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Studio Brief 2 Public Spaces Print OUGD406 Callum O’Reilly Level 4
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Rationale
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Interpretting the brief: To create a A3 poster that is celebratory in tone, using traditional printing methods. The post should represent the carnivals upcoming event in Leeds, informing the audience of the information needed as well giving them an idea of its past. Being the 50th year anniversary the poster should depict this in some way, the is obvious and at the forefront of the design, highlighting the fact that this is a celebration. Image should be a big part of the design, as well as the choice of colour; as the nature of carnival is being surrounded with vibrant tones.
Final Design
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Research Images Potternewton Park Arthur France & Co-Founders
Research Images - University of Leeds - Recent Carnival Picture - Past Carnival Picture
Research
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I began my research by investigating further into the origins of the carnival itself, from this I discovered that the founder, Arthur France created the event as a cure for homesickness for him and the West-Indian community of Leeds. The first street evidence of the carnival began in 1967, predating any other in the West-Indian carnival in the UK organised by Caribbean people; it soon became the largest within Europe. He began organising the event with some cofounders which can be seen here on the left. The history and creation of the carnival should have a significant influence on my design, being evident to the audience, I believe this should be important as it is the half a century anniversary of the event. This could be done through the use of the creators themselves, or the use of past imagery. There is a large collection of images recording the parade through the years, this imagery could be modernised to become part of the design, using some of the carnival colours. The colours from the branding across the social media consist of bright and vibrant purples, this was a consideration when designing the final poster. My research also consisted of a visit to the park to get a better understanding of the environment that is changed each year into the vibrant carnival, I think it was important to do this to see the scene which I was representing in the poster visuals.
Initial Design Ideas
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Design 1
Design 4
Design 2
Design 5
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Design 3 Design idea 1 – the design focuses on the visual representation of the past and the present of the carnival, depicting the familiar scene which is transformed each year and the original team that organised the event in the first place. This is focusing around the idea of the anniversary of the event being a celebration, represented by the large 50 in a colour that brings the number to the forefront of the design. Design idea 2 – the concept behind the design is bring together the idea of the origins of the carnival, shown through an image of the university that all the founders attended, and the carnival itself being shown in the forefront over the university image. This visual link to the celebrations are clarified through the use of bright bold colours, sampled from colours found within the costume image. Design idea 3 – this design shows a more conceptual approach lacking in depth information, yet the idea of the carnival is represented through the block vector style emblem overlapping the past image of one of the original carnivals. It gives the basic information, and brings the attention of the audience to the images, due to white space contrasting against the clashing vibrant colours. Design idea 4 – this design idea brings the history to its forefront, the largest item on the page being the image, alongside the 50 representing the half a year anniversary of the event from its origins to now. The colours used mixed creates purple, the colour used throughout the past branding of the event. Design idea 5 – this poster brings the idea of the carnival to the forefront of the piece, contrasting against its background of an image of Potternewton park, bringing the informative poster back to its roots, through the location. The grid has been adjusted to give the information a sense of hierarchy, giving even space in-between the content, utilising the white space. The two most popular designs between there were 3 and 4, the feedback received proved 3 to be more visually interesting than the others, being more conceptual; although work on the grid would be needed as the information seems to be placed randomly. Idea 4 was popular due to the strong visual links to the events history and origins, as well as the colours used in the piece; although there is not a link to people new to the event to visually inform them of the carnival.
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Development
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Grid Development
To develop my chosen design I began to develop some of the points mentioned within my feedback, I added a red dotted texture to contrast against the blocky vector nature of the layer underneath. This keeps the clean and modern feel while developing a visual representation of the costumes used within the carnival. To retain the element of history within the new modern print made the image larger, keeping the bright yellow over to draw the audiences eye towards the image, the colour also contrasts against the red and blue found with print; depicting the bright and vibrant colours used within the carnival. In order to make the type on the piece has a more hierarchical effect that 50 remains the largest piece of text on the page, visually representing the importance of the anniversary. The name of the carnival itself has an alternate rotation therefore remains a focus of the piece without being the largest text on the page. In order to place all of the elements needed for this print are created my own simple grid system consisting of four columns and six rows, these are uneven and have been adapted to allow me to align the elements in a way that represents my idea, and a way that will enable me to traditionally print this outcome. I have chosen to use screen printing to be able to create this outcome, this method gives a crisp and clean cut print, something I believe this poster needs. In order to print images within screen print they must be halftone, the image which I have used it within my first mock-up has been translated into this format to be able to print the best of its ability. This method also allows me to overlay another colour of the image, giving it a modern touch, to coincide with the rest of the piece; and the overall celebratory and bright design style of the piece, representing carnival.
Halftone Image
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Production
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In order to screen print the separate layers, which will be different colours, as be separated into a series of negative; these will be exposed onto the screen. The screen needed to be cleaned first using a mixture of different chemicals, this went well on screen I used was left with very little ghosting. Once the screen has been cleaned emulsion must be applied across the screen evenly. Although being the first time I have applied this, unfortunately it did not want to evenly. This meant after I had exposed the images onto the screens I needed to re-expose the screen on the UV bed, this hardens the emulsion, meaning it will not peel away when printing. The screen is laid onto a printing bed, the sections in which you are not printing a tapped off, after this each layer is individually printed, with its individually mixed ink. Depending on the colour needed, acrylic is added to binder, the more binder added the more translucent that layer will come. This is a major consideration when thinking about the way in which layers must be evident within the print. Overall I am pleased with the way in which the production of my print, although I attempted to use a different type of paper stock, this paper stock attached to the screen of the ink on the first layer was too thick. This as well as text size, and the use of imagery, because of the way in which need to be manipulated before screen-print, are all constraints of traditional print.
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Evaluation
Final Print
Final Design
In conclusion I believe that the layout of my design was successful in terms of creating a print that contains multiple layers and depth, 4 layers overall. The grid I have selected creates a hierarchal positioning of the text, which alternate positioning plays a major part within. Almost forcing the audience to read information in a particular way, this grid system also keeps the visuals such as the imaging and the emblem of the main focus of the print. This imagery is representative of both carnival culture, through the illustration, as well as the history and the origins of the event, reminding the audience why the carnival is an important part of the Leeds West Indian community. The visual length within carnival is further exemplified to the use of bright and vibrant colours, found within research imagery of past carnivals. Colour references also been taken from the branding of the carnival, influencing decisions such as the use of red and blue, the breakdown of the purple used within the visual identity of the West Indian carnival. Overall I am pleased with the outcome, it is evident that it is a traditional print, the alignment is slightly off centre from the digital design, showing how every traditional print varies in outcome. I’m
pleased with the colours been used in believe they’ll have reasoning behind, and work well together to create an aesthetically pleasing poster that is celebratory in tone. If I was to redo the poster, I would experiment more with paper, testing the screen print on textured paper adding a more interesting visual aspect, that represents the flamboyancy and extravagance of the Leeds West Indian Carnival.
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