Design of a Story: The Lazy River

DESIGN OF A STORY: THE LAZY RIVER

A set of foldable posters designed for a short story. Each poster is double-sided and also serves as a handheld 8 pg. booklet.

OVERVIEW

Duration

April 2024
(4 weeks)

Class

Word & Image I

Skills

Layout

Typesetting

This series of poster/booklets is based on Zadie Smith's short story "The Lazy River." "The Lazy River" is a fiction piece published in The New Yorker that mediates on the cyclical nature of life. Each poster/booklet set addresses a separate theme of the story, while also providing viewers with a sample of its content.

RESEARCH

I conducted a deep read of "The Lazy River," paying careful attention to key themes, important phrases, and overall narrative structure. I also researched further analysis on the story, and narrowed my focus to three main themes:

Life in the river (endless, circular)
Life outside the river (discomfort, inequalities)
The river's inevitable end (time running out)

PROCESS

I began the design process by first creating content dummies for each poster and booklet, placing the content I intended to use for each one. For the booklet, I focused primarily on pacing and started to experiment with scale and white space.

CONTENT DUMMIES
FOR SET 1

The assignment has a maximum of two hues but unlimited values. After determining my basic color palettes, I iterated on a single poster's design, establishing a system of fonts, shapes, and visual effects that I then applied to the other posters and booklets.

For the overall system, I decided to emphasize layered effects, type as texture, and organic forms. I chose to use these elements in order to represent the flowing, complicated, and yet monotonous nature of the lazy river and the life it represents.