Redesigning Space

For this first assignment we were asked to "Explore an actual physical public site (a park, a strip-mall, a street corner, a school, etc.) Extract and redesign visual elements from that site, anything that might be used as a motif to identify (and perhaps transform) that site." And based on that, "Develop a poster or gate-fold brochure for that site, exploring letterforms utilizing photography, montage, and collage. Develop a texturally motivational work that will be narrative in format. Use existing imagery whether found or photographed to elicit viewer participation and appreciation of letterforms in their environment." 
The process for developing this project started with the class going to Exposition Park and doing a practice exercise of really just experiencing a space. I found that I was drawn to small beautiful details in the space versus the broad expanse of the whole garden. I photographed and drew sketches of things like the patterning of tree roots, bark, blades of grass, flower buds, etc. Then when we began brainstorming about alternative uses for the space, I found myself to be kind of hung up on "practical" uses for the space-- things that were more realistic given several surrounding factors of the gardens: tradition in preserving the gardens, the student body versus the surrounding residents in the neighborhood, etc. Despite the fact that Haven repeatedly told us to think "blue skies", I wanted things to be at least somewhat realistic. 
Next we had to chose our own spaces to redesign. I was still thinking on a really practical level. I didnt want to just repurpose a space for another useless thing to take up, so I began brainstorming things/places that needed some remodeling or werent functioning up to their whole potential. Any student at USC will agree on the fact that the "University Village" is disgusting and really doesnt cater to the needs of students in any way. So that is how I chose my space; I wanted to redesign the University Village to fit the needs of the Trojan student body. 

collection of various characters on cloth

I brainstormed over and over and created several lists of types of stores and services that college students needed and wanted. I surveyed classmates, asked fellow Greek members, researched successful college campuses and the "best college towns" in america to help me with revisions and narrowing down the list. I had a combination of both entertainment facilities, convenience stores, retail, restaurants, etc., etc. I played around mapping out different layout plans, researching outdoor malls like the Grove to get an idea for the "look" and ambience i was going for. And, eventually, came to the whopping conclusion that the project I was tackling was far too realistic to be any fun. This project was something that USC  is most likely already in the research for actually doing in the near future. So I decided to narrow it down a bit, and get back to the joy I find in smaller details of a more expansive space. 
Costume Shop. The University Village most definitely needs a costume shop. It would be SO successful with the amount of themed parties the students of USC attend on a weekly basis. My next step was to figure out all the ins and outs of what my costume shop would be like, so that I could fully understand the sort of place I was designing/advertising for. I decided that instead of being like a regular costume shop that rents out set costumes that get all stinky and gross, I wanted it to be set up more like a normal clothing store where you would have the freedom to mix and match different elements to create your own outfit. The clothes on the racks though would be very eccentric and costume-esque, and the store would be arranged in separate rooms divided by era or theme. 

original tinfoil version

In figuring out how to advertise to my target audience of college students (specifically USC students), I liked the idea of creating small fliers that could be not only handed out on campus, but left in people's bike baskets and stuff too. To catch the average college student's eye though and gain their attention, I wanted my ads to be humorous and peculiar, while emphasizing the costume shop's main perk that shoppers would get to mix and match their own outfits together instead of getting stuck renting or buying a pre-arranged costume. Playing off of the mix-and-match idea, i began having classmates help me in completing a bunch of "exquisite corpse" drawings. My idea then developed even further in to the idea of collaging different outfit elements together out of magazine clippings and imagery. The characters I created had a lot of personality and were pretty funny and entertaining. I mounted them on layers of tinfoil and brown paper and white paper to  emphasize a DIY quality, but was unsatisfied with the turn out. The tinfoil was actually really hard on the eyes, detracted from the characters, and didnt seem to hold a real purpose. So, I reassessed some different options and came to the idea of pinning them on to different scraps of cloth. I thought this would be successful in that they definitely wouldnt be disregarded by students as your average piece-of-trash flier. They seems more thoughtful and unique and personalized. I also turned the collaged figures in to paper dolls and labeled them with the costume store "Suit Yourself" logo. That way, the headless paper dolls could be held up to cameras and people could pose "wearing" the funny little outfits. It would serve as a whole other form of automatic advertising for the shop because perhaps these photos would be uploaded on to facebook, the internet, etc. and the "Suit Yourself" name would be spread quickly. 

Painted versions 

Two versions of the final fliers

Over-all I was pretty pleased with how elements of "Suit Yourself" came together and how I was able to visually communicate the purpose and function of the store without blatantly spelling it out. I found the nature of the collage characters to be visually compelling enough that I even wanted to take them to the next level and paint them, resorting back to my fine arts basis.