BRIEF
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My fascination with space exploration finally had an outlet with this project. I was tasked with first selecting a place, developing a typographic poster based on that place, and finally translating the poster into an interactive, temporal narrative for iPad.
I chose to create my poster based on the international space station. Isolation describes the feeling of seeing the earth from afar, alone among the blackness of space. Using light-painted auroras and graphic rules, I strove to create both a feeling of awe as well as engineered precision.
LETTERFORMS
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The letters themselves are modular, with different sections of them seeming to float off into space. Each letter has three common elements: a bolded grounding line, two orbitals (one with the letter nestled inside), and an arrangement of broken, thin lines that trace the outside stroke.
CREATING AURORAS
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To create the auroras on the poster, I used illustrator to create a thin vertical gradient that I based off of the color palette of an actual aurora. I then loaded that gradient onto my phone and used it as a light painting tool. I set my shutter speed to 15s and moved my phone around in erratic patterns and in variable rates. Eventually, I settled upon three suitable aurora photos.
INTERACTIVE ARTICLE
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For the temporal narrative section of this project, I used InDesign's DPS functionality to create interactive multi-state animations. The article takes you through the launch of the space shuttle with additional facts & animations accompanying each stage. Once docked, the article gives some more information about the ISS itself before moving through the letters one by one, finally revealing the full word in a breathing, animated format. The ultimate goal of this experience is to inspire a sense of awe and in turn to donate to NASA to fuel further research & space exploration.
