project, implemented through an initial brandmark design, subsequent brand guidelines brochure, and a media kit designed for direct mail application. I was assigned a land trust environmental agency, Chattahoochee Hill Country Conservancy, on which to base my class projects.

As a proviso to my discussion of this project and course, it is helpful to understand that identity and logo design is not my specialty. As many from my undergraduate career can attest, logo design is neither a talent or desire of mine in the scope of graphic design. I very much enjoy creating logotypes–I love tweaking letterforms and attributes to create a beautiful product–but I do not approach brandmark or logo projects with the same level of skill or enthusiasm. I understand the importance of identity design in the graphic design industry, but due to the increased segmentation of the design market, identities are generally created by specialized agencies. I choose to specialize in other areas of graphic design. I actually interned at an branding agency in Greenville (fuel) during my undergraduate degree, and, after learning more about their approach to branding, and the general feel of that portion of the industry, I found that there are many areas of graphic design I am much more effective in. Unfortunately, I was not able to opt out of this course due to my aversion to identity design. I am reasonably happy with the result, especially after spending many hours executing three disctinct approaches to this logo from my research and thumbnails (to attempt to satisfy the professor.) Unfortunately, the professor was never too thrilled with any of my solutions, so I eventually gave up my quest for the “approved” logo, and moved on to the production of my brand guidelines, mostly out of necessity.

Through the production of my brand guidelines brochure, I made a vast visual departure from my early design concepts, and settled on a textural treatment that more accurately depicted the natural foundation of CHCC. Fortunately, the professor was happier with this piece, although he still maintained a distinct dislike for the logo included on each page. Lots of work went into this piece, and it ended up at almost thirty pages, including brand identity, brand application, environmental graphics, and merchandising.

The final project was stuffed into the final two weeks of the quarter, and included the creative production of a direct mail media kit. Creative execution and consistent brand identity were important in this concluding piece. I chose a format about the size of a DVD case, with a CD and fold out trifold brochure inside. The trifold also tears away from the CD, and folds out into a branded poster for increased brand identification. The graphic treatment followed the design of the brand guidelines, partially for brand consistency, partially out of time necessity (the two pieces came due together, even though 3X as much time had been spent on the eBrochure.) I’m pretty happy with the final design, and the textural treatment represents a pretty clear departure from my trademark clean and sophisticated style. The entire project reinforces my general dislike for the branding market, but also resulted in further exploration of textural design and description of brand components.

Additional Downloads

Market Research Paper
Market Research Paper
Logo Design Narrative
Chattahoochee eBrochure

I wanted to provide some comments on the purpose of this blog, and an apology for any misunderstanding or misrepresentation of my alma mater, or, more importantly, my faith. A little history might be in order to precisely understand my perspective and goals. I originally began this blog after deciding to apply for and subsequently attend SCAD for a master of fine arts program in graphic design. I had grown up in an academic environment at Bob Jones University, and had a desire to relate my changing academic experience and graphic design work for a personal documentary as well as a dialog and liaison for former professors and friends at BJU.

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This project has been interesting, to say the least. Our initial project requirements included contacting a non-profit agency to perform work for. After looking at the choices of some of my classmates (Humane Society, Pediatric AIDS, GreenPeace, etc.), I decided that I wanted to pick an agency that would reflect my faith. I did some research, and after considering a few options, I chose International Christian Concern, an agency committed to informing Christians of persecution around the world, and helping persecuted Christians through legal and social action. After reading more about their marketing efforts, I decided to produce church bulletin inserts to inform western christians about the scope of persecution, and a master brochure design to inform christians about persecution in specific countries.

Although I spent many hours working on the project, and despite the appopriateness of the end product for the market, the professor was not happy with the end result. After reviewing her comments (reproduced below), I can only come to the conclusion that she did not understand the christian target audience, or that she had some antogonism toward the presentation of this aspect of the gospel. I included elements of iconography that are vital to a complete understanding of the flyers: a cross to represent christian suffering (”take up my cross”; identification with early church martyrdom), drops of blood to represent death and suffering (clearly identified with Christ’s drops of blood at Gesthemane; a demonstration of the suffering inherent with following Christ), and a crown of thorns on the final poster to directly identify with Christ (identification with the suffering of Christ in our redemption, thus Christ’s suffering is the reason for our own suffering). These icons are carried through in some form to the brochures, although in a diminished sense. The texture of the two pieces defines the gravity and violence of the topic, and unifies the two pieces as part of the same campaign.

As the comments below clarify, the campaign obviously held depth of meaning and message to classmates, but, for whatever reason, this feeling was not shared by the professor of this course. Although I have no regrets for presenting the gospel in this context, the incompatibility of subject matter for the professor may have resulted in a less than desirable grade.

Additional Downloads

Project 2 Classroom Brief
Project 2 Personal Design Brief

Additional Notes

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