DESIGN MOVEMENTS & IMPLEMENTATION
Huh?
I’m taking a look at design movements & design strategies that I aim to utilise and implement into my final major project. By studying these styles of design I hope to learn how they work, how they become successful movements and show examples of particular pieces that I enjoy. I’ll also be looking at examples of work that I see on my social media from designers that I follow on Instagram. I’ll be focusing on Sebastian Chaloner & killeracid who are behind some of my favourite posts. Chaloner uses vector art in his latest gif project which has a similar style to my work. Whereas killeracid is more of an Illustrator that creates intricate detailed artwork, stickers, t-shirts, enamel pins and print. I’ll then be looking at some design inspirations and strategies that I’ve adopted and implemented across my final major project outcomes. These include semiotics, social media icons, minimalism and Harvey Ball’s smiley.
Sebastian Chaloner @seb_chaloner
Sebastian created these gifs because of the absurdity of membership clubs in london. It starts with the clean window then a brick is thrown smashing the glass. This is consistent across the collection. I think this style is really effective because it’s minimal, bright and entertaining. If I were to do something similar I’d use Illustrator to create the frames and put them into PhotoShop to make a frame animation the convert into a gif.
Killeracid @killeracid
Killeracid is one of my favourite illustration instagram accounts. My mac is covered in stickers and I also have a few enamel pins bought from his Etsy site. His work is usually very intricate with psychedelic undertones. I love this type of Illustration because it’s so detailed and visually appealing. His excellent use of colour compliments the illustrations making it hard not to enjoy his work. I would find it difficult to replicate this style because of it’s intricacy but he’s still a regular inspiration to me.
Minimalism Guardian Poster Campaign
Minimalism is one of my favourite design movements. It’s often disputed as a real art form but I believe theres a charm that comes from simple, clean and easy to understand graphics. Take the grey guardian poster that symbolises an egg, this compliments the copy on the poster that mentions the readers will be discussing the perfect fry up. The quit smoking image is a really clear and effective way to describe the damage done by smoking. It uses references to a game most will be familiar with, where you chip away at the blocks to win. It uses the player bar to symbolise the cigarette as the object that is inflicting the damage. Both campaigns are really effective in what they’re trying to achieve and I want to encapsulate that when I create my posters.
Minimalism Quit Smoking Image
Minimalism
Utilising minimalism in my project
To advertise my website concept I created a minimal poster collection to show the icons the website uses to critique designers work. I used short statements to draw the audience in then entice them with scenarios student designers sometimes face. The background is plain putting the focus on the text and large shape filled with randomly placed icons. This effectively represents the community consensus tool I created.
Emoji Utilisation
Emoji exist in various genres, including facial expressions, common objects, places and types of weather, and animals. They depict all manners of life making it easier and more fun to convey messages to people. They make text less dull and more free flowing creating a new way for people to interact with each other but most importantly they can be a symbol of emotion or feeling. I created my own emojis/icons for my community consensus critique tool, but to bring them into the real world I created stickers to incorporate the randomness of placement created from the code.
Semiotics Social Media Icons
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. I’m fascinated with using semiotics as a design strategy. I believe icons and symbols can be a really effective and innovative way of projecting emotions and feelings. Facebook uses icons to allow the audience to react to any post on the site and even comments on posts. I created something similar with my own icons by creating my own collection of responses to better fit the community and style of my website concept.
Community Consensus Icons
Harvey Ball
Invention of the smiley + Utilisation
Harvey Ball was an American commercial artist. He is recognized as the earliest known designer of the smiley, which became an enduring and notable international icon. I’ve included two examples of the smiley reappearing in popular culture; forrest gump and Watchmen graphic novel. My own version of the smiley is also featured over Harvey’s face which is present in my final logo concept. It’s bright, easily recognisable and effective in describing the website content.