Visual Narratives - Course Assignments and Outcomes
In Semester 5 of my undergraduate program at FLAME University, Pune, I had a course titled "Visual Narratives" as part of my Design minor. In this project, I will briefly talk about the various graphic design outcomes I produced as assignments for that course.
The very first assignment was to create a simple visual narrative of up to 5-6 panels. The main instruction to follow was to create the visuals for this assignment using symbols from the Indus Valley script. The first step of the process was to create a collection of these symbols and categorize them solely based on their visual appearance and shape. The next was to create a storyline and choose a topic; I picked the topic of overfishing, tying it into an underlying message of human greed.
I aimed to convey my message not only through the symbols but also through colours. Below are the final graphics used for this assignment.
Here are the final pages of the same:
The next assignment of the course was to create a single-panel narrative, with around 5-6 events occurring in the same panel. For this assignment, I wished to use a connecting line to guide the viewers' eyes. This line took the form of a string of yarn in my narrative. I also wished to take a lighter and positive route with this narrative. Below is the final outcome - a narrative titled "Heartstrings".
The third assignment of this course was to create a complex narrative using any well-known folktale. For this assignment, I picked the folktale of the frog and the scorpion, which carries the message of the inherent nature a person has. I made this narrative complex by incorporating a loop in the story - the ending ties back in to the beginning.
I explored a new, simplistic style of visuals for this assignment. The colour palette was vivid yet easy to understand; warm colours for the frog and cool colours for the scorpion. I believe the most interesting part of my exploration for this assignment was that of the typography. Below are the final panels of this narrative:
Finally, the fourth and final assignment of the course was to create a Kavad Box with an interactive narrative about an issue relating to climate change. A kavad box is a Rajasthani folk art, consisting of a wooden box that unfolds across various panels. These boxes often depict folk tales and tales from Hindu mythology in the form of intricate paintings. Here are some examples of kavad boxes as found for sale on tvami.com:
This was a group assignment, wherein I formed a group with my fellow students and friends Freyana Buhariwala and Tejasvini Ravikumar. We picked the topic of mangrove deforestation and flood risk for our kavad box. We created an interactive narrative by giving the viewer the choice to pick their own future, and hence, their own narrative. One choice ended with a community protected by the mangroves, while the other ended with disastrous floods.
Since creating an authentic wooden kavad was not possible due to logistical and time constraints, we instead decided to use cardboard and printed paper. For this assignment, I created the graphics that would be pasted onto the cardboard panels.
Since the kavad often contains Hindu deities and idols, we incorporated Saraswati, the goddess of fortune, as a fortune-teller in our narrative.
The graphics shown above were printed along with their respective texts, and were pasted onto a painted cardboard box. We accomplished the unfolding hinge movement of the panels using punched holes and ribbon. Below are some pictures of the final box:
As a final submission, we decided to create a video with voiceovers and background music. This would convey the interactive nature of the narrative, with added flavour.
Filming - Arnav Sinha
Editing - Arnav Sinha
Voiceover - Freyana Buhariwala
Background Music - "Stream of Twilight Thoughts" by HOYO-MiX, Yu-peng Chen
With that, the course was concluded. While I did learn about the makings of a visual narrative, I believe this course served better as an opportunity to explore new styles and learn to incorporate text into my graphics.
