Laudenslager-Identity Final Critique/essay

This design, Going Outside of Comfort was created by myself in the fall of 2013. I used Photoshop and Illustrator to create these images.
The assignment, Us vs. Them: Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Roots, was to create a project that demonstrated our identity through a series or a detailed poster. The structure of the design is seen in spreads, which could be printed to tie in together. Here they are seen in a digital form.
The subject of my design is my identity journey through my personality, and the changes I've had through years. I am the specific subject, my personality and how it has changed based on my interactions with travel, dance and art. Secondary subjects would be my interests that are shown in the pages: travel, photography and dance.
Compositional elements within the piece would be the line and flow of the airplane in all spreads. This theme ties them together as an overall piece. The individual pieces would be seen as geometric, while the piece overall could be seen as integrative by comparing my personality traits to one another beginning to end.
This particular piece is pretty personal, it involves my direct experiences and how it has changed me.This brings an emotional feeling to the piece, that normally isn't seen in other works I have done. With this piece being specifically about identity it was hard not to incorporate emotions.
I don't exactly have inspiration from other designers here, they are my own experiences and thoughts about my personality. However I did want the pieces to be illustrated to relate back to emotion and not distance the viewer with the designs.
The events that shaped this design are things that have happened in the past. I am using integrative approaches to relate the designs to one another. The idea is that the designs work off one another.
My intent with this project was to create a personal design that reflected my identity and change. I wanted the pieces to flow well together, and have an emotional relateable feeling. I want the audience to look at the spreads, understand how they relate, and how my identity has changed because of the specific events and illustrations included.
I think these final designs were successful. Comparing to previous projects I haven't done something like this before, or something so personal. With the critiques the project grew stronger to relate back to each one before it. I enjoy the way they turned out, visually and conceptually. Weaknesses could be that I could do more with the project. The type is a bit weak, and I could consider including a side story to enhance the overall effect.