Break the Box
A poster, booklet, animation, and digital experience prototype detailing Frank Lloyd Wright’s life and career, encompassed by one branded graphic identity.
Timeline
Skills
Team
January 2022–May 2022
Graphic Identity Design, Typesetting, Hand-Drawn Animation, Figma Prototyping
Individual Project
Poster
For this poster, I departed from how Wright is typically discussed by deemphasizing his name, letting viewers realize they probably recognize his work even without his persona attached to it.
Booklet
The booklet features original copy and illustrations. The illustrations emphasize details of Wright’s work that readers may overlook—the stained glass in Prairie Style homes, the custom furniture he produced for each house, and aspects of the interior construction, like how the Guggenheim’s spiraling walkway reflects its exterior. I let the pull quotes speak for Wright’s snarky attitude.
Animation
While brainstorming this project, I struggled to find a fresh approach for a designer as ubiquitous as Wright. Then, a TA asked me, “what makes this guy a god?”
I realized Wright is a god in part due to his work, bur more importantly because he saw himself as one. Most written sources I referenced don’t even come close to capturing his arrogance and sass despite how obviously it’s displayed in his TV interviews and personal writing. So, in this video, I wanted to emphasize not only his prowess but the attitude that came with it.
Touchscreen Experience
While brainstorming this project, I struggled to find a fresh approach for a designer that’s been as extensively covered as Wright. While discussing my thoughts with a TA, he asked me, “well, what makes this guy a god?”
I realized Wright is a god in part due to his contributions, but, and perhaps more importantly, because he saw himself as one. Most written sources I referenced don’t even come close to capturing his arrogance and sass despite how obviously it’s displayed in his TV interviews and personal writing. So, in this video, I wanted to emphasize not only his prowess but the attitude that came with it.
Featured here is a screen recording of the Figma prototype.
Process
For this project, we were to select a “design hero” to highlight with a graphic identity. I picked Frank Lloyd Wright for three reasons. For one, I admire his tenet of merging form and function, and I liked that his work and mine aren’t similar, setting me up to interpret rather than imitate him. But most importantly, he was possibly the single most arrogant designer I’ve ever encountered, a trait few of the secondary sources I found even acknowledged, so I jumped at the chance to highlight this often-hidden and very entertaining angle of Wright.
In a change of pace compared to all of the reference material I sourced, I decided not to prominently feature Wright’s name. This way, viewers can realize how influential he actually was considering they likely recognize some of his buildings even if they don’t know the name tied to it.
Instead, I focused the project around one of his punchiest quotes, “break the box”. While Wright meant this literally, in reference to breaking the convention of houses with clean rectangular footprints, I interpreted it metaphorically, in reference to the way his architectural innovations remade American architecture.
Early sketches for poster layouts.
Book layout sketches
Video thumbnail sketches and the document I used to compile interview timestamps for audio
High-fidelity wireframes for digital experience
Takeaways
This project proved excellent practice in building a brand that was flexible across diverse modalities while remaining cohesive.
Beyond that, though, doing a deep dive into Wright’s career was a great reminder that no designer is a god (as much as they might think they are). Wright’s influence on architecture is undeniable, but his houses aren’t beacons of perfection. Additionally, it’s critical to keep in mind that his status as a white male architect shaped the way he thought and practiced, a point which few of my resources acknowledged. This isn’t to say that his work should be ignored, just that his tenets, like any other designer’s, are worth analyzing, arguing, and renewing.