SPECTRUM PART
ONE / COLLABORATIVE THE BRIEF
CONTEXT
THE BRIEF
PREP
Designival is the North's biggest and most established design festival of 2012. Taking place in Liverpool on November 22nd 23rd at some of the coolest new venues in the city, Designival will feature a whole host of must-see events intended for the design obsessed. Whether you're a beginner or a pro, an architect or a web designer - all we ask is that you appreciate every aspect of design, from the intricate balance between concept and creation, to digital and print.
Design a campaign that promotes Designival and engages the target audience (design professionals) through a campaign message: “Design is....”
Consider the target audience (creatives), as this should inform your design direction for the campaign. Explore and research experimental print techniques and processes. Think about the campaign message and how effectively you will communicate it through your designs.
Produce a promotional campaign that showcases the beauty in experimental print forms and manual processes. By using mixed media, combining digital and analog formats such as Photoshop, film photography and screen-printing, create an exciting and engaging body of work that best promotes this creative event. The campaign can be provocative, challenging, humorous and can work online, offline, virally, guerrilla – as you like.
SPECTRUM PART
ONE / COLLABORATIVE IDEAS & RESEARCH
STATEMENT Produce a range of products that showcases the beauty in experimental print forms and manual processes. By using mixed media, combing digital and analog formats such as Photoshop, film photography and screen printing, convey your own ideas and appreciation for the natural world. Whilst researching into different printing techniques we decided to split the brief up into two parts, part one focusing on the digital side, part two more of the manual processes. We thought it would be a good idea as we then have something to work from and develop for part two. We decided the theme that would inspire these prints for the design festival would be nature.
DESIGNIVAL
KEYWORDS
Designival is the North's biggest and most established design festival of 2012. Taking place in Liverpool on November 22nd 23rd at some of the coolest new venues in the city, Designival will feature a whole host of must-see events intended for the design obsessed. Whether you're a beginner or a pro, an architect or a web designer - all we ask is that you appreciate every aspect of design, from the intricate balance between concept and creation, to digital and print.
These were some key words we listed within the early stages of planning: colour pattern print vibrant processes kaleidoscope nature experimental texture shapes psychedelic eye catching
2013 This November 22nd we're hosting a mini Designival at Camp And Furnace in Liverpool - supported by ACME/Liverpool Vision. It's part lectures from some great names in design, part networking event and social and also a launch event for the return of Designival proper in July 2014 - a special summer edition as part of the International Festival of Business. But though the event is mini (as is the ticket price), the speakers certainly aren't. We're welcoming the internationally renowned Erik Kessles of KesselsKramer, Matt Webb the CEO, Principal and co-founder of BERG, and acclaimed illustrator Paul Davis.
SPECTRUM PART
ONE / COLLABORATIVE PRINT RESEARCH
PRINTING We decided to research into various printing techniques that could help get the design we wanted. This was mostly to inform part two of the brief.
TIE DYE
PREP
Tie-dye is not really batik. It requires no waxing at all, but the dyeing procedures are the same as batik, in that the lightest shade is dyed first. Tie-dying has the great advantage of allowing the material to be immersed in boiling-hot dye solution.
cloth: cotton, silk /dyes: dye additives /measuring cups and spoons /pans: enamel, stainless steel, plastic /plastic squeeze bottles /cord aluminium C clamps: 2', 3' /items for clamping, two of each type /foam brushes, sponges /scissors /t pins /plastic bags /ties /rubber gloves iron /paper towels, newspaper, pencil, ruler
In tie-dying we tie thread or waxed string tightly around a small piece of the white fabric in one of the ways demonstrated in the illustrations. With the strings or thread all tied, throw the fabric into a dye bath, then rinse and dry it. When the threads are removed the fabric has remained white where we had tied the threads. The results will look like plates 46, 47 and 51.
Procedure break down 1. The fabric is prepared by washing (silk) or soaking in a soda-ash solution (cotton) which is not rinsed out 2. The design is planned, designating the placement of the folds and the application of the bindings and clamps 3. The dyes are prepared and applied to the fabric with plastic squeeze bottles or by immersion dye baths 4. For cotton, allow newspaper to absorb excess dye, then seal the damp fabric in a plastic bag for 24-48 hours 5. Rinse out excess dye with Synthrapol, open the bindings, and allow to dry. Repeating the fold, tie, dye procedure is optional.
SPECTRUM PART
ONE / COLLABORATIVE
PLANNING PART II / CONTACTING LEIF PODHAJSKY
PLANNING PART II
CONTACTING
ABOUT LEIF
When gathering visuals and images we looked at Leif Podhajsky as a source of inspiration, I have really admired his prints and style of work since second year and we both wanted to create something that visually reflected his kind of style, in our version.
Whilst research Leif Podhajsky we realised he was based in London and thought it would be a good opportunity to contact him and try to arrange a studio visit where we could hopefully go in and show him the work that we've been producing.
Leif is an artist and Creative Director. His work explores themes of connectedness, the relevance of nature and the psychedelic experience. By utilizing these subjects he attempts to inspire the viewer into a realignment with themselves and their surroundings.
When we first started working on the brief we looked at how we could incorporate the theme of nature, this is another reason why Podhajsky was a really good source of inspiration.
SPECTRUM PART
ONE / COLLABORATIVE LAYOUT DEVELOPMENT
INDIVIDUAL ROLES
LAYOUT ONE
When coming to designing the posters we decided to split the roles, Emily looking at photography and digital manipulation, whilst I focused on type and layout.
These were some of the layout and type ideas I created for the first set of photographs Emily designed. After looking at various ways to display the type we decided that the layout and type designs didn’t quite work and that the poster wasn’t representing a design festival as successfully as we’d hoped.
SPECTRUM PART
ONE / COLLABORATIVE LAYOUT DEVELOPMENT
EDITING IMAGES
LAYOUT TWO
We decided we needed to make the designs more consistent to make the posters appear as a series, we also needed communicate the promotion of a design festival in a better way. To do this we decided on changing the colours of the images to match one another, this looked more consistent throughout and also helped to deliver a clearer promotional message.
These were the final layout designs with the new image style. This is the image we feels works most successfully for what we were trying to create and also links with the idea of a design festival more so than the others.
Emily edited the photos and changed the colour to one more appropriate for the subject.
In the end we decided to go with the central design, not because we thought it was the best layout visually but because it communicated the idea of a design festival more than the others.
SPECTRUM PART
ONE / COLLABORATIVE FINAL POSTERS
FINAL POSTER DESIGNS
FINAL POSTER DESIGNS These are the final four posters for part one. We think the outcomes will be a good starting point for the second part of the brief. We feel not all of them work as well but that we can use these examples of ideas tried. Taking what we’ve done with this part of the brief and progressing to make the final outcomes from part two exactly what we want.
SPECTRUM PART
ONE / COLLABORATIVE PRINTED POSTERS