Royal Academy of Art exhibition poster re-design
The purpose of this experimental study was to research and analyze a given piece of graphic design to recreate the original designer's design process, from sketches and brainstorming to iterations. We were then to re-design the piece with our own take, beginning with one of the imagined concepts or iterations we thought the designer might have created during their original design process. This poster is a redesign of the 2007 Royal Academy of Art's exhibition of Dutch designer Gert Dumbar, originally designed by Wes Kull. My redesign makes the poster more simple and contemporary, and also increases legibility while still incorporating key elements from the original design that reflect Dumbar's style and personality.
Design tools:
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Design Process
Step one: Research and analysis
I first began my research by looking into the careers and works of Wes Kull the designer of the poster, and Gert Dumbar the designer the exhibition is featuring. I found that Wes most likely designed the poster to pay homage to the style of Dumbar and his works. I then began an in-depth analysis of the original work as if I were Wes, re-creating his design process by breaking the work down element by element, and investigating the reason behind them. I created notes, sketches, and a mind map in order to fully re-create the design process. I even went as far as creating the design brief the exhibition would have provided Wes to follow.
Step two: The re-design
When I began to place understanding and reason to the visuals Wes created, I then created different concepts and iterations he may have come up with while working on the project. It was then when I began the final stage, re-designing one of the iterations. The design challenge was also that the re-design fulfils the design brief the original designer would have received. My redesign keeps the black candy imagery, elements from Dumbar's style, and the original poster's elements but improves them by creating a simple, legible, and contemporary composition.
Final Design
