Sophie Boysen

The Designer Research project was to get me, as a young designer, to realize that art and design are simply a by-product of our culture by nature. Design is informed by the public’s personal taste in aesthetics, technological shifts in innovation, and the functions of the needs of a community. Design is impacted by the values of the era and region. Giving design context gives it a backstory and no longer is it just an object or artifact without meaning or purpose. Design has reason. Through research, outlining, writing, and designing, we were to produce our own designs through print, motion, or user experience or interface design to educate ourselves on our designer of choice. We had to discover why our chosen designer’s work is relevant. I chose British typographer and graphic designer, Jonathan Banb My most difficult obstacle with this project was developing a grid and layout that honored my chosen designer’s work in a way that did not copy it. I overcame this by learning from my past mistakes. So, I iterated. And iterated. And iterated. From my obscene amount of sketches, I was able to arrive at a result that I was proud of. Taking inspiration from my designer and his willingness to take risks, I pushed my boundaries with unusually drastic margins. I was invested in learning about my designer as well as his work and to prove it, I put my heart and soul into designing my book.

The desktop version of my Recontextualizing a Collection project utilized Figma and the prototype function of the program. This project allowed me to explore how objects and their data can shift and recontextualize based on whether or not it is on your computer or your phone. Throughout the course of this project, I began to understand how context can shift when objects are flattened and how meaning changes depending upon that variable. I chose to document 20 of my favorite Pokémon cards from my collection. My main struggle with this project was the concept of my layout. My fondness for my original design caused me to struggle when trying to move forward in my design. Even though I was stubborn in editing my concept layout, I recalled past struggles I experienced when I refused to change my initial concept. Through reiterating my concept, I was able to move forward with much more ease than before. Utilizing my grid became easier and I did so in a way that I was proud of – which, in turn, further motivated me to improve my pre-existing skills in Figma. While web design is not my strongest area, I have been able to achieve a level of skill that I can be proud of. During this project, I improved in my prototyping and web design skills through determination to grow in an area that I was not previously comfortable in.

An extension of the Object Study (see personal portfolio), the Complementary Poster Set is some of my proudest work. The requirements of the project were to create a pair of posters that corresponded to one another and effectively communicate my chosen concept statement: “The lasting effects of parents’ drinking habits on their children”. With it being such a personal topic, I had struggled with finding the confidence to present my work. While it was tough, I managed to muster up the courage and ended up doing great. I learned so much from designing the Complementary Poster Set. This project gave me ample opportunities in practicing using both found images and type. I also learned how to implement type that had been distorted through projecting onto uneven surfaces or through playing with a Xerox machine. I was able to improve my Photoshop skills as well when designing these pieces. Overall, I became more resourceful in using found images from books, online, in real life, etc. I am proud of the work I had done to get to the end and of what I accomplished.