For this assignment, we were tasked with creating a functional Figma prototype web-essay on a designer of our choosing from a given list. My designer of choice was Paula Scher contemporary designer who worked on projects for Microsoft, The Public Theatre, and CBS Records.
I was instantly drawn to her work, the boldness of her designs, her use of typography and her adaptability. She designed murals, brand identities, promotional material, records, and so much more.
Her personality was also a huge reason for my choice to focus on her for this project, her easy-going demeanour in interviews, her blunt answers in article's and her philosophy when it comes to design made me very interested in looking into her further.
I also decided on my question “What makes Paula Scher unique in the design world?’.
This question came to mind a lot during my research on Paula Scher, she's one of the most well-known contemporary designers, a founder at Pentagram, but why did she succeed to such an extent and how, and so I wanted to find out what made her unique in both her designs and attitude to achieve the height of success as a designer.
Inspired by her work, especially her designs for The Public Theatre, which at times reminded me of magazines and collage work, I decided to look at my on-hand Vogue Magazine for potential inspiration for layout, background or typography.
I really liked the idea of framing the whole web essay in an article-esque format, as it would let me easily incorporate Paula Schers’ focus on typography.
I particularly liked the open’er segment of the magazine, with the font being on its side, and I really wanted to incorporate that in some way, as well as the 1945 page with the numbers floating in the background as almost a pattern, which I also planned on exploring.
I started with a vague idea of wanting to incorporate bold shapes into this design, as well as a lot of typography or something in the backgrounds or edges to give my web-essay a busy and city-inspired feel that is seen in a lot of Scher’s work.
