To help me kick start the project I decided to ask Roxxie a
set of given questions, I didn’t feel that this was sufficient information for
me too start researching so I decided to from this ask a series of question,
from this point I drew up spider diagrams which I then identified areas that I
could route down. Gathering and gaining knowledge on her personality I decided
to start developing some letterforms based on her most preferred typeface: Gill
Sans, in order to produce a set of type that reflected my partners personality
I decided to experiment in the developmental stages by combining influences
from artists/designers that she mentioned to find inspirational along with including
other elements of her personal interest. As I was absent for the power critique
where we were suppose to discuss our research decided to approach my partner
and discuss the resources I had gathered over the research period. From this
point onwards I had decided that the basis of the type should be created from
the negatives of the Gill Sans typeface in order to maintain a formal bodily
structure and to then from here onwards added hand rendered detail focusing on
influences from Jessica Hische and my partners love for body art (tattoos and
piercings).
OUTCOME:
A1 poster
Name badge
CRITIQUE:
After producing my final piece we were asked to present our typeface to a group in a critique, whilst presenting our final piece we gave an explanation of how we had come to chose that this particular design represented our partners, as you can see from the text above I have outlined the approach that I took to the brief and the design decisions I had made and presented to the group in this critique. Below are some images of my groups work including mine and my partners.
(Entire groups final pieces prepared for critique)
(My final piece above along with my partners final piece below-to the right hand side)
After presenting my final piece in the critique I gained feedback upon my design from tutors and also my peers within the group, the feedback that I received was fairly positive however I also received some constructive criticism about the improvements I could make to the design or certain characters/glyphs within the set.
FEEDBACK:
The negatives used form Gill Sans typeface works well.
Characters are very powerful as a set.
The A1 sheet works a lot better as a set than the name badge.
Quiet like the type fairly compact on the name badge however maybe leave on a straight line with an equal distance between each character instead of skewing them off-centre.
Following the lecture 'What is graphic design'-part 2 we identified five categories of which graphic design could be dissected into, these categories consisted of: function, context/design, tone of voice, message/concept and scale. As you can see from my notes below we developed a greater understanding of the format the graphic design content could be delivered in under each heading, e.g. function- advertising - does the piece of graphic design inform, educate.
Following up this lecture we were asked to collate a range of examples of graphic design based on the categories listed above.
CONTEXT - identify a range of examples of Graphic Design appearing in different design contexts.
This piece of info-graphic design has been created by a student that studies graphic design, I found their approach to the piece interesting. As you can see the body within the figure is covered in body art however the content of the body art (tattoos) is depicting all of the negatives of choosing to get a tattoo. The statistics tattoo'ed onto the male figure are reflective the American population, I feel that the designer has taken an interesting approach to the piece by contrasting the content of the information with the action that it is promoting to present.
This concept design billboard was exhibited in Houston & Lafayette in SoHo, directed by Stefan Sagmeister. As we can see taking a first look at the billboard it looks fairly abstract however once the installation revolved the composition changes to create the words 'We are allworkers', there is a sense of unity that is being conveyed along with Levi's subtly (but cleverly) promoting there brand which has originated from tradtional workers-denim to fashionable casual wear.
I have found this illustrative piece which is promoting McDonalds as a fast food restaurant and promoting the London 2012 Olympic games. I think that this piece is very ironic and hypocritical in a sense, associating a fast food chain with a worldwide athletic event just does not make any sense at all! In my personal opinion I feel this piece of advertising is strongly contradictory and in essence baffles me. Having a company that creates obesity sponsor an event that promoted health and fitness just doesn't seem right in its nature, I feel that the content and context of this piece is worthy of being categories under this context heading as it is interesting that society is accepting of this advertisement.
In this billboard advert promoting the brand Abercrombie & Fitch we can see the designer has taken a very simplistic approach to the way that they structured and composed the content on the billboard. They have aligned the brand name to the right hand side of the billboard using the typeface which they have used since the birth of the brand to create an identity, to the far left of the billboard the use of a male figure seems to be there U.S.P (unique selling point), as we can see this photograph seems to be giving a connotation of over-sexualising to the audience, raising an level of controversy to some members of the audience. It is interesting how over time advertising has become progressively sexualised and how the norms and values within society have changed and adapted to the acceptance of this within advertising.
http://www.davidfoldvari.co.uk/Site/bgdd.html
David Foldvari- bbgd - In this piece Foldvari has illustrated soldiers fighting within a battle scene in Baghdad, he has used black ink to create a disorientated atmosphere within the piece in order to represent the battle scene as clearly as possible during the action. I feel this piece has many different emotions spiralling off from it one of them being anger and violence another being sorrow and pity for the loose of lives.
TONE OF VOICE - Identify a range of examples communicating different types of messages/ideas/concepts.
Nigel Malone - This info graphic by Nigel Malone seems very emotive in the way it is presenting the information. This bravity and emotiveness is created by the content of the text which in essence talks about Indian & Bolivian women education themselves to save there poor villages and towns. The use of a dark spectrum of colours reflects this emotiveness, along with there being light/lamp to the far right hand side which is mentioned in the text. Malone ha really focused his energy on connoting the dark side of poverty and the determination and of those within it to survive and work to live and get themselves out of it. The use of hand written makes the text seems more personal as if its physically being written by the women and being told directly to YOU as the audience.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/FCUK/1211651
This image by Chris Dale is an advertising piece for the brand 'FCUK', although the tone of voice is not obvious and straight forward within this piece I feel that if you look closely this company seems to be promoting themselves by sexualising there images. This tone of voice is distinguished through the facial expression of the female which is directed into the camera, she seems to have a blunt expression similar to the way the models in perfume/fragrance adverts look in this day and age. Although this tone of voice is being portrayed the designer has mellowed this portrayal down by placing the 'FCUK' banner over the right of the female, however the opacity has been reduced in order for the audience to be revealed to the female in a distorted vision.
Deleram Rosami - As we can see this piece by Rosami touches on political and social issues within the country of Iran. The piece is reflects of the lack of basic human rights that women receive within the country, the lack of equality and the fight for humanity. Rosami has reflected this lack of human rights for females by covering the face of the female with type, this type has been positioned in an interesting manner, it covers the females face and reaches out to the audience almost as if the truce face that should be there is too afraid to speak the words. Rosami has almost illustrated the female holding the Iranian flag, despite the controversy the female seems to be holding the flag with graciousness and pride, there is a sense of braveity reflected from this to the audience. The poster is reaching out to the audience and prospering change and retrieval of these human rights.
As you can see the tone of voice that this magazine reflects is fairly informative yet playful in its own nature. Although there is a editorial formality to the way the type has been positioned at the top to represent the name of the magazine I feel that this piece has ventured out ad broken the boundaries of the typical editorial grid system layout, however the cover still maintains and entices the audience through the composition and use of colour.
A very controversial piece of design, however and effective way of raising awareness about germs around the house and in our daily lives , promoting hygiene and cleanliness. As you can see although this is an image rather than piece of graphic design I felt that it was important as the tone of voice is controversial, informative and educational in some aspect.
SCALE: Identify a range of examples of Graphic Design produced at different scales/places.
Stefan Sagmeister- One of industries most directonal designers has created this installation piece 'to look' over a tranquil and atmospheric skyline. Clearly Sagmeister has decided to increase the scale of his work similar to a fair few other pieces of his work. As we can see the content of the typography which has been used within the the piece is a clear reflection of the environmental location he is presenting in the background.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Crap-Typo/246743
Peter John van de Riet - A interesting piece of design by van de Riet, the designers philosophy when creating type is to 'take one long piece of material and make letters by endlessly folding the material. As we can see I think the approach to this piece is interesting the designer has clearly and intentionally portrayed a fairly metaphoric message in a vulgarly manner.
“Mobile M+: Yau Ma Tei” is the first in a series of pre-opening “nomadic” exhibitions curated by M+, the new museum for visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District. It marks the beginning of the museum’s venture to explore different possibilities of engaging the public without the presence of a building – planned for completion in late 2017.''
As we can see this piece of graphic design is on a smaller scale in comparison to the other pieces that I have chosen above. The main focus within this small design is the typographic content which has been located to the right hand side on the bottle cap, the use of two primary colours (red and blue) works in accordance with the silver background and the refreshing droplets of water which connote the cold climate.
http://www.designworklife.com/page/2/
''Two Arms recently created these beautiful typographic business cards for Expert Americana Tattooing, a Brooklyn-based tattoo artist.''
Clearly this piece of design has been created purely to advertise the companies brand, the company itself deliver a tattoo'ing service, as we can see the business card has a vast amount of various typographic letterforms, this promotes the businesses versatile application of 'fonts' as a form of body art along with marketing the company name and brand. Although the business card is not on a huge scale or small scale I feel that the size of the actual card operates well as a piece of design and communicates the underlying message.
MESSAGE/CONCEPT- Identify a range of examples of graphic design communicating different messages/concepts.
Aizone FW12- I feel that this piece of design by Jessica Walsh touches the audience in an emotive manner through the use of typography and language. The message being portrayed through the fluid positioning of the material that constructs the basic letterforms is inspirational and touching in a manner, the use of contrasting black and white reflects this sense of purity and inner reflection of the embracement of the 'change'.
As we can see this other piece by Jessica Walsh seems to be touching the audience in a emotive manner as well. However this piece seems a lot more busier in a sense. This is due to the inputting of 'bubble' type objects which have been dotted around the room, from one aspect these 'bubbles' could be the personification of 'goodness' which is represented the in the type thus communicating the message in a subliminal manner as well as a practical manner.
Conservative print design - This piece of print design is communicating to the audience very definitely that their political party cares and concerns for social equality and maintains responsibility for these people on their behalf. I think its interesting the way that the designer has applied these primary colours in accordance to the consistent colours that are representative of the political party.
This piece of graphic design clearly pin points the its political element and the perspective/opinion of the designer who has produced it, the use of a double exposure image along with the block of compact typography. The message is clear and concise within the image, with a bold vision of opinion.
London 2012 info graphic - This info graphic cover design clearly touches on a cultural and social subject area, this being a worldwide sporting event that most countries are involved within. I think that the message/concept of the design is reflective of itself in terms of the stats and formality within the construction and layout.
FUNCTION - Identify a range of examples of Graphic Design producing different functions.
As we can see this is an interesting piece of graphic/editorial design, the main concept and objective f the piece is to present editorial content within it however to make the design aesthetically pleasing and unique in comparison to other magazines on stands the designers have created this bag-type of finish to the piece.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/COLORLESS/342938
''Eco friendly package proposal
A convex logo substitutes colorfully sprayed can. Naked can help to reduce air and water pollution occurred in its coloring process. It also reduces energy and effort to separate toxic color paint from aluminum in recycling process. Huge amount of energy and paint required to manufacture colored cans will be saved.Instead of toxic paint, manufacturers process aluminum with a pressing machine that indicates brand identity on surface. ''
I personally feel that this piece of graphic design has been produced to inspire and raise awareness of the paths that people choose to follow in life whether this maybe relating to peoples careers or whether it may be related to ambitions or personal goals in life.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/QR-Codes/5142631
The main purpose/function of this piece is to firstly make the standard QR code more aesthically pleasing to the eye and secondly to lead people to further information on a certain topic/area/issue/information. In comparison to the usual black and white design this designer has decided to input colour in particular places to excite the design however has maintained the characteristics and bodily structure of the standard code.
We were invited to take part in typography art exhibition What's Your Type? which took place in Soho Factory, Warsaw, Poland. More than twenty participating artists were presented on an exhibition space of approximately 1000 m2. The installation was created using 62m (200 feet) of different types of wires found during cleaning out the old studio. Our main task was to use the word "SOHO" and place it in the gallery space.
main purpose: To inform the audience about the exhibition.
After conducting
research into different letterforms of the alphabet using the word 'expand' I
decided to start developing my chosen characters using the letters 'A
B,C,D,E,V,W,X,Y,Z’ within a sketchbook. I decided to select one out of the 30
designs from my initial summer research as the foundation of my design; from
this point onwards I developed the chosen character based on either altering
the scale (height), scope (perspective), volume, enlargement of the actual
character. As you can see the development in my sketchbook is fairly rough and
some designs are thumbnail-like, I find it easier to sketch my designs and
thoughts and then refine them in terms if there measurement and clarity.
WHAT WORKED & WHAT DIDN'T
After conducting
research into different letterforms of the alphabet using the word 'expand' I
decided to start developing my chosen characters using the letters 'A
B,C,D,E,V,W,X,Y,Z’ within a sketchbook. I decided to select one out of the 30
designs from my initial summer research as the foundation of my design; from
this point onwards I developed the chosen character based on either altering
the scale (height), scope (perspective), volume, enlargement of the actual
character. As you can see the development in my sketchbook is fairly rough and
some designs are thumbnail-like, I find it easier to sketch my designs and
thoughts and then refine them in terms if there measurement and clarity.
For the character ‘C’ I started with a
fairly simplistic character, fairly block and neat. However after developing
the ‘C’ I moved onto this quirky and hand drawn approach, After developing it
with black ink and a white background I decided to inverse it and use white ink
on a black background as you can see the definition of the lines are much more aseptically
pleasing and the design works a lot better on the black background.
When developing the letter ‘E’ I found it
fairly difficult make the character look interesting without confusing the
audience by layering the character up. For this reason I decided to adjust the
perspective of the piece rather than developing its 3-dimensional aspect. I
found that adjusting this aspect of the design worked a lot better than trying
to adjust the volume of the character.
FINAL PIECES
You can find the full 10,10x10 designs on my design practice blog by clicking on the link below.
http://a-mistry1215-dp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/1010x10-letterforms-final-designs.html GROUP CRITIQUE
As apart of receiving feedback and response to the work we had produced we gathered to have a group critique to receive feedback on our final outcomes (10,10x10) letterforms. Instead of gathering in our usual blog groups we were put into larger groups of around 10-11 people, to present our designs too. After presenting our designs to each person we were asked as a group to select five designs from each individuals ten designs which we thought were aseptically stronger. We then stuck the five designs onto a wall along with the word which we were developing the designs from (expand).
After doing so we all correspondingly moved around the room to another groups set of typefaces (on their wall). As a group we decided we managed to narrow down the wall of letterforms to five chosen designs which we thought were most representative of the given word and that were the most aseptically pleasing.
After a few disagreements and discussion over which five we should selected we managed to choose five which we all agreed were worthy to keep up and most representative (after discussing the reasons we had decided to take the other ones down- pro's and con's of each)
When going back to our wall after carrying out each task which had been set for the group critique I found that one of my designs had been selected by the other group as one of the five.
(My design is the first from the left- 'A'- Expand)
