Documents & Design Setup

This book is 7.75"×10" with a 6-column and 3-row grid. I wanted the book to be a comfortable size for the hands while accommodating legibly-sized content and breathing space, so I decided on a bit smaller than Letter size. The 6-column layout allows for text to be split into 2 columns or 3 columns as well as lots of flexibility with image composition. The 3-row layout allows for a convenient text composition (header in the top row & body text in the bottom two rows) and tab layout (each tab is one row). This grid system allowed me to make overlapping pages look clean, cohesive, and purposeful. I used my two favorite typefaces, Space Mono for headers & folio (8pt) and Avenir (Light) for body text (10/14pt). The folio is meant to mimic a navigation bar.

The book has 3 layers: the base layer is regular white paper, the second is vellum, and the alternative second (or third) is shimmer cardstock tabs in the color “champagne.” There are 68 pages of regular paper, 22 pages of vellum, 20 cumulative pages of shimmer cardstock, plus the covers which are on black cardstock paper. The vellum serves as an overlay of informational text and the double-sided shimmer cardstock tabs serve as definitions of words from my design lexicon. To save paper, I designed each tab page to have the maximum amount of tabs (3) even if they didn’t all belong to the same spread. To make exporting & printing easier and to isolate each system, each layer has its own InDesign document which all follow the same grid system and paragraph styles. If I needed to check if the layers work well together, I would just copy and paste the designs on top of each other.

The color palette includes white, muted green (CMYK(36,17,39,0)), and black, with light pink accents (CMYK(0,51,23,0)). White, muted green, and black align with part of my thesis idea (minimalist interior design) and pink accents align with my personality. Although pink is usually my go-to color for personal projects like these, I thought green would be more fitting because it’s more gender-neutral and representative of plants which bring life to any space. Furthermore, muted green is a new favorite color of mine. I wanted to mimic the color of my winter coat and many of my other clothes to incorporate my personality.

Content

The book is split into the following chapters: Thesis Statement, Design Lexicon, Research, Previous Work, and Future Work.

The Thesis Statement includes my motive (the “why”) and methodology (the “how.”) It explains the topics I want to explore, why I want to explore them, and how I would explore them to achieve the overarching message. The topics I’m thinking about merging together are interior design, feng shui, accessibility, and ADHD.

My Design Lexicon is based on words that resonate with written or visual content in the book. I looked for consistent words and topics throughout all of this content to inform my lexicon. The lexicon is integrated throughout the book with the use of double-sided tabs that either overlap images or add to the composition. On the backside of the tabs is a definition of a word that is relevant to the corresponding spread.

The Research chapter contains every research post that I submitted over the semester, with the source highlighted in pink. I also included images from the source or topic explored. To show the evolution, I put them in chronological order and included the date and time.

The Previous Work chapter includes some of my work from the time I was in high school until now, with descriptions and assignment briefs. The work has a variety of mediums, content, and purposes. All of the content is original and meaningful to me.

The Future Work chapter includes the mindmap I created to find a thesis topic, as well as my answers to a list of thesis questions.

Material

I chose spiral binding so that all the pages can lay flat, which allows the spreads to be fully visible and the tabs & vellum pages to be fully interactive. I also think spiral-bound books are easier to hold, read, use, and document than perfect-bound books. I chose a translucent spiral to allow the spreads to flow, to hint at the use of transparent vellum inside, and to soften the black-on-black cover.

After seeing examples of other books, I noticed the use of vellum and was immediately inspired. I had been playing with overlapping bodies of text on images, but it looked messy and illegible. Printing bodies of text onto vellum and overlapping that onto pages with images was the perfect solution.

In addition, I noticed the use of tabs inserted into the books. I thought this would be a great way to integrate my design lexicon throughout the book and put it in context, considering that my lexicon is derived from both the written and visual content in the book. I chose a shimmery, champagne-colored cardstock for the tabs so that they’re durable, pop out against the main pages, and look like they’re meant to be touched. The tabs are 1-row high and 3–6-columns wide.

Lastly, I noticed the use of black ink on black paper and was stunned. I had no ideas for my cover or back cover at that point, but I knew I wanted to print it on colored matte cardstock. I never use such large amounts of black in design and I thought it’d be fun to try something new.

Print, Bind, & Trim

Steps:

1. Print each document on its designated paper type. Print the front & back covers on black cardstock.
2. Put the pages in order and trim the inside, top, and bottom edges —it turned out much more successful and easier when this was done before hole-punching & binding.
3. Cut the pages with mixed tabs and put each tab in its designated spread. Line them up with their spread and paperclip or tape them in place (with safe tape).
4. Hole-punch the pages.
5. Make sure all pages’ holes are in correct alignment. Secure the slippery vellum pages and tabs in place, then clamp the book with one or two bulldog binder clips.
6. Bind with the 5/8 inch spiral, making sure no pages are missed along the way.
7. Remove any tape or paper clips and trim the tabs with an X-acto knife and ruler.
8. Trim the outside edge of the book and trim the excess spiral.

Figma: Mobile Wireframes

I wanted to keep the wireframes consistent with the book’s style but simplify the content. I decided to design for mobile because it felt synonymous with my book’s intimate experience and I don’t usually do this. The navigation bar and buttons are the same as my book’s folio.

Intro & Overview

Black Women M.D. Network is an organization founded by Dr. Philomena Asante to help Black women advance their careers in the medical field, connect with other Black women in the field, empower each other, and also partner with other medical brands. The way it works is you become a member on their website (still being built), you’re added to the directory/portal, and you have access to mentors of all levels and experience. Asante wants to expand the brand from a local scale to a national scale and develop a bigger social media presence. She wanted a logo with gold, black, and/or purple, a warm but corporate look, and flexibility for different cities and other brands they partner with. She also gravitates toward serif typefaces. Some words to describe this network’s brand are career-oriented, resilient, empowering, and community.

Process

A huge issue in the medical field is that Black women, whether they’re a patient, a student, or a doctor, aren’t listened to or taken seriously. I searched for some legible, corporate typefaces that would be taken seriously in the medical field, but aren’t completely void of any personality. We don’t want to strip the brand of any personality because we want to embrace Black womanhood and shift the narrative. That being said, we also don’t want the brand to have too much of a “feminine” look because not all women are “feminine” and it’s not always seen as professional. We have to be very careful about what typeface we choose. These are some of the typefaces and typesets I explored:

Asante favored Mermaid Bold (left) and I favored MADE Okine Sans (middle). Love Regular is a bit bolder and more experimental because of its tilted O’s and strong serifs.

I explored these color schemes and type sets for the first draft of logotypes but there are many issues. 1) I tried mixing typefaces to create some hierarchy — even though “Black Women” and “M.D. Network” have the same hierarchical level — but they look disjointed. 2) The leading is too big which adds to the disjointedness. 3) MADE Okine Sans is for personal use only. 4) I forgot that it needs some flexibility for the city name. 5) There’s not enough of my own alteration to either of the logotypes.

Logo System #1

I simplified the first logotype’s color scheme to just black and gold, added a subtle alteration to the typeface, created flexibility for a city name, decreased the leading, and created a cleaner hierarchy thanks to the city name. I also created a graphic element of a woman’s silhouette.

Logotype

Typographic & Graphic Elements

Applications

Logo System #2

For the second logotype, I dropped Love Regular and went with a clean sans-serif, Avenir. I used a simple black, white, and purple color scheme and I also added a female symbol on the O as a graphic element/alteration. I think this color scheme and typeface are more approachable and medical than the first logotype.

Logotype

Typographic & Graphic Elements

Applications

Thank you!

In September, I went to a live show of Trixie & Katya, two of my favorite drag queens/creatives/celebrities/women. We were introduced to this event identity project right after I went to the show, so I thought it would be the perfect event to rebrand; first, having actually experienced the event gives me a stronger idea of what it’s all about it, and second, I had already noticed that the branding for this event was not the most attractive or fun.

As you can see, the branding for this event is very reliant on photography which is understandable since one of the main talents in any drag show is the hair, makeup, fashion, and stage presence; however, I thought the typeface and color palettes deserved to have a little more personality and femininity to reflect these two queens. So, I first explored more lively color palettes and typefaces.

I committed to the typeface Magic Retro from DaFont for its sparkles, variety of letterforms, whimsy, boldness, and femininity. I ended up using Limelight as a secondary typeface in the logo for how its theatrical style compliments Magic Retro’s whimsy, and Champagne & Limousines as the body typeface for its wide range of weights and styles, simplicity, and lightness to contrast the bold logo.

Still not content with these logos, I added the sparkles from the I’s as decoration around the logo to give them some more life and shine.

Now content with this variety of logos, I applied the same treatment to the headers on the webpage and it gave the same effect.

I wanted to keep the webpage as clean and organized as possible considering that the photography and typefaces are both very lively.

See more of the mobile site prototype on Figma.

See more of the desktop site prototype on Figma.

I also wanted to keep the applications simple for the same reasons. I went with what is typically sold at concerts and shows: t-shirts/hoodies, bags, stickers, and pins.

Thank you!