Overview
Open Studio is an event held every year at SDSU's School of Art and Design. It's open to the public and is a great opportunity for guests to explore the campus and interact with members of SDSU while participating students show off their work.
Our Studio Design class was responsible for creating a poster to promote this event that would appeal to students, faculty, and guests. It needed to represent each department in the School of Art and Design and provide details of the event. We were also responsible for creating collateral which included a postcard and social media post.
Sketches + Mood board
With the need to represent each department in mind, I knew I wanted to take a straightforward approach and illustrate the tools that they use. Through my research, I was inspired to use a drawer to place the text and tools in.
I played around a lot with different angles during my sketching phase, and later landed on the birds-eye-view. I decided to go with this because I was loosely inspired by a puzzle game where the puzzle pieces are everyday items that fit together nicely. I played around with messy vs. organized tools, but I eventually came back to the organized concept.
Color Palette + Type
Process + Development
I chose to illustrate a drawer because they are where we place important items, like our tools. It also represents the mind. We all have a drawer in our brains where we store our hard-earned skills, creativity, and inspiration. It is a drawer we are constantly opening and closing.
Initially, the tools had more detail, but I decided to keep them as silhouettes to keep the design more cohesive. It also acts as an incentive to stop and look closer at the poster to see what each shape is. Similarly, I went with a monochromatic blue color palette to further aid in the cohesiveness of the poster. Lastly, I chose the saying “make more” because as artists, we are always creating. It is encouragement to continue to “fill up” and use your creative experience and knowledge in your drawer.
Collateral
When making my postcard, I kept the front the same as the poster, as they were similar dimensions. For the back I took a slightly different approach. Rather than placing the tools and text inside a drawer, the idea was that the tools were on top of the drawer in order to simplify the design. I took a similar approach on the Instagram post in order to fit my design in a square.
