Final – Overall Process
My, how it flies by.
I started the semester with a dreamed up idea and and ending it with a much more concrete idea of how to get something started from scratch. The idea of Seek was a vague one at first and I struggled to navigate it in my own mind. Beginning the process with investigating others collectives’ tactics, what they were doing and why it was attractive to artists, helped me to put together why I wanted Seek to be different, how I wanted it to be set apart.
After looking into other collectives’, I wanted Seek to be something that functioned more than for self-promotion. I wanted it to give organizations the opportunity to have something that was previously beyond their means in an overall effort to help the non-profit missions. In speaking to people in my own community about this, it became clear that this element, creating something for an unrelated non-profit, was attractive enough for them to become a part. I also knew that I wanted Seek to be community-based, to inspire connections that otherwise would not happen. These two things would be what Seek functioned for.
I began with the logo design for Seek. The final, and what is currently used, is attached below. The logo has a handmade, at-home feel, which is meant to create an inviting and engaging atmosphere around the branding.
Once the logo was done, I moved on to getting my thoughts about the website,Seek’s main communication tool, functionality down on paper. I decided to structure the website as both an internal and external tool, so that the public would have access to different pages than the members of Seek. I wrote down everything I was thinking in order to make sense of all the moving parts.
The result is just that; the public-facing site includes informational tools and way to get in touch with Seek, while the members-only pages feature all of the promises made by being a part of the collective. Once I had the content in place, I worked more on the branding of the site. The first stab at the design of the site is shown below. I structured the design around an already existing SquareSpace template, so that plugging in the elements would be more or less streamlined.
With the website in place and my thoughts beginning to streamline, I moved on to the print publication. The print would come out biannually, in tandem with the assignments that are given to the collective’s members. Two people would be paired up and given an assignment — a non-profit is in need of something and each pair would be responsible for delivering a solution to that need. Thus, the print would then showcase the end results of the assignment, in particular those that were chosen for real-life use. I wanted the print to have a photo journal feel; very visual, lots of full bleeds, attractive to those outside of the project’s benefits. The first draft of that is below.
Part of the feedback I received on the first draft was that it felt very individual, which I agreed with. In order to incorporate the community feel that the website had, I broke the feature out in such a way that the visuals paint the individuals as vital parts of the whole rather than as separate parts. I wanted to pay homage to each person’s craft while emphasizing the collaboration that was happening. Those images below.
With this, I had a deeper grasp of the branding — colors, typography, spacing, etc. I built on this and expanded the feature content. I did all of the copy myself and used 70% of my own photographs. The print begins with an introduction of Seek, moves on to inform the reader of the charity partner for this issue, and then to the work that was chosen for the project. The final is attached below.
With the final journal complete, I went back to the website and updated the branding throughout. I also added more information about the charity aspect, as at this point, I had a much more concrete idea of how the partner is integrated into the process. The final images of the web are below, as well as a few of the printed journal.
Finally, in order to bring the whole project from a speculative sense into reality, I took small steps to help in the process. I came up with a launch budget, which delineates what I would need monetarily to get Seek off the ground. I also made a branding one-sheet that describes what Seek is and why it’s important to launch. With these two things, I can start a Kickstarter project that is informative enough that it can be successful.
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