Introduction

As a member of the creative team for Lunar Gala: Vestige, the 2015 iteration of Carnegie Mellon’s annual fashion show, I was responsible for producing a web site, several motion pieces, and digital graphics, as well as contributing to the development of an identity system and some print pieces. I worked with Katherine Frazer, Angeline Chen, Danae Paparis, Victor Song, Zai Aliyu, Daniel Kim,Salem Hilal.

Concept statement:

Vestige overstimulates viewers with consumerist culture imagery, instigating an information high and overloading the senses. There is no breathing room, type and image overtake the page to fully immerse the viewer, forcing them to consume more. Our imagery juxtaposes this new, shiny, consumable content with a literal vestige of computer manipulation: compression. The content becomes degraded, and viewers are left with a mere fragment of the image they original had, though the colors and experience of Vestige’s materials remain wholly stimulating. In short, Lunar Gala Vestige is a critique of the corrosive cycle of overconsumption in digital times.

Identity

In space-appropriate contexts, the identity uses a pixellated version of the primary Lunar Gala monogram used in every year’s show.

In space-appropriate contexts, the identity uses a pixellated version of the primary Lunar Gala monogram used in every year’s show.

We created four typefaces for use in collateral for the show. The main challenge was to develop distinctive faces that captures the sense of digital degradation, without getting too close to a familiar 8-bit aesthetic. We designed these faces with the intent of dramatically stretching and scaling them.

Web

The website laid much of the groundwork for the visuals across media like print and video. After being developed for the website, the technique of dynamically compressing type and imagery was adapted to print and motion graphics. View live.