HND 2: Final Major Project

HND 2 Graphic Design

Proposal

Introduction The British library is holding an exhibition based on the book ‘How to cure the plague and other curious remedies’ by Julian Walker and published by The British Library. This book presents a fascinating illustrated compilation of some of the most curious and disturbing cures from history, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.   Objective To effectively create a range of graphics that advertise and present the exhibition, the designs will consist of but not be limited to;

·      Posters advertising the exhibition

·      Banners (for buildings)

·      Exhibition Program

·      Exhibition graphics

 

Exhibition & Evironment: Bibliothèque

http://www.bibliothequedesign.com/projects/exhibition-and-environment/

A design company Biliothèque has extensive experience in environmental design, from the V&A, Natural History Museum, Science Museum to The British Library.

 

Using the book as a guide for my images, I decided to focus on the ingredients of the recipes, one involved the sap from the Dragon blood tree, this I drew as a linocut.

http://discovermagazine.com/galleries/2014/march/how-to-cure-the-plague

 

 

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/golden-ratio-in-moden-designs/

Evaluation

My over all aim was to design a range of graphics to present and advertise the exhibition. The poster to advertise had to be eye-catching and memorable. I wanted to go against the grain and create something different to the British Library’s standard graphics. I feel that the end result if an effective poster that immediately attracts attention. I utilised my existing linocuts on postcards, tote bags and mugs, the tickets I made had a modern feel to them and are printed on high quality paper.

The finish is professional and the pieces connect with each other – I am pleased with the result.

 

Design Factory

The Brief

• This project is all about user-centric design thinking. You are invited todesign an intervention that will make the intended user feel something strongly about themselves. Your task is to develop something with which an individual can engage and then say “I feel… *something*” (e.g. “I feel invincible”, “I feel small”, “I feel in-tune with my environment”, “I feel weightless”, “I feel rebellious”, “I feel contented”).

  The resulting intervention or outcome could take any form. For example, you could design:

• an inhabitable space,

• a piece of graphic communication,

• an item of clothing or

• an interactive system/ piece of technology.

My Proposal

To design a children’s song book based on the French song ‘Alouette’.  The song first published in 1879 is about a Lark’s feathers being plucked from different parts of its body. Today, the song is used to teach French and English speaking children in Canada and other English speakers learning French around the world the names of body parts. Singers will point to or touch the part of their body that corresponds to the word being sung in the song.

The song used as a great learning tool is memorable due to its grotesque translation into English, my aim is to illustrate the song in a way that doesn’t appear evil or grotesque making it more suitable to children.

I will begin by researching the origins of the song (French and Canada) as I hope to include some elements from these countries, then I will decided on an illustration style and colour palette for the book and begin to create the illustrations.

The song Alouette does not have much visual media attached to it besides a few videos on youtube, so I had a blank slate to start my research. Thinking back to the brief I needed to create a book that the used would become emotionally involved with

 What makes a great picture book?

I’ve been looking into what makes a good children’s book in terms of illustration – below are a selection of the best children’s books of 2014. Hand-drawing seems to be a good place to start and also having a strong main character who appeals to readers

Because I am illustrating for a song that is already written my main focus are the visuals, the key topics I need to think about when creating my illustrations are.

To design a character that the reader connects to with illustrations that are authentic, captivating and exciting.

Illustrate a story/journey while following the song

To aid the learning experience with images.

Development

________________________________________________________________________________________

Developing an Illustration style

 

Branding Brief

You are to develop the branding of a given celebrity. The aim of the project is to design a branding that will project a positive image of the given person. It is important that you create your branding in a way that you believe the celebrity would wish to be portrayed rather than how you feel about them.

You must research around the topic of branding and personal promotion with a view to demonstrating the key concepts regarding branding.

Typography must, of course, be well considered throughout.

Deliverables

You are to produce a logo, letterhead, business card and compliment slip. These items are to be of standard size. You will also produce a style guide for your client and this will include instructions as to how the logo, typeface(s) and colour systems are to be used. We would also like you to consider the making or visualising of a promotional item. Again, you will need to research these.

What is Branding?

 

The Secret Power of Brands course by the University of East Anglia taught me that a brand is not just a logo, below is a generic definition for a brand.

They believe that it goes deeper than that, a brand is not just a name, logo or slogan and brand is what a company stands for and also what causes is to stand out.Brands are powerful because they stay in our minds, below are a few brands and what the public say they stand for.

Their summary is that branding is made up of different components, below is their three part definition.

“Another important aspect of brands is that they are not just a one way, they work both ways between the consumers (thats us) and they brand. The brand transmits to us their branding the consumers then interpret this back to the brand. Therefore what a brand stands are is what we interpret it to be”

Companies are not just telling us what to think it is the social interpretation of meaning.

 

 

What makes a good brand?

Continuing with the University of East Anglia’s course ‘the Secret Power of Branding’ I research what makes a good / successful brand.

The information originally came from Wolff Olins Blog. http://blog.wolffolins.com/post/44609883279/brand-is-the-effect-of-what-you-do-not-the-cause

Abolish positioning. Think purpose.

Don’t try to manufacture a place in the world. Don’t obsess about the competition and differentiating from them. Instead, as with all good design, start with the question ‘why?’. Why do we exist? Why would anybody need us? Why is what we do useful? Why would people pay (in time or money or whatever) for it? Why is it valuable (in all the senses of that word)? In other words, define a sense of purpose – the difference you want to make, socially and commercially.

Forget identity. Think experience.

Don’t start with name, logo, tagline, sonic identity, or any of these things. Instead, design whole experiences for people – joined-up experiences across all the things you do. ­­Think user interface, in the biggest sense: not the skin around the outside of your organization, but the layer where you interplay with people. 

Stop controlling. Think changing.

Don’t try to maintain a status quo, don’t police your brand. Instead, keep experimenting, keep connecting up with new people and new organizations. Let things grow from the roots: revolutions rarely start from the top. Don’t try to pin down the future: prototype it. Replace ownership with sharing, and control with creativity. Look at brands like Airbnb and Zopa, the world’s first peer-to-peer money lending service, to consider how you can connect your customers directly to each other and have them create mutual value. Tomorrow’s high-growth businesses will be constantly experimental and completely boundaryless. 

What Makes a good logo?

Why the Pecten?

“The company name was “Shell” and each of Samuel’s tankers carrying kerosene to the Far East was named after a different seashell. The Pecten may have been taken from the family coat of arms of a business associate, Mr Graham, who imported Samuel’s kerosene into India and became a director of The Shell Transport and Trading Company.”

Why Red and Yellow?

“In 1915 the Shell Company of California first built service stations and had to make these stand out from the competition. They used bright colours that would not offend the Californians: because of the state’s strong Spanish connections they chose red and yellow.”

Why I think this is a good logo?

 

The current logo created in 1971 by Raymond Loewy has become so recognisable that if often appears without the brand name (similar to nikes swoosh or Mc Donald’s golden arches) this gives the logo more potential when being used as it is flexible. The Bold colours and lack of text mean it is easily spotted when driving at fast speeds!

 

 

 

Stephen Fry Profile

 

“Stephen Fry is an actor, writer, director and television presenter known for his performances in A BIT OF FRY AND LAURIE, JEEVES AND WOOSTER (both with Hugh Laurie) and BLACKADDER. His numerous film appearances have included award-winning performances in PETER’S FRIENDS, WILDE, GOSFORD PARK, V FOR VENDETTA and EICHMANN. He has recently starred as Mycroft Holmes, elder brother to Sherlock, in Guy Ritchie’s sequel and will appear as Master of Laketown in Peter Jackson’s  THE HOBBIT.  Stephen wrote and directed BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS in 2003.

He currently hosts the BBC quiz show QI and stars in the guest role of Dr Gordon Wyatt in the Fox series BONES; and previously he starred in three series of KINGDOM for ITV.   As a presenter his documentaries include THE SECRET LIFE OF THE MANIC DEPRESSIVE, STEPHEN FRY IN AMERICA, LAST CHANCE TO SEE and most recently FRY’S PLANET WORD, all for the BBC He has written four best-selling novels, two volumes of his autobiography MOAB IS MY WASHPOT and, most recently,
THE FRY CHRONICLES.”

Name: Stephen John Fry

Birthday: 24 August 1957 ( Age 57)

Known as: English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist.

Trade marks: 

His tall stature

Often works with Hugh Laurie

Crooked nose

His sonorous voice and received pronunciation

Witty Quotes

Sexuality: Gay

“I suppose it all began when I came out of the womb. I looked back up at my mother and thought to myself, ‘That’s the last time I’m going up one of those'”

Childhood: Fry was born in Hampstead, London, on 24 August 1957, the son of Marianne Eve Fry (née Newman) and Alan John Fry, an English physicist and inventor. After a troubled childhood and adolescence, during which he was expelled from two schools and spent three months in prison for credit card fraud, he secured a place at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he studied English literature.

Religion: Fry has expressed an opposition to organised religion and has identified himself as an atheist and humanist.

Trivia:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000410/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

A few facts about Fry from the above website:

Macintosh fanatic, Usenet lurker, Internet/WWW enthusiast.

He’s regarded in the UK as ‘Britain’s Favourite Teddy Bear’ and is a keen teddy bear collector himself.

Smoked a pipe.

With Nick Green, co-founded the Bear Rescue Foundation, a charitable trust to rescue and nurture distressed bears.

Flies his own classic biplane.

Very fond of vintage British TV themes.

His very recognisable crooked nose is a result of breaking it when he fell over in the school playground at the age of six.

Business:

Co owns sprot pictures with Gina Carter http://sproutpictures.com

Current Branding:

Books

 

Websites

Live Tours

Talent house hosted a competition to design a poster for ‘Stephen Fry: Live’ view the submissions in the link below!

https://www.talenthouse.com/i/design-a-poster-for-stephen-fry/submissions

 

Signature:

Logo Ideas

Business Card Comparison

I browsed through a selection of business card that I have at home. Some of my favourites are pictures below.

I like the front of the rindwash business card, it promotes interest by asking a questions, I feel it looses consistency on the back as the font changed and the spacing between the type and images is a little off.

Initial Ideas

I began by drawing small images using a black ink pen with the idea to place them on the business cards – each drawing resembles something to do with Stephen Fry.

I scanned the drawing into my computer and opened them in illustrator once there I converted them to one colour logos.

 

I found that the drawings didn’t convert very well with any of the live trace effects so I took my favourite and traced it to make a vector illustration, this allowed me to alter the colours and size of the image more easily. I then applied the vector to a mock business card – I didn’t like the outcome as I thought it looked childish and irrelevant to Stephen Fry. So I went back to the drawing board…

I wanted to narrow my symbols down to three – I thought about his job, characteristics and look – three symbols came to mind one was a book, the second was a teacup to show his  posh / English side and the third was a pair of round glasses that he wore but also to signify intelligence.

Below is my first draft, however after feedback – I came to realise that the glasses look like Harry Potter and that perhaps I do have too many symbols.

 

I decided to stick with the teacup but drew another..

 

Final Designs

 

Conclusion

I am pleased with the final piece, the colour scheme chosen looks formal and imitates Stephens dress sense (browns, beige and blues) the colours compliment each other and could be used in a wide variety of media (books, CD’s T shirts). I am happy with the font (copperplate) as I wanted one that worked across the whole media pack copperplate does this by not appearing to feminine in the addresses and titles but also working well as the initials on the teacup. The Teacup adds a sense of humour and cheese picking up for Fry’s humorous side.

If I could change a couple of things it would be to pay more attention to the layout on the compliment slip and letterhead and also to reduce the borderline thickness or remove it altogether.

 

Unusual Words Brief

A book by the title of ‘Unusual Words’ is about to be launched by the publisher Octopus Publishing Group

You are to produce two posters that promote the book’s launch. You are to include image and type in any way that you feel is suitable. Each poster must contain at least one ‘unusual’ word and its dictionary definition. Your image and typeface choice should emphasise the meaning or mood of the word.

The posters are to be scalable to any A size. No smaller than A3 for submission. You may explore as many styles of illustration as you wish, but the two final pieces must be of a consistent style.

You will choose your own copy.

Please include Octopus Publishing’s logo somewhere on your posters along with the launch date of November 1st 2014.

As ever, your journals and blogs must fully address the learning outcomes. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with them.

Photography:

Subject specific:

(1) Developed an understanding of different historical approaches to photography and the historical and cultural debates relevant to the medium.

(2) Explored concepts within visual culture in general and related these concepts to photography and examined a range of photographic genres.

(3) Developed a knowledge of technological developments in photography.

(4) Created practical work relating to various concepts and genres of photography.

(5) Developed their skills of visual, written and oral communication.

Generic:

(1) Gained knowledge by carrying out relevant research.

(2) Created practical work of a high professional standard using a range of photographic equipment, techniques and materials.

(3) Taken part in discussion and expressed opinions upon and analysis of a range of topics.

(4) Evaluated their own work and the work of others in relation to concepts in photography.

My Unusual Words

I was looking for a word that could be visualised and illustrated in an interesting but not overly complicated way as I am not the best at drawing.

My first choices are below –

Pogonotrophy –

The act of cultivating, or growing and grooming, a mustache, beard, sideburns or other facial hair.

Cancatervate

 Heaping things into a pile

Defenestrate –

To throw (a person or thing) out of a window.

Bibloclasm –

A person who mutilates or destroys books.

Eleutheromania –

A mania or frantic zeal for freedom.

Yonderly –

Absent Minded

Mundivagant –

Wandering over hills or mountains

To help narrow down my choices I picked the most promising and did a 5 minute quick thinking task for each where I wrote down as many things to do with the unusual word as possible!

 

 

 

 

 

Illustration Research – The Project Twins

As I was surfing the internet for my unusual words I came across a Graphic Art Studio called The Project Twins one of their personal projects was to illustrate unusual words.

“Bold graphics and visual wit are used to interpret and represent a collection of strange, unusual and lost words. These images explore the meaning behind the words, which are sometimes even more strange or unusual.This series of work has been exhibited during Design Week Dublin 2011 and has been featured and reviewed on various blogs and magazines including Brainpickings, The Huffington Post and Design Taxi.”

Here are some examples of their art!

 

 

Montage – Idea Development

I began with a stack of magazines, scissors and glue. My goal was to make some montages related to my unusual words.

Beard Mood Board

 

Idea Development Illustration

Texture Tutorial

 

To help me add dimensions to my vector images I followed a tutorial on how to use grids, gradients and textures to add depth to illustrations.

1# Set up a grid

2# Rough out an illustration

#3 Choose a colour palette, for this I chose something organic from the swatch library

#4 Add texture to shapes by adding a brush texture to the edges to give the shapes a hand drawn feel.

5# I added a slight gradient to some of the shapes and a halftone pattern

 

My initial idea was to use the for my unusual work ‘Yonderly’ which means absent minded how ever I remembered another word I came across ‘Montivigant’ meaning wandering over hills or mountains which I thought more appropriate, my next step was to create a person wandering over my textured illustration!

Vector Illustrations – Yonderly & Pogonotrophy

Montivigant Illustration

I then layered the wandering man onto my mountain background and here is my finished illustration.

Finishing Touches

‘You are to include image and type in any way that you feel is suitable. Each poster must contain at least one ‘unusual’ word and its dictionary definition. Your image and typeface choice should emphasise the meaning or mood of the word.

Please include Octopus Publishing’s logo somewhere on your posters along with the launch date of November 1st 2014.’

For the type I chose the font helvetica neue, I used Bold for the heading ‘The Book of Unusual Words’, regular for ‘November 1st 2014’ and Light for the words meaning, I first created the type on the montivagant posted then copied it onto pogonotrophy.

Since these versions I have altered the type after feedback from my tutors.

I kept Helvetica Neue but changed some of the weights, the heading is lighter and the unusual word definition is at the top of the page I have also increased the spacing between words.

Evaluation

Berlin

I recently visited berlin and decided to do an article for creative review about the city! All the pictures use are my own and I gained research just be being there…

In Berlin every corner you turned there was street at some big that covered wholes buildings and some the size of your hand dotted around on objects, I wanted a big focus to be on the street art so I Included this image from the Berlin wall, I then created the word BERLIN to match the colour from the image.

For the main body of text I used information from leaflets I collected while in Berlin and also the internet to comprise the writing.

Berlin is a very cultural city with a lot of history and museums, I would have like to visit more museums while I was there but we only went to one which was the Jewish museum, this was very contemporary and focused greatly on the design of the museum for this reason I think it merited being in my article.

Another great part of Berlin is the nightlife, I wanted to portray just how strange it could be and so I wrote about an ‘underground’ club called Dr. Pong.

Fashion Failings Content

 

The content of the double page spread involved me taking my own photo for each of the do’s and don’t of Depop, The tips themselves were from the Depop app.
The body copy consisted of my own text, I used internet research to form this.

And the image on the title page was also my own