Trojan Horse Branding by Maryam Khaleghi Yazdi

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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

MKY : The source of inspiration for this promotional set is the legend of Trojan horse. Athens film + video festival is an annual festival which is held on Ohio university campus in Athens, Ohio. The main typography in this entry is designed in the from of a Trojan horse, and there are some small dogs hanging Trojan horse and making different interaction with it. Indeed, in this design, Trojan horse is the symbol of Athens film festival and small dogs are the symbol of filmmakers who participate in the festival by their movies. There are two reasons behind choosing Trojan horse as the source of inspiration. The first reason is that every year Athens film festival and filmmakers enter the town like Trojan horse and the soldiers. The filmmakers become scattered around the town and make a kind of exciting atmosphere by their movies among people. Indeed, they dominate the town for one week and make people being involved in the festival. In continue, the reason that filmmakers are in the from of dogs is that dog has been the main symbol of Athens film festival for 45 years. The second reason that legend of Trojan horse is chosen as the main idea is that this festival is held in a town named "Athens". Although Athens is a town located in the USA it reminds people Athens in Greece which is the source of Trojan horse legend.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

MKY : The most important audiences of this festival are young experimental filmmakers and students. Based on this fact, the main focus is attracting the attention of young students and encourage them to participate in the festival.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

MKY : I tend to use this design as a showcase to take more film and theater graphic design projects.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

MKY : From September 2017 to April 2018.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

MKY : This project was commissioned through Athens Film + Video Festival organization.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

MKY : No, this design has been done just for Athens Film + Video Festival.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

MKY : The main reason that made me to work on this design was it's cultural and Artistic purpose.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

MKY : The most important visual resources for this project were ancient paintings, narrating legend of Trojan horse.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

MKY : Young experimental filmmakers and students.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

MKY : This design has a kind of comic atmosphere.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

MKY : It explains the main concept.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

MKY : Regular paper and pencil for initial sketches and Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for final execution and silk screen printing for the poster.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

MKY : This promotional set has a narrative language. It means not only do all graphical materials (like poster, T-shirt, tote bag, etc) narrate their own story, but also they narrate a same story when they work together. Indeed, each promotional material is a part of a larger story. For instance, the poster narrates how Trojan horse and the soldiers( filmmakers) enter the town. Then, the T- shirt narrates how the soldiers enter the body of people in the town and try to dominate their hearts. After that, the tote bag shows how the soldiers continue the domination of the town at night and make fire. Finally the coaster exposes how the soldiers celebrate their victory and leave the town. So, all of the graphical materials in this entry narrate their own story and when they are implemented next to each other they work as the pieces of a larger puzzle.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

MKY : David Colagiovanni the director of Athens film festival helped me to improve the idea and shiva Ghassemi designed the inside layout of the program.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

MKY : Technology as the graphical software helped me to accelerate the process of design and expand my idea to deferent materials easily.

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

MKY : The first research was searching and browsing other promotional materials which were done before for this festival and they were found in the large archive of Athens film festival. The second research was about the story of Trojan horse and related visual materials like ancient paintings.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

MKY : The most important challenge was the lack of a coherent visual identity in the previous promotional materials for Athens film festival. It made the starting point very confusing.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

MKY : When I saw other winning prizes in the same category in previous years, I considered my design strong enough to participate in an international design competition.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

MKY : I got familiar with the visual taste of American people and learn how to interact with them.