Alara degirmenCI
Sophomore review
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Designing a logo and a visual identity booklet for a place that has a personal significance to us. I chose ferries in Istanbul that sails between the Asian and European sides of Istanbul daily.
LOGO DESIGN PROCESS
The logo design was inspired by the shape and colors of the wake of the ferry that adorn the view on the ride. The overall shape and geometry of the logo is designed to spark feelings of tranquility. The logo is symmetrical on the horizontal axis, representing the side-to-side travel of the ferries, connecting Asia and Europe. The negative space between the upper and lower halves of the logo figuratively represent the strait of the Bosphorus where hundreds of ferry ride each day.
HAND-BOUND VISUAL IDENTITY BOOKLET
BRANDBOOK
HAND-BOUND VISUAL IDENTITY BOOKLET
BOOKLET DESIGN
The booklet represents the complete personal journey and mood cycles one goes through as they take a ferry ride. The hand-bound journal and the textured materials are used to convey feelings of intimacy of these journey. Leaving the chaos of the traffic and the city, one sails into the tranquil waves of the Bosphorus. Flipping through the old photographs of the ferry, one is reminded of the long history of these ferries. The romanticism of the journey is conveyed through the words of famous Turkish poets. Pictures from every season show the unique views of the city that can be enjoyed on the ferry ride. In the center of the book, lies a folded map of the Bosphorus showing the routes ferries travel through. The booklet is completely symmetrical, alluding to the back-forth travels the ferries make between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
For our final project, we were asked to pick an issue that we cared about and design a poster advocating for this issue.
DESIGN PROCESS
As the aim of this poster is to convince parents to send their daughters to school, I used “let her” as a simple yet direct and powerful call to action that calls parents to simply send their daughters to school. Knowing that it is not easy to change people’s prejudices especially regarding beliefs based on religion and to change these false beliefs concerning this topic, I looked into Quran and sayings by the Prophet hoping to find excerpts that argued for gender equality instead. I decided to use the quote “Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim” as the main slogan for my poster because it clearly showed that Islam does not ordain women to stay at home, but in fact commands that every Muslim, regardless of gender, seeks knowledge.
POSTER FOR GIRLS' EDUCATION RIGHTS IN TURKEY
SPRING 2020
DRAWING FROM MODEL
Colored pastel on paper.
Unfinished because of COVID-19.
TIMED OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING
Vine charcoal on paper.
OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING SERIES
18x18 in, 18x24 in, 18x18 in.
Vine charcoal and colored pastel on paper.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Making a sculpture out of materials found at home and making three drawings from different angles.
DESIGN PROCESS
As I created my sculpture, I tried to capture the difficult times I and the world is all going through at the moment because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Life comes in
The drawing on the left captures the negative view one can take on life, using an invert drawing that makes up a dark composition. The spikes on the sculpture further adds to the grim and dreadful mood of the piece and conveys the idea that how this negative view on life can hurt us.
The drawing on the right, on the other hand, captures the positive view one can take to see the world around them through the bright and vibrant colors it uses. The composition is made up of the
circular and organic shapes of the sculpture, further emphasizing the calm and positive feelings such view may radiate to us.
While all of us may desire to surround ourselves completely with the positive views, and try to push away all of the negative views, none of these views give a realistic portrayal of the world around us nor the feelings we cycle through any given time. The center drawing captures a realistic view using tonal values of gray to convey the idea that our lives lie neither in black or white/bright areas but in gray areas where we try to make a balance of the both negative and positive views
REFLECTIONS
Vine charcoal on paper.
Homage to René Magritte's Son of Man
DAUGHTER OF WOMAN
Vine charcoal and colored pastel on paper.
distance-d
Charcoal on paper.
SPRING 2020
Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Mixed media.
my world(s)
Mixed media collage.
ACCENTED ANALOGOUS COLOR/VALUE COLLAGE
SPRING 2020
WORK DESCRIPTION
Rebranding of the episode thumbnails.
DESIGN PROCESS
Noticing that the social media feed and content at the time I started my apprenticeship didn’t reflect the values of the light-hearted and lively identity podcast, I implemented a visual rebranding for the Instagram feed using the brand's vibrant orange color.
