Drop: Literally Cliche

This is the word that I was assigned to convey for my first typography project. My mind immediately flew to all the phrases and sayings that 'drop' is involved with...
drop of a hat
drop dead
drop it like its hot
drop like flies
drop a record
drop a dime
drop a deuce
drop in a bucket
etc..

As my mind filtered through all of these, I was most attracted to 'drop like flies', 'drop in a bucket' and 'drop of a hat'

Eventually I was struggling for time and the ability to focus on one idea and one image. Most of my ideas were far too complex and I needed to settle it down. Therefore I tried to break it down to something simple that the viewer could understand that still be something that 'drop' makes me think of. Well, 'shop 'till you drop' came to mind and I went with that.

My concept summary:
The word 'drop' is associated with many cliche phrases, one of the most recognizable being "shop until you drop."

As far as my typeface choices go, I chose a serif because it mirrors the typefaces seen on a majority of the shopping bags I had to look at as well as the fact that it is highly legible and often seen in stores. Furthermore, it works well in large sizes and remains clean and legible - even when printed in all majiscules as to better suggest store signs and attention-grabbing sale signs. Even my stroke-weights are somewhat heavy, like the bags shoppers carry around.


For my finished piece, I chose to use a shot that did not use my model's face because it quickly became a focal point in most other compositions. Also, I found that the contrast between the stationary model and the movement of the actual shoppers to be very visually interesting as well as important to my concept of literally dropping. The shopping bags, while clearly not having been dropped, are lined up at the very front of the shot so that they are the obvious focal point of the image.

Overall, I am satisfied with how the shot turned out, but I realize that my concept isn't as strong as it could be. However, every interpretation I had of this word involved a cliche phrase, so I feel as though my interpretation of the word 'drop' was that its overuse leaves it only to be subject to a life of cliche existence.