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Under the influence of Lucian Bernhard

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Click here to see my Poster!

For this project we looked to some of the greats to get inspiration for the Little 500. Little Five is a famous bicycle race held annually at Indiana University Bloomington. It started in 1951 and is modeled after the Indianapolis 500, but with bikes instead of cars. It’s argued as the biggest week here at IU, and with that it’s advertised and talked about the whole Month of April. We were tasked with creating a poster for the event but in the influence of a famous graphic designer.

When looking at some designers to get inspiration from I found myself circling back to Lucian Bernhard and George Olden, two amazing designers with vary different styles. because I was so stuck with who I would pick I decided to sketch some of my ideas down and see what style my vision would look best in, muted black and white photo collages or sketch style colored designs. I the end I went with Lucian Bernhard.

Lucian Bernhard was a German graphic designer, type designer, professor, interior designer, and artist. He is best known for pioneering the Plakatstil or the poster style movement, characterized by bold, simple designs with flat colors and minimal text. ​

With my designer now picked it was time to work on my poster. like I said before I already sketched out two ideas one was a close up on a bicycle seat and the other I wanted to do a race track with a racer on it.

The bicycle seat one was pretty straightforward, the only thing that stumped me was choosing the color way. I know I wanted to stay with the cream, red, and black color palette, I just didn’t know how to format it the way I wanted.

In the end I narrowed it down between these two color ways

next I worked on font and copy placement, I wanted to do a similar fort to one you find in Lucian Bernhard’s designs. I found a font called Attic Antique Italic, I thought it resembles perfectly with fonts Lucian Bernhard uses. but also for fun I went with a simple font called Transat Black just to see. in the end I went with Attic Antique Italic, I just looked better and more cohesive to me with the design.

And these were the final designs I turned in because I couldn’t ick what color way was better.

at this point of the project I was just messing around with more ideas I had so I ended up making another post for this project. this poster shows more of the racers. and combining 500 into the actual drawing of the racer.

I stared making the design as a vertical poster but I looked too smushed so I switched it to horizontal and it was much much better.

click to see the poster better!

this is the final design for the horizontal poster and I think it Turned out perfectly.

overall I have a lot of fun with this project, even though we have to “copy” a creative style I still felt like I had a lot of creative freedom.

In the Spirit of Seymour Chwast for Little 500

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For this poster, I drew inspiration from Seymour Chwast’s signature blend of satire, bold color, and playful visual metaphors. Chwast’s work often turns everyday objects into quirky characters or symbolic icons, and I wanted to bring that same energy to the Little 500.

At the heart of the poster is a bicycle made of cherries, an over easy egg, and a rain cloud. This gives a whimsical nod to Chwast’s love for blending illustration and concept. This unexpected bike functions as both a visual pun and an anchor for the overall composition. The winding green track beneath it adds motion and direction, guiding the eye through the design while echoing Chwast’s use of bold, simple forms to convey depth and story.

I used flat colors from a retro palette containing a mustard yellow, cherry red, olive green, sky blue, and cream peach to reflect Chwast’s printmaking aesthetic, and paired them with checkered patterns in the title to add texture and dimension. The playful gendered stick figures with quirky rear faces are a subtle nod to Chwast’s satirical tone, hinting at the tradition of the race while poking fun at iconography we take for granted. The typography was carefully planned with the title at the top, event dates prominently in the middle, and URL tucked at the bottom, ensuring everything feels cohesive yet spontaneous, just like Chwast’s designs, which are structured but never rigid.

Overall, this poster captures the spirit of Seymour Chwast by combining unexpected visual storytelling with humor, color, and a hand drawn sensibility. It’s fun, strange, and invites the viewer to look closer just the way Chwast would want it.

Seymour Chwast Design

Seymour Chwast is an influential American graphic designer and illustrator well recognized for his humorous and fun style. He co-founded Push Pin Studios in the 1950s, challenging the mainstream modernist design style with more artistic and unconventional approaches. His work includes posters, publications, books, and political art, and it frequently incorporates comedy, hand-drawn illustrations, and typographic experimentation.

Influenced by Mari White

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For this project, I took inspiration from the designer Mari White. I really wanted to go off the beaten path with this assignment and looked for inspiration from lesser-known contemporary designers with a distinct styles. I found Mari White by accident on Pinterest and followed the links to their website, Behance site, and Instagram. Their “poster experimentations” series, which was done out of a desire to rekindle their creative spirit, really spoke to me because of their energy and dynamic use of layered elements.

There isn’t much on the internet about Mari White apart from examples of their work. They’re a brand designer based in Tampa who has more recently designed band tour posters and shared a fair bit of personal artwork. I think this poster says a lot to me about them:

Mari is contemporary not only in their designs, but in their experience as a designer in the age of social media. The “poster experiementations” designs deviate significantly from their cleaner brand work and are more reflective of their internal artistic passion. I think this is why I was attracted to these designs in the first place.

The main typography is hand-lettered. Many of Mari’s designs feature uneven lettering that look as though they’ve been cut out of paper and pasted onto the poster. Although I kept my letters a bit cleaner, I wanted to hand-letter to get that spontenaiety. I tried to imagine what it would look like if I were to cut out the letters from a sheet of paper. In some of Mari’s designs, the letters have a darker double behind them, resembling a drop shadow. I also used this technique on the letters and on the red background shape. For the location, dates, and url, I used a royalty-free font called “Paper Johnny” that mimicks this cut-paper look.

Mari’s designs use lines criss-crossing in and around the typography to create a sense of energy and motion. In this spirit, I included lines in my design which are patterned with the checkers associated with racing. As Mari does, I passed these paths over and behind the main lettering.

The colors for this poster came from a couple of different places. The red of the background shape comes from the IU brand guide to link the poster to the Little 500 and to the school. The cream color, however, comes from Mari White’s tendency to use a cream color like a faded paper in their poster designs.

Over everything, I used two different paper textures. Mari White’s posters make generous use of texture, especially paper textures. For the background of my poster, I used a texture that is closer to linen. The main elements are textured with something more similar to contruction paper, like someone would use to cut out letters for a physically assembled poster.

Ultimately, I don’t think my design looks like something that would have come from Mari White. I was greatly inspired by their dynamic lettering and use of lines and abstract shapes, but Mari’s designs tend to be much busier than mine and I use a lot more rounded shapes. Even though I went back and forth between my design and Mari’s as I worked on this project, I think my unfamiliarity with their technique hindered my ability to mimic it, and I got a little carried away with my own ideas as I worked on the poster. I would like to try something similar again, perhaps with a little more focus on colors—especially the way the colors of overlapping elements interact—and using more varied and interesting shapes.

sweetheart logo animation

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Sweetheart Publishing Logo Animation

For my logo animation, I knew I wanted to make some revisions with my logo. I ended up choosing two completely new fonts. I was scrolling through Adobe to find a cursive font that I could use for the S in Sweetheart (Lindsey Signature) and I also chose a cleaner but also bold font for the rest of the text (TT Ricordi Allegria). I messed around with how I wanted the text to be positioned until i ended up with this final product and added a line separating the two lines of text. I then changed the overall color of my design to fit the overall vibe I wanted, as well as make it more coherent. I also decided to move the quill from the top to the bottom. As for my animation…I knew I wanted it to animate as if it were handwritten. I first began with the actual logo itself and created a stroke shape layer and selected that stroke to be the track matte layer for my logo. I did the same for the line between the text, and the S as well. I then worked with the rest of the text, I precomposed each one and separated every letter, adjusted them to come up one after the other by a separate key frame, and added a motion blur to make it look more dynamic. I I also adjusted everything in the graph editor (speed) to appear and come in onto the screen as I wanted. Finally, I added a transition at the beginning and the end to make it flow better. For my sound, i knew I wanted to rely solely on sound effects. I found a sort of magical whoosh that I used at the beginning and end of my animation and then added a handwriting sound over any part of the animation that was appearing on screen as if it were written. Overall I am very pleased with how my animation turned out. Working with After Effects has become less scary to me with this project as well and I am happy I got to learn some new things!

Project 3 – Conceptual

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For this conceptual Illustration Project, we were tasked with designing a magazine layout inspired by one of three article options. These projects allowed us to flex our creative muscles, blending design, typography, and illustration to tell compelling visual stories. From the nostalgic charm of “Old Tech” to the innovative tale of an AI robot wasting telemarketers’ time, these projects pushed our conceptual thinking and illustrative abilities.

 AI’s Tangle with Telemarketers: A Futuristic Metaphor

When reading through the different stories, I found the 3rd one the most interesting. It is based on a story about a robot that is designed to waste telemarketers’ time. My challenge was to visually balance some of the humor, but still have it be more serious looking. The design steered clear of overly cartoon depictions, opting instead for sleek, modern aesthetics. Staying strong with the concept, I decided to add a phone that appears with the caller ID being “Spam” and being answered by what looks like a robotic hand. I decided to add a little bit of a texture and more of the context of coding as the background, to simulate the idea of being programmed. 

A robot hand, crafted with smooth, lifelike machinery, became the focal point, holding a blocky, easy to distinguish, modern day iphone. The telemarketer, not shown, but mainly due to the simple idea of us not ever seeing them either. 

The layout incorporated a basic and simple typography, but mainly due to the detail of the illustrations being more important. I added the background code to add texture so it would not stand as a straight white page, but also to add some depth. On the second page, quotes from the article were magnified to draw readers’ attention, complemented by a big hand reaching for a robot hand, similar to the ‘Creation of Adam’ art piece by Michelangelo. Overall, based on my want to keep it simple and detailed, I think that it turned out great.

Conceptual Project

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For the Conceptual Illustration Project, we had the choice between three different articles to design out magazine around. I chose to design a magazine based on the “Old Tech” story, which was a story about how old tech is coming back into style. I learned a lot when I was designing this magazine and overall learned how to conceptually show an idea.

For this project, because it is a story about old tech coming back, I thought this was a great opportunity to show comparison through color/pages/ect. I thought that the project being a magazine and having two pages in the opening spread, that this opportunity would show itself very well on the first spread.

Opening Spread
I chose the font “Helvetica” in bold because I think this font looks vintage and modern at the same time. Because the text is on both of the pages on the opening spread, I wanted to choose a font that had these qualities. I thought that Helvetica was perfect. To continue this transcending through time feeling, I wanted to show the “vintage” items on both pages. Within this, I wanted to incorporate the font into the design to make everything feel cohesive. On the left page, the “n” is extended and used as the needle for the vinyl record. On the right page, the “l” from Revival is extended to be the part of the camera where the Polaroid comes out. Along with this, I wanted to continue to emphasize the transcendence of old to new through color. On the left page, the blue background and white text feels vintage to me. On the right page, I chose to do black text on a white background, because that feels more modern.

I chose the name “Vintage Revival” because it felt right with the story. I wanted the word “Vintage” to be in the title because that is such a large part of the story, and the word “Revival” just felt right.

Story
In terms of the next two pages, my biggest goal was to ave the Polaroid continue onto the second page. I really like how this looks. In terms of the story, I chose the font “Times New Roman”, as it is a good classic serif font for magazine body copy. I wanted the quote about how the majority of kids fascinated by record players have never seen one before, which is why I made it such a large emphasis on the left page. At the bottom of the left page, I added another record, similar to the one that is in the opening spread. I made this choice because it felt appropriate if the Polaroid is also on the second spread. I also included the blue strip to pull in the color from the opening spread, but also so there is a needle on the record. In terms of the sidebar, I chose to make the record, credit card, and camera more illustrative to separate them from the other illustrations. I also made it on a black background so it had a similar flow to the opening spread in terms of comparison, but change up the colors.


Overall, I am really proud of how this project came out. I was honestly intimidated by the name of the project “Conceptual Illustration” because I feel my strengths lie in photography and not graphic illustrations. This definitely showed me that I can do both. I learned a lot in terms of how to show a story through illustration.

Project 2 – INFLUENCE

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Little 500 poster – inspired by Timothy Goodman

For my influence poster project, I chose to be influenced by American graphic designer Timothy Goodman. Timothy Goodman is an award-winning artist, graphic designer, author and public speaker. Timothy Goodman’s art and words have populated walls, packaging, clothes, products, magazine covers and one sanitation truck for brands including Apple, Nike, Google, Samsung, MoMa, Netflix, YSL, Time, The New Yorker, and the New York Times. His partnerships have included a global collection of clothing with Uniqlo and a Nike b-ball shoe with Kevin Durant. He regularly partners with schools to create art for communities in NYC. His second solo gallery exhibition Every Time I Fall in Love It’s Summer was on view at the Richard Taittinger Gallery in the summer of 2023. He’s the author of three books and the co-creator of several social experiments including the viral blog 40 Days of Dating and 12 Kinds of Kindness. Timothy’s work often discusses topics such as mental health, manhood, politics, heartbreak and love. He teaches at School of Visual Arts in NYC, and speaks around the world at conferences. His graphic memoir I Always Think It’s Forever was published in 2023 by Simon & Schuster.

Times Magazine

When researching and looking more into the pieces that Timothy Goodman created, I noticed that he tended to have different forms of typography included. I liked that it wasn’t all uniform and wanted that also. I started off with a sketch where I hand drew the fonts and everything that I thought would work. While I do believe that I could have added more detail into this piece, I had a level of restraint because I was worried that the more that I added, the more it would become too similar to the ideas of Goodman.

When beginning this project, I went onto Google and begun to research different designers to find who I wanted to represent. I came across a site that include a bunch of options and showed images of the different kinds of styles. I came across the name Timothy Goodman and when I saw the image of his style, I knew that I wanted to choose him right away. It was very much similar to how I used to like to draw and gave that ‘doodle’ style that I liked.

At first, I was starting to wonder how I could execute this styling without making it too similar or too obvious of who I was portraying. I wanted to keep the style of doodling with the random kinds of typography that were included. Although some of his work has included color, I decided to keep my work in black and white. I wanted to stick with the base colors. The main key points that I tried to portray were both the type and color.

homepage for Timothy Goodman

Overall, I was influenced his piece that he made for Times magazine, but also by his design of his main homepage. I liked a lot how each involved different forms of typography and framing. I decided I wanted to focus on those two main points in his style. I decided to keep the base color as black and white to stay with the idea of sketches.

In the end, I’d say that I think that although I could have come up with a little bit better design, I am happy with how my final design for this Little 500 poster turned out. Being able to find a equal balance between using the reference from another designer and being able to develop a design that visually comes off as an original piece. This process was interesting but fun. I think the typography and free style are still recognizably the main elements in my design. 

Influence Poster Project

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Poster artist Wes Wilson, November 2, 1966

For my Little 500 poster project, I chose Wes Wilson as my inspiration. Wes Wilson was an American designer, most well known for his psychedelic posters that are synonymous with the peace movement in the 1960’s. Some of his most popular works of art were in collaboration with Bill Graham, a popular rock concert promoter in the 1960’s. Wilson created posters for bands like Grateful Dead, Love, 13th Floor Elevators, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane and more. I chose Wes Wilson as my inspiration because I have a collection of his posters, and ones of similar style hanging in my room. I am a big fan of psychedelic rock in the 1960’s, and I wanted to create something based off of this era.

For my colors, I used crimson, cream and black. I chose black as the background because it complemented the black on the bicycle, and I felt in contrast best with the white and the red. I had many phases, where I used a teal, the complement of crimson and a light blue, the complement of cream, but I felt the blues didn’t encapsulate the spirit of Little 500 the way that black did, because a lot of jerseys, and other popular IU merch contains black as a filler color.

I specifically chose a poster Wilson made for a Jefferson Airplane concert, because I liked the colors and thought they resonated closely with IU’s colors, which I wanted to implement in my design. I used the tip from week 7, Rays and Wraps, to create the wheels of the bicycle. I felt the wheels give the bicycle a psychedelic, playful look rather than realistic. I tried to avoid realistic sketches and images for my poster, because I felt it would contrast with the blown up letters and distorted typography. 

As for my other graphic elements, like the bike and the heart, there are a few reasons as to why I implemented them into my design. The bike may be a dead giveaway, but it is honoring Little 500, where competitors happen to race while riding on bikes. Surrounding the wheels are more circles, and this is to give the bike an amplified effect, because it is the star of the poster. As for the heart, Little 500 is a weekend of IU Pride, and most people who celebrate are not only celebrating the race, but also our love for our University. At the very top of the heart, “The World’s Greatest College Weekend” is written, and this is a well known phrase that is often said about IU. 

Wilson’s style of design is one that has closely resonated with me, for more years than I even considered my favorite graphic designers. On his website, wes-wilson.com, Wes also has a collection of stories about living in the times, including an entry about his time spent with world famous designer, Andy Warhol. Below is my design.

Mira Carlson, 2024. J465