A Speculative Merch Design made for Flower Head Gallery
Concept Statement:
As shown in their website, Flower Head Gallery aims to nurture emergent art practices, particularly those that engage with nature and magic to de-center capitalism. Therefore, I chose a style of pixel to speak to the unique identity possessed by the gallery. Besides, I decided to use dark green and pink for the main palette, since the curator Rachel Jones indicated green and pink as their preferred scheme.
Pixel art can provoke a sense of nostalgia, referring back to the early digital art forms from the 80s and 90s—a time before the full bloom of hyper-capitalist digital culture. This nostalgic aesthetics can be leveraged to create a space with both familiar and fresh feelings, which prompts audience to reinterpret their perceptions of digital and natural aesthetics. A pixelated design deconstructs the image to its basic elements, just like how the gallery seeks to deconstruct and question the framework of capitalism. It strips down the visual to simple forms, highlighting a focus on the essence of the artwork and the experience rather than on commercial value.
While the gallery is not digital art-based, it exists in a world where digital culture is pervasive. Embracing the emergent art practice, Flower Head can be aligned with the pixelated design, which acknowledges the novelty and opens a dialogue about how traditional gallery art spaces can engage with digital era to challenge and reflect on contemporary culture.
Graphic Design: Ian Lihui Wang
Fall 2023 University of Southern California
IML 230: Introduction to Visual Design
Instructor: Renee Reizman
Logo Design:
Mock-up Products Review:
Presentation: