Fairy Fails

The theme of my book is fairy tales and the nature of our relationship with them. This theme touches on how fairy tales are modernized, and the origins of these magical princesses that we all know so well, are quite brutal and disturbing.

The words for my theme are:

1. Whimsical
2. Elegant
3. Nostalgic
4. Pinnacle
5. Misleading
6. Illusion
7. Purified
8. Duality
9. Exposed

In the composition for the word whimsical I wanted to portray an overall sense of playfulness that fairy tales provide. I primarily used scale to communicate this. If the dots did not vary in size then this composition would have failed. It would have been too stable and

For the word elegant, i felt it was really important to keep it simple and clean. The word itself is defined as graceful and stylish. When thinking of a form to communicate this word visually, I was stumped. I knew what the word meant and how it is used in conversation, but I couldn't quite pin down what form alluded to elegance. After struggling to find the right form, I started thinking of actual tangible items that embody elegance. I was drawn to the idea of pearls, and how they are an iconic symbol of elegance. I didn't use an actual photograph of pearls, but used similar tones.

In order to portray the word nostalgic, I felt that asymmetry would be best to communicate it accurately. The word is defined by an affection for the past. In order to visually communicate this, I had to visually imply that there is a depth to the page by using varying sizes in dots. This is the past, and the largest dot closest to the viewer is the present.

Pinnacle, in this sense, refers to the idea that when someone grows up with a fairy tale, the characters become their influence and see them and persona as a pinnacle. These characters are put on a pedestal and seen as the most successful example of a human being, especially for adolescent females. The lead character in fairy tales are what young girls aspire to be. This can happen to boys as well, but in this instance with fairy tales, young girls tend to create this relationship with the characters. My dots form a peak, implying that the largest circle is the pinnacle of the composition.

I chose the word misleading because the modernized version of fairy tales leads us to believe that their version is the entire story.  In reality, these Disney stirs are derived from fairy tales that very different endings, often times ending in tragedy. In this composition I used framing to not only emphasize the meaning of the word, but to create a more interesting composition. To lead the eye visually off the pages makes the meaning of the word resonate more clearly.

I thought illusion was a good choice for my theme because there is definitely an illusion created within recent fairy tales. With such mentioning of magic and a perfect world where everyone is happy, this creates a web of lies that implies a different picture than what is being seen. In order to achieve this I layered my dots in a way that even more dots are alluded from their placement. I have scanned in tule fabric and have layered imagery on top and then cut them out, only to layer even more.

Purified is pretty much self explanatory. Purified refers to the filtering of information in fairy tales. I have used the principle of continuation in this composition. The eye sways in different directions indicating that there is some motion happening.

Duality refers to the belief that this fairy land place is an attainable place. It is not. Our life in reality is not similar to this fantasy world. The belief in these two worlds creates a duality. The principle applied to this composition is a compound shape. I used compound shapes to contrast one another, but still hint that these worlds coexist.

My use of the word exposed aims at the realization of the truth in regards to fairy tales. In this composition I employed mostly compound shapes. I also employed layering.

The imagery I chose was very much inspired by the original fairy tales. The tales that were not stylized, but that were once about a girl that someone knew, not just a princess. I chose illustrated imagery because I felt that it provided a more realistic, organic perspective to fairy tales. These images were important because every image has many connotations and references. Every minute detail reminds the viewer of something, and as a designer it's our job to figure out which images speak clearly.

How the images are placed in the dots is crucial to the understanding of them. Visually, you can not communicate with out the twelve design elements. In hindsight, and if I had a couple more days, I would experiment with the imagery more. Although I did do quite a bit of experimenting, I feel I could have pushed it further by exaggerating the authentic feel of an old, classic fairy tale book. Right now, the book as is, is a modern interpretation of a classic fairy tale book.