Zephyr Poster Final

full/final poster layout.

The California Zephyr line traces the route across the United States from Chicago, Illinois to Emeryville, California; summing to three physical days of travel with 35 stops. My poster was aiming to mainly be informational poster, with a hint of romanticism. I pushed myself in this project to be all typography to describe the route not only informationally, but with emotion romantically. I ended up with only one line from my initial four-stanza poem; I chose to pull out one important line from the piece that summed up the whole trip. Even though there are two routes to get from Chicago to Emeryville, I focused on the route that began in Chicago because I am from Chicago and know that often people escape for warmer weather or simply dream about California. Going along with this line of thought I made California an orange/red color due to connotation of California being warm year-round. Initially the California Zephyr text of just the name was located on the bottom of the poster, but to create more of the look of a train, I pushed most of the letters off of the page to create the wheels.

close-up of the poetry line on the poster.

close-up of the Amtrak logo with California Zephyr.

close-up of the interactions between: the poem line, stops and day in trip.

close-up of the bottom of the train/the bottom of the train.

train train Progress Continued

These are more options of different layouts for my poster. I'm still trying to work through the incorporation of the poem in my all typography poster.

I am still working with the hand type in these two options. I cut the poem down to basically be the second stanza specifically about Chicago, as the train begins in Chicago. I am still not sold on it, I remember that professor Kidwell mentioned that I may want to try just using specific words, bringing emphasis that way. This project is really pushing me to look at text and the incorporation of white space.

the emphasis in this set of the poem was the "storyboards and faces" from the previous stanza and "a trip somewhere warm holds my mind" 

poster size is at 36inches x 9inches

the emphasis in this was the "Chicago chills colliding with my cord" and "the end of the line"

poster size is at 36inches x 9inches

totally took out the poem at this point, testing out how a black background would look

poster size is at 36inches x 9inches

poem back in, gray background

poster size is at 36inches x 9inches

attempting to "play" very minimally with the poem stanza

poster size 36inches by 9inches

poster size 36inches by 9inches

poster size 36inches by 9inches

poster size 36inches by 9inches

train train progress

I've been having trouble attempting to incorporate the poem with the rest of the poster. I wanted to have the poem in for the romantic aspect, as well as a different approach to expressing a train ride. So, I'm trying to either figure out how to use the poem where the layout still works, or figure a different romantic element to add. 

train train the progress

My concept for my poster has changed since my first thoughts about it. I went through various options of vertical layouts, until I realized that it may be better to horizontally orient the poster. Initially, I wanted the poster to be a list of stops with a giant vector of the California Zephyr without stop times. I wasn't too sure how I wanted to add romance to the poster since I wasn't using an illustration or images; the next thing that came to my mind was a poem. The content of the poem was difficult to figure out; did I want the focus to be on the travel experience or the scenic surroundings. I ended up changing the poem for the final version that I turned in for critique today. 

screenshot of the initial process layout

screenshot of second layout - getting closer to the actual layout and style

the "final" layout before class critique

During critique I received the following comments from Professor Kidwell. It felt as if my poster was being split in the direct center and that the emphasis should not be split so harshly. There was comment on possibly changing the location of the route, so that it was not in the direct center. I was also told to think more about more of a grid in the poster, especially in the times and locations of the stops. I also need to look more at the use of color and to make sure if I am going to use it, that I make sure it's for a strong purpose and not haphazardly throughout the layout. There was lastly, mention about making the poem part of the poster more personal by hand-lettering. And I will be basing my corrections off of the feedback listed above. My thoughts at this point are the trying writing the poem on an envelope and scanning it. Then, I plan on making the poem the background.

train train, the project beginnings

For this project the specifics that we were given were that it was to be creating a poster to illustrate an AMTRAK train route in a qualitative and quantitative method as well as romantic and informational. As of right now my approach is mainly an informational. I want the emphasis to be put on the stops and information vs. images and emotional side of a train route. The proposed typeface was initially Governor for the solid structured feel of the letters; to add bold and dominance to the stops, keeping the emphasis where it needs to be, which is on the train stops. 

But after my discussion with Kidwell, my typeface is going to be Univers. The project also needs to be 36 inches in one direction so my plan is to have that be the width; the height is unknown at this point.; it will really depend on how small or large the train stop locations will be on the poster in comparison to the vector image. I am thinking of using blue for Chicago, to represent the cold, routine, and machine characteristics that one tends to link with Chicago, Illinois. For Emeryville, California my thoughts are to have the main color be a dark orange/red to relate to the warmth that tends to be associated with California. Initially, I was thinking some form of bright green to Salt Lake City, Utah but I am unsure at this point what it will for sure be. I also need to add more information to my initial concept to make the poster more informational; so, I will be adding times, and maybe more symbols or other bits of information.

This is my main inspiration for the poster. My plan was to have this layout be stretched across the page to add a spot for a vector of the train. *this is from Graphic Design for Fashion by Jay Hess & Simone Pasztorek*

This my main hope for the illustration to be similar to of the train. This is by my favorite designer, Aidan Hughes.

This was similar to the original concept that I was thinking for the poster, focus on one scene with text on the top and bottom of the poster.

This is an image of the actual California Zephyr train. The train is also pictured as all silver, silver with blue stripes, and silver with blue and red stripes.