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Yue Cai
Brenda_Cai_MDesFinal.jpg

Discovering the Unexpected

Poster Design

Overview: This 24 × 36" poster was designed for the MDes in Integrative Design 2023 public talk, Discovering the Unexpected,

at the Stamps School of Art & Design. In this event, four MDes students shared their design projects exploring social engagement and their discoveries throughout the process.

Course: Poster Design

Instructor: Hannah Smotrich

Project Duration: FEB 2023 - MAR 2023

Keywords: Graphic Design, Poster, Illustration

Final Design

Click on the image to view in full screen.

Ideation & Exploration

After the presenters shared detailed information about their talks, I gathered the core text content to

begin sketching thumbnail concepts; I selected five directions to develop further.

Developed Thumbnails

Detail sketches developed from thumbnails

Incorporating the first round of feedback I received from

the presenters:

  • Use “Discovering” instead of “Discover” to maintain an ongoing tone

  • Emphasize the concept of design more clearly

  • For the top left sketch, the eyelashes felt too aggressive, and the lightbulb read as overly cliché

  • The top right sketch stood out for its strong visual impact; the “monster” emerging from behind introduced a playful sense of the unexpected

I then moved forward to further exploring color and

visual direction.

Referenced Color Palette

Compositional Draft

First Draft

In-Class Critique: First Draft Feedback

  • The feet in the bottom-left corner were confusing and distracting

  • Headline and central image should function at the primary hierarchy level

  • Improve the readability of "Discovering”

  • Subtitle, event title, and dates should be treated as secondary information

  • MDes needs greater visual emphasis

  • It should be more clearly communicate that the event is a talk

More Ideas generated from the feedback

For these five ideas, I continued using the eye character and explore its motion and composition in relation to the title.

However, these variations felt less intriguing than the original composition. As a result, I decided to further iterate on the previous draft, guided by the following feedback:

  • Distant read: let the eye figure be the star. Use it as a device to lead the viewers to the headlines. Eliminate some elements to create a focal point.

  • Information hierarchy: The subtitle right now doesn’t provide much information, so it will be better to use the current event title as a subtitle.

Second Draft

In-Class Critique: Second Draft Feedback

  • Headlines should follow the curves around the eye character

  • Grouping the subtitle and talk titles would improve clarity

  • Removing the color blocks in the bottom-left corner would create space for arranging body text

  • The Stamps logo is currently too distracting

Refinement

Third Draft

In-Class Critique: Third Draft Feedback

  • “MDes…” does not stand out enough; increasing the color contrast along the edge may help emphasize it

  • Adjusting the hand gesture and edge textures could add more visual dynamism to the design

Experimenting with hand gestures and textures of edges.

Ultimately, I decided to retain the original design because:

  1. The hand looks more interesting

  2. The headlines stood out more with fewer textures

Fourth Draft

Additional Feedback:

  • The highlight under “MDes…” is confusing and does not effectively emphasize the text

  • 2023 currently draws too much attention; the talks themselves should take visual priority

  • The Stamps logo should be changed to its black version to better fit with the rest

Final Design

Click on the image to view in full screen.

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