The brief was simple; create an identity for the MacEwan design program portfolio show. The design had to showcase the talents and professionalism of the design students, while in turn representing MacEwan in an equally impressive way. The design had to inspire people to come to the show, mostly people in Edmonton’s design industry who don’t usually attend.
Starting off, the design needed a concept. The only direction that was given was to not do anything that had been done before, leaving the concept wide open. Initially (and naturally) I turned to the word design and what we do with it, and the initial concepts didn’t really go anywhere so I turned to more exploration.
Having the word exploration in many critiques pointed me in the direction of the concept of exploration its self. This was better than the first mockups but still didn’t have enough depth. Finally after much more research and soul searching I came up with “This is Our Design” which encapsulated the idea of the show being about the graduates themselves and not just one major or person. The design of the poster for this concept was to show only a section of the images in the background leaving most of the photo, illustration, or web layout blocked by the grey boxes. This hiding of the images creates intrigue, making the viewer wanting to see more of the content behind the boxes. The full view of the design is showing just enough to create an interest in the show.
The image behind the blocks of grey would be replaced with any image depending on the major being highlighted.