Red & Black
Senior Showcase at MTSU
Hello! This is a accumulation of my senior project at MTSU. The prompt the students were given at the beginning was combine two words and change their meaning. The final logo must also include and ampersand, &. With that, let's find out what "Red & Black" is.
What is Red & Black?
Red & Black is an exhibit that explores how the Romantic Era affected the romance genre in literature. As a reader of romance, I have noticed it is often frowned upon by others because it is seen as not to be taken seriously. Romance has the happy-go-lucky stereotype that both characters fall in love and live happily ever after, but that is not true. The genre has much darker themes that I wanted to highlight to help it gain respect. The Romantic Era introduced those darker themes by making death the ultimate display of love, influenced by famous poets like John Keats with "Bright Star" and Percy Bysshe Shelley with "Adonais." Those poets influenced Emily Brontë to write "Wuthering Heights" and Lord Byron to write "Manfred." These stories helped shape the genre into what we know today.
Design Guidelines
My approach to the design was to make it follow the "rules" that a book page will have since I am focusing on literature; therefore justified type, large margins, and bigger leading were some rules set from the beginning. I challenged myself by working with a limited color palette of red and black with the decorative elements be flourishes or spilled ink stains. My goal for the space, I wanted the space to feel like guest was stepping into a gothic library.
The Plans
Style Guide
The Final Look
In the Gallery
