Brief 16:
Typocircle
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle
Typocircle: Brief Overview
Nathan Bolton
Brief
Concept
Audience
Choose 3 designers, writers or typographers and produce a cover & at least 4 spreads on each individual. As a supplement to it’s magazine, ‘Circular’, The Circle wish to produce a series of special books/publications on specific people who have given talks for The Circle. These publications can be of any size & format but should work as a series. They do not have to be like a magazine but should be thought of as books or ‘special editions’.
The concept of the brief is to carry a high quality design aesthetic and production throughout the printeed products, to create a professional product range that spans a range of formats and sizes to engage the audience.
Designers, student designers, creative types that are interested in typographic design led work.
The visual element of the project will use imagery of the designers involved within the event / publications and be matched with the use of typography.
Tone of Voice
In addition to the publications the brief should be expanded to create an event that will be a live talk from the designers chosen for the publications. In creating the event, promotional material and literature should be designed and created to support the launch and running of it.
Printing methods and techniques will be a large focus within the production of the products, to create a high quality finish and make the products limited edition.
Background Information
Purpose
Deliverables
The Typographic Circle has existed since the 1970s when it was a started as the Type Directors Club of London. Its aim is to promote all aspects of typographic excellence & experimentation without prejudice. The Circle is also a social organisation, which is a very important aspect to its success. There are no criteria for being able to become a member, only an interest in typography. The Circle has achieved much of this success by hosting regular talks featuring a huge crosssection of practitioners from the world of typography, design & advertising. In addition a magazine has been published once a year to help promote see events, called ‘Circular’.
As the final brief that I will be undertaking, I wanted to use this to take advantage of the facilities available. The print room has been heavily used throughout this project to sustain a high quality design and production of all products.
1. 3 x Designer Publications 2. Brand & Identity of event 3. Promotional material for event
Professional tone of voice to inform the audience about the event. Use of imagery to create a visual campaign.
For myself I wanted one last brief which pushed the idea of a concept running through a series of products to create a large product range and campaign.
Typocircle | 01
Research Research was undertaken to get a better understanding of the different areas of design that I will be working within for this brief. Areas include - promotional material, promotional campaign / branding, exterior design, publications and print ephemeral. All research was collated and articulated in the form of a research booklet. This brought all the research together in one place and from looking through it you could get a clear understanding of the influences and styles that will be used within the brief. It also includes research into the background of the organisation and designers involved within the event.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 02
Designers The first part of the brief asked me to design three supplements on designers which have been apart of The Typographic Circle. I have then used these three designers to be the main focus of the live event which I have proposed. Anthony Burrill, Johnathan Barnbrook and Made Thought are the designers / studios I have chosen to use. I have Anthony Burrill because he has been an inspiration of mine for a long time and more so now that I am doing more and more print work. Johnathan Barnbrook is someone that I was interested in when I was at college, his work is very politcal and type driven which is a good contrast. Made thought are the final studio and they have a range of work, which is always good to work with, everything they produce is at a imaculate standard and they are a great inspiration. The three designers provide a good range in work and visuals that can be used in both the publications and event promotional material.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 03
Print Development The printed products within the promotional material all take on different formats and sizes, this makes the product range more interesting, but the branding and identity must be applied across all the products in the same way to create a stong campaign. In order to do this, drawing out initial ideas and developing the application of the brand on paper was a great way to see how to apply the same elements to each individual product.
The adaptation of the typocircle logo creates the type set logo. I wanted to create a logo that was more interesting than it just typed out horizontally, when spreading the logo over two lines, straight away I saw that the decender on the ‘y’ and dot on the ‘i’ line up and could create an interesting logo by joing the two together. Through further development and paying attention to the kerning of the letter forms, I created the logo on the far right. You can see the ‘y’ descender now acts as the dot of the ‘i’ and the ‘o’ and ‘l’ sit together in a way that makes the ‘o’ fit into the top curve of the ‘l’ letterform.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 04
Web Development The web element of the promotional campaign, is as important as the print. This will allow the event to be advertised online and circuate through social media meaning more will view the event. The web enables anyone from around the world to keep up to date and find out things happening around them, so this is very important to have has a product of the campaign. Tying the web element in with the print was necassary to keep the consistent design and aesthetic running through all the products. Taking inspiration from the designer publications, the web design works on the idea of using different sized containers to build up a composition within the page. Images, colours and typefaces will all be used in the same way to transfer the brand and brand application onto these digital products. Initial sketches show the idea and layout of the website, with a more structured scamp to follow, giving a closer resemblance of the website layout.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 05
Branding As the organisation and event is based around typography, the branding of the products are also based around type to keep everything running together. The primary logo is an adaptation of the typographic circle exisiting logo, I have just used the typeface for my project within it. The type set logo uses the main typeface and create a logo from the name of the event, I have experimented with the format and composition of the type to make the decender of the ‘y’ create the dot on the ‘i’. This creates an interesting manipulated logo with the use of the typeface for the project. The colours to be used are blue and green, which will be pritned on a lavendar stock. The blue and green work well together, with the green being a contrast colour when printed on top of the blue. Both colours work well with the lavendar stock and create a well consisdered colour palette which will stand out when the products are placed within a public environment.
Typocir cle
Primary Logo
Type Set Logo
Brand Guidelines
Colour Palette
100% Blue
80% Blue
60% Blue
40% Blue
100% Green
80% Green
60% Green
40% Green
Typefaces
Vidaloka
Aa
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP QRSTUVWXYZabcdefg hijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 012345678 9
Din Regular
Aa
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP QRSTUVWXYZabcdefg hijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Horizontal Type
012345678 9
Din Bol d
Aa
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP QRSTUVWXYZabcdefg hijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 012345678 9
Applicatio n
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 06
Brand Application As I am creating a large range of products for the promotional material, they all need to work together as a set and one which clearly advertises the event. Keeping all the products consistent is essential to create a brand image and a strong identity. In order to do this I am going to apply the same elements to each of the products, but tailor the content individually so it fits each of the formats and works best with the given space. Carrying the aesthetic and style from the designer publications, this will set a consistent style across all the products. I am also going to use the same grid, type and colours throughout every product.
GRID - 6 column grid with 5mm spacing. Applying this grid to all the products will ensure that each one is working with the same structure and will have a coherent style. LOGO - The primary logo will be used on all products, depending on the format and which fits, either the type set logo or horizontal will be used. TYPE - Vidaloka (sans serif) is the main font and will be used for all heading. Din is the secondary font and will be used for body copy. The sans serif creates a detailed focal display type which is aesthetically pleasing and Din works well with the sans serif as they are both strong chunky typefaces - ideal for advertising and it has a simple form - great to display information clearly on the products. COLOUR - Blue and green are the main colours that will be used. As seen across blue will always be a background colour and work with images, as this deeper colour brings out the detail in the imagery better. Green will be the header colour and always placed on top of the blue background. Blue will always be used on any main content printed onto the lavendar stock as the blue compliments the colour of the stock and is more visible when printed.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 07
Designer Insights Publications The publication are designed and created to be limited edition supplements to the Typographic Circle’s own magazine - Circular. As a limited edition supplement, the design needed to be of a high quality and show a well articulated approach to the design and layout of the products. To achieve a high quality product, I have screen printed the front covers of the publication and the inners are printed on 120gsm white matte stock, this gives the inside of the publication a clean and professional aesthetic. The layout of the publication is kept within a strict grid, in order to create a composition that feels more hand crafted and tailored than thrown together. By using the grid, all the elements within the spreads will fit together into a structured layout and show that it has been well thoughout and the content and body copy has been considered. Along with being designed as a supplement for the Circular magazine, the products also lend themselves to the event as designer insight publications, as these designers will be talking at the event and they provide a interesting information on each designer.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 08
Live Talks & Exhibition As an extension to the brief, I am proposing that the designers I have used for the publications will be involved in a 3 day event, that is taking place in Manchester. The event will include live talks and Q&A sessions on the Friday, with an exhibition being held for the following two days. As all three designers / studio have been within the design industry for a long time, the theme of the event is longevity within design - how to make the most of the industry and make ideas / projects / things have a presence for a significant length of time. As part of this extention to the brief I will create and design the promotional material for the event, this will be in keeping with the outlined branding and identity of the publications.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 09
Promotional Material The Promotional material is based around the branding and the guidelines I set out at the beginning of the brief. The focus of the promotional material is to use the imagery of the designers, along with the type and colours to communicate the event and create strong visual identity that will appeal to the audience. I have kept the design style and aesthetic consistent across the range of promotional products in order to create a full promotional package for the exhibition and one that shows the branding and identity designed across a range of different media and products. With the use of the imagery and colour palette all the products have a bold presence and will stand out when placed within a public environment. The design being simple but well executed and focussed on being very visual and legible should attract the target audience to the event. Products include: Posters Tickets Programmes Promotional Pack Various public advertising products
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 10
Invitations As an event that has well known designers, it should be one which attracts a lot of attention and visitors. In order to make sure other professional creatives and press are present at the event, guest invitations will designed and created to send out to specific people. Keeping in line with the high quality and limited edition aesthetic, the invitations are screen printed and include an embossed logo on the front. These are placed within a screen - printed folder and then put inside a black matte foil envelope to be posted. The idea of having such a hand crafted and bespoke invitation is that is sets the tone for the event. Having a physical printed object shows that time and effort has been put into the product which will reflect on the event itself. The different elements that make up the invitations make them more interactive for the user and makes them physically hold and feel the invitations - getting a better sense for the hand crafted products. The design is kept fairly simple as alot of processes have been involved within the production of the product and its better to keep it simple but do it well, in this instance. The aesthetic of the design follows that of the promotional material and will sit well with the range of products to create a coherent design across all products.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 11
Promo Pack The promo pack is a pack created for on the day of the event. This will be something that the visitors can pick up once they have been admitted into the event building. The pack consists of: Designer Insight Publications Day Pass Vouchers Poster Notebooks The idea of the promo pack is that it holds everything that the visitor would need for their visit to the event and its always nice to have something to take away from an event like this. The products within are all branded and designed with the event identity and fit in with the aesthetics of the promotional material, so it also works as a advertising tool / memorabilia.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 12
Digital Products As part of the promotional material and advertising campaign, there is also a digital / online products for the event to create an online presence. Not everyone will see the printed promotional material or they may see it but then not remember the information. Having a website opens the event up to anyone in the world to view it. Even if you don’t come to the event, they can see the makings and progress of the event through the website. Translating the design of the printed ephemeral of the event into a digital equivalent was an easy task due to the use of the grid. This could be used to create the layout of the website, which is based upon the build up on different square containers - taken from the layouts within the designer publications. With the design of the web element it shows that the branding and application of the visual design of the products can be produced over different formats and media - creating a bold, informative and multi-media based campaign for the event.
Nathan Bolton
Typocircle | 13