Glimpse Editorial
Editorial, Illustration, Branding
Glimpse is an editorial with the direct goal of learning about different folkloric creatures from around the world. It intends to unpack these stories and discover the ways in which communities interact with their culture, through music, significant landmarks, and history. Painting a complete image of how folktale/storytelling evolves throughout its life. Through illustration and iterative design, Glimpse puts culture on full display.
Timeline: 8 months Tools: Adobe Creative Suite, Krita
The Challenge
Given our current cultural climate in North America, people are divided and xenophobia is severely on the rise. Historically in our media landscape, marginalized communities have always had their iconography and images appropriated/butchered. As this is the standard, people who are more willing to challenge their worldviews do not have proper outlets to learn about authentic cultures.
Formal Thesis Statement
While depicting folklore stories from around the world will not rectify all misrepresentation, non-eurocentric folktales deserve to be shared for their uniqueness in story structure, to preserve/protect cultural identity, and expose general populations to different communities.
Research/Inspiration
The research process to conduct this project was truly vital. Primary research was conducted through conversation with someone who has grown up in the Colombian Caribbean Coast and gained insight on qualitative details not available in online articles/resources. If Glimpse were to create more issues, more time will be allocated to contacting community members who originate the folktale being told. By displaying the voices of community members, their narratives become re-centred. Through the research process, multiple versions of the folktale were reviewed to understand the pivotal narrative and tonal elements of the tale. Glimpse’s mission is to get people more engaged with world culture and promote understanding. With this mission in mind, research also consisted of the different ways community members interacted with/discovered the folktale. The structure of each story consists of the telling of the story itself, explaining the thematic/symbolic importance, where it comes from and where it has arrived today. Folktales evolve with time and so research on how it progressed over the years was a big step as well.
Target Audience
Proccess
Design Solution
The name of the editorial is Glimpse, to represent the glimpse one takes into the different cultures presented. Throughout the editorial different eyes serve different purposes. For example, the social media animation of the human eye becoming reptilian represents the transformation of human to beast, foreshadowing the tale of El Hombre Caiman. The intended mood of Glimpse is surreal, eerie, intriguing, and otherworldly while being grounded. The way in which these concepts are communicated visually is through the illustration, colours, and textured assets. Throughout the editorial, illustration is used to depict both fantastical and real concepts. When reading, it will be made clear what is and is not fiction, but by using illustration when speaking on either topic, visually there will be little difference. The typography also helps in establishing a distinct mood. The combination of condensed, expanded and Gothic serif fonts create a very engaging synergy.
Graphic Elements
Covers
Social Media
Narrative pages
Sample Pages
Reflection
This project has been very important to me, it gave me an opportunity to create something I truly believe is needed now more than ever. The illustrations and the layouts are something I am proud of. With that said, there is still more that I would want to do and different stories worth telling.