Final Exhibiting Semiotics Presentation

The object I chose for my exhibition is denotative of an antique shoe shining box. It connotates the words old, used, and handy while representing a very important object for certain people who rely on shoe shining as a career. Through the course of this project I was able to narrow down my target audience down to men in their 20s and 30s who are, in most cases, living and working on the streets. Shoe shining can be seen as a sidewalk craft for the homeless. They make spare change by polishing the shoes of business men on the corners of city streets. I chose to represent my object as a symbol because I didn't want to be extremely literal with a direct icon or index of a shoe shining box. However, I do think that the way I rendered my final symbol is highly motivated to the idea of shoe polishing.  The convention of my symbol is that it is showing a swirl of shoe polish that is on a smooth surface, such as leather. At first, I had made a shoe polish swirl on a regular piece of paper and then scanned it in to photoshop. I realized that it wasn't convincing enough because it lacked the real qualities of a polished shoe. So I remade the mark on glossy paper that made it appear more like a real shoe polish swirl would appear on a shoe! I considered using a vectored version of my symbol, but this was not motivated enough for what I was going for. I used my exhibit title to relay the vague message of "Polished to Perfection" and to really hint directly towards my object and exhibition content. My typefaces that I chose also support my object and exhibit's purpose. I used an elegant and curved typeface that is almost cursive looking because I think it appears very professional, finished, and clean- all of which enhance my parole. I also used a handwritten typeface for the exhibit title to hint at the idea of my object symbolizing the handcraft of shoe shining. It gives it a more personal touch, as a shoe shining box is personalized by each person who owns one.  The colors I chose reference my object and the brown shoe polish directly. I used white and a dark brown as my secondary colors because they add contrast to my pallet. Overall, this project taught me how to consider semiotics while attracting an audience to want to come check out my museum exhibit.