Assignment Five - 01

Personalize your Notebook - Phase One
What? Design the exterior and interior of a notebook, based on a positive belief you wish to convey.

Concept
My first theme is based on the quote: “There is a fine line between dreams and reality; it's up to you to draw it” by B. Quilliam. I believe that dreams are hidden desires in our souls and often can be pursued to form reality. The second theme is to create awareness of the destruction pollution is doing to Earth.

The concepts of my drafts combined both themes, portraying reality as the polluted environment and the dream as a clean carefree world. Dreams and reality are also blended together to show that there is only a fine line between them. I chose children as my subjects (instead of adults) as children are often depicted as the future and have innocent imaginaries.

Drafts

Exterior/Interior

1. Here, the tree branch serves as the divider of reality and dream. The top background will be dark and cloudy; the bottom will be fantasy-like with brilliant colors. Should this draft be chosen, it'll be challenge to blend the two vastly different color schemes together.

The mood and message of my theme is brought out through the emotions of the child and the colors of the designs. In the exterior design, the child sits on the branch symbolizing him residing in the dark reality. The child, along with the top half of the tree, will be in grayscale colors. In the interior design, the child has stepped into the dream and appears to be happy (through behavior and expression). The interior design will be in solid colors.

2. Here, the child leaves reality by flying away on a kite. Reality and dream are separated by the dark smoke (bottom) and white clouds (top).

Draft #3/Draft #4

Draft #3 is my initial sketch of a divided world of reality (top) and dreams (bottom). In dreams, the trees are shaped oddly to enhance that they are fantasy. They are also mirrored like reflections from the dead trees (reality). I intended the entire sketch to be in grayscale, toying with different shades of black to bring out the foreground from the background.

I like the concept of dreams being mirrored in reality and further developed it into draft #4. To make sense of the mirrored images, I added the pond. I posed the child seemingly that the reflection is his dream and he wants to step into it.