Live Projects

Daniel Holt

PPP3 Report

Contents Statement of Intent 1. Henry Moore Foundation Design Brief (12 HRS) 2. Penguin Student Design Awards (20 HRS) 3. Lelo Digital Illustrations (5 HRS) 4. NEST Submission & Train Station Creative Brief (5 HRS) 5. Lelo Artwork Design (16 HRS) 6. The Pantry Caf‌e Illustrations (8 HRS) 7. Tattoo Design Brief (4 HRS) 8. So Young Illustration Competition (20 HRS) Approaching Clients/ Collaborators Research Research - Work Related Learning Idea Development

Managing Relationships with Clients Responding to Audiences Gaps in my Knowledge Bibliography

Statement of Intent Over the first two years at Leeds University of Arts I have mainly concentrated on illustration, but as time has gone on I have been more focused on developing my design skills. Having not had much experience in graphic design, I want to use this module to try and establish a better grasp into the design world. Growing more of an understanding in typography and digital design. My intention is to challenge myself to undertake briefs which don’t mainly focus on illustration, but inevitably I will be attracted to take on illustration briefs as this is the area I am most experienced in.

One of my main aims is to find a placement, to gain experience in a professional way.

I will not be picky on who to contact as

I know it will be difficult to find a company which will agree to take on a student, but I will be looking at local design companies, as placements within illustration will be scarce.

I would like to become more confident with Adobe Illustrator, I have not yet mastered the software having only used it once or twice.

I feel this is very important within the design world and would help a lot when applying for certain jobs. By the end of the module I would like to have a strong design portfolio which I can build on and learn from.

40

1. Henry Moore Foundation Design Brief (12 HRS) 2017 is the Henry Moore Foundations 40th anniversary year, the exhibition Becoming Henry Moore traces Moore’s early influences, presenting works from his formative years as a sculptur alongside works of art that influenced him.

Brief To design a poster for the exhibition which will be displayed on poster drums throughout the city.

Strategy

Successes

- Strong bold background - Easy to read

Henry Moore changed the way we see sculpture. His Foundation, celebrating its 40th anniversary, continues to do so today.

1977-2017

My intention with this poster was to try and experiment with different type as much as possible, I tried to put the main focus onto the 40 year anniversary.

Don’t miss Becoming Henry Moore at the Henry Moore Institute on the Headrow 30 November 2017 18 February 2018.

Open Tuesday - Sunday 11am-5:30pm Wednesday untill 8pm Closed bank holidays.

Failures

- Possibly too much negative space - Did not win the competition

Things Learned

- I focussed on experiment with type, using different techniques - Feel like I have a good confident grasp on InDesign

www.henry-moore.org

2. Penguin Student Design Award 2018 (20 HRS) Brief Design a book cover for Stephen Hawkings A Brief History Of Time “A striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work onscreen for digital retailers such as Amazon.”

Strategy

Was t her e a begi nni ng of t i me? C oul d t i me r un backw ar ds? I s t he uni ver se i nf i ni t e or does i t have boundar i es? T hese ar e j ust some of t he quest i ons

consi der ed

in

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i nt er nat i onal l y

accl ai med mast er pi ece by one of t he w or l d’s gr eat est t hi nker s. I t begi ns by r evi ew i ng t he gr eat t heor i es of t he cosmos f r om N ew t on t o

- The shades of black and white work well on the bold yellow

Failures

- Started off trying to hand draw elements of the page, but felt it looked quite childish

Things Learned

- More confident working with InDesign, learnt techniques such as the transparent box around the blurb and the dropped shaddow - Learned to line up text in a way which compliments the page as a whole -Experimented with the type options (kerning etc.)

st i l l l i e at t he hear t of space and t i me – f r om t he Bi g Bang t o bl ack hol es, vi a spi r al gal axi es and st r i ng t heor y. To t hi s day A Br i ef H i st or y of Ti me r emai ns a st apl e of t he sci ent i f i c canon, and i t s succi nct and cl ear l anguage cont i nues t o i nt r oduce mi l l i ons t o t heuni ver se and i t s w onder s.

‘This book marries a child’s wonder to a genius’s intellect.

We journey into Hawking’s universe, while marvelling at his mind’ Sunday Times

‘The most brilliant British scientist of his generation’ New Statesman I S B N 978-0-857-50100-4 I S B N 978-0-857-50100-4

£7.99 £7.99 ebook & audio

9 780857 501004 available ebook & audio 9 7 8 0w8w5w.

7 p 5 e0ng 1 0u0i 4 n .co.uavailable k

w w w. p e ng u i n .co.u k

H a w k i n g

Successes

Ei nst ei n, bef or e del vi ng i nt o t he secr et s w hi ch

A BRIEF HISTORY OF T I M E

S t e p h e n

H a w k i n g

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME From The Big Bang To Black Holes

S t e p h e n

I created a couple of finished designs for this brief, this one being the one I submitted. I chose to look at constillations and tried to digitally communicate this through geometric lines and shapes.

The Phenomenal International Bestseller

3. Lelo Digital Illustrations (5 HRS)

Lelo is a singer-songwriter from Leeds

Strategy

Brief

So I could learn more about Adobe Illustrator I forced myself to use the software instead of just using Photoshop to draw the illustrations.

It would also make much more sense to give these to him in vector form as he can then blow them up to whatever scale he wishes. All I had to do was trace over parts the artwork he wanted with the pen tool. I was quite difficult to master at first but through watching tutorials on Youtube and reading forums online I was able to learn the basics to Illustrator and finish the brief in a day.

To digitally illustrate parts of Lelo’s artwork so they can be printed out on large scale for a set design.

Successes

- Client loved the designs - Wishes to print them on posters aswell

Failures -None

Things Learned

- Adobe Illustrator, I can now say I’m confident using the pen tools

4. NEST Submission & Train Station Creative Brief (5 HRS) Brief The theme of this issue is the colour RED This is an open-ended brief and can be interpreted in any way that you see appropriate - this could be approached from a social, environmental or political viewpoint, or simply from an aesthetic one.

Strategy I was pleased with the design I used for the Stephen Hawking book cover competition, I wanted to use it again to submit it into the Universities NEST magazine. As the Theme was RED, I changed the backround to red and experimented with the whites and greys of the geometric shapes.

Successes

- Was able to adapt a design for another brief - Got chosen to be displayed at the NEST Lauch Exhibition

Failures

- Did not get chosen for the magaizine

Things Learned

- Not always the best idea to use the same design for different briefs

4. NEST Submission & Train Station Creative Brief (5 HRS) - Continued

Successes

- Was able to addapt the design for a diferent brief

Failures

- Design not intended for what Leeds and Yorkshire means to me

Things Learned

- More practise with Adobe Illustrator Leeds Train Station are commissioning digital artwork that will be displayed along the panels of the wall running behind

Brief Create a digital design which conveys what Leeds and Yorkshire means to you.

I challenged myself to do this brief so I can work in Illustrator again as it needed to be a digital sumbission. By putting the original design into Illustrator I was able to create another design digitally so it can be blown up to any size. Because the dimenions were much wider I was able to improvise and add more ‘constillations’.

As I am a Leeds United supporter and it is a huge part of the city, I decided to keep the famous Leeds United yellow. The new home kit is also black and white which works with the design.

5. Lelo Artwork Design (8 HRS) Lelo is a singer-songwriter based in Leeds.

Brief Design artwork for Lelo’s two latest singles, ‘Breathing’ and ‘I Looked at the Sun’, tyring to keep in the same style and theme as his other releases.

Strategy As I have designed his artwork in the past I was easily able to keep to the same theme with the illustrations, pastel colours and ‘minimal’ design style. Although this time I started working with Illustrator to challenge myself to create digital illustrations, when the others in the past have been designed free hand.

Successes

- Client loved the designs and will use them for his release in February - He said he would love to work together for future projects - Got commissioned £100 for all LELO work

Failures

- Took me over a month to get started on it after he approached me

Things Learned

- Adobe Illustrator techniques

5. Lelo Artwork Design Continued (8 HRS)

Strategy This was the first one I designed out of the two, by listening to the track over and over I thought there could be something which resembles a window, which lead me to create a simple skyline with the sun being the focus in each illustration.

Successes

- Client loved the design especially the idea of the sun melting.

- Had a friendly informal relaxed relationship with client

Faliures

- I was against doing my idea of the sun melting as I couldnt get it to look right on Illustrator

Things Learned

- How to properly use the curvature tool in Adobe Illustrator.

- How to work with my client to get the right result we are both happy with - That it is possible to have an informal relationship with my client

6. The Pantry Cafe Illustrations (15 HRS) The Pantry is a small Cafe in Menston.

Brief To create a series of illustrations which will be displayed on the walls inside the cafe.

Successes

- Client happy with the designs, asked me to design another one in red so she could put all three designs up.

Faliures

- Have not been put up yet -Took me months to get started and to ring her up to sort out what she wanted.

Things Learned

- How deal with a client who I dont know personally

Strategy As the client was leaving it all up to me I wanted to design something which involved the front of the cafe, by taking photos of it I was able to illustrate it. But I felt I didnt need the whole image so I just picked out the important parts. I then added a texture to make it more authentic. There seemed to be a grey/blue theme inside and outside the cafe. I created a blue and green design for her to choose from.

I tried a quick exercise to draw it in Adobe Illustrator afterwards to get further practise with the software.

7. Tattoo Design Brief (4 HRS) Brief To design a tattoo of a monkey in a minimal line drawn style.

Strategy The client did not give much guidence as to what he was looking for, so my plan was to give him as many options as I could so I started to draw some designs free hand. After looking at images of monkeys online the main feature I wanted was the tail. After many attempts, When trying to do the face I couldnt get it right, it made it look very cartoony and childish. I made a final descision to just have the outline of the face, because of the tail it was still easily recognisable as a monkey.

Successes

- Client loved the designs, I designed his favourite in Illustrator

Failures

- Did not have a good client relationship as he would not reply for days.

- Unsure if he will get the tattoo - Did not get payed

Things Learned

- How to use the Width tool in Illustrator - Not all clients will show you respect

8. So Young Magazine Illustration Competition

ISSUE NO. 2

SEPTEMBER

Brief Illustrate a song by, or members of a band in any style you prefer.

Strategy From the list of bands which were provided, I chose to Illustrate a band called Superfood. Because of their name, I decided to mimic an old Superman comic book, with the members as the characters. By drawing it free hand as a draft I was able to then draw into Illustrator, I enjoyed doing it and learnt lots more helpful techiques in the software. ‘Image Trace’ is something which I picked up on, but did not choose to use for this design but to add the detail (next page) was very effective.

I FEEL UNSTOPPABLE..

‘September’ relates to when their album came out.

‘Issue No. 2’ is because its their second album.

‘I Feel Unstoppable’ relates to one of their songs.

Succeses

- Type looks strong on the page - Pleased with the idea

Failures

- Submitted this design, did not have chance to submit final design (next page) - Could not get the first face to resemble him

Things Learnt

- Image Trace and pen techniques in Adobe Illustrator

25p

8. So Young Magazine Illustration Competition (Continued)

ISSUE NO. 2

SEPTEMBER

Added detail using image trace, still need to touch up parts such as the outlines seem grey when exported as a PDF, which doesnt work with the black detail.

I FEEL UNSTOPPABLE..

25p

Approaching Clients/ Collaborators

The Hungry Sandwich Club are a group of illustrators and designers based in Leeds. I first noticed their work form the Leeds Indie Food events which take place annually. I thought it could be quite good to maybe have a chat with them and to see what they do on a day to day basis.

Unfortunately, they did not get back to me, looking back I should have sent them a portfolio of work.

This is what I need to focus on, I do not have a website or Instagram because I have changed my specialist subject very recently. Before I approach other potential clients or collaborators I will need to know what I want to achieve and make sure I have the online presence to do so.

Research

LELO is a singer-songwriter, he specifies his music as mellow alternative rock. So like the first time I designed his artwork I wanted to create a design which was easy on the eye and had an ataractic feel to it.

Denmark. I particularly enjoy his minimalistic style.

I wanted to try and adapt to his ways of narrating images; his illustrations always bring a sense of calm to the audience.

Instagram is the best social media to find illustrators, some others I found during this project are Maria Medem and Pepa Prieto Puy. I also read a book called 99 Ways To Tell a Story by Matt Madden.

A comic book which tells the same short story 99 I looked at some other comic artists and decided different times, it was helpful the way it opened my My research for this involved plenty of illustrators that’s where I felt the project was going, so I tried mind into new ideas around narrating. including Tor Brandt. Tor Brandt is an illustrator, practising how to design a comic which doesn’t comic artist and graphic designer based in have words, to see if I can create a narrative. I think

Research (Continued)

- Maria Medem

- Pepa Prieto Puy

Research - Work Related Learning How To Use Type So I could try and learn the basic of Typography I read a book which was recommended to me called How To Use Type by Lindsey Marshall & Lester Meachem. It was very useful to read about what are the do’s and don’ts with type, what looks good and what doesn’t.

The main thing I took from this book is to experiment as much as you can, ‘the larger the range of experiments you make with type and lettering, the more you will come to understand the differences between typefaces, their strengths and limitations.’

This helped a lot with the book cover brief.

Adobe Illustrator Online Tutorials Over the course of this module I watched lots of online tutorials to help with my Adobe Illustrator skills. Mainly focusing on the pen tool and certain shortcuts to make it much easier for myself.

I have also signed up to an advanced group tutorial for the software.

Research - Work Related Learning (Continued)

99 Ways To Tell a Story This book by Matt Madden was a quick read but opened my eyes on comics and how people arrange text and illustrations differently to put focus on certain things.

Idea Development

Some other ideas I had for A Brief History Of Time were based around hand drawn illustrations, I tried to create a subtlety towards how they were positioned on the page, creating a look of out of space.

But I felt this looked a little bit too childish contrasting too much with the serious subject.

I think the blue works really well with the pink here, I felt I did a good job of the type on the front of this, adding more weight to the Arial font. I tried to input this into the yellow designs but it didn’t work as well.

Idea Development (Continued)

I started off with black and white for this design, to try make it more related to space, by playing around with the opacity of the shapes it made it look less 2D. I gathered some feedback for my final design, I was told the front was resembling a 50s design while the back was more 90s. With this in mind I rearranged the shapes and took away the textbox, but I felt my original was much more interesting.

Managing Relationships with Clients

I really enjoyed working for LELO, we kept things quite informal and friendly which was very easy to work with. We had a nice thing going where I would send him anything I did even if it was just a small idea, he would then give his feedback. Lucky all of it was positive but I was glad he gave me a bit of direction because sometimes I was working in the dar, he didn’t give me much to go with from the start. We would then just keep going untill we reached a design we both were happy with.

This has given me great practice into how to approach clients in the future, I liked the friendly approach we both had. When working for The Pantry cafe, the relationship was also kept very informal, with no pressure on when she wanted it by. Although this was maybe kept too informal as it took me a long time to give her the illustrations, there was no pressure or deadline. I have learnt I think my best work comes out when under a tight deadline.

Responding To Audiences

When starting the Lelo project I listened to his music to try and inspire me, his music is very chilled out and mellow. After researching other album artwork from within the same genre, I still liked the idea of using pastel colours, taking the same approach as last time I designed for him.

The general designs on the artwork I researched were quite simple and mainly one colour, not over complicating things.

The main audience which are going to be listening to his music are students, with that in mind I wanted to create something which I would like to see on artwork as well, as I listen to quite indie mellow music myself.

- JAWS - ‘What We Havent Got Yet’

- Mac Demarco - ‘This Old Dog’

Gaps In My Knowledge As I am now much more focussed on design with illustration, I feel I am in a good place to move forward with my skills I have learnt in this module. I feel I am more confident in my personal skills than I have ever been, broadening my expertise in typography and graphic design. I feel my professional skills are way behind on where they could be. I have held off from creating an Instagram account or Tumblr as I am always changing what I want to do, but maybe that is a good thing as I have a wide range of skills.

I put in my statement of intent that I wanted to try and get a placement, unfortunately this did not work out too well, so I am still inexperienced in a professional context. So, over the year to come I still want to try get a placement as a graphic designer, or collaborate with someone even if they are also a student from the University. I have not had much chance to work with people on a project, which I want to change.

Bibliography Websites

Books

henry-moore.org penguinrandomhouse.co.uk instagram.com/leloband facebook.com/vbmenston (The Pantry) hungrysandwich.club leedsindiefood.co.uk torbrandt.com pepaprietopuy.tumblr.com mariamedem.tumblr.com soyoungmagazine.com

How To Use Type, (2012) Lindsey Marshall & Lester Meachem 99 Ways To Tell a Story, (2005) Matt Madden