Assignment 6

To continue with my dog theme, I chose Gene Hill's quote on dogs for this assignment. It was the longest quote I could find that has imagery that I can use.

The full quote is “He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.) When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need him. And I expect I will - as I always have. He is just my dog.”

I found this to be too long, so I used the first three lines of the quote. I find it easier to express their literal meanings than “forgive,” “loyalty” and “thumps his tail” etc. as I thought abstract words, movements and parts of a dog were difficult to express. However, I realised that dogs were not mentioned in the first three lines, so I added the last line to put the three lines in context.

Then I took the literal meanings of the quote and designed the typefaces. For example, I drew eyes for the words “eyes” and “see,” and I placed “see” above “clouds,” since the quote was “see above the clouds.” I drew sound waves to express “hear,” and slanted the font of “winds” to signify wind blowing at the words. “The part of” is a part of “me,” and “me” is joined to (“reaches out into”) the word “sea.” “Out,” however, is disjointed (out of “me” and “see”). I modified the dogs of my previous assignments to form the word “dog,” as I thought this may provide consistency for my portfolio.

I finished my design rather quickly, but I was stuck at the layout. I found it extremely difficult to make my design harmonious. The first two lines were repeated, and since I used the same font except for the key words that I drew, they looked consistent. On the other hand, “the part of me that reaches out into the sea” and “just my dog” looks like two separate designs. I tried many different layouts, and decided on continuing the S curve of “the part of me that reaches out into the sea,” but I still had harmony problems. In the end, I decided to use a theme.

Since “sea” was the biggest font, I wanted to do a theme based on the sea. However, I thought the design will look weird if dogs were in the sea. Hence I changed my theme to a beach, so the dogs can be on the shore, and the word “sea” in the sea. Moreover, the first two lines had “clouds” and “winds,” which exist in the sky, so it would make sense to put them at the top of the design.

In order to bring focus to “the part of me that reaches out into the sea,” I made the first two lines and “just my dog” smaller. As a result, “just my dog” looks like a logo. Still, I think the design is more harmonious now =)