“Where Art and Style Meet Design”
When:
2024 - spring semester
What:
Individual student project.
Inspired by historical art movements, this project focuses on translating artistic influences into contemporary design. Through analysis, experimentation, and visual exploration, the process emphasizes creativity, typography, and the development of strong design principles.
Tools used:
Adobe Illustrator
Process
Art Nouveau
The process for this task started by choosing one historical art movement.
Research was conducted to explore the movement, including its artists, artworks, and defining visual characteristics:
Art based on organic/natural shapes
Curved and long, slender lines with dynamic linework
In painting, often closely associated with Symbolism
Contemporary examples of visual communication inspired by Art Nouveau were also explored to understand how the movement continues to influence modern design today.
Initial idea
The initial idea was to design the tarot cards “The Moon”, “The Sun” and “The Star” with an Art Nouveau inspirerd art style.
Final concept – project description
The final concept for the project was to create an A2 movie poster for “The Love Witch”, but keeping a tarot card as the starting point for the design and visual expression of the poster.
The next task was to find a motif that would complement both the film and the poster.
The Love Witch – Why and how?
This movie portrays a witch who, among other things, uses tarot cards in her journey to find a man to love her. The Three of Swords is a tarot card displayed in the movie, which depicts a heart symbol pierced by three swords. Selma decided to use this card as inspiration for a motif, but changed the elements to better represent the film and create an original result clearly inspired by Art Nouveau.
Replace the heart symbol with a human heart, giving room to adding more details.
A light pink rose symbolizing the main character. Flowers are often used as symbols of women and femininity in many cultures. The main character also wears a hat with these flowers in the movie.
Adding blood drop and splatters to create a dark and gloomy atmosphere.
Rough sketches of tarot card design ideas by Selma Bjørnseth Hegstad (L-R): The Moon, The Sun, The Star.
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Sketch of the final concept idea, by Selma Bjørnseth Hegstad.
Adobe Illustrator
Initial concept / First draft
Design refinement
Final outcome
Selma’s notes
The anchor points could have been way more refined in Illustrator, especially on the protrusions from the heart.
The grey “frame” size could have been smaller, giving the elements bigger space on the page. Like this:
(Keep in mind that I would also move the text elements if I was to make an actual new and improved version with a new frame size.)
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