In our first project for my final Graphic Design class, we were assigned to demonstrate 5 creative strategies using a common object. This was a great way to jump back in and review what I'd learned before about Adobe Photoshop.
I ended up choosing to work with a lemon. Lemons are fun! And since they could either be the whole lemon as a 3D shape or just the lemon slice as a circle, I felt like there was a good amount of creative flexibility possible.
First, we learned about and researched the given creative strategies. *None of these images are mine; they are all from Pinterest!
Then, of course, there was brainstorming and sketching:
After I had a few ideas of what I wanted to try, it was time to start collecting images from royalty-free sites to play with, and get playing in Adobe Photoshop.
I also wanted to play around with a negative space idea in Adobe Illustrator:
At last, these were my final submissions! It was fun polishing them up and coming up with cute titles for each one.
"Zest for Dance" uses the creative strategy of Physical Shape Similarity, comparing the roundness of a slice of lemon to the roundness of a ballerina's tutu. This could also be considered a Material Change, swapping tulle for pulp, or even Isolation, since the entirety of the image is in black and white except for the bright yellow of the lemon.
"Cut Me a Slice" uses the creative strategy of Juxtaposition, which is presenting elements alongside each other to emphasize their differences and create something interesting. For this composition, I aligned half of a slice of lemon with half of a lemon pie, since they are both round and they are both made of lemon. There are also elements of the creative strategies of Physical Shape Similarity and Shift in Scale, since both items are naturally round but not normally the same size.
"It's What's Inside that Counts" uses the creative strategy of Negative Space, showcasing the silhouette of a refreshing lemonade against the outline of a large yellow lemon. I decided to offset the citrus sections against the rind instead of centering them to add some quirky character. In that same vein of thought, I made the end of the straw wider than the rest of the straw, which I feel makes it seem like an invitation to the viewer to partake. I chose to round the corners of the straw and lemon slice, as well as to make the glass have rounder sides in addition to a rounded top, which gives the glass the illusion of dimension. In contrast, I made the tip of the lemon more of a "pinched" corner to give it some sass, and left the bottom edges of the lemon against the glass pointed for clear contrast. I placed the lemon wedge on the edge of the glass at an angle for some flair.
"Citrus Sunset" uses the creative strategy of Shift in Scale, which is presenting an object at an unexpected size to convey a message. In this image, I have the sun being shown as a slice of lemon. Other creative strategies that could be considered here are Material Change or Swap, using a lemon slice instead of the sun.
"Sweet Dreams are Made of This" uses the creative strategy of Metaphor, using my object to symbolize something else. In this case, a bitter lemon is dreaming of one day becoming something sweet that everybody loves. Don't we all dream of becoming better versions of ourselves? This image also uses other creative strategies such as Change of Context (personification of a lemon) and possibly Passage of Time, assuming that someday, this lemon might very well become lemonade.
Take a peek at this project on my Behance profile here (opens a new link) to see more details about how I created each image.