Marcus Hardaway
2. Location
Ooltewah, TN
3. Project Title
Chattanooga State 2010 Portfolio Show Poster
4. Brief About Client
The client Chattanooga States's Graphic Design Department Head, Jeff Morris. Each year Chattanooga State presents a Portfolio Show for the graduating graphic design students. The show allows each student to showcase their body of work created during the degree program. The show is open to the public, other students, staff and administrators.
5. Task
The task was to design a poster that represents the design program at Chattanooga State. The poster specifications were to use original photography, to create an interesting type treatment, and possibly include a catchy phrase or tag-line.
6. Research
We were shown several examples of posters that had been done in the previous years. The first one was done by Jeff Morris, Graphic Design Department Head at Chattanooga State. I also browsed online to find examples of other Portfolio Show posters. I also looked at a few movie posters.
7. Concept Development
After research I always follow with thumbnail sketches and random doodling. Usually during a project it is nothing for me to sketch 50 to 100 varying concepts. Here are some of the sketches. I needed to stay away from art tools, which seem to be typical. I knew using an actual portfolio would be good, but as i sketched it started to feel boring. I had to find a solution that would depict a portfolio in an exciting way. Normally, my first sketch is what I go back to, but this time I really wanted to challenge myself and make my piece feel complex, but not busy, functional, but not literal. As I emptied my large portfolio to get a visual I realized it looked like a tent sitting up on the floor or even some type of flying object.
Yes, I always let my imagination run away with me. The thought of the portfolio in flight became the idea that I decided to build on.
8. Design Inspiration
That is actually a funny story.After narrowing down some of the concepts. I decided to play more with the idea of a flying portfolio. A friend of mine had given me a photo she took from a helicopter of Downtown Chattanooga and I thought it was beautiful.
I envisioned a portfolio flying over the cityscape. I showed the professor the sketches. He liked the concept, but believed it would look funny having the portfolio upside down. He believed, realistically, the pages might fall out. That is when I decided to do additional sketches with the pages falling out. He looked a little taken that I decided to take his feedback literally, but once he saw where it was going he got on board. That accidental idea was the extra spice this piece needed. The pages not only work well with the portfolio, but they also add movement and lead the eye.
I thought it would represent the design class better if the pages had actual pieces of work from some of the students that were going to be in the portfolio show. I contacted some of the students and had each of them to send me a few of their best works.
9. Challenges
The challenge for this project was producing photography. I am not a photographer. When it comes to taking pictures I am usually the owner of the finger that you see on the picture. LOL!
I had to get pictures of the portfolio and pages. I went outside with huge sheets of white mat board. I placed each page and the portfolio on different sheets and took pictures from all angles.
I became irritated, because although the sun was a great source of light the pages all had reflections of light and sky on them. Little did I know, those little hints of light and reflection would add to my piece.
10. Presentation & Feedback
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| This one is the city below is more defined. Also notice the red box at the bottom is more transparent. |
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| Notice on this one the image of the city has more of a bluish tint to it and looks somewhat faded. |
When I presented my first digital concept to the professor, he said the sky needed more clouds. I added three different images to create layers of clouds and haziness. I felt the words "Chattanooga State" were just out of place. I also played with different tones to give the city more of an overcast feel.
11. Final Design Thoughts
In the end, I had a clear understanding of why we needed to use our own photography, rather than purchase it. Taking my own photos allowed me to better produce my vision, rather than having to conform to some other person's photography. I was also pushed to pay closer attention to small details. The end result was a beautiful piece that not only represented the design students of 2010, but also showcased my ability to create an original concept.
12. Usage
The design was used as promotion at Chattanooga State Community College to promote the Annual Portfolio Exhibit.
13. Client Final Thoughts
The client felt that the piece was very strong and met all of his criteria.
To see more work from Hardaway Design click here!
