"We are the foundation on which change is built. An inspiration book for the artists that will shape our future."
Blueprint is a hypothetical book project brainstormed by my colleague, Maral Esteghlalian, and myself.
Blueprint pairs famous artists with penniless creatives from 10 cities around the world who make beautiful work. Each has space dedicated to his/her individual work and story, as well as a collaborative project from the pair. The book focuses on the power of art and design to overcome wealth, status, and station, as well as the importance of connecting to people outside of our own social groups. Our dream guest list includes artists and designers like Stefan Sagmeister, Shepard Fairey, and Ai Weiwei.
Collaboration and connection are the blueprint for a future in which we recognize and reward that even when bread is harder to come by, the passion to create is still present.
The Blueprint campaign includes the book, a website, and a gallery tour.
The Website
The site for Blueprint is pretty minimal - since the concept is so immense, the style of this campaign is kept simple, allowing the identities of the artists and their work to show through.
Keeping the scrolling system horizontal, all of the artists are placed side by side. They're represented first by their individual handprints, then by their names, favorite mediums, and location.
The handprint as a symbol in this campaign comes from its structural presence. It's a heavily architectural part of the body - limbs fracturing in to smaller and smaller parts. It's also a heavy visual reference to creation and artistry. Both of these tie into the idea of Blueprint showcasing the inherent value of creativity and connection, and by recognizing this value, how we can begin to build a stable future.
The Book
Each pair of artists has 6 pages dedicated to them - both get a biography page with high quality portraits, a page for individual works, and a spread for their collaborative project. We want to show the connections and disparages between these people and their philosophies, both interpersonally and circumstantially.
Final page designs by Maral Esteghlalian
The Gallery Shows
On the release night, each of the 10 "hometown" cities would have a gallery opening, featuring the book and the collaborative works of those artists.
This is a potential gallery space to show the style of displays to be used in the openings.
This is the first project in which I used 3D software. I was experimenting with Google Sketchup (now Trimble Sketchup), and decided that it would be a good tool for visualizing the kind of space we would ideally hold the gallery shows at. We both decided that minimal, rounded shapes were best for creating a calming, welcoming flow. While this is a fantasy space, the stylization of the displays and POS space could be replicated in a real gallery space.
