Posting Bills
“My thesis is a not just a cumulation of my developed skills as a graphic designer. It is a gathering of research of my identity and how it relates to branding and fashion.”
When it comes to clothing and fashion in an age where streetwear has been dominating the fashion industry, many luxury brands have iconic logos that have successfully adapted to this popular genre of fashion. Popular streetwear brands such as James Jebbia’s Supreme or Pharrell and Nigo’s Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream both utilize logos that give them a distinct presence despite the use of materials, patterns, color, illustrations, etc. I thoroughly researched the two things that were an essential part of my identity as a human, artist, and designer which was fashion; specifically, streetwear, and culture. Growing up in seven different countries, one consistent trait was my bold sense of style and my love for creating. To aid my research, I was fortunate to have joined the Yellowbrick Streetwear Essentials program sponsored by The New School Parsons and Complex. I also read Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States by Su’Ad Abdul Khabeer. Through these sources, I learned how streetwear and culture were consistently intertwined, and how streetwear derived from the hip hop and skateboarding culture. Thus, I created Desert Commons. A brand that was supposed to combine the two (culture and fashion). I designed a typographic logo, added illustrations, and a color palette.
While it was visually appealing, it was too specific and set to be adaptive. In an attempt at creative problem solving, I decided to give this “streetwear brand” a street presence in hopes it would spark ideas for my garments. I tagged New York with 5”x7” Desert Commons stickers around Bowery, Mercer, and all over Soho. After my failed attempt of bringing the brand to life I realized I was at a dead-end, it was too forced. I took to social media for further research and inspiration. After a creative block, I put a pause on my thesis and started sketching and drawing my signature monsters and whatever came to mind. I turned my old graphic design account on Instagram into a personal page dedicated to documenting my outfits, pictures, and art. I named it Posting Bills in contrast to the Post No Bills signs I run into when I’m tagging in New York. I used one of my illustrations as a logo for the page and realized I was back to branding myself.
Before starting my thesis, I wanted to base it on fashion and social media. Working for several social media and advertising agencies in Kuwait I picked up how we take our clients from no followers to an active and successful social media presence and gradually applied it to myself. Over the course of 4 months, I have gained about 800 followers. I studied my algorithm: What do my followers respond to? I realized it was more my style and periodically my art. However, in an attempt at better relating it to graphic design, I dedicated my thesis solely to fashion branding. With this study, I realize my thesis is a major reflection of myself. Social media, like design, has a tendency to take from one’s self in order to please the audience/client.
Creating my Posting Bills page gave me a chance to tap into my mind and allowed me to expand without the worry of algorithms, or my audience. It was then I finally got to creating and designing. I realized fashion, like myself is a never-ending evolution. I change as often as my style does and that’s why I had to find a creative solution in creating a brand that would function the same. Posting Bills is a reflection of Shaikha the Designer. I followed the illustrated logo with a hand-lettered typeset logo in font “Glamour” and was able to incorporate all my illustrations into my garments. My new set of deliverables has become the essential components of branding. After successfully creating a brand identity while still being able to utilize my existing illustrations as well as eliminating any sense of limitations to brand potential, and expansion, the next step was to create a brand profile. Posting Bills is still an ongoing experiment in terms of designing. Purchases of garments and decks pictured below will be available soon.
