Environmental Graphic Design. The best and worst class of my life. Never ever let your class be the "hey, lets try something new!" class. 3 detailed, research-heavy, full projects in 6 weeks = 3 all-
nighters, ten years off your life, and a serious caffeine addiction. But the sun is pretty when it rises.
First up, Buffalo
CarShare. Challenge: create environmental designs for a car sharing program in Buffalo, New York. Program had no logo or general identity, so a logo design was created (see above). The logo is based off an illustration the company has used in the past. I refined the idea and made it usable for professional purposes.
Also needed to make a system map that could translate from posted boards to folded paper maps. Could only use black, white, and highway-sign green for this project. The shape of the sign- the angle- was chosen to distinguish these signs from other official road signs of the same color scheme.
Created signage for car "hubs" (where the cars could be picked up), for both parking lots and
parallel parking curbs. Also created signage to place at bus stops, metro stations, and along pedestrian routes- the areas car sharing users would most likely be. The metro stations had a full scale map while the bus stations were given signs with close-up view of the overall map as the bus stops were within walking distance of the hubs while metro stations were still a considerable distance away.
FREITAG- the name nobody could pronounce (save the German minor girl). Mission: Create a scrim for designer bag company
FREITAG that not only works with the building- 137 Greene St, a
SoHo studio building from the early 20
th century with a cast iron facade- but one that also shows off
FREITAG's philosophy and style.
Process work. My scrim was inspired by the architecture of 137 Greene Street and the
architecture of
FREITAG. Their philosophy is to reuse industrial items- tarps for their bags, shipping containers for their stores- so I decided to reuse 137 Greene street's facade on the scrim. The white boxes resting on the facade echo their store interior. The bags are actual
FREITAG bags and the panels were designed to be removal should they want to change the bags with the seasons.
FREITAG store.
We had the joy of doing technical drawings off of google images and phone calls to the
Realtor.
Rochester Rapid. Like Buffalo
CarShare, this transportation program needed an identity, a map, and environmental signage. However, Rochester Rapid had a broader audience so it needed to be
universally designed as well. Special consideration was taken when designing the stop shelter and the main stop signage- a board with the timetable, map, and electronic times- to make it accessible to everyone. As a Deaf individual, Universal Design is close to my heart because I know what it's like to be excluded from an environment so I enjoyed this challenge.
Timetable and Map. Very Tricky.
Rochester Rapid Shelter.
Following the project, we had to poll non-design students and professionals to see how effective our designs were. We then visually represented that data.
Information Design:
Rate of Unnatural Deaths in
Sunnydale, California. Letting my geek flag fly- this is based off the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". With the help of the
Internet, I compiled the number of individuals that died over the course of the 7
seasons BTVS was on the air. I graphed this above for humans and non-humans, one graph for the overall number of deaths over the 7 years and the other for key years. Again with the help of the
Internet, I tracked down several proposed maps of this make-
believe town and used them to create one large one, which I then graphed the location of unnatural deaths, for both humans and non-humans. So. Much. Fun.
Wayfinding.
NTID's LBJ building is one of the most
confusing buildings you will ever meet. The 3rd floor is a square that never ends, so I chose to map this is an abstract way that was still
efficient. The area being
depicted on the map is different for each hallway- hence, 4 maps. Symbols are used for key areas and purple/yellow was chosen to go with the building's design theme.
