2016
C R E AT I V E C O N D I T I O N S
RSA Design awards 2016 : Creative Conditions R&D Booklet This was a brief I was very interested in challenging during in the 2015 design awards. However since then I like to think I’ve become a little more knowledgeable and would do justice to my concept for this challenge. Now since I’ve been thinking about it since 2015 I had an idea straight off the bat that was linked to my own personal experience. Something that I think causes the some of the strongest ideas. My concept is to create a ‘creative cafe’ Somewhere for people to share projects, meet other disciplines and get core work completed. Obviously I will go into greater detail as this magazine moves on but for now enjoy my first entry into RSA 2016. By James Betts
CONTENTS
OPENING Document Research : 6/7 Document Design : 8/9
RESEARCH 3 Ideas : 10/11 Cafe Style Book : 16/17 18/19 Da Vinc’s Introduction : 20/21 Joe White Style Book : 22/23 Sam Larson Style Book : 24/25 Alberto Vacca Lepri Style Book : 26/27 28/29 James Lafuente Style Book : 30/31
DEVELOPMENT Colour Cups : 12/13 Icon Design : 14/15 Hand Made Icons : 32/33 34/35 35/37 38/39 Cup 3D Mockups : 44/45 Creative Collaboration : 46/47 Da Vincis : 50/51 Icon Design (2) : 52/53 App Design : 56/57 58/59 60/61 Mockups : 62/63 64/65 Final Designs : 66/67 68/69 70/71
6/7
DOCUMENT RESEARCH
These four images comfortably sum up my design decisions I made when I began to create this document. Unlike previous R&D (Research and Development) Documents I wanted to enter into this one with a solid plan. Thus at the research page I needed a set of images I could base my idea around and develop my own editorial design from. Now I knew I wanted to be much more experimental in terms of the way I layed out this document. In previous R&D pieces I’ve stuck to a very corporate plan which allowed readers to follow through like a catalogue of design nonsense which had been formatted to as simply and as cleanly as possible. While I still want to follow through with the clean simplicity of previous renditions this document is going to be much more playful with its design. Now from the four images you can see there’s a lot of consideration to shape and geometry in all four whether it’s part of the editorial are in regards to the illustration making this ideally the key theme of this entire document. While my cover will use geometry as a centre point in its imagery I want the editorial to reflect that in a way that you can see the same gaps and distances between elements through out the entire production and hopefully it can already be seen in these pages.
www.studiodbd.com/#/spanishembassy/ easternartreport.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ TateModernLogo1.jpg www.instagram.com/p/BANyw3OJjcj/?taken-by=codypaulson www.behance.net/gallery/19497853/Ad
8/9
DOCUMENT DESIGN
This is the final concept I developed for my magazine cover. The idea being the image represented RSA itself. The hundreds of dots being ideas with the hollow dots being great ideas. Representing the diamond in the rough. Finally I hide a question mark in the geometry which will be much less apparent in printed versions which mirrored the struggle I personally went through to chose one idea out of the many I had for this brief.
10 / 11
www.thesharpproject.co.uk/assets/THE-SHARP-PROJECT-RED-UPDATE.jpg
3 IDEA 1
YC N - F E E L G O O D
I felt the feel good brand while should keep its roots in being physically healthy could stretch to the idea of mental health, and literally feeling good about buying their products. The concept would revolve around a branding scheme. The least donated but most requested item in homeless shelters is currently socks. With the simple idea being with every 10 bottles of feel good sold, a small care package would be delivered to a homeless person. Both promoting healthy live styles and feeling good mentally.
IDEA 2
YC N - W R A P
My second Idea directly related to my university experience. As a designer I go through a huge amount of money on printing designs which are later just tossed into the nearest bin. My idea to encourage students to recycle would to be to imply the ‘blue wrap bin’ The blue bins would be distributed across the university and students would fill them with paper which would then be sent to be recycled. Upon recycling however each month the quantity would be weighed. Each kilogram recycled would have a print credit value and every month when this value was added together the combined credits would be evenly distributed among students. The problem I saw with this idea while seeing huge design potential was how would I value a kilogram of paper and its worth in print credits. Further problems would arise then in the overall value. I.e with thousands of students how much would each student expect to receive after recycling? I don’t think 15ps worth of print credits would be seen as a high enough value for most students and might abandon the program. While I like the idea I feel I’d need much more data before I could take the idea any further.
IDEA 3
R S A - C R E AT I V E C O N D I T I O N S
Over summer I spent some time at the Sharp Project in Manchester at a youtuber convention. What was great about this place was even though we were 200 complete strangers we all had being Youtube creators in common, which meant anyone could speak to everyone and plan collaborations source new creators for content and overall just share ideas which gave me the idea to share this with the world of design. In combination with this idea was the pop-up studios hosted in the Sharp Project. The idea being you could hire one the containers pictured and turn it into your own space. So the idea formed...The creative cafe. A host of creatives could go to this place to work, find new colleagues and simply have a good time working. The initial idea would work on a cup system. An animator may have a blue cup contrasting a designers red cup meaning I could go into a creative cafe looking for an animator and spot them with a blue cup. Obviously this idea needs a lot of work to make it a practical space but by adding idea such as creative exhibitions and maybe access to HQ printing the idea could develop into something really well rounded.
26/27
C U P I L L U S T R AT I O N DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
In order to be able to produce my own mock ups I created a ‘3D’ illustration of a standard coffee cup in illustrator. Once I’d done this is was simple to begin some Photoshop tests trying out different colour schemes to follow through with my concept of having multicoloured cups to help identify people within the creative space.
26/27
ICON DESIGNS DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
So once my idea was set it was time for to start developing my concept idea for the cafe. The over arching idea was that the design would focus on a set of symbols or icons. These icons would be created for each discipline. The disciplines ranging through a huge variety of creative outlets to truly create a ‘creative cafe’. The idea would be that the different creative disciplines would all have their own set of icons and be designated their own colour. These icons/colours would then be used to decorate the cups for that discipline. So then upon entering the cafe you would receive your colour coded cup, meaning that anyone else entering the establishment could see exactly what creative outlet you belonged to and could tailor for who they needed to see.
12 / 13
CAFES STYLE BOOK
Cafes come in a variety of shapes and sizes so as cafe is going to be the centrepiece to my creative conditions it’s imperative I begin understanding just how contrasting two different environments can be. These have been chosen not due to the entire canvas of each image, but instead specific details within each space that I particularly like. Examples could be type, the lighting, or maybe even just a piece of furniture.
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/472103973412431269/
http://www.amritpaldesign.com/blog/awesome-signage-design http://www.amritpaldesign.com/blog/awesome-signage-design https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Seattle_-_Row_House_Cafe_interior_01.jpg http://www.amritpaldesign.com/blog/awesome-signage-design https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/338332990733208508/
14 / 15
https://www.behance.net/gallery/24464535/La-Bodegra-Negra-Branding https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/240027855115752135/ https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/205406432982630824/ https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/56365432812207480/
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/100134791691046038/ https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/328692472783607560/ https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/496944140108717562/ https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/326018460503240956/
16 / 17
D A V I N C I ’S
So my idea is for a café which would allow creative’s to collaborate, work and generally meet new people. And thus I’ve decided to name the creative café ‘Da Vincis’. I think the name is appropriate for numerous reasons. The most prominent of which is the fact that Da Vinci was a master of a huge variety of disciplines including architecture, painting, inventing, astronomy just to name a few! Furthermore I have to begin considering how a creative cafe would function a brand. Even though the new name doesn’t directly say cafe in the name, I see it working like a Starbucks or Costa Coffee. The branding will sell it as a cafe and the name will sell as it’s identity of the cafe. Finally, the reason I am most excited about the name Da Vinci’s is all the amazing work Leonardo was involved in which will host a huge amount of different possibilities for me to begin working off his concepts and begin developing my own design work.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Firma_de_Leonardo_Da_Vinci. svg/2000px-Firma_de_Leonardo_Da_Vinci.svg.png
http://elevtrtrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/leonardo-da-vinci-invenzioni-e-opere_d0c96ee5cf4cee62283f93818f5f0fe9.jpg
18 / 19
JOE WHITE - DESIGNER STYLE BOOK
After deciding on my concept for my cafe it was time to start moving forward with some designer research. Now Da Vinci was famous for his hand drawn inventions and it was these at this point that I am planning to base the branding of my cafe around. Thus that meant I began looking at Designers who had a hand drawn appeal to their work. I’d been following White’s work for a very long time so he was obviously the first person I divided to for inspiration. What is amazing about his work and is something I plan to factor into my own design is the overall intricacy of his designs.
https://dribbble.com/shots/2437773-Fika-Stamped
https://dribbble.com/shots/2494888-Red-Rock
https://dribbble.com/shots/1261987-Time
https://dribbble.com/shots/1978154-Yos-Badge
https://dribbble.com/shots/1885081-Aurora
https://dribbble.com/shots/1964435-Arctic
2 0 / 21
SAM L ARSON - DESIGNER STYLE BOOK
Sam Larson was my second stop when it came to finding designers who brilliantly utilised handmade design to make beautiful work. What I think allows Larson’s work to stand out from the rest is that it’s entirely born from skill with a pencil and fineliner. It’s this style that I feel would be beautiful when wrapped around Da Vinci’s concepts. While obviously I’m envisioning his amazing machines it can go so much further than that! Da Vinci was also a famed astronomer so utilising visions of space, or maybe going further towards architecture! Would all be acceptable for the brand story.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBliaPeNEq5/?taken-by=samlarson
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBGkBUZNEoU/?taken-by=samlarson
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAgAO1XNEp7/?taken-by=samlarson
https://www.instagram.com/p/_asUgltEvU/?taken-by=samlarson
https://www.instagram.com/p/7_njfdNEtI/?taken-by=samlarson
https://www.instagram.com/p/7eCLVGtEkR/?taken-by=samlarson
22 / 2 3
A L B E R T O VA C C A L E P R I - D E S I G N E R STYLE BOOK
Alberto Vacca Lepri is the king of little designs. I found his work last year when I was mindless browsing behance when I came across the display of logos to the right. It wasn’t until now when his work jumped back into my memory and finally became relevant for a project. Straight away you can see the core resemblances between this work and the previous pieces of designer research in which these logos all carry a home made aesthetic. However what made these pieces stand to me was on the next page where you can see this icon work over layed onto a photograph.
http://www.vacaliebres.com/pettirosso-handcraft/
http://www.vacaliebres.com/pettirosso-handcraft/
http://www.vacaliebres.com/logo-collection/
http://www.vacaliebres.com/sgt-martinho-3/
26/27
JAMES LAFUENTE - DESIGNER STYLE BOOK
Now after a little more digging I’ve come across James Lafuente’s work. Lafuente’s work is a gem in the research document as his work fits the hand made style of my previously researched design styles, however this work focuses on type. Type is going to have to play a part in my brand scheme. While personally I want to explore all the different possibilities in terms of iconography, it will be just as important that I explore typography to a similar depth. This will be because without type the icons won’t have much substance, this would be apart in banners, menus, adverts and so on! And thus I’ve researched into Lafuente’s styled type.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/32495447/Logo-Collection-vol-1
https://www.behance.net/gallery/32495447/Logo-Collection-vol-1
https://www.behance.net/gallery/32495447/Logo-Collection-vol-1
https://www.behance.net/gallery/20630447/MadeBy-Sloths
https://www.behance.net/gallery/21237057/Bowling-Team-Logos
https://www.behance.net/gallery/18632037/ParkerFont-(Free)
LOGO EXPERIMENTS HAND MADE
At this point in the design stages I began experimenting with different logo styles. Inspired by the designers before me I wanted Da Vinci’s to have a hand made aesthetic. Not only would this match the amazing sketches Da Vinci would make, it would also allow this set of branding to stand out from competitors. And thus I began sketching my ideas. Some were more complex than others while the style varied from page to page. Once I felt I had something that I might be able to run with I would begin doing test mockups on the cups I made earlier.
CUP DESIGN EXPERIMENT D E S I G N F E AT U R E S
When ever I open many of the apps in the adobe suite I am greeted by a peace of work that is featured from users on Behance. And I thought this would be an amazing idea for wider public promotion. And so with my Da Vinci cups I came up with an idea, that customers at Da Vincis could compete to have their design work featured on the cups. And here are the tests of that pricniple. While I think these tests work beautifully I am now having doubts about the practicality of this. For our RSA we must also provide a business plan and for that I would have to consider the extortionate price of printing these cups each week.
C R E AT I V E C O L L A B O R AT I O N
Taking part in this 24hr design challenge has really put my idea to the test. The university every so often run design challenges that will assemble teams of complete strangers from different disciplines, and then set them a task to challenge the teams. Now while my concept would drop the challenge aspect it would be this idea of a unison of creative’s to meet up and collaborate on projects. In direct reference to this project I took the team leading role for the blue bin idea as I suggested the idea at the initial meeting of the team. From here we used the experience of second year graphics, interior, product and computing design students to bring the idea to life. The idea being the bin was simply a shredder which would reward students with paper recycling by reimbursing them with a small amount of print credits. The way the team worked was I began working on visuals of how the bin would work, info graphics and most importantly a companion app. This was then matched by Alex creating 3D renders of my sketches while Phillipa worked on how the technical end of this product would work. All in all the project was a massive success winning 1st place at the challenge and becoming a contender for going into production! And thus it has driven me to further see how this project could encourage creative collaboration.
THE BIG IDEA
In just a few words Da Vinci’s would be a permanent space to promote collaboration across the creative industries. As a design student I’d love to collaborate more with different creative mediums whether it be, photography, architecture or even programming! So in its most basic form Da Vinci’s would function as a creative hub, approached as a café/studio hybrid to encourage creative collaboration. At its core would be a set of coloured cups. Each creative industry would have an assigned colour, i.e. designers drink out of red cups while photographers drink out of blue cups. This would allow for quick recognition of who belongs to each profession which would in turn work as a launch pad for conversations and cross disciplinary sharing. Furthering this to encourage the space as a studio as well as a café it would rely on careful design of the studio. Access to a small non-profit print bureau, cross user cloud file sharing and of course Wi Fi access would be essential. But large facing tables and a general friendly atmosphere would enforce the idea of sharing briefs, alongside hosting of creative events/workshops to thoroughly develop a creative atmosphere . To complete the idea a companion app would tie the concept together allowing for online membership and a digital hub to promote creative workshops, work opportunities and generally functioning as the organiser for the Da Vinci’s experience.
I C O N FA M I LY DESIGN STYLE
With the hero logo created I decided to create all the other icons in one sitting. This allowed me to share design assets between them. This meant that all the icons across all the different mediums, shop front, app and cups would have a shared style and thus help to define the brand. Through the next stages of development you will see where I used these icons and how they functioned in the finally strategy of Da Vincis.
THE FINAL PIECES MOCKUPS
In the same way I’d mock-up the app, I wanted to mock-up what Da Vincis would actually look like to better help me describe how it would work. As you can see there’s a shared design style between all the final assets I have been working on. I’ve done this so that when I get to my final pieces I feel the shared style will help them all be seen as one whole project. This is why I refrained from using C4D in this process. And so as you can see on these floor plan we have what looks like a regular cafe set up. However built on top of that are large format printing services a bay of computers and areas to feature work and design briefs. I feel like its these elements that will bring the cafe to life with young designers. And final after this page you will see the out door mock ups I created to demonstrate Da Vincis in a complete picture.
THE FINAL PIECES COLOURED CUPS
And finally here are the centre pieces of my design, the coloured cups. The idea behind these was based on the youtube creator event from so long ago. In essence anyone in Da Vincis will be able to see what your creative profession is and so will be able to approach you without hesitation if they are in need of your expertise. I finally decided on having the plain Da Vincis cup as the final cup design and than having the heat wraps feature the creative profession in this colour coded manor. To finish this project you will find the four boards I provided to the RSA, outlining my idea from start to finish along with the developments of this project and how it would all work as a business proposal. I am really happy with the way this project turned out and I would love to submit it to the university as an idea for their new creative arts building.