Type Tour Poster – Beginning

You are to design an A2 portrait format poster that advertises a typographic walk. A3 is acceptable.

You must include one or more of your own images (no found images, please) of type examples from this area.

The information to appear on the poster is as follows (do not add anything else):

Typographic Walk along the South Kensington

October 10^th

For further information please visit our website at http://www.typetours.com

The first steps to create the poster started during our trip to the V&A museum in London, South Kensington – also the area the the Typographic walk. While in South Kensington I took various photos of text from graffiti to cafe shop fronts, which I hoped to use within my Type Tour poster.

Audience

The audience my poster is aimed at would mainly be people working in the graphic design industry, this could be at any level (higher managerial and below), I would also aim this as students at university level studying graphic design (or related subjects).

If I where proposing this professionally to a marketing department I would say my target audience is ABC1.

Alphabet on the Streets

♯1 Alphabet on the streets

An initial idea I had was started by an article from An edition of Creative Review magazine in April 1999 by a Designer Klaus Mai, his task was to find the whole alphabet on the streets of Frankfurt.

Alphabet on the streets

I could apply this idea to my Type Tour poster by spelling out the word TYPE by using letters from the streets of London.

I think this works well as tours are for learning and discovering, and although the letters are object you see everyday you would not immediately relate them to a letter of the alphabet. Viewers of the poster would be drawn to it by figuring out what letters the objects where.

Concerns I have would be that from a distance the letters/images will not be clear.

Another example of Images as letters was shown in the book Type & Image by Philip B. Meggs.

‘Sibley/Peteet Design used silhouette illustrations to spell the word third: the T is a waiter in the new restaurant; the H is a bridal couple signifying the bridal salon; the I is a figure representing the lingerie shop; the R stand for the section for children’s clothing, toys and shoes: and the D is a shopper in the new gallery area.’

Image as Letter from Type & Image by Philip B. Meggs

  The use of illustrations instead of photos would work better as a poster as they are clear against the white background and the word Third would be seen from a distance, the images then becoming clearer the closer you are.

Text as Image

My second idea is the opposite of the first; rather than using Image as Text I could use Text as Image.

This, I first saw in class as my tutor showed us various posters from Russian propaganda to text as image.

For use as a poster this gives me a lot of freedom, I could use one or multiple images, random text or the information we have to include from the brief. The use of type as image suits a poster advertising a Typographic Walk.

An example of using text to create an image was in the book Type & Image by Philip B. Meggs.

‘The February 27, 1834, cover of the French journal Le Charivari parodied King Louis Philippe be depicting his pear-shaped head in the exaggerated shaped of that fruit. Another level of meaning is operative as well, because the French term for pear, la poire, is also used as a slang term for simpleton or dunce.’

Text Type as Image from Type & Image By Philip B. Meggs

I appreciated how simple this piece was with many hidden meanings, which would have been appreciated by the French public at the time. I was also surprised that techniques like this where used in 1834!

Image as Text – Playful Type

Playful Type

An example of using image as text, shown in the book Graphic Design School by David Dabner, here they have used toast cut into the shape of a B. This method is very effective in creating a clear letter while also adding an element of fun and playfulness – while I probably wouldn’t use toast for a Typographic Walk Poster the idea can be used with other objects.

If i here to use Image as text within my type tour poster I could use images and objects from south kensington so they can be related to the type in the poster.

Text as Image – Sky – Painting Pictures with Words

While watching TV I saw an Advertisement for Audio Description service from sky which uses typography to create stunning animated scenes.

Promo/copy – Dan Morgan.
Design/animation – Rose James.
Creative Director – Ross Dyer.

This advert is very effective, it shows the audio description in a creative way while still being entertaining to fully sighted viewers. I hope I can create something this inspiring for my poster!

Watch the Advert here.

Text as Image Type Poster

I begun working on a poster advertising a Typographic walk using text as image.

I started with an image of a man holding an umbrella, I decided to use this was generally tour leaders hold an object in the air to follow.

While this may not be the case in a Typographic walk the image would give the poster a fun look.

Initial sketch

I filled the image in with text..

I then attempted this using adobe Photoshop, I used a image from the internet as a silhouette.

to this

I then begun to change the colours of the words i wanted viewers to notice these where ‘Typographic Walk’ ‘Along the South Kesington’ ‘October 10th’ and ‘For more information please visit our website http://www.typetours.co.uk’

After this I was still unsure of how to include my own photos within the poster….

Using Multiple Images

I decided to investigate posters that use type in interesting ways and incorporate multiple images to help me with my poster.

A spread in a book gave me some ideas…

‘The Harmonious colour scheme here helps to bring unity to a poster created out of composite images’

I really like the use of colour here and although the images are very different they seem as one, it works very well as a poster.

This will help me fuse together the man holding the umbrella made out of type with photos from around south kensington.

Using Multiple Images Cont.

To help me incorporate multiple images plus type to my poster i decided to look at some other designers work.

David Carson stood out to me, I like the way he uses text in his work, he has no limits. rather than your traditional straight lines and predictable fonts. He appears to scribble, cut up fonts and place these where ever and however he likes.

By using David Carson-like techniques in my poster, I hope will attract professionals interest as Carson is a well-known designers (particularly for his experimental way with Type), I hope viewers will capture this idea.

Experimenting with type

To make my poster more interesting I decided to use David Carson as my inspiration. Based of previous research I produced two sketches that would be the basis of type layout and style for my poster. These are only rough sketches and would be produced on illustrator for the final poster.

Out of the two sketchs I think the second one would work well as a poster it has slightly more order, from a distance the first could look messy whereas the second would be much easier to glance at with ‘South Kensington’ the main text of the image, I may experiment and use “Typographic walk’ as the larger text however I think south kensington works too as it is a famous place and people would be drawn to the poster simply because of the name.

Text as Image + Photos

After researching ways to incorporate multiple images on a poster I decided to give it a go myself, for this I used various photographs I took while in South Kensington and the man holding an umbrella made out of type.

Underneath the man I added photos one to use covering the background and the others overlapping are points. I then lowered the opacity making the photos translucent,

I then added blocks of colour over each of the images and made these translucent.

I added the final text, I haven’t used a grid as such to place my text, instead I used the places where my images overlap as guidelines.

Looking at the poster I think it looks better without the man holding the umbrella. My reasons for this are, there are too many elements the pictures in the background are enough, from a distance would be almost invisible (I showed a family member the two and they didn’t even notice the man), it doesn’t fit in with the almost movie like theme of the poster – and almost looks like an after thought.

So I decided to remove that element.

I think it looks much better with out the man holding the umbrella.

I will work on this by, experimenting with some more playful uses of type, different colour schemes and different photographs for the background.

Type Tour – Interesting Text

Based on this Poster by David Carson, I Decided to transform the type on my poster to something more interesting. The first aspect that drew my eye to this poster was the use of different fonts. I believe there are only two. One used for ‘David Carson’ and another for the rest of the type. The use of two different fonts draws the viewer’s eye towards one in particular in this case is ‘David Carson’.
Although there are only two fonts the designer has mutilated the ‘Carson’ dicing the letters up, this is common for David Carson – he in known for being experimental with type, he has used the other font in different size, colour, reflected and rotated. By doing that it adds colour and more elements to the poster – it wouldn’t be as interesting without those changes.

He has also deliberately spelt the word Typography ‘Typografe’ giving a rebel attitude to the poster, I won’t use that in my poster however it works well advertising something by David Carson, again he is breaking the traditional mold for any poster (typing errors)

I prefer this version of the poster compared with the previous, it now has added elements which add texture and draws the eye to key parts.

I decided to use ‘South Kensington’ as the main type as although the poster advertises a typographic walk, South Kensington is an iconic and affluent part of london and people associate it with learning, culture and arts, therefore I believe a poster advertising the words ‘South Kensington’ would be of interest to my target audience drawing them in.

By using type as the key element of the poster and be keeping the images to the background layers, suits poster well, type is the focus of the walk not buses or buildings however by using the images it adds interest, some of the images I have used are of type in South Kensington, this will give people an idea of what they will see during the tour without being too obvious.

The word Kensington.

This is an important element for me to write about. I took the idea from the David Carson poster, but it works well in not only adding a different style but also creating an urban edgy look as the tour is set in an urban area but compliments the tour.

The font I have used for the rest of the type is Courier, I do not know whether it was used in the David Carson Poster however it is very similar, I like this font as it is like that of a typewriter therefore being iconic and something people are familiar with even if they do not make a direct connection, it is simple and easy to read.

I have not used a grid to place the type which probably goes against many graphic design rules however this is how I wanted to be, quite relaxed. Instead I have used the places where the boxes overlap as ‘guides’, and my own eye to judge the positioning of type.

My only concern now is the colour scheme, it looks quite feminine. The poster is aimed at all genders, so I may change the colour slightly to adopt that.

Summary.

Pros – I am happy with the Type

Cons – Colour Scheme

Type Tour Poster – Colours

As promised I have altered the colour scheme of my poster.

Purple/Dark Version

The poster for me does look nice with the purple/grey colour scheme, I chose to use purple as is symbolises nobility and luxury these are too associated with the area of South Kensington. I have also heard it is a colour many artists favour – whether this is true or not I don’t know, however graphic designers are creative people so why not use purple. For me the grey works well too, it is a colour we see a lot around london as it is the colour of buildings, roads and pavements.

Sunset coloured/Light Version

My concern with this colour scheme was that it was too feminine, however after seeing it printed professionally the colour appeared to be much more vibrant and less ‘pinky’ which is how they appeared using my personal printer.

To help me choose between the two I printed them both out on A3 paper and stuck them on a wall to view from a distance.

I am torn between both posters and If I had my way would use them both around london, however I have to choose one.

The darker poster looks great against the white wall, and the words “Typographic Walk of South Kensington” contrast against the darker background.

The lighter poster is very bright and london can at times be quite grey especially in october therefore I think the lighter poster would work well on the streets and at tube stations as its presence would brighten up the area it was placed therefore hopefully standing out from the crowd. The words “typographic walk of South Kensington” still stand out but not as much as the darker poster.

I am going to stick with the lighter version as I believe it is not just text that draws someone to a poster but how it looks as a whole.

Type Tour Poster – Finishing Touches

I printed my first draft in A3 but had to make a few adjustments as certain aspects looked different compared to when on screen.

After making those few adjuctments here is my final draft ready to be printed in A2.

Type Tour – Summary

Final Poster printed in A2.

What do I think of the final poster?

Over all I am pleased with my poster, I think the colour scheme works well it is vibrant and eye-catching and also does its job by blending the background images together to create the background.

How effective will it be at advertising and relating to my target audience?

I think my poster will be effective at capturing the attention of passers-by from a distance you can see the words “typographic walk of South Kensington” clearly, there is no doubt as to what it is advertising.

The audience my poster is aimed at are ABC1’s, particularly people working within the graphic design industry this could be at any level from higher managerial, teachers and also aspiring professionals this could be students or apprentices, in summary professionals or students over the age of 18.

While researching I focused my attention to graphic design related ideas or people, my initial research included techniques such as using images to form letters and letters to form images such as the newspaper article from france dating back to 1834, as my research progressed I narrowed my ideas down to one designer in particular – David Carson, my hope was that his ‘no limits’ style shone through in my final poster, thus relating to graphic design professionals who may have witnessed this style for themselves.

While graphic designers may appreciate the techniques and style behind my poster, I hope I have made it aesthetically pleasing to not just them but also everybody else therefore attracting a wider audience.

Have I met the brief?

Yes, I have met all the points written on the brief. Although I struggled with including photographs of type from around south Kensington eventually I found a way to add these although it meant changing my original idea completely.

If I could change one thing what would it be?

If I could change one thing it would be to make the yellow left hand corner of my poster a slightly darker shade as I think there is not enough contrast between the letters “Typ” and the background and from a distance this the letter could be difficult to make out.

I would also include a QR Code as an easy way to access the website for smart phone users on the go.

Type Tour poster – from a distance