Second Year Kat Dunbobbin
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A Conversatio
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on
Rebranding
You Can Now
Project
A Conversation 1 : The Brief 2 : Research 3 : Ideas 4 : Final Products 5 : Analysis
What have I been asked? In the first brief of this year we were asked to look into and conceptualise “A Conversation�. This could be as abstract or literal as we interpret it to be and the idea of a conversation I think could also contain the concept of a relationship or data exchange. This I think will prove to be a very open brief and therefore free but difficult, one of the most difficult aspects of an open brief is staying on topic and keeping your designs concise. Its all well and good producing a large range and variety of ideas but if they are so far fetched and distant from each other the likelihood that they will link back to brief is far more slim.
With this in mind, I aim to set out with a large expanse of ideas and then reign them back in as I develop each one, as I go eliminating those which I think would be unfit for the brief at hand or not interesting enough to fulfil it to its entirety.
me that conversation can be broken down into subsections such as: - A Point, and its maker - an opposer and defender of the point - a voice of reason.
The Micro Brief We started by acquiring a newspaper article and using it to ignite a conversation which we could then analyse, I chose an article which talked about the fragile nature of student life and how incompetent students are, safe to say this caused a slightly opinionated rant from most of the conversation participants, this showed
From this micro brief I was able to analyse the use of language and think about possible ways of graphically representing them. After thinking about this for a while I quicky realised that I was more interested in looking at a conversation or relationship not between seperate poeple but rather between that of a person and their surrounding or
objects or even between a person and their own mind. This thought intrigued me to look in to how other people had described conversations and categrorized them; if a conversation doesnt have to be spoken then what is it and what is the difference between that and a relationship or a reaction. My Plans I plan to research into how some designers have used multiplicity and the idea of combing people and ideas, this should be useful because at its core the point of a conversation is that more than one point of view is involved.
Also I would like to experiment with typography and colour. These are both brilliant ways to get across subtle indicators such as emotional transfer and a specific asthetic to designs. I hope that layout will play a small part in this project too, I enjoy making my work clean cut and I think that would give me the chance to produce something more client based because at the end of the day I like my work to have purpose therefore it should always be presentable.
The Brief For this project I have been asked to explore and visualise the idea of a conversation. The official definition of a conversation states that it is: “Conversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people who are following the rules of etiquette. It is a polite give and take of subjects.� l would also describe a relationship or any transfer of information from one party to another a sort of conversation. This I think leaves the idea of what a conversation is up to interpretation. Given that this project is a very open in what you are required to produce I feel that it is aimed more at idea generation. Therefore I will treat it as an explorative task.
Research
To research this project I needed to look into who had explored the idea of a conversation before and their responses and also think about how I would interpret the idea. Peter Crawley One designer who has looked at and used the idea of conversations in his work is a man named Peter Crawley, his work uses the the graphic representation of soundwaves as design pieces. I think that this interesting because obviously each conversation will be utterly unique and in a way create its own flow and emotional output. Not only this but his interesting use of
textures adds more dimension to each piece, by sowing the soundswaves useing thread and a needle through card or canvas he makes the piece a physical object that can be felt thourgh touch as well as by being seen or simply understood as a concept. In my opinion this extra interactivity makes work more dynamic and I think the use of 3 dimentions in his work is something I would like to incorporate into my own designs. Sophie Calle Sophie Calle on the other hand has used a massive extension of multiplicity in her work, she chose to use something specific from her own experiences to produce work based
around a letter (“Conversation”) that her boyfriend had written to her in an attempt to end their relationship. She inspires me to take common place things and see how it changes from person to person, in her work, she chose to ask women all over the world to react to her letter as if it had been written to them, their responses came in all differnt forms of design, from the poetic to the analytic and the scientific to the abstract creative. Each responded in a differnt way which she was then able to collate together to produce a hard hitting portfolio of work based around a single conversation which shows inatley that women will react with the same emotions to this no matter who they are but the way that they chose to expressit varies as much the people themselves.
Anthony Burrill Anthony Burrill website claims that, “Anthony Burrill is known for his persuasive, up-beat style of communication. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York and has been exhibited in galleries around the world including The Barbican, The Walker Art Centre and The Graphic Design Museum, Breda. Burrill is perhaps best known for his typographic, text-based compositions, including the now-famous “Work Hard and Be Nice to People”, which has become a mantra for the design community and beyond.” I think that his typographic
work is so strong and powerful, his use of Letterform and layout really uses and emphasizes negative space. This is definatley something that would work well with a campaign of any kind. I might find it useful to incorperate aspects of his design practice into work based around the environment and us, especially the Oil and Water dont mix project, by going out and finding differrnt resources such as the oil filled sand that he used. He found that by giving his designs a real purpose and reserching heavily into something that was important to him, he was able to produce highly skilled and emotive designs.
1 My first idea consists of the conversation or relationship between us and the environment around us, how do we interact with each other and how do we change each other. It could be a very interesting subject to research further due to the many political and social issues that you could marge into with this subject matter. it could become an environmental propganda style Also you could branch into the more data controlled side of this subject, producing detailed data analysis posters, in the same way as an essay poster, using the data and making all sorts of designed and appropriate information representation charts. I like the way that this could be both very creative but clinical the issues that I have with this idea is that it has been looked at many times before and I feel like it is a typical and predictable route to go down.
Ideas
2 Another Idea that I have drawn from my initial mindmaps based on the brief would be a conversation between man and his technology. Again this could produce a different style and interesting interpretation of the subject. I quite like the idea of either going very computer graphics orientated with it or flip it and produce a piece based on the idea of how can it be done without technology.
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My third idea is to go down a more strange route with the interpretation of the A data orientated idea would probably also work well on this project. word conversation. I will take it more in the sense of it being a relationship or a Again taking the word conversation is a much more simplified sense transfer or information between ourselves and each of our own subconcious’. but using the relationships between people and how they physically
I like the idea of sharing memories of the conversations but perhaps looking at how it is we remember them or recall them from our memory banks could be a more interesting and abstract idea and would transfer to a graphical representation more easily, I think the other part of this that I think works well Perhaps using the Oil and Water piece by Anthony Burrill I could imply is that memory works not simply on an audio aspect but also touch, visual and how different work would be if we couldnt use certain tech, I would emotive, focusing on sound itself would limit this brief.
interact. An infographic representing this would work like a map of the social situation in certain areas. it would be good research to find out and examine how people subliminally act and to notice patterns in people, how they categorise and link together, where are the hotspots and where are the dips in social activity?
have to use other modes of prducing physical output such as screen If I were to go with this specific idea I think I could run into problems when To produce this I would probably run survey and observations in and printing, sowing, painting, drawing by hand or even letterpress. it comes to representing the link between side of the visual transfer of the around town documenting where people are and when. This would produce some beautiful work and could have really memory. I need to find what it is that links them and use that as my graphical Hopefully I would be able to draw some conclusions to produce a output. interesting message once put into a campaign to reduce technology meaningful design using the data. and being more green, or a propoganda campaign to inform on the rise It is an interesting project based on a language with no words and no one of robots. I would have the opportunity to go quite outlandish with this persons experience or use of memories will be the same. idea.
Origami Why paper cranes? Different examples.
Robert J.Lang I have visited his website in an attempt to learn more about different ways to produce 3 dimensional objects. This is what he had to say, “Origami, like music, permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 35 years, I have developed over 480 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does” He also claims that, “Origami can be used effectively in web, print, and television advertising and I have created commissioned pieces for several print, television, and animation projects.” This gives me hope that I could produce ‘Trigger items’ using this method. He also comission large works which he describes as, “Monumental origami is origami folded at large scale, from several feet to several meters in size.” This could produce some really fantastic extensions to the project.
Paper Cranes? Why are paper cranes used so often in raditional origami? well there is a belief that if you should fold a new crane at each happy event in your life, and if you fold 1000 before you die, it is said to bring you joy and peace in the afterlife. It is also consideredto be a good luck gift to present 1000 paper cranes on your wedding day. These are some of the reasons that I believe cranes are a good link to my ideas; because if you are folding them at happy events in your life each one should trigger a different memory, just life the triggers that I will look into for the memories that I collect.
Project Analysis How did I find the project as a whole, what would I change? In this project I feel that I have extensivley explored the idea and many different iterations of what ‘A Conversation� can be and come up with some interesting observations and products to show them. I am proud of my organisation with this project, I kept my research varied and spent lots of time evaulating different ideas and how I would produce them and what the merits of each were. I am pleased that I did go with the more abstract idea that was associated with memories I found it to be a very interesting subject matter to try to portray and unique in the fact that I dont think other people would have necessarily thought to look into it. I was impressed with some of my other ideas and I feel that a couple of them would have been more interesting to complete but perhaps not have been meritable as a design concept. I found it challenging working on a 3 Dimensions rather than the 2 that I am used to but feel that I have learnt a lot about layout and thinking about your surface and situation rather than just the content of a design. I could further this project by collecting more memories or data and using them to produce more posters and artefacts.
Project
Rebranding 1 : The Brief 2 : Research 3 : Ideas 4 : Final Products 5 : Analysis
The Brief During this project the brief asked us to choose an existing company and reproduce and improve their branding. This would entail choosing a suitable company and franchise, looking into the pro’s and con’s of their current brand and evaluate what needed changing and in what ways I would be able to improve on what was already in place. We chose Coffeevolution a local coffee shop that was a student hotspot and who’s branding could use updating. This allows for a variety of design such as, logo, business cards, loyalty cards, Menu, Cups, Bags, Coasters and more which are all great platforms for design.
Research
To start this project we conducted research in small group where we produced mood boards reflecting on different aspects of necessary data. The first mood board that we produced was based aorund Huddersfield the town, we looked at different elements such as industrial architecture, common colour, textures and asthetics.
Our second wave of research was based aorund our chosen rebranding subject of coffee shops, I looked at some logos, some interiors and this gave me a small insight to the asthetic and emotive aspects that were involved as well as some of the colours and textures that I should be looking to include in my own work.
Lastly we looked at some of the branding and merchandise that was available in both large chain coffee shops and more independent styled ones. I found that red was a common colour theme, especially at this time of year. The use of circles was also prominent and worked well.
Ideas
These are some of the real application of both the pattern and the logo, how they would work on take away cups, bags and cards. I am happy with the way that the shapes are working but it has been pointed out to me that the reduced opacity has turned my red into a pink which wont fit with my theme. For a coaster design I wanted to use a more textured or real world appearance so I have used
Final Products
Project Analysis How did I find the project as a whole, what would I change? During this project I feel that I have evaluated what was needed of me and the best ways in which to produce the products that had been asked for very well and in a professional and modern approach. I am very pleased with the way in which I conducted myself by researching effectivley and working well in a group to achieve useful and vital data collection that would go on to form different aspects of my deisgns. I found this project very useful in teaching me how to perform as a designer in reference to a live client and changing something existing rather than being asked to produce something new and innovatove. This has been an interesting challenge to both design something that would suit the company and their brand without being similar to the branding that already existed. The designs that I have come up with for this project vary in their succesfulness. I think that the aspects I spent longer deisgning and thinking out such as the logo, cups, bags and loyalty card are more refined and balance better than the coasters, napkin, business cards and menu this goes to show that you really shouldnt only focus on some products when designing a brand, every aspect of the products needs to be at an equal quality. I am pleased with the final result of my products but also I was asked to produce a document outlining the specific requirements and terms of use for the brand and logo which is something that I had never done before and think that I achieved well.
Project
You Can Now 1 : The Brief 2 : Research 3 : Ideas 4 : Final Products 5 : Analysis
The Brief When people think of Alice, they think of The Macmillan Alice: her blue dress, blonde hair and ‘Alice band’. Curious Alice, the iconic White Rabbit, the formidable Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter’ This tells me that the important parts to focus on are the characters and specifically the iconic appliances that they have. “The authentic and most complete range of Alice titles in print, digital and audio, for all readers to enjoy and love” They clearly want a complete range which opens up the brief to designs that need to be transferrable which could mean using more vector based work so that size and colour are more easily changed to fit the purpose of its advertising vehicle. “Sir John Tenniel’s iconic artwork, coloured by Harry Theaker” Use these as references on either what to take influences from or what to change. “John Tenniel, first as black-and-white plates and then with coloured versions of the original drawings. When his eyesight began to fail, Tenniel gave approval to Macmillan to ask Harry G. Theaker to complete sixteen new colour plates, and it is these illustrations” Completing colour palettes could be a good way to minimise the print costs by keeping it down to perhaps a set number of colours and also it insinuates that the illustrations were produced using line work then colour was added which could be interesting to attempt in a different illustrative style. “Her blue dress, blonde hair and ‘Alice band’” Keep some of the iconic imagery. “Pan MacMillan – It’s the original home of classics such as Alice in Wonderland” Try to include this fact in the design somehow make sure that the fact they are the original publishers part of the design or the advertising process. “publishes over 400 books a year” Good and popular Publishers “Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler, Rod Campbell, Emily Gravett, Eva Ibbotson, Judy Blume, Andrew Lane and Frank Cottrell Boyce. Macmillan Children’s Books also publishes Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy’s work for children and has an extensive poetry list.” Some of the other authors they publish – use these as more research and take inspiration from patterns between the designs to link publications together.
“Create a new cover and up to two wondrous interior page illustrations for one of our most precious pieces of heritage: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Your illustrations should enchant a whole new readership and although you must include a front cover, you are free to choose a couple of scenes from the book. These might be new interpretations of scenes that have been drawn before or entirely new ones – it’s up to you. We are entirely open to styles of illustration too.” Some instructions makes it clear that reading the book would be worthwhile to find interesting imagery to graphically represent. “Our primary audience is parents of girls aged 5-9. Our secondary audience is parents of boys aged 5-9 and gift givers, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles etc.” Important to remember the target Audience. “The cover design must include the Macmillan Alice 150 logo.” MacmillanAlice_150Years_CMYK 40mm Don’t forget this! “New cover design for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which must be 270mm (H) x 215mm (W), and supplied as a PDF. The Macmillan Alice 150 logo can act like a sticker on the cover so please supply one illustration with it included in the artwork and one without. 1-2 interior page illustrations from scenes within the book which must sit within a 270mm (H) and 215mm (W) single page, and be supplied as a PDF. Please also include the page number from the Macmillan Classics edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland along with your illustrated scenes” Important to design to the required size and proportions to be fit for purpose. Pan Macmillan as a compant are broken dow into many different departments that deal with different things, I feel it is important to know what books they deal with and the categories that they support. After reading these I feel I know the company better and perhaps better undertsad what they want from their anniversary special edition.
Research
The Target Audience
“Our primary audience is parents of girls aged 5-9. Our secondary audience is parents of boys aged 5-9 and gift givers, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles etc.� To me this means looking at what design that those groups of people come into contact with and how they are influenced by it. For example for the female demographic you are looking at princesses and barbie and dolls, lots of which are useful in terms or character design, clearly what is appealing is the over emphasized beauty and the bright and bold colour scheme that go hand in hand with those things. For the male demographic it becomes a little bit more difficult, at those ages their interests could range from anything wether that be toy cars, action books, building blocks like lego or superheroes. This is something which I think could work, linking the princess with the superhero idea, both use bright and bold colour schemes and anthropomorphic cartoons. Here are lots of different ways in which Alice has been reproduced in different styles. Something quite common within these images is the surrealist approach where parts of the body appear disjoingted or overly proportioned. By reading the brief I think Pan Macmillan
want to stay with the blue dress and iconic headband but perhaps a new style such as the effect used on the image where Alice is holding a flamingo of where she appears in the red dress would be interesting. It is more fitting of the style that would suit the book but trying to balance that to be suitable for both young boys and girls could be tricky. Another feature that I notice heavily features is that of the hyper realistic details, this is probably not something that I will personally be able to achieve as my skills lie more with the abstract but I could include a high level of detail within linework so as to try to match up with what is clearly a trend. This trend could be due to the increase in game design that is readliy available and developing which is very detailed and full of 3 Dimension. Here are lots of different ways in which The Mad Hatter has been reproduced in different styles. Something quite common within these images is the sway in which he isnt shown as particularyly kind looking man. Also the emphasis is fairly squarley on his hat, as it should be for his character.. By reading the brief I think Pan Macmillan want to stay with the Mad approach but perhaps a new style such as making him a much darker styled character, keeping it surreal but I would have to be very careful not to overstate this aspect though due to its target audience.. It is more fitting of the style that would suit the book Another feature that I notice heavily features is that of the hyper realistic details, this is probably not something that I will personally be able to achieve as my skills lie more with the
abstract but I could include a high level of detail within linework so as to try to match up with what is clearly a trend. This trend could be due to the increase in game design that is readliy available and developing which is very detailed and full of 3 Dimension. I could try to produce more artwork based around an abstract centre, such as the image at the top of the moodboard the simple combination of inks and possibly line could be effective. Here are lots of different ways in which The Queen of Hearts has been reproduced in different styles. something quite common within these images is the Vibrant red colour, her form doesnt as such have a uniform appearance but the deep royal love/hatred red is massivley in focus. By reading the brief I think Pan Macmillan want to stay with the colour scheme but perhaps a new character approach would be interesting perhaps making her look less evil and more lost. Her character could be a very interesting way to include the dream style that I think I am leaning towards with the other characters.. It is more fitting of the style that would suit the book by being surreal and dreamlike. Of course when written the story was a prodct of almost a drug induced hallucination making it suitable to be odd and disjointed.
moodboard, in the middle at the far left and the imddle at the top. These all intrige me with their abstract natures. Here are lots of different ways in which The March Hare has been reproduced in different styles. something quite common within these images is the sketchy approach where parts of the body appear disjoingted or disproportioned. By reading the brief I think Pan Macmillan want to stay with the mad feel a bit like the hatter, but perhaps a new use of colour as there isnt one set as a standard would be interesting. It is more fitting of the style that I am looking at using withh the other characters and taking this more masculine character I feel that I could make it appeal to the female demographic.
Another feature that I notice heavily features is that of the hyper realistic details. This trend could be due to the increase in game design that is readliy available and developing which is very detailed and full of 3 Dimension. I would like to experiment with some images like the on on the right in the middle of the
I particularly like the image of the hare in the second column third image down. The very simple linework would incooperate well with some specific artists styles.
Another feature that I notice heavily features is that of the details and the way that the hare has been produced in a more humanistic manner. This is probably something that I will try to achieve as my skills lie more with the abstract but I could include a high level of detail within linework so as to try to match up with what is clearly a trend. This trend could be due to the increase in game design that is readliy available and developing which is very detailed and full of 3 Dimension.
Research
Turine Tran
Hannah Davis
Andre Bergamin
Andy Council
About : “Turine Tran, a Vietnamese born artist, takes inspiration from children, companionship, nature, Through nostalgic, dreamy images, Turine loves to invite children and adult-alike, to a world where a tiny wild flower could become a fantastic wonder.” What Works: Turine’s art often incorporates hand rendering and digital painting. She constantly explores new aspects of digital art to create rich textures, which partly set a whimsical mood to her work. What Doesn’t: I am not a big fan of Turine’s lack of the colour white in her work, she often uses beige rather than white making it look grungey rather than clean. What can I use: I could use her layout, it is always very unique and draws the eye around the page.
About : Combining illustration and pattern design,her work is compared to a sea of jewels, capturing Water, life and the environment in all its glory. She is fascinated by microscopic patterns and the extraordinary decorative detail that can be portrayed. What Works: The line work in her pieces is extraordinary. Her geometirc style and natural subject matter draws the eye. What Doesn’t: The level of detail in her work can be slightly off putting, although it looks mesmirising it can be offputting too. What can I use: I would definatley like to use linework in my project, perhaps layering it over another style.
About : The haphazard and texturised appearance of his imagery and the collaged effect of layering up his illustrations some of which appear hyper real while others are more stylised. This mixture gives a surreal and dreamlike feel to his pieces, What Works: The way that they are constructed lends itself to publication because of its flexible layout nature. What Doesn’t: Im not a big fan of his use of photography, although it works in his pieces I feel its not the style that I will want in my work. What can I use: I will definatley be incooperating the layering aspect of his work.
About : “Andy Council is an illustrator and graffiti artist from Bristol, UK. Dinosaurs combined with architecture are a common theme of his designs What Works: The cartoonistic style that Andy uses is definatley something striking and interesting as well as his subject matter. What Doesn’t: I dont feel like his work is feminine at all, this would be an isseu for my project.\ What can I use: I dont feel like I will actually use an aspect in particular of his work but I feel like it has shown me what I will stay away from.
Sarah Beetson
Florian Nicolle
Marta Spendowska
Raphael Vicenzi
About : Sarah Beetson’s work in my opinion is very striking and current, her vibrant use of colour is very postmodernist style and her illustrative linework almost cartoonish but more edgy and punk in appearance. What Works: I love her style for work based for the young adult age range, it would be great for use on a campaign as it is very distinctive. What Doesn’t: The punk style that she uses would probably not be easy to use for my target audience. What can I use: I will use the vibrancy of her colours, as well as he layering and linework.
About : He will try to create an image that retains its freshness of the first paint stroke, the expressions of the line have to be very free and spontaneous. While keeping a rigorous drawing. What Works: His subject matter of people always draws the eye and will help with character design, I also really like his use of layering line and ink. What Doesn’t: He very rarely prduces work from a different subject matter. What can I use: I definatley want to use the layering aspect, the colour and the subject matter.
About :
About : Raphaël combines traditional hand-drawing with new digital techniques, thereby creating immensely detailed images that are both meticulous and ethereal and sometimes carry a darker subtext. What Works: Again his use of subject matter and the use of colour and layering are brilliant. What Doesn’t: Some of the images taht he produces are too complicated, there is too much going on and becomes difficult to read. What can I use: Again I will use the layering, colours, and subject matter.
Marta Spendowska is Polish, US-based artist and illustrator who moves smoothly between fine art and commercial art “Color, rhythm, pattern and a lyrical atmosphere is my focus”
What Works: What I feel works in Marta’s work is the amazing use of colour and the way in which she captures form withough using linework. What Doesn’t: One issue that I have with this work is that her pieces dont often have much substance, they have a single subject and very little indepth meaning. What can I use: Someghing that I could use from her work would definatley be her use of colour.
Ideas
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The other idea that I decided to experiment with was using more solid imagery and illustration more so in the style of Andy Council. This was another trend that began to emerge through the research that I conducted about Alice in Wonderland in general. The hyper realistic and cartooned effect of a vector was very popular and I like to think less abstract. People Like Sarah Beetson had shown me how to produce non perfect lines and mis match colours to produce interesting results wich is something that I tried early on only to find that It became too abstract In choosing this route to go down with my final designs I hope that the designs are more child friendly and therefore less abstract. and lacking the bold impact that I was looking for with a book cover. I have chosen to still use the textures and images that I have produced In doing the experiments though I did produce some nice textures and perhaps in the backgrounds. I particularly like the inked rose. which realtes to the story. interesting imagery as you can see with the splatter effect inks and the ink drawn hair. The first option that I had the oppurtunity to produce some experiments for were the styles that I had found more appealing and more common among book deisgns that I had researched which was the colourful abstract and line orientated illustrations.
Project Analysis How did I find the project as a whole, what would I change? During this project I feel that I have succesfully taken a commercial brief and explored what was being asked of me to produce. I found my research very useful in telling me not only what would be effective but also inspired by some influential and some modern designers appealing to the people that I had hoped. Looking at different examples of what had been done before and being inspired by different styles made this project easier as I was able to experiment with different ideas and produce various outcomes. I am happy with the final designs and think that they look effective and relate well to the book, however, I have analysed my final designs and at least one drawback would be that the dark page being very dark looks slightly out of place, I also feel that perhaps the use of the inked flower although i know why it is there and what it is, once it had been edited to produce the look of the hole the shape had been lost and therefore may not be as sucessful of an image to use. If i were to do this again I would have experimented with more styles and produced more experiments.
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