After receiving the lost word project details and my lost word (dandelion) my immediate approach was to have a conversation with myself. I asked what I understood about the dandelion? I first constructed a list including ideas I remember from my own childhood. I then went deeper and researched factual information about the plant. During the research I found a softer side to the word, both literally and figuratively. Initially I assumed the dandelion as something unwanted or negative but learned a resilience with its nature and cultural meaning. Moving forward with a new aesthetic of resilience and empathy for the dandelion I looked towards American history for narrative and visual inspiration and fell upon the 1970’s and early 1980’s.
The choice to thematically work within the 1970’s became an ideal turning point for project. In my research I became fixed on the idea of the dandelion, an unwanted wild flower, prospering and growing in masses, while being killed by every average suburban America. The dandelion gave off a rebellious nature. Similarly, the 1970’s and early 1980’s gave way, too many social changes and resistant movements surrounded and led by many young American activists. From a design point of view, the 1970’s also heavily utilized a graphic daisy shape (daisys and dandelions are members of the same flower family) and several hues of mustard yellow and earth tones were popular.