My experience working with the Freedom House thus far has been overall positive. It really made me think about the role that art and design can play in everyday spaces. I enjoyed being able to dovetail serving the Freedom House with making art because it showed me firsthand how art should be accessible to everybody. I believe making the Freedom House’s space more visually appealing has given our prints and design work a greater purpose. These are the first projects we’ve done as a class that are externally motivated; our creative processes have revolved around others and molding our work to serve the needs of someone other than ourselves. This is an important lesson to learn as a young designer, to practice creating work that solves problems for clients.
I’m hopeful that I am creating something not only that I am proud of, but that fulfills a need for the residents and employees. I am designing a template for the various signs and reminders around the house. Lydia, our volunteer coordinator, expressed to me that these are seen every day and are in need of an update. I’m putting together a visually appealing layout that will make these signs more unified and professional. I am also providing an easy-to-follow plan for recreating these signs in the future, as well as a supply of high quality paper, to keep them looking fresh.
In addition to my digital work, I am creating a printmaking related project for the Freedom House. I am making a screenprint for each residence as well as extras to be used as needed for the Gallery of Hope event. I am incorporating a fragment of the bible verse Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” for my design of the print; something that will relate to both the residents and employees. For time sake, my print has two or three layers, with only two to three colors, depending on choice of paper.
