BLACKTOPIA: DETROIT3000
During March-April of 2024, the Ferris junior design class (that’s me!) got asked to create and design a concept for the Blacktopia: Detroit 3000 exhibit that was put on display at the Ferris State University Fine Art Gallery.
The art work displayed in this exhibit is by Tylonn Sawyer. Sawyer is a well educated artist who produced his recent work with AI generative programs. This caused some debate, but ultimately a good conversation topic.
Blacktopia Detroit 3000 Art Work
With a whole exhibit in mind, teams were initially created narrowing down to one unified team in the end working on one concept. Digital aspects and physical ones needed to be considered along with experience thinking. How will someone walk through the exhibit? What do they see first? How do we get them to go inside? Lots and lots of questions needed to be answered. To solve this problem we took on individual tasks to help complete this exhibit.
THE SIGNS
I got the chance to implement the artist bio and introduction signs when walking into the exhibit. Planning on making the signs 24″ by 24″ was a change for me. The signs were pretty big compared to the business and postcards projects I had been doing before. Printing and scaling became my best friend very quickly.
Challenges slowly came up as I began to print out different iterations. The type was to horsy or too big most of the time while also being a web font. Printing at this large scale while considering the small text on postcards had to be looked over very carefully to make sure nothing was printed incorrect or janky. Choosing a web font had it’s own risks knowing it will be printed, but after multiple iterations and scaling, the bio and introduction came together.
Each sign went up with velcro strips that easily gripped on the carpet like walls. Using a laser and measuring tools to make sure everything was lined up and straight. No crooked signs over here!
THE WINDOW
Need a window vinyl specialist? I got you!
I have always known about window vinyl, but I have never put one on before. After creating the window vinyl, mockups, and final iterations, the graphic came to life! One problem … it was too short.
After watching a quick youtube tutorial I got to work with a spray bottle and squeegee in hand. The process took time making sure there was no air bubbles and everything was smooth. As I got down to the bottom I realized it does not quite cover the whole window…
“Does anyone have a measuring tape?”
After checking my file size and remeasuring the window, the measurement all added up, but why is there a chunk missing? Thankfully one of my classmates caught it. The top of the vinyl was trimmed to short leaving out the white bar.
A quick chat with the printer and everything was cleared up. They generously gave us another print (this time the right size) and I got to work again putting on the new vinyl. Surprisingly vinyl is pretty hard to get off but comes off clean!
THE STICKER
After the exhibit was up, our team got to work on the discussion wrapping up the end of the exhibit. We wanted a cool way to implement the cube which was the focal point of the exhibit. Wrapping text helped show off the cube structure yet shared information about the upcoming event. As time got closer and shorter, the stickers printed in time, but didn’t print perfect. They had splotches around the edge and white marks inside the the black color.
While half of the sheets ended up being good to use, the other half was not so good. With no time left on our hands, we shared the good ones with classmates and friends to help promote the event still.
A lesson to learn here is timing.
Timing is everything, especially when it comes to designing. The more time you give yourself to make these errors, gives you more time to get it done right. The stickers sadly did not make it on the postcards, but I learned to give myself more time and work in advance to avoid these issues in future projects.
I am so appreciative for the chance to build and work with my class mates and professors to create exhibit Blacktopia: Detroit 3000.
Blacktopia Exhibit
