Overview
The Reflector is a design project by Sander Välk, which is carried out in cooperation with Triomf, a company producing temporary spatial designs for festivals, music venues and public events. The focus of the project is on an annual alternative pop music and lifestyle festival Into The Great Wide Open (ITGWO), which is held on Vlieland in September and welcomes approximately 6000 visitors every year.
The Reflector is a design intervention that intensifies human centred experiences. The interactions that it facilitates detach people from the rest of the world, which serves as a rich ground for authentic self expression. This seductive design engages its users in a socially thrilling sensation.
In order for The Reflector to subtly suggest its purpose to people and the most optimal way of use, Sander asked me to design an instructional poem onto its door:
Hide from prying eyes
Pull the ladder inside
Then privacy is your prize
by Jan Goodrich
form exploration
The first developed sketches featured mainly the explorations on layouts of how to display the words. At this stage I was mainly trying to figure out which layout is the most symmetrical and would offer options of connecting the letterforms in a playful manner.
digital version
With the overall direction down, I built up the vector form for refinement. The sketch was scanned and the components built up in Adobe Illustrator. Several versions of connections and flourishes were tested and printed for evaluation. After numerous revisions of finding the most legible and effective solution, we agreed on the final form.
the result
As The Reflector would be outside, we figured the most weatherproof and natural-looking solution would be to laser engrave it onto the door. Also, this way the instructions wouldn't look as demanding or intimidating as a painted or printed sign, but rather a fun way of suggesting how to use it.
The lettering before a coat of varnish was applied on the door.
