STAMP DESIGN

Project: Stamp series of an under appreciated subject

Awards: Gold in Graphis 2020 New Talent Annual

I was tasked with creating a stamp design on an under-appreciated subject. I chose to highlight four incredibly talented jazz artists: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald.

After determining my subject matter, I wanted to explore the aesthetic of jazz music. While listening to the work of these artists, I created patterns, shapes and figures that I felt represented that genre of music (seen below). This helped to narrow my design focus.

Based off of those designs, I then explored different illustration styles. After looking over what I created, I realized that some designs were too detailed to be a postage stamp and some were not striking enough. I knew that for the final piece, I needed to find a balance between the two.

For my final piece, I used color blocking as a way to simplify the figure of each artist, but also make them pop against the black background.