"i" is my final Photoshop project for my SMAD 201 visual design class. The composition was designed and created fully in Adobe Photoshop.

This design is one that I spent a lot of time developing– both physically and metaphorically– to do my best and represent the song through the eyes of the artist, the lyrics of the song, and based on the artist’s image. Kendrick Lamar released “i” as a single in 2014 before it was featured on the artist’s third studio album, “To Pimp a Buttery”. The message behind “i” is a twofold idea– first, being a song opposing gang violence, and secondly, holding an internal message of self-love and overcoming depression.
When creating this design, one of the biggest things I wanted to make sure I did was to correlate certain design elements to the lyricism and musical composition of the song. Let’s start with composition. The red callouts/”bangs” on the top left and bottom right corners are to reflect the sheer amount of noise in the song on a visual level. The song includes multiple samples of people speaking, car horns honking, and echoing voices behind the main vocal line. In addition to the samples, there are high-pitched whining guitars riffs and loud and echoey cowbells. Those callouts are meant to emphasize the noise going around constantly throughout the whole song. The repeating values in the image– such as the suns and the ASL hand signs– are to mark the repetition of the high hats and drum beat that is a constant in this song. Now, let’s move onto lyricism. More of the images used deal with the lyrics of the piece, and I’ll explain why. There is a row of repeated people covering their face with their hand, which sheds light on the darker lyrics of the song. In the verses, the singer doubts themself, saying phrases such as “They wanna say there’s a war outside and a bomb in the street...”, “Everybody lack confidence, how many times was my potential anonymous?”, “Keep moving, or let the paranoia haunt you...”. That repeated visual aspect is meant to resemble how these thoughts continuously repeat through the song and haunt the artist (also shown in the lyric, “It’s evident I’m moving at a meteor speed”), before their attitude turns around in the chorus as they become more hopeful. The ASL hands along the right side of the image spell out “I love myself”, which is the most repeated lyric in the song (in fact, it’s repeated 16 times). The person shouting on the top 2⁄3’s of the image is meant to exemplify what those hands are signing, literally “shouting” it as Kendrick does in the song. Other important lyrics that this smiling face is meant to convey include “The sky could fall down... I still smile...”. The heart symbol (<3) in the person’s mouth is meant to drive that message forward, while the record connected to the person’s arm is meant to resemble how the message is continuously repeated and is an important message that the artist wants you to remember. The person with their hand to their ear is meant to receive this message and internalize the call, completing the cycle and fulfilling the singer’s wishes. This is reflected in the lyric “So I promise this– I love myself.” (Also, the rectangle covering the person’s eyes is an ode to two other Kendrick album designs, “good kid, m.A.A.D. city” and “family ties”). Finally, the repeating suns are meant to drive home the message of one of the most hopeful and uplifting lyrics in the chorus (which repeats 4 times), “One day at a time, the sun gon’ shine.”