7. Thesis Diary
This week I worked on organizing the visual system of my project. I narrowed down my logo mark selections based on feedback and refined the typography and spacing. I chose the version of the abstract form for my logo that was composed of the lowercase version of the letterforms because it served as a flag type of form which conveyed the sense of place of my project better. I also carefully defined and organized the colors, grid systems, user interface, and typography of my project. In making this guide, I learned a lot about how tedious it can be to come up with a visual system that takes into account a variety of applications that are very different. After organizing my visual system, I began work on refining the website based on feedback and making sure that the visual system was applied across every detail. One of the things that have been most essential is the organization of files. Because my project consists of so many illustrations, I was originally working off of one illustrator file with many artboards that were getting very slow and full of things all over the place. I worked on organizing my files and making separate illustrator files per illustration so that I could work on lighter files. Part of my work this week also included applying my visual system to my Board Game deliverable.
What have you learned from the process of research and creation in your thesis journey?
This week I learned a lot about effective ways of keeping my files more organized to optimize my working space and time.
How has your visual system developed? What works and what needs improvement?
I developed my visual system under the name, Colonya. The word is a mixture of the word Colony in English and Colonia in Spanish. The logomark that goes along with the name is a symbol that is made up of the letters "ia" and "y" which are the different letterforms in Colony and Colonia. The letters are then encompassed within a rectangle to resemble a sort of flag. This mark acknowledges the long history of colonialism on the island and the importance of the English and Spanish languages in our culture. In a way, it mixes the good and the bad of the colonial status and takes ownership of what we are in an empowering way. There are many opinions about Puerto Rico's status with complicated arguments and despite all of them, the English language is just as important as Spanish on the island.
The colors of the visual system derive from the colors of Puerto Rico. I compiled images of native flora and fauna as well as iconic architectural and natural spaces and made an expansive but specific range of colors. From there, I organized the colors into secondary color palettes that organize the ways the colors should be used in brand applications.
My typographic applications come specifically from Latin American type designers. Since my project is about acknowledging stories that have almost been forgotten in time, I thought that I needed to honor this effort across all areas of my project. Choosing the typography for my project was challenging because my initial idea was to use typography by a Puerto Rican designer. In my research, I was only able to find one Puerto Rican typeface designer who was able to share his typeface with me but upon exploration in Thesis 1, the letters did not work well with my project. I was then faced with expanding my choices to Latin designers, which is how I chose Magallanes and Grover as the typefaces for my project. The styles of these typefaces are in honor of Latin designers but also chosen because of their character. The idea is to pull history from the boring and traditional connotations that it often gets visually so as to appeal to a younger audience.
What about your product? Are there things you would change? Why? Why not?
I think I will definitely continue to refine my products. One of the main things that I would like to continue to do is add more content to the website as I continue to work on the rest of the deliverables for my project.
Describe the most useful and interesting things you have learned about yourself and the process of research and design in your thesis journey so far.
When I started this class I felt very lost but I am glad I've reached a point where I have more direction with the project and where I want to take it. The main thing I've learned is that I can take on a project so expansive and actually pull through.
