Design Process
I started with thinking about and looking for what makes ITP/IMA special. And I was reminded of how diverse the student body is. Every year, people move here from all over the world, and everyday, they commute to our campus to learn with the community. I reflected on this idea by drawing the road map around 370 Jay Street. This highlights the routes that ITP/IMA students take to access their education, and will take to move on to many parts of the world afterwards.
At this stage, I used two colors strokes to suggest either North-South roads or West-East roads to give the map drawing more dimensionality. The building checkpoint is marked as well.
With a blank 4.25" x 6" poster frame, I applied my layout with the rule of golden ratio (A/B = ~1.62).
With the golden ratio guide in mind, I put the map drawing layer on the poster frame, made sure the violet dot (formerly purple circle checkpoint) is at the focal point, and rotated the map drawing to find balance in the poster frame.
I tried to apply columns/rows layout, but with so many sharp strokes on the canvas, they didn't seem to work in my favor.
I then stuck with the golden ratio guide. And used the road strokes as framing/dividers for the text content. The dot helps directing the focus to the title "ITP | IMA Gallery". They're both in the same NYU violet color. I chose Ubuntu as the font because it looks technological yet adds some humanized creativity. It feels progressive and outside the box. It's also a familiar font for computer nerds like ITP/IMA students. The secondary text content are in black and aligned with the black strokes to make the overall layout cohesive and ensure the main focus is on the title.
Lastly, I desaturated the strokes to find a balance between text and graphic.
I was really happy in this process. Every step of the way, I had a very clear idea on how I should make decision, which was usually not the case when I designed something before taking visual language class. It felt like everything I have learned in the past few weeks came together. I had an aha moment in realizing why certain things work! Regardless of this poster design is good or not, I'm proud of myself for learning something and finding the joy in it.