“Black excellence, opulence, decadence”
-Murder to Excellence, Jay-Z
Visual Design
As a passion project, I created a grid-based alphabet poster by constructing modules made up of a single letter, image, and word(s) inspired by Hip-Hop icon and billionaire, Jay-Z’s illustrious career.
Process
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I combined my passion for design, love for music, and pride for my hometown to create this Jay-Z inspired poster.
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I developed lo-fi sketches of the grid, individual module, and title used in the poster.
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I crafted a color palette to reflect Jay-Z’s illustrious career.
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The first iteration of the grid-based alphabet.
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The final version of the grid-based alphabet.
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I reflect on the personal significance this project had on me and speculate on what future iterations would look like.
Concept + Ideation
Born and raised in Crown Heights Brooklyn, I value my hometown and the cultural significance Brooklyn holds globally. Specifically, in music, my city has been the stomping grounds of some of the biggest names in music.
As an ode to my hometown, I chose to highlight hip-hop mogul, and business tycoon, Jay-Z by creating a grid-based A-Z alphabet poster.
Sketching
This project allowed me to explore the full creative process of making grid-based layouts in Adobe Illustrator. I started with a sketch of a single module where I outlined where the letter, image, and text will be positioned and used this module as the outline for all 26 letters. My intention was to give each module its own personality that relates either to the song or to Jay-Z’s career while maintaining visual balance.
In the title specifically, I wanted to place emphasis on the “Jay through Z” element to indicate a play on Jay-Z’s name in the context of the A-Z alphabet.
Original sketch of grid-based layout, module design, and title design
Color palette and typeface
I chose a combination of the tan and green with gold and red accents to convey sophistication, elegance, and decadence, all off which are reflective of Jay-Z's subject matter in many of his songs and his lifestyle as a businessman.
I used the typeface Mrs. Eaves OT bold and italic because of it’s blend of legibility and elegance. The serif style adds subtle flair without taking away from the readability of text thus capturing the overall elegant feel.
Color palette
Iteration one
Final product
Key improvements
Title: Replaced the arrow design with arched text to create a more polished and clean title
Modular improvements: Added black outline around all icons to create uniformity
Takeaways + next steps
I enjoyed this project because of the creative freedom I had that allowed me to tune my design skills, reflect on my hometown, and pay homage to an icon. I enjoyed challenging myself to stick to a theme of class and grandeur and giving each module its own distinct personality in a cohesive fashion.
With more time on this project, I’d consider designing similar posters based on other artists and their catalogs or even transforming these modules into a physical trading card deck. The modular design reminds me of classic playing cards and I think the idea of having a tangible object come from my designs would make nice collector’s items.