Type 2: Journal 3, Chip Kidd

I watched the video "Chip Kidd Explains His Process" and in class today we watched Chip Kidd's Ted talk about designing book covers in order to prepare our minds for the project we're starting. While I did get distracted by the yellow piping on his suit jacket, I can say it was thoroughly informative and entertaining. Probably because Literature was always my favorite subject and I get to design for one of my favorite books, Slaughterhouse-Five, I was already enthusiastic to design a book cover before we began this morning. But Kidd's message was clear and exciting to me- when you design a book cover you are telling the story of the book through your imagery. You try to encapsulate the main themes and messages in an enticing way so that people have to pick it up and see what its about. The segment when he talks about how he designed the cover for "My Name is Red" by Orhan Pamuk by creating a story as you pull it from the shelf is an amazing example of how to do this. But for others, like "1Q84" by Haurki Murakami, he took the main essence of the book and applied to the jacket and cover in a beautiful and interactive way. The designer is an "interpreter and translator" of the text to the visual design. And I hope to create three designs for Slaughterhouse-Five that can convey the incredible truths and pay respect to the novel that is truly a classic.

VISC 304 Poster Project Final

The final project post is on Bechance, you can find it here

Project Statement

I created these three pieces with the specific goal of deepening the viewer’s understanding of the topic of gender equality in the workplace through the use of logos, ethos and pathos. I created an interactive Ipad app, which would reside in the display space, that delivers facts and figures to aid the viewers logical understanding if the topic. By citing my sources and including points of view for men and women I add to my credibility in my unbiased opinion and to the ethos of the piece. 

In order to create empathy in the viewer about the issue I wanted to establish a visual representation of the inequality in payment between genders because it is so invisible. I created a public, interactive piece where men are elevated 22% higher (on the model of an 8 foot ceiling) to represent the pay inequality. In front of the steps is fact explaining the 22% inequality fact and giving them a website (US Aid) to find more information. I chose a governmental organization for people to find more information to further add to my credibility, instead of a possibly biased private organization. 

To go further and help people interact with this issue on a daily basis I created a window sticker that businesses could have if they were audited and approved by US Aid that advertises that they pay both genders equally. The sticker also gives the viewer the website to learn more. The owners and viewers could talk about the issue and choose where to shop based on the sticker. If this were to become popular it would help create an impactful movement. 

Through this system with the Ipad app in the museum space, the interactive steps in a public area and the business sticker that could be anywhere in the world I created a unique system of touchpoints that would connect with the viewer on several levels through logical and emotional appeals in order to create new advocates for gender equality.