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VISUAL ASSOCIATIONS PACKAGING EDITORIAL VISUAL IDENTITY BLACK SHEEP AWARDS BOOK COVERS
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BRANDOPUS AWARDS TYPOGRAPHIC POSTER
3 58 - 59 INTERCHANGE 60 - 61 COLLABORATION 62 - 83 VISITING LECTURES 84 - 87 GALLERY VISITS 88 - 91 BOOK REVIEWS 92 - 99 DESIGNERS 100 - 115 NEW YORK 116 REFLECTION
BA2A was a really enjoyable unit for me. I feel I grew majorly during this unit from last year, in self confidence and in my skill set. I found the editorial and competition projects in particular to be very challenging, but I feel the challenges were refreshing, some real brain testers. On the other hand, I felt the other projects really allowed me to express my style as a designer, and play with clever ideas.
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visual associations I found this project particularly challenging. I think coming back after a summer of working in a design firm, and meeting my new tutors for the first time, I was ready to impress and push my ideas to the maximum. Unfortunately, I got given a rather difficult subject matter, Art and the night time. I had an initial idea of creating an abstract poster that would change at night through the use of glow in the dark ink, trying to grab the attention of commuters who would be out at night. After putting a lot of effort and time into this design, the crits made me realize it wasn’t the correct route to go down. I
went back to the drawing board, and decided to create a poster that was illustration based, trying to represent the two subjects in an unconventional way. I decided to subtly illustrate a sleeping security guard, to represent the fact that my event was opening up the gallery at unconventional hours. I think the outcome was successful, but wasn’t my strongest piece of work. I love to combine two subjects cleverly, and unfortunately this subject matter proved very difficult to do so. If I could do this brief again, I would have changed my subjects.
My poster in a tube station, where it would hang to catch the attention of commuters, my chosen target audience.
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challenging the brand This has to be one of my favourite projects so far in the course. Branding, logo design, advertising and packaging have all been subjects I thoroughly enjoy, and this brief incorporated all of them. I chose a range of meat marinades and sauces with the name ‘Meat Lust,’ as I felt this name had a lot of potential, and the brand didn’t give it any justice. The brand also had a strong story including that they came from a butcher background, and they were ‘obsessed with meat.’ I felt the obsession and lust element would be a really clever pair with the ‘saucy’ sauce, thus creating a rather naughty feeling brand, with a clever stand out point on the supermarket shelves.
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“BORN IN THE BRITISH BUTCHERY TRADE, WE’VE PLOUGHED OVER 40 YEARS OF MEAT OBSESSIVE EXPERTISE INTO OUR JOYOUSLY TASTY MEAT LUST SAUCES.”
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XXX FLAVOUR
I decided to create a cow motif for my logo which had a hidden pair of handcuffs and a dog collar (a touch to the BDSM scene.) I also decided to add a little nod to the naughty side, by adding some devil horns in the messy, hardcore logo typeface that contrasted with the logo. These horns also could relate back to the horns of the cow. I played around with language and tone of voice on the bottles, making the instructions and sauce names have a naughty double meaning. The advertising naturally lent itself to the identity I had created.
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saucy advertising With the help of my friend Jordan Hudson behind the camera, and George Walton in front of it, we filmed a sample for a TV advert and photographed a sample of a billboard. We focused on trying to mimic a sexy atmosphere, using neon type commonly found in steak houses and strip clubs. There are further storyboards for more film ideas, and also mock ups for the ambient advertising, bringing a little bit of naughtiness to peoples everyday lives – for example having naked butlers on the street and on a BBQ offering sauce samples and cooking up some meat. Also there’s the opportunity to use objects commonly associated with bondage and use them to tie up and attach the bottles in the street, making people laugh. I think I had a really strong outcome for this project, and its something I worked hard for and am proud of.
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I filmed a short 10 second advert for Meat Lust. It showed a man cooking in dark lighting, then getting a little carried away with the sauce, finishing with the tag line, feeling saucy? Another play on words.
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Ambient advertising for Meat Lust, involving handcuffing bottle in various public spaces to create a sense of interest. I also plan to host a meat filled BBQ with a saucy side, where the chefs will be wearing naughty leather aprons. Also an example of how the sauce could be placed ambiently to cause a discussion and add humour.
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When imagining my product placement, I feel the sauce should be on tables in diners and artisan burger shops as well as on shelves.
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editorial
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This was by far the most challenging project for me this term. We started with a workshop where we were handed out subject choices and encouraged to creatively think about layout, scale and placement. I found the workshop helpful with the subject we were given, but I decided to change subjects after reading the copy text. I decided to go with the subject of Lego, as I felt this had a lot of opportunity’s for a playful spread. The 19element
of building and creating really interested me along with the bright colors and the minimal features of Lego. I decided I would use the aspect of Lego being built from all but a messy pile to an organized structure. This proved very difficult, as the design was looking un-playful, un-colorful and dull. I have gone back to the drawing board with this design 5 or 6 times and found it extremely challenging to come up with something clever.
After really struggling I spoke to a tutor, and she told me to continue with the design I had, as there were some aspects that were working quite well. I was told to research Neville Brody and take inspiration from some of his designs. I feel my outcome could have been stronger, but considering how challenging I found the project I am proud of what I achieved and feel I met the brief.
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Now this project really got me hooked... 22
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visual identity I have also thoroughly enjoyed this branding project. I was given one of my favourite stores in Norwich to rebrand, Dogfish, a streetwear store with a casual approach to retail. Also unfortunately, they had a very relaxed approach to their branding too, having kept the same logo since they opened. I decided I wanted to strip back their logo and create a minimal logo for the store and their partner store Catfish. The clothes they sell aren’t cheap, and I feel their branding didn’t scream luxury, alike many other streetwear brands. I created a simple logo using a fish hook (a nod to the names of the stores) and a clothes hanger to represent the fact the store sells clothing, as I felt this was lost in the initial branding. I kept the bright colored red and introduced a yellow to keep the branding a little playful, but still subtle.
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I wanted to reintroduce some patterns and more playful aspects back into the branding to contrast with the minimal logo. I decided to keep the corners rounded on the business cards and the labels as I felt this mimicked the rounded feel to the logo and typeface I was using, and overall it came across more friendly. I used small plastic hangers to ‘hang’ the business cards, nodding again to the clothes instore. I also introduced a custom pet tag into the instore branding, something that could be used as a keyring or a sign that you shop in this store. These tags would also be used in a window display shown above in this re-imagined store front. They would hang on fish hooks and when the sunlight catches them, they will give the illusion of fish scales. The hanger for the logo would physically hang also, and would sway in the wind. The store sign will say ‘come in we don’t bite!’ to add some playful humour.
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I also designed a scale effect with jeans to be places on a denim box for both stores, and some special 25th anniversary bags, T-shirts and balloons. I also redesigned their website, completely stripping it back and adding a luxury feel.
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“how would you change societies perceptions of the homeless owning smart-phones?”
the black sheep awards I really enjoyed this project as I felt it really challenged me to think outside of the box. When doing a competition brief, me and Elliot decided we wanted to make our concept and campaign really stand out and create something that no one else would. Homeless people often ‘drop off the radar,’ unable to be seen, heard, or get the help that they need. This results in them feeling isolated and worthless. We believe they do have worth, and having a smart-phone enables them to express this. With the combination of our campaign, advertising and app we aim to reconnect the homeless back into our society. We will give them a signal to be seen again, putting them back on the radar.
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The first step of our campaign involves encouraging the public to donate their old smart-phones when upgrading in-store. This service would run across all major phone retailers, and would be successful because of the convenience. If you do sign up and donate your phone, your new upgrade will come with the Signal app pre installed. This app version is for the public and is represented by the colour blue. The app focuses on giving the public a chance to reconnect with the homeless community. The main structure of the app is based around the 3 main types of signals; a gesture, a sound, and an action. The gesture part of the app consists of a community board, where users of the general public and the homeless versions of the app can reconnect. Our intentions would be that this board would be full of job opportunities posted by the public, along
with posts by people from the homeless community looking for work, or offering support. The only thing separating the two sides of the community is the colours of the pins on their post, and their profile. When a post is clicked on, you have to opportunity to message the user a job offer, or see their profile on the homeless version of the app. This app records and tracks all job offers, meaning that there is more trust on the public side. After a job is completed, you have the opportunity to pay your employee through pay-pal. This money will then go into a trusted savings account for them managed by pay-pal, monitoring their purchases. But most importantly you will leave a reference. This reference can be recognised by future employers, breaking the circle of no job, no reference.
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advertising The advertising we have created for our app will provoke a change in perception. Taking the black and white views people may have of the homeless; and changing them with the following poster. It displays how the homeless still have self worth, advertising our app and the opportunities that are then given to them. Using the tagline ‘Indicating a change in perception’ we nodded to the signal terminology, and it goes with the change in perception you see when you turn the corner.
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book covers I found this project a little challenging, mainly because we had two weeks to create 3 book covers and also finish off all of our other work for hand in. I feel if this project was at a different time in the year I would have produced a stronger outcome. However, saying this I am proud of my outcome. I feel it really fitted the brief, and I produced some really nice and clean designs. I feel the added a touch more value to the books, and also represented the two authors very well. The Hairy bikers are playful characters, and this wasn’t represented in the original book designs.
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instore promotion I feel I could have produced stronger in store advertising for the books, but with the time we were given this was the strongest I could achieve. This playful in-store advertising consists of using a custom printed harley davidson as my pedistool, and providing it also as a prop for photo opportunities. The public also have the opportunity to wear a biking helmet that nods to the book covers.
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BA2B had a really stressful start. I didn’t do as well as I had hoped with the first hand in, and at the start of this unit I felt exposed and like I now had a lot to prove to myself. Overall, I really enjoyed this unit. I felt me and my team really pushed ourselves on the competition brief and this gave me my self confidence back.
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straight edge This project was for the brandopus chrysalis awards. We were asked to create an alcoholic, or non alcoholic pre mixed drink that can stand among the market competitors. We worked in a group of 4 for the project, Me, Elliot, Fenella and Harriet. I think we all worked really well as a team, we really pushed our selves to do something out of our comfort zone aesthetic wise. We created Straight Edge. A non alcoholic spirit based drink, with a punky edge. Straight edge is a subculture of Hardcore Punk, where followers refrain from drinking alcohol or taking drugs and wholey dedicating themselves to the music, and in return they have a clear mind. We decided this was a nice back story for a non alcoholic substitute. It will appeal to the target audience well, with its bold ‘cool’ image. It will be a combination of 3 pre mixed drinks, and a large non alcoholic spirit to be sold separately. This then allows it to be opened up to a new market, and encourages its use in non alcoholic cocktails or as an alternative in bars.
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The small pre-mixed bottles contain a mixture of our non alcoholic straight edge spirit, and flavoured tonic waters. We felt it was important to use clear mixers to add to the spirit as it reiterates the idea of having a clear mind and body. We decided to use bright colours and bold type to appeal to the target audience. These are ideally how we want our final bottles to look, as it was incredibly hard to source the actual bottles, we had to mock them up small.
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We wanted to use edges in our promotional advertising, and create a punky feel.
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A website mock up for Straight Edge. It uses the edges we have created on the mouse and for the menu bar.
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typographic poster Our final project was to create a poster with purely type. I hated this. I don’t know what it is about being restricted to pure type, but it seems to always get me stuck. I chose the Futuro House Tours for my subject as the Futuro house is something I’ve always been fascinated by. I think I may of chosen a hard one. I haven’t included my final outcome for this project because I don’t have one yet. Its currently 4 days until deadline and I still am stuck on it. I cannot wait to finish it.
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This chapter explores the inspirations behind my work. It includes reviews on the lectures given from the industry this year, my favourite designers, books, galleries, and the trips I have been on.
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interchange Not many people know, but along side Graphic Design, I have a massive passion for oil painting. I unfortunately haven’t painted since producing the piece below in 2015, but its something I think about daily and should make time for. I decided to do an interchange class on oil painting, mainly to see if I still possess the talent I had back then. Unfortunately as you can see I think I have lost it. I know it will come back if I allow time for it again as I did really enjoy painting again for an hour and it was such a massive hobby of mine that I really miss.
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collaboration I collaborated with photography student Shannon Parker to create a 16 page zine for her final project. We decided to call it contrast, due to the high amounts of blue and yellow she used in her photos. My job as the designer was to decide which images I wanted to use, and to place them in a way that they would compliment eachother. We both agreed a lot of white space would be good for the design, as it gave the images space to breathe.
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north Sean Perkins from North Design came in to speak to us and tell us about two of their most recent projects. He spoke about their recent redesign for the Tate gallery, and about their most recent large scale job for the co-op, which focused on bringing the past back to the present, and reincorporating back in the community aspect which the co-op started with. I found this lecture really interesting, it was great to see all the processes and thinking which goes into a brief. I also have a great interest in branding, in particular re branding so I found this incredibly interesting.
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When redesigning the logo for the co-op, North decided to go back to the past. The co-operative group is owned by its members, and they do a lot of work by giving back to the communities that fund them. They felt this story was lost in the current branding, so decided to go back to the co-ops original logo. They hoped this would remind all the members of the community of the co-op still stood by these values. They also reintroduced the stamp system they had many years ago.
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1968 logo design for co-op
1993 logo design for co-op
2007 logo design for co-op
2016 logo design for co-op
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Sean then went on to say the new bags they designed for co-op are now being compared to Gucci.
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“ Originally from 1968, and therefore quite Gucci. A co-op carrier is suddenly a bit fashionable. “ The guardian ‘this weeks fashion trends’ 2016
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They went on to then redesign all of the instore products, the instore layouts, and custom shop fronts for 2,800 of their convenience stores. They wanted to make every store unique, as it was ‘your’ local co-op. They also then went on to show how the application would look on the other co-op buisnesses. They also reintroduced the previous stamps and members card, to add more of a personal touch.
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They also had create custom uniforms for the staff, they wanted to make it informal and reminicant of old shop uniforms, so they stuck with an apron and a smart shirt.
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supermu Rob Lowe, aka Supermundane gave a fantastic lecture. He is a graphic designer, artist, typographer, writer and illustrator so as a keen illustrator myself, I found this incredibly interesting and refreshing. He was an inspiring speaker, captivating us by singing his song ‘close but never touching’ about type kerning. Lowe said that type has been a massive part of his career, and he made a point to encourage us to not think of it as an after thought to the design.
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“Its our job as designers to break away from rules and convensional stereotypes.� Rob screen prints a lot of his designs. He works with pattern and colour, mixing them with either type or faces. He holds a lot of exhibitions and has made a name for him self on instagram, with over 51 thousand followers. I love the bold, playfulness of the art he creates, and how visually striking they are. I think its a really unique style of work and I love it.
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‘superleeds’ One of the projects he showed us was a commissioned vinyl graphic for Leeds Inspired, which would be shown at the citys main station. It was placed on a footbridge overlooking the main entrance where it would be seen by over 120,000 people a day. He said he found it challenging but interesting using the transparency of the window when creating this, and he strategically placed them so that they weren’t placed for just visual reasons.
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“I HATE BEING M WHEN I’M BUYIN I HATE pointles JUST WANT to b SAUSAGES.” hamish muir Hamish Muir from MuirMcNeil came to speak to us. I got the impression that he was a very unhappy man who hated a lot of things about life, including ideas, mornings, packaging and ‘a smile in the min’ (he didn’t want to read the pointless idea) . Although he was very passionate about the things he hated and didn’t fail to let us know, he is a very credited designer so I felt inclined to listen. Even though our course is heavily ideas based, he told us that ideas were a waste of time and that your aesthetic work will outlive your ideas, this I didn’t agree with. Having said this though, his design aesthetic was very pleasing and I will now review my favourite project of theirs. 78
MADE TO LAUGH ING SAUSAGES. ess IDEAS. I buy FUCKING
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This was the work that they did for TypeCon back in 2016, who yearly collaborate with a designer or a team to come up with their identity. The theme they decided was ‘resound.’ They created a layered modular type system, with the name MMcN Two Point. It consists of 56 base fonts, but through layering cleverly, it can create an additional 3100 typographic configurations. I love the strong contrast of the green and the harsh black and white, I think it creates a really unique style and identity for the 2016 TypeCon.
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TypeCon 2016 desktop and lock screen
I think I enjoy this identity so much because it is very abstract. The bright colours and the animations are so visually appealing. The bright colours also remind me of coding, and give a geeky impression, which I guess is fitting for a convention purely about type.
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the design museum I visited the ‘Designer, Maker, User’ exhibition back in March at the Design Museum in London. It exhibited a collection of design from the twentieth and twenty-first century viewed from the angles of the designer, manufacturer and user. It included everything from road sign designs, tube designs, apple computers and phones through the ages. I also got a look at some of the famous VW and Olivetti posters. I enjoyed this exhibition, but I felt it could of been layed out better, it was very crowded and there was a little too much to look at. I also discovered Anthony Burrill’s work there in the form of a ‘I like it. What is it?’ poster and later carried on to buy a book by him as I really enjoy his prints.
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art galleries During my time in london, I also visited Tate Modern and the saatchi gallery. These visits were interesting, but less relatable to the course as the exhibits I enjoyed were more fine art based. Nethertheless, I am a keen oil painter (not that I have time to now) so I always enjoy going to see art. These galleries are two of my favourites in london, especially the Saatchi gallery, as I love the way the exhibitions are layed out, and the clean environment.
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a smile in the mind I hate to reference the same book twice, but this is such a life saver I had to mention it again this year. A smile in the mind is almost a graphic design bible it’s so essential. I always refer back to this when ever im stuck or in need of inspiration, and it never fails to help. The book was republished by Phaidon after the first version in 1996 became outdated, and new work has been added and the book refreshed by new co-authors Greg Quinton and Nick Asbury. The book concentrates on wit, and contains over
40 years or witty design from over 500 different designers. It also encourages the teaching of wit, and informs viewers of the 7 different groups of witty thinking: Comparisons, Two-in-one, Shifts, Deducing, Changes, Two pay off’s and Chance. The book then goes on to split up these groups, and collect together more examples of witty design. Overall, I think this book will be a treasured piece of inspiration for the remainder for my design career.
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made you look - sagmeister In all honesty I brought this book because of how it looked, but upon reading it I’ve actually found it incredibly interesting and useful to my studies. It offers an insight into Sagmeisters head and his design career, and as a very interesting man this was enjoyable. It includes the low points from his career aswell as the high points, such as job rejections and projects he found difficult, as well as his big successes. There is one project in the book with a massive red X plastered over it, with the note ‘That gift catalogue I really did not do as well as I could have. I have to try a project like this from a totally different angle next time,” in the front of the book it states that they “included the bad stuff because it could be valuable for students.” I guess the inclusion of this was helpful, as it teaches us that we all have projects we could of done better in. The book also includes extracts from his diary, often written into the pages crowding the space and giving the impression of a very cluttered mind, something probably most designers experience regularly, I know I do anyway. This adds to the reading experience, offering a personal insight into projects and goings on at the time.
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paula scher Paula is a Graphic designer, artist and painter. She is one if my biggest inspirations currently as she was the first female principle at Pentagram, and she is also a female rights activist. I had heard of her name back in college, but never thought to look up her work, I guess I also had the thought that she wouldn’t be as good as she was a woman. When watching a TV series names Abstract on Netflix, she starred in one of the episodes about graphic design. I then had an insight into her work and found it incredible. I love how bold she is with
her work, and how she isn’t afraid of pushing the boundaries completely. She is still currently a partner at Pentagram in New York, where she has designed for major corporations including Citibank, The New York Times Magazine, The Public Theater and more. In particular I love her work for The Public Theatre, Its become almost a famous piece of design work and rightly so. Scher will probably be one of the most inspirational designers for me for the rest of my design career, she is who I want to be. A strong, powerful woman in a mans world.
“If a prospective client calls Pentagram and doesn’t ask for a partner by name, I see them thinking, Why did I get 92 the woman? When I walk in. Even the women do it. “
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Scher first designed a poster for The Public Theater back in the 90’s, then in 2008 she refreshed the theaters whole identity. Recently Paula again worked for Public, but this time with their graphic designer Kirstin Huber on the visuals for the 2014/15 season. “Set in Knockout, the font of the Public identity, the season typography skews right or left in alternating bands or plays off strong photography,” the Pentagram website explains. “The campaign updates the classic pop look of the Public Theater graphics, which incorporate photographic images against flat colour backgrounds, this time in an arresting palette of black, white and yellow.” Its a new update for the identity, a refresh into modern times, but one that still pays back to the great design heritage of the theater.
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jkr Jonesknowlesritchie, also known as JKR, came in to do a small talk to us over our weeks off. I attended because they are one of my favourite design agencies, and their recent rebrand for WKD caught my eye instantly, I needed to know more about it.
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The idea behind the WKD rebrand was an exclamation point, reintroducing the fun back into the product in a fun and exciting way. It had to appeal to the brands target audience of 18 - 24 year olds, hence the playful design. How ever great it looks, the guys at jkr revealed the idea just came to them by looking at an upside down bottle. The company has had a massive decline in sales and market presence, and the rebrand was a push to change this. They wanted the colours and feel of the design to be very neutral, thus opening up the market more. I still to this day don’t know why I love this rebrand so much, the concept behind it is so simple but I feel they created such a bold and bright visual identity that its grabbed my attention and not let go. I even brought the product for the first time after this rebrand, and it now sits on my shelf.
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new y I was ecstatic when I found out me and 5 of my best friends got into the New York trip. America has always been a dream that’s too far away for me, but I could now fulfil this. And boy, it didn’t disappoint! I decided to take my 35mm film camera with me. Shooting film is a hobby I have taken up since being at university. I love the effect it gives the photos and the suspense of not knowing what will print out. This section of my journal will just showcase the best of the photos I managed to capture. Our visit to New York was definitely a hectic one. We decided to do as much as we could in the time we had. The first night we arrived, we managed to get invited to an exclusive movie premier with scarlett johanssen just by chance. That was a crazy start bur everything got better from there. The first day we went to walk the High-Line, something I was familiar with after researching Paula Scher, as she had just created an identity for them. It is an abandoned rail track that gives incredible views of the city. We then went to the top of the Rockefeller to see the most incredible views from the 70th floor. We then decided to take a look around Times Square, which was an experience in its self. Everything was so overwhelmingly big, bright and busy, it was insane. We then decided we wanted to see more sights, so we went to walk the Brooklyn bridge back into Manhattan, raced over to the 911 memorial, and finally went on the Staten island ferry to see the statue of liberty. Topping it off with ending up in Grand Central Station, and giving the middle finger to trump towers. Of course I also had a day shopping in soho but we wont talk about how much money I spent...
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guggenheim & moma Over my time in New York I visited more galleries. We went to the Guggenheim and MoMA. These were great galleries, but again were more fine art based. I saw work from some of my favourite painters including Van Gough, Pollock and Mondrian. The Guggenheim provided a very interesting gallery experience as all the work was on the walls in a spiral stair case. I enjoyed it a lot, and the architecture of the building was also beautiful.
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After this year I still definitely want to go into the industry. I work well under pressure (most of the time) and am able to push myself very far. It’s a dream I have had for a long time and I’m getting more and more excited to fulfil it. I think I need to work on my typographic skills, as the two projects where I have been restricted to just typography I have found extremely hard. I feel I have really improved on my design knowledge this year, with a vast array of designers and agencies I know, follow and can recognise work from. I have enjoyed the lectures this year thoroughly, and am keen to see who will visit next year. In reflection I feel this year has been a really great one. I have entered multiple competitions, with briefs that have been completely different from ones I have done before. I have pushed myself creatively, and come up with multiple outcomes I am extremely happy with. I have been put forward for the Design Bridge Bursary scheme and have made it through to the final 7, an achievement I am very proud of. I feel the work I have produced has been varied in style and has produced a great portfolio. I hope you have enjoyed reading this journal, its something I have really enjoyed creating.
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