EDITORIAL

THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION

Inside & Out

Year: 2022
Project: Conceptual Portfolio
Client: Nicole Dimson
Scope: Ideation | Graphic Design | Image editing
Illustration | Writing
Size: 10″ x 10″

Inside & Out is a conceptual portfolio narrating my journey through the Ideas & Images course at the George Brown College School of Design. It consists of an “art gallery” with 10 sets of 2 plates showcasing my 10 original class projects, in their original format and reinterpreted and expanded with additional illustrations. It’s a very personal project.

Each piece was created as a response to a lecture envisioned to instigate lateral thinking and expresses my perceptions and state of mind week by week.

Inspired by 10″ vinyl records, the portfolio comes with a sleeve. The loose plates make this a very versatile piece, allowing further changes and additions.

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Week 1 • Self-Portrait

A portrait of me.
A person who dreads taking selfies.
A self-portrait
exposing myself to the world,
both physically and metaphorically.
I think of transformation,
of evolution and growth,
but also of coming back to the roots
of who I once was.
I breathe deep, open up,
and jump into the stream.
I already love this class to death.

Week 2 • Image Blast

I hate my reflection,
except when I’m playing with makeup
and become someone else.
I decide to return to the old ways
and draw my lettering by hand...
on a mirror:

“Do you see the truth, or just a lie?”

I have traced type many, many times in the past,
when a pasteboard was just a sheet of hard stock.
But my fingers feel weak and out of shape
and mirrors are not easy to photograph.

So, this plate is blank.

Nothingness, in response to the blast.

Week 3 • Failure

Sometimes I feel
this layout of mine
has been poorly designed.

Fear is a large headline
in bad typography
taking most of the page.

Unbalanced.

Week 4 • Animus

My male side is a tomboy.
He loves comic books, video games, and big cars.
And would rather have me wearing
denim trousers and a T-shirt
than laces and silk.

He’s also an insufferable spoiled child,
annoyingly controlling, aggressive,
and a little bit cuckoo,
just like my female side.

After long years of bickering, my she/her
and my he/him came to an agreement.
And give each other enough space to shine.
Why can’t we live in a world with no pronouns
where people could just... be?

Week 8 • References

The first artistic influence that I can remember was a comic book artist.

For a long time, I wanted to draw comics, but as I grew older I figured I didn’t have the patience it demands. So, the graphic designer in me is the bastard child of a failed comics creator.

I’ve had several creative idols in the past, and by now whatever influence they’ve had on me has been diluted and blended into whatever it is that I can call “my style” (even though I’m still trying to figure it out).

As a graphic designer, I’m supposed to be a sponge and let influences flow through me like water.

Right now, I’m soaked.

Week 9 • Movie Poster

“Star Trek” has been a love of mine since I was a child. My family was quite progressive for its time and the ideals of peace and inclusiveness of the United Federation of Planets always resonated deeply within my heart.

Up to this day, I watch every new “Star Trek” movie and series with a smile on my face. The most recent one is “Star Trek Picard”, which is twice amazing because I also love Sir Patrick Stewart and seeing him go back into the Enterprise bridge with the old crew was amazing.

So, when we were asked to design a typographical movie poster, I chose “Star Trek - The Motion Picture”, the 1979 movie that revamped the series and introduced its characters to a whole new generation.

Don’t tell the Star Wars fans, but I’m a trekker.

Week 10 • Words

The Rubik’s Cube first became a thing in my country when I was a child. At that time, clever little me used lateral thinking to solve it by breaking all the pieces apart and putting them back together in the right places, one by one (cue smiling face emoji).

My husband, though, can solve it the hardcore way. It involves learning and remembering the right order of several series of movements called “algorithms”. He can do it in about a minute, but the last world record is of 3.47 seconds!

Squint a little bit, it will help.

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