2012 PHXDW poster design submission

As usual, Phoenix Design Week (PHXDW) was awesome again this year! And just like in previous years, they had a poster exhibition where designers could submit their interpretation of this year's theme. The 2012 theme was 'Here and Now,' and I thought it could be fun to submit an entry this year, and so I chose to practice my type by creating a typographic solution.

The poster is called "True to ourselves" and is a commentary on how often we find ourselves wishing we were someone else. This poster is a commentary on being true to the Phoenix community and embracing that as a foundation for our creative community, rather than trying to emulate another city's creative culture. As a visual illustration of this concept, the design integrates Native American symbols in a fresh modern way. The reinvention of these tired, stereotypical symbols so commonly found in Arizona gift shops is a visual metaphor for how the Phoenix design community can reflect on the strengths we possess right now and reinterpret those qualities in order to use them as leverage for our creative future.

The 21-Day Drawing Challenge

A little over a week ago, I attended the HOW Live Design Conference, and attended a session by Von Glitschka entitled "Drawing Conclusions: How Drawing Improves Design." At the end of that session, Von challenged each of us to a 21-day drawing challenge.

In the past couple of years have become obsessed with hand-drawn type. I'm not sure if it's my impatience with learning something new, need for perfection, or the intimidation of a blank page, but I haven't been able to wrap my head around drawing type myself. When Von made that challenge, I began to wonder if maybe this scenario was a good opportunity to start drawing more type. I decided that 21 days was a pretty short period of time, and I should just give it a shot.

The parameters I set for myself were as follows:

1. The drawing should take no more than 10 or 15 minutes, tops.

2. I'll work in a tiny sketchbook to minimize any "fear of the blank page."

3. The goal is to be rough. Perfect is intentionally not part of the plan.

4. No pen, and as little eraser as possible.

Week 1

So far I'm having a good time with this little project. I've been drawing various phrases or lyrics that have meaning for me that day. Here's a peek at the first five days.

Week 2

The challenge got a little tougher this week. It seems like the initial excitement of this project wore off this week, and I'm left with only my commitment to fuel me. The ideas weren't flowing as freely and I really had to work to push through. The good news is that by the end of the week I felt like my ideas were getting stronger, and I feel like I'm beginning to improve at envisioning how the words and letterforms balance one another and interlock. Additionally, I've realized that the concepts I feel are strongest are the ones where I have a personal stake in the message. It seems I might be more driven by illustrating a positive message than a perfect letterform.

Week 3

This final week's drawings remained challenging—my struggles from last week must have spilled into this week. Although I diligently practiced my drawings each day, I'm not overly thrilled with any of them, but I intend to keep keepin' on.Normally I'd say something like "I hope you like them!" at this point in the post, but honestly that's not what this experiment is about. Whether anyone likes them or not doesn't matter. This challenge is about drawing regularly, no matter the outcome, and hopefully improving in the process.