History of the Bathing Suit Process

Project Overview: This challenge was to create a timeline; we had six different topics to decide between and I chose the history of the bathing suit. The real focus of this project was to show time through typography. It was important to not let our timelines become too image based. We had to organize our information in a logical way that would read as a timeline by establishing order.

Our first step was trying to find a proper type treatment for the information. From the beginning I had the idea of using the string of a bikini to serve as the "line"

After going through the first phases, I decided I was going to need more then simply a curvy line (string) to signify that it was a bathing suit. I used a few images to try and use a real picture. I was thinking that the persons back could serve as the background and that it would help the viewer know it was suppose to be about swimsuits. However, using an image like this was difficult because it was not working to enlarge because the skin became unrecognizable. Of all of my preliminary explorations, I decided this was the one with the most potential:

Even though it was very incomplete, I liked the idea of having the bikini top showing with the string hanging down. I was also planning on using a real string and attaching it to the final product. I also thought about doing a flip book that had the string woven through it. However, that idea did not last long.

Once I had my final idea, I was able to come up with a few variations.

I chose to make the swimsuit this silver color because I was still planning on using a real string. I thought about finding a way to have it come through under the loop or even a make a loop with the string to attach. The silver seemed too boring for my idea, so I decided to change it. I wanted my finished product to have a fun feel so I decided to incorporate the "yellow polka dot bikini"

I couldn't decide if I wanted to have just the outline (which I thought would have worked better with having the string attached). I was also questioning whether to have the dots be yellow, silver or blue on both the outlined and full color swim suit.

I decided to go with the full color swimsuit and also to not use the string. By using such a bright yellow it really didn't need the string. Plus, it would have been difficult to attach and would have more likely then not looked tacky. This is the final composition.

Project Brief: I started out really thinking that I was going to like this project. From the start I knew I wanted to do something fun and upbeat because my last project had a very serious tone. But once we got going in the project I started to have some issues with how I was going to execute my idea. I really did want to use a string in a flip book. If there would have been more time I might have tried harder to make it happen. When I realized it wasn't going to happen I kind of hit a slump and felt somewhat lost with where I wanted to go. My images were not turning out well on the computer because of poor quality resulting in them looking very pixilated. But I am happy with the way that my final poster came out. I have never really made anything like this using the pen tool. It looks very graphic and is something I would like to try more. I like the idea of the yellow polka dot bikini because it is so popular and a very recognizable song. Because of this I feel that it works well with the history of the bathing suit.