Created as a design proposal that featured urban-surfaces and street-furniture derived from vernacular color studies of the Soho District of NYC. Done in Kevin Byrne’s Visual Thinking course at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2008-2010

1. STREETSCAPE COLOR STUDY
JOE MAHER
VISUAL THINKING
APRIL 9TH, 2009

2. CANAL ST.
soho, NY

3. GREEN ST.
soho, NY

4. BROADWAY ST.
soho, NY

7. SOHO IS:
HONEST & STRAIGHTFORWARD MODERN & INTELLECTUAL
REFINED & COMELY QUIET & SOPHISTICATED

8. STENCIL ARTWORK

9. CANAL ST.
soho, NY

10. GREEN ST.
soho, NY

11. BROADWAY ST.
soho, NY

12. CONCLUSION
It is not often that one takes the time
to fully analyze the colorful environment
around them. In doing so, however,
it becomes apparent that the color
pallete that an environment posseses
can be manipulated into complimentary
artwork that will blend seamlessly into
the given environment. Using Kobayashi’s
word map of colors is also quite helpful
as it allows one to convert the naturally
occuring colors found in an environment into
a verbal description of that environment.
In my case, the given environment was the SOHO
neighborhood of New York City.
By studying natural streetscapes, my eyes have
been opened to new analytical techniques and
strategies. These techniques and strategies will
surely assist me in creating design elements that
integrate nicely into any sort of naturally occuring
environment.