Design Identity: Self Map
Reflection:
My self map is a collaged exploration of my design self, as told by a fake TV show. Part of my identity is made up from the many places in Australia I have lived, giving me many life experiences which I draw my inspiration from. I have traveled all across Australia and seen many walks of life, beach communities, rural farms, even tiny rainforest towns. This experience inspired my design purpose - to design for those who really need a voice in a creative and bright way. I chose to combine this with semiotic objects such as butterflies and flowers to communicate my design identity in a collage type design. In the map, the larger the butterfly, the more different homes I lived in that location. I also conveyed my key words (Bright, Optimism, Chaos and Honesty) both in text and in other visual aspects. I used bright colours and highly saturated images to maintain a bright aesthetic. Additionally, I chose bright, yellow flowers, which are both a key aspect of my design style and have strong cultural associations with happiness and optimism. I was inspired by the sheer honesty of CB Hoyo to add a weather forecast, dictating my current feelings and future sad dinner plans, however I juxtaposed this with bright colours and a dynamic 90’s style font to lighten the somewhat dismal text. This conveys that I can make light of even the most sullen situations and strive to be optimistic. I displayed chaos through the overall collage/layering style, choosing bright and high contrast colours, many layers and different elements across the design. In particular I used not one but two arms for the presenter (Myself) which don’t match my own skin tone and are clearly from a different person. I chose to portray myself as the presenter in the Pinta Tv Show. I think this makes a statement about how as designers we must always be talking ourselves up and making our lives seem aesthetic and glamorous so that we are valid in the design community, however, for me this is a very conceited way of thinking as I am not used to talking myself up to others and I struggle in this aspect of design. Overall my self map conveys my deeper design purpose in a fun and bright way so that potential clients can understand who I am as a designer.
