Third Times The Charm
Starting in 2022, I was involved with Spotlight Poetry’s Young, Gifted, And Black: A Poetic Anthology series featuring multiple Black poets that celebrating Black voices, stories, words, and lives. I created the cover art for the first installment and in the year following I was appointed as the sole Graphic Designer and Editor for its sequel. With 2024 on the horizon, I was approached to become Art Director for the third volume by my client, Elle Hope.
This project sought to further involve poets by having them draft a textile pattern swatch inspired by Ankara Fabric, also known as African Wax Fabric, to accompany their pieces in the book. This would serve as an additional avenue to express their creativity and stories.
Digitize Me Captain!
19 poets sent in their textile designs with color instructions included. Once I received their submissions, I took their drafts into Adobe Illustrator and began my work recreating their vision. Some were straight forward while others posed a bit of a challenge to faithfully recreate the design to their liking.
Bringing Fabric To Life
The next step for the project was to realize the core vision. When I was first pitched the concept for the third volume, I imagined what it would be like to have our featured poets’ designs look like readers could run their fingers across the fibers of the fabric. I told myself that any prior Photoshop techniques wouldn’t suit what I was envisioning and I didn’t want to settle having the designs be flat spreads on each page. I had only one option in mind.
I quickly familiarized myself with Unreal Engine and was able to faithfully create what I was envisioning. I positioned each swatch, lit the scene, and captured photos to showcase alongside the poets’ entries for the anthology.
Stitching The Pieces Together
With every fabric shot digitized, rendered in Unreal, and shot, it was time to bring everything together.
Utilizing Adobe Indesign, I partnered each poet’s written submission with their fabric pieces. Once everything was laid out, the book was formulated.
My client, Elle Hope, was thoroughly satisfied and we were able to ship the project within our end of February deadline. Young, Gifted, And Black Volume III was successful in amplifying young Black poet’s voices within the publishing industry. The anthology then would be featured in a release showcase and documentary.
The whole project allowed me to grow my experience on cross-application design and learn how to further utilize new programs to fully realize concepts!