Quinton is pursuing his second Bachelor’s degree at the Art Center College of Design studying graphic design with a focus on interaction design. After years of suppressing his creative spirit at desk jobs, Quinton finally decided to follow his passion and talents. He moved out to LA to attend Art Center almost two years ago and hasn’t looked back. It’s the risk and energy in our city that has had a huge influence on Quinton and his work.
How did the Adobe MAX Conference come about?
The Adobe MAX Conference project was something my instructor assigned all of us for our Type 3 final. Before the project, I was vaguely familiar with the conference, but I become very aware of what it was during my research, and would like to go one day… when the ticket prices drop.
What were the parameters of the project?
We were asked to create a whole new visual identity for that year’s MAX conference, which meant everything from a new logo/word mark, to invite postcards, a self-mailing brochure, program guides that emphasized the three direct tracks MAX covers, a website and anything else we had time to include. Our three big design challenges to address were; the maps, schedules, and price lists. This project was all about learning how to handle text-heavy collateral.
Explain your approach.
Through my research I found that no matter what design or technology field people were in, Adobe products were in some way an essential building block of what they were doing. That’s what led me to creating the three-dimensional environment the logo exists in. The logo is a singular block that can be stacked upon each other to create what ever the user can envision. "Using Adobe, nothing is impossible to build," was my main concept. The conference is technology-heavy, so one of our tasks was to create a more inviting environment for designers. One of the main building blocks for designers, especially print designers, is CMYK. I used a slightly modified CMYK color palette that spoke to designers, but still felt very appropriate for non designers, gamers, and more technology driven industries.
How did you go about the typography choices?
For my typefaces I chose Bender and DINPro. I chose Bender because it had technological voice that still had some design sense to it. Also, a lot of Bender’s crossbars were set on a slightly dimensional angle which echoed the same visuals I was creating in the main logo. DINPro is a solid sans-serif typeface I felt worked well and complimented Bender, so I used that for the rest of the text.
Any production challenges?
Yes! The biggest challenge was the cover of the self-mailing brochure. I wanted a die cut on the cover where the the logo would show through, which created a revealing moment for the user once they opened to the first page. At school, we have a laser cutter that cuts precisely, but there were two problems I was running into when using it. First, I couldn’t find a setting for the laser that wouldn’t singe the white paper in some way. Second, I couldn’t get the cut to match up exactly with the logo on the inner page once the cover was folded around the book. It was impossible to get it to line up! So I eventually resorted to meticulously hand cutting the cover. I won’t bore you with the excruciating details of my trial and errors before I got it right, but let’s just say I’m gonna think twice before I design something like that again, that is if I know I’m printing it myself.
Thanks Quinton! To see more of his work, visit his Web site.
