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ntents:
Street Graphics 4 Cabinet(s) of curiosity 18 Earth artifact 32 Magazine development 42 Typeface 48 Manifesto 54
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Street Gra
MA
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aphics
AKE YOUR DECISION BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
Street Graphics. Two words, that can be understood with a variety of different ways. One of these of course, it’s mine. Well my answer to what is Street Graphics, it’s simple. Campaigns. Of course we must not forget semiotics which could be defined as Street Graphics as well but the first thing that comes to my mind, and the thing that I focused on for my work, was campaigns. I started by looking on campaigns of big brands like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Benetton, which are private companies, as well as Coverments campaigns like the keep calm campaign of UK Goverment, or the Lord Kitchener’s famous poster. I also looked up on the mascots of the Olympic games and the concepts behind their design. But the thing that inspired me the most was the campaign of the World Wide Fund for Nature. That was a campaign for the awareness of the people for Nature. In that point I started thinking that this is the most important thing nowadays. If we do not secure our future on this planet, for whom the situaion we are completely responsible then all the others come in second place. Because there is not such thing as good or bad, just the Nature and its balances. If we don’t protect those we will put our selves in danger to fall out of that balance, which will means the end of our civilization. Because nature does not need us to continue, but we do. Nature will recover whatever we do to it. new visual language 5
So we must start thinking how we keep it in a healthy situation for our race. So W.W.F. campaign, is a poster campaign about Nature. It’s the starting point of my work. But I as I was willing to do something else but a poster, I started looking for more inspiration in some kind of more contemporary Art and installation pieces. One of those was Guernica of Picaso, a fine masterpiece, a protesting piece of work. I also looked at some installations which inspired me too. Next thing was to go out and start taking photos of examples in which Nature reclaims our civilization, like walking plants on the buildings, moss etc. I also made some experiments with nature by leaving outside some words
TOYOTA which call the driver to be aware of
and come back after a couple of days and
the childern on the road and when they trying
see what left of them.
to park. I also found some more “anarchists” indipendent campaings of random everyday
Then I found an artist’s job which was exactly
problems. They are all good examples and
what I was looking for. This one called Ian
reference points for my final piece of work.
Hamilton and his work “Little Sparta”. It’s a garden full of installations that lefted there to be
My final piece as you can see is on the same
reclaimed by the nature and they became one
concept with the protesting indipendent
with the enviroment around them, like ancient
“campaigns” of some individuals here and there.
ruins. That was a wuite good next step for my
It’s more revolusionary, anarchist in a way, but it
research. In that point I just needed that one
passes its message clear. Care about nature.
thing, that one click of influence that would lead
Care about your future. Nature doe not need
me to my final. And that came with the Street
you to carry on. Make your decision. These
Art campaigns. I researched on the web about
and many more could be written on the walls
those and I was lucky to find a campaign of
from individuals, or an organised ensemble.
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THERE WAS LIFE BEFORE US...
THERE WILL BE LIFE AFTER US
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MA
AKE YOUR DECISION BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
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Cabinet(s)
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of curiosity
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Cabinet(s) of curiosity was the second project of the year. At the start in happens to be a bit annoying for a number of students who wondered why to deal with such a contemporary Art context brief in a graphic design course. But that’s who first year is, so the sooner you accept that, the better you get the job done, and the more calm you will be, because you won’t complain for things that you have to do. The initial idea for my cabinet was to deal with my Graphic design inspirations, and in general, the things that got me into Graphic design. Logos, cars, advertisements, etc, all clustered in one thing. Formula 1. So it was obvious that I was going to deal with the Formula 1 cars. I started to experiment with them, applying my inspirations on them. A collection of my favourite logos. I even tried something more extreme, by designing some cars with elements that do not have any direct relationship with the sport, like tribal patterns, or Rock and Metal bands that I listened when I started to deal with Graphic design. When though it comes to the packaging, I had (in 3d terms), and many other different ways. to find out how and what the final would look I also made some experiments by creating like. The brief was saying that it’s about a cab- cubes with tribals and cars printed on them to inet, a box, or some sort of a box at least. So see what they could do, and get more ideas. I started designing different solutions with the However one of the solutions I tried, was to Formula 1 car and the box. I tried to put it in- put the car in a guitar box. And there is the side, outside, next to, or to leave one side of point in which my concept slightly changed. the box open, or to uncover the half of the box Instead of deal with Formula 1 cars and my earlier Graphic design inspirations of my early teenage years, I decide to create a cabinet with
general
elements
of
that
period.
That would include music bands I started to listened in taht time, elements of my hobbies, etc. And because the guitar is a 3D object, I decide to design the back of the body as well. So in the front side I was going to remove the wood in order to create a cabinet, in which I would place the elements of my teenage years, like photos on the back, and things like picks, tooners etc on the front, and the back of the guitar would become my canvas which I would fill with some tribal elements that use 20 new visual language
to influence me back then.
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The process was going well and I was almost
ferent because those guitars can work as 3D
called it “flamenco era”. Concerning the front of
finished, and at that time a present from a
installations as well as Cornell’s boxes. So the
the guitars I decide to include everyday things
friend of mine was about to change my con-
fisrt one which was almost ready, would de-
I used to those days (some of them I still do)
cept again, but this time, it was going to be
scribe my teenage years and my “Rock era”
and behind them I decide to put photos the
a fundamentally change. So he gave me two
because back then my major influence used
bands/artists/musicians that influenced me
more old useless guitars to use, so now I had
to come from Rock music. The second one
the most those days. On the back of the gui-
in my possession three guitars in total, from
would be about somewhere before my years
tars, I draw things that come to my imagination
which one has been used for the project. The
in the army, until my first half year of the uni I
when I listen to that music. So in that way I was
new idea was to do a series of cabinet-guitars
was last year, when my major influence used
going to create a contrast. In the front are the
instead of just one, and the concept would be
to come from blues music (so I called it “Blues
elements I use when I listen to that music, and
each one of them would describe a particular
era”), and the third one would be about the
the artists that play it, and on the other side, is
period of my life, just like Joseph Cornell did
last year here in Huddersfield in which the ma-
my response, the response of my mind and
with his boxes. But mine would be slightly dif-
jor influence comes from flamenco music, so I
fantasy when I’m listening to that kind of music.
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the front side o
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of the cabinets...
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On the top, there are placed the “new” generation of blues. Those two guys are great guitar players they will hopfully become the next
On the left page you can see the front side of the blues cabinet. Behind the objects on the wall of the body there are some photos of my major influences, bands, guitarists, harp players, and singers. Those photos are placed by structure. Actually it’s a kind of a family tree, and it evolves as it grows up. This same stucture has been applied to all the three of the cabinets.
legends of the blues. From left to right, John Mayer and Joe Bonamassa.
In that level, the third one, you can see the miracles of blues. Those three guitar players who can be discribe as the three best blues guitarists of all time. From left to right, Gary Moore, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Personally my favourite one is Stevie Ray.
On that level I have placed the second generation of the blues (the ones I listened to). Actually they are just two, from left to right, Buddy Guy and the Texas blues band ZZ Top.
On the bottom level there are the fathers of blues. The first blues generation, from left to right is the living king of the blues B.B. King, in the middle is the legend Robert Johnson, and on the right Muddy Waters. Because of lack of space, James Cotton who should be among those guys has been placed just above them (he’s in the photo just above Muddy Waters).
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ea rth arti fact
Earth artifact is the project inspired by the mission of Voyager I & II, back in the 70s. The task which has been given to us was to represent the contents of the Voyafer, because as a fact they have no elements of Visual language at all. When I first looked at Voyager’s contents I thought that these guys suddenly had the idea of sending something to space and just did it. There was no clue of a conceptual plan inthe contents, they just throw them out in the space. But because the concept was good I decide to concentrate on a Visual and conceptual representation of its conctents. So I started sketcking my ideas of how I can do this idea work Visually. I sketched some story boards for an introduction, and then some rough ideas of the contents. I needed three ideas to present for the presentation day and at that point I had just two. The one was very obvious, it was about a representation of Voyager contents and second one was to make a conceptual narrative of planet earth. Actually I really liked that one, it was very exciting for me. The concept behind that one was to present the planet itself, instead of presenting us on it. So I thought to make a good intro by making a video that would leading any individuals form the outer space, to our planet. That was one of my first ideas which took a good development. Another thing I decide (another initial idea) was to make a narrative with the surface changes through the billions of years. Another idea was to present the evolution of human (Dawrin’s theory), and other species like the horse, the elephant, etc. It was a great brainstorm of ideas that I had and I wanted to combine those in a video form. Another idea I had was to place new visual language 33
I timeline somewhere in the video to show the age of the earth, and when did every event showed happened. The problem was that I didn’t know in which order to set those ideas in a video. But at that time I wasn’t worrying about this, I wanted a third idea.
So I decide to do a road map for the presentation and I started putting my ideas on the wall. Firstly I designed the way that I was going to present the idea. I thought to design a computer, because if I was going to send a video to space, I should make sure that any individuals who may found this would be able to see it. So I would send the video with the machine. Then I started to designing the Ideas. On the left side the conceptual narrative of the earth, and on the right side, the representation of Voyager contents (with other words “nowodays” world). And “accidentally” in the middle the gap filled it self. I just saw the things from a different angle, and I was able to fill that gap with my third idea and later on things coulb be combined in one grand idea.
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So the second idea was based on an initial idea of presenting examples of successfull species of the planet. One of them would be homo sapiens sapiens, and then we get to the second idea or second part of the first which presents the procedure of the human race through the time. Presenting the greatests civilizations, the greatests monuments, the greatests moments in human history, etc. And that can lead us straight forward to the third idea or the third part of the first which is the representation of Voyager contents. Of course it won’t be exactly the same conctents, they will be informed in order to be more conceptual and precise. So after that massive content, I conclude that I cannot do a video, but it’s obvious that such a huge amount of details requires a software to be presented properly. So here we are. Final idea. A software. In that point I had to present examples of how that software would be (because I could not build such a great thing alone, because nowadays a software design requires a whole team of designers to build it). I started with the introduction of it, and later of with the design of the timeline which would show the surface history. The introduction would be a video, starting from the outer space and finishing in front of earth. Then I designed examples of how the program would give the mathematical definitions visually. And after, some examples of the interface design. And of course a program always needs a logo, and for that reason I designed a logo for the program I named earth artifact, Voyager III.
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Intro DUCTION On the right hand side you can see the eight steps of the introduction video. Starting from the Observable Universe (the most far away we know),
to the Local Superclusters, and then to the Virgo Superclusters, and then we reach our Local Galactic Group. Next step of the journey, our Milky Way Galaxy, and then the Solar Interstellar Neighborhood. Then we approach our Solar system, and we finally come in front of our planet. Earth.
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development...
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masthead d occasion. satisfied For masthead the initial idea For the the masthead the initial was toThe do result something
The two options I amshapes willing for two parison with the ofare thethose initials
so I expand it in a wide Some I started to experiment different mastthe firstthe letters (nvl). So I started in variety with letters visually order oftoslightly come up with which are situated to experimentcreative. with the Below letters isheads, something the development of theon the nextand page. I used two difvisually in order to come up simple first good idea, a quite very straight fonts, my favotite sans with something creative. Below forward masthead. Though ferent it’s quite good I didn’t sefir ones, Helvetica Neue and is the development of the first like it enough to stop my experimentations there. Century Gothic. I applied those good idea, a quite simple and So next I started to experiment with the shapes of the in all of my examples in order to very straight forward masthead. letters to see how they work in order to find somehave a visual comparison with Though it’s quite good I didn’t thing special for the occasion. The result satisfied me the shapes of the initials and like it enough to stop my so I expand it in a wide variety of slightly different the name of the magazine with experimentations there. So mastheads, are situated the fonts. next The page.deciI two on different next I startedwhich to experiment usedthetwo different fonts,to mysion favotite ones, of thesans final sefir will depends with shapes of the letters Helvetica Neue Century Gothic. applied on the fontI that I will those choose see how they work and in order to in all of my examples to have comfor the layoutsaofvisual my magazine. find something special for in theorder
Iand usedthe for name the masthead. see I want of the You magazine withto
idea do something with withwas thetofirst letters (nvl).
create an identity fonts. for my The magazine. I wantofit two different decision to consistency. Both of the have thehasfinal will depends on fonts the I font
concluded are quitefor simple good of for that I willto, choose theand layouts a magazine, and they are very modern.
my magazine. The two options I am willing for are those two I used for the But I think I will choose Helvetica only for personmasthead. You see I want to create an al reasons, because I haven’t worked enough identity for my magazine. I want it to with it as I have with Century Gothic. So I want has consistency. to explore it more practically, because I believe Both of the fonts I have concluded there is not a designer who is not familiar with to, are quite simple good a Helvetica. And with that and I mean that for all the magazine, andknow theyhow aretovery proper designers use it,modern. and how But I with think to work it. I will choose Helvetica only for personal reasons, because I haven’t worked enough with it as I have with Century Gothic. So I want to explore it more practically, because I believe there is not a designer who is not familiar with Helvetica. And with that I mean that all the proper designers know how to use it, and how to work with it.
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design
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cover de For the cover design I started to experiment with some of the artworks that I improved for the magazine.After choosing the
final masthead, I continued with the production of some draft cover designs in which I experiment with the sub heading. I found out that the second poster, the one with Lord Kitchener, even that’s the best of its series, it can’t stand for a
modern frontpage because it’s too busy with all of those fonts and the quote it self that draws the
attention
fromthe
sub
header. So I prefered something more simple. That’s why my final proposals are without text and more “simple”. For example the organic pattern on the wall from the poster of the Street raphic project, it might look busy, but it’s simple because it comes in harmony with the tsub heading. This is because it does not have text so it can stand quite good as a background. The same applies for the guitar, and the manifesto cover as well. Personally I like all the three of them but something on the manifesto cover draws my attention. It might be that one or the one with the guitar.
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esign
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the type face
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cause since I started Graphic Design, I always remember my self to struggle when I was looking for fonts which contain the Hellenic letters, apart from the Latin ones. So here I am, starting that exciting project. A very interesting thing that I started to write, it’s the differences between the pronounciation of the letters in English and Hellenic, and how does this affect the design of the letters. To start with, the major defference between the Hellenic and English alphabet, is that in the Hellenic alphabet you read (and you actually pronounce) what you see. Every single letter has it’s own pronunciation. Of course there are occasions where you pronounce something different – for instance, when two vowels come together, then they create another vowel, but it’s a compilation, and always pronunced with the same way. In the english alphabet now, things are more random because there is not always the same pronunciation for each particular letter in the words. But to cut the long story short and not to go very deep in the glossary terms and rules etc, what I want to say is that Hellenic language has the most intergrated structure of all. So this must be applied on the alphabet as well. And to be more specific, an example could be a letter like the lowercase “p” and the Hellenic “r” – “ρ”. If you haven’t spot the different, I will explain it now. As you can see what missing from the hellenic letter is the shoulder. And that’s because we are talking for two different letters,which have a different role in the alphabet. “P” as a letter reminds us the foot stoP. It’s a “closure” letter, with other words. But no the Hellenic “r” – “ρ”. Like the English “r”, this
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For the typeface I decided to do something
letter has a “rolling” role, it Rolls thRough the
different. I decided to design a Hellenic type-
woRds, as you can obseRve. All of these are
face with elements of Ancient Hellas. I find
a matter of pronunciation. So the letters should
the Hellenic Alphabet way more accurate
describe the movements of the mouth as we
and better than any other. However Hellenics
speak. So here, we cannot present the Hel-
were those who perfectionised the Phoenician
lenic “ρ” with the terminal, because it’s “wrong”,
Alphabet. Anyway, apart from that I always
because terminal here, reminds the foot stop in
wanted to design typefaces in Hellenic, be-
a way. We don’t want this, because when we
see “ρ” our mouth Rolls thRough, and it does not make a “stop”. “P” it’s similar to “T”, and both are phonemes that do not roll. And both have been designed with a way that shows the absence of rolling in their pronunciation. Another example of difference between Hellenic and English alphabet, is the Hellenic “Ξ” and the English “X” and the Hellenic”X”/. Ok this is a bit confusing. To start with, the Hellenic “Ξ” pronunced with the same way as the English “X”. Both are the same letters for their alphabets. The confusing thing here, is that the Hellenic “X” is a letter that does not exist in the English alphabet, just in the English alphabet’s gallery. It’s pronunciation can be found in some particular english words like the word “chromatic”. “Ch” is the combination of the letters that define the pronunciation of the Hellenic “X” – but not in every case, because as I said before, English language is more random, and letters got several pronunciations in different occasions. For instance in the word “cheers”, “ch” pronunced more as the end of the name of the leter “H” than the Hellenic “X”. So in the Hellenic alphabet “χ” has been designed going below the bottom line because it’s a unique phoneme that pronunced in a very “special” way. Like the Hellenic “γ” which has thesame pronunciation, and it has been designed below the bottom line as well. Concerning the typeface, unfortunatelly I wasn’t able to finish it yet, because it requires a lot of work and thinking while the process is on, and I do not want to rush it. I will take it slowly but merthodically because I want the best of the results.
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