Portland Community College received a $374 million voter-approved bond to make improvements to the school. During construction, they built a temporary wall that was 75 ft. long and 13 ft. tall. My studio class was responsible for creating an installation that would go on the wall. We created a large infographic to communicate to students, faculty and taxpayers what the bond program was and the remodeling initiatives.
Duration: 3 Months
Role: Designer (collaboration)
Challenge: The wall was built in an area with a lot of foot traffic and we needed to create a design that wouldn’t cause people to stop near the door.
Solution: We incorporated a tree branch into the design. This not only helped symbolize growth, but it also helped to draw the viewer in. The low hanging branches helped to lead the viewer to the numbers, which established hierarchy.
Beginning of the installation
Middle of the installation
End of the installation
Our Process
We started by working on thumbnail sketches. Then we all came together to brainstorm ideas. We combined the elements that were working to come up with a concept. We did a few more sketches, using the exact shape of the wall as a template, to figure out the layout. One of my classmates did a few rounds of mock ups (in Illustrator) with the rest of us giving feedback, to perfect the design before we transferred it to the wall.
The biggest element was the tree branch. So we started by printing it off and tiling it together on paper. We used this as a reference when painting it on the wall. We decided the placement of everything else based on where the tree branch was. We also used a grid to make sure everything was the correct scale.
All of the text elements were created out of vinyl. The circles and half circles are laser cut and painted acrylic. Birds and birdhouses were laser cut out of plywood and painted. We also printed off some pictures from the different phases (past and current) and put them in picture frames that were painted to match.
Final mock-up
Tiling together the branch
Painting leaves
Painting the bottom trim
Painting acrylic circles