The many meanings of 'Consume'
We constantly consume. Whether that's food, drink, social media, or everything else we take in, when you think of the word 'consume' what's your first thought?
During this project I geared all my focus with that one question, what was 'consume' and how would I create a poster incorporating that word? I went to the first artist I could think of, Barbra Kruger. My first designs were heavily based on her work.
Below is some of the work I was inspired by. I did not take/draw any of the below. Consumption of possessions, partners, materials and body.
But first, some drafts
It's my belief that no design is ever done. At least not for everyone. Before the "final" design came together I had some different type layouts, as seen below.
Shapes, words, contrast, action
Kruger is known for her black and white photos with bright lettering; I wanted to reciprocate that style in my own way.
I chose to use jagged, lines and sharp corners to catch the users eye flow off guard, while also forcing them through the typography journey. I enjoy Krugers boldness and I wanted to make sure I could keep up with that. Type that was high contrast and in your face, while hosting a background of different types of consumption.
Mockups
My own rendition of 'consume'
Above was an ode to a great designer, someone I inspire to be like. But now is when I took the word 'consume' into my own space. What did that word mean to ME?
Below are photos of receipts and coupons I found around my living space and snapped a shot of them. Alongside those is a drawing I did do myself. For this project, I wanted no outside inspiration or influence so I sat down with my notebook and asked myself what consume was.
Flat design. My words: bold, shopping, excess, transactions.
As the header might tell you, creating this flat design was all about focusing on my own consumption habits, such as, shopping, groceries, eating, and everything else our consumerist world feeds us.
To stay focused I continued saying the words, "we consume" over and over again in my head. The more I thought about it the more I find we often mistake 'consume' for the word 'survive'. "We survive, we survive, we survive..."
Mockups, ideally and realistically
Below are the mockups. Two are digitally created (below, left and middle) and one is my work in the real world (below, right). This poster was selected and featured in a local gallery, called Gallery One. I apologize for the poor camera quality, as I was not in person to photograph this due to the pandemic.
That's a wrap!
Thank you for taking the time to view this project! I enjoyed creating with Kruger's style on my mind but I loved creating a poster solely from my own.
Getting into a gallery art show was one of my biggest achievements at the time. I use this as motivation to continue doing what I love and pushing myself creatively, intuitively and constantly!
