Part of the Arts Unplugged series at Cornell University, in this project I designed all the print and web publicity materials. In addition, I co-curated, designed, and coordinated a large scale exhibit. The typography embodies the inherent nature of the event: to make nano-technology visible to our audience by enlarging relevant symbols and bringing them to the surface.
Event Poster
With the title of the event being "Science of the Very, Very Small," I wanted to create a visual dichotomy by making the very small extremely big, while at the same time giving the feel that the viewer is zooming into a microscopic world. To create that effect I designed a custom circuit board that included objects or topics discussed by the speakers and added textured effects that mimic the view from a microscope. This circuit board can be viewed through the letters of the title, making the letters themselves into a kind of microscope.
The broken white frame is part of the Arts Unplugged series look, and each time the frame is modified in a way that connects to the topic of the event. Before settling on the city skyline, I tried many variations that included atoms, nanobots, and DNA strands. None looked quite right, partly because those elements were already inside the lettering at the top. Finally, I was inspired by a version of the subheadline that included the word “society”: "Nanoscale innovations and their impact on society." I settled on the city skyline as a visual representation of that. Once it was represented visually, the word "society" wasn't necessary anymore (leaving room to add the word "quantum"), because the graphic was doing the job of showing that nano and quantum innovations, tiny as they might be, loom over us all whether we see it or not. Finally, as a hidden fun feature, the white line traces the word "small" throughout the city shapes.
Event poster.
Promotional Slide
The slide was posted on large screens across campus as well as shared in classrooms and on social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn).
Instagram Stories
For the day of the event, I created a custom story card that linked out to the livestream and another one for viewers to download our custom origami paper. With the origami workshop taking place during intermission, I took photos of the origami figurines created by the students and added them to the story.
Origami
I based the origami pattern on the one used in the poster lettering. Given that most of the audience would be printing it at home, I designed it to size on a letter-sized page and included trimming guidelines.
Exhibition
Continuing with the theme of making the small very big, I co-curated, designed, and coordinated an exhibit showing five nanoscale objects at a very large scale. The exhibit featured a CERN rendition of a particle collision, a scan of an electrode that stimulates brain tissue, a set of filaments encircling a DNA structure, a photo of a microscopic robot, and an image of superconductivity in a metallic material.
The quantum and nanoscale objects were printed on double-sided vinyl and installed on the windows of the building, allowing the exhibit to be seen from inside and outside the building.
Installation in progress.
Exhibition Label
To help viewers more easily identify the caption that went with each image, I included a small black-and-white version of the object. This approach allowed me to avoid adding numbers to the images themselves.
Letterhead
The event also included a community contest. As part of that effort, I created a custom letterhead used in communications with the local schools.
Design elements
Event title lettering.
Pattern for the lettering above.
Custom city skyline.
