User:Dennis van Vreden/why

For my Bachelor Degree in Graphic Design at ArtEZ I had two graduation projects, an individual concept and an assigned project. The assigned project was to make a visual identity. My idea of using a lot of color together with the human aspect of the edited portrait was to show a positive aspect of the multiple colorful people that live in the Netherlands, especially in the Randstad. To show that our country isn't just defined by windmills and 'wooden shoes', but rather show it's richness in different cultures that come together to create their own unique and open society. With open I definitely refer to the general open minded state the Netherlands has and also it's willingness to go beyond what is the standard. It was also important to not be idealizing the country's image, but still specifically show it's positive side, maybe even the country it could be.

As for specific design decisions, to start, it was a contemporary design using contemporary colors. Maybe even focussing on Rotterdam with it's modern looks since most of the city was destroyed during the second World War, so it was a conscious decision to focus on the now, and the future. Instead of referring to the Netherlands' past.

To give an example of one specific poster and what went on in the decision making: I had this image in my mind of a beautiful woman in burka filled with colorful patterns walking through the Rijksmuseum and Dutch Golden Age paintings. The idea that this combination would be very common in the Netherlands, but I thought would also give the Randstad one of it's unique settings. These cultures that in theory would perhaps clash could blend perfectly in an aesthetic way. So by placing Vermeer's classic Girl with the Pearl Earring's face as a layer on top of the woman in the burka's face it blended perfectly. I also felt like this was a sort of justification for the Dutch themselves, since a lot of talk was about the banning of the kerchief and the forcing of taking integration classes and learning the Dutch language, completely losing their heritage.