Hi! I’m a Graphic Designer from Medicine Hat, Alberta. I use design as a way to explore my environment and learn more about my community.
Case Studies:
Garryana Typeface
Welcome to Vancouver Island
Learning to Love My Hometown
Pip Blind Box
Peek at My Other Work
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January 11 2024
After I recieved the initial brief I began writing down concepts for the book. I thought of Medicine Hat as quiet, familiar, and comforting, and I wanted the book to feel like that. I explored the idea of following a typical day of mine chronologically to illustrate my perspective on Medicine Hat.
January 16 2024
I had been stuck on ways to present a day in my life in an exciting and experimental way. Presenting it experimentally doesn’t add or enhance the feeling of a mundane day (are there ways to boringly experiment? I’m not sure). I thought that I could make the book about finding new ways to experience mundane Medicine hat. The book could get progressively more experimental in type placement, font choices, layouts, and experiments. Also, I saw another student print on vellum paper for translucency in a book they made and it looked awesome.
January 23 2024
I was getting insiration from design books my instructor brought to class and pinterest and the previous weekend I went to take pictures around town. I was really excited to learn that we were allowed to use colours for this projects, but after thinking about it I wasn’t as excited about the idea. The printer at the college struggles with accurate colour printing. I could also print locally at a place like Boylan’s, but I wanted to be able to print it, reprint it, rip it apart, start over, experiment, etc. and printing at the college was more cost effective.
I had the idea to only include 1 colour in the book to make it more exciting and add to the theme of the book. I decided against this because I find black and white photos with one other colour cheesy. Before I decided on the colour, I had a previous idea to cyanotype a page because it is technically a photo-processing technique and a thing I love about Medicine Hat is the sunshine, so it would relate in that way as well. Also, the colour blue reflects feelings of calmness, and I associate it with the giant sky in the prairies. I feel like blue is the obvious choice if I were to pick a single colour for this.
Another student ordered the wrong size for some sketchbooks and he gave one to me because he wasn't going to use it. This was very nice because I love sketchbooks AND it gave me an idea for the cover. The sketchbook has a sewn binding with one signature, a thicker brown cover and a piece of red paper glued on the spine to cover the thread. I thought it was very beautiful and thought I could use blue paper instead.
Another idea I had was to make stickers to go with the book to add to the idea of "sharing the love of Medicine Hat". I discovered that day that you don't need a special printer to print on sticker paper! I thought it would also be cute to present the book in a little translucent case to make it feel very special. I could’ve also made a little box for the stickers. I couldv’e also made a sticker to put on the translucent box. The possibilities were endless. I planned to experiment with cutouts, foldouts, cyanotype, presentation, and transparent paper.
February 1 2024
I used photoshop to edit the photos and adjust the levels in black and white images and brought them in to indesign to create layouts. I used some ideas from my digital sketches like the glasses spread and cutouts. As I was writing the book I found more things I wanted to say, like about my grandpa and how my perspective has changed about living here. I experimented as I went and took new photos to match new layout ideas. I kept a wide outer margin and a narrow inner margin to create the feeling of intimacy when reading the book.
February 5 2024
I chose to use a kettle stitch to add texture and create a tactile feeling for the viewer. Changing the black, white, and blue to just black and white was the right move because it makes the book feel more classy and professional. I had trouble attaching the cover to the book, so I decided to create a narrow wrapper and leave the book unbound. I used photos that I hadn’t used inside the book to make a faux film strip. I enjoyed this assignment and found it therapeutic and I’m happy with how it turned out.