Exhibition text
Title: Milwaukee Flag Design
Medium: Digital Manipulation size:7x5in November 10, 2015 This is a flag design I made for Milwaukee. I used photoshop to make my flag design. I mainly used the paint pocket tool and the line tool to make this flag design, because those tools gave me the opportunity to design the flag and make it my own. My intention with this design is to make a simple flag that represent Milwaukee without it being too much or too little. I was mostly inspired by other flag designers and the tips they gave on their videos. I used those tips and the knowledge they provided me with, to make this final design. |
Process
The first thing I did with this project is research. I had no choice but to do research because I didn't know much about Milwaukee. I wanted to know what I was going to represent with my flag. After doing some researching I found what I wanted my flag design to represent about Milwaukee. When I completed my research, I started to brainstorm and drew some designs that each had some meaning behind them. Upon completing my sketches for my flag designs, I started to use photoshop in order to make them. As I finished making them on photoshop, I picked the one that had the best symbolism amongst the flags I designed. I was kind off stuck on which one to pick but the MIAD professor that came over to check on our flag helped me pick. He said he liked one of my flags and he also gave me advice on how to make it better. I took his advice and made the changes on the flag, and thats the flag I picked as my final design. Here is some of the things I did in order to get this project done...
"How to Make a Great Flag." Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkXin0uG_4Q>.
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1) I watched videos on how to make a good flag. whats appropriate and what are the best flags out there.
2) I started to brainstorm Ideas and researched things that people symbolize Milwaukee with. 3) I came up with an Idea but I thought it was too plain and simple so I did a couple of different sketches. 4) Here are some of my first sketches and my final result. |
Planning sketch#1I first decided to start with this planning sketch. I thought I could incorporate the sky, lake and land all in one piece but after trying it on photoshop it looked too much and a bite cartoony.
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planning sketch#2I decided to do a little bite more/less on this one without taking away from my symbolism. I thought that taking away the sky symbolism was best because the lake can also represent the sky. I also wanted the M and W that the zig zag line makes to be more noticeable.
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Planning sketch#3For my final planning sketch I decided to really emphasize the letters M and W the zig zag make so I outlined the ends of the zig zag with white.
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Other Flags I designed
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Process of my flag on photoshop
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Symbolism of My Flag
My flag is very simple, and some of the symbolism in it can be identified quickly but there are some things I have to explain. First I decided to make the background blue because of lake Michigan. While doing research on the history of Milwaukee and looking at present day Milwaukee, I came to the conclusion that they both share the lake. When people think about Milwaukee, they tend to think about lake Michigan. So I had to have blue somewhere in my flag, and I decided that it should be the background. After I decided on my background color, I had to start on the lettering of my flag. I know that lettering is not allowed in the flag world because its tacky and its frowned upon. So I had to come up with someway to put letters in there without taking away the simplicity of the design. I looked into Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv work and realized they make letters with shapes. I thought that a zig zag would make a great shape to use to represent both the letters and the harmony between nature and the lake here in Milwaukee. So if you look at my flag closely, you'll recognize the M and W the zig zag makes. So thats why there is a zig zag in the middle, its to represent harmony and to make M and W. so the the harmony part isn't just representing nature, it also represents the people of Milwaukee. We might be segregated but we somehow manage to be all accepting of different races and colors. I have never been bothered because I'm muslim and black in Milwaukee, I have friends of all different races and we all love each other. And so I wanted to show that in my flag design, I wanted to show something thats personal to me through this flag. I strongly believe that the zig zag with two different colors could show and symbolize the acceptance and unity here at Milwaukee. In conclusion there are a lot of things my flag represents, from the nature to the people and finally some lettering too.
Artistic Inspiration
While I was doing my research, I looked at some designers Mrs Chad recommended on his website. I looked into their work and what they have designed. I came across these three designer named Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. After viewing many of their famous work, I was inspired by the simplicity of their work and the symbolism it has. I thought that their work all symbolized something but had a very simple design people can easily identify. I wanted my flag to give viewers the same feeling I had when I looked at their work. I wanted people to look at my flag once and for them to remember how it looks just with one glance. Just like with Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv work, I only looked at their designs once and I could remember easily what those logos/designs were. So thats why I was inspired by these designers, they gave simplicity a new meaning and thats what I wanted my flag to show. The main design that really inspired me, was the NBC logo because its simple but it also outlined a peacock in the middle, I wanted to outline an M and a W for my flag but I didn't know how, so I took the idea from them that shapes can make something.
Reflection
To conclude my long journey with this project I will talk about my trials and errors, and also the good things about this project. First, there were a lot of difficult things about this project. One of the biggest problems I've had with this project was finding the significance of the flag . After researching for a long time, I had a lot of things that Milwaukee is known for, so I had a difficult time picking just a view things to put on my flag. Even when I did pick the things I wanted to put on my flag, I didn't know how to represent them on a flag. Thankfully I looked for inspiration and when I found it, I used it to help me create my flag. Fortunately after combining my idea and my inspiration, I came up with a flag. Even though it seems like I didn't enjoy this project, I actually had a lot of things that I enjoyed about it. I liked that it made me learn about Milwaukee's history. I've been living here for almost eight years and I didn't know a lot of information that I found in my research. I also enjoyed the fact that we were given the opportunity to design a flag for our city. Lastly I appreciate that this project is letting us see how college professors critique work.
Research
2) Milwaukee Timeline « Milwaukee County Historical Society (Milwaukee County Historical Society)
http://www.milwaukeehistory.net/education/milwaukee-timeline/
3) Milwaukee’s History (MPTV)http://www.themakingofmilwaukee.com/history/
4) Milwaukee: The Most Segregated and Polarized Place in America (Milwaukee: The Most Segregated and Polarized Place in America)http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-milwaukee-most-segregated-polarized-place.html