This is the culmination of my experience in the Graphic Design program at ASU. Throughout my senior year, I’ve really been pushed to think much more about the intention behind my design and what I want to contribute to the world with it. Paul Rand’s quote “design is relationships” is something I adopted into my philosophy this year after using it as the basis for my poster submission in the fall semester. It speaks to the role that design plays in fostering connections between its creator and its viewers, but more broadly to the power that we as designers have to actually do something and help our communities. I want to be able to look back on life and be proud, not just because my designs were good or the money I made, but because I did things that actually benefitted people.
That is what this project has really been about for me. Technology is moving faster than it ever has before, and for most people it’s really difficult to keep up with what’s going on between day to day life. Thus, important things like the expansion of AI-powered security and traffic cameras and privatized data vendors tend to fly under the radar.
This is the culmination of my experience in the Graphic Design program at ASU. Throughout my senior year, I’ve really been pushed to think much more about the intention behind my design and what I want to contribute to the world with it. Paul Rand’s quote “design is relationships” is something I adopted into my philosophy this year after using it as the basis for my poster submission in the fall semester. It speaks to the role that design plays in fostering connections between its creator and its viewers, but more broadly to the power that we as designers have to actually do something and help our communities. I want to be able to look back on life and be proud, not just because my designs were good or the money I made, but because I did things that actually benefitted people.
That is what this project has really been about for me. Technology is moving faster than it ever has before, and for most people it’s really difficult to keep up with what’s going on between day to day life. Thus, important things like the expansion of AI-powered security and traffic cameras and privatized data vendors tend to fly under the radar.
To fund our senior exhibition, every year the senior class puts on a poster show where we reach out to studios for donations and auction them off. We were all tasked with creating a poster and identity for the show, and took a vote for the winning one. I centered my poster on one of Paul Rand's quotes, "design is relationships". As I mentioned in my introduction, this quote is about the relationship between designer and viewer, and that is very befitting of a poster show in which the viewer feels a connection with a poster and wants to buy it.
I wanted to experiment with cut paper, and the new relationships I could make by cutting and rearranging the typography. The process was really fun, as I really like going analog to create something truly unique.
To fund our senior exhibition, every year the senior class puts on a poster show where we reach out to studios for donations and auction them off. We were all tasked with creating a poster and identity for the show, and took a vote for the winning one. I centered my poster on one of Paul Rand's quotes, "design is relationships". As I mentioned in my introduction, this quote is about the relationship between designer and viewer, and that is very befitting of a poster show in which the viewer feels a connection with a poster and wants to buy it.
I wanted to experiment with cut paper, and the new relationships I could make by cutting and rearranging the typography. The process was really fun, as I really like going analog to create something truly unique.
process
process
drag to scroll, click to enlarge.
drag to scroll, click to enlarge.
The different layers that make this poster up.
Cut paper experiment.
The cut title overlayed on a printed version.
Early digital sketch.
Alternate color scheme.
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The different layers that make this poster up.
Cut paper experiment.
The cut title overlayed on a printed version.
Early digital sketch.
Alternate color scheme.
Before we began really delving into our social issues, and making the clock, we had to create a presentation on what our topic was and some of the research being done on it. I chose to make a YouTube style video for mine, as I felt it really fit the theme of my topic as something you would see and maybe pass as a conspiracy video.
This was what really laid the groundwork for my topic, and started me down a rabbit hole much bigger than I was expecting. When I did my initial research for this video, I was hesitant to open things up so I focused my research on the chilling effect as well as it's effect on journalists. After starting my research back up earlier this year though, I went deeper and realized that the evidence for it was there the whole time.
Before we began really delving into our social issues, and making the clock, we had to create a presentation on what our topic was and some of the research being done on it. I chose to make a YouTube style video for mine, as I felt it really fit the theme of my topic as something you would see and maybe pass as a conspiracy video.
This was what really laid the groundwork for my topic, and started me down a rabbit hole much bigger than I was expecting. When I did my initial research for this video, I was hesitant to open things up so I focused my research on the chilling effect as well as it's effect on journalists. After starting my research back up earlier this year though, I went deeper and realized that the evidence for it was there the whole time.
The clock was an interesting project for sure. Creating a physical clock from scratch was an experience I'll remember for a while, as even though there were plenty of difficulties along the way, it ended up being a fun project.
The problems I faced were good for me in the long run, as it showed me the amount of planning that's needed to make something physically, which was really beneficial to my experience making my exhibit later on in my senior year.
The clock was an interesting project for sure. Creating a physical clock from scratch was an experience I'll remember for a while, as even though there were plenty of difficulties along the way, it ended up being a fun project.
The problems I faced were good for me in the long run, as it showed me the amount of planning that's needed to make something physically, which was really beneficial to my experience making my exhibit later on in my senior year.
2D clock process
2D clock process
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First design I made based on a panopticon prison.
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Playing with abstracting the eye into the minute and hour hands.
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An interesting experiment.
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Mimicking an old camera effect with an abstracted face.
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Started playing around with an ASCII effect.
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Combined the camera idea with the ASCII effect.
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Refining.
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Final 2D clock.
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First design I made based on a panopticon prison.
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Playing with abstracting the eye into the minute and hour hands.
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An interesting experiment.
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Mimicking an old camera effect with an abstracted face.
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Started playing around with an ASCII effect.
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Combined the camera idea with the ASCII effect.
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Refining.
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Final 2D clock.
3d clock process
3d clock process
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Initial sketches for how I wanted to make my clock.
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First prototype printing on an acrylic disk with a Canon Arizona flatbed printer.
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The frame for my lights to sit in gave me the most trouble. I ended up using 4 wreath rings glued together.
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Drilling a hole in my acrylic. Very scary but successful.
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Used L-brackets and glued bolts to hold the back panel in place.
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Close-up of the lights inside.
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Close-up of the text with the light shining though.
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As the minute hand turns, the hour hand is reavealed through circular cutouts, mimicking a blinking red light.
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Initial sketches for how I wanted to make my clock.
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First prototype printing on an acrylic disk with a Canon Arizona flatbed printer.
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The frame for my lights to sit in gave me the most trouble. I ended up using 4 wreath rings glued together.
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Drilling a hole in my acrylic. Very scary but successful.
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Used L-brackets and glued bolts to hold the back panel in place.
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Close-up of the lights inside.
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Close-up of the text with the light shining though.
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As the minute hand turns, the hour hand is reavealed through circular cutouts, mimicking a blinking red light.
Putting on the poster show was undoubtedly the most stressful time of my senior year. There were so many moving parts, and every one of us had to give 100% for everything to go off without a hitch. To manage this, we split up into different committees. I was on the web team, and we were in charge of setting up the website and the backend for the auctions, as well as be in the back actively fixing any bugs that came our way. I'm not great at WordPress, so I was mostly in charge of making animations and working on the clock page with another teammate.
This was a great experience to look back on, and it taught me a lot about what goes into putting on a big event. This definitely helped a lot in terms of our final exhibition, and made things go a lot smoother.
Putting on the poster show was undoubtedly the most stressful time of my senior year. There were so many moving parts, and every one of us had to give 100% for everything to go off without a hitch. To manage this, we split up into different committees. I was on the web team, and we were in charge of setting up the website and the backend for the auctions, as well as be in the back actively fixing any bugs that came our way. I'm not great at WordPress, so I was mostly in charge of making animations and working on the clock page with another teammate.
This was a great experience to look back on, and it taught me a lot about what goes into putting on a big event. This definitely helped a lot in terms of our final exhibition, and made things go a lot smoother.
the website
the website
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The process of creating this poster was a long one, as the original idea I had didn't end up working the way I wanted it to. The concept used CMYK misregistration—when printing plates fall out of alignment and expose the individual colors underneath—as a metaphor for calling attention to the systems people stop noticing. The metaphor was there, but for the average person that doesn't know what CMYK is, explaining it would be too much.
Not long before the submission, I decided to pivot to something different. I printed the word obscurity on two pages, and cut a couple letters out of one of the pages. I then overlayed it onto the the second page and shifted it to hide the letterforms behind it. The idea here was similar to my previous idea, just simplified in the letterforms themselves being hidden. This project was a great lesson into how the first idea isn't always the best.
The process of creating this poster was a long one, as the original idea I had didn't end up working the way I wanted it to. The concept used CMYK misregistration—when printing plates fall out of alignment and expose the individual colors underneath—as a metaphor for calling attention to the systems people stop noticing. The metaphor was there, but for the average person that doesn't know what CMYK is, explaining it would be too much.
Not long before the submission, I decided to pivot to something different. I printed the word obscurity on two pages, and cut a couple letters out of one of the pages. I then overlayed it onto the the second page and shifted it to hide the letterforms behind it. The idea here was similar to my previous idea, just simplified in the letterforms themselves being hidden. This project was a great lesson into how the first idea isn't always the best.
the process
the process
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First attempt at CMYK poster.
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Second attempt. Interesting but very busy.
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Last attempt. Works but I still wasn't satisfied.
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Different shift variation.
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Final shift.
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First attempt at laying new type out on poster size.
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Second attempt, split the text over 3 lines instead of 2.
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Playing with colors before settling on black and white.
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First attempt at CMYK poster.
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Second attempt. Interesting but very busy.
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Last attempt. Works but I still wasn't satisfied.
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Different shift variation.
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Final shift.
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First attempt at laying new type out on poster size.
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Second attempt, split the text over 3 lines instead of 2.
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Playing with colors before settling on black and white.
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To prepare for the exhibition we split back into our committees from the previous semester. My duties were largely the same, I made some animations to go around the website, and populate the student page. This website was much simpler than the poster show, as we didn't have an auction to run, so we tried to help out in other committees as much as possible.
To prepare for the exhibition we split back into our committees from the previous semester. My duties were largely the same, I made some animations to go around the website, and populate the student page. This website was much simpler than the poster show, as we didn't have an auction to run, so we tried to help out in other committees as much as possible.
the website
the website
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The home page.
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Another simple animation I created.
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Class page I worked on.
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Individul student pages.
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Combined the camera idea with the ASCII effect.
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Refining.
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Final 2D clock.
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The home page.
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Another simple animation I created.
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Class page I worked on.
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Individul student pages.
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Combined the camera idea with the ASCII effect.
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Refining.
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Final 2D clock.
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This project ended up being a lot bigger than I initially expected. What started as research into the chilling effect kept expanding the more I dug into it, and eventually I realized I was sitting on something that most people genuinely don't know about and probably should. That realization is what pushed me to open the scope up and take it more seriously as a project.
From a design standpoint it also pushed me in a direction I wasn't expecting. I do a lot of digital work, so there was something that felt really intentional about making this physical. A screen can't do what an exhibit does—it puts something in front of you that you have to actually engage with, and for a topic about systems most people scroll right past, that felt like the right call.
This project ended up being a lot bigger than I initially expected. What started as research into the chilling effect kept expanding the more I dug into it, and eventually I realized I was sitting on something that most people genuinely don't know about and probably should. That realization is what pushed me to open the scope up and take it more seriously as a project.
From a design standpoint it also pushed me in a direction I wasn't expecting. I do a lot of digital work, so there was something that felt really intentional about making this physical. A screen can't do what an exhibit does—it puts something in front of you that you have to actually engage with, and for a topic about systems most people scroll right past, that felt like the right call.
planning digitally
planning digitally
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prep work
prep work
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Laser cutting the circles for all my nodes.
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Laser cutting my text panels.
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Acrylic type ready to be inset.
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Close up of inset text.
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Close up up data nodes put together.
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All pieces ready to be put up at the exhibit.
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Laser cutting the circles for all my nodes.
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Laser cutting my text panels.
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Acrylic type ready to be inset.
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Close up of inset text.
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Close up up data nodes put together.
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All pieces ready to be put up at the exhibit.
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final exhibit
final exhibit
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Overall, senior year was for sure the most memorable year of this program. We did so much, and I felt like I got so much closer to everyone in my class this year. It's rare that you get to be surrounded by so many good designers, and that's definitely something I'll forever miss as I step out into the real world. Thank you for taking the time to walk through my senior experience with me.
Overall, senior year was for sure the most memorable year of this program. We did so much, and I felt like I got so much closer to everyone in my class this year. It's rare that you get to be surrounded by so many good designers, and that's definitely something I'll forever miss as I step out into the real world. Thank you for taking the time to walk through my senior experience with me.
