Footnotes* on consuming between the blurry lines of fashion sustainability
Deliverables: Text-based installation comprised of typography inkjet-printed on 384 sheets of 100% recycled paper, wheat pasted and tiled onto a wall, measuring 10 x 40 ft.
Tools: Adobe Illustrator and InDesign
Project Type: Graduate thesis project
Footnotes* highlights excerpts from a group discussion amongst seven student designers and visual artists during two zine-making workshops which explored what climate-centric design is or could be, using the case of sustainable fashion consumption. The installation depicts how student designers’ balance their successes within sustainability along with the exceptions to engaging in sustainable fashion.
Aim
An aim of the Footnotes* installation is to make sense of the dense information landscape, physical and digital, that surrounds us everyday through the language of graphic design in a collective reading experience or a “talking wall” to reframe current design and messaging practices. In the installation, the seven (7) footnoted taglines capture the essence of each participant’s main experience, derived from the sub-categories that emerged from the qualitative summative content analysis.
Creative direction
Based on the content analysis of transcribed audio-recordings from two zine-making workshops, the idea of Footnotes became my creative direction for the installation because a footnote, typically, is a note of reference, explanation, or comment that is usually placed below the text when further information is needed. Therefore, the idea of footnotes is well suited to conveying the pattern that I noticed in how participants balance convenience and other factors that compete with their sustainable fashion practices in varying degrees.
Typography
I used typography to visually mimic how they are speaking through different font weights, tracking, and effects such as wavy lines and shapes to capture their tone, energy, and thought process. I use large bold taglines that are footnoted to reflect the nuances in each participant's experience of sustainable fashion consumption, that provides a collective reading experience for the public. Each tagline is a direct quotation from the participants that captures the essence of their experience and is further described through its corresponding footnote.
For the taglines, I use Helvetica Neue typeface to create a clean modern look that is familiar to people through everyday media. For the footnotes, I use Playfair Display typeface to create a fashion industry aesthetic through a Didone style typography that is usually associated with Vogue fashion magazine.
