Honorary Magazine 2018-19

Lock imagery and header along the same height to make the page feel grounded.

One of the fonts for the confer- ence was DIN (this one). It was originally designed for German transportation, and has since become a popular font for design- ers everywhere because of it’s readability and clean design.

Emily Wyland

This year I was tasked with branding and designing for the 2019 Upper Midwest Hon- ors Conference. This project would be 90 percent problem solving and 10 percent design. First and foremost, I wanted to create a design system that would be “invisible.” Invisible design is about making an entire design system that feels effortless. So when the viewer sees the map, reads an article, or locates a volunteer, it takes little to no thought to read and understand the de- signs presented to them. How many times have you been at an airport and thought, “huh, that font on the sign is really clean and nicely designed”? Probably zero (unless you’re a typography nerd like me). Well that’s what

Adrian Frutiger had in mind when he designed the most popular Airport font Frutiger. He wanted the font to be invis- ible so it only relayed the most important information required to the viewer. So when you’re at an airport, you can glance up, find your terminal and make sure you don’t miss your flight without worrying about trans- lating the typography. To achieve this invisibility, I decided on one crucial point: consistency.There were only two colors, two fonts, and three logos for the entire conference, and every piece of design was simply taking those elements and rear- ranging them as needed. In the end, I learned that good design is design you do not notice. The attendees were

able to smoothly navigate the building and the conference in a straightforward and efficient way. It was most exciting to see them casually look down at their schedules to know what was next. You wouldn’t think about the design of the page num- bers or the fonts-things I took months to make decisions on- but a good designer is a hidden one, and I think I achieved that this year. Throughout this spread I have pointed out some spaces that one may not think had a lot of design input, but in fact, every- thing that is printed has a rhyme and reason to why it is there. The whole portfolio of the Upper Midwest Honors Con- ference can be viewed at eewyland.com

Hey, go check out my website. or my instagram @eewyland_design

Oh, I also designed this whole magazine

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25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION