First submission:
Actual submission, front and back
Boise State’s annual Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Conference uses the Graphic Design students to design the cover for their programs. This event represents the University as the sum of many parts, as all colleges and disciplines participate in the conference. (Other than that, I cannot say I know much about what goes on at this event. Just that they evidently hand out printed programs to those attending.)
This is how I arrived at the above solution:
The title of the conference alone conjures up thoughts of groundbreaking academics and scholarly excellence. Thus I arrived at this fish-out-of-water/reaching-new-heights concept. The image here evokes that idea of standing out without being descriptive of any one field of study, and therefore it does not exclude anyone. This cover was selected as an honorable mention in the contest.
This is how I arrived at the above solution:
The title of the conference alone conjures up thoughts of groundbreaking academics and scholarly excellence. Thus I arrived at this fish-out-of-water/reaching-new-heights concept. The image here evokes that idea of standing out without being descriptive of any one field of study, and therefore it does not exclude anyone. This cover was selected as an honorable mention in the contest.
Alternate vector version
Below is a step-by-step demonstration of what I almost decided to do:
This is just a scan of the drawing in colored pencil
Superimposed over the top is a line drawing that I would use to make a vector version of the drawing
...then I modified the lines in a few places (see the shape of the mouth and the small splash on the left in particular)
...after adding color (but you can see that I didn't finish with all the droplets, since I was just experimenting)
...and finally what the cover would look like, including the title. I decided against this version because I didn't want a cartoon fish. I wanted the hand-made feel from the other version.
Second submission:
A secondary submission with a different concept.
We were allowed to submit multiple designs as long as we turned them in on time, so I actually designed two covers. This design is more abstract than the first one, but the concept was more firm in my mind. It's more than colorful bubbles aimlessly floating around; it is symbolic of diversity, synergy, growth, and independence -- and like the first one, it is not specific enough to exclude any of the participants. (Although the critique I received did express concern that it was too evocative of scientific imagery.)
