I have always found that working off of something that inspires you is what produces the greatest and most satisfying work. For my Senior Project I focused on a group of people who I consider to be catalysts for “the new”: the people who are initiators, fearless, adventurous and daring. who are always after something and who stop for nothing–except maybe to smell the flowers on the side of Highway 1 every once in awhile or to crack a beer at their local dive with some old friends. By choosing the people that interest me, inspire me and excite me as a designer, I was able to study individual personality. Through this, I have told their stories and shared their passions through my design. I have complied them and their experiences into a 200+ page publication experimenting with various types and styles of design to create one thrilling piece of art as creative as the people who inspired it–the people who I consider catalysts of life.
I have always loved peeling back covers on new publications, flipping through, reading the stories, the adventures, admiring the pictures, oogling over the layouts and looking at all of the glossy, beautiful logos. These publications are what brought me to design in the first place, to my education at MICA, and ultimately to my future. This realization gave me a dead ringer solution for my senior thesis. Essentially I would take on the roll of being editor-in-chief and art director for a lifestyle publication.
I will present collections of photographs, numerous well-written stories, interesting and relevant interviews, experimental and traditional typographic styles, as well as engaging layouts in a perfect bound professionally printed magazine/publication. I consider everything I have absorbed up until this point to be research. I have spent time working in this industry, reading everything I can get my hands on, looking at all the various styles of designs under this umbrella of “Surf Culture”. I will be further delving into this culture to create something that seamlessly meshes with this society, appeals to them, attracts them and ultimately inspires them. I have strategically selected a certain grouping of people to reach out to and gather stories, photos and words from. The design and the identity of Catalyst will be driven by a life of nonstop adventure, surf style culture and the personalities of the individuals who are present in the magazine. My goal for this magazine is for readers to be able to relate, to be inspired and to, most importantly, enjoy. I want to give the reader a full immersion into this 200+ page publication that would sit among sides of magazines that have inspired me from day one.
Inspiration Mood Board Week 1-2
See full magazine layout here :
