VISUAL ESSAY
Role:
Concept Design
The Taste Gap
by Ira Glass
The journey of overcoming 'Imposter Syndrome', using a graphic illustrative style to showcase the process of preparing and perfecting a dish, specifically Indonesian mie goreng (or fried noodles) over time.
Tools:
Deliverable:
Adobe Photoshop
Illustrated Style Frames
Problem
How to translate a universal creative struggle (from a long text) into something heartfelt without becoming cliché? To have people relate to the struggle, even if the medium is noodles.
Did some mindmaps and ways to create food as a metaphor to start the project off.
Storyboard
As Taste Gap is a very long text, it took quite awhile to solidify the process of making the noodles, particularly on emphasizing the effort the character goes to create this homey dish. Frame by frame should reflect each line.
Design Iterations
Although the design was almost finalized quickly from the beginning, refining it was another question. Along this process, the storyboard was of outmost priority: beautiful simple illustrations while actually telling a story.
Solution
Lesson
Keeping the illustrations mostly centered and clean allow the story shine. With the textures and details, these highlight the imperfections and the obvious effort displayed through the journey.
Because this is an exciting project for me to try illustration and combine with my love for food (especially my home country and famously mie goreng), I learned not to be afraid to explore imagery through countless storyboard changes.
