Archive

Creative & Art Direction + Graphic Design + Photography & Videography

One of four promotional videos. Directed, shot and edited by me. Sound on!

“As we write our story, we write our history…”

This became the unofficial tagline for the Advertising + Graphic Design Fall 2024 Portfolio Show, ARCHIVE, of which I served as Creative and Art Director.

While brief, this sentence captures the primary idea that informed me while conceptualizing ARCHIVE—the idea that all that we do quickly becomes what we’ve done. Our presents—these live and active moments and experiences—become our pasts instantaneously. As we each navigate our lives, we contribute to “archives”, both our own and those of every other entity that we impact.

We are constantly crafting, editing and arranging collections of records and data that inform who we currently are and tell of where we’ve been.

Character

ARCHIVE is all about capturing and preserving live moments and action. Aesthetically, it relies heavily on human intervention, and thus carries an unpolished, raw, often chaotic visual character. A key visual tool became handwritten annotations, which both allowed our unique marks (handwriting conveying our ideas) to be fully displayed and created the very active, undone aesthetic that was intended.

The logo serves as a prime example of this, as it is a simple wordmark annotated with grammatical symbols to denote significance.

Actualization

Throughout ARCHIVE, there is an emphasis on tactile media and tangible experiences. The show’s primary promotional materials—invitations and print posters invitations (pictured below)—were multidimensional, containing two key components each.

The invitation included an annotated letter that articulates the ideas and inspiration behind ARCHIVE, and an annotated postcard that reiterates the most vital information.

Harkening to the idea of preserving for archival purposes, the postcard was placed inside a glassine sleeve—typically used for storing film reels and photographs.

Film and photography would also become key vehicles of ARCHIVE’s identity and promotion, both being dynamic means of documentation.

The “representative items” series was a major player in ARCHIVE’s social media campaign. Each member of my 14-person cohort selected a collection of pieces that best represented them personally. Rather than images ourselves, these photos served as our introductions and initial identifiers to our audience on Instagram.

The series served two purposes: (1) to emphasize our individual archives by showcasing what would be included in them; and (2) to circumnavigate unconscious bias among audiences identified by previous cohorts, which showed that students that were woman-presenting and/or people of color were typically clicked on the least (in comparison to students that were male-presenting and/or white).

Em’s items

Kat’s items

Full invitation: letter with postcard in glassine sleeve paper-clipped.

Part of the invitation design, which features ARCHIVE’s primary logo at the center and my handwriting.

Back of letter.

Not featured: vintage postage on envelope.

ARCHIVE’s initial Instagram post. Staging and photography by me.

Three of four, also posted to Instagram

This video of my annotating the logotype played upon visiting the portfolio show’s website, thanks to Lily Swing’s web design skills. Again, sound on!

Logo and components.

Aptly, ARCHIVE’s name and concept was born from messy word maps.

Full letter.

Postcard.

My items

Another one of four videos used for Instagram.

Actualization: Engagement

Isaura’s items

Large poster, which was posted along with a half-sheet containing show information (above). Annotations of logotype by my classmates and me. Design and photography by me.