tiffany wu

On Exactitude in Science: Artist Book Project

This project is based off the text by Jorge Luis Borges, “On Exactitude on Science”. The craft of the project is a reflection of what is being said in the text:

“...In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of a Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, saw that vast Map was Useless, and not without some Pitilessness was it, that they delivered it up to the Inclemencies of Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the West, still today, there are Tattered Ruins of that Map, inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in all the Land there is no other Relic of the Disciplines of Geography. Suárez Miranda, Viajes de varones prudents, Libro IV, Cap, XLV, Lérida, 1658.”

Everything design aspect is hand done, including the biding and the cut-out patterns.

Typographic Calendar Challenge

This is a project from SAIC's Intermediate Typography class. This was our first project of the semester and we had to find a balance of objectivity and subjectivity to create a calender. It had to be legible, clear, functional, but at the same time, unconventional. It was a difficult project because no grey tones were allowed, only black and white.

Dimensions: Tabloid paper size (11 x 17 in)

Artist Lecture Series: Past, Present, Future

A typographic poster engages curiosity and conveys a message. The poster (the format) expresses content (with typography) that connects (to viewers) and communicates (message delivered). Design one typographic poster using the provided text. Concept and form are generated based on the content. Develop a meaningful, ordered, and aesthetically strong poster design that is expressed typographically with control and invention. 24" x 36" Printed Composition

Version 1

This is the first poster that I designed for this project. This was a bit of a challenge for me because 1) I've never designed something this big before, and its quite difficult to navigate through such a large piece on such a small screen 2) the professor had specified that we stay away from "chunks" which is kind of impossible seeing that the content that needed to be presented was in that format. So I had to somehow create a layout where the "chunks" wouldn't be seen as "chunks". In this design, I incorporated the title into the content so they would somehow correspond and act as a whole.

Version 2

This is the second version I had created for this project. For this version I wanted to present the calendar aspect of the content. Because all the dates for the events were on the same day of each week, it created a nice linear flow throughout the poster. As you can see, the grid system is applied here since we are using a calendar. I was hoping that the grid and the square elements would act as a tool in finding and navigating through the content.

Version 3

For this version, I really was just playing with color. I enjoyed the cleanliness of the grid / calendar system from the last version so I really wanted to play around with it a little more

SAIC Holiday Art Sale 2014 Concept

Submissions for the Holiday Art Sale promotional event at SAIC 2015.

The concept that I wanted to create is a promotion of craftsmanship, the time and energy that goes into each artwork sold at the art sale. What would set the art sale apart from many other places that you would by gifts is the personal touch within each piece. Each seller has a unique point of view and a story behind the medium and concepts. Through the mixed media shown in the concept, diversity is conveyed as well as dynamism.

My concept heavily relies around the idea to invoke mystery within the mind of the audience, make them wonder what could possibly be at the art sale because every year differs from the year before and therefore, each unique.

For my concept, I wanted to use the primary colors to signify the basis of artistic potential but at the same time, I want these colors to be unique. So instead of using the usual red, blue, yellow and white, I decided to use magenta, dark blue, orange, and beige.

Poster

I used photoshop brushes to create the background, which actually turned out more spring than holiday. The brushes consist of paint, watercolor, and color pencils. The space in the middle is the part where i said it was meant to invoke the mystery. I refer to Jackson Pollack, who uses his entire body to create, when he lifts up his canvas, the ground all around it reflects the time and energy that he's put into it, hence the blank square in the middle, which is the main design element in this series.