Communication Design School of Design
Carmen Barrett
Writing plays a significant role in my process and is how I prefer to start a project: whether it be a carefully crafted and drafted story, or a quick stream of consciousness. I enjoy working with sequential narrative and the problem solving that accompanies it. Spending time figuring out how to get a character from one scenario to the next, and determining whether an image is necessary to progress the story, is one of the most exciting parts of visual storytelling.
Much of my year has been spent on a reflective essay about alcohol abuse, sandwiched by two illustrated timelines- visual representations of my life before and after sobriety. Acrylic paint is my primary medium, though I enjoy exploring other analogue techniques and using digital technologies to enhance my work.
Nightshift
‘Nightshift’ is a illustrated reflective essay that I spent much of this year working on. I review my own experiences with alcohol through the years, and reflect on how these experiences have shaped my as a person today. The essay is sandwiched by two illustrated timelines: visual representations of my life before and after alcohol.
The visual stories mirror each other in that each character is doing the same thing- going to a concert. However they are rendered in a two separate mediums, intending to highlight the divergence in these experiences in the before and after.
The Apple Watch
This project was started as a short workshop in which we were asked to rewrite a classic fairy tale from the point of view of an incidental character. I chose to rewrite Snow White from the perspective of the poisonous apple. After deciding to push this workshop further, I started to think of visuals that could go alongside the story.
I wanted something with more immediacy than my illustrated book, and decided it would be interesting to create a large scale 4 page comic to tell the story. The story mirrors the text in its perspective, and everything is viewed from the point of view of the apple if we were to imagine they could see across the entire surface of their sphere. We watch as the apple progresses from having an almost childlike view of the world, to homicidal maniac.
Daisy Jones & The Six
This was an entry for the Penguin Cover Design Awards 2024. The brief offered the opportunity to reimagine the cover for the bestselling novel Daisy Jones and The Six, which tells the tale of fictional 1970s band The Six after they are joined by free spirited Daisy Jones.
For my design I chose to focus on Daisy as a character. There is a scene in the book in which a drunk Daisy drinks champagne alone in her bathtub and I felt that would make for a strong visual for a front cover. Her consistent bare feet throughout the book are representative of the vulnerability that exists beneath her tough, carefree exterior. I put a strong emphasis on colour and pattern inspired by the psychedelic era of the 1960s/1970s.