I was asked to design a MOMA exhibition campaign for a random artist in the course. I chose the architect Toyo Ito from Japan. First, I did some research on his design concept; he believes that people should not be confined to boxes because, in the twenty-first century, our living spaces are perfectly divided into cubes and nothing should be stable or predictable. Our only connection to nature is a small rectangular window, which he deems insufficient. He believes that people need a more laid-back approach to living in this age of rapid development and high speed. Nature is his escape route. He believed that buildings should connect with nature and be a part of nature. As a result, his famous library architecture in London (information pdf Page 2 in pdf, right corner) features beautiful triangular shapes and angles that create a large hollow space. People can see all four seasons through the windows, as the triangular shape creates shade similar to that of a tree. If I were a visitor to this library, I would feel as if I were reading a book under a tree due to the irregular shape of the branches.
After reading his concept, the notion of designing a new typeface occurred to me. I used triangles as the primary visual language and designed a typeface family with 26 letters and 1-9 numbers (detail in information pdf page 4 in perf). This typeface is constructed using a paper and glue sphere structure. When you slowly open it, you can see the typeface morphing into a letter (Information Pdf page 3, bottom left corner). Everything is unstable and subject to change; nothing is certain. Then, I import my font into Illustrator and make it more legible. I chose the secondary typeface Everett (Specien PDF provided in the reference material) because the purpose is to launch an exhibition; therefore, legibility is crucial. Everett is ideal for this project because it is easy to read and the geometric shapes match my typeface and his structure.
My next step is selecting colors. I did not choose a solid color theme for him; rather, I used the concept of four seasons, since I mentioned that people can observe the changing seasons through the triangular hollow in his building. Spring, summer, winter, autumn. To prevent the colors from dominating and becoming monotonous, I create the texture of four seasons (Details in information pdf page 5 in pdf) In the end, I use all the elements I chose to develop an exhibition for Toyo Ito, which includes a billboard, two posters, two streetlight pool banners, a flyer, a brochure cover, a ticket, etc... I used the watermark I designed for Toyo in some of my works, and for the majority of them, I enlarged the custom typeface and imitated his building's windows in the background. Then add the four seasons as a backdrop, similar to how he imagined his building. Moreover, for information layout, I include an arrow in the duration information to attract attention, and other information is arranged with an angle because I view this as a challenge that requires me to be bold when I do type layout and not be confined to a traditional grid, international design style. The MOMA logo and Toyo Ito are always positioned on the edge and in the correct direction.
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