BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN Module Code
OUGD603
Module Title
EXTENDED PRACTICE
LEVEL
06
EXTENDED PRACTICE STATEMENT OF INTENT Name: Emma Johnson Blog Addresses: http://e-johnson1114.blogspot.co.uk Homepage http://e-johnson1114-dc.blogspot.co.uk ougd601 http://e-johnson1114-ppp.blogspot.co.uk ougd602 http://e-johnson-extendedpractice.blogspot.co.uk ougd603 Statement of intent: As a designer and a creative my design ambitions include working for the retail, publishing and cultural sectors. Whilst working for these sectors my design concerns will be focused on graphic design for packaging, editorial and layout and print. Subjects / Themes The briefs that I will be undertaking throughout level 6 are a reflection of the sectors and types of practices I will work with in a professional capacity. The subjects and themes included within the briefs I have outlined for myself include publishing, packaging, event and promotion and budget design.
Design Disciplines / Creative Development
Within the bracket of event and promotion design, I will develop skills in layout, format, print and design across a range of scale. This will be the first time I will be focusing in on event and promotion design, however it is a strong area of interest. Web design will always be a tertiary part to any of my briefs, as this is not a chosen area of specialism, however the web design aspect for any of my briefs will include scamps, wideframes, and proposals. For packaging design, I wish to develop skill in the 3D aspect to designing any piece of packaging, whilst concentrating on the layout, hierarchy and copywriting. This is a main area of focus and so I will be concentrating on special production processes such as die cut, embossing and vinyl cut where appropriate, in order to create tactile and tangible outcomes. The overall aim in specialising in this area is to look at brand building, and designing and producing interesting point of sale proposals and outcomes along with an over focus on branding and identity for product. Photography of my work needs concentration, this year especially for my portfolio and to finish a brief making it look professional. Layout and editorial is an area I need to fully explore this year; along with my strong interest in the area, it will give me the opportunity to work with a professional printers, and going through a production process I have never gone through with before. Practical Skills / Workshops – what, why and when? The main practical skills I will be doing for my briefs will be laser cutting, book binding, digital print, making and producing packaging, photographing my work, photocopying, screenprinting and etching. For my budget made zine I will use a mixture of collage, photocopying, scanning, and Adobe software to create a ‘low-fi’ outcome. I left a longer time allowance for photographing work, as this may be easier to work with 2 or more of my outcomes in the photography studio. Practical skills in the way of digital software knowledge will be an ongoing process with each brief, using InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.
Brief 1:
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Rationale: Amass bath and cosmetics Design and produce a range of bathroom products focusing on the design of the packaging. Amass is inspired by botanical scents collected on travels around the world. The concept is based on the premise that the scents have been sourced on travels to various countries around the world. The product produced from this brief would be seen in the high retail sector. Retail outlets such as Space NK, and Harvey Nichols along with lifestyle stores that promote the idea of travel and accumulating objects of beauty such as Anthropologie and Free People. This is a collaborative brief with Elizabeth Tyrer. The designers will get a chance to work with branding and identity for retail, which is a common interest, along with packaging design. Being a larger brief this will allow both the designers to complete a large work load in an efficient time. Research into scents and ingredients used in the cosmetics industry, where their origins are, and the imagery that surrounds the culture of the native people that cultivate the product. Thus will influence the overall appearance and feel of the products. Areas such as Asia, North Africa, South America and the Mediterranean cultivate much of the worlds ingredients for the cosmetics industry. These areas of the world are also popular travel destinations. Look at the authenticity of using the botanical elements within the products. Source bottles and various items that the packaging graphics can be applied to easily. Pre-existing illustrative and botanical influenced bath and cosmetic products already on the market. The target market for this product is women aged between 25 - 40 that are likely to spend more money on high quality products that are well presented and that look and feel expensive. They like the idea of travel and collecting ethnic goods or are well travelled themselves. The tone of voice is luxurious and semi formal. The branding needs to appeal to women that take care of their appearance, and so it also needs to persuade the target market to buy the product. Deliverables for submission include point of sale material. x6 packaging designs for shower gel, shower oil and cream (2 each). Lookbook showcasing the products. Web aspect. Illustrative still life photography for the presentation of products. Ongoing analysed research and design development along with outcomes recorded on the Extended Practice blog. The time allowance for this brief will be 4 weeks. 3 weeks for designing and 1 week for production. Brief 2:
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Rationale: Sherlock at the Castle This self initiated brief is a take on the real event that will be taking place at Ripley Castle Estate, in North Yorkshire. The production company Theatre Mill will be presenting ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Speckled Band’. This performance will be held within the castle walls, with ambient scenes acted out within the Castle’s rooms. The audience will enjoy a candlelit atmosphere, along with a 3 course Victorian meal. This brief will be set in a fictitious castle, and will be the production ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles’. A Victorian meal will be included. The range of printed material will be used from the outcome of this brief will be used and seen in the hands of the audience of the play held at the castle. This will the only place where the products will be seen in context. This brief has been generated from a real life event, and has been adapted. Sherlock Holmes is a classic British piece of fiction, that has been acted out in theatre and the arts for many years. It has a connotation as a nostalgic piece of British culture, and is known worldwide. Take into account how Sherlock Holmes is an important piece of British literature, and is culturally significant. There is a wide target market for this brief, and so research into a range of promotional products for events needs to be undertaken. The focus for this brief will be event and promotion and print. The target market is 37 - 65 year old men and women that take an active interest in the arts in their local area, and will go out of their way to go to interesting events that are not just a standard theatre visit. The tone of voice is formal but celebratory. Concise and informative. Deliverables include an order of events booklet, a ticket design, menu design, leaflet and poster design and a tertiary web aspect. Ongoing analysed research and design development along with outcomes recorded on the Extended Practice blog. The time allowance is 2 weeks, with 1 week for designing, and 1 week for production. Brief 3
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Rationale: Fridge Magazine A self initiated brief, design and produce a magazine all about food, with the theme of breakfasts being this issue’s topic. Fridge is an edgy and high quality bi-annual publication with a niche market. This magazine will be seen in small independent magazine and zine stores such as Leeds examples Colours May Vary and Village Books. It could also fit into larger Waterstones chains where they stock art and design led publications. They would sit alongside magazines such as Wrap and Printed Pages. Find out all you can about breakfasts and publish them in a design led way. To accumulate content, contributions and self generated material will help to generate interesting content. Contact fellow designers, and people that can contribute by writing copy. This brief will give a chance to practice editorial and layout design, and then going through the print production process through a large scale printers, along with small scale print such as screenprinting processes. Niche market magazines are currently in trend and always have customers buying into them and keeping them for a long time. Magazines such as Frieze, Apartamento and Wrap are visually strong and appeal to designers and creatives alike. Newer publications such as Kinfolk, Gather Journal and Cereal are all about food and lifestyle and may be useful points of reference. Research into the magazines that will have synergy with Fridge, and extensive research into layout and editorial design within the design led magazine bracket. The target market is 20 - 35 year old men and women that are creatives, or who appreciate creativity and well designed offbeat publications and/or other types of printed material. They are the type of people that will spend more than average for a good quality magazine they can keep for a long time. The tone of voice is satirical, humoured and informal, but making sure that the copy is well written and interesting. Areas of focus will be editorial and layout, print and digital illustration. Deliverables will include approximately x35 magazines printed professionally, and 3 screen printed varying versions of the front cover. Ongoing analysed research and design development along with outcomes recorded on the Extended Practice blog. Time allowance is 5 weeks. Brief 4:
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Rationale: Fall In Love With Laos A self initiated brief. Promote travel to the country Laos in SouthEast Asia to people in the UK. Showcase the cultural highlights Laos has to offer through a variety of formats. The design resolutions must be able to work across a variety of scales and formats. The promotional material for Laos would be seen in travel agents such as Kuoni and Sta Travel, and although they cater to different audiences, promotional for a country would appeal to both types of people. A web aspect would be seen online. This will give the designer a chance to work with promotional material, and to design for a wide target market. Laos is often visited during tourists following the well trodden South East Asian mainland traveller trail enroute to either Thailand or Vietnam. However is Laos is still very untouched in comparison to it’s neighbours. Laos has officially 49 ethnic groups and each of them preserves their own dialect, customs, culture and traditions. The rich culture of Laos is rooted in immense spirituality, with beliefs ranging from Buddhism to Animism. Laos is also rich in brightly coloured textiles, and usually weaved in a traditional way by ethnic tribes such as the Hmong. The images and patterns created by the Lao people are distinct and this aspect separates them from their other Asian counterparts. Laos has officially 49 ethnic groups and each of them preserves their own dialect, customs, culture and traditions. The rich culture of Laos is rooted in immense spirituality, with beliefs ranging from Laos is an underdeveloped country, and is classed as one of the poorest countries in the world. Research into understanding of the country, of both good and negative aspects are imperative in order to give the correct information the viewer. Look into current and contemporary country branding and promotional material. This could include information booklets and leaflets on places in the UK as these are readily available in tourist information centres. Areas of focus are promotion, digital illustration and layout and editorial. The target market is women and men aged between 25 - 40 that enjoy exploration and travel to exotic destinations, and have ambitions to go off the worn path to find new and exciting places that a re culturally diverse and interesting. The tone of voice is fun & inspiring. Persuasive. The deliverables are promotional poster set, point of sale material, leaflet, web aspect. Ongoing analysed research and design development along with outcomes recorded on the Extended Practice blog. Time Allowance is 2 - 3 weeks. Brief 5:
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Rationale: Stamp it The ISON comet 2013 A revisited brief from previous academic years. Design x4 stamps for the UK Royal Mail service that will mark the astrological event of the ISON comets orbit around the sun through October until the end of November. The stamps will celebrate the comets arrival, and the man who discovered it. They need to create excitement and generate interest into astrological events. The stamps and promotional material would be seen in post offices up and down the UK, along with retailers that sell stamps, such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s. This brief is going to be an adapted version of a brief that was previously worked on. This will give the designer a chance to show developed skills, and a more professional approach to the brief overall. Comet ISON’s average speed throughout October will be 78,717mph. It will continue to accelerate until 28th November when it’ll whip around our Sun at an astonishing 845,000mph. Comet ISON was discovered on September 21st 2012 by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, two Russian Astronomers of the ‘International Scientific Optical Network’. At the time of discovery, ISON was over 584 million miles (6.29 AU) from the Sun. Stamps are design on a very small scale, and so the image needs to encompass the subject cleverly and clearly. Research into stamp design and promotional/POS material. Areas of focus are promotion design, digital illustration. The target market is children aged between 10 - 16, that learn about the event through means of education. Men aged 40 - 65 that are interested in astrological events, and/or stamps. The tone of voice is informative, formal in delivery. Celebratory. Deliverables include x4 Stamp designs. Promotional posters. Point of sale material for post offices. Ongoing analysed research and design development along with outcomes recorded on the Extended Practice blog. Time allowance is 5 days. Brief 6:
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Rationale: Great British Biscuits Revitalise and re-invent those classic favourites among the British biscuit variety. Create packaging that presents and celebrates classic biscuits varieties, and the ‘Britishness’ that they evoke. The packaging must be attractive to the target market, and be designed so that the proposed product is of a high quality, enough to be given as a gift. The biscuits product that will be the outcome would be sold in high end supermarkets such as Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. They could also be sold as gift items in retailers such as Lakeland and John Lewis. This is a collaborative brief with Hannah Watt. The brief will capitalise in on each designers chosen focuses within the graphic design practice. Hannah Watt will focus on hand rendered typography and illustration, and Emma Johnson will focus on packaging and logo design. Both designers will work together on the overall branding and presentation of the product. Bourbons, custard creams, nice biscuits, rich tea, malted milk, digestives. British biscuits are an institution. They have a cultural significance, if only to UK residents, and are known as a comfort givers, tea dippers and happiness makers. Plainly packaged traditional British biscuits are often packaged this way because they are very cheap to purchase. The design problem is to make cheap products look and feel like luxury ones. Extensive research into current contemporary biscuit packaging.Research into packaging layout and type hierarchy. Look at logo and branding within the food retail sector. Areas of focus include packaging and retail, banding and identity, and rendered graphics. The target market is 40 - 65 year old women that enjoy buying biscuits, and that will pay a little extra for a special product that looks and feels high quality. The tone of voice is a fun take on British formality. Deliverables include x5 different biscuit packaging designs. Supporting point of sale material. Ongoing analysed research and design development along with outcomes recorded on the Extended Practice blog. Time allowance is 3 weeks. Brief 7:
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Rationale: Mexican Cacao A self initiated brief. Create a range of packaging that celebrates Mexican cacao as a speciality food product that could be sold in the UK. This will take the form of hot chocolate and chocolate bars, and would be a product known for the high cacao content. The chocolate products would be sold in the world food and speciality food sector. The retailers that fit into this bracket range from large high end supermarket chains such as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer and small independent health food stores and speciality deli’s. This brief will allow the designer to practice skills in packaging design and branding across a range of products. Mexican Cacoa is world renowned, and this is because chocolate originates from this culturally rich country. The Mayans would even drink a strong hot chocolate before going into battle. Hot chocolate in Mexico is drank much like coffee, with freshly ground cacao dropped into boiling water for a real chocolate hit. Chocolate shops in Mexico ground the chocolate freshly similarly to coffee to this day for customers seeking the freshest, and best quality cacao. Bespoke flavours and mixes can be chosen by the shopper, with ingredients such as cinnamon, orange and of course, chile. Mexican culture is rich in tradition, colours and imagery. There is no shortage of visual inspiration from this amazing country. This may be seen as a specialist product, perhaps only seen in specialist food stores, or upmarket supermarkets such as Marks & Spencers and Waitrose. Research into speciality food products, and independent deli’s. Look at chocolate packaging, and chocolate products, concentrating on product, range and distribution. Research into Mexican chocolate culture, and general Mexican food culture along key imagery and symbols that represent Mexicoas a country. Focuses on packaging and retail, branding and identity. The target market is 30 - 45 year old men and women that enjoy trying world foods, and who enjoy chocolate products. The tone of voice is informative and inspiring. Deliverables include x6 varying Mexican chocolate products. Web aspect where the chocolate would be sold online. Ongoing analysed research and design development along with outcomes recorded on the Extended Practice blog. Time allowance will be 2 weeks. Brief 8:
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Rationale: 10 Haruki Murakami book covers A self initiated brief. Haruki Murakami is known as a cult fiction writer. The objective here is to re-design the covers of 10 of his most popular books. They must have a point of difference from other book covers already designed. This brief is generated in order to produce a variety of designs that are different from eachother, but that sing in unison. They must be a collection. Murakami is a popular fiction writer that is world renowned for producing exciting, long and fantastical creations. Online exert: ‘Murakami’s fiction, often criticised by Japan’s literary establishment, is often surrealistic and nihilistic, marked by a Kafkaesque rendition of themes of loneliness and alienation. He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature.’ 1Q84 is the most renowned piece of fiction Murakami has written. It is often described as a piece of sci-fi fiction, and takes the reader into a different world. It is also known as a cult novel, with it’s first printing selling out the day it was released, and reaching sales of one million within a month. The cover of any book cannot give away the plot but give the viewer something to think about before purchasing the book. Research into book cover design, and book promotional material. Focuses in on digital illustration and layout. The target market European and American men and women aged between 25 - 40 who enjoy Murakami works, and interesting cover art. The tone of voice will be Murakami’s tone of voice. Mysterious and factual. Deliverables are 10 book covers presented digitally and mocked up well, or printed out and photographed well. Promotional material showcasing the new book covers for the 10 most popular Murakami books. Ongoing analysed research and design development along with outcomes recorded on the Extended Practice blog. Time allowance is 3 weeks. CoP / Research Theme How has postmodernism influenced contemporary graphic design aesthetics? This will look into how postmodern theory and practices and postmodern graphic references came to influence contemporary graphic design, and why it is described as being postmodern. The research generated will also bring up the question, is there such a thing a contemporary postmodernism in graphic design today?
RESEARCH ACTIVITY:
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Looking at postmodern aesthetics theory, and the postmodern ‘era’ and look at how these ways of thinking possibly influenced designers such as April Greiman, Terry Jones, Muriel Cooper and Paula Scher. RESEARCH ACTIVITY:
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An exploration into what makes a piece of graphic design postmodern. This research should relate to grid methods, layout and elements of deconstruction, bricolage and irony, along with other theoretical terms. RESEARCH ACTIVITY:
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The method of designing in a postmodern way will work to strengthen the understanding of the theory and aesthetics of postmodernism. Creating and distributing survey's to peers and other creatives within the college can further the body of primary research, and generate personal opinion, creating a body of quantitative research. A case study into postmodern aesthetics will also be beneficial.
BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS / TEXTS - (Harvard Referenced) Poynor, R. (2003) No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism, London: Laurence King. Farrelly, L. (1998) April Greiman: Invention and Experiment (The Cutting Edge), London: Thames & Hudson. Appignanesi, R. (2007) Introducing Postmodernism: A Graphic Guide, Cambridge: Icon Books Ltd. Butler, C. (2002) Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introduction), Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks. Adamson, G. (2013) Postmodernism: Style and Subversion, 1970-90, London: V & A Publishing Lyotard, J-F. (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Theory & History of Literature), Manchester: Manchester University Press MAGAZINES / JOURNALS / ARTICLES – (include publication date and details) Keedy, (1998) ‘Graphic Design in the Postmodern Era’ Emigre 47, 1998, http:// www.emigre.com/Editorial.php?sect=1&id=20 (Accessed 15. 9. 2013) ON LINE REFERENCES / WEBSITES / ARTICLES (include specific urls) Author Unknown, Graphic Design History http://gds.parkland.edu/gds/!lectures/ history/1975/postmodern.html (Accessed 9 September 2013). Guilty Novin, A History of Graphic Design, http://guity-novin.blogspot.co.uk/ 2011/07/is-graphic-design-dead.html (Accessed 9 September 2013) OTHER REFERENCE MATERIAL (Films, events, exhibitions, conferences)
ACTION PLAN – use this section to identify specific tasks that you need to complete in order to resolve the brief. Brief What do you need to do? 1
I need to research into packaging and how the way it looks and feels encourages the viewer to buy it. Case study, and primary research.
2
Research into event and promotional design, and clever body copy that makes the design interesting and more than just an image.
3
I need to look at as many layout and editorial examples that will relate to the style of my intended magazine design.
4
Look into tourism advertising campaigns for countries and places. In conjunction with this I will look into publications, leaflets and other printed material that advertises places and countries, and go to a tourism office that offers this printed matter. This will be my primary research.
5
Research existing stamps that are synergetic to the aesthetics of the stamps am designing. Look into point of sale material for stamps if possible, and other point of sale material that can be related to this brief.
6
Co-ordinate with Hannah timings for when we will start the brief. Research into food packaging. Look at target market, and context.
7
Research Mexican culture, and chocolate packaging.
8
Look into the story line for each book I want to design covers for, and finish reading ‘The Wind Up Bird Chronicles’, then start reading ‘Kafka On The Shore’. Research into book covers. And promotional material for books.
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