SMRT TIMES
Project Type:
Typography / Visual Narrative
Art Direction:
Sohee Kwon
In this project we will explore the power of typography and make 6 different typeface along side with four spreads of news paper based on a well known character. The project focuses not only on aesthetics but also needs to make sure the outcomes tell the story about the persona.
TYPEFACE DESIGN
The character that I choose is Homer Simpson. As a famous father figure in the show: The Simpsons, Homer has a very strong personality and interesting behavior, I collect some of his famous quotes and start to explore how I can visualize Homer’s personality through design.
TYPE & IMAGE
The first two quotes I choose are “Eat some more” and “I am SMRT”. Both are very fun quotes that reprents Homer’s obsession with food and stupidity. For “Eat some more”,I use Plushy bear as the elements to create a feeling that he is so hungry so he take a bite on a plushy toy. And for “I am SMRT” I choose bacon because it looks like brain matter.
TYPE & PLACE
Next I choose the quotes “brain my damage” and “cause and solution”, these two quotes represent how Homer’s brain is not functioning and how much he loves to drink alcohol. For “brain my damage”, I take the laundry basket, filled with dirty clothes and spin them inside the basket to mimic the feeling that his brain was inside a laundry machine. And for “cause and solution”, I get inspiration from the infinity stair, I want it to feel as confuse as possible, to create a feeling that he been trapped by alcohol.
TYPE & TEXTURE
The last two quotes I choose are “learning and writing actually paid off” and “why my actions have consequences” I use messy fabric for “paid off” to make it seems like someone make this fabric, he get the job done but it is not the most beautiful thing. And for “action” I choose icecream, because it has a interesting texture and I can make it looks like these icecreams are fell to the ground because of the consequences.
NEWSPAPER DESIGN
In the final, we design four spreads of newspaper based on the typeface that we created. Because my persona is Homer Simpson, so I want the news paper design to be so serious, I make the typeface floating around with different size and position, to make it feel interesting and playful.
PROCESS
This projetct really pushed my limit. I thought I’m not good in Photoshop and I have never designed a newspaper before. But now I see how trying things outside of my comfort zone makes me grow so much. And all the hard work paid off in the end and I’m satisfied with the result I have.