Donald Trump Magazine Cover Quote Design
Here is the third project related to my university introduction to design course. The direction for this project was, to find a quote and convey it's meaning, through design. In addition, any imagery and the design itself, must visually enhance the quote. There has to be a meaning, for the imagery presented within the design.
The quote I chose was: I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have mexico pay for that wall. - Donald Trump. This quote was inspired by the recent news articles declaring that, the United States is testing prototype concrete border wall slaps in San Diego. I was also inspired by, a Time Magazine article by Maya Rhodan titled: Democrats Say President Trump's Border Wall Could Cost $67 Billion.
To preface this, I will say that I’m not overtly political. I am Canadian, so I’m not very involved with American politics. In this project, I wanted to present the quote from a critical media standpoint. The design is of satirical intent, to show that this quote is unrealistic, childish and not a positive way to solve the illegal border entry problem.
The full design took more than 40 hours to create, not including basic sketches and idea planning. I only had four and half days to put the digital design together, so I worked non-stop during that period. If anyone is interested in purchasing a print of this design, please let me know, I may order a few to sell.
Concepts
I began work on this project by sourcing numerous images. I looked specifically for photos of children playing with blocks and images of Donald Trump's face. I wanted to match the expressions between, the child and the president. Next, I traced all of my reference images. I wanted to rough them out, so that I could get a better idea of their shape and compatibility. I wanted to make the transition between, Trump and Toddler cohesive.
Knowing that my timeline was limited, I knew I needed a way to expedite my vector portrait process. Luckily, I found a Lynda.com course by Von Glitschka that helped to simplify and speed up, the creation of the designs.
I took my reference photo, turned it black and white and bumped up the contrast. In addition, I separated the hair and increased the contrast again, to make the highlights more visible. Next, I brought the design to my tracing table, and simplified the shapes.
I retraced the photo using the sketch as reference in Illustrator. The left photo shows the placeholder colors. I tried to limit the palette, but expanded it for the final right side copy.
The Elements
In this section, I want to break down the significance of each individual object placed within my composition.
First off, we have Little Donnie. He is the main character of the composition; a fusion between a toddler and Donald Trump. Donnie was the nickname of Donald Trump during his middle school years. The character represents the idea of the quote being childish; as children do not consider the effect their words have on others (they are unfiltered).
Next to him on the right is, Lil Donnie's Great Wall. This being the embodiment of the "great, great wall on our southern border" portion. Little children enjoy playing with blocks, thus Donnie is making his great wall out of building blocks.
On the bottom left, we have Donnie's Sippy Cub, because building walls can make you thirsty. His name is written in red lipstick and signed with a lipstick mark. Who the kiss mark is from, will be left to interpretation.
Finally, the bottom right features 416 pesos. The money does not represent Mexico conceding to Trump. It represents Mexico's and it's peoples connection to the Wall Issue and the "cost" they are supposed to pay for it's creation. In reality, the 416 pesos is actually the price of building blocks on Mexican Amazon.
The American flag for a background anchors the composition in, the United States. In addition, the flag becomes his play pad, where he can toy around with his blocks. This can be scene as the idea of having control of the United States and being able to "play" with his power.
The shadows also hold meaning. The top shadow's allow the text to be read more easily. But, the bottom shadow cast by Little Donnie partially covers the text. This is to represent how his ego and grand personality can overshadow the meaning of his words. He says outrageous things all the time, so it has become what is expected of him.Something that is said one day, can be overshadowed by an even more outrageous claim or scandal the next day.
Final Design & Applications
My instructor suggested that, I find a practical application for my design, such as a magazine cover. I settled on the replication of a Time Magazine Cover. Time Magazine often commissions individual artists to work on covers, they also tend to take a satirical or critical approach to their Presentation of Trump. This along with the source article for the title on the cover, made Time Magazine the perfect choice for this project. April 24th, was chosen as it is the closest magazine release, in relation to the source article by Maya Rhodan.
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