This project is a visual exploration of Cultural Icons through Graphic Design to celebrate the cultural collaboration that underpins iconic objects.
Major project
In Forming Identity
In Forming Identity Booklets
After moving to the UK from the USA, Brooke's interest in immigration and global movement grew, homing in onto the exchange of ideas where cultural influences become ingrained in another.
In Forming Identity is a graphic exploration of eight of these objects through informational folded booklets which fold out into A3 posters. Each booklet examines readers' assumptions about “them” “us” and “other”, revealing the world we know today is the result of countless cultural interactions and cross-pollination.
In Forming Identity (box and booklets)
The In Forming Identity set is contained in a book-like box. The box colours are an assemblage of all the individual booklets within, which themselves are colour themed in accordance with their respective posters.
The strobing blur of colours represent different cultures overlapping, standing together side by side, without dominance and equal in significance. The marbled insides, on the other hand, reflect traditional endpapers, and so, the box mimics their classic book design using the same colour palette.
The Artist Statement Booklet & The Baguette Booklet
The Artist Statement Booklet sets itself apart from the others within the In Forming set, opting for a different text layout. Contextualising the other booklets, its colour coded world map shows the cultural collaborations used in the production of different iconic objects. The poster it unfolds into emphasises that our differences are dwarfed by our similarities and that these connection ought to be celebrated and treasured.
The baguette was product of ingredients from France, Austria and Hungary, and has since become a perfected staple in French for which this country is famous for. The image references the French lineage of Fashion illustration emphasising a softness through curves, and a playful sophistication through the metaphor of a cigarette through the baguette.
The Potato Booklet & The Tea Booklet
Despite potatoes' South American origins their popularity has since spread amongst numerous countries, each of which champions the vegetable in its own cultural dish. Part of potatoes' popularity might be attributed to the many benefits they afforded common people in their great nutritional value and ease of cultivation. As a result, the poster celebrates the potato using lavish painting to externalise its hidden value.
Tea’s Chinese origins have been eroded in time, with many people being unaware that Portugal's established trade with China was key in enabling the British royal family to popularise the commodity in the 17th century. To reflect tea's east-asian heritage, an east-asian print technique of the risograph was used to create vibrant, surreal images.
Brooke Jacques
Major project
In Forming Identity