Ways of presentation - Studio brief 2 (OUGD405)

I now have 2 quite solid ideas for this brief, but part of the brief is the 2 minute presentation to be created on the topic.

Ways to present

• Pdf/powerpoint presentation
• Video/animation
• Leaflet/editorial
• Poster
• Flash cards
• Design boards 

I think doing a PDF digital presentation could be the easiest way to present for this brief. But I like the idea of doing more of a challenge. I think creating a leaflet/editorial could be really fun and interesting. Id have to make sure the pages and text would be large so I could stand and read from it. I could also create a few to be handed out so people could look through whilst I present. I find physical presentations much more engaging than digital ones, something you can hold and touch is much more interesting to me.

For inspiration of an overall style for the presentation I looked at editorial design. I found this image above that I like because of the colour scheme. The white, black and salmon pink colours are really appealing to me. I also like the use of contrasting bold and light weight fonts, its very attractive and could inspire my design. 

I really liked this editorial design because the massive amount of negative space is really attractive. I love the minimal look and it means you have to keep it to the main points and don't end up going off on a tangent. The serif font is interesting but not overly decorative so it keeps up the minimal look.

Rather than the overall aesthetic of this design being inspiring to me it was the hand drawn type that caught my eye. I would love to experiment with creating the titles for my design in this style. 

I found this image of a duo tone style double spread. The blue duo tone image matches the text colour and looks really simple and effective. I could use this style for the antique shop idea in particular and it could look really effective. 

If I was to go with the Egon Schiele idea for this project I could take swatches like you can see above from his artwork to create a colour pallet for the rest of the design to make sure its compatible and complementary.  

I have decided to go with the Egon Schiele concept for this project as I did some research into antique shops in the area id realistically be able to explore and there isnt that many interesting ones, most are quite run down and just seem like regular charity shops. If I had the transport to explore a larger area the other idea could of been great. 

Ideas process - Studio brief 2 (OUGD405)

I thought the easiest way to develop my ideas was to use my original list of things im passionate about and come up with obvious solutions.

Something I am passionate about is food and cooking, a way this could relate to 100 is the 100's of strangely shaped vegetables out there and how they fascinate people, I think its quite an interesting topic as it all links in with things like food wastage and hunger.

Next was art, which is such a general subject. One of my favourite artists is Egon Schiele, he is such an insanely interesting person to read about as he completely pushed boundaries with his work, it even lead to his imprisonment. This could be a really solid idea as I could use his massive collection of portraits of people nude as the subject and there is so many interesting facts and opinions I could find on him.

Next geometry, as a subject related to collections this could be pretty hard to do. I think I would find it really interesting but it wouldn't be to everyones taste.

Well directed film, its a great passion of mine but it seems like a rather self opinionated topic as not everyone would agree with what films are good. So I wont take this idea any further.

Vintage items, I think this could be a really interesting subject! People collect old items all the time and theres loads of shops that are dedicated to antiques. I could even do a collection of photographs of quirky places that have collections of antiques and some of the things I find within them which could be really really interesting. 

General design, as a topic for this I wanted to avoid design as people say a designer that does work about design is a boring person.

Lastly social science, this is a topic I enjoy reading about but isn't a topic I feel could relate to the concept very well.

So my first solid idea for this brief is to do it on Egon Schiele and his massive collection of portraits of people masturbating in particular. Its a topic that got him arrested at the time as people had never publicly drawn and displayed such images and its still a huge taboo in modern day society. There is so much interesting information I could find on this topic to present to people.

And my second idea is to take photos of the exteriors, interiors and quirky items found in antique shops local to me. I could use facts about these shops or certain items possibly sold in some of them. And im sure it would be easy to find opinions on this topic.

100 -Studio Brief 02 - Design Process - Research (OUGD405)

For this brief we have a concept of '100', working with this idea we need to collect, research and record a body of work to do with a certain thing. The idea for the research point could come from our own passions, interests and opinions. The idea is to show our creative voice and opinions in real things within the creative industry. The final for this brief must consist of 20 facts, 20 opinions, 20 words, 20 statistics and 20 photographs put together into a 2 minute presentation.

Initial ideas

I am passionate about, music (live and vinyl), home cooking (cultured), art (specific artists), graphic design, geometry, well directed film (foreign film, baz luhrmann), vintage items (typewriters), design in general (architecture, clothes, interior), social science.

It was suggested we could document a collection of something that exists, either our own or someone elses? I have a personal vinyl collection but I thought it seemed overdone and too obvious. 

I decided for inspiration and maybe just a bit of a laugh to look at some strange collections other people have.

This is someones disgusting navel fluff collection. Its not inspiring my own collection but it shows people collect some really bizarre things.

A girl called Becky Martz has a collection of more than 7000 banana labels which is insane! In high school my art teacher actually collected fruit labels and stuck them allover his desk so its something thats not rare. I love the tacky design of these labels, the garish colours are so interesting. 

I saw this collection of fortune cookie slips which I thought was really cute. I love little notes and things from people saying nice things, theres nothing more heartwarming.

Vinyl frames (OUGD405)

I had already created my design for the 12 inch vinyl frame and next I wanted to continue the same theme but for 10 and 7 inch frames.

For this design I used similar imagery so they could work as a set but cut parts of each vinyl out so they made up 'Urban Outfitters', I wanted to create a really messy kind of collage look as it goes pretty well with the quirky indie brand of the shop. 

And lastly because the 7 inch frame would be a lot smaller I decided to just use one vinyl and section it out on photoshop to make it look like it was shattered. I also added a texture on top of it to make it look worn and the fade so it worked with the other two designs. I think this is my favourite out of the three designs and I am considering doing some more similar ones and seeing if they might look better in place of the others.

Photo frame production (OUGD405)

I was feeling pretty stuck for ideas so I asked some people for their advice on my ideas so far. It was suggested I look at the word organic. I did a mind map and came up with the idea of possibly creating patterns with vegetables.

This is my first attempt at creating a pattern but it just didn't look good at all, I didn't have the right things or ways of photographing it.

I decided to create my images for Urban Outfitters frames and I tried the initials in vegetables but it still looked rubbish.

I then moved on to creating the words out of things I could find around the house like the experiment above made from sticky notes.

So to do some further research I went to the Leeds Urban Outfitters store and saw that they sold vinyls which is something I am personally really interested in.

The best thing was they also sold photo frames for displaying vinyls. This gave me the idea I could create the backing paper for these as its something im interested in!

I started out by photographing the most interesting looking vinyls in my personal collection. I then used Photoshop to edit out the backgrounds so they could be moved around onto a clean white one instead.

Once I had all the vinyls with transparent backgrounds and easy to move around I had a lot to play around with composition wise. 

But first I wanted to give the vinyls more of an edgy and 'grunge' look to them to show the style of the shop. I used photoshop to fade the saturation and contrast to make them paler and I think this vintage look is effective for the style.

Above is my first final outcome. I reduced the faded look a little so the vinyls stood out. I added the text urban outfitters in between them, the text isn't very legible which I don't think is a bad thing as it shows the quirkiness and strength of the brand. I also included the size of the frame at the bottom (made for a 12inch vinyl).

I also played around with adding a texture and using overlay on Photoshop but it reduced the fade and was less effective than the other design. I decided for the other two designs I could make them for 10inch and 7inch vinyls.

Further photo frame research (OUGD405)

So far I had looked into photo frames from random shops, I wanted to also look at shops I actually liked myself so possibly the target audience would be younger people and more direct, this way I could possibly have more fun with the designs.

I looked at Urban Outfitters, they used interesting type and pattern for this design which I really like, its simple and attractive to a younger audience definately. I could try something using simple pattern and maybe use photographs as textures?

This is a design I particularly liked, the really random pattern caught my eye instantly, it could be great to do something similar.

This is another Urban Outfitters design I really liked, I loved the silhouette idea and its definately something I could easily apply to photography.

The next place I looked at was Laura Ashley, they used really subtle colours and beautiful floral patterns, It could be interesting to try draw my own pattern?

Next Paperchase, this design I liked the really intricate and simple geometric design, it reminded me of cosmic star chart designs. This lead to me thinking I could photograph the sky and possibly overlay patterns like this.

Photoshop tutorial (OUGD405)

As an introduction to Photoshop we were asked to create a film poster using photography and manipulating it. I wanted to try the mini planet photomanipulation out to see how successful it would look for the rest of the brief. I thought the most appropriate film for this would be Inception as its all about miniature dreamscapes. 

I found a perfect 360 panorama of a big city similar to the type you see a lot in the film. I followed an online tutorial and created this effect. Afterwards the image was square and the clouds were blurred so I used a second image and a layer mask to create a neater cloud effect around the edge and giving me some space for text.

Next I wanted it too look more moody and dark so I adjusted the brightness and contrast which looks much more appropriate. I also made it portait as most film posters are traditionally this format so it looks more professional.

This is my final poster design, I used Gotham book font as its the one used on the actual film posters and thought it was nice and bold. Also similar to their posters I increased the tracking as it looks much more bold and in your face. I added a drop shadow as I found it hard to find a colour for the font without it looking to high contrast or blending in. Overall I am happy with this and using Photoshop in this way taught me a load of new techniques. I definitely think I will experiment with this technique further for this brief.

Frame shape idea generation (OUGD405)

I decided to take a look at the kind of images you see in existing photo frames for an idea of the general style and any themes.

This example is from John Lewis. I really love the simplistic design with the beautiful quote inside. The typeface used is really light and peaceful looking. I could experiment with the idea of using quotes and photography together for my images. This also includes the dimension information and name of the store which I should also include on my design.

This is another of John Lewis' designs. Its really minimal and attractive, appealing to people with similar style in interior design. I love the idea of the circles within the rectangle shape. I could incorporate this idea within photography.

I created this quick mock up on photoshop of how I could incorporate the circle shape and photography to give an interesting and minimal aesthetic. I can do this with photography of nature, buildings and possibly even people.

This example shows your really typical overly happy family photo displayed in the frame which you see all to often and is something I want to avoid at all costs.

Another typical image you tend to see in photo frames is landscapes. It would be interesting to try find a way of making this idea more interesting and more to do with shape.

I came across a really interesting method of photomanipulation called small planet photography. The method needed a 360 degree panoramic then uses photoshop to create this effect. I think this takes boring and typical landscape photography and completely transforms it. This also creates brilliant circle based shapes and would be an effective idea to try and incorporate into my designs.

Looking at the theme ideas I came up with a few ideas for designs. 

My first idea was to find flowers and scan or photograph them to then manipulate into shapes or words in photoshop. I then realised this time of year there is an abundance of flowers so I collected some leaves with variation in colour that I will later scan and play around with digitally. I had ideas about a double exposure style type image.

Another idea was that if you chose a frame with no edges you could create a backing image that spread out of the frames edges and 'break the rules' this could be a really interesting concept. 

Another theme was geometry, I love geometrical pattern and it could be great to somehow incorporate this with photography and possibly even nature? Maybe create some patterns out of things I find on the floor (twigs, leaves?).

This is a quick mock up I created on Photoshop I did by manipulating images of the same leaves. But I could create an image like this physically maybe and try photographing it? 

OUGD405 - Collect, categorise, communicate

OUGD405 is the new module, the hand in date is the 19th of January at 2pm

An initial aim I have set for myself in this module is to do each design board as I go along to avoid a big stress at the end like last time. 

Studio brief 1- Design process- frame shape (Photoshop) OUGD405

This brief is to reimagine the backing paper you see in photo frames. 

We need to design 3 images that work as a set and can be different dimensions to each other to change it around.

The concept should be based on the idea of shape.

I will need to think about the target audience I am designing for (Wilkos frame would differ from Harvey Nichols.)

Explore a range of concepts and themes.

Look at different types of frame and their current images.

Choose a theme.

Choose 3 specific formats and dimensions

Do design board! 

The deadline is 5th December, 9.30

Possible themes could be-

• shape
• nature
• geometry
• time
• universal
• contradiction
• family
• tradition
• organics
• memory

The point of this brief is to explore the use of photography and Photoshop so I will need to include this in my final images.

Module evaluation (OUGD403)

This module has been a really great start to the course. I loved that we started with a type based brief as its an area I really wanted to explore further. The first brief Alphabet Soup was really good as it gave me chance to experiment with my drawing skills and imagination. The second brief challenged my Illustrator skills and I learnt a lot in the workshops which will be helpful in the future. It was great to design my very own typeface as its not something I thought id ever be able to do. Also the final poster prints for the brief looked really good and it was satisfying to see the typeface displayed well. The third brief was just research which isn't the most fun thing but it only lasted a week and it was challenging trying to perfect my folded leaflet I designed to present what I found. The fourth brief was the one I found the most challenging as posters are something you'd expect to be easy but original ideas were really hard to come up with. I particularly found the image only poster hard to come up with ideas for as i'm use to using type to help communicate a message but it was a good challenge. Using the vinyl cutting machine was a new experience for me and the result was really effective and I will definately be using it again in the future. One thing that went wrong in brief 3 was the ink on the leaflet kept falling away but I solved it by changing the colour and using the black and white printer instead. I also had problems with the placement of the text but after some prototypes I perfected it. This showed me the importance of doing test prints before final ones to save myself money in future projects.

Overall this module has been extremely challenging as the workload has been hard as my timekeeping needs to improve. Next module I will aim to keep on top of all of my blog work so I don't end up having loads to do by the end of each week. The crits were good as I enjoy looking at other peoples work but I wish people would maybe give me more constructive criticism as sometimes I came away from them feeling not helped. I am happy with the final pieces I have designed and the typeface is my favourite as it seems like a big achievement and looks great. I am enjoying the course so far and look forward to the next module. The only bad thing was the amount of money I managed to spend on printing which I will have to get use to and account for next time. Im really glad that the course is quite challenging as it helps me push myself further in my practice and will make me improve. For the next module I will do each design board after I finish each brief to make it less of a panic at the end, I will also make sure my attendance stays at a good level as I don't want to miss out on anything this year.

Typeface posters - vector type OUGD403

The deliverables of the vector type brief included some a3 posters presenting our typefaces, we needed to print them in the digital print room with the inkjet printers.

I did three posters in total one with a sentence using every letter, one with the regular typeface and one of the bold. I also created two smaller designs showing how it could be used in context. I chose to do them white on black as it looked really high contrast and grabs you instantly. I printed them on matte card so they look high class and the type of thing you'd expect to see from a reliable and big font company. I thought the printed finals looked way more amazing than the digital versions.

This close up photo shows how cleanly all the lines printed which I was really happy with.

I also printed out my grid onto tracing paper so it could be placed over my letters. But I created it using grids on Illustrator so the print was a screen shot and very low quality so it doesn't look good. But in the production of my typeface I didn't really use my grid so it just shows the idea really.

Final posters - message and delivery OUGD403

This is my final type only poster. I printed this on matte card as I think its a high quality and class looking finish. The colours came out really bright and bold so it really stands out and grabs your attention. I think this poster is successful in showing the extreme pushy ways charity trys to get you to donate your organs, I really wanted to do something controversial that would spark conversation. It is also still promotion for the cause as I originally intended.

This is the second poster I printed, but I have decided I wont be using it as one of my final three as the images were jpegs and came out slightly pixelated so I prefer my alternative design.

Instead this is the type and image final poster. I love the hypnotic pattern that is enhanced by the bright colours due to high quality printing. I also printed this one on matte card for a clean finish. 

For my third poster I did I decided to create a window sticker. I began with matte black vinyl to make a silhouette look to the image. I then decided it could look better in red as its the actual colour of the heart transplant logo. I decided the red was best in the end but it was good to have the black left over to show the process. 

This is my final poster/sticker actually applied. It looks really effective in the environment, you could place them in tourist attractions on windows looking out onto picturesque views and this would definitely capture peoples attention. 

Overall I am really happy with the final posters as the print finishes are so clean and accurate so they look very bold and in your face which is what I wanted. 

Image only poster (OUGD403)

I found out the cutting machine at university only cuts vinyl not paper. Which is not my original idea but I think it could still be really effective designing a poster made for windows rather than walls. I also have decided to go with the same idea of a child being the focus of this poster but I want it to be much more simple than the first design.

So this is my newer and much simpler version. I think the simplified version will be much bolder and stand out a lot more as a serious poster. I also decided to up the guilt idea and made the main figure of the poster a baby. I added the heart donation logo also to make the message more clear as I think its quite a recognisable logo.