Trust The Process - Vinyl Sketches

Tasked with the assignment to begin the ideation process for an autobiographical vinyl 'tattoo', my first instinct lead me to think of what it would be that I would be 'tattooing'. I began by thinking about things that interest me - namely architecture, islamic art, and stationery. This year my notebook system (something I think far too much about) consists of one notebook for each class. The fatal flaw with this approach is that they are all identical - finding the right book for the right class is annoying...yet just trivial enough that I have tried to overlook it for the last two weeks. Then, it clicked - notebook skins! This assignment for vinyl tattoos may have just solved my problem. 

Onto the autobiographical part: overall I am a designer, and I know that is a title that will stay with me as I move through life. I am passionate about design, and I collect books on typography, islamic patterns, and paper-folding. I turned to a few of the books shown at the top of this post for inspiration and began sketching.  

I'll explain my thinking for the concepts sketches seen above:

• Outdoors/Nature
• Being in the mountains ground me.
• Abstracted Geometry
• Patterns surround my life and simplification and minimalism resonate with my lifestyle.
• Layered Typography
• Thinking about how to describe my courses for each notebook.
• Cubes unfolding
• I like the idea of taking apart something simple and the modular variety that simple shapes provide.
• Time/ Daily rituals
• There is power in ritual, and I'm reading about the importance of routine, something I struggle with but I'm very inspired to try.
• Stationery
• Clips are beautiful and simple and sweet. 
• Islamic Pattern
• Part of my identity and the patterns speak to my interest in logic and repetition.  
• Topography lines
• Tied back to architecture and the importance of the site from last project.
• Hand-Lettering
• Fun, and whimsical. Something inspiring but I struggle with finding the balance of structure within this free-form. 
• Aspirational words
• Words are so powerful to me. Endeavour has been a motto I aim to live by, and embodies a quality that continues to drive my days. Similarly, lux et veritas (light and truth) resonate with how I would define my aspirational self. 
• Isometric Projection
• Connecting typography and 3D drawing, two elements of design I love. 
• Repetition 
• I believe in iteration. It works. It always works. going through the process leads to success. A good concept is built on a good base of failed attempts. 

I came to the realization that thinking in terms of 4 notebooks (therefore 4 variations) was a bit much. So, I'm focused on coming up with one design that I can alter with colour or texture of the vinyl for different applications. This way the work will be more autobiographical for myself as a whole, not just for this semester's notebooks. 

Through this process I landed on four approaches I want to continue to develop. 

• Unfolding cubic pattern - could integrate typography into this?

• Typeface inspired by the paintings of Moholy Nagy, one of my favourite artists that really push 3D in 2D form. 

• Tessellations of islamic patterns woven - could become patterned or 3D with isometric projection.

• Isometric projection of typography - 'endeavour' becomes a space or place. Could be layered thin lines.

There is a 5th approach: I want to push the idea of abstracted architecture further. I think delicate line work or playing with negative space to resemble forms (buildings, chairs, tools) that I find meaningful has a lot of potential. It is only now, upon reflecting over my ideation, I notice it is the one approach I notice did not pursue in these concept sketches. 

Overall, I'm glad I resisted the urge to jump to the computer and begin iterations of some of these concepts as it allowed me keep that idea, but move on and think of another approach. I'm also happy I got to a place that feels much more autobiographical rather than simply descriptive of the classes I'm taking this year. I'll be excited to use the design I end up with on everything (I'm thinking business cards, laptop skin, portfolio cover, water bottle skin...) not just notebooks! 

My biggest struggle is still thinking about the medium of vinyl and how it will be fabricated by a machine - it's so exciting but it makes me want to make something complex (something I would never attempt to cut by hand), yet also still remains minimal and true to my personal aesthetic. 

I wonder If I can push the limits of repeated thin lines - this is going to be fun. 

-SP