Can result in the perception, amongst others, that you have lost it due to the fact you're sat in a room on your own swearing loudly. However it is awesome when you get it right. After half a day of aforementioned swearing interspersed with tutorials and reading forum posts by geeks patronising non-geeks I managed to get a small but important piece of actionscript to do exactly what I wanted it to do which felt pretty rewarding.
I have the front end of my site almost completely done now after a massive scare that I would have to start from scratch as my images just looked too small (I will remedy this by creating a mini 5 frame movie clip from each piece of work showing zoomed in and zoomed out sections, the image itself will be a button which will link to the larger version on my flickr site so if the user finds the small size a problem they will go to click on the image, as is the convention set by many other sites and be able to view the document at the biggest size it can be displayed at - this may also encourage them to explore the other images on my flickr which is an added bonus).
I now need to:
-address the problematic images
-create thumbnails as white vector outlines
-import from indesign to flash
-animate and actionscript, add hyperlinks
-test on people to see if it is intuitive
-tie up loose ends
-do up blog with new identity
-sort flickr out, take off images that aren't mine or get new account.
-create CV pdf and find out how and where to host
-sort out search terms, meta tags etc
-sort out hosting
-sort out domain name
This seems like alot of work and I am anticipating that the actionscripting will take longer than I hoped it would so with that in mind I will set myself the goal of having the site finished as a working .SWF before xmas leaving ample time for the rest to be sorted.
Monday, 14 December 2009
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Website Tutorial
After the previous post I decided to run with the logo and corresponding identity for the website which I took to todays tutorial to get some feedback on. Justin and most of the group responded with generally positive comments, the upshot of which was that the idea and visuals were good but needed tweaking so that the elements came together more cohesively. I've been doing this tonight and will show some people in the class and try to gauge preferences on which variation works better.
I've decided to make the site in Flash because my design is very tightly put together with precise measurements governing the distances between the page elements and the alignments and I'd quite like to include some transitions to enhance the pretty basic, functional feel of the site. The added bonuses are that I already know how to use flash and I won't have to deal with my site falling apart in some obscure browser program that no one really uses.
So now It's just a case of refining my idea and getting alot of feedback on it before I start building.
I've decided to make the site in Flash because my design is very tightly put together with precise measurements governing the distances between the page elements and the alignments and I'd quite like to include some transitions to enhance the pretty basic, functional feel of the site. The added bonuses are that I already know how to use flash and I won't have to deal with my site falling apart in some obscure browser program that no one really uses.
So now It's just a case of refining my idea and getting alot of feedback on it before I start building.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Coming Together
I'm getting really stuck into this brief, had a good day of progress today after a bit of an indulgent weekend of doing not a great deal workwise. My concept for the website revolves around the image of a stack of coloured paper (I frequently use this in my illustration work as I love the way it gives depth and texture as well as vibrant, bold colours) and I was all set to start photographing the pile of paper I had prepared when I thought that perhaps I would be emphasising it too much by depicting it in this quite literal and obvious way.
After all though I like using coloured paper, it is not the be all and end all of everything I do, just a small idiosyncratic component and through a portrayal as the central element of my site, it implies quite strongly that it is. I don't want potential clients to be put off by thinking that I'm going to put together their corporate letterhead with coloured paper, I'm more versatile and pragmatic than that and my site needs to reflect this. Also I want to avoid the whole desktop, drawing-board concept with a coffee-mug stain as It has been done a thousand times and is therefore anodyne and won't make me stand out.
However I do like my original concept with its relation to my style of work and the connotations of origins, starting points and moreover; potential. I have therefore been experimenting with different ways of executing it. I've tried to imbue a more slick, tidy feel to my identity and have created this provisional logo for my header:
On Friday we were given a tutorial session by Lee who showed us how learning HTML based web design will be irrelevant in a year. Flash catalyst is a program which is available as a free beta version and can take your .psd or .ai file and, providing you've created elements in separate layers named in a way which FC will recognise, generate the code and make your website.
He also showed as the tutorial site Lynda.com (which looks like the most extensive one I have seen), Adobe Browserlabs (a program for testing out sites across many web browsers), 960 grid system (a site with downloadable grids for web-design based on 960 pixel width which is probably very useful but I may try to create a custom window size so I haven't used it myself) and noupe.com (which has alot of web-design resources but has this article which is quite helpful.)
I've also found a few of my own web resources which have come in handy;
An article and piece of javascript to help effectively resize browser windows.
article on new websafe fonts.
Another article on websafe fonts
After all though I like using coloured paper, it is not the be all and end all of everything I do, just a small idiosyncratic component and through a portrayal as the central element of my site, it implies quite strongly that it is. I don't want potential clients to be put off by thinking that I'm going to put together their corporate letterhead with coloured paper, I'm more versatile and pragmatic than that and my site needs to reflect this. Also I want to avoid the whole desktop, drawing-board concept with a coffee-mug stain as It has been done a thousand times and is therefore anodyne and won't make me stand out.
However I do like my original concept with its relation to my style of work and the connotations of origins, starting points and moreover; potential. I have therefore been experimenting with different ways of executing it. I've tried to imbue a more slick, tidy feel to my identity and have created this provisional logo for my header:
On Friday we were given a tutorial session by Lee who showed us how learning HTML based web design will be irrelevant in a year. Flash catalyst is a program which is available as a free beta version and can take your .psd or .ai file and, providing you've created elements in separate layers named in a way which FC will recognise, generate the code and make your website.
He also showed as the tutorial site Lynda.com (which looks like the most extensive one I have seen), Adobe Browserlabs (a program for testing out sites across many web browsers), 960 grid system (a site with downloadable grids for web-design based on 960 pixel width which is probably very useful but I may try to create a custom window size so I haven't used it myself) and noupe.com (which has alot of web-design resources but has this article which is quite helpful.)
I've also found a few of my own web resources which have come in handy;
An article and piece of javascript to help effectively resize browser windows.
article on new websafe fonts.
Another article on websafe fonts
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Productive Days
Today and yesterday have been pretty constructive, bird illustration/screenprints are finito and have some research as well as a decent idea for the website project. I have to have visuals by next weeks crit which is very do-able so this week will just be building up more research, sketchbook and doing said visuals (and starting D&AD) might even have time for some christmas shopping. I think that setting schedules before a project, whilst good as a guide, ignores last minute changes, things taking longer than you thought, things taking less time than you thought (as is the case for the little idea for my website which I conceived of on the way to uni this morning and received pretty good feedback on an hour later) and acts of god (like not being able to bring work home because we live in Britain and it's winter). Instead I'm gunna treat the schedule like a guideline and allow myself to be pragmatic.
As it is now I'm 13 days ahead of my own timetable. I thought I'd spend ages generating ideas and developing them but instead I've pretty much decided on the Idea I have already so I guess I'll just develop this thoroughly and try out alot of variations of the same Idea to hone it to perfection so my sketchbook doesn't look bare and like I haven't thought about it at all.
As I mentioned above, I finished my screenprint/drawings for Coffee Republic and here's a few;
As it is now I'm 13 days ahead of my own timetable. I thought I'd spend ages generating ideas and developing them but instead I've pretty much decided on the Idea I have already so I guess I'll just develop this thoroughly and try out alot of variations of the same Idea to hone it to perfection so my sketchbook doesn't look bare and like I haven't thought about it at all.
As I mentioned above, I finished my screenprint/drawings for Coffee Republic and here's a few;
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Web design research
Started a bit of research for the web design brief today. Found some really awesome work that kind of puts everything I've done to shame and gives me that sicky feeling in my stomach (you probably experience this when you see art and design that you are totally in awe of) caused 20% by jealousy, 13% by inferiority, 17% by the realisation that you need to do alot to get to this level, and 50% by excitement and ideas (I think those percentages add up).
I'll start with the website of Johnny and Mickey Kelly because it's the one which- content wise (not necessarily the website design itself but the work shown and how this is well supported by the simple design) evoked aforementioned mixture of jealousy/inspiration.
This website is a perfect example of thoroughly simple design which serves its purpose of allowing people to access quickly the work of the Kelly brothers. It is merely a small white navigation bar on the left with a bright hued space filling the rest of the window where work appears when selected from the left bar. The type is a pretty standard sans serif and the whole thing looks pretty ordinary until you click on the navbar and their awesome stuff fills up the space. Johnny's diverse portfolio of work in particular, with his vibrantly coloured animations and illustrations which are a mixture of pencil drawings, 3d paper constructions and slick vector based stuff doesn't need any branding or sophisticated framing. It is allowed to speak for itself with the lack of these which communicates a sense of confidence and assuredness about it. In the 'about' page there is a neat little pdf available to download containing his illustration portfolio which is a nice idea as it means that the page itself isn't overloaded with too many links but instead has a few choice links to the best stuff which would stimulate the interest of the user who then probably looks at the other pages on the site and can then view further examples of the work if they wish.
(I've just read on the about page that the site was built with a web app called indexhibit so perhaps it is less 'designed' than I assumed, however it still serves the purpose, so I think it is worth a mention).
(Look at his animation work, it is sublime).
A more graphic site I looked at was that of Australian studio Hofstede. Their work is described as rational and intelligent (by themselves) and the design of the site echoes this in its very clean, gridded layout. Apart from being well put together, functional and appropriate there is nothing much to shout about with regard to this site. One really nice subtle feature they have incorporated though is the way that the folio page uses thumbnails of work which are dark and monochrome creating an initially dull, oppressive page. However, when these thumbs are clicked on and the folio page is returned to, their visited state is the same thumb but in vibrant colour which kind of creates a little visual incentive to click on more work and illuminate the page.
What I noticed with both sites -apart from their emphasis on simplicity and user-friendliness is that they both have a splash page which looks bare or mysterious creating a little moment of visual tension which motivates the user to resolve this by clicking one of the links displayed, the most prominent of which is usually the work.
This is also true of the site of David Foldvari, an illustrator who does really accomplished pieces at an obscenely prolific rate. When you visit the site you are confronted with a black and white multi-eyed monster centred with really tiny links below which creates an immediate impact and a quick insight into his persona as an illustrator with a quirky, dark and restrained style. The rest of the site is simply a collection of work set out in grids of thumbs.
The website of illustrator/designer Parra is similarly simple but his work is displayed in a wee gif which flicks through a selection of his work very quickly, which works well for a portfolio unified by his strong individual style.
It seems that sheer simplicity is the name of the game with regard to designing a portfolio site. Potential clients browsing your work don't want to have to waste time trying to navigate through clutter but at the same time the site should reflect your style and visual Identity, which is what I now have to begin working to define in order to start the ideas process.
I'll start with the website of Johnny and Mickey Kelly because it's the one which- content wise (not necessarily the website design itself but the work shown and how this is well supported by the simple design) evoked aforementioned mixture of jealousy/inspiration.
This website is a perfect example of thoroughly simple design which serves its purpose of allowing people to access quickly the work of the Kelly brothers. It is merely a small white navigation bar on the left with a bright hued space filling the rest of the window where work appears when selected from the left bar. The type is a pretty standard sans serif and the whole thing looks pretty ordinary until you click on the navbar and their awesome stuff fills up the space. Johnny's diverse portfolio of work in particular, with his vibrantly coloured animations and illustrations which are a mixture of pencil drawings, 3d paper constructions and slick vector based stuff doesn't need any branding or sophisticated framing. It is allowed to speak for itself with the lack of these which communicates a sense of confidence and assuredness about it. In the 'about' page there is a neat little pdf available to download containing his illustration portfolio which is a nice idea as it means that the page itself isn't overloaded with too many links but instead has a few choice links to the best stuff which would stimulate the interest of the user who then probably looks at the other pages on the site and can then view further examples of the work if they wish.
(I've just read on the about page that the site was built with a web app called indexhibit so perhaps it is less 'designed' than I assumed, however it still serves the purpose, so I think it is worth a mention).
(Look at his animation work, it is sublime).
A more graphic site I looked at was that of Australian studio Hofstede. Their work is described as rational and intelligent (by themselves) and the design of the site echoes this in its very clean, gridded layout. Apart from being well put together, functional and appropriate there is nothing much to shout about with regard to this site. One really nice subtle feature they have incorporated though is the way that the folio page uses thumbnails of work which are dark and monochrome creating an initially dull, oppressive page. However, when these thumbs are clicked on and the folio page is returned to, their visited state is the same thumb but in vibrant colour which kind of creates a little visual incentive to click on more work and illuminate the page.
What I noticed with both sites -apart from their emphasis on simplicity and user-friendliness is that they both have a splash page which looks bare or mysterious creating a little moment of visual tension which motivates the user to resolve this by clicking one of the links displayed, the most prominent of which is usually the work.
This is also true of the site of David Foldvari, an illustrator who does really accomplished pieces at an obscenely prolific rate. When you visit the site you are confronted with a black and white multi-eyed monster centred with really tiny links below which creates an immediate impact and a quick insight into his persona as an illustrator with a quirky, dark and restrained style. The rest of the site is simply a collection of work set out in grids of thumbs.
The website of illustrator/designer Parra is similarly simple but his work is displayed in a wee gif which flicks through a selection of his work very quickly, which works well for a portfolio unified by his strong individual style.
It seems that sheer simplicity is the name of the game with regard to designing a portfolio site. Potential clients browsing your work don't want to have to waste time trying to navigate through clutter but at the same time the site should reflect your style and visual Identity, which is what I now have to begin working to define in order to start the ideas process.
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Disaster
Well today was an absolute catastrophe with regard to my screenprint. After spending 3 days doing the drawings it was agonisingly frustrating when the black outline proved too fine resulting in it breaking up when printed. This means I have to take more time out of the website brief which I haven't been able to start yet because of this+the SSN logo which is really annoying as I had a strict timetable set out. The workload is just not seeming to let up at all which is getting a bit stressful as I don't feel like i'm getting anywhere despite working my socks off.
However I can't let this frustration and negativity damage my work at this stage though as I have too much to do to get distracted. I'm going to take the elements of my screenprint that did work and use my lightbox to work on them, drawing the missing outline back in so that it is part screenprint and part one off illustration. This may actually end up looking pretty good if I execute it well so all is not lost. I am also going to simplify the drawings so they are just the birds. I had tried to add a little jokey element as I thought the illustrations of birds were a bit plain on their own but the simplicity of the image of the bird on its own actually worked quite well and the extras just looked like clutter so in a way this wasted day has allowed me to improve the prints.
I'm going to do this tomorrow as well as some research into some lush websites of designers and illustrators.
However I can't let this frustration and negativity damage my work at this stage though as I have too much to do to get distracted. I'm going to take the elements of my screenprint that did work and use my lightbox to work on them, drawing the missing outline back in so that it is part screenprint and part one off illustration. This may actually end up looking pretty good if I execute it well so all is not lost. I am also going to simplify the drawings so they are just the birds. I had tried to add a little jokey element as I thought the illustrations of birds were a bit plain on their own but the simplicity of the image of the bird on its own actually worked quite well and the extras just looked like clutter so in a way this wasted day has allowed me to improve the prints.
I'm going to do this tomorrow as well as some research into some lush websites of designers and illustrators.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Screen-based 2
So we've just been given the brief for screen based communication 2. Which is to basically build a self-promotional website with examples of our work on.
To start this project I need to think carefully about myself, my style, the type of work I do, where I want to be after uni and distill all of this into awesome visuals which I will then have to turn into a well functioning website.
This is a bit difficult as I don't know If I have a definitive enough style to start trying to assert my design and illustration as a valuable commodity.
I'll have a look over my past work and decide which pieces to put on the site and try and use that as a starting point for thinking about forming a visual identity which I can then use to start designing.
Researching other websites (general sites, but with a focus on those of designers and illustrators) will be important to examine pages closely and get an idea of the conventions they follow, how people use them and what makes them convoluted, frustrating pieces of crap or thoughtfully put together pieces of neat, accessible design.
Im going to try and be more methodical in this unit than VCC2 which I felt I was a bit unorganised and chaotic in how I worked so I'm going to set myself some sub-deadlines within the final deadline-this is bearing in mind I have two live briefs (deadlines on Monday and 19th of March) and a set of screenprints (deadline Tuesday) to do simultaneously.
26th-3rd- Research and Forging my own Identity- brainstorming.
4th-10th- Identity, typeface, colours and style chosen. Generating ideas for layouts.
11th-17th- Layout chosen by the 15th. Start to mock up for crit on the 18th.
18th-24th- Act on advice at crit. Create a final version of front end design to start building.
Christmas & Boxing Day- Chill, get presents, eat too much, regret eating too much, wear paper hat.
27th-31st- Start building site.
1st-7th- Keep awn buildin'.
8th- Have my finished site built for today.
9th-14th- Polish off supporting work.
15th- Stroll on in and hand in my work with smug pride.
If I manage to keep to this I should be golden. I'm gunna try my best to to make my life easier more than anything.
To start this project I need to think carefully about myself, my style, the type of work I do, where I want to be after uni and distill all of this into awesome visuals which I will then have to turn into a well functioning website.
This is a bit difficult as I don't know If I have a definitive enough style to start trying to assert my design and illustration as a valuable commodity.
I'll have a look over my past work and decide which pieces to put on the site and try and use that as a starting point for thinking about forming a visual identity which I can then use to start designing.
Researching other websites (general sites, but with a focus on those of designers and illustrators) will be important to examine pages closely and get an idea of the conventions they follow, how people use them and what makes them convoluted, frustrating pieces of crap or thoughtfully put together pieces of neat, accessible design.
Im going to try and be more methodical in this unit than VCC2 which I felt I was a bit unorganised and chaotic in how I worked so I'm going to set myself some sub-deadlines within the final deadline-this is bearing in mind I have two live briefs (deadlines on Monday and 19th of March) and a set of screenprints (deadline Tuesday) to do simultaneously.
26th-3rd- Research and Forging my own Identity- brainstorming.
4th-10th- Identity, typeface, colours and style chosen. Generating ideas for layouts.
11th-17th- Layout chosen by the 15th. Start to mock up for crit on the 18th.
18th-24th- Act on advice at crit. Create a final version of front end design to start building.
Christmas & Boxing Day- Chill, get presents, eat too much, regret eating too much, wear paper hat.
27th-31st- Start building site.
1st-7th- Keep awn buildin'.
8th- Have my finished site built for today.
9th-14th- Polish off supporting work.
15th- Stroll on in and hand in my work with smug pride.
If I manage to keep to this I should be golden. I'm gunna try my best to to make my life easier more than anything.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Vis Com in Context
I'm relieved to have got everything done and handed in this unit. Although I keep remembering little things I should have explained or included in my sketchbook and improvements I could have made to my final pieces Im generally pretty happy with what I produced. I think the strongest part of my work in this unit was my ideas generation. The outcomes of the four projects were not spectacular or groundbreaking concepts but I felt they were quite neat, quirky ideas which fulfilled the requirements of the briefs. I also learned alot in the unit by not just using illustration by default for every piece of work but trying more graphic work (the business papers and sound project were mostly typographic whilst the mushy pea packaging was designed around the net of the package). I've learned alot of software stuff on indesign and illustrator and found I really enjoyed designing and making 3d packaging.
I fell down on my time management, my final presentation posters and also my sketchbook, all of which were interlinked as they were the last things I did. I tried not to get too hung up on the sketchbook as there was not a lot of time to keep one with such short sharp projects as the main emphasis was on getting the outcomes sorted and I feel trying to present all my ideas in a nice aesthetic way as I go can slow me down and can stifle ideas as I'm constantly second-guessing myself as to whether the idea is stupid. This worked well when I was working. I had a small notebook I could quickly and spontaneously scribble ideas down in which was conducive to the process of ideas generation. However, when I came to compile this into something which would communicate my ideas clearly at the 11th hour it became quite difficult to do retrospectively and resulted in a quite scrappy and hastily put together thing which doesn't show the amount of thought I put into the project. My presentation posters were also a quite last minute thing and kind of looked it. To stop my work from suffering from this rush I am going to make a pact with myself to try and have everything done and ready to print a week before the deadline in future projects and printed 2 days before the deadline giving me 2 days to write rationales and create display boards. I'm really going to try and keep to this as the stress of rushing at the last minute and depriving myself of sleep to get stuff done is not really a sustainable way to work, it takes too much out of you.
I fell down on my time management, my final presentation posters and also my sketchbook, all of which were interlinked as they were the last things I did. I tried not to get too hung up on the sketchbook as there was not a lot of time to keep one with such short sharp projects as the main emphasis was on getting the outcomes sorted and I feel trying to present all my ideas in a nice aesthetic way as I go can slow me down and can stifle ideas as I'm constantly second-guessing myself as to whether the idea is stupid. This worked well when I was working. I had a small notebook I could quickly and spontaneously scribble ideas down in which was conducive to the process of ideas generation. However, when I came to compile this into something which would communicate my ideas clearly at the 11th hour it became quite difficult to do retrospectively and resulted in a quite scrappy and hastily put together thing which doesn't show the amount of thought I put into the project. My presentation posters were also a quite last minute thing and kind of looked it. To stop my work from suffering from this rush I am going to make a pact with myself to try and have everything done and ready to print a week before the deadline in future projects and printed 2 days before the deadline giving me 2 days to write rationales and create display boards. I'm really going to try and keep to this as the stress of rushing at the last minute and depriving myself of sleep to get stuff done is not really a sustainable way to work, it takes too much out of you.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Deadline on the horizon
If I was from Wroxall on the Isle of Wight instead of Newport I would now be able to count down the days till the deadline on my fingers. It's 12 days till hand-in which is a bit scary as I still have to print the Thank You and Identity outcomes (and find some decent card stock to do this on) complete my mushy peas packaging, do the sound project and collate all my research and ideas in some sort of sketchbook which makes my design process intelligible to human beings and probably try and do some D&AD, ssn logo and get my screenprints ready. At some point I also need to get a working scanner and put all my drawings from summer up on my portfolio blog and renovate this boring, standard template thing too. Don't forget dreamweaver as well.
Good thing is although I have alot on my plate, there is no uncertainty about what needs to be done now (no whole days trying to think of ideas or doing testers) all I have to do is get on with it so I'm not panicking, I've made a timetable which although tight, is manageable and should, if all goes to plan, mean I get everything done and some good stuff to whack in the portfolio.
It was only on Wednesday that I got a chance to start the TED video project as I was getting ready for the laser cutting induction and doing business card stuff. I watched the videos and chose the sound one and immediately started trying to think of ways to communicate it. I didn't realise till the next day that although we have to hand in something paper based, It doesn't have to be a poster or flyer, it can be photographs or mock ups of a conceptual idea, a 3d installation for example. The boundaries were wide open and I set out to try and think of something original which would really deliver Julian Treasure's message about taking control of the sound around us in a manner befitting his cutting-edge ideas.
I got into my stride on Friday and started churning out ideas on how to do this. Some of these were good but unworkable, like the one where I would allow members of the public to take control of the sound around them quite literally by offering them a kind of control panel in an indoor public place which could change the acoustics of a room so that background noise could be made almost silent (by controlling flaps which would open to reveal a fibrous material which would absorb sound for example) or more echoey. Although this would have demonstrated how dramatically a change in sound changes moods and atmospheres, it only offers them the ability to improve the ambience in that particular place and would probably be more of a novelty than a strong, communicative piece. Other ideas were downright terrible but important to think of as they lead to other, better ones.
I've eventually settled on a kind of game in which the user has to root through a paper bag (which I will screenprint a design onto and try make it look cool) and pick out a card, from amongst 24 others with words representing different background noises printed on them (car horns, doors slamming, fans whirring etc) which says 'your focus'. This is an interactive metaphor for how difficult in can be to find our focus in a workplace with loads of accidental background noise. I would supply a stopwatch with which to time this and a smaller bag with just two cards in it (one would say; relaxing bird song or ambient music and the other would be the focus card). Obviously rooting through this one to find your focus will take seconds and after you compare the times it will show that by taking control of the noise around you you can focus more easily. For the last part of the game you will be instructed to write down the times you took on a leaderboard inside the bag which will add a fun competitive element but will also have stats on how background noise affects productivity and tips on how to counter this.
I now have to work to make this look good. I'm imagining this sitting on a staff-room coffee table so I want to make it look quite fun and playful but not overly silly and childish so people wouldn't feel embarrassed about picking it up. Since it's going to be solely typographic I am going to need to think about the typeface I choose very carefully I've been looking at some board games to get some ideas of what suggests playful and fun.
At the moment I'm thinking Cooper black, Futura bold or extrabold or maybe some sort of rounded geometric like VAG rounded.
Good thing is although I have alot on my plate, there is no uncertainty about what needs to be done now (no whole days trying to think of ideas or doing testers) all I have to do is get on with it so I'm not panicking, I've made a timetable which although tight, is manageable and should, if all goes to plan, mean I get everything done and some good stuff to whack in the portfolio.
It was only on Wednesday that I got a chance to start the TED video project as I was getting ready for the laser cutting induction and doing business card stuff. I watched the videos and chose the sound one and immediately started trying to think of ways to communicate it. I didn't realise till the next day that although we have to hand in something paper based, It doesn't have to be a poster or flyer, it can be photographs or mock ups of a conceptual idea, a 3d installation for example. The boundaries were wide open and I set out to try and think of something original which would really deliver Julian Treasure's message about taking control of the sound around us in a manner befitting his cutting-edge ideas.
I got into my stride on Friday and started churning out ideas on how to do this. Some of these were good but unworkable, like the one where I would allow members of the public to take control of the sound around them quite literally by offering them a kind of control panel in an indoor public place which could change the acoustics of a room so that background noise could be made almost silent (by controlling flaps which would open to reveal a fibrous material which would absorb sound for example) or more echoey. Although this would have demonstrated how dramatically a change in sound changes moods and atmospheres, it only offers them the ability to improve the ambience in that particular place and would probably be more of a novelty than a strong, communicative piece. Other ideas were downright terrible but important to think of as they lead to other, better ones.
I've eventually settled on a kind of game in which the user has to root through a paper bag (which I will screenprint a design onto and try make it look cool) and pick out a card, from amongst 24 others with words representing different background noises printed on them (car horns, doors slamming, fans whirring etc) which says 'your focus'. This is an interactive metaphor for how difficult in can be to find our focus in a workplace with loads of accidental background noise. I would supply a stopwatch with which to time this and a smaller bag with just two cards in it (one would say; relaxing bird song or ambient music and the other would be the focus card). Obviously rooting through this one to find your focus will take seconds and after you compare the times it will show that by taking control of the noise around you you can focus more easily. For the last part of the game you will be instructed to write down the times you took on a leaderboard inside the bag which will add a fun competitive element but will also have stats on how background noise affects productivity and tips on how to counter this.
I now have to work to make this look good. I'm imagining this sitting on a staff-room coffee table so I want to make it look quite fun and playful but not overly silly and childish so people wouldn't feel embarrassed about picking it up. Since it's going to be solely typographic I am going to need to think about the typeface I choose very carefully I've been looking at some board games to get some ideas of what suggests playful and fun.
At the moment I'm thinking Cooper black, Futura bold or extrabold or maybe some sort of rounded geometric like VAG rounded.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
TED talks
Just watched some of the videos of the TED talks and am pretty set on trying to communicate some of the key ideas in Julian Treasure's talk on the underestimated effect of sound in our lives. The talks were mostly fascinating and I think I will lose alot of time on TED, which if you, like me until today, have never heard of, is a website with loads of video talks by people who have some kind of new idea or message in the fields of, well, pretty much everything (science, maths, technology, music, design, architecture, global warming, political issues are the most extensively covered).
Stefan Sagmeister's one was funny and inspiring (The logo for Porto's Casa De Musica with colours that reacted to any design it is used on was one of the best pieces of design I've seen for a while) and Jeff Hawkins was enthused and captivating in his talk on how studying the brain will shape future technology but Julian Treasure was the most salient (he works as a business advisor and sound marketing expert so his talk is very well communicated) and put forward ideas that could quite easily be actioned and have a tangible impact on the quality of people's lives. I know I'm getting a pair of quality earphones to take into uni to listen to an ambient playlist (I'm not up for birdsong all day) after learning that workplace noise can bring productivity down by two thirds! Maybe I'll get triple the amount of work I usually get done finished and have triple the amount of free time!
Julian Treasure's awesome talk about how sound affects us
Stefan Sagmeister's one was funny and inspiring (The logo for Porto's Casa De Musica with colours that reacted to any design it is used on was one of the best pieces of design I've seen for a while) and Jeff Hawkins was enthused and captivating in his talk on how studying the brain will shape future technology but Julian Treasure was the most salient (he works as a business advisor and sound marketing expert so his talk is very well communicated) and put forward ideas that could quite easily be actioned and have a tangible impact on the quality of people's lives. I know I'm getting a pair of quality earphones to take into uni to listen to an ambient playlist (I'm not up for birdsong all day) after learning that workplace noise can bring productivity down by two thirds! Maybe I'll get triple the amount of work I usually get done finished and have triple the amount of free time!
Julian Treasure's awesome talk about how sound affects us
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Laser Cutting Induction
Today I got a look at the process of laser cutting during our group induction. After spending all morning slogging it out unsuccessfully with illustrator trying to persuade it to allow me to invert a path (so that it would cut out the negative space around my type rather than the type itself) I was a bit annoyed that I didn't have my final idea ready to be cut. This wasn't as big a deal as I thought as no one had anything finished ready so it ended up being quite a chilled out, enjoyable afternoon that I got a decent tester out of that proved I didn't need to invert my text anyway cause it looks more pure and uncontrived as it is.
Some of the stuff you can do with a laser cutter is awesome, you can engrave and mark various surfaces which creates a really distinctive aesthetic. It contrasts massively with an ink print in the way that it is tactile and has added depth and because of its relative rarity due to expense, it has a premium, exclusive feel which I think suits my business cards for the distinguished composer Debussy.
It was really worthwhile getting to know the potential of the machine as my outcome for 'Identity' seems much more attainable and aside from finding a nice, grainy pastel coloured card and drawing a few more shapes, I've sorted my layouts I'm pretty much ready to print.
I've also adapted my mushy pea packaging net to fit a smaller 300g pot so now it is 579 x 108 rather than 597 x 124 which is a bit smaller but still allows only 4 to size B2 3 to size A2 but 7 to size A1 so as long as A1 is viable on a relatively thick (450 gsm upwards I think) sheet of biodegradable (or if not recyclable card) this will have been a worthwhile improvement.
Some of the stuff you can do with a laser cutter is awesome, you can engrave and mark various surfaces which creates a really distinctive aesthetic. It contrasts massively with an ink print in the way that it is tactile and has added depth and because of its relative rarity due to expense, it has a premium, exclusive feel which I think suits my business cards for the distinguished composer Debussy.
It was really worthwhile getting to know the potential of the machine as my outcome for 'Identity' seems much more attainable and aside from finding a nice, grainy pastel coloured card and drawing a few more shapes, I've sorted my layouts I'm pretty much ready to print.
I've also adapted my mushy pea packaging net to fit a smaller 300g pot so now it is 579 x 108 rather than 597 x 124 which is a bit smaller but still allows only 4 to size B2 3 to size A2 but 7 to size A1 so as long as A1 is viable on a relatively thick (450 gsm upwards I think) sheet of biodegradable (or if not recyclable card) this will have been a worthwhile improvement.
Monday, 2 November 2009
Identity
As I have my laser cutting induction tomorrow, I need to get my business stationery from the identity project ready. I drew Debussy from the hat to design a business card, compliments slip and letterhead for and after researching him and finding out how he ignored convention to produce music which was dreamy and experimental I decided to mirror this by subverting the assumption that business papers should be straight edged and rectangular and go for shapes which would be completely random and unique for each individual piece.
I would do this in practice with some sort of algorithmic shape generating computer program which sounds pretty technical but is definitely possible as I've seen it in some computer games where it is used to generate random level maps (worms 2 is one example).
However as I am not a computer programmer I need to create the shapes myself. It's actually really difficult to do this so it looks truly random. Drawing the shapes whilst not looking has proved the best way of doing this so far but you can find yourself drawing what you think a random shape should look like and the resulting shape looks far from random. They have also been likened to countries by some of the people I have shown whereas I wanted them to look more cloud-like to allude to the floaty dreamscapes evoked by Debussy.
To achieve this I tried to photoshop photographs of clouds so that I could get a definite edge which I could use as the basis for my shapes. After doing this though, the clouds looked exactly like countries on a map anyway.
I thought of inkblots and paint splashes but they look like paint splashes and ink blots not random shapes, people may think the cards are for Hermann Rorshcach or Jackson Pollock because the forms would be so recognisable.
I think as hand drawing has worked best so far I will explore it more with different variables, a paint brush might give me a more cloudlike edge as opposed to a precise fineliner. If I listen to Debussy whilst doing this and try to draw as unconsciously as possible I should get some good results.
I still need to source some pastel or light coloured card with a nice coarse, organic texture which is quite visible for this to work as well as I want it to. The texture will give the stationery some depth and the pattern of the fibres will further the random, organic feel of them so it is important that I find the right material, It also needs to be suitable for laser cutting which could be another headache.
I would do this in practice with some sort of algorithmic shape generating computer program which sounds pretty technical but is definitely possible as I've seen it in some computer games where it is used to generate random level maps (worms 2 is one example).
However as I am not a computer programmer I need to create the shapes myself. It's actually really difficult to do this so it looks truly random. Drawing the shapes whilst not looking has proved the best way of doing this so far but you can find yourself drawing what you think a random shape should look like and the resulting shape looks far from random. They have also been likened to countries by some of the people I have shown whereas I wanted them to look more cloud-like to allude to the floaty dreamscapes evoked by Debussy.
To achieve this I tried to photoshop photographs of clouds so that I could get a definite edge which I could use as the basis for my shapes. After doing this though, the clouds looked exactly like countries on a map anyway.
I thought of inkblots and paint splashes but they look like paint splashes and ink blots not random shapes, people may think the cards are for Hermann Rorshcach or Jackson Pollock because the forms would be so recognisable.
I think as hand drawing has worked best so far I will explore it more with different variables, a paint brush might give me a more cloudlike edge as opposed to a precise fineliner. If I listen to Debussy whilst doing this and try to draw as unconsciously as possible I should get some good results.
I still need to source some pastel or light coloured card with a nice coarse, organic texture which is quite visible for this to work as well as I want it to. The texture will give the stationery some depth and the pattern of the fibres will further the random, organic feel of them so it is important that I find the right material, It also needs to be suitable for laser cutting which could be another headache.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
To do list
These small projects have been fun but because the deadlines are suggested deadlines, not actual deadlines I've maybe tried to do too much and I have loads of bits to tie up from each one. It helps me to write down what I actually have to have done as I know I can't overlook or forget anything.
I have to finish;
-Thank you- downsize seed packet to credit card size
(I am doing this as I am trying to market the seed packets towards young people and those who are unaware of the bee situation who would be given the free packets at festivals and events. By making the packets a smaller size it is more likely that they will be kept as they can easily be put in a wallet or pocket unlike most of the other printed stuff that gets thrust into your hand and gets screwed up and thrown away ten minutes later cos you cant do anything with it.)
-Debussy- get designs ready as .ai files for laser cutting tutorial at 1.30 tuesday and choose card for this.
-Mushy peas-redesign net and create graphics.
I need to get moving...
I have to finish;
-Thank you- downsize seed packet to credit card size
(I am doing this as I am trying to market the seed packets towards young people and those who are unaware of the bee situation who would be given the free packets at festivals and events. By making the packets a smaller size it is more likely that they will be kept as they can easily be put in a wallet or pocket unlike most of the other printed stuff that gets thrust into your hand and gets screwed up and thrown away ten minutes later cos you cant do anything with it.)
-Debussy- get designs ready as .ai files for laser cutting tutorial at 1.30 tuesday and choose card for this.
-Mushy peas-redesign net and create graphics.
I need to get moving...
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Mushy Peas- Final Critique
After last weeks crit where my idea for the mushy pea packaging did not go down as well as I had hoped I went back to the drawing board, developing some new ideas as well as trying to improve the existing one. Eventually I narrowed down the choice to 2 ideas, one of which was new and one which was the old one with some modifications made. After getting some feedback from friends on the course about which they thought worked best, the first idea with changes seemed to go down better as people liked its striking leaf pattern and felt it would really stand out on the shelf.
I thought about whether this was important for my target market for the product to be striking and stand out as I found out from my research that Waitrose's own brand is particularly strong and trusted by its shoppers and by differentiating my brand too much it may provoke the customer to reject it. However when I walked around the winton store I found loads of examples of really unique, individual packaging which was striking and visually interesting so it can't be a bad strategy to stand out. . One particular example was this chewing gum which alongside wrigley's, trebor and orbit, who all conform to the same aesthetic code, just stands completely apart and made me want to pick it up and investigate it.
Furthermore my product would not be a standard dip (it is a new product which could be a dip or side) and to have it blend in with other things on the shelf like houmous, guacamole and salsa would perhaps make more apparent the fact it is not a traditional dip and people may therefore find it strange that it has been thrust amongst these.
So seeing how effective standing out against the products around you can be I decided to go with the striking idea. I thinned the border like Neil recommended and added a die cut so that the silhouette of the product would be the shape of the leaf pattern, not a standard square box. I took this idea into my Thursday tutorial, where the general consensus was still that it lacked dynamism and needed another element. I knew I had the final crit the next day so it was really a choice between trying to complete the designs as they were or going back to the drawing board to think of a way of enhancing my packaging and probably not having the final product for the critique. Although the crits are beneficial, I would rather have a decent final piece to hand in and put in my portfolio than have a less developed piece for the crit for people to comment on so I opted to try and improve it.
I found a way of doing this by adding a 3d element to the packaging where the logo is set back behind the leaf pattern. This meant that the net was alot bigger and more complicated to produce but emphasises the garden feel more as the logo is set back in a way that makes it look like a sign amongst overgrown leaves (which I think alludes to the product being almost hidden which has the effect of making it seem more exclusive).
This went down pretty well in the crit, everyone seemed to agree it was an improvement. However the tutors questioned whether the packaging was excessive in terms of materials and cost as the net is 124mm x 597mm and there would be some die cutting and assembly involved which would obviously cost more than a simple rectangular outer. They also questioned the size of the pot I used to develop my outer around which In hindsight, I can now see is too big, I assumed mushy peas came in a standard 400g tin which they don't, it is actually 300g. Therefore I will downsize my net to fit a 300g pot and reduce the costs this way which is incredibly annoying as I spent a bloody long time designing the current net through trial and error until I perfected the design but it has to be done and adapting it to a new size shouldn't be too difficult.
I thought about whether this was important for my target market for the product to be striking and stand out as I found out from my research that Waitrose's own brand is particularly strong and trusted by its shoppers and by differentiating my brand too much it may provoke the customer to reject it. However when I walked around the winton store I found loads of examples of really unique, individual packaging which was striking and visually interesting so it can't be a bad strategy to stand out. . One particular example was this chewing gum which alongside wrigley's, trebor and orbit, who all conform to the same aesthetic code, just stands completely apart and made me want to pick it up and investigate it.
Furthermore my product would not be a standard dip (it is a new product which could be a dip or side) and to have it blend in with other things on the shelf like houmous, guacamole and salsa would perhaps make more apparent the fact it is not a traditional dip and people may therefore find it strange that it has been thrust amongst these.
So seeing how effective standing out against the products around you can be I decided to go with the striking idea. I thinned the border like Neil recommended and added a die cut so that the silhouette of the product would be the shape of the leaf pattern, not a standard square box. I took this idea into my Thursday tutorial, where the general consensus was still that it lacked dynamism and needed another element. I knew I had the final crit the next day so it was really a choice between trying to complete the designs as they were or going back to the drawing board to think of a way of enhancing my packaging and probably not having the final product for the critique. Although the crits are beneficial, I would rather have a decent final piece to hand in and put in my portfolio than have a less developed piece for the crit for people to comment on so I opted to try and improve it.
I found a way of doing this by adding a 3d element to the packaging where the logo is set back behind the leaf pattern. This meant that the net was alot bigger and more complicated to produce but emphasises the garden feel more as the logo is set back in a way that makes it look like a sign amongst overgrown leaves (which I think alludes to the product being almost hidden which has the effect of making it seem more exclusive).
This went down pretty well in the crit, everyone seemed to agree it was an improvement. However the tutors questioned whether the packaging was excessive in terms of materials and cost as the net is 124mm x 597mm and there would be some die cutting and assembly involved which would obviously cost more than a simple rectangular outer. They also questioned the size of the pot I used to develop my outer around which In hindsight, I can now see is too big, I assumed mushy peas came in a standard 400g tin which they don't, it is actually 300g. Therefore I will downsize my net to fit a 300g pot and reduce the costs this way which is incredibly annoying as I spent a bloody long time designing the current net through trial and error until I perfected the design but it has to be done and adapting it to a new size shouldn't be too difficult.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Target Audience- Jill and Grant
To make the targeting of our audience easier it was suggested that we create fictional characters with a bit of backstory so that throughout the ideas stage of the project we could ask ourselves whether they would like the idea which would act as a kind of guide as to which ideas were more appropriate for the market.
I started out with a vague idea of just Waitrose customers which is a pretty broad spectrum. However after reading some surveys about Waitrose customers a more specific picture emerged. Waitrose shoppers are typically:
-A's, B's and C1's (on the NRS social category system).
-More likely to be aged 45+.
-Not parents or have children which have moved out (80% of Waitrose customers have households with no children).
-95% more likely than average to buy premium items in general.
-Interested in quality food products.
-Interested in organic and ethical products.
All this information has helped me to create Jill and Grant.......
This is them on a romantic city break in Rome which Grant surprised Jill with on her 50th. Ahhhhhh.
Seriously though, they are both 50, he is a GP earning 55K p.a she is an experienced nurse on 20K p.a. They have just paid off the mortgage as their two children graduated and got jobs(!) in the last 3 years and live a comfortable life in a detached 3 bedroom property on a nice, leafy suburban road in a major town in southern England. He drives an new Audi A8 and she drives a reconditioned new Fiat 500 (which they traded their old cars in for and got a really good deal) , they try and take public transport when they can as they are environmentally aware but their jobs necessitate the cars (at least they are relatively efficient new models!). Being health professionals these two are health conscious and choose to shop at Waitrose for their choice of great fresh, quality ingredients. They also read The Independent and are aware of ethical issues relating to food which informs their product choices. Convenience is a big issue for them as they have long, hard days and are often busy when they get home so don't have time to create elaborate meals.
This should help me to decide between some of my ideas as I imagine the couple wheeling their trolley round the supermarket, glimpsing my product and deciding in a split second whether to give it a second look....
I started out with a vague idea of just Waitrose customers which is a pretty broad spectrum. However after reading some surveys about Waitrose customers a more specific picture emerged. Waitrose shoppers are typically:
-A's, B's and C1's (on the NRS social category system).
-More likely to be aged 45+.
-Not parents or have children which have moved out (80% of Waitrose customers have households with no children).
-95% more likely than average to buy premium items in general.
-Interested in quality food products.
-Interested in organic and ethical products.
All this information has helped me to create Jill and Grant.......
This is them on a romantic city break in Rome which Grant surprised Jill with on her 50th. Ahhhhhh.
Seriously though, they are both 50, he is a GP earning 55K p.a she is an experienced nurse on 20K p.a. They have just paid off the mortgage as their two children graduated and got jobs(!) in the last 3 years and live a comfortable life in a detached 3 bedroom property on a nice, leafy suburban road in a major town in southern England. He drives an new Audi A8 and she drives a reconditioned new Fiat 500 (which they traded their old cars in for and got a really good deal) , they try and take public transport when they can as they are environmentally aware but their jobs necessitate the cars (at least they are relatively efficient new models!). Being health professionals these two are health conscious and choose to shop at Waitrose for their choice of great fresh, quality ingredients. They also read The Independent and are aware of ethical issues relating to food which informs their product choices. Convenience is a big issue for them as they have long, hard days and are often busy when they get home so don't have time to create elaborate meals.
This should help me to decide between some of my ideas as I imagine the couple wheeling their trolley round the supermarket, glimpsing my product and deciding in a split second whether to give it a second look....
Name change again...
I'm pretty indecisive so naming my blog is a minefield of choices, mistakes and regret. I wanted to choose a word which sums up the fact that this blog is just me rambling on, off the cuff just writing down thoughts and opinions. There was jibber jabber, yibber on... and finally yibber which after much consideration sounds like an accessory required to be worn on the 3rd sunday of every other month by a strictly orthodox Jewish sect. I've got to think of a new name really cos it just sounds daft. Maybe Jabber? thats at least an actual word, though it does make me sound like a knife fanatic. Screw it. Jabber.
Monday, 26 October 2009
Mushy Peas- Research
Been researching packaging for existing mushy peas products and made a wee mood-board of them.
Im trying to get as far away as I can from the fluorescent tinned product so I will avoid the visual language of these products' design. Fortunately these are typified by garish colours, gradients which look corporate and outdated, cartoon peas and unflattering photographs none of which I was planning on using anyway. I think the colloquial, jokey style of the blobs, splats, rounded fonts sums up what is wrong with the product as it conveys a cheeky, light-hearted attitude towards itself which is synonymous with junky, processed foods that because of their inferiority, rely on a jokey feel to encourage consumers not to take them too seriously. Of these tins, I think the Bachelors and Harry Ramsden's designs sell their product the least well. The bottom right tin is the nicest of the bunch and it contains luxury lamb, mushy pea and mint dog cookies which actually look more appetising than some of the tinned human-food.
Im trying to get as far away as I can from the fluorescent tinned product so I will avoid the visual language of these products' design. Fortunately these are typified by garish colours, gradients which look corporate and outdated, cartoon peas and unflattering photographs none of which I was planning on using anyway. I think the colloquial, jokey style of the blobs, splats, rounded fonts sums up what is wrong with the product as it conveys a cheeky, light-hearted attitude towards itself which is synonymous with junky, processed foods that because of their inferiority, rely on a jokey feel to encourage consumers not to take them too seriously. Of these tins, I think the Bachelors and Harry Ramsden's designs sell their product the least well. The bottom right tin is the nicest of the bunch and it contains luxury lamb, mushy pea and mint dog cookies which actually look more appetising than some of the tinned human-food.
Friday, 23 October 2009
New From Old Crit
Had my idea for the mushy peas pack critiqued today and I'm actually a bit lost now. There were alot of little suggestions thrown at me, try photography, look at reducing the decorative element, look at the shapes of marrowfat peas but no real consensus on a particular direction which makes things quite difficult for the weekend as I have to decide how to progress my idea.
First of all I'm not really up for photography, It's not my strong point at all and though it's good to try and diversify my skills I don't really have the time to mess about trying to take loads of photos only for them to turn out rubbish and me not have an outcome for this project or my portfolio. It could have potential but I have alot on at the moment and having to be time efficient means I don't have a couple of days to possibly waste experimenting with photography that could turn out crap.
I don't want to feature peas on the packaging, it's too literal and obvious and the FROMTHEGARDEN brand would offer seasonal dips and side dishes, not just peas. Moreover I just absolutely don't think it needs to make it any more obvious to the customer that it is a pea based dip, through the two sides of the packaging you can see the peas (and since my mushy peas would be lightly crushed not pulped there would be no mistaking them for anything else) and it would say 'mushy garden peas' quite clearly about three times on it so if you don't get what it is from that, you don't deserve my peas.
There was also a suggestion that I consider making the mushy peas an italian product based on a broad bean dip but I think this misses the point of rebranding mushy peas. Also this ignores the recent trend for celebrating traditional british food and would mean it couldn't be served as a side with fish and chips
I think Neil's feedback about exploring the visuals of gardens has a little more mileage in it as I really want to communicate the fresh, local, organic and nutritious aspects of the product.
Which is kind of why I think that my original idea is really not that bad. It gets across these things which I have found in my research to be of great importance to Waitrose's customer.
Maybe I'll try and vary this idea a bit and try out a couple of the things suggested and my direction will become a bit more clear because at the moment my thinking is a bit all over the place.
First of all I'm not really up for photography, It's not my strong point at all and though it's good to try and diversify my skills I don't really have the time to mess about trying to take loads of photos only for them to turn out rubbish and me not have an outcome for this project or my portfolio. It could have potential but I have alot on at the moment and having to be time efficient means I don't have a couple of days to possibly waste experimenting with photography that could turn out crap.
I don't want to feature peas on the packaging, it's too literal and obvious and the FROMTHEGARDEN brand would offer seasonal dips and side dishes, not just peas. Moreover I just absolutely don't think it needs to make it any more obvious to the customer that it is a pea based dip, through the two sides of the packaging you can see the peas (and since my mushy peas would be lightly crushed not pulped there would be no mistaking them for anything else) and it would say 'mushy garden peas' quite clearly about three times on it so if you don't get what it is from that, you don't deserve my peas.
There was also a suggestion that I consider making the mushy peas an italian product based on a broad bean dip but I think this misses the point of rebranding mushy peas. Also this ignores the recent trend for celebrating traditional british food and would mean it couldn't be served as a side with fish and chips
I think Neil's feedback about exploring the visuals of gardens has a little more mileage in it as I really want to communicate the fresh, local, organic and nutritious aspects of the product.
Which is kind of why I think that my original idea is really not that bad. It gets across these things which I have found in my research to be of great importance to Waitrose's customer.
Maybe I'll try and vary this idea a bit and try out a couple of the things suggested and my direction will become a bit more clear because at the moment my thinking is a bit all over the place.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Waitrose Branding
As I am targeting Waitrose customers for my mushy peas product, researching their own branding which they use to appeal to this demographic is a good starting point for understanding what their aesthetic tastes are.
One of the strongest elements of Waitrose's visual branding are the illustrations they use on their bags for life, essentials range packaging and various instore boards and posters. I found a good example of these on their website on a page showing which foods are in-season when.
http://www.waitrose.com/food/foodseasonality/britishseasons.aspx
The images have an intensely rustic quality, using a rough line capturing the basic form of the subject and a loose application of tone and colour, which often spills outside the object onto the ground. This reinforces the idea of freshness through the raw, uncontrived imagery, We get the idea (through the splatters and colour splashes), that these food items are exuding colour which we associate with potency, freshness and vitality.
They have obviously chosen illustrator Emma Dibben (http://www.emmadibben.com) for this style as they want to communicate these things about their product to their customer who they obviously feel strongly values freshness in their produce.
The illustrations are also quite dramatic with their vivid colours adding vibrancy and splatters creating an energetic feel as they are indexical signs of the illustrator using a quick, animated process as they look random and unintentional. The way in which Emma Dibben imbues a sense of energy and enthusiasm into these images makes them quite celebratory of the food portrayed which reflects the likely attitudes of the typical Waitrose customer who would most likely be shopping there because they value good food and are willing to pay slightly more than in LIDL, Tesco or Asda.
One of the strongest elements of Waitrose's visual branding are the illustrations they use on their bags for life, essentials range packaging and various instore boards and posters. I found a good example of these on their website on a page showing which foods are in-season when.
http://www.waitrose.com/food/foodseasonality/britishseasons.aspx
The images have an intensely rustic quality, using a rough line capturing the basic form of the subject and a loose application of tone and colour, which often spills outside the object onto the ground. This reinforces the idea of freshness through the raw, uncontrived imagery, We get the idea (through the splatters and colour splashes), that these food items are exuding colour which we associate with potency, freshness and vitality.
They have obviously chosen illustrator Emma Dibben (http://www.emmadibben.com) for this style as they want to communicate these things about their product to their customer who they obviously feel strongly values freshness in their produce.
The illustrations are also quite dramatic with their vivid colours adding vibrancy and splatters creating an energetic feel as they are indexical signs of the illustrator using a quick, animated process as they look random and unintentional. The way in which Emma Dibben imbues a sense of energy and enthusiasm into these images makes them quite celebratory of the food portrayed which reflects the likely attitudes of the typical Waitrose customer who would most likely be shopping there because they value good food and are willing to pay slightly more than in LIDL, Tesco or Asda.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Innocent
As one of the brands that visually dominates the fridges of most supermarkets, Innocent are key for me to look at. Their visual language reflects their simple ethos of selling pure, healthy products which contain no added anything. The use of slightly off white paper allows the vibrant natural colours of their products to stand out and sell the product rather than resorting to gimmickry. The labels themselves are the epitomy of simple using black for the text, white background and the colour of the product for the flavour description and the mascot (the little guy with the halo).
As well as being simple and clean to suggest purity there is also an endearing, naive quality to innocent's branding. The emblem of the face with the halo is distinctly hand-drawn, it looks like it could have been knocked up in a few minutes and evokes associations with childhood scrawls and doodles. The use of the rounded type (VAG rounded) reinforces the naive, childlike feel of the innocent designs as it alludes to the colourful fridge magnet plastic letters we all used to play with as well as (this may just be me) picture books and charts.
This is an aesthetic which aims to connote purity, naivety and of course innocence and reflects innocent's identity as a personable, friendly brand, the polar opposite of say coca-cola (who have ironically just bought a stake in innocent) whose branding is slick, colourful and brash.
Innocent's branding has been aped or at least drawn upon extensively by a multitude of competitors in the healthy food and drinks market and the use of rounded sans serifs, minimal colours, clean designs has become pretty much THE visual language for products which want to appear healthy.
Although I want consumers to understand that my product is healthy and will have to heed this visual language, the absolute last thing I want to do is just mimic innocent as for one my product is completely different (but not a million miles away from their new veg pots) but also I hate the idea of just adopting the existing visual language because people will 'get it'. I think products are successful because they stand out (like innocent) and look good in their own right, if I saw an innocent wannabe next to innocent I would not pick the imitator. That said I know branding is a bit more complicated than that and that it cannot be so individual as to confuse, my mushy peas package cannot look like a pot of boot polish or a pouch of sugar coated chocolate based snack foods.
I think I will try and draw upon the principle that innocent have used successfully of letting the colour of the product do the selling. As I stated in my last blog I want the product itself to be a lush green, exuding healthiness, purity, nature and freshness. In accordance with this I'm also going to do a quick study of original source packaging as they are another brand who use this principle well.
Research:
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-Studies/All-Case-Studies/Innocent-Smoothies/
Interesting Design Council article on innocent
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-Studies/All-Case-Studies/Innocent-Smoothies/Packaging-refresh/
Design Council article on innocent focusing more on branding
As well as being simple and clean to suggest purity there is also an endearing, naive quality to innocent's branding. The emblem of the face with the halo is distinctly hand-drawn, it looks like it could have been knocked up in a few minutes and evokes associations with childhood scrawls and doodles. The use of the rounded type (VAG rounded) reinforces the naive, childlike feel of the innocent designs as it alludes to the colourful fridge magnet plastic letters we all used to play with as well as (this may just be me) picture books and charts.
This is an aesthetic which aims to connote purity, naivety and of course innocence and reflects innocent's identity as a personable, friendly brand, the polar opposite of say coca-cola (who have ironically just bought a stake in innocent) whose branding is slick, colourful and brash.
Innocent's branding has been aped or at least drawn upon extensively by a multitude of competitors in the healthy food and drinks market and the use of rounded sans serifs, minimal colours, clean designs has become pretty much THE visual language for products which want to appear healthy.
Although I want consumers to understand that my product is healthy and will have to heed this visual language, the absolute last thing I want to do is just mimic innocent as for one my product is completely different (but not a million miles away from their new veg pots) but also I hate the idea of just adopting the existing visual language because people will 'get it'. I think products are successful because they stand out (like innocent) and look good in their own right, if I saw an innocent wannabe next to innocent I would not pick the imitator. That said I know branding is a bit more complicated than that and that it cannot be so individual as to confuse, my mushy peas package cannot look like a pot of boot polish or a pouch of sugar coated chocolate based snack foods.
I think I will try and draw upon the principle that innocent have used successfully of letting the colour of the product do the selling. As I stated in my last blog I want the product itself to be a lush green, exuding healthiness, purity, nature and freshness. In accordance with this I'm also going to do a quick study of original source packaging as they are another brand who use this principle well.
Research:
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-Studies/All-Case-Studies/Innocent-Smoothies/
Interesting Design Council article on innocent
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-Studies/All-Case-Studies/Innocent-Smoothies/Packaging-refresh/
Design Council article on innocent focusing more on branding
Mushy Peas
The latest project we've been given is to rebrand a formerly popular food product which is now generally regarded as undesirable and naff. From the list of various 70's treats (lard, tapioca, fondue, rice pudding etc) I chose to try and make mushy peas more appealing. I think the main reason that mushy peas have fallen out of favour is the general trend towards foods that are fresh and unprocessed. We have all seen Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and others on T.V advocating fresh produce and, coupled with the mistrust surrounding processed foods, this has been the force behind a massive shift in attitudes towards food.
To bring mushy peas back onto the dinner-plates of Britain then, the product needs to be made fresher and more nutritious. Mushy peas are actually not made from small garden peas that we buy frozen and have on the side of various dinners. Instead garden peas are left to mature and dry out to become marrowfat peas which are then boiled down with some sodium bicarbonate to soften before salt, sugar and green food colouring are added (the product becomes a less vibrant grey-green when boiled so to make it the fluorescent green colour we associate with mushy peas they add some chemicals that are banned in most of europe, and are under a voluntary ban by alot of stores and chippies).
Now I like mushy peas but what I've just described sounds despicable so what I propose to do is move mushy peas from the tinned foods section to the fresh soups, sauces, smoothies and dips fridge in the supermarket and use fresh green peas (or frozen ones which have been defrosted since these are actually more nutritious) along with nice fresh ingredients like lemon juice, fresh herbs and olive oil that many top chefs use in their mushy pea recipes (which will preserve the peas to some degree). Hopefully, the peas would retain a lush green colour and look really nourishing and tasty as opposed to the artificial toxic glow of processed mushy peas.
They would appear in the refrigerated section with fresh dips, soups and smoothies and I will need to research some of these in order to establish the competition and also get ideas for the packaging. Brands such as Covent Garden and Innocent spring to mind instantly but I'll have a proper browse in Waitrose to see the other products I am up against. Upmarket Waitrose is really the supermarket I envisage my product being in as I anticipate the fresh produce will drive the cost of my product up to well over the 18p Asda Smart Price Mushy Peas or even the 48p Bachelors Chip Shop Style version. This is not to say it would be sold nowhere else, it's just that aiming the product at the customers of a particular store helps me to picture the type of person who would buy it.
Research:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/food/recipes/queryengine?templatestyle=refine_by_1_gg&orig_kw=&config=db&scope=recipes&page=1&pagesize=15&attrib_26=keywords&oper_26=eq&val_26_1=mushy+peas&submit=Search
BBC food mushy peas recipes
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/minty-mushy-peas-recipe/index.html
Jamie Oliver mushy peas recipe
http://www.mushypeas.co.uk/aboutpeas.html?pid=3
Lockwoods Mushy Peas website complete with 'mushy malcolm' mascot lol
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/heston_blumenthal/article631377.ece
Heston Blumenthal and his test tube mushy peas
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1633141,00.html
article on food trends in UK
To bring mushy peas back onto the dinner-plates of Britain then, the product needs to be made fresher and more nutritious. Mushy peas are actually not made from small garden peas that we buy frozen and have on the side of various dinners. Instead garden peas are left to mature and dry out to become marrowfat peas which are then boiled down with some sodium bicarbonate to soften before salt, sugar and green food colouring are added (the product becomes a less vibrant grey-green when boiled so to make it the fluorescent green colour we associate with mushy peas they add some chemicals that are banned in most of europe, and are under a voluntary ban by alot of stores and chippies).
Now I like mushy peas but what I've just described sounds despicable so what I propose to do is move mushy peas from the tinned foods section to the fresh soups, sauces, smoothies and dips fridge in the supermarket and use fresh green peas (or frozen ones which have been defrosted since these are actually more nutritious) along with nice fresh ingredients like lemon juice, fresh herbs and olive oil that many top chefs use in their mushy pea recipes (which will preserve the peas to some degree). Hopefully, the peas would retain a lush green colour and look really nourishing and tasty as opposed to the artificial toxic glow of processed mushy peas.
They would appear in the refrigerated section with fresh dips, soups and smoothies and I will need to research some of these in order to establish the competition and also get ideas for the packaging. Brands such as Covent Garden and Innocent spring to mind instantly but I'll have a proper browse in Waitrose to see the other products I am up against. Upmarket Waitrose is really the supermarket I envisage my product being in as I anticipate the fresh produce will drive the cost of my product up to well over the 18p Asda Smart Price Mushy Peas or even the 48p Bachelors Chip Shop Style version. This is not to say it would be sold nowhere else, it's just that aiming the product at the customers of a particular store helps me to picture the type of person who would buy it.
Research:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/food/recipes/queryengine?templatestyle=refine_by_1_gg&orig_kw=&config=db&scope=recipes&page=1&pagesize=15&attrib_26=keywords&oper_26=eq&val_26_1=mushy+peas&submit=Search
BBC food mushy peas recipes
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/minty-mushy-peas-recipe/index.html
Jamie Oliver mushy peas recipe
http://www.mushypeas.co.uk/aboutpeas.html?pid=3
Lockwoods Mushy Peas website complete with 'mushy malcolm' mascot lol
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/heston_blumenthal/article631377.ece
Heston Blumenthal and his test tube mushy peas
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1633141,00.html
article on food trends in UK
Monday, 19 October 2009
Debussy Research- Tony Blair Stationery
As I was first given the brief to design business papers for a celebrity the class was directed to research Lucienne Robert's designs for Tony Blair's new papers.
Roberts created these after Blair had resigned as PM as the identity for 'The Office of Tony Blair'. This is acknowledged in the visual language of the design which has a distinctly ordinary feel with the use of the slab face 'serifa' and thick bars underlining this creating an aesthetic which looks far from the formal, statesmanlike identity of a prime-minister.
I can appreciate why the project was well received, the designs handle well the step down from PM, creating an identity which is appropriately less formal (Blair is now a public speaker and does charity work so appearing approachable is key). However I'm not as amazed by it as some seem to be (it won the Wallpaper Magazine 'award for best stationery' and design critics seem to love it) it's a tight, well conceived piece of simple design but nothing more.
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/images/uploads/2008/01/february186.jpg
Friday, 16 October 2009
Internet!
After a massive ordeal getting the web at my house I am finally online, which explains the sudden flurry of posts.
If you like not being treated like a tiny human wallet by big companies, don't get your internet from Virgin, if I ever see Richard Branson I'll be having words with that man.
Debussy Research
Looking into the life of Claude Debussy was surprisingly interesting. I never had any music lessons or anything as a kid so although I don't dislike classical music I've never really paid it much attention and knew practically nothing about it. So when I picked Debussy out of the bag to design business papers for I had a few pre-conceived ideas of what the guy would be like. The image of a severe, fusty old man with a gaunt face soon disappeared when I read about how he defied the establishment by producing music that subverted rigid conventions and earned him condemnation and dismissals as 'bizarre'.
The book Modern Music: A Concise History by Paul Griffiths opens with the sentence "if modern music may be said to have had a definite beginning then it started with the flute melody the opening of the Prelude a L'apres-midi d'un faune".
So far from being irrelevant and boring Debussy was a maverick and has had a big influence on music today. On Spotify I was listening to The Album Leaf (whilst researching Debussy), an solo-ambient rock project and read on the accompanying review for the album; In a Safe Place (The Album Leaf – In a Safe Place) in which the reviewer draws parallels between the project and Debussy (weird coincidence!).
I also read; An Illustrated Guide To Composers Of Classical Music by Peter Hammond which profiled Debussy, painting a portrait of an impulsive, brash ladies man who hated routine and dubbed himself as 'the French musician' (kind of as if he was the only French musician).
I listened to the music as well and made a Spotify playlist if you want to check it out; Debussy
I enjoyed it actually, it's relaxing, refreshing and reminded me that the music I listen to makes up a very narrow section of the variety of stuff out there.
Thank You Research
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man"
I found this quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, whilst researching bees for the 'thank you' project. It outlines, pretty succinctly, why they are vital to humankind. I've also read various articles on the web about the bee situation which are linked to here;
BBC campaign to save bees
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7739798.stm
Why are europe’s bees dying?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/regions/south_west/8250136.stm
Bees ‘poisoned’ by farm chemicals
http://www.saveourbees.org.uk/index.asp
Save our bees campaign website
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-the-bees-and-the-human-race.html
Visual Research on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33211454@N04/sets/72157622460964039/
Thank you-Debussy
First thing monday morning on our first day back at uni after the huge summer holiday we were given our first brief with the crate for this scheduled on friday, I wont pretend it wasn't a shock to the system and I thought we'd probably ease into project work with a london trip or gallery visit and some fun day briefs in teams (like type and tape or something similar) before diving right into it again but I suppose that would only be putting it off and since we don't have a lot of time in this busy year it makes sense just to get straight into it.
The brief was at least a pleasant one with ample room to impose our personality on the outcome. We were invited to thank someone of our choosing using whatever visual medium we thought would convey this best. I chose to subvert the some'one' part of this brief and instead decided to thank a species. Bee populations worldwide are in a rate of decline which is quite unnerving due to the fact they pollinate one third of our food supply. They are vital to our species, Albert Einstein said that If all bees died out we would follow in 4 years. Despite this we continue to develop on their habitats, building on land where flowering plants naturally grow and use pesticides which poison them.
There are various campaigns which offer free seeds of the type of flowering plants that if planted in the garden, will turn it into a place where bees can thrive. However, these are mostly internet based and require prior knowledge of the plight of the bee in order for the eventual user of this product to research and order it. My idea is that I would Thank the bees by designing a free seed packet which outlines the situation in such a way that if it was distributed to the public (on a high street, at a stall at a festival or fair for example) the recipient would read the text on the packet and basically understand the nature of the bee situation, their importance to humankind and therefore want to do their bit by planting the seeds.
We had a crit on this project for which the packet design was unfinished. I spent a fair few hours on the illustration and didn't have time to complete the typographic design of the packet so I went into the crit with an unfinished piece of work which obviously didn't communicate or provoke the response I wanted. My feedback, consequently, wasn't brilliant and I struggled a bit to justify it and explain how it would look eventually as I find speaking to the entire class quite difficult normally never mind when I haven't done it for 5 months and have the pressure of having to say my piece in a minute.
I now have to complete this whilst managing the next brief. This is to design a range of stationary (not pencil cases, protractors and set squares but a business card, letterhead and 'with compliments' slip.) for a famous person picked at random. I got Claude Debussy who I had heard of before and knew was a French classical musician but not alot else. I have just begun research into him and he seems quite the maverick who ignored the dismissals and condemnations of the establishment and pursued his own experimental direction to become one of France's most famous sons. I listened to a few songs on spotify and instantly recognised 'Clair De Lune' (Spotify link- Debussy – Clair De Lune ) from its tranquil intro which I'm sure most people would know if they heard it.He seems like an intriguing character and I look forward to getting stuck into this project.
5 months is a long, long break
after basically half a year off I was pretty relieved to be back at uni, being independent of schedules and deadlines was brilliant for a couple of weeks but when the sun's out and the beach is a 10 minute bike ride away it's difficult to force yourself to stay indoors and work. Without a structure, keeping motivated to produce work is a struggle.
At the beginning of Summer, Me, Rich and Matt (link to blogs) had started up a project which was to simply complete a single drawing everyday and upload it to a group blog (scrawlbrawl). Collectively we found it difficult to upload something everyday and after a few days when nothing was posted, the project sort of fizzled out.
I felt disappointed with myself for not keeping the project going but I continued to try and draw whenever I had spare time and have a fair amount in my sketchbook to show for it. I also embarked on some actual projects.
One of these was a live brief which got sent out on the AIB email for gobbledegook theatre company for some flyer and poster designs for a production about a beach hut called 'the hut' which they liked and actually emailed me telling me they had narrowed it down to a choice between my design and one other person's. In the end they opted for the other designer's but assured me they would consider me for future projects so it was a constructive experience.
Another was a T-shirt design for sorted surf shop which was well received but is probably going to be used next year as they had plenty of unsold t-shirts at the moment.
I also have an ongoing project for my girlfriend's sister to create an illustrative piece based on Lymington for display in her house. For this I am working on some simple line drawings that I will screenprint onto fabric bunting.
Being able to draw purely for pleasure over the summer has helped me to realise a few things about how and what I like to draw which is the starting point for an illustrative style which I felt I've lacked so far. My aim for this year is to start working within and developing this as it's abundantly clear that Graphic designers, Illustrators, Photographers (or whatever other branch of vis com) are successful because they have a certain tone of voice, style or niche which art directors or clients feel is suitable for their product/publication/exhibition or whatever other application. To avoid a formulaic, predictable way of working is a good idea as a portfolio which looks too uniform, with each image a slight variant of the last, will not capture the attention of potential employers as well as a body of work which is clearly identifiable as my own but contains distinct pieces, memorable in their own right.
New Blog
Though last year I learnt a lot of technical, software based stuff, I felt that my illustration and drawing was kind of on the backburner and suffered a little for it. This year I want to shift my focus back onto drawing, using the experience I gained last year to improve and develop it. I'm treating this year as a new start and have redesigned this blog to underline this. If I can keep to it, this blog should be updated every two to three days, I'm going to start posting most of my web research and references for projects up as links or images on here so I don't have to waste money printing off reams of stuff which I'll discard as soon as my projects are over.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Portfolio Blog
I've decided to set up a seperate blog to showcase my work as anyone who wants to see it has to trawl through paragraphs of my ramblings to get to any imagery.
http://jamesmportfolio.blogspot.com
http://jamesmportfolio.blogspot.com
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Printing, Deadline and Stuff.
OK, so I thought I had a lot longer on this project than I do, the layout for the article has to be finished by next week for our crit and to get the most out of it, so do the illustrations (or at least some roughs) I really thought I had alot longer to research and experiment (which is a shame) but I really need to have made my mind up about the angle or point that I am trying to convey about Christian Schwartz and his interview by the end of today so that I can narrow my research down to only properly relevant stuff and quickly formulate some more focused ideas on how I will communicate this visually. I also have PPRD to consider as the deadline is on Monday as well as the mini website for flash and the live brief for sorted surf shop.
Because of the sheer amount of stuff I have to do I will need to plan my week so I'm going to write up a little timeplan on here (it's obviously not interesting to anyone else but somehow I feel that by writing up on here it is more official and will mean there's a better chance of me keeping to it.)
Tonight: Ideas and decide on the point I am making with magazine project to focus tomorrow's work
Thursday:Illustration ideas, experimentation, development (create visualised ideas to choose from).
Friday:Research into layouts (get book on layouts out of the library) layout Ideas.
Saturday:Illustration for CV.
Sunday:Go home? If yes take time to think about decisions on ideas.If no, further development. sort PPRD stuff for deadline tomorrow.
Monday:PPRD deadline, sort website.
Tuesday:Roughs of illustrations and layout made up on InDesign.
Wednesday:Crit, take into account feedback before pushing on with final designs.
Today we had a tutorial on print specifications which was quite technical and dry but nonetheless essential knowledge for me to possess as a visual communicator and will serve me well during my work placement at crossprint at home on the Isle Of Wight.
I learnt about various aspects of the printing process, including:
The process of imposition or the rearranging of pages so that they can be printed on both sides and subsequently folded so that the pages are ordered correctly. This allows for better paper economy and easier binding.
Print specifications, which include:
- The T.P.S (trimmed page size).
-Bleed.
-Extent (number of pages).
-Print spec; describes the colours needed, for example 4 back 1 (four colours one side and one on the other).
-Binding.
-Cover/jacket type and cover/jacket spec.
-Endpaper spec.
-Illustration spec.
-Price.
-Rights.
Signatures, which are a individual groups of pages folded together in one kind of, mini-booklet, in multiples of four that make up a book or magazine.
I'm sure there's some stuff I've left off but that's all I can remember at the moment.
Though I have alot on my plate at the moment, I went to visit my housemate and friend in Southampton intensive care unit after an accident which resulted in a head injury that has put him in a critical (but stable) condition. Seeing such a vibrant, enthusiastic person in that condition puts perspective on things and reminds me of the relevative importance of what I am doing and makes it seem really narcissistic to complain about my current workload.
Because of the sheer amount of stuff I have to do I will need to plan my week so I'm going to write up a little timeplan on here (it's obviously not interesting to anyone else but somehow I feel that by writing up on here it is more official and will mean there's a better chance of me keeping to it.)
Tonight: Ideas and decide on the point I am making with magazine project to focus tomorrow's work
Thursday:Illustration ideas, experimentation, development (create visualised ideas to choose from).
Friday:Research into layouts (get book on layouts out of the library) layout Ideas.
Saturday:Illustration for CV.
Sunday:Go home? If yes take time to think about decisions on ideas.If no, further development. sort PPRD stuff for deadline tomorrow.
Monday:PPRD deadline, sort website.
Tuesday:Roughs of illustrations and layout made up on InDesign.
Wednesday:Crit, take into account feedback before pushing on with final designs.
Today we had a tutorial on print specifications which was quite technical and dry but nonetheless essential knowledge for me to possess as a visual communicator and will serve me well during my work placement at crossprint at home on the Isle Of Wight.
I learnt about various aspects of the printing process, including:
The process of imposition or the rearranging of pages so that they can be printed on both sides and subsequently folded so that the pages are ordered correctly. This allows for better paper economy and easier binding.
Print specifications, which include:
- The T.P.S (trimmed page size).
-Bleed.
-Extent (number of pages).
-Print spec; describes the colours needed, for example 4 back 1 (four colours one side and one on the other).
-Binding.
-Cover/jacket type and cover/jacket spec.
-Endpaper spec.
-Illustration spec.
-Price.
-Rights.
Signatures, which are a individual groups of pages folded together in one kind of, mini-booklet, in multiples of four that make up a book or magazine.
I'm sure there's some stuff I've left off but that's all I can remember at the moment.
Though I have alot on my plate at the moment, I went to visit my housemate and friend in Southampton intensive care unit after an accident which resulted in a head injury that has put him in a critical (but stable) condition. Seeing such a vibrant, enthusiastic person in that condition puts perspective on things and reminds me of the relevative importance of what I am doing and makes it seem really narcissistic to complain about my current workload.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Magazine Project
On recieving our brief for the magazine project today I was buoyed by the fact that there is an emphasis on illustration as well as typographic design. Although it is inevitable that a large proportion of the work I do as a visual communicator will, at some stage, involve a computer, after 10 hour stints in front of a screen for flash, it is refreshing to have the opportunity to do some hand rendered stuff. The main outcome of the new brief is a four page illustrated magazine spread of a transcribed interview of a type designer on Typeradio.com. As I said in my last post I want to break out of my rigid routine of combing the internet for illustrators and writing at length about their work for my research as I don't think it is conducive to the creation of innovative, laterally thought out work. I will instead, make my first port of call the library to take out relevant books and any films which link in to the subject and use the internet as a backup resource. Also after not really doing much drawing for a while I want to make sure my drawing does not atrophy any further (I'm pretty sure it will have suffered for my lack of practice for a while) and instead of merely creating one illustration for my final piece I will try and illustrate and experiment visually with all my ideas. I hope this is not just the initial burst of enthusiasm that comes with a new brief and that I fulfil these aims and am still this optimistic by the next time I update this blog.....
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Flash+planning
After handing in our Flash animation projects yesterday I need to shift my focus onto the remaining course units and other self initiated projects and live briefs I intend to do. I have to begin to think about the upcoming magazine project, the 5 page website for the ABC qualification, securing my placement, creating a designed CV and doing a class project to try and get a third year for vis-com.
After two successive projects in which I felt played it a bit safe in creating my final images I feel I could push my work by taking a more experimental approach involving more risk-taking and lateral thought.
Deciding to adopt a more adventurous way of working was partly influenced by a timely blog post by one of today's most successful illustrators David Foldvari who fervently rails against the process of students referencing and researching contemporary illustrator's work as it homogenises the output of the student. This struck a chord with me as I know I probably focus on other people's work too much which, inevitably cause me to voluntarily or involuntarily produce similar work. I will therefore make a point of, in future projects, increasing my breadth of research to more diverse material than just other vis com.
As I mentioned earlier in this post I have just finished my flash project. The brief dictated that we had to communicate a statistic. I chose to create an animation based on the story of Roy Sullivan, a park ranger in America who was struck by lightning seven times and the odds of this happening. Although I don't think the final piece was the best example of my work I think the emphasis in this project was more on learning new skills on a new piece of software and creating something which met the brief and feel that I have done this and can now build upon what I have learnt. I will embed the animation on this page as soon as I find out how!
After two successive projects in which I felt played it a bit safe in creating my final images I feel I could push my work by taking a more experimental approach involving more risk-taking and lateral thought.
Deciding to adopt a more adventurous way of working was partly influenced by a timely blog post by one of today's most successful illustrators David Foldvari who fervently rails against the process of students referencing and researching contemporary illustrator's work as it homogenises the output of the student. This struck a chord with me as I know I probably focus on other people's work too much which, inevitably cause me to voluntarily or involuntarily produce similar work. I will therefore make a point of, in future projects, increasing my breadth of research to more diverse material than just other vis com.
As I mentioned earlier in this post I have just finished my flash project. The brief dictated that we had to communicate a statistic. I chose to create an animation based on the story of Roy Sullivan, a park ranger in America who was struck by lightning seven times and the odds of this happening. Although I don't think the final piece was the best example of my work I think the emphasis in this project was more on learning new skills on a new piece of software and creating something which met the brief and feel that I have done this and can now build upon what I have learnt. I will embed the animation on this page as soon as I find out how!
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Flash project research
This week we were given the task to create a 30-90 second flash video on the subject of statistics. Since the deadline for this project is quite tight (we have only one month to learn how to use flash, develop our storyboard and create the animation) I had to make a decision on the subject for my statistics pretty quickly. I have chosen to create an animation on the story of Roy sullivan- a West Virginian park ranger who was struck by lightning seven times on seperate occasions (the odds of this happening are reported to be 16,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 - sixteen septillion to one.) I have begun my research into motion graphics and animation and have found some really inspiring stuff. Links are below and make sure you watch Johnny Kelly's Procrastination embedded in this post.
David Foldvari animation for BBC Today programme:
http://www.whynotassociates.com/en/bbc_today/movie2.php
I Met The Walrus- illustrated John Lennon Interview.Really good visual metaphor:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jmR0V6s3NKk
The Seed, cute, contemporary animation directed by Johnny Kelly with paper models by Elin Svensson:
interviewhttp://www.nexusproductions.com/938/the_seed.mov
sweet animation My first crush by Julia Pott:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fY4Epc2XSGc
nice animation on post-it notes reflecting on the life of the illustrator:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7IeSqVboADw
illustrated American advert for Key Bank:
http://www.d-kitchen.com/video_popup.php?p=127
atmospheric opening credits for The company:
http://www.d-kitchen.com/video_popup.php?p=99
These aren't that relevant but I stumbled accross them in my research and are brilliant.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FgBUqJzgvBo -akqa
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NlMYWuGUZlM
David Foldvari animation for BBC Today programme:
http://www.whynotassociates.com/en/bbc_today/movie2.php
I Met The Walrus- illustrated John Lennon Interview.Really good visual metaphor:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jmR0V6s3NKk
The Seed, cute, contemporary animation directed by Johnny Kelly with paper models by Elin Svensson:
interviewhttp://www.nexusproductions.com/938/the_seed.mov
sweet animation My first crush by Julia Pott:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fY4Epc2XSGc
nice animation on post-it notes reflecting on the life of the illustrator:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7IeSqVboADw
illustrated American advert for Key Bank:
http://www.d-kitchen.com/video_popup.php?p=127
atmospheric opening credits for The company:
http://www.d-kitchen.com/video_popup.php?p=99
These aren't that relevant but I stumbled accross them in my research and are brilliant.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FgBUqJzgvBo -akqa
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NlMYWuGUZlM
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Amnesty International Project
(images best viewed in large size)
Above is one of the final outcomes for the amnesty international project, a poster for an adshel bus shelter aimed at encouraging a young audience to support the human rights organisation. My campaign was based around the slogan 'between human rights and wrong there are no shades of grey' which I think reflects amnesty's character as an apolitical organisation whose sole objective is ensuring that every person is guaranteed all the freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights. I therefore chose to highlight the 'grey areas' that exist where the perception of the perpetrators of human rights abuses are skewed by other factors such as Channel Four allowing President Ahmedinajad (who as the copy says leads a regime which executed children but also calls for the annihalation of Israel and the execution of all homosexuals) to deliver their alternative christmas message. These grey areas are illustrated in grey with the black and white pattern surrounding used figuratively to represent 'human rights' and 'wrong' (referring to the copy).
The organisation also has earned an unfair reputation as a group of politically correct, granola-eating interlopers who stop criminals being punished and illegal immigrants being deported when, in fact, they do a great deal of worthwhile work around the world to improve the dire treatment of people in countries' where citizens do not enjoy the same liberties as we do in the U.K. This perception necessitated a bold, punchy and urgent campaign to distance amnesty from their hippyish image, which influenced the use of the pattern of triangles (with their allusions to warning signs) and eye-catching combination of vibrant yellow and black.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Amnesty Project Crit
Today we had a critique of some of the final ideas for our amnesty international posters. I received mixed feedback on the two ideas I presented as the tutors seemed to like the general concepts and ideas but raised questions as to whether they might fail to communicate with certain demographics, whether my copylines were constructed with enough clarity and suggested some potential tweaks and amendments that I could make. I have taken these comments into account and have decided that, before I embark on choosing which idea I will execute as my final piece, I will develop and experiment with both in order to ascertain the potential of each.
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