OUGD405 - Studio Brief 01 Interim Crit

After deciding on my target audience - Urban Outfitters, I started designing my photo frame backing papers. I created some simple geometric designs in illustrator using different shapes for the different sizes, then moved them over to photoshop and added a texture and played around with the different levels and colours. I took these 3 designs into the interim crit: 

I got some positive feedback and although these designs are unfinished and don't completely work as a set, I have a clear goal and know where I'm taking this design. The bottom two work together well, but the first design is one I'm not very happy with. Some of the feedback that I got includes:

- Good initial ideas and shapes.

- Could use different patterns and colours to make a really crazy, jazzy image for Urban Outfitters.

- Play with type a bit more, change where the "middle" shape is so the type can go elsewhere.

- Experiment with other shapes and fonts.

Overall I'm happy with my progress so far, I've got some good feedback to work with and I know what direction I need to take my designs for them to work as a set and appeal to the target audience.

Photography Induction

This week we had our photography induction. I was taught some valuable skills that I will now be able to use in my work. We looked at changing the settings on the camera, including the white balance, ISO and the depth of field, etc.
We were asked to take 4 pictures with the camera on different settings:

- Shallow depth of field, selective focus, blur the background
- Deep depth of field, think landscape, everything in focus
- Slow shutter speed, to blur movement
- Fast shutter speed, to freeze movement

These were the 4 pictures that I chose:

Although photography isn't a major interest of mine, I think its important to grasp the basics as it may be a valuable skill one day.

Photoshop Induction

Today we had our photoshop induction, and the task we were given in this was to create a film poster. I chose the film The Prestige, which is quite a dark film that focuses on two rivaling magicians. I wanted to capture this within the poster, and leave a sense of mystery to it.
After messing around on photoshop for a while and creating various other posters, my favourite one was this:

It features the tagline "are you watching closely?" and has two hands, both with the same fingers cut off - a major plot point in the film. I also added the birds at the top because these feature quite a lot in the magic tricks. The gritty, rough texture was used to make the poster look more interesting and also because it was set in the end of the 19th century, and one of the characters has struggles within his life with money, etc.
Overall I'm happy with what I've produced, since I'm not a big fan of creating film posters, and I think this poster I've made fits well with the film.

OUGD405 - Studio Brief 01: Frame Shape research

This week we were introduced to our next module, Design Process, and our first module briefing which is called Frame Shape.
We have been asked to design the backing paper that goes in a photo frame in 3 different sizes that all work as a set, using shape as the main concept.
I have a few ideas, which involve using different shapes for the different sizes, but keeping the same style so that they still work as a set. The different sizes could be colour coded, or all in the same colour but a different aesthetic so they still look part of a set.
I conducted some research into already existing photo frame backing paper from places such as Next and Urban Outfitters:

These photo frames from Next seemed quite classy and elegant, but I also found them quite boring. The majority of them are in black and white and they seem to all look part of a set, which is something I need to consider.

These frames are from urban outfitters, and I think these designs appeal to me more. They're quite funky and fit well with the frame. They draw you in and compliment the frame well, which makes you want to buy it even more. I think this is the sort of style I'm aiming for when creating my photo frame backing paper, as I think this appeals to me more so than the other frames I've looked at. 

OUGD403 - Studio Brief 04 Final Crit

After the interim crit for this brief, I decided to change my idea for my posters. The message that I want to communicate is that people should donate their organs. I wanted to do it in a way that doesn't make people feel guilty, as a lot of examples that I looked at did. 
I started to make some sketches for my posters:

Type + Image

Type only

Image only

After that, I took my work into Adobe Illustrator and started developing them.

Type and Image:

My first attempt at re-creating this design in vector format went okay. The layout wasn't the best and the words were quite illegible:

I tried it again using a different layout and hand rendering the letter forms:

I think this worked better but the words aren't very readable or put in a logical order. I recreated it again, also making the letters with wavy lines instead of straight:

I think this poster works well as it's straight forward and grabs your attention. It is the most readable of the ones I produced and the words are legible. It communicates a clear message.

Type only:

I started with the phrase "LIVE TWICE", as I wanted to make the donor feel like they are actually accomplishing something by donating. I decided to write this in a bold, condensed font to grab the viewers attention and keep it simple and straightforward:

When I asked for feedback from my friends and peers, I was told that maybe the writing could be thinner and friendlier so it conveys a nicer message, so I tried that:

I don't think it has the same impact as my first poster. I think the message should be loud and clear and not take away from the main point. I decided to go with my first typeface, but change the colour of the reflected words to a pale blue:

I think this poster works well as the colours are quite contrasting and make each other stand out. It gets a clear message across without making you feel guilty.

Image only:

For my image only poster I wanted to make something quite simple, again, that would convey my message properly. This one was difficult as I was not allowed to work with words, and my image had to portray the message its self. I started playing around with ideas: 

This one shows that the heart has been passed over to someone else. This image is very simple and I don't think its very effective. I tried different placements of the vectors and added an arrow to show the passage of the organs:

I thought that this one was better because it shows clearly what is happening, and the complex procedure is shown by the arrow. I was happy with my design but I changed the colours so it matched with the blue of my type only poster:

I think this conveys a stronger message and the colours work really well together. It is clearer what is happening and it is easy to understand. 

I used the digital print resource to print my posters onto satin paper, and I am really pleased with how they turned out.

FEEDBACK:

From my final crit, I found that everyone enjoyed my posters and understood the message, here is some feedback that I got:

"Really like the image only poster, especially the use of colours in the heart, all posters work really well"

"-Type and image design is amazing!

- Nice typography

- Simple but gets the message across"

"Clear message throughout all 3 posters, really nice colour scheme, the image only is my favourite"

"Good use of type within image on the first poster. The image only works well. IT conveys the message simply and beautifully, in a calm way. Cool and calm colours"

"I like the shiny use of printing stock. The image is happy & friendly - the people look like keyholes or chess pieces, which reminds me of the queen of hearts = organ donation!"

I am really happy with the response to my posters, I feel like I have fit the brief and produced something I am proud of.

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 1 Negative Space Workshop

Today we had a workshop on negative space, I found it really interesting and useful, as this is something that could be considered in a lot of my future design work. We were shown a few examples of negative space work, and were given this brief:

After looking at the examples of ‘negative space’ both in typographic terms and even in photographic terms the

workshop is to choose a word i.e. HALT (Typographic) Upper or lower case and see what element you can add to use

with or replacing the identified space to create an image suggested by the chosen word/element.

Within the time available, you may render this in any way you choose, if you wish to Mac up, and you feel you 

have time, go for it otherwise by hand if it suits you as a creative.

I started experimenting with the word Juice, trying to include a drop of liquid within the U, making it look quite juicy:

I then refined this design and coloured it black so you could see it properly: 

I was quite happy with this, but then I moved onto the word fairy. I experimented with it until I came up with a design that I was happy with:

I took the wing idea further into the word fairy, and incorporated it into the F, removing the crossbar and replacing it with the outline of a wing:

This is my final design, I think I have fit the brief, even though it took me some time to get there:

Here are some examples of negative space that I find interesting and clever:

OUGD403 - Studio Brief 4 - Interim crit

Today we had a crit for Studio brief 4. In this brief, we have to find a message in our news stories that we researched, and convey this message using 3 posters, one image only, one text only and one using both image and text. For this brief, I decided that I would make a poster campaign trying to persuade people to not donate their organs. I had a few initial ideas and drew them out roughly:

These were some rough ideas and developments that I started my designs off. I tried to do as many designs as I could to get a varied idea of what to make my final designs.

As the brief states we have to make the posters look part of a matching set, I decided to give that a go and make 3 posters that look similar and convey the same message.

Here is a quick drawing that I made of some of the organs in a coffin, lying down as though they look asleep, and happily dead. I was thinking about putting the phrase "let them rest" above the drawing, as I don't think the drawing on its own conveys the right message.

I was mainly focusing on the religious side of the argument, but I thought that if these people are religious, a lot of people are already going to be against organ donation anyway, so I decided to broaden my audience by using words people are familiar with, such as YOLO:

The feedback that I got from my crit was more around the idea and the message, rather than the actual work its self. People said I was making it harder for myself, as this isn't a view that I believe in, so I decided to slightly tweak my message. Instead of saying "DON'T DONATE", I'm going to try and convey that if you don't want to donate you're organs, that's okay. It's going to make people feel better about themselves and show them that they can make their own decisions in life without having to feel guilty. 
I feel like I'm not giving myself much time here, but I think this will be a more successful campaign, as it will appeal to more people and have a better message, rather than being very negative and harsh, its more about making people feel better.

OUGD403 - Studio Brief 2 Final Crit

We had our final crit for studio brief 2 today. I presented my designs and grids to our group. I thought that my typeface was quite simple and reflected my chosen word. I spoke about how I came to my design, involving the theme of hybridity and gothic architecture, but also keeping it based around type.

I think it was useful to see how everyone presented their ideas and how they represented their word through type.

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 1 Icons, Symbols and Logos

Today we were given a short talk by John about symbols and icons, then we were split into groups and asked to re-design the fire exit sign - a sign that has been accepted globally and everyone knows what it already means.

Our group firstly started with deciding on a colour. We made a list of colours that could be considered, then made comments about them, about what they connotate and what we associate with that colour. 

Green (the current sign colour) - Safety, life, freshness
Red - STOP, danger, run, hot
Blue - Calm, cold, water
Yellow - Happy, joyful, scared, bright, warm

We decided that a turquoise would be the best sort of colour that we were looking for. We thought that it gives off a feeling of calmness, as people need to be calm (and not run) during a fire. It would also be visible during a fire, especially when lit. We also decided that instead of calling it a fire exit, we would call it a safety exit, as to ensure that people are headed to safety and they don't need to rush. We came up with a rough few ideas on paper:

Then we decided to move our final idea over to Illustrator to show off the colours and a sans serif typeface, and this was our outcome:

I think this design turned out really well, and it has calm connotations. It takes ideas from the original design (with the door), so people are aware of what it means, and people can follow the instructions given by the sign easily.