The graphical concept for Placeholder has been appropriated from pictograms and petroglyphs - the iconic gestures that people went about inscribing on the landscape since paleolithic times. In fact, many of the marks used in Placeholder are direct quotes from those evocative and puzzling ancient environmental art productions. The question was how to combine single images taken out of multiple contexts into a coherent picture language that could suggest many stories with a small number of pixels, as well as conform to fanciful user interface specifications. Conventional petroglyphs have rarely been worn by visitors, for example, or animated by location coordinates from electromagnetic tracking devices.
The sketches collected here chronicle graphic design directions that were explored, abandoned or refined.
Follow the links below to see a variety of sketches:
Critters
Placemarks
Maps
Pictograms
