Andy Foster & Martin O’Dea
Colours May Vary
OUGD603
Background: For Leeds Print Festival, we produced a self-promotional poster which was sold cheaply at the event. One of these was bought by Becky from Colours May Vary, who sent us an email the next week regarding a window display with a similar aesthetic. Concise Brief: Design, produce and install a colourful vinyl window display for an independent bookshop in the centre of Leeds. Brief: To design, produce and install a large window display for the Colours May Vary bookshop in Leeds city centre. The design must cover two street-facing windows and work with the existing vinyl signage. It must be bright and colourful, preferably using a similar illustration style to our promo flyer. The design should be minimal, allowing people to see in and out of the shop without covering too much of the window. Concept: Expand the promo illustration to a family of personified sandwiches with distinct characteristics. Separate these into 6 layers of colour vinyl for install. Tone of Voice: Fun Bright Welcoming
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Colours May Vary
OUGD603
Concept and development The client asked for the original illustration (bottom 2nd from left) to be applied to the window. We decided to provide extra by expanding this into a family of personified sandwiches, each with their own distinct characteristics. We were careful to measure the window to avoid clashes with any of the existing vinyl and to create a layout that was balanced and would allow customers to see in and out of the store clearly. Using the format and limited colours of the first sandwich, I designed the nerdy sandwich (bottom right) which went through lots of revisions until I was happy with it (left). Andy worked on creating the other two characters and we combined them as a set.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Colours May Vary
OUGD603
Preparation: After our layout had been decided, the design had to be separated into 6 separate layers of colour to have them cut individually. The colours were outside the range available at college, so had to be ordered in for the project. After the rolls had been prepared on the vinyl cutter, I removed the excess material and cut the pieces into manageable chunks for application. Andy labeled the parts clearly to ensure that none of them would be mixed up when applying. Finally, each of the pieces had to be taped for application and carefully transported to prevent the pieces from sticking together or peeling away. This was a much bigger task than we anticipated as the print resource had run out of application tape, so we had to go through the pieces one by one and secure them with strips of tape.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Preparation
OUGD603
Application: We started by positioning all of the outline and measuring the spaces needed between them. By marking these areas off, we could ensure that everything was applied in the right space. We applied one colour at a time, starting with the purple eyes on the lefthand window as this was the biggest piece. Moving on, we applied the character outlines as a guide, filling in the colours one by one. We applied the spots by eye at the end, and continued these onto the floor at the request of Becky the shop owner. This finished the design off well. Our logo was applied to the bottom of the window to give us great street publicity as it is always visible to passers-by.
Andy Foster & Martin O’Dea
Application
OUGD603
Documentation and Video Editing: To document the process, Greg and Eve helped us by filming and capturing time-lapse of our application. Taking this footage, me and Andy went though the clips and selected the best for a behind-the-scenes video. I cut and edited these down in preparation for compositing in Premier Pro. Andy was able to sync the clips to the music which created a strong effect. Together, we tweaked the video until it was perfect. This element of the brief was also intended to be used on our website to promote our collaborative studio in preparation for setting up next year, and was able to gain some attention for both of us on social media. This was a great process for me, as I had experience with video and was able to learn a lot from working with the footage to create exactly the composition we wanted.
Martin O’Dea (collab with Andy Foster)
Video Editing
OUGD603