Explore: Collage

For part two of “Explore” I delved into the world of collage! Exploring collage was interesting for me because I’ve been a collage-er for a long time now. My freshman year of college I fell in love with it. I love the textures and colors. And my gosh, photographed magazine shapes literally are the love of my life. While I knew I hadn’t tapped out on the potential of what collage could become, it was challenging to find new ways to push myself. However, I am really happy with the things I created.

ANY SOURCES OF INSPIRATION (IMAGES, ARTICLES, VIDEOS, ETC.)?

I relied heavily on my research to inspire me in new ways. I looked around Pinterest at the different ways collage could be used to enhance design (you can see those images here). I also found this article that helped me to see that collage has its place in contemporary design and can be used to create some really fun solutions. I think I sometimes feel like I’m under qualified as a designer. I’ve never been great at drawing and my brain can’t create something beautiful from nothing in Illustrator. While I know that being a designer is so much more than those things, sometimes it’s hard to shake the feeling that I’m just faking it until I make it. Collage, however, is different. It comes so naturally to me. I’ve always felt, however, that it isn’t valued as highly as illustration in the design world. That article made me realize that collage does have its place and is just as viable of a design solution as illustration is.

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART ABOUT THIS WEEK’S EXPLORATION?

This week was challenging to really explore in new ways. I felt like I kind of fell back into my old patterns and practices (which isn’t bad per se, it just didn’t allow me to discover as many new things). I did make an effort to not use type in these collages, as I normally do. That helped me to really focus more on the shape of each piece.

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST TAKEAWAY?

I think I found that collage is most powerful when it suggests movement. I realized that the majority of the tiny collages I created below included some type of line. I found that I really have underestimated the power of line and the movement that it suggests. I also realized that working quickly and taking risks allows for less judgement, and more fun ideas tend to emerge.

WHAT WAS THE MOST ENJOYABLE PART?

Honestly, I can’t say I necessarily enjoyed this exploration as much I did my exploration into typography. However, I did a fun exercise that I want to employ more often. The collages shown below were each created in about 5 minutes. I set a timer and worked quickly. Nothing was off limits (except for collaging pieces of found type). I tried using colored pencil and Micron pen in addition to magazine shapes. I would really like to continue the practice of diverging quickly in the future, not just in collage, but in all areas of my design practice.