DISP BOO
This book is a colleciton of my work that I have produced while studing at level 5 on the BA Graphic Design Programme at The Arts University Bournemouth. It shows all my development, planning and ideas that occured for me during the projects that I received during the first term of the year. This book has been designed, printed and bound by Benjamin Gilpin.
VISUAL SYSTEMS PAGE’S 2- 47
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THE BRIEF With the brief in my hands, this project began by my team and I reading it and discussing what we believed we were being directed to do. The point which the team and I started at was figuring out what a visual system was, along where a system is used in day to day life.
After discussing the brief the team and I had no clue what a visual system was. This meant the next step for us was to go away and research what they were and when they’re used.
After reading the brief through, It was clear that the team and I were being instructed to create a visual system, that when data was entered into it would allow the user to visually map the AUB campus. The brief also encouraged us to think inventively, the team took this challenge as to using new technology in our work, also to think differently in the ways of collecting our data and generating a system. My initial thoughts on the project where that it was very confusing and going to be tough, this was because at this moment in time I hadn’t grasped what a system was.
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“The system approach involves the pursuit of truth and its effective use, plenty, the good, and beauty and fun.� 7
WHAT IS A VISUAL SYSTEM When starting this project the group and I had no idea what a visual system was or when they were used. This meant we had to go away and do research to figure out what they were. The brief described a visual system as an underlying structure to design, a set of rules that can be deployed to inform a limitless set of creative implementations and processes.
“A system is not something presented to the observer, it is something to be recognized by him.� - E. Von Glaserfeld 1990
What came out of my research of visual systems, was they are a controlling factor in the development section of design. They are used as a strategy of controlling certain parameters in a process. The other idea that came from my research is that systems are hidden all around us and shape our lives without us realising.
Right Image 1 - The image is showing a type of system that is used every day in the industry, this is called the layout system and is being illustrated by the lines in the grid paper.
They are used from the process of making toast to controlling where a car can and can’t park. I believe this to be because the parameters in the process of a system can be broken down into a set of rules that you have to follow. However the difference between a normal system and a visual one is that the data can be synthesised into a visual identity for the system. In the world of graphic design there is a visual system that is used constantly in the process of layout. This visual system is known as a grid. Which is used any time a designer is laying out a piece of work in the initial stages.
Bottom Image 2 - The image is showing a visual representation of system that is showing the different colours that is found in different world cultures.
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Bottom Image 3 - The image is showing a visual representation of system that connected each numerical digit of π with the next digit that succeeds it in the complete sequence.
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SYSTEM GENERATION After the group came together and each individual person showed the research they had done into what a system was, we believed it was time to put our brains together and come up with ideas of what systems we could create to map the campus.
Right Side Image 4 - A notebook page with my notes about what I believe is needed to create a visual and system and what I believe you have to think about.
However before finalising what systems we were going to concentrate on, there was certain criteria we had to remember for each system. These included; You find the area that you want to work with, a system is created to figure out what you are discovering, data is collected to prove your system, a visual is created to show the data that was collected from your system. This is shown by the image on the right. The team and I came up with a vast array of different systems that we could create to map the AUB campus. Some of the systems the team and I came up with include the noise level in each class and comparing the nosiest class and the quietest class, which is a sound system. Seeing what the majority colour selected for each course would be and then using colour theory to see the emotion of each course, the system here would be . While another system we came up with was to visualise background noise and sound around the campus and visualise it from aspects that relate to, this is a visual system.
Left Side Image 5 - This image is showing a photographic approach to creating a visual system. What it allows you to see is each persons favourite colour as the photograph of them is dyed in that colour.
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Above Image 6 - A notebook page that is showing my suggestions to the team on possible visual, sound and human based systems that we could create to visually map the AUB campus.
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SYSTEM SELECTION After drawing up a list of possible visual systems that the team and I could use, it was time to select one and then go on to collecting data for it.
Upon looking at our list of systems, there were two that we felt stood out the most. The first was our system that would turn background sound around the AUB campus into recognisable visual representations. Our visual system is you record 15 seconds of sound, then the average decibel level of the recording pre determines what the visual would look like. This is a working system because people would recognize that the shapes and size would symbolise the sound in the local area. Right Image 6 - An extension produced of the system that linked a number in the sequence of pi with number that followed. In this visual each number has been colour so by looking at the coloured square you can see what number followed by viewing the key.
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Above Image 7 - An illustrated mind map that is highlighting the two systems we are going to collect data for out of the final list of visual systems that the team felt were interesting.
Right Image 8 - Another extension produced of the system that linked a number in the sequence of pi with number that followed. I believe this images to be inspirational to why we chose to continue the colour visual system, as these images are very interesting to look at and we believes we could try replicate this in out colour visual system.
The second system that we felt stood out was getting students to write down their course and gender from their favourite colour out of the selection we gave them. This is would be a colour visual system, it would work by us being able to recognise what certain colours stood out the most from the data we were going to collect. Which later down the production, we would be able to see trends and patterns from the data which could of possibly given us a final piece to go along with. The problem is the team were divided which task to go and execute, so we decided to go about collecting data for both systems. Then which one we felt had the strongest data would be the one we took forward and start to produce final pieces for.
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Right Image 9 - Sheet showing our data collection, we got students around the campus to write down their course name and gender with their favourite colour out of the selection we had for them to chose from.
The images that follow in this sub category of the book are showing the results from the different types of data collection that the team and I undertook for this project.
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DATA COLLECTION After agreeing what systems the team and I were going to focus on, the next logical step for us was to go out and collect data to then input into our systems to create possible visual outcomes.
With our data collection we didn’t want to have primary research by just sticking a questionnaire online and waiting for people to go fill it out. So for one of our system ideas we took it into our own hands to go ask students of the Arts University Bournemouth to select their favourite colour from the nine different options we offered to them. With there colour select, the student was then tasked with right their course and gender. For the other system option that we were trailing we went round 5 different locations at the university and used a sound recording app the collect 15 seconds of background sound from these areas.
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Left Image 10 - Sheet showing our data collection, we got students around the campus to write down their course name and gender with their favourite colour out of the selection we had for them to chose from. Right Image 11 - This is another sheet showing our data collection, we got students around the campus to write down their course name and gender with their favourite colour out of the selection we had for them to chose from. Middle Image 12 - While doing research into data collection the book pictured was inspirational in ways of using non traditional data finding methods.
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Right Image 13 - The sheet is showing our results from the collection we got about students favourite colour form course and gender. We collected it together into one tally chart to see what colour where chose the most and other the least.
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Left Image 14 - Notebook page that is showing the results of the decibel data collection from the sound recordings that I proceeded to do around the AUB Campus for our visual sound system.
The images on this page show our other way of collecting data for a different system that we were trailing. The process that we undertook was recording 15 seconds of sound for each area of uni we visited. Then with the sound recording we could find the peak decibel level and the average decibel level for the area we were visiting.
Right Image 15 - This is a screenshot this is showing the app that I used to record the snippets of sound that we will put into one of our visual sound systems to create visuals of the background noise around the AUB Campus.
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RESEARCH After agreeing that the system the team and I were going to focus on, which was turning small snippets of background sound from the AUB campus into memorable visuals. We had some research to do, this included finding out what visuals to create from the sound along with researching a local place we could implement our system into so it had a purpose.
I put forward the idea of recording 15 seconds of sound as I felt that it was a sufficient enough time to capture enough sound. Just like 15 seconds is the maximum you can record of video on the instagram app as it is an adequate amount of time for the purpose.
Our first bit of research was into how we could visualise 15 seconds of background sound. We started by looking at the sound in a traditional sound-wave shape. However we thought this was to simple and didn’t feel it was being controlled and followed a process like a system is meant to. So we started to concentrate on other was and these included shapes, words and other elements. Upon looking at the suggestions the team agreed, the most interesting way of creating visual sound was through 3D shapes and colour. Each visual would be different as the system we created would mean when the it would take the average decibel level of the sound recording. Then the shape and colour is pre determined for a certain decibel level. This meant when a certain decibel level was produced, a certain visual outcome would be shown. However upon further research on Sebastinella Dunne’s behalf we realised we didn’t have to show these 3D representations as a static image. She found out we can have a collection of these 3D shapes occelating to the wave of sound produced when the background noise is recorded, this could be produced in a new untaught computer program called Cinema 4D. This meant the final outcome wouldn’t be static and would be moving.
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The next step for the team and I was to come up with ideas of where we felt we could implement our visual system, so that it had a purpose and could visually map the campus of the Arts University Bournemouth. Right Image 16 - A page out of my written notepad, that is showing the ideas the team and I had of how we could visualise the background noise around the AUB Campus.
Bottom Right Image 17 - This is an image showing someone viewing different shades of coloured balls, with each ball representing the different colour of the sky every 5 minutes during the day. This image was inspirational to the team as we felt it the idea of looking at shapes could be quite conceptually interesting.
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Left Image 18 - Is a notepad page that is showing you about what we decided to implement our system into to give it a purpose. Top Right Image 19 - Is an example showing that using shapes in Cinema 4D and having them able to move, this was stated on the previous page about not having a static image which would be less interesting to look at. The image is showing a visualisation of a nebula. Bottom Right 20 - Is another example of shapes being used in Cinema 4D which is showing a visualisation of a rusty swamp.
After brainstorming many ideas of how we could apply our visuals of background sound around uni and create a purpose for them. The idea that we decided to progress with, was to produce an application for a phone that allowed students around the AUB campus to record snippets of background sound that was 15 seconds long. Then the application using an algorithm produced a 3D coloured moving visual based on the how loud the sound was. The louder the sound the bigger the shapes and brighter the colour in the app, where as the quieter the sound the smaller the shapes and more dull the colour would be. We felt it was the strongest idea because it allowed us to experiment with new technology that we hadn’t tried before, and this was an aspect of the brief. In the eyes of the team we also believed that creating the app was the most useful. This was because there are apps for sharing your thoughts, your images and your music, but there aren’t any apps for sharing your sounds. In addition to this we felt using our system would create an interesting way of showing these background sounds.
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INITIAL DESIGN After deciding to produce an application for a mobile phone the team and I agreed that we would be designing it for an iPhone. I took it upon my self to go about designing the app, as I felt it had experience in the field from knowing a bit about web design and felt some of the skills where transferable.
I chose to mock up the design for an iPhone 5s screen dimension because it is the most common phone amongst the students in the class.
Top Right Image 20 - A sketchbook page featuring a diagram that is showing the hierarichal order of the pages in the app.
I started the process of designing the app by having a look at similar social applications that are on the iOS operating system. This gave me an incite into what is needed to make a successful app. There were simple things such as having a clean interface, compared to more in-depth things as using icons for page links instead of text as they are noticeable in any language. After making a list of what would be needed, I put pen to pencil and started to draw rough sketches of what I would want the app to look like. These sketches would in future be used as guides for when creating digital mock ups of the teams app. In the app design, I had to make sure there was an area where the visual system the team had created was going to be used. This would most likely be the stage where the students have recorded the 15 seconds of sound. As the system then produces a visual.
Bottom Right Image 21 - A sketchbook page that is showing the initial sketches I produced for the phone app that I am going to produce for the team. I believe I have drawn every page that I think will be needed to make the app look like a fully functioning one from a phone’s app store.
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Above Image 22 - The above image is showing the initial digitalised design’s of the app the team are producing. They were produced on various artboards in Adobe Illustrator.
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The next step in the first step of designs was for me to take the initial drawings and produce a digital wire-frame of what the app would potentially look like. The application that I produced these digital designs in, was Adobe Illustrator. When choosing colours for the app, I went with light tones of grey for the menu bar, icons and text. This was because I wanted to produce a clean look, while not wanting to over power it with colour on the user interface as there would be a lot of colour in the visuals.
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Left Image 23 - A critique sheet from a tutorial with Malcolm and Alice, showing the feedback the team and I received about all the work we had produced for our visual system to that date.
We took the designs and our ideas behind our visual system into a critique session. Looking back at the schedule of work I felt this was a good time to have a session as I felt we weren’t to far into the idea, that if we were off track from what the brief wanted us to do we still had time to change our system and idea and produce something new. We took this design and idea into our critique session and after having our tutor asses it. We received a lot of different feedback in possible ways to extend the project. One was that we could create various visuals from the app we had designed in 3D and then photograph them in the locations they were recorded in. This means that people in the exhibition would be able to see what the sound visual looked like in the area which it was recorded in. The tutor also discussed with us about taking the application further outside of the brief and allowing it to be used globally so that lots of different visuals would be produced from where people where recording sounds in different locations around the world.
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Top Image 24 - A visualisation of the background sound of the AUB Reception. Middle Image 25 - A visualisation of the background sound of the AUB Library. Bottom Image 26- A visualisation of the background sound of the AUB Gallery.
We took the feed back we received from our previous tutorial and placed some of these visuals of the background sound the team had created, in the locations they where recorded from. This meant when people looked at the still images they can see what the sound would look like in that location. As a team we agreed this would have no actual purpose, apart from being used as part of the instalment we needed to create for the exhibition.
Above Image 27 - A critique sheet showing the feedback we received from a session with a tutor. The sheet is showing the possibility of bring other elements into the system so its not all dependant just on sound, we got suggested to us to bring in the idea of using location as well.
In our tutorial session we took in the latest work we had and produced it to a tutor that we were yet to talk to. I believed this to be beneficial as it gave us a fresh new set of eyes looking over it to give us a different perspective on the ideas and new ways we could take it. The feedback that we received from out tutor was to not pre determine the shape and colour of the visual on the decibel level of the sound recording and to vary it a bit. What was suggested was to use the shape of the building or local area to give the shape in the visual. Upon talking to the team I felt this idea to strengthen our initial one, so we decided to implement it into ours.
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FINAL DESIGN This was the stage where the team and I looked at all our initial designs. Then deciding what to do with them, I took them further and refined them to the best of my ability. The pieces of work that I felt needed to be refined were the layout of the app and the 3D model.
This was the time that I felt took the longest in the process as it involved a lot of time to refine the smallest details in the my digital work.
Right Image 28 - A notebook page of mine that the team used when we were deciding what material to create our model out of. We decided to write down the pros and cons of each material.
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With the app design refinement, I had to take into consideration the feed back that I received from the tutors and new stuff that needed to be applied to the design. While what needed to be refined about the design of the 3D model, is the selection of the material that we are going to create it out of. With the selection of the material which the team and I were going to make the 3D model a priority, there was many choices we could have selected. The main two choices the team were stuck between was creating it out of blocks of wood and getting it 3D printed. Each had benefits and negatives and these had to be weighed up before choosing our final material.
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Right Image 29 - Is showing my team members creating the 3D model at the half way stage of the process. Below Image 30 - Is also showing my team members creating the model, at this stage they are scrapping the excess glue off of the model.
How the model was made, consisted of Ayehsa FordHayles and Daniela Osorio cutting up timber in to square blocks. Then using a still image of the 3D computer model they placed the blocks on top of one another till the actual 3D model and the computerised one looked similar. Then they stuck the cubes together using a hot glue. After that had stuck the girls took the model to the spray booth and primed it in a layer of white paint. Before the top coat of green could be put on they used scalpels to scrape of an excess glue. With that done they went about doing three coats of the green, this was to make the layer as thick as possible so it would shine with a gloss effect its placed near lights.
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Above Image 31 - Is showing the final designs that I produced for the app I am creating for the team. Below Image 32 - Here you can see me taking the files into Adobe After Effects and playing with the time signatures for the layers in the apps composition for the animation.
At this stage I was refining the final design’s that I had produced for the app. This was because since our last tutorial there had been adjustments made to our visual system and this needed to be interoperated and shown in the app design. The main differences between this design and the last design was making the menu and colours more clear. Along with inserting the new visuals for the background sound that the team and I had produced. I thought we could try get the app to move so instead of just having still images on a board we could create a representation of what the app may look like and how it could possible operate. So I researched what program would be best to make this work as I don’t have the ability or knowledge to code an app from scratch. What I found is by taking the designs into Adobe After Effects I can animate them so they look like they are moving and the app is working.
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Above Image 33 - In the image you can see the layout of Adobe After Effects, this was the program that I use to move and animate Adobe Illustrator Art-boards which I had created my app design on. By doing this it gave to impression to the viewer that the app was fully functional and working.
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EXHIBITION The final outcome that we were to produce was a exhibition stand that would house all the work we had produced. On the stand people would be able to walk around it and try to figure out our visual system and sound system.
We took care and time when trying to produce our exhibition area, we wanted ours to stand out so people came in closer to have a more intense look at what we had
Right Image 34 - A distant shot of the exhibition set up by the team and I. It shows the 3D Model hanging above the computer screens that are have the room animation, graphics studio animation and the app animation playing.
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In the exhibition people were able to the demonstration of the phone app we had created being used. They could also see the 3D model we had created. We chose to create this model as it was a representation of the background sound of the Graphic Design Studio. They could also see a moving video of images around the AUB campus where we had placed the visual representation over it. Finally they would be able to see a moving representation of the shape produced by the Graphic Design background sound. The team and I thought strategically about how to set up our exhibition space. We felt that as we were going to be displaying videos and information on Macbook Pro screens, we would need to use a table slightly taller then standard table. This was so people weren’t constantly leaning over to view the screens and hurting their backs.
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Far Right Image 35 - An extreme close up of the 3D Model that was created by the team and I. This allows you to see the detail of the wood and the craftsmanship used in the making of the piece. Near Right Image 36 - An exhibition shot from a different angle, that shows the placement of the 3D Model in our area set up. Below Image 37 - A high res photograph of the 3D Model produced by my team, taken from a different point of view.
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Top Image 38 - You can see the app animation at the splashscreen stage by viewing this image. Below Middle Image 39 - By looking at this image you can see the app animation of where you would be viewing the recent posts page. Right Top Image 40 - Here you can see the app animation at the stage where a person would be recording sound with the app.
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Bottom Left Image 41 - A photograph showing a still frame of the sound visual which would be produced in the AUB Gallery. Middle Right Image 42 - A photograph that is showing a still frame of the sound visual which would be produced in the AUB Reception. Bottom Right Image 43 - A photograph showing ta still frame of the sound visual which would be produced in the AUB Library.
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EVALUATION This personal evaluation is to show you, how I felt I did in the process of this project. How I think I can improve in my work and where I felt my strengths were.
When it came to my team in the visual systems unit, I felt that I was a vital part of the team I was involved with. I feel that the work I produced was to the top end of my ability and knowledge of the subject matter we had chosen to produce. The ideas I suggested for the project were not used even though we collected data for them, however we did take aspects of the collected data into the system we went on to produce. In the process of working in a team I believed that I got on with everyone and didn’t cause any arguments. Plus where other team mates slacked of I tried to pick up the slack for them being missing, I conclude this is shown in the amount of work I produced and at the level of quality it was done at. I believe that what helped me be successful in this team was that I would constantly be putting ideas on the table that we could work with. My organisational skills were great, this meant that I always had the work in on time and was never late to any of our group meetings. Willing to try new things such as data collection and trying new technology, this is shown in my ability to grasp how to use Adobe After Effects in the space of a week and produce an interesting visual outcome. The research I had done into systems and our ideas was all relevant so my inputs where beneficial to the project.
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However I feel there was times that bad traits came out about me. This occurred when talking to my team, I felt I could of been more vocal towards the team and got my ideas out more. I also feel I could of spoken to the team mates who slacked and made them work harder, been more of a motivator towards them. I also feel I could have got my hands more dirty with building the 3D model slightly as I didn’t do anything there because I was working on the digital side of our project, although I feel it would of been good to learn a new skill in 3D model making. What I would of done differently if I was to redo this project would be to do more research into sound and systems. This would give me the ability to suggest others ways that we could visualise sound, instead of using moving shape and colour. I would of also tried to build the app I produced more around AUB so that it followed the brief more. However I do like the way the app is set up, because it gives me the ability to expand the area the app could be used which means other people around the world can download the app and it would be a global visualisation of background sounds. Finally the last thing I would of done differently is recorded the work I produced as I went along instead of having to record it afterwards.
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STUDIO VISIT PAGE’S 48-65
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THE BRIEF This project began by us students being placed into a group of 6, that we would work with, travel with and correspond with in this project. Upon us all looking at the brief it was clear that we were being directed to undertake a visit to a studio for educational purposes.
After discussing the brief, the team and I felt the next logical step was to go away and research design agencies and then create a list of 6 studios that we could possibly visit.
In this educational visit we are meant to undertake it in order to gain knowledge about what Graphic Design studios are out there and the different roles found in these creative groups and industry’s. This would give us the opportunity as individuals to think and work more critically and independently. I believe this brief was set to try and prepare us for going out into the wide open world of the Graphic Design industry. The brief states the importance for us looking to the future and to grasp an idea of where in the industry we would like to go into. However I believe the brief was set to also give us confidence in contacting agencies or studios because we will need to do this when we are applying for jobs later in our life’s. As this meant we had to contact working studios and try get our names out there.
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Below Image 1 - This is showing a piece of work created by Stefan Sagmeister out of his design studio in New York City.
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STUDIO SELECTION Once each member of the team had researched six possible studios that they wanted to visit, we met together and correlated out lists to see which studio appeared the most frequently across all members lists.
While doing research for the studios, I felt that researching small studios and large studios would be beneficial to gaining knowledge about the industry. The was because I don’t know where I would like to go into the Graphic Design industry and this opened my eyes to more options. Upon creating my list of studio, the 3 large studios that grabbed my attention the most and drew me in to putting them on my list were; Pentagram London Branch, Imagination London Branch and Lambie-Nairn. While the 3 small studios that I felt were most interesting and beneficial to my studies where; Cartilidge Levene, Studio Myerscough and Holler. The reason I chose Pentagram London Branch was because of the incredible list of big brand name clients they had. I also thought their structure of someone high in the company teaching a junior designer was what I would feel strongest going into a job for as id feel I’m still learning.
Top Image 2 - The clean, modern and new looking design studio of Imagination’s London Branch is shown in the image, this gives you an insight into what a design agency looks like. Bottom Image 3 - A homely, clean and traditional design studio is shown in this image. By looking at this you get an insight into what Pentagram’s London Branch looks like.
Why I chose Imagination’s London Branch was similar to why I put Pentagram down on my list. Because they have a strong graduate program and structure that would allow a junior design to flourish while working there. However I chose Lambie-Nairn, the final big studio on my list for an entirely different reason. I loved their use of large bold faced typography across their selection of work on the website and I felt this to be visually pleasing upon it being the first thing you see on their website. Upon research into small Graphic Design Studios, the first one to make it onto my list was Cartlidge Levene. The reason behind this selection was because the typography on their work was visual and aesthetically pleasing, it looked so elegant and refined. Another small studio to make it on to my list was Holler, this was because for what I felt to be small company. Had an incredible list of big brand name clients showing they must be very well known by other industry’s. The final studio that made it on to my list was Studio Myerscough. I chose this studio because of the work produced there, the bright range of colours of interesting typefaces used in their work meant I spent ages scrolling through the website and looking at more work.
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After each team member had created their list’s of studios, we met together and collaborated our lists to see which studios were selected the most by all the team members. After doing this we saw that the studios that came up most were two small studios and these were; Cartilidge Levene. Top Right Image 4 - Here you can see the email that I typed out to send to Cartilidge Levene, however we did not recieve a responce back from this design agency. Bottom Right Image 5 - This image is showing you the thank you letter that I sent to Studio Myerscough thanking them for letting my group visit their studio. Bottom Middle Image 6 - This screenshot shows the script I stuck to when calling these graphic design studios.
We took about calling Cartlidge Levene first to see if taking an educational visit to their studio was possible. As the team was taking ages to arrange a time to call the studio, Sam Brown and I created a script. Then following this I sat down and rang the studio. Upon making contact with the design studio, the designer who I spoke to over the phone told me to write and email and send it to him so he can forward it to his director who was in charge of studio visits. After a week of no reply the team new that we were going to be un able to visit the studio and again Sam Brown and I took it upon ourselves to contact our back up on Studio Myerscough. Upon me speaking to Morag Myerscough over the phone we managed to arrange a visit to her studio for later in the week. The trip came about in quick-time, because of her choice. She had a piece her and colleagues were painting and Morag Myerscough felt that us seeing her actually working on a piece would be beneficial to us. The details of the trip where to meet at her studio at 11 o’clock on Wednesday the 22nd of October.
Above Image 7 - This screenshot shows the information that I received while calling these agencys, I typed it down while we were working as I didn’t want to forget it.
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QUESTIONS Upon our visit to Studio Myerscough, we were tasked with asking her 10 questions that we felt would give us knowledge about her and the studio. We each set ourselves the task of coming up with 10 questions and then we were going to collaborate the best ones into a list.
In this task my team members were slacking and I felt they were putting little effort into a basic questionnaire. So I took it upon my self to create a list of 10 questions that I believed would encompass all the teams queries about Studio Myerscough. Above Image 8 - This email shows you the 10 questions that we were going to ask Morag Myerscough when we went to visit her.
Upon showing the questions I had produced to the team, I received feedback by Sam Brown on areas that I needed to change and ways of phrasing the questions so they sounded more intellectual.
Below Image 9 - By looking at this email you can read the feedback that the team and I received about Sam Brown and my questions.
Below you can see the 10 questions that Sam Brown and I produced: 1 - What made you want to create your own design studio? 2 - As an independent studio, how did you go about attracting clients when you first started? 3 - What techniques do you have for getting ideas for projects/where do you go to for inspiration on projects if you are stuck? 4. Do you keep records or portfolio’s of your previous clients work, if so can we see them to get a picture of how you layout your ideas generations and how you got to the final product ? 5 - What was the first client/brief you worked on when you started the studio? 6 - What is the most enjoyable project you have worked on and why? 7 - You use a variety of typefaces in the work you make, is there a place you go to find them or do you create them all yourself? 8 - What do you do to make yourself stand out compared to other studios when you are applying for the same brief? 9 - You use a lot of bold, bright colours in your work and we were wondering how you go about selecting the right colour palette for the correct piece? 10 - Have you go any tips for us on setting up your own studio? Sam Brown and I believed that before we could ask the questions we had planned when we visited Studio Myerscough. We felt it best that we get a tutors opinion on them, so we emailed them to Alice Stevens to see if everything was okay with them. To the right you can see the email correspondence between Alice and I.
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STUDIO VISIT As Wednesday the 22nd came around it was time for the team and I to embark upon our visit to Studio Myerscough. This meant an early start for a long drive up to London, as we sat in the car on the way up we all felt curious about what Morag Myerscough was going to be like. The general consensus was we felt she was going to be wacky, this came from what we believed her style of work was like and what it portrayed of her.
Top Right Image 10 - It’s a London Tube map it is highlighting our trip from South West London to North East London via the tube. Bottom Right Image 11 - A large set of double doors that stood in the way between us and the inside of Studio Myerscough. Bottom Middle Image 12 - A typographic piece from a wayfinding system that Morag Myerscough created.
Above Image 13 - A small snapshot of a bold piece of bright colouful typographic work that was produced by Studio Myerscough.
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Upon reaching London and meeting up with our final group member Gemma Brett, we set off on the tube to Studio Myerscough which was located in the Shoreditch region of London. After having a long, warm and interesting tube journey and a short walk we finally arrived 3 hours later after leaving Bournemouth. After knocking on the very large doors and being ushered in by her colleague we eventually got to meet Morag Myerscough herself. She gave us a quick tour of her small studio and showed us the different areas and sections that she does her different work in. We also got to see all the equipment she used.
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Top Left Image 14 - This photograph is showing a wayfinding system created by Morag Myerscought to help people wayfind around the Tea Building in Shoreditch. Far Left Image 15 - Here is a selection of hand painted boards stacked up inside Studio Myerscough. Near Left Image 16 - A photograph of Morag Myerscough explaining her work to us during our visit. Bottom Left Image 17 - An elegant photograph that shows the hand painted typography produced by the workers of Studio Myerscough. Below Image 18 - More bold, bright and colourful hand painted typography that is produced by the Studio Myerscough team. Right Image 19 - Visuals for the Movement Cafe in Greenwich which have been created by Studio Myerscough.
Following the tour she gave us a talk about the current work she is doing right now. She showed us an interesting brief that she is currently working on, which involved her collaborating with 2 other designers and they each individually are producing a gazebo/small structure working off of each others styles. She also went on to show us previous work out of her portfolios, that she had undertaken in past years. What followed next was an opportunity for us to stand around with her in the studio and ask her the questions we had come with and more. We managed to receive answers to all of the questions we had prepared and the answers can be seen on the following page. After this we carried on asking her questions that kept on popping into our hear. These questions varied from being about her time before Studio Myerscough all the way to why she chose a specific colour for a specific project. After having an intense hour chat with her we believed it was time for us to leave so Morag Myerscough could grab some lunch before her next meeting. We left the studio all feeling it had been a successful and very educational trip having had all our questions answered. All that was next for the group was to get the tube back to my car and have another 2 and a half hour drive in squished small car back to Bournemouth.
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PRESENTATION After the visit to Studio Myerscough, the team collected all their photos and images together. Then Sam Brown and I took it upon ourselves to create a short video for our presentation and prepare what everyone else was going to talk about during it.
Far Right Image 20 - This is an image of a wayfinding system that was produced by Studio Myerscough, it is also one of the examples we used in our presentation video. Near Right Image 21 - A typographic wayfinding system created by Morag Myerscough, this to is an example found in our presentation video. Below Iamge 22 - Here is a screenshot showing the production of the presentation video that I was producing in Adobe After Effects.
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After collecting all the videos and photographs that the group Sam and I were working with had taken, we decide that using after effects to create a video showing our experince upon visiting Studio Myerscough. I believe that producing a video would give our talk about our visit more of a backdrop, along with images and videos playing this would allow more information to be taken in by the other students during our presentation. This would mean they can learn about and understand examples of the visual style that Morag Myerscough produces. The images that would be playing in the background would act as examples, when we spoke about the layout systems, typographic systems, wayfinding systems and others that are used my Studio Myerscough in there work.
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CRITICAL EVALUATION This is the section on where you can read how I felt I did through out this project. You will be able to see where I felt my strengths lied and where I think I need to improve.
This personal evaluation is to show you, how I felt I did in the process of this project. How I think I can improve in my work and where I felt my strengths were.
During the industry visit project, I believed that within my team I was a key figure in getting our schedule arranged, getting the team organised and getting the project done. When finding design agency’s to visit the criteria that I was searching for was a studio that had produced visually interesting work that I believe would suit my design style. I also searched for a learning system in these studios that I felt would allow a designer to constantly progress and improve. With the group of students I was working with, I felt Sam Brown and I took control of the team and pushed us to actually do work and research. This was done by us setting deadlines for the team so that they could actually progress and do work. I also feel that Sam Brown and I pushed this project forward by us two being the ones to go out and actually contact the design agency that we wanted to visit, this being by both email and direct chat over the phone. I believed that what helped me be successful with this brief was the lack of help from my group members as they were not around so this meant I was able to get on with my work and progress with contracting the studios that we wanted to visit.
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If I was to redo this brief, what I would change is not including group members in the discussions as I felt they shouldn’t be able to put their opinions in as they hadn’t helped with the work. I would also change it that you were able to chose the group who you wanted to visit studios with as I believe there would be less contrasting opinions between places to visit, cause you the group who you would visit with would all have similar interests. How I feel I have grown in this unit is gaining confidence in contacting professional studios and getting my name out their in the professional world. I also felt learning about what was needed to run a design studio was very beneficial to what I would like to do with my future.
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WAY FINDING PAGE’S 66-95
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THE BRIEF Upon receiving the brief, we were placed into a group of 3 students and set to go about it. After sitting down with my group members, we read the brief and discussed about what we believed the brief was directing us to. We all believed that it was clear we had to chose an environment then specify a location with in it. Then for this location with a visual system create wayfinding system that allowed people to navigate around it.
The brief was trying to get us to develop our understanding of visual systems further and get us applying them to wayfinding systems. Instead of creating a fictional problem, we were instructed to choose what we believed to be a real world problem and design a solution for this. Once I read the brief it was clear there was many areas that we could create a way finding system for. This included natural environment, urban locations and even interior spaces. However it was also clear that upon reading this brief, each of these areas had to have considerations taken into account to. Such as natural environments that change over time, trans-lingual information systems would need to be applied to interior spaces and with urban locations a coherence would need to be kept across all design. By doing this for each section, it showed you may possibly be able to design a good piece of wayfinding technology. In the brief it was also clear that the tutors did not want us to focus on just mainstream wayfinding problems. They wanted us to think out side the box and possibly explore other areas outside of the ‘real world’. Far Right Image 1 - An example of an elegant piece of typographic used in a wayfinding system that is found in an interior space known as the Barbican in London. Near Right Image 1 - This was an example of wayfinding technology that was introduced to us in our briefing, what is interesting about this example is it doesn’t lead you anywhere. It simply highlights where a destination is and its up to you to follow it if you wanted to.
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WHAT IS WAYFINDING The team and I agreed that before we jumped into this brief it was beneficial to our studies to go away and research what wayfinding was first. I dived into various different sources to discover what wayfinding was.
My research lead me to various different locations where wayfinding systems were being used today, however I felt I needed to get a grasp of more about the history and where it originated from. I found that wayfinding is the basis of how people and animals orientate themselves between places in a physical space. The word was first coined by architect, Kevin Lynch in 1960. There are four stages to the process of wayfinding these include: orientation (attempt to determine ones location), route decision (the selection of a course/route), route monitoring (making sure the selected route is heading towards the destination), destination recognition (when the destination is recognised). There are certain things that way finding does, it can help you locate which means your looking for a specific answer. It can help you explore, means the wayfinder is open ended as there are several answers.
Above Image 3 - The above image is showing a piece of wayfinding signage that is seen everyday when people commute around London. Middle Image 4 - What is pictured is a wayfinding system that is used around the AUB campus to allow blind people to tell what toilet they are at, this allows them to tell if its a gents or ladies lavatory.
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Above Image 5 - What you can see here is an elegant example showing way finding that is used in various locations inside the Expedia headquarters in london. It is signage that is ossciated with travel so it is appropriate to the circumstances of the interior that it has been used for.
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WAYFINDING GENERATION At this stage in the project it was for the team and to go away and create a list of areas that we believed needed to have a wayfinding system implemented so that people can navigate around them easier.
When looking for places that my group and I could implement a wayfinding system into, there are several considerations we have to think about when finding a location. The first one is who is the piece of technology for? The second one is who will use the wayfinding system? Third and final one is what will it solve? I came up with a series of three locations that I believed needed a wayfinding system being implemented into them.
Right Image 6 - What is shown is a spider diagram I drew showing my suggestions for area’s that need a wayfinding solution, you can see the three I chose are circled. Below Image 7 - The image is highlighting what a street corner looks like in New York City, where every one looks similar to the last. As you can see in the image there is nothing to tell a blind person what street corner they are at.
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I chose these locations because certain people needed help navigating from location to location in these areas and I felt a wayfinding system would help. I have tried to chose places outside of university and Bournemouth as to not clash with other groups ideas. You can see the list of locations I selected here and the reasons why: London - going between tourist destinations, it will solve tourists being lost in one of the biggest city in the world. Home - helps you find a place for peace and tranquillity, it will help with stressed out people trying to find tranquillity to calm down or clear there head. Street Corners - stepping on a certain area will tell blind people what street corner they are on, it will solve the problem of blind people not knowing where they’re.
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Below Image 8 - A large spider diagram is pictured that encompasses all the idea’s of which me and the two other group members had for a possible way finding system.
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The team and I met and put all our ideas together and discussed which ones we felt were the strongest wayfinding the system and the potential outcomes we could create for each. I believed this was a strong point in the teams work, as we quickly identified the wayfinding system that we could potentially work with and this meant we didn’t waste time with ideas we felt wasted our time.
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WAYFINDING SELECTION Now after jotting down the ideas that the team and I had we needed to select one wayfinding system that we were going to concentrate on and develop. This was a tough decision as we felt that we had two or three potentially good systems and interesting ideas of implementing them into a purpose.
The idea that we decided to progress with was creating a wayfinding system that would allow tourists navigate around London easier. We went with this idea as we felt it had the most potential. Why we felt we had it in the most potential was because, the brief spoke about implementing trans-lingual information systems into interior spaces and urban environments. However we decided to go ahead with this wayfinding system as we wanted to make it as visual as possible. Which meant tourists would be able to navigate around London with having to translate road signs, maps and understand London’s public transport network. As a team we also discussed that we believed our wayfinding system could be implemented into various city’s across the globe. This was due to us all being tourists as one point of another and not being able to navigate around foreign city’s.
Above Image 9 - Here you can see a traditional wayfinding system used in Parid, France. Me and group mates beleved systems like this to be outdated, because we felt that if you were a tourist and didn’t know french you wouldnt’t be able to wayfind around the city.
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Above Image 10 - You can see a double page spread out of book that I found useful when researching wayfinding systems that are currently opperational. Right Image 11 - What you are seeing here is more hand written notes, on this page the diagram is showing that we chose 3 wayfinding systems that we believed would work. Then the one that is circled is the one Kaya and I chose to go ahead with.
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RESEARCH After agreeing that the wayfinding system the team and I were going to focus on, was creating a visual way of allowing tourists to navigate around London. We had some research to do, this included finding out what we could implement out system into to allow tourists to navigate around the city.
My first bit of research was on website design for phones because the team felt that creating a small, malfunctioning website would be a good way of allowing tourists to navigate around London. This was because a large proportion of global tourist who have enough money to travel, have enough money to have access to a smartphone meaning they would be able to access our website. Upon feedback from our last tutorial we needed a way of making the process human and interactive. So the team came up with the idea of creating a sign. Where people could go scan a bar-code and it would active the website for them. This meant there was a central point where people could use the wayfinding system and activate it. My research into signage lead me to believe instead of have a sign that looks like an iconic piece of placement iconography, such as the google map pin drop or an arrow. We felt a sign that was more basic in shape, but more lingual was better as this would make it more visual attractive meaning people would be drawn in to take a close look creating a more human piece of work. When I had the chance to visit Studio Myerscough, we spoke to Morag about wayfinding around London. She began by telling us her opinion about having single language maps such as the walking maps found around London which is shown in the image above. She believed that systems like this were outdated because people now use maps on their phone to navigate around.
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Left Image 12 - A Logic London sign that Morag Myerscough believes is outdated. The sign is showing you what is in the local area for you, but doesn’t give you anything to follow to make sure you get to the correct location. Image Above 13 - upon feedback into making our sign human, Kaya and I looked at hand drawn and painted typography to give it more of a caring tough. The work was produced by a street group named Costume. Right Image 14 - A book spread about web design.
Above Middle 15 - This image is showing more hand drawn and painted typography produced by the street group know as Costume.
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INITIAL DESIGNS This was the point in time where the team and I had to take our wayfinding system, our ideas and combine them by designing what we want to create for the project. For this point we had to draw up initial sketched for the smartphone website and initial drawings for the sign that we are going to produce.
I started by putting pencil to paper with Kaya and we started to draw diagrams of what we believed a sign would look like that is interactive and human. As we wanted the sign to be visual and multi-lingual, we decided to go with drawing a typographic sign that had multiple languages on it. This meant it would be visually interesting and would cover a vast array of people. In designing the sign we choose to create a traditional arrow that you would stand on and place your phone against. This was because an arrow is a easily understandable piece of semiotics that many people would recognise and its meaning. With choosing the typeface for the sign we were drawing it with a typeface that would have a very large X height. We felt a typeface like this would best suit the design due to the typography being held with in the constraints of the thin but tall arrow. Below Image 16 - These are rough sketches of what we wanted the web design for the smartphone to look like, you can see the rough drawings also show what pages we wanted to link to other pages. Right Image 17 - What you can see is the first sketches of the sign that Kaya and I go on to produce. Because we put so much effort into the initial sketches it allowed us to turn our idea around from sketches to final piece in the space of 24 hours.
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I also went about doing rough sketches for the smartphone website. By doing this I had created a wireframe that would be easy to take into Adobe Illustrator and produce digitalised designs.
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Above Image 18 - In this image you can see further rough sketches that Kaya and I produced for the sign design. Right Image 19 - We took the initial sketches and using Adobe Illustrator created a digital version of the sign we wanted to create. Left Image 20 - Upon looking at this photograph you can see that we englarged our digital sign and printed it. By doing this we were able to see what the sign could potentially look like in real life.
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FINAL DESIGNS What followed next was getting hands on and practical with the project. This involved taking the initial sketches and digital designs and getting them printed, ready and prepared for creating the final sign in the process. The first step in this task was taking the designs into the print the have them vinyl cut.
Top Image 20 - The selection of colours that Kaya and I chose for our designs to be cut into of vinyl. Bottom Image 21 - This is a close up shot of the vinyl typography that was produced after the process Kaya and I went through of removing the excess vinyl.
The colour selection that Kaya and I went for was because we wanted to make the sign bright and colourful, this would mean that people would take an interest in it and go in for a closer look to see what it was. We also tried to select colours to that were similar to the 4 main used tube lines in London, however we ere restricted in certain areas. This was because the selection of colours available for the vinyl colour was minimal. Once the designs were transferred on to the selected vinyl and cut. We went about pealing away the excess vinyl to reveal the type and symbols. This had to be done so that we had the letters already available and ready to be transferred quickly on to the board. The next step for Kaya and I was to prepare the sign that we were going to transfer the vinyl on to. This meant measuring up the wood, getting it cut and painting the sides of the board. This was done as we wanted the sign to look as professional as possible, so if it was actually placed out in front of London’s tourist destinations people wouldn’t see the chip board.
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Top Left Image 22 - Shows a section of the black drop shadow that had been transfered on to the sign. Bottom Left Image 23 - This is a close up of the near finished sign that Kaya and I produced, in the photo you can see the coloured vinyl on top of the black drop shadow vinyl.
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The first step for Kaya and I was to mark up on the board the location that each word was meant to sit. This was essential so that the type was straight, had the correct kerning, leading and aligned vertically. For Kaya and I the second step that took place was transferring the black vinyl to the board. This was the drop shadow we were placing behind the type, we chose to do this as we beleived it make the text stand out more from hte page. After looking at our research into hand painted type this was the conslusion Kaya and I had come to. Why we had to transfer the black vinyl first though was because it meant we could just transfer the colour vinyl on top afterwards. Once all the black vinyl was on, Kaya and I proceded to go about transferring the coloured vinyl over. With this task we both had to do the same word at the time to make sure we had the colour aligned up correctly with the black underneath.
Top Right Image 24 - This image gives you the experience of seeing the material and process Kaya and I had to go through to transfer the vinyl on to the sign. Bottom Right Image 25 - In the image you can see Kaya triming the signs rough edges where the black and coloured vinyl did not match.
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Top left Image 26 - Two artboard are picture here with digitalised versions of the website deign that I produced. Bottom Left Image 27 - You can see the composition frame in After Effects with the artboard selected and time frames that are being moved to give the idea the website is working. Right Image 28 - A snapshot of the website animation as it plays on loop, the stage you can see is at the moment you have to select the next tourist destination you want to go to.
Once the initial drawings of the website were taken into Adobe Illustrator, I proceded to create digital verisons of the pages. I did this because with digitalised art-boards of the designs, I can take them into Adobe after effects and animate them to look like the phone website is working.
As you can see from the images I took the art-boards into after effects and using movement and time frames I managed to animate it so the composition looked like a fully functioning and working website. Once doing the aniamtion, I realised that the typeface on the website was different to the one we had used for the sign. So for continuity and having a consistant visual system I had to change the typeface used on the webstie so it tied in with the design style of the sign.
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EXHIBITION To show the work that team and I had produced for this project we had to create an exhibition set up that would allow us to display our work. As our the sign we produced is only a quarter of the size that we intend for it to be for if it was to be pushed forward into the actual business world we figured we will have to display our work on top of a table.
In the exhibition people were able to a demonstration of the website as the animation played on loop while people walked by. By looking at the sign they were able to see that it was part off our work as the typefaces and design style tied them into together. As we didn’t have time to create a video of a person placing their phone against the NFC chip on the sign and it activating the website. We had to explain to people as they walked past that a member of the public or a tourist could activate the website by placing the smartphone in their pocket against the NFC chip and it would bring it up. When setting up our exhibition area we chose carefully about where we wanted to be positioned. We felt that we needed to be up against the wall more than anything. This was because of a security reason for our sign. We didn’t want it to fall over during the middle of the exhibition and damage other objects or work.
Far Right Image 29 - Here you can see the exhibition set up that the team and I produced. Bottom Right Image 30 - Here you can see the website animation on loop playing through our exhibition set up.
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Left Image 31 - This image is showing to you a front on photograph of the Sign that Kaya and I produced. Right Image 32 - An elegant close up the typography is shown in the photograph. You can even see the layering of the vinyl type.
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This personal evaluation is to show you, how I felt I did in the process of this project. How I think I can improve in my work and where I felt my strengths were.
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CRITICAL EVALUATION This is the section on where you can read how I felt I did through out this project. You will be able to see where I felt my strengths lied and where I think I need to improve.
When it came to the Wayfinding project I believed that I was a very important person in the work that my team and I have created. The work that I produced I believe to be to the best of knowledge and ability of the subject that we had settled on. I felt that I took charge of this unit as the idea that I suggested and put forward was the one that the team used. We all agreed the idea would work because when we were in foreign city’s we all used to get lost when traveling around. In my group project I felt that I picked up the slack where a team member had been letting us down. I believe that what helped me be successful in this team was that I would constantly be putting ideas on the table that we could work with. My organisational skills were great, this meant that I always had the work in on time and was never late to any of our group meetings. Willing to try new things such as new technology and processes, also I felt that my turn around time from idea to outcome was very beneficial in a small time scale. However I feel there was times that bad traits came out about me. This occurred when talking to my team, I felt I could of been listened more to my team mates about their ideas and suggestions instead of taking control. However one criticism I had of my self from the last brief was I didn’t feel I got hands on enough with the physical making of objects, but with this brief making the vinyl sign I felt that I improved with getting more involved with making stuff.
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SUBVERT PAGE’S 96-121
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THE BRIEF It was clear what the brief was instructing me to do for this project. I had to choose a brand and analyse the visual style of the brand, then de-construct it. With this I have the option to take the brand style and extend it with a new product or twist it and subvert the brand.
As this was the first brief of the term where we were able to work by ourselves, I was out to prove that I am strong a worker as an Individual as well as in a group. The brief stated that every brand has a visual system. Then with this visual system, it will communicate to customers what the brand stands for and the messages it is trying to portray. That is why earth destroy companies such as BP and EON use bright earthly colours to give off the message that they are environmentally friendly, ethical and natural. By using this visual system companies like them are covering up what they actually stand for and are seen to hide from the public view their negative side. So with this brief we are able to use a brands existing visual system and bring to light there true message. However another option is to use the visual system and carry that on by extending the brand by promoting a new event, product or service. Top Right Image 1 - A further extension of the D&AD brand. It has used the visual style and turned the ampersand normally found in the logo to an E. This allowed them to create clever slogans and puns. Bottom Right Image 2 - This image was shown to us in the briefing, it shows an extension taking place of the D&AD brand where they have used the visual system and created something new with it. Above Image 3 - This is a piece of work produced by Milton Glaser who is subverting the brand apple and bring to light a problem behind the brand that is normally covered up by the company or organisation.
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BRAND EXTENSION IDEAS I chose instead of subverting a brand to extend one because I felt it was more difficult to continue the visual system by launching a new product. Before I chose a specific brand, I should have an idea of what product I would like to launch then chose a brand I like for subject of the new product.
I was putting lots of ideas to paper on brand extension ideas, such as launching the first high-street shop for ASOS. Another idea was extending an airline company by creating a small private jet service for them. Also one more major idea that I felt I had was as an option subverting the brand John West Tuna. Because I felt that the company need to be brought to light on there false bait and line claims for catching fish, as images have been captured of them still using trawlers picking up different species of fish as well as tuna. The 3 ideas that I stated above where the 3 ideas that I felt where the strongest and had the most potential for me to go ahead with. However I felt the task of producing the subverted piece for John West Tuna was to easy as I already had the brand there for me. Same with the idea of launching ASOS first high-street retail shop, the brand had already been chosen for me in that case to. However If I chose to extend an airliner, I was able to select the brand that I liked the most. Below Image 4 - In this photo you are seeing the outisde of an elegant and luxurious private jet used for commercial intercontinental flights.
Below Image 5 - This image here is showing a screenshot of the ASOS website which is just an online reailer. But and Idea I had was extending the companty on to the hightstreet.
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It was because of this aspect that I chose to extend an airliner by creating a shart-haul private jet service for one. This also meant I could analyse the multiple brands visual systems and select the one I thought had the best design style to follow and extend.
Above Image 6 - What you are seeing here is a spider diagram I produced in order to come up with ideas on possible ways of extending a brand using its visual system. Below Image 7 - Here you can see an old piece of advertising used by John West Tuna showing they only use fish caught by using bait and pole.
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BRAND SELECTION I now had to select and airline that I felt had the most interesting visual system and style of design to work with. I drew up a list of potential airliners that I could extend, and amongst my favourite I analysed their visual system and selected the one I felt was strongest.
I created a list of potential airliners that I found interesting and felt had visual systems that had design styles that could complimented my style of design. The spider diagram you see holds all the airlines that I could think of that fell into these category’s. However I widdled it down to my favourite three and analysed these visual systems further. The first was Ethiad Airways, which visual system consists of elegant modernised serif typeface that is shown in their logo and other larger elements of the company such as their check in desks and planes. They use a vast array of colours in their visual system, however they try to portray luxury through the use of the colour gold.
Top Right Image 8 - In this spider diagram I wrote down every major airline that I could think of. The 3 brands that are circled are the ones I believe to have most the interesting visual style.
Above Image 9 - You are looking at the simplistic, modern and clean logo that is a the front of the visual style for the Qatar Airways brand. Right Image 10 - By looking at this photo you can see the clear approach design is continued on the design of the plane tails.
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My second option Qatar Airways, has a visual system that plays very much off of the basis of minimalism. There is only the use of two colours in their visual system, white and purple. By using the colour purple they are highlighting that they are and expensive, luxury and royal brand due to purple being the colour of royals in certain country’s. By using a large bold typeface in their logo and at other places in their hierarchical structure, they show they are modern as they are not using an old typeface with a serif. I also believe this highlights the brand is clean, new and uncomplicated in the business world.
Above Middle Image 11 Here you can see the elegant, luxurios and exspencive looking logo adopted by the Ethiad Airways Brand. Right Image 12 - Upon viewing the tailfins of the brand you can see two different visual systems have been used in the designing of one compared ot the other.
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The brand that I decided to go ahead and extend was SWISS Air. I chose this brand because I felt even though the visual system was playing on minimalism, it was very clear at portraying the brands message and ethos. Upon looking at all the work the brand had from plane tails all the way to their website, the visual style was consistent and coherent across everything. Which was beneficial to me as it meant that analysing the brands visual system was going to be easier as there was less of a design style that the designers had to create stuff with. Looking at detail into the brands visual system you can see it reflects the historic background in Swiss International Design to from the late 1940’s. This is seen in the typography from the logo, it is similar to the style that would of been use by Josef Muller Brockmann. The brands colour scheme also reflects this history, where in the past minimal colour pallets where used as well. By looking at the brands imagery it is clear to see the two colours that are consistent throughout the design are Swiss red and white, the same two tones which are used in the country’s national flag. When evaluating the typography used in the brand you can see it is one font family in a variety of weights and thickness’s. This is shown by the same typeface being used on the website and both logo.
Above Image 13 - The image above is showing the current logo that is used for the SWISS Air brand. There is another variant of it with a tag line that is occasionally used in some circumstances in business. Below Image 14 - A airplane meal that is consumed on SWISS Air flights, it illustrates that the visual system for the brand is used across all their products and services.
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When looking at the brand website you can see visual system of the brand is not just used on the face of the company. But it is also carried into the inside of the airplanes and airport lounges and used on the smallest of details such as the packaging used on the plane food or the check in desks.
Top Right Image 15 - What you are looking at is the exact tones of red and white used in the SWISS Air visual system. Bottom Right Image 16 Univers is the typeface used in the visual system of SWISS Air and in the image you can see it in different weights in both normal and oblique.
BRAND SWISS AIR
COLOURS red no:cc0000
white no:ffffff
The colours that are used in the SWISS Air visual system is red (index number: CC0000) and white (index number: FFFFFF). These are the only two colours in the design style.
FONTS
SWISS SWISS SWISS SWISS SWISS SWISS SWISS SWISS The font family that is used in the visual system is called: Univers. Only the one typeface is used, but has been placed in multiple different weights to create an effective hierarchical order across the wide range of typography in the brands work.
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DESIGNS Now that I had analysed the visual system for the brand, I knew what components made up it’s visual style. Now it was my task to take these and create designs for the area I wanted to push the brand into. This was creating an extension of the brand where luxurious small private jets are available for higher to fly across Europe.
Below Image 17 - Here you can see my initial sketches for the logo I went on to produce, here I was trying out different names for the brand. Top Right Image 18 - The image shows the different variations in logo design that I producedd for the extension to the logo using SWISS Air visual system. Middle Right 19 - Here you can see the final logo that I settled on for the Swiss Premier extension of the brand.
Bottom Right Image 20 - In the frame is a Swiss Premier Boarding Pass that I produced, I believe it is consistant with the brand visual style.
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I started by creating a mind map of what I thought I would need to produce to make this concept work. This ranged from advertisement all the way up to actual plane design. I thought that the first logical step was to produce a logo that encompassed the new area of SWISS Air. I went about this by keeping the original logo the same, then added a small strap line to show it is not just a normal area of the SWISS Air franchise but is something slightly different. When coming up with a word for the strap line, I was trying to think of posh, expensive and rich sounding words as to give off the sense of who the product was targeted at. I tried a variety of different strap lines from prestige and executive all the way to signature and exclusive. The tag-line I decided to proceed with was premier, what I next went about doing was trying to place this strap-line in various different locations around the original logo. You can see my logo designs and the logo that I ultimately went
When choosing a colour for the strap-line to make it stand our from the rest of the logo so it wasn’t another red work, I was trying to choose quite luxurious colours when I went about this process. The two I came up with was Royal Purple and Bright Gold. I felt that the purple and red were clashing when placed next to one another so I proceeded with choosing the gold to be the colour for the tag line.
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Above Image 21 - Is showing the plane design I created that would be layered on to every small jet in the SWISS Air fleet for the short haul private jet hire if the concept was pushed forward and created.
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As the basis of my brand extension is small luxurious planes for higher, I believed it would be appropriate to show a small jet commercialised by SWISS Air. So using my logo design and an image of a jet, I went about creating a style that could be placed and replicated on a fleet of these private jets.
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The next step for me is to create a website page to advertise for small luxurious private jet hire. As they have webpages advertising the other 3 standard classes of travel with their airline. I felt that I would have to stick closely to their layout for the webpages as to make them all look similar and as if the belonged together in a set. For the webpage I hate to create a hierarchical order for the font used on the webpage by placing it into various weights. I started by creating a grid that was similar to the one used on their webpages, then went about placing images and text into it.
Above Top Image 22 - The small snapcshot that is shown is allowing you to see what the current website is like for SWISS Air in their first class section. on the website. Above Middle Image 23 - This is a screenshot showing the grid I produced while creating my webpage layout for the SWISS Premier extension. Near Right Image 24 - What you are looking at is my hole webpage layout for the Swiss Premier section.
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Below Image 25 - This si the typographic poster I produced in the style of historic designer Josaf Muller Brockmann.
The next thing I went about designing was the poster to advertise the new extension of the SWISS Air branch. I looked at a variety of their travel posters and thought they all looked the same and a bit boring, each poster had an image of a sunny resort with the SWISS Air logo in the corner. However I felt that creating a poster that would use the visual system of the brand but also reflect the rich history found in Swiss Design would be better. So I researched posters created Josef Muller-Brockmann, and based my design around that of the typographic nature created by Josef Muller-Brockmann.
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EXHIBITION In the final stage of this project, we had to produce all the work we had created and set it up in a small exhibition section. Then other students would view the work and leave feedback on how we can improve and take forward our ideas.
In my exhibition area I started by placing the work I had created into a grid formation and stuck it on the wall. I tried to place small pieces of work to the side or above bigger pieces as so that the layout didn’t look squashed. On this page you can see my exhibition set up and close ups of the final work that I produced. While on the next page you can see the feedback sheet which I produced and where I have decided to take it further and extend my work into.
Above Image 26 - A close up photograph of my logo design and luggage tags and boarding pass design. Near Right Image 27 - A far distance Photograph of the poster I produced, along with half of my exhibition set up Far Right Image 28 - THis Photograph is showing the little red book I produced, it would highlight to customers what they would recieve now they were flying with the SWISS Premier service.
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Above Image 29 - This is another photograph of the exhibition set up I created.
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Above Image 30 - Here you can see the critique sheet that I received from the tutors after the subvert exhibition. What the sheet it showing is possible ways to improve my project
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The feedback that I received was stating that even though I knew who my target audience was I needed to think more about how to advertise to them. This was because the places I had placed my advertisment was seen as places people of normal economic status would see the advertisments. But I had to look for places that would be used as advertising areas for people of hight economic status.
CRITICAL EVALUATION This is the section on where you can read how I felt I did through out this project. You will be able to see where I felt my strengths lied and where I think I need to improve.
This personal evaluation is to show you, how I felt I did in the process of this project. How I think I can improve in my work and where I felt my strengths were.
I feel that I took this brief into my stride and executed what was wanted of me in a professional design manner. The final pieces that I produced I feel reflect my research into the history of Swiss Design and show I have used the current design style of SWISS Air in my design process. I feel that with the short time scale I have succeeded in creating a strong portfolio with lots of work that show my extension idea that I came up with. I believed that what helped me be successful in this project was that I chose a company to begin with that had a design style that I liked and thought complimented my style of design. I think that what helped me produce a lot of work for this project was my organisational skills as it meant I thought of an idea quickly and scheduled when I wanted things to be completed by. But with my final pieces I think I could have spent more time selecting a place to use my advertisements instead of sticking them in a tube poster frame and a newspaper frame. This was because they didn’t seem to be appropriate for the audience that I was marketing at. This observation was picked up in a critique for this project.
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SMINT REBRAND This was a mini optional brief that was presented to the public and AUB Graphics students. It was to create an inspirational design that could be used on Smint packaging, the design would have to reflect the ethos of the Smint organisation. Below Image 30 - This photograph is showing the current pacakaging that is sold globaly and is produced by the SMINT Organisation.
With this brief being open to the public it had to be quite flexible with what people where aloud to put on to the packaging as people had varying ideas of what encompassed the Smint Organisation. I began this project by researching into the history and previous add campaigns done by the Smint brand. Having been a fairly new company only being about 20 years old, it didn’t have a rich vain of history that can be associated to other food brands. This meant trying to encompass their history in the design would be hard. My idea generation was mostly about trying to encompass their iconic mint colour. So is started to come up with ideas where I could keep their original colours and potentially bring in other shades associated with the brand.
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Below Image 31 - This was my first design for the smint competition. It shows what I stated in the description to the right where I used the iconic Smint shape and colour. Bottom Left 32 - This mind map is showing my initial ideas of what to create to put it on the Smint packaging.
My initial idea was to play off of the iconic blue mint colour used in previous Smint packaging from past years. So using the eyedropper tool on Photoshop I selected the exact colour used on previous Smint packaging and then I applied it to a shape that I believed looked like the iconic one of a Smint. Then I arranged them into a hexagon and started by each time the shape went around the colour would decrease by 15% in opacity. Below you can see my first design.
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My final design and the one I submitted was a play on their current packaging. I believed that there wasn’t anything wrong with the design, however I did believe instead of having a photograph it could be modernised. So I kept the idea of using a mountain range, but brought it into the 21st century by recreating it in a current design style know as Flat Design.
Above Image 33 - The Image above shows a front on illustration of my entry for the Smint Re Brand competition. It is a modernised version of their original packaging, created using a flat design style on Adobe Illustrator. Bottom Right 34 - When the final 25 where announced, these images were released by the Smint Organisation with your design on. It was a promotional piece on social media that was used to draw attention to the competition.
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Upon the brief closing, my design was selected as one of the best and placed in the final 25. This meant I had won the opportunity to go to London and see all the finalists packaging. As mine had made it into the final 25 a mock up was made of the packaging and by the Walker Agency and that can be seen in the photos on the next page. The prize for getting into the top 25 was winning an iPad Mini. However the 1st prize winner would receive ÂŁ1000 and would have 90,000 units of their packaging produced and made. Unfortunately due to certain circumstances I was unable to attend the exhibition and prize giving at the National Theatre on Southbank London. So I did not get to see the prize giving or my packaging in the exhibition. However I did receive photos taken from another student, Nick Smith.
Bottom Right 35 - This is a photograph of my packaging mocked up and displayed at the Smint exhibition at the National Theatre in London.
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VISUAL CRYPSIS PAGE’S 122-141
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THE BRIEF With this brief we were aloud to collaborate in teams or work as an individual. I decided to embark on this project by creating a creative team of Sam Brown and I. We both thought the first logical step for us was to sit down and read the brief before discussing what we believed was wanted from us by the tutors.
The brief was clear that It wanted us to use a pair of visual systems, that in time would reveal and disguise themselves. Upon reading the brief in further, it was easy to see that a visual crypsis was strategy used within camouflage.
Sam and I felt the next logical step was to go away and research what a visual crypsis was and start to create ideas of systems that we could merge together in an effort to camouflage information.
Above Image 1 - Here you can see an example shown to us in the briefing of a room that is camoflauged by lines. Right Image 2 - This image allows you to see a combination of two items you would not associate together, 3D printing and choclate.
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Sam and I also believed that the brief was stating how important it is to learn how one visual system interacts well with and merges with other visual systems. We figured when we came to create our visual crypsis system, that we would have to take into consideration what effect does the system have on its surroundings and how is a system affected by the visual context of its implementation.
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VISUAL CRYPSIS IDEAS After doing research into what a visual crypsis was and how camouflage worked. Sam and I sat down and started to come up with ideas of two systems that you would want to merge.
When coming up with ideas, we both agreed that combining two different systems that were opposite to one another would be, unique. We believed this because we thought no else would come up with this concept. We first start with trying to figure out systems that involved two opposite elements and potentially merge them. However we felt we had hit a dead end with this idea. So we went onto bringing the idea back to a system we may had already used. Upon looking at our own previous work, we both liked the concept being my first project in the term. Where I had created a visual system that involved sound. Sam and I ran with this idea of using two opposing senses as we found this to be an interesting starting point. We started the process by pairing up two different senses that you may not normally put together. What followed was we selected our four favourite pair of opposing senses and tried to come up with concepts and ideas that we could potentially apply them to along with a visual system. While coming up with these ideas we tried to think of a way we could involve a visual crypsis in the concept as to disguise and camouflage data at a point. Right Image 3 - The Image on the far right is showing the initial pieces of paper that Sam and I wrote down the two different senses that we were going to combine. Below Image 4 - This book that is shown below was used as inspiration behind Sam’s and mine research into what a visual crypsis is.
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DESIGN AND DATA Sam and I selected to go ahead with using a sound system and a generative system as our visual crypsis in the pursuit of combing sense’s that we believed shouldn’t be combined. Before going ahead with our and designing the final concept, we were tasked with finding out if the technology out there is available to actually make it our final idea work and run. As our tutor had instructed us to look at code art in private art interactions set up at the Barbican Gallery in London. We thought how they program their work to run would be the first point at which we start. This was because Sam and I felt if we could see sections in their work that was similar to the code and technology we believed that was needed to make our idea run. If we could figure out how they did it and use this to back up the point that it would be capable to program our idea and make it work. Below Image 5 - A close up image of a the word that people would use to describe the food they are feeling, here it shows our data collection that Ryan Young helped with.
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By looking at videos of code art artists such Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet we could see concepts of our idea in theirs. This allowed us to do research into the programs they used to read the code, create the code and software used to input it.
Above Image 6 - It is showing the process diagram that Sam and I drew up, this was in an attempt to prove if the code worked and our idea could be executed and created.
After analysis work created by code art artists we discovered that, for inputting spoken data into the code they used a function called Google Web Speech API. This allowed spoken words to be taken into this digital service and then be translated into typed text that can be taken into the code and be executed. Sam and I next went about looking at coding languages we could use. We discovered that there are a lot of different types of languages that we could possibly code the program in. However as we watched multiple code art and devart films, other artist explained how they went about programming their work and the platform that came up the most was xcode. So Sam and I felt that this would be the potential language to program ours in. Before we went about being able to draw the visuals for the interface, we had to create a step y step flow chart to see if our visual crypsis worked. By doing this we could also see where the sound system was going to be used and where the generative system would come into action and execute the code camouflaging the input data
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Above Image 7 - Within this image you will be able to see the initial drawings that Sam and I have produced in order to figure out what we believed certain actions would do to certain shapes. Right Image 8 - By looking at this image you will see the initial rough sketch of what we would like the exhibition stand and set up to be for our piece of work to be displayed on.
Now that Sam and I had successfully managed to create a flow diagram that showed the visual crypsis both worked with the systems we wanted to involve and there is the technology and code there to make our idea work. We went about designing the interface and visual that you will see when using our instalment. We started by selecting items of clothing that we felt could potentially produce a variety of different visuals if people where feeling them and describing it. Next we selected what we believed to be the 3 most varied types of food. Then using the words we had got people to write down for how they felt they would describe the food type. We divided the list into two, if a word was said off of the first list it would produce an initial shape on screen. Then with the second list we created and array of actions, on what we believed these trigger words could do to the visual that will be playing on the screen. On the page you can see that we have started to draw representations of what we believed the actions would do to the shapes we are using. You will also see that we have draw a mini roughs sketch of how we believe our art instalment should be laid out in an exhibition area.
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FINAL DESIGNS Now after planning on how we want the animation to run and what actions we would like it to take. We went about the process of creating our stand, digitalising our drawings and producing an animation to make it look like our visual crypsis is working.
The first step we went about was creating a visual style for our animation, upon looking at other work we decided to go with flat design as we though it would interesting and again confuse people more with what they are thinking. Sam went about creating the digital shapes and the stages when a new action is applied to the shape. You can see the different stage vector shapes on this page. We decide to create the digital shapes in grey to begin with as we wanted to see if the concept worked when applied to the animation phase. As we felt we can get the colour to change during the animation depending on how someone’s tone of voice changes or the sounds they produce while feeling the hidden item of food.
Left Above Image 9 - Simplistic vector illustrations, these were the inspirtation behind the design style that Sam and I produced for our animations. Right Above Image 10 - This image here is showing the 3 initial shapes that were produced at the start of the crypsis animations. Right Image 11 - Here is a collection of 3 still frames that are taken from the cornflakes animation that I produced for Sam and I.
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Above Image 12 - A screenshot showing the cornflakes animation that I had created in after effects. Near Right 13 - This screenshot is showing the animation I created abour our crypsis creating a Kiwee animation. Top Right 14 - What you can see here is the 3D digital mock up of what we would like our exhibition set up to look like.
Middle Right Image 15 - This is photograph showing Sam and I building the frame fro the stand we were going to make. Bottom Left 16 - The photo shows the next stage of the stand, at this point the sides of the stand had been put on. Bottom Right 17 - The final stand that Sam and I created to house our projector.
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After the vector illustrations of the stages of the animation where produced, I took the files from Sam and placed them into Adobe After Effects. This allowed me to use time sequences and movement to animate the vector illustrations so that it looked like our sound system and generative system were working. Following the animation I had created Sam and I went about digitally mocking up the exhibition set up that we ideally wanted. After getting the measurements we wanted we went out and got the wood that we needed and then went on to actually make the stand so that we could make our exhibition mock up more believable.
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EXHIBITION In the final stage of this project, we had to produce all the work we had created and set it up in a small exhibition section. Then other students would view the work and leave feedback on how we can improve and take forward our ideas.
In our exhibition set up we produced the stand that we created for our art instalment and showed the video of us interacting with our art instalment. We went with showing a video of us using our art instalment as we felt it kept the illusion of our piece actually working. Instead of having people walking up to the piece and trying to have a go with it and finding out we had just created and animation.
Top Right Image 18 - This photograph is showing Sam demonstartaing our crypsis project and highlighting that our generative and sound system work. Bottom Right 19 - By looking at this photograph you will be able to see our exhibition set up in full function. Top Right 20 - As the projection of the crypsis is caught mid animation you can see the shape crubbling in front of your eyes.
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During our critique in the exhibition, Sam and I placed the animations that we had created on loop. This meant we were able to show other students, what possible outcomes they could potentially produce by using the generative system and sound system in our Art Instalment. By us having the animations on loop, it gave us the chance to talk through to the other students how our code would work and how it would produce the visuals. When discusing our idea with the group we also spoke about how if we were to have extra time there was certain ideas we would of liked to impliment into our work. This ranged from us telling the students that we wanted to bring emotion into our animations by changing the colour that the visual produces due to sounds that the person using the art instalment makes. We also spoke about that if we were to have extra time we would of tried to brand the instalment better by placing it in the possible design style of the museum we would liked to have placed the art instalment into, such as the: Tate, Barbican or Science museum.
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Top Left Image 21 - This is a close up of the sign witht he animation of our visual crypsis playing in the background. Below 22 - The viny typography that is found on the top of our exhibition stand.
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This personal evaluation is to show you, how I felt I did in the process of this project. How I think I can improve in my work and where I felt my strengths were.
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CRITICAL EVALUATION This is the section on where you can read how I felt I did through out this project. You will be able to see where I felt my strengths lied and where I think I need to improve.
With this project I feel I produced some of my best work this term, this was because I felt I was working with a team member who was as motivated and willing to experiment with new ideas as much as I was. When doing research we both collaborated together and helped each other meaning that we could gain as much knowledge of the subject matter as possible. I felt that working with a good partner was very beneficial as it allowed me to take control of the brief and progress with my learning. I feel that we pushed our design process and experimentation to a new level as we tried to work with technology and equipment that neither if us had heard off or used before. This meant we had to research lots of new information, which I believe to be very good for me as it meant I would have knowledge of a topic that not many people would which would be good for when I went out into the working world. Where I think I could improve with this would be experiment more in the first stages of the design process as I felt that after Sam and I had come up with our design style we settled with it and tried to use that style for as much as possible. I also feel that we could have done more data collection with other students on our course writing down words they would say when describing our food types, this would be because it would give us a larger selection of trigger words to use for animations of the visual crypsis. How I feel I have grown with this unit is experimenting more with the technology and equipment that I have not used before. This allowed me to learn new things and gain knowledge for processes that I could potentially use in the future in work or other university projects.
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DISPLAY BOOK PAGE’S 142-151
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Right Image 1 - A page spread is being shown here from Marian Bantjes Book. This was an example shown to us in the briefing about a possible way we can bring abstraction into our own book design.
THE BRIEF Whit this brief it was an individual task, this was because we were being set the challenge of creating a display book that it meant to show my development through every project that I had undertaken during the term.
This was a brief was set to make us organised designers in my opinion, as it meant we would have to collect all our work together, organise it and then structure our design work and time. By creating a book it also meant that we would be using Graphic Design systems such as grids, colour and composition. In the book we would have to use it to show our progress and development throughout the visual systems unit. With the task, we are being set the chance to create and design a book from scratch. This meant there were loads of different elements that we would have to consider, such as typeface selection, grid selection, page size selection and even the hierarchical structure of my text.
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RESEARCH Due to there being many elements that where going to go into this book design, I felt I would start by finding examples of work and selecting elements from them that I feel would compliment one another and would work in my book design. Top Right Image 2 - This screenshot is showing the type tests that I created when deciding what font to use in my book. Below Image 3 - This is showing the size difference between and A4 and A5 page. Which were two of my top choices when selecting my page size for my book.
The first element in the book design that I started with selecting the page size I was going to be working on. I chose this first because I felt that once this was selected, I could make the other elements of the book fit around the constraints of the page size. There were certain page sizes that I was looking at using, these included; square 210mmx210mm, A4 portrait, A5 Landscape and A4 height but a thinner width. I chose these page sizes because I felt they were different to typical standard page sizes and would mean my book would stand out. Secondly the next element of the book design that I looked at was the layout system used inside. I felt this was an important system in the book because it would ultimately decide what happened to the further elements I would be placing on the inside. I took to looking at other books and seeing what their layout systems where like. Then when I believe I found a good one, I tried to emulate that grid on my page size.
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What followed was selecting a typeface for the book and a hierarchical order for the type. I did two type test’s for two fonts that I believed I could use for the body text during the book. On the type test’s I placed the text into a variety of weights in the typeface and expanded them from three columns to a single column to see what it would be like. One of the final element to go into the book was selecting the colour system I was going to use to divide up the sections of the book. I believed to have a big bold title page to split each section in the book, however I would bring the colour system elegantly on to each page so that you could see what section you are in. When deciding on colours to use, my research lead me to one of the most prestigious organisations for colour selection which was Pantone Colours. The colour choice I went with was, Pantone’s 10 best colours of 2014. Because an organise this big was advertising them as the best colours, I only felt it was appropriate to take them and use them in my book design as the colour system. Above Top Image 4 - Is shwoing the flat plan that I created, this was used to decide what body text I think would fit my grid better. Above Bottom Image1 - This is a diagram that show the top 10 Pantone Colours of the year. These are the tones I selected for my colour system.
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DESIGNS In this section of the book you will be able to see the process I went through in the design stage. You will find all my initial drawings, flat plans and notes and what I believe should go into every page.
Top Left Image 5 - A flat plan that I created for my book design is shown, this allowed me to find out how many pages that I needed.
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The process for the book design started with me creating a flat plan for the different sections that would be going into it. This was because with this, I new how many pages I would be looking at for the book and be able to see what smaller sub category’s I would be putting into each chapter.
Bottom Left Image 7 - An inspirational book spread for layout that I found from The Layout Look Book. Top Right Image 8 - My complete flat plan that I created for the hole book. Bottom Right Image 10 - This shows you the front cover of a book I found to be informative about layout when deciding what grid to choose for my book design.
After highlighting how many pages was needed for each chapter in my book, it was time to write down what I believe each sub category should be called in the book and how many of them there should be under each chapter.
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TYPE BOOK
PAGE’S 150-161
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THE BRIEF In this task we kept in the same group as the people we were with for the industry visit. In our small groups we got given two typographic terms, then with this we had to create a page for each term that described what it was.
When designing the book pages, Sam and I believed the tutors should have tried a different page size. As we believed that 210mm square was a bit boring as we always do to work in that size.
Right Image 1 - The book that I have shown, I used when researching my topic for the typographic book.
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The area within what we had to design the page was 210mm by 210mm, this was because when the best designs were selected for each term. The pages would be printed and bound into a book, so that all the students can see the good and bad uses of typography. In my group we got the two phrases Orphan and Paragraphs. As when we were given the terms only Sam Brown and I were present for the group we split it up so he would design a page for orphan while id signed one for paragraph. We felt that we had two boring subjects with in typography that had a lot of information, so this meant we didn’t have much a of a visual system to play with when creating our pages. During the briefing for the project, the tutors also stated that they need two people to correlate all the designs and put a similar visual system across all the pages. Then put them into a book layout and print it and bind it. Sam Brown and I felt that we could take this task in our stride and volunteered our names to be the two to do this task.
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DESIGN In this section of the book you can see the designs that I did for the project and how I developed them from my first design to the last one.
Below Image 2 - This is my first attempt at creating a page that shows to the reader what a paragraph is. I introduced a large title that fell off of the page to make it visually interesting to look at.
In the first designs I produced, I believed that just showing paragraphs of information on a page would be a bit boring. So I tried to make the title the main focus of the page, this was done by extending lines off of the page and making the typefaces vary bold. This can be seen in my designs.
The feedback that I received from showing the tutors the design above was the typefaces that I had used for the heading and body text where to similar. I was recommended about trying a sans serif typeface for the body text and a slab serif for the heading. So what I did in the next design was apply Rockwell Bold to the heading and used Futura with a larger leading for the body. I also got feedback on the layout, the main one was to increase my column width so the body text was wider. The next design fault that I was told about was if I was putting text at an angle to centre it in the middle of the page either it looks like the text is slipping of on the side of the page.
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Right Image 3 - My second attempt at a page about typography, I used a slab serif font in the heading and contrasted it against modern sans serif font to make it more enjoyable to read and to create hierarchical structure. Below Image 4 - The final design I created showing what a paragraph is. This design was good enough and got selected to go into the final typography book.
In the second example I produced I brought in the varying typefaces to give it more impact. However I also brought in a secondary colour to making it more visually interesting to look at and to split up the data. Upon feedback from my second design, I titled the text to break the grid and to make it more interesting to read. I also reduced the amount of information on the pages, so it sat better in the centre.
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BOOK CREATION In this task we kept in the same group as the people we were with for the industry visit. In our small groups we got given two typographic terms, then with this we had to create a page for each term that described what it was.
The area within what we had to design the page was 210mm by 210mm, this was because when the best designs were selected for each term. The pages would be printed and bound into a book, so that all the students can see the good and bad uses of typography. In my group we got the two phrases Orphan and Paragraphs. As when we were given the terms only Sam Brown and I were present for the group we split it up so he would design a page for orphan while I designed one for paragraph. We felt that we had two boring subjects with in typography that had a lot of information, so this meant we didn’t have much a of a visual system to play with when creating our pages. Below Top Image 5 - The paper print outs for the book spreads are shown here, this allowed us to visualise what order we wanted the book to be in and what we wanted it to look like.
During the briefing for the project, the tutors also stated that they need two people to correlate all the designs and put a similar visual system across all the pages. Then put them into a book layout and print it and bind it. Sam Brown and I felt that we could take this task in our stride and volunteered our names to be the two to do this task.
Bottom Right Image 8 - The image here is showing the pages fresh out of the printer, stacked ready for us to measure them for spine width.
After taking all the individual pages designs, Sam and I placed them into one single document to create the final book. What followed next was we got the tutors to have a look at the book, they gave us feedback on what they like and wanted to be changed. Sam and I went away and made these adjustments. Next we sent the book to print, then we prepared it for the binding process that we were going to undertake. We
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organised all the pages into the right order and got them aligned best as possible before applying the glue to the pages and mesh to the top while it was in the vice. The next step was to finish the book, we glued the cover on. Below Bottom Image 6 Here you can see a double page spread that Sam and I digitalised of our typography terms. This was done using Adobe InDesign and dragging other students work into the book format that Sam and I had created. Right Image 7 - This image is showing Sam and I putting the page spreads into one book format using Adobe InDesign.
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FINAL OUTCOME In this task we kept in the same group as the people we were with for the industry visit. In our small groups we got given two typographic terms, then with this we had to create a page for each term that described what it was.
The area within what we had to design the page was 210mm by 210mm, this was because when the best designs were selected for each term. The pages would be printed and bound into a book, so that all the students can see the good and bad uses of typography.
Above Image 12 - What you can see in this image is a photograph of the title page in the book. Right Image 13 - Here you can see the full page spread of the topics that Sam and I produced that were to go inside of the book.
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In my group we got the two phrases Orphan and Paragraphs. As when we were given the terms only Sam Brown and I were present for the group we split it up so he would design a page for orphan while id designed one for paragraph. We felt that we had two boring subjects with in typography that had a lot of information, so this meant we didn’t have much a of a visual system to play with when creating our pages. During the briefing for the project, the tutors also stated that they need two people to correlate all the designs and put a similar visual system across all the pages. Then put them into a book layout and print it and bind it. Sam Brown and I felt that we could take this task in our stride and volunteered our names to be the two to do this task.
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Above Image 14 - A full face on shot of the front cover Sam and I produced for the Can You Read This? Book. Bottom Right 1 - Here you can see a detailed image of the spine of the book and all the pages slotting into the binding Sam and I did.
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UNIT CRTIQUE PAGE’S 162-165
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CRITICAL EVALUATION This is the section on where you can read how I felt I did through out this project. You will be able to see where I felt my strengths lied and where I think I need to improve.
This personal evaluation is to show you, how I felt I did in the process of this project. How I think I can improve in my work and where I felt my strengths were.
During this term I feel that I have excelled in a variety of fields, this includes research, experimentation and refinement. I felt that where I was working with people that I got on with and was beneficial as it meant I was able to get on with work and do more in-depth knowledge into the subjects that we were studying. I also felt that when doing research in this unit of work, that I explored more means. This included looking at a larger variety of books, exploring blogs and trying to follow examples on lynda.com on about learning software or technology. However I also feel when working in teams and people did not step up and pull their weight that I tried to fill the void left by them, I believe I did this by producing extra work to compensate them not being here. Along with experimenting more with new technology to see what I was capable of doing and not being stuck with other peoples knowledge of equipment. I believe that when producing work as a team, where one person was missing that we came together and produced some visual pleasing work as we tried to show what we could produce with fewer people. Where I feel I could improve in the next unit of work is by doing more initial research, especially into looking at other designers design style as I feel that most the work I have produced for this unit is in my style of work. I also think that I should try and incorporate more systems into the work I produced as in some cases I feel that I have only used one, where there is the possibility to use more or incorporate different systems into my work.
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How I feel that I have improved on my knowledge and work in this unit is by using technology and equipment in multiple projects that I don’t believe other students would have thought about using. This was shown in the visual systems project where I used Adobe After Effects for our project and not many other students had heard of the program. Another example of this was in my way finding project where Kaya and I used vinyl to create a typographic sign, up to this point I hadn’t seen any other students use it so this shows me experimenting with new technology. Finally this is shown in my visual crypsis project, where Sam and I experiment and researched into code art to produce our pieces. Up until this point other students hadn’t shown any any idea that this design style excited. I feel this has been the best unit I have studied since starting the BA Graphic Design programme at the Arts University Bournemouth as it has opened me up to learning about new design properties that I didn’t know existed. Such as systems, new typographic rules and exploring technology and equipment I hadn’t heard about before. In my opinion the unit of work was rewarding in the terms of learning and designing. However I do feel that if anything was to change it would be more chance to select the group you work with more, than be placed directly into one.
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SOURCES USED PAGE’S 165-171
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VISUAL SYSTEM Books: Klanten, R. Ehman, S. Tissot, T and Bourquin, N. (2010). Data Flow 2 Visualizing Information in Graphic Design. Switzerland, Gestalten. McCandless, D. (2009). Colours in Culture. England, Collins. Shaughnessy, A. (2009). Graphic Design: A Users Manual. London, Laurence King Publishing Ltd. Websites: Daily Mail (2013). Maths has never looked so appealing!. [online] Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2442633/Pi-transformed-stunningcircular-rainbow-hued-works-art.html [Accessed on 7th October 2014] Forbes (2012). Your Data Is the New Black. [online] Available from: http://www.forbes. com/sites/marketshare/2012/06/15/your-data-is-the-new-black/ [Accessed on 7th October 2014] Grey Scale Gorilla (2014). Fast 3D Topographies in Cinema 4D Tutorial. [online] Available from: http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/tutorials/fast-3d-topographies-in-cinema4d-tutorial/ [Accessed on 7th October 2014] Stanford Solar Centre (n.d.). Visual Art and Music Based on Solar Data. [online] Available from: http://solar-center.stanford.edu/art/lausten.html [Accessed on 7th October 2014] The Atlantic (2011). Musical Sculptures Translate Weather Data Into Art. [online] Available from: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/07/musical-sculpturestranslate-weather-data-into-art/241806/ [Accessed on 7th October 2014] Wikipedia (2014). Grid - Graphic Design. [online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Grid_(graphic_design) [Accessed on 3rd October 2014] Wikipedia (2014). Visual System. [online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Visual_system [Accessed on 3rd October 2014] Images: Image 2 - McCandless, D. Colours in Culture. (2009). [online image]. Available from: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/ [Accessed on 3rd October 2014] Image 3 - Vasile, C. Numerology is Bogus. (2013). [online image]. Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2442633/Pi-transformed-stunningcircular-rainbow-hued-works-art.html [Accessed on 3rd October 2014] Image 6 - Vasile, C. Numerology is Bogus. (2013). [online image]. Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2442633/Pi-transformed-stunningcircular-rainbow-hued-works-art.html [Accessed on 3rd October 2014] Image 8 - Vasile, C. Numerology is Bogus. (2013). [online image]. Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2442633/Pi-transformed-stunningcircular-rainbow-hued-works-art.html [Accessed on 3rd October 2014] Image 19 - Griggs, L. Nebula. (2014). [online image]. Available from: http:// greyscalegorilla.com/blog/tutorials/fast-3d-topographies-in-cinema-4d-tutorial/ [Accessed on 7th October 2014] Image 20 - Griggs, L. Rusty Swamp. (2014). [online image]. Available from: http:// greyscalegorilla.com/blog/tutorials/fast-3d-topographies-in-cinema-4d-tutorial/ [Accessed on 7th October 2014]
INDUSTRY VISIT Websites: Cartlidge Levene (2014). CartlidgeLevene. [online] Available from: http://www. cartlidgelevene.co.uk [Accessed on 2nd October 2014] Edge (2014). Edge. [online] Available from: http://edge.gb.com [Accessed on 2nd
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October 2014] Holler (2014). Holler. [online] Available from: http://holler.co.uk [Accessed on 2nd October 2014] Imagination (2014). Imagination. [online] Available from: http://www.imagination.com [Accessed on 2nd October 2014] Lambie-Nairn (2014). Lambie-Nairn. [online] Available from: http://www.lambie-nairn. com [Accessed on 2nd October 2014] Pentagram (2014). Pentagram. [online] Available from: http://www.pentagram.com/ work/#/all/all/newest/ [Accessed on 2nd October 2014] Studio Myerscough (2014). StudioMyerscough. [online] Available from: http://www. studiomyerscough.com [Accessed on 2nd October 2014] Images Image 1 - Sagmeister, S. Banana Wall. (2008). [online image]. Available from: http:// www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/work/project/deitch-projects-banana-wall/ [Accessed on 9th October 2014] Image 2 - Imagination. Studio. (2014). [online image]. Available from: http://london. imagination.com/en/news/2012/01/imagination-detroit-moves-new-office [Accessed on 9th October 2014] Image 3 - Ideal Studio. Pentagram. (2014). [online image]. Available from: http:// idealstudio.represent.uk.com/studios/1 [Accessed on 9th October 2014] Image 10 - BBC. Tube Map. (2014). [online image]. Available from: http://www.bbc. co.uk/london/travel/downloads/tube_map.html [Accessed on 9th October 2014]
WAYFINDING Videos: Scott Lawson. (2012). How to Improve Your Memory - Introduction to Method of Loci. [online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdfUaydquXs [Accessed on 18th October 2014] Blogs: The Costume Life. (2014). Costume. 10th October 2014. This Is My Costume [online]. Available from: http://thecostumelife.com [Accessed on 21st October 2014] Webstie: ADWEEK. (2010). Nokia Arrow. (2010) [online] Available from http://www.adweek. com/adfreak/nokia-points-way-huge-london-sign-13108 [Accessed on 18th October 2014] Wikipedia. (2014). Wayfinding. (2014) [online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Wayfinding [Accessed on 18th October 2014] Design Workplan. (2013). Wayfinding. (2013) [online] Available from: http:// designworkplan.com/wayfinding/introduction.htm [Accessed on 18th October 2014] Cartlidge Levene. (2014). Wayfinding and Signage. (2012) [online] Available from: http://cartlidgelevene.co.uk/work/wayfinding-and-signage/barbican-arts-centre [Accessed on 18th October 2014] Images: Image 1 - ADWEEK. Nokia Arrow. (2010) [online image] Available from: http://www. adweek.com/adfreak/nokia-points-way-huge-london-sign-13108 [Accessed on 18th October 2014]= Image 2 - Myerscough, M. Barbican Wayfinding. (n.d.). [online image] Available from: http://studiomyerscough.com/index.php/barbican-centre-london-wayfinding-collaborationwith-architects-ahmm-cartlidge-levene [Accessed on 18th October 2014] Image 5 - Belcher, N. Expedia Headquarters Wayfinding. (2012). [online image]
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Available from: http://edge.gb.com/work-and-clients/sector/workplace/expedia/ [Accessed on 20th October 2014] Image 7 - Wikimedia. New York Street Corner. (2007). [online image] Available from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_14th_Street_looking_west_12_2005.jpg [Accessed on 20th October 2014] Image 9 - Smashing Magazine. Streets and Wayfinding Part 1. (2010) [online image] Available from: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/street-and-wayfinding-signs-part-1/ [Accessed on 21st October 2014] Image 13 - The Costume Life. Costume. (2014) [online image] Available from: http:// thecostumelife.com/page/5/ [Accessed on 22nd October 2014] Image 15 - The Costume Life. Costume. (2014) [online image] Available from: http:// thecostumelife.com/page/5/ [Accessed on 22nd October 2014]
SUBVERT Books: Klanten, R. Hellige, H. Mischler, M. (2000). Swiss Graphic Design. Die Gestalten Verlag. Muller, L. (2007). Josef Muller Brockmann. 4th Edition. Italy, Lars Muller Publishers Neuburg, H. (1965). Graphic Design in Swiss Industry. Websites: Design Is History (n.d.). Josef Muller Brockmann. [online] Available from: http://www. designishistory.com/1940/joseph-mueller-brockmann/ [Accessed on 9th November 2014] I’m Just Creative (2014). The New Swiss Airlines Brand Logo Redesign. [online] Available from: http://imjustcreative.com/the-new-swiss-airlines-brand-logo-redesign/2011/08/26 [Accessed on 8th November 2014] Nose (2014). Swiss. [online] Available from: http://www.nose.ch/en/clients/SWISS/ Project-for-SWISS?refId=19 [Accessed on 8th November 2014 Swiss Air (2014). Homepage. [online] Available from: http://www.swiss.com/ch/en [Accessed on 8th November 2014] Wikipwedia (2014). Univers. [online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Univers [Accessed on 7th November 2014] Winkreative (2014). Swiss International Air Lines. [online] Available from: http://www. winkreative.com/portfolio/swiss-international-airlines/ [Accessed on 8th November] Images Image 1 - Its Nice That. Graphic Design: Bravo Charlie Mike Hotel ace D&AD award night identity. (2013). [online image] Available from: http://www.itsnicethat.com/ articles/bravo-charlie-mike-hotel-d-and-ad [Accessed on 8th November 2014] Image 2 - Its Nice That. Graphic Design: Bravo Charlie Mike Hotel ace D&AD award night identity. (2013). [online image] Available from: http://www.itsnicethat.com/ articles/bravo-charlie-mike-hotel-d-and-ad [Accessed on 8th November 2014] Image 4 - Print Killer. This is Why You Should Always Poop Before Boarding a Private Jet. (2013). [online image] Available from: http://www.printkiller.com/picturespics/2013/11/this-is-why-you-should-always-poop-before-boarding-a-private-jet/ [Accessed on 10th November 2014] Image 5 - ASOS. ASOS Homepage. (2014). [online image] Available from: http://www. asos.com/men/ [Accessed on 10th November 2014] Image 9 - Future Lanken. Cabin Crew at Qatar Airways. (2014). [online image] Available from: http://futurelankan.com/2014/09/cabin-crew-at-qatar-airways-3073/ [Accessed on 10th November 2014] Image 10 - Crisalide. Qatar Airways. (2014). [online image] Available from: http:// futurelankan.com/2014/09/cabin-crew-at-qatar-airways-3073/ [Accessed on 10th November 2014]
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Image 11 - UAE Interact. Social Development - Emitratisation. (2013). [online image] Available from: http://www.uaeinteract.com/news/default3.asp?page=2&ID=144 [Accessed on 10th November 2014] Image12 - Airline Reporter. Creating an Interstate Highway System in the Sky. (2013). [online image] Available from: http://www.airlinereporter.com/tag/etihad-airways/ page/2/ [Accessed on 10th November 2014] Image 14 - Nose. SWISS Graphic Design. (n.d.). [online image] Available from: http:// www.nose.ch/kunden/SWISS/projekt?refId=13 [Accessed on 11th November 2014] Image 22 - Swiss. Homepage. (2014). [online image] Available from: http://www.swiss. com/ch/en [Accessed on 11th November 2014] Image 35 - Smint. Smint Facebook Page. (2014). [online image] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/SmintUK/photos/pb.234422656745573.2207520000.1416775424./317723468415491/?type=3&theater [Accessed on 6th November 2014]
VISUAL CRYPSIS Books: Kurashima, T. (2012). Poemotion. Italy, Lars Muller Publishers Images: Image 2 - MB Advent. The world’s highest resolution 3D printed chocolates. (2011). [online image] Available from: http://www.movingbrands.com/work/advent [Accessed on 12th Novemeber] Image 8 - Behance. Triangle Zoo. (2014). [online image] Available from: https://www. behance.net/gallery/20809879/Triangle-Zoo [Accessed on 14th November]
DISPLAY BOOK Books: Weber, M. (2011). The Layout Look Book. Harper Design. Images: Image 1 - Wallpaper. Book: ‘I Wonder’ by graphic artist Marian Bantjes. (2010). [online image] Available from: http://www.wallpaper.com/lifestyle/book-i-wonder-by-graphicartist-marian-bantjes/4796 [Accessed on 15th Novemeber] Image 4 - WWD. Pantone’s Top Colors for Spring 2014. (2014). [online image] Available from: http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/pantones-top-colorsfor-spring-2014-7107333 [Accessed on 14th November]
TYPE BOOK Books: Baines, P and Haslam, A. (2012). Type & Typography. Second Edition. London, Laurence King Publishing.
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PLAY OK