I chose the Minimalize Your Philosophy assignment, worth 2.5 stars, because I wanted to try my hand at designing something from scratch. I wanted to take into consideration Vignelli’s points as well. I focused mostly on choosing the right font and keeping the spacing of the design aesthetically pleasing. At first I wasn’t even sure what my philosophy is, so my first step was to figure that out. After some searching and reading articles on other people’s philosophies, I decided my philosophy would be “Make the world a better place.”

Pick your favorite quote OR make up your own phrase which describes a philosophy that you try to live by. Design a minimalist poster depicting the concept.

I was born on earth day, and every year when my birthday rolls around I try to focus more on the earth around me than myself. Of course I try to respect the earth every day, but on earth day there is so much attention brought onto the well-being of our planet, I want to respect that attention it deserves. I am also planning to major in environmental science. The funny thing is, I was never that interested in the sciences during high school. I had never considered environmental science as a major or a job, so I still don’t know what I want to do, other than to make the world a better place.

During my first year at UMW I took many different classes that interested me, including environmental science and digital studies. I think those two courses, and now this one, have culminated to give me all the insight I need to complete this assignment. I care about the earth, I have a good amount of knowledge on digital literacy, and through this class I have expanded on my design comprehension and visual literacy. So here I go, trying to save the earth, one design at a time.

This minimalist design represents what I stand for and reflects my personality. The blue flowing background is calm like I (usually) am, and the globe itself is something I feel connected to.

I wanted a simple image of a globe, so I went to The Noun Project, knowing that they had simple logos. I searched “earth” and picked out one I liked. Then click download and choose PNG and the creative commons option. You will then be prompted to make an account; just enter your email so that you can download items for free, just make sure to give the artists credit. This globe image is by Nikita Kozin.

Then I searched for a picture of rays of light, because I wanted to but the rays behind the earth in my design. The following design is by Goker Cebeci. If you want to pay for The Noun Project then you can download pictures in color ad under the royalty free option. I did not pay, so I downloaded this image the same as the previous one.

I then opened a blank Powerpoint slide and inserted the two images. I cropped the names out of the logos by going to format picture > crop and adjusting the borders so that it is just the logo.

I then dragged the rays into the center of the slide and inserted a circle by going to insert > shapes > oval and clicking and dragging until the circle was as big as I wanted the globe to be.

I then changed the color of the circle by clicking on the paint bucket and choosing white. Then click the pencil and choose no line so there is no outline.

Then move the globe on top of the white circle and fit it so that the edge of the globe lines up with the edge of the white circle.

Add text to the screen by going to insert > textbox and type in your philosophy. Then go through the fonts and choose one that fits. I chose Lucida Grande. Then choose a font size that fits, I chose 36 point font, and then centered the textbox. 

Next, merge all the layers together. Highlight all the images (2 logos and white circle), right click and select grouping > group to merge all three layers into one. Then move the image until it is centered on the screen.

Lastly, change the background. Click on themes then choose the theme breeze.

Then save the Powerpoint and save as a JPEG or PNG file.