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

1. WEST
VILLAGE
NEW YORK CITY
INES KOVACEVIC

2. 4TH + PERRY ST.

3. PERRY ST.

4. PERRY ST.

5. 9TH AVE. + 13TH ST.

6. 4TH + BLEECKER

7. GREENWICH VILLAGE

8. GREENWICH VILLAGE

9. GREENWICH VILLAGE

10. BLEECKER ST.

11. BLEECKER ST.

12. BLEECKER +
MACDOUGAL ST.

13. PERRY ST.

14. BLEECKER ST.

15. BLEECKER ST.

16. GREENWICH VILLAGE

17. GREENWICH VILLAGE

18. GREENWICH VILLAGE

19. GREENWICH VILLAGE

20. GREENWICH
VILLAGE

21. GREENWICH VILLAGE

22. GREENWICH VILLAGE

23. BLEECKER ST.

24. GROVE + BLEECKER

25. 416 BLEECKER ST.

26. 314 BLEECKER ST.

27. BLEECKER + ACADEMY

28. BLEECKER + HILL

29. MAIN + HILL

30. GREENWICH AVE. + 7TH AVE.

34. CONCLUSION
Exploring through my stock of photographs taken a few years back from a three-
month stay in New York brought back an array of exquisite, endearing, and deca-
dent memories from one of New York’s most underground yet highly cultural
neighborhoods.
Although much of the fabled Beatnik-era ambiance is gone, you'll find coffee-
houses like Caffe Reggio and Cafe Figaro, which inspired writers such as Jack
Kerouac and William Burroughs. These coffeehouses are one of West Village’s
staples in establishing its delightful and intriguing color palette.
A primarily residential area, every few blocks or so you will find a basement coffee-
house rivaled with a luxurious boutique, door-to-door. This blend of rich and pure
warm-heartedness matched with a savory luxury defines the multitude of wonder
within a sacred West Village.
Never having paid so much attention to the color palette before this assignment
has taught me to look to the detail to get the big picture. The extraordinary bright-
ness on the Gorgeous and Dynamic side of Kobayashi’s Word Image Chart
matched with the muted Elegance and Chic Dandyism essentially define West
Village at the core. The classic history behind such a marvelous neighborhood has
kept itself timeless virtually because of its perfect blend of cool and warm colors,
each keeping the other in check while maintaining an aura of calm.
The Colorist design application that I chose to use in furthering this assignment was
the signage and billboard chart. Looking at the range of billboards, restaurant and
shop signs are even greater details in describing West Village as a marvelous
whole. Through the placement of the specific sign-focused photographs on
Kobayashi’s Word Image Chart, we can see that the same tonality is kept within the
signage as it is with the general color scheme. The lower left hand corner still
occupies the majority of the visual cues that define West Village as a whole. The
excessive marking of Gorgeous, Dynamic, Dandy, Classic, Formal, Modern, Cool
Casual, and Clear add a range, but a specific range nonetheless as to the culture
that defines itself through these visual cues.
The tradition is kept alive through modern décor within a historic paradise, deliver-
ing a profusion of excitement, culture, ambience, and decadent luxury all within
Manhattan’s tucked-away gem.
I have learned more than anything to take in my surroundings on a much more
keen basis, wherever I am. I have already put this exercise into a real life setting
without even realizing it and it has helped me open the door to what each particu-
lar neighborhood, anywhere in the world, has to offer. I am becoming more fully
awake to the color cues my environment has to offer while steering away from my
natural urge to become oblivious. Far too often, I will get too focused on specific
details without relating that noted detail to the whole of a grand masterpiece.
Observing what is a cultural landmark and what is culturally fleeting can speak
wonders about a space’s identity and I have learned to not only observe and
perceive, but to translate my observations and perceptions into what kind of
dwellers reside in a timeless and cultural neighborhood.