VISCOM Project 2: Final Statement

The Penny Tour

I'll show you the Plaza. I won't take you to be spat on by the patinated Nichols horses, or to shop the unshoppable shops, or to eat overpriced cheesecake. I'll give you the penny tour. You'll see jaywalking geese. You'll loiter on the lawn at the Nelson when the museum is closed and you've got it all to yourself. You'll discover the peaceful underbellies of the Brush Creek bridges. It's a tour for those who want to view one of the most inhospitably tourist-y places in Kansas City through the eyes of a native. I promise, the sights will be more remarkable than any Urban Outfitters display window. Money-back guarantee.

spread 1

spread 2

spread 3

spread 4

spread 5

spread 6

spread 7

spread 8

When it came time to start taking photos of Kansas City to combine with our line studies, I decided to stick with the areas along my bus route for the sake of convenience. Unfortunately, I spent a great deal of time taking photos on the Plaza as a result of this laziness. Thematically, I didn't think the Plaza could be an interesting setting for this project. So in an effort to make things more exciting for both myself and my future viewers, I started taking photos of locations on the Plaza that were obscure. I wanted to depart as much as possible from representing the Plaza as it is typically perceived-a place for unadventurous tourists/unadventurous wealthy people to shop and eat. The obscure locations that I chose are my personal landmarks, as someone who travels through the Plaza on a daily basis. I wanted to show the Plaza from an alternative point of view-in this case, my personal point of view-and treat the whole thing like a "tour" in reference to the rampant tourism that takes place there. My message is that you don't have to spend money or stick to the beaten path in order to experience a place like the Plaza. The photos included in the book are a selection of sights that I enjoy as I walk to my bus stop, that I want to share with others.

I was especially interested in finding photos that could be combined with line studies to create a direct continuation, as shown in spreads 2, 5 and 7. Those three juxtapositions were surprisingly serendipitous, and I feel that they are representative of the true nature of line; while lines have a certain rigidity, they are also infinitely flexible, and are present in the environment in ways that we don't even notice until we put them into context.

The other spreads are intended to more directly compare line structure and pattern. I thought it was fascinating to find that even in such an amazingly varied world, conventional forms and combinations tend to pop up. I was surprised that I was able to find line studies in my collection that almost perfectly mirrored some of the photos in their basic layout and proportions.

Ultimately, I am happy with the outcome of the project, not necessarily because I am pleased with the book itself, but because I gained quite a lot from the experience. Learning to evaluate the graphic qualities of the real world was especially valuable to me, as it has trained me to start seeing EVERYTHING from a design point of view.