Decision

I've been struggling to decide which idea to go with and I feel that I just need to choose one and push it forward or I will end up not having enough time.
So I've decided to push the Facebook idea forward.

Initial ideas

My first poster designs roughly showing my thoughts and layout.

(Colours have changed for some reason!)

Amnesty Progress

I'm beginning to develop my ideas and I feel I have to strong ideas which I would like to explore. I think the best way to address the target audience is to use something as powerful as Facebook or Myspace as they seem to dominate a lot of our spare time and is a good way to keep in contact with everyone. So my idea is to use a Facebook styled layout which would grab the attention of the target audience (especially when they're bored at a bus stop) and they would want to read it almost to find out what is happening and look at the 'Status Updates'. My piece would be very much based around the tone of language and the layout of the design.
My other idea is to use phrases associated with going out and socialising such as "Planning a night on the tiles?". This kind of copyline I feel will immediately engage with the target audience and they will relate the question to going out and socialising with friends. Then the image below the copyline will be a dark, foreign prison cell with a lonely figure in the corner of a prisoner of concience. So the image contrasts the first thoughts the viewer has when they read the top line. At the bottom would be a 3D styled set of buttons related to the "Accept" and "Decline" butoons you see when using networking websites. I feel that this would put the viewer on the spot and want them to make a decision whether to help this person in need or leave them in these terrible conditions. The poster would be reinforced with the Amnesty logo and website.

Lecture - Barry Tempest

I thought that the lecture from Barry Tempest was interesting. Though I found it difficult to get the most out of the lecture as I wasn't sure on what to ask him in relation to his line of work or his thoughts on my ideas.

'Black Box' Group Project

My group were given Men's Gillette Razor to create clues for, so we made an origami game for the other group. The game had different images related to the product.
We were given a cross-word with a set of clues accompanied by a Photoshop rendered image. The words we found were 'Doors', 'Set', 'Sea' and 'Ariel'. We spent several hours trying to work out what the product was, and completely thrown off by the Photoshop image. But eventually we combined the words to produce "Dorset Cereals". We researched the brand to gather ideas and thought that we should make a design based on the transparent panels which shows the cereal inside of the box. We thought we could use the idea of looking through the panels to see a view of Dorset, looking fresh, bright, clear blue skies etc. But somehow that idea was scrapped and used the Cerne Abbos Giant as an idea to develop. We all agreed that we should make a chalk outline of the logo using Illustrator and replace the image of the giant with our logo on the hillside. Our overall image was more conceptual than the finished piece and I think that this idea works really well as the image is recognisable and the viewer will hopefully relate the product straight to Dorset. Altogether it was a great team excercise and really enjoyed the day.

Spend More Save Less - Group Project

The kick start to the new project, Spend More Save Less. This was an ideas generation project where we had to produce a solid idea for making a poster to encourage spending your savings to help the economy. Our group started off by brainstorming, and linked everything to the idea of spending more. We looked at different iconic characters that are related the subject of money. So we looked at Mr Monopoly and the idea of involving a piggy bank within the poster. We also liked the idea of incorporating a Scrooge type character spending money. The famous World War 1 poster: "Your Country Needs You!" was considered and we spent a lot of time thinking of how we could manipulate the image to get across the point of the poster. Several ideas were pushed forward, but we decided that there wasn't such a strong sense of unity and passion within Britain when you compare it to that of the unity during the first world war.
As there are so many different cultures with the UK we ended up looking at how we can address the various communites on a personal level. So we looked at involving all cultures and ethnic backgrounds in one poster. Which was difficult as it could over crowd the poster. The group came to the decision to have a series of posters aimed at different areas and communties that would relate to them still on a personal level. We felt that this was a strong idea and created two layouts that would represent cash flow and how you need to play your part within the economy system. We made 6 boxes and 3 were used to show the consequences of your actions, such as purchasing food from your local general store in a village, that money then being used to buy stock and produce from a local farmer. So the other 3 boxes were used to show the complete opposite and what would happen if you didn't spend money. This same style we would apply to different areas such as rural and urban. Our tag line was "YOU CAN'T AFFORD NOT TO" which we all agreed was the strongest tag line we produced during the day.
I enjoyed the experience of working as a group and felt we designed a good poster with a strong idea. It was interesting to see our idea development which I have only touched on within this blog. I look forward to the next group project as it's good to bounce ideas off each other.

Text and Image round up

I really enjoyed the Text and Image unit and thought that it was a good starting point for the course. Picked up some great new skills during the project. The one problem I had was being introduced to so many different software prorams in a short time period.

Photoshop session

My introduction to Photoshop was great. I had used the program a little in my previous ND course but was still lost on how to do some of the basics, so it was really good to learn all of the basics. Hopefully I can get Photoshop installed at home as I find it easier to work at home and it'll be good to explore all the different tools and processes.

London trip

I found the trip London a grim experience as I found London to be really hectic with everything going on around you. I didn't really know how to use the time before the Kyle Cooper lecture constructively. I really wanted to go to the South Bank but didn't quite make it there as I ended up in a group of people who weren't like minded. I haven't properly been into the centre of London before and it was a new thing for me. 

I based my Drift project around my thoughts of London, I combined an illustration with a road map of London then manipulated the image so that it would reflect the busyness of the city. I used the road map to represent the headache of London by adjusting the Hue levels and brightened it up. I had several different thoughts on how to show my opinion and ended up experimenting with several. I found it difficult to choose between the outcomes I produced as I was pleased with a couple.

Colour collage and Type with Tape Workshops

First was the collage exercise using a variety of coloured paper to create a piece of work that represents your experiences of Poole after the trip. I found it a difficult day as I couldn't settle on one idea and ended up doing something that I felt was poor. It turned into an abstract piece and when I compared it to what other people had done, I was quite embarrassed. When I got back home I decided to try again with some colour paper I had found and felt i had done a much better job. The finished piece was a lot smarter and worked really well.

The next day we were put into random groups to combine our thoughts and ideas to create our own Typeface in a day. To begin with it was a little bit awkward as we hadn't really spoken to each other too much. But we started off well as we went straight to the library to seek inspiration. I had picked up a book with many Typefaces based around Art Deco, and I found there to be several styles that interested me, which I then used to create my own style in my sketchbook. I am particularly interested in graffiti styled type so that's what I tried to head towards. We all experimented with different ideas and later had a discussion about every ones work to see what we all thought would work well. It took time to really finalise our idea but we chose to combine each of our styles to form one typeface which was "Coalesce" which means "to combine and form one whole". I thought the word and idea was great and I was determined to get it right. So we each chose one or two letters of the word (as there were 6 of us) and started to design the word on the brick work outside the Arts Institute. I think we were all very pleased and impressed at how well our work had come out. Admittedly i wasn't too sure about the exercise the night before as I didn't consider myself a fan of Typography but I have now changed my view.

Poole Trip - 30th Sept

Poole Trip - 30th Sept

The aim of this trip was to collect images of Poole quay and make quick sketches that capture your initial reaction to Poole. Being a local lad I felt it was more difficult to react to the surroundings in the same way as someone new to the area. It was interesting to make quick sketches of signs and people, in particular the people because I have captured a persons stance at a particular moment in time. I'm pleased with my photographs from the trip, I found the talk from Clive about the basics of photography very beneficial as it made me think more about what I was focusing on, especially angles and composition of the subject. He showed how important it was to keep your elbows tucked in to your body which enables you to keep the camera more steady. It would have been a good idea to make rubbings of the old styled road signs which shows how Poole has a real contrast between the old (such as the church and signs) and the new (shops and modern seafront flats). I prefer the old side of Poole as it makes the town more unique and independent from other towns.

Monday, 6 OCTOBER 2008

MONDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2008

Helvetica

I watched the Helvetica video today and began to understand the importance of text around me, and found myself taking more notice of posters and signs around me in the big wide world. It made me try todissect what Typeface is trying to communicate. I think that Helvetica is a useful type and important for signs conveying information such as road signs and warning signs. Helvetica is easy to read and makesinformation easier to absorb. On the other hand it's a bland and boring typeface which Neville Brody quotes during an interview where he says that is "bland, unadventurous, unambitious". I would personally prefer to use a different type which is a bit more creative especially if it is combined with an image. I'm still gaining an understanding oftypography and need to find the best way for me to keep myself interested as it's not my favourite area with art and design.