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Design Aesthetics II


Graphic Design · Visual Systems · Typography


Queen

Brown Skin Queen is a non-literal visual and typographic interpretive sequence in the form of a small eight-page booklet Written by Malcom Brooks who bases a great amount of his poetry on African Americans.

When creating this booklet, I wanted to focus on each sentence as a separate entity because they can be interpreted in different ways. I wanted to build my composition using different typographic elements that relate back to the meaning of the sentence it follows.  The booklet consists of a front and back cover and three spreads. Each spread corresponds to one line of the poem.





Haiku

Glowing Brown Skin Queen 

A Muse, Goddess, My Moonshine

A Kiss of Gold Love

-By Malcom Brooks 



Choosing  a Typeface 

To connect the cover, back and the spreads I used the typeface American Typewriter. This typeface was selected for its balance of robustness and ornamental characteristics that conveyed the importance and uniqueness of the words. 





Front Cover Design
 Color 
Glowing Brown Skin

The cover of the booklet focuses on the first line of the poem. For the first line I wanted to portray a small portion of the skin colors of African Americans as the background color, as for the words I added a yellow tint to emphasize the sun in the corner of the page shining down on all the skin tones of African Americans.
Sketches+Iterations  

Front Cover


First Spread
 Color 
Queen 

On the first spread I used the colors of the cover because I still wanted to symbolize African Americans with the color of the sun. When designing the spread I altered the type for Queen to showcase the love we have for each other, the hardships we go through, and the path we take to achieve our goals. 
Sketches+Iterations







Second Spread 
Color Muse, Goddess, My Moonshine

For the second spread I focused on forming a connection through type between the two pages. I utilized geometric forms to connect the two pages. To have the two words flow as one on the first page I altered Goddess to be at an angle leading towards Muse. On the second page I wanted to mirror the second line to be more abstract with the type.

Sketches+Iterations 









Third Spread
Color A Kiss of Gold Love
To present the spread as one I included the element of geometric spirals. For the first page I wanted to form lips out of the type, and I wanted the colors to induce the feeling of love and intimacy. In the second page of the spread I introduced geometric hearts to symbolize love and added more spirals to the page to represent that to find what your heart truly wants and the journey it takes to get there.

Sketches+Iterations








Back Cover
Color
Glowing Brown Skin Queen
A Muse, Goddess, My Moonshine
A Kiss of Gold Love
For the back cover I wanted to display the entirety of the haiku in a simple form while still connecting it to the rest of the booklet. To have the readers focus more on the type than the design I added the color of each page to the word it corresponds with.


Sketch+Iteration

                                                                                               



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