todd draves
33: The Highest Degree
A poster inspired by a significant number. The secret freemason society ranks their
members and 33 is considered the highest degree or a master mason. By using type
as shape the “all seeing eye” is formed which is found on the U.S. dollar bill.
Typography II, Fall 2009
14.5" x 23"
MacBook
An artist’s book created exploring various paper
manipulations from a single sheet of paper.
The Book Concrete, Fall 2009
5" x 7"
ladislavsutnar
“with function, flow, and form as basis, design is
evaluated as a process culminating in an entity
which intensifies comprehension.”
Ladislav Sutner (with cigarette) at the AIGA
opening of Sutnar’s exhibition Visual Design
in Action, 1961
Advertisement for the new Sweet’s Catalog, 1948
Cover of Design and Paper no. 19, 1945 Sutnar displays
contemporary design process for clear visual communication
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celerycity
adislav Sutnar was born to Vaclav and Rozalie Later in 1923 at age 26, he became a professor of
Cyclerova Sutnar on November 9, 1897, in the city
design at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague
of Pilsen. In what was then Bohemia, or what we now
and in 1932 he was announced director of the school.
know as Czechoslovakia. Ladislav’s formal educations
Throughout his teaching career in Europe, Sutnar
took him to France, where he studied painting at
maintained his own design practice and was known as
the Prague Academy of Industrial Art, the Charles
the “originator of modern design” in Czechoslovakia.
University, and the Technical University in Prague.
While in Europe, Sutnar visited the Bauhaus and
became an advocate of their functional approach to
design and used this concept to drive his own work.
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live local. eat local.
In America, Sutnar was commissioned by the Czechoslvak
Department of Education to design the Czechoslovak State
Hall in New York City for the World’s Fair. Unfortunately,
because of the wartime climate in Eastern Europe, and the
eventual collapse of the Czechoslovak government, he wasn’t
able to create his design. This gave him the opportunity to
compose several design books centered around his theories
of constructivism and modernist typography.
Carr’s Identity System, 1964
Ladislav’s next project was to design the Research
Department’s, Sweet’s Catalog Service, for McGrawHill Information Systems company. He developed the
format for the Sweet’s Catalog which included industrial
and architectural products categorized for reference. He
developed a clear visual system in order to display the
company’s many products. Sutnar began implementing
“corporate graphic standards” displayed in the Sweet’s
Catalog which would be used as a starting point for future
On Living, 1932, is the cover of avant-garde designer Sutnar’s
book on the range of upbeat, thoroughly modern offerings
available from the design and artisan organisations of which
he was a leading member.
Advertisement for Knoll, 1959
corporate catalog publications. Sutnar believed this method
of displaying technical information was fundamental because
it incorporated the basic elements of function, (making
information easy to find, read, comprehend, and remember),
flow (the rational progression of information for fast
perception), and form (the line, color, and shape).
In 1939, Ladislav moved to America and brought
with him his design background from his experience
Common design characteristics of Sutnar includes his
in Europe. He believed that in all designs, there
use of bleed pages, contrasting weights of Futura types,
should be a fundamental approach without any bias
reverse type, and the application of color for smooth visual
in order to limit creativity and increase function. He
movement through the text.
was a true constructivist, meaning that every design
solution needed a logical structure, as opposed to
being expressive or incorporated from a designer’s
personal aesthetic.
The Pratt Institute in Europe asked Ladislav to return
He eventually returns back to New York City to do
to teaching and he went on to publish more manuals
work for Carr’s and Addo-x Business Machine’s
explaining his process of organizing complex visual
identities and product catalogs. He quotes Lewis
information with his college K. Lonberg-Holm. He
Mumford as having remarked that, “less is more only
includes case-studies of successful solutions in order to
when it is recognized that the more one eliminates,
breakdown the process of visual translation. Sutnar’s
the greater is the importance of refining that which
experience and eye for effective sequencing allows a
remains.” Ladislav will go down in design history
viewer to be able to understand the system easily and
as being a pioneer in complex info-graphics and
navigate through information quickly.
incorporating systematic grid layouts using constructivist
aesthetics in order to make a visual experience both
meaningful and functional.
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Ladislav Sutnar
A publication article I wrote and designed describing the life and
work of designer, Ladislav Sutnar by incorporating a grid system.
Visual Systems, Fall 2009
10" x 15" (spread)
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Je Stijl (your style)
A gala event inspired by combining two art movements
(De Stijl and Memphis) to create a visual system including
a postable, mailable, and wearable for the event.
Design Applications, Spring 2010
celerycity
live local. eat local.
Business System
A food co-op identity created for Kalamazoo, Michigan. The city skyline
represents the advancements our community has experienced in the past
decade and our committment to buying locally.
Visual Systems, Fall 2009
FIRST THINGS
FIRST 2000
A DESIGN MANIFESTO
Signed:
Jonathan Barnbrook
Nick Bell
Andrew Blauavelt
Hans Bockting
Irma Boom
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville
Max Bruinsma
Sian Cook
Linda van Deursen
Chris Dixon
William Drenttel
Gert Dumbar
Simon Esterson
Vince Frost
Ken Garland
Milton Glaser
Jessica Helfand
Steven Heller
Andrew Howard
Tibor Kalman
Jeffery Keedy
Zuzana Licko
Ellen Lupton
Katherine McCoy
Armand Mevis
J. Abbott Miller
Rick Poynor
Lucienne Roberts
Erik Spiekermann
Jan van Toorn
Teal Triggs
Rudy VanderLans
Bob Wilkinson
­ e, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual
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communicators who have been raised in a world in which the techniques
and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as
the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents. Many design
teachers and mentors promote this belief; the market rewards it; a tide
of books and publications reinforces it.
Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply their skill and
imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds, detergents,
hair gel, cigarettes, credit cards, sneakers, butt toners, light beer, and
heavy-duty recreational vehicles. Commercial work has always paid the
bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become, in large measure,
what graphic designers do. This, in turn, is used up manufacturing
demand for things that are inessential at best.
Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design.
Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and
brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental
environment so saturated with commercial messages that is changing the
very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. To
some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful
code of public discourse.
There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills. Unprecedented
environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention. Many cultural
interventions, social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions,
educational tools, television programs, films, charitable causes and other
information design projects urgently require our expertise and help.
We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and
democratic forms of communication – a mindshift away from product
marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of
meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism
is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives
expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design.
In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed the original call for our skills to be
put to worthwhile use. With the explosive growth of global commercial culture,
their message has only grown more urgent. Today, we renew their manifesto
in expectation that no more decades will pass before it is taken to heart.
FTFM 2000
An excercise using the First Things First 2000
design manifesto as inspiration for communicating
the tone of a bold declaration.
Typography II, Fall 2009
8.5" x 11"
Misdirection
A clockface designed using form and counterform to represent
the push and pull of certain periods of time.
Typography I, Fall 2008
24" x 24"
Function
A graphic design exhibition showcasing projects covered throughout
the three years in the design program. I took part in designing the print
materials as well as the wayfinding system. I also was certified to use
the scissor–lift to hang the exhibition.
Graduation Presentation, Spring 2011
GILMORE THEATRE COMPLEX
DECEMBER 1 – 3
269–387–6222
www.wmutheatre.com
BROADWAY
FEATURING BROADWAY’S
University Theatre
A series of promotional material for The University Theatre
located at Western Michigan University. Late Night Broadway
is a cabaret styled showtune performance by the Theatre
Department featuring a guest Broadway Performer. The season
program was created by another designer and myself.
Internship, Spring 2011
2011 – 2012
Grassroots Goods
An identity rebrand for a non–profit organization created by
Kalamazoo Collective Housing. Three other designers and I
created a product line of t–shirts using symbols associated
with the State of Michigan.
Internship, Spring 2011
pure michigan?
Pure Michigan?
A social commentary poster questioning
how we get our energy and what would be
sustainable for the future.
Design Applications, Spring 2010
30.5” x 52”
Finding Your Way
A semester long exploration in Wayfinding. My thesis argues that
Wayfinding must fit the personality of the environment in order to be
effective and not overlooked. I created a process summary book
of my case studies and designed a color coded level system for the
Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University.
Senior Projects, Spring 2011
GRAPHIC DESIGN
DESIGN CENTER
FROSTIC SCHOOL
OF ART
PRINT CENTER
TO NORTH
KOHRMAN HALL
SECOND FLOOR
TO DALTON CENTER
SECOND FLOOR
EXIT FIRST
FLOOR
PHOTOGRAPHY
STUDIOS
EXIT FIRST
FLOOR
STUDIOS
ADVISING
MAIN OFFICE
ART HISTORY
STUDENT LOUNGE
PAINTING
COMPUTER LAB
PRINTMAKING
EXIT FIRST
FLOOR
TO PARKING RAMP
THIRD FLOOR
TO NORTH
KOHRMAN HALL
FIRST FLOOR
TO DALTON CENTER
FIRST FLOOR
EXIT FIRST
FLOOR
SCULPTURE
STUDIOS
WOODSHOP
JEWELRY / METALS
EXIT FIRST
FLOOR
STUDIOS
CERAMICS
OUTDOOR
KILNS
FOUNDATIONS
KERR GALLERY
DEVRIES GALLERY
EXIT FIRST
FLOOR
MONROE-BROWN
GALLERY
EXIT FIRST
FLOOR
thank you.