Face Mask
Danny Holman
Materials: 5 Panel Hat, Ski buff
Aqua Wave Mask
May, 2020
My goals for this mask design are to reflect my personal sense of style and have some functionality as a protective mask. I wear a few different hats in my daily life, mostly 5 panels. These hats have also become sentimental since I always wear hats when I’m enjoying the outdoors.
I almost instantly knew what I wanted the structure of my mask design to be since I have always been interested in designing a custom 5 panel hat. The first step of my process was to take a picture of myself wearing my ski buff with my Snowbird 5 panel hat over it, one face shot and one profile. I placed those pictures in Adobe Illustrator where I image-traced the photo and cropped just my head, the hat and the mask. I then recolored the hat and buff to both be all black so it looks like one accessory as opposed to two separate ones.
With hot summer weather around the corner, I was naturally attracted to the idea of incorporating a ‘cooler’ color scheme to counter the mask’s claustrophobic / overheating appearance. I also wanted to incorporate some design pattern that compliments the shape of the head and face. After messing around with some different symbols and designs I liked this small wave shape and made it a repeating pattern. Like waves in the ocean, the waviness of it adds to the idea of a ‘cooler’ (temperature) look. In my experience I have had very powerful experiences backpacking, climbing, surfing and mountaineering that have certainly shaped my perspective on the world. Therefore, I think I’m naturally drawn to incorporate some element of the environment or nature to a lot of creative projects I do. I also believe now is a time where people need to stay reminded that although access is limited right now, there is still so much natural beauty in the world.