Leaving the Comfort Zone...

On friday we had a critique to look at layout designs. My layout was really well received, I went for a minimal layout with a large area of white space. However, the tutors jumped on my typography and told me to do something more experimental as the hand drawn typography was too 'me'. I understand why I was told this but I am annoyed, as this is the only project so far n which I have been able to use my own style and I have enjoyed working out how I can implement it. I have now been told to scrap this completely, which worries me as my aim for the end of this course is to move onto the BA Illustration, however with no experience of illustrating and no chances to develop my skills I am concerned the course is not pointing me in the right direction.

I was told to look into printmaking, but it now being Easter, and the crit is on the second day back, I wont have a chance to do this. I have instead tried to build my own letters out of black card to photograph experimenting with arrangement and shadows.

Miriam Frei

'Illustrations are like glass between thoughts and words.'

Invictus

Yesterday I saw the film 'Invictus', it was quite average but I find it relevant to write a post on it as the topics highlights, predominantly rugby and the apartheid are subjects that the photographer I am studying, Bruce Connew, talks about in his interview with Type Radio. I found it particularly interesting to see how closely the two subjects were linked in South Africa at the time.

Article Illustration

This image is based this image on a photograph I had taken, it is recreated using pen and ink to create a contrasting black and white image.

Final Heading Page

This is my final design for the heading page to my magazine spread. I drew this by hand using a fine line pen. I decided to use hand drawn typography to give a more organic feel to the piece. The phrase 'An Idea With a Possibility' is a quote from Bruce Connew about how his projects begin, I though this would be a good title to use as it makes the reader think of the beginning of something with so many possibilities. I kept the typography clear so that it could be readable and filled in between the text with organic shapes to represent the flow of ideas.

Heading Ideas

Hand Drawn Typography

Yesterday we had a session studying typography and the reasons why certain styles were used to represent the meaning of the text. We were asked to choose a word to represent our designer and then design some typography to show this word.

I decided on the word 'temporary' as I am basing my article on Connew's opinion that his work is ultimately temporary and cannot last forever.

I decided on a stencil font because this reminds me of graffiti, which in it's nature is temporary. I then used a dotted line, becoming more sparse towards the end of the word as if it were slowly evaporating.

We left pieces of paper next to our word so that other people could write words they would associate with the image. All the words that were put next to mine were words that I had associated myself, so I was pleased other people managed to reach the same associations as me.

Poster

War on Want

The top ten War on Want outcomes were chosen to be presented to War on Want to show the advertising solutions we had developed. I was very pleased that mine was picked and we are currently working out a way to present them all consistently.

InDesign

We have had a couple of lessons in InDesign now so I am beginning to pick up the basics. I have used it before but it is much better now I am learning the quicker ways to format. Today we learnt paragraph styles which make it far easier to change large blocks of text throughout the document and make it easier to make changes.

Research

As part of my research for this project I have bought several different magazines I would consider to be high and and have looked through them to find consistencies with their layouts, and to work out what works and what doesn't.

I bought Elle, Vogue, Graphik, Pop and ID. All these magazines are very varied, I think the most likely one to feature an article on Bruce Connew would be a magazine like Graphik. The layouts in this magazine are actually quite different to the others. The pages have more white space and there are many over laps with text and images. The structure in the other magazine sticks very rigidly to grids. I will pick out spreads that I find interesting and spreads that feature interviews similar to the one I have transcribed.

I have also been looking into more of Bruce Connew's work. He has a large archive of past work which is all quite different so I will focus on his latest project 'I Must Behave' as this is what he talks about in his Typeradio interview.

Last PAL

Today was our last PAL session. The sessions have over all been very useful, it had been good to get other people's opinions on our work and hear what we would be doing next year. It is interesting hearing from people that have already done what we have, what works and what does not allowing us to avoid mistakes like bad time management and preparing us for the increased work load next year.

Copywriting with CHI & Partners

Today Liam, who works for CHI and Partners came in to speak about copywriting. CHI&Partners believe that big ideas come from within the following places:

Product Truth

Consumer Insight

Company Culture

Corporate Ambition

The talk was very interesting and different to anything we had listened to before as it is more about the words and ideas than the design. This talk was relevant to the fact we are currently writing the article on a designer and having to decide on headings ourselves, however in terms of where I would like to take the course it was not not completely relevant. It was interesting to hear how copywriting works, and how an idea is developed into the final product and how many different stages of sign off it must go through.

The marketing devices Liam showed us were really good, they were very modern and definitely thought outside the box making use of Guerilla marketing in many interesting ways. This talk would have been quite motivating to have had during the Visual Thinking, War on Want project. However, it is always worth seeing the different areas that are open to us and the different ways in which design is used.

CHI&Partners beautifully designed website can be found here

Briony Hartley

Today we had a talk from Briony Hartley a book designer working from the Enterprise Pavilion. The talk was very relevant to the current brief and she made some interesting points in terms of design considerations.

That a design must:

• Grab attention
• Value for money
• Be action packed with features
• The article title must attract attention
• Use of subheadings to break the text into designable chunks
• Captions on photographs for people that only skim read
• Boxes to contain short, related features alongside
• The use of only two or three colours
• No more than a maximum of three fonts
• Use different weights on type for impact and variety
• Be prepared for change, and make it easy to make changes

Bruce Connew

My group is looking at the photographer Bruce Connew. Connew is a political documentary photographer based in New Zealand. He has a new book titled 'I Must Behave' which in the Typeradio interview that I have now transcribed from beginning to end, Connew states; 'It deals with the notion of control, behavior within society but within a way that looks at ordinariness being a part of that control... So it's looking at habits, traditions, conditioning certainly, the way in which we are raised to behave a certain way'.

I was unsure when I realised the artist I would be looking at is a photographer as I find it hard to relate to this. However, now I have listened to the interview Connew has a very interesting way of looking at life, how fleeting it is and how much impact art actually has in a political sense.

below is his most recent book, the fantastic cover design by Catherine Griffiths.

Visual Communication in Context

The new brief is to plan and undertake research to develop an understanding of the allocated designer, in my case this is Bruce Connew, their work and the meaning on their interview.

We will then create a 4-page illustrated magazine article. re-presenting selected sections of the designer's interview.

The target audience for the magazine carrying the article will be readers with discerning and have an appreciative eye for good visual communication practice, including professional graphic designers, typographers, illustrators, and design students and educationalists.

I am not very keen on layouts but I am hoping to be able to include my own illustrations to make the article slightly more appealing.

I Wanna Be Adored

Love Will...

Springhead

Back and front of the leaflet to advertise the Plant Lovers' Day as Springhead. Posters an a guide to be handed out on the day will need to be made next.

My first time using InDesign, I found it quite easy to pick up and my client seemed to be happy with the designs.