Methods Of Madness
Studio Practice 2A By SImon Rayfield
One Day Brief... For this one day brief we were asked to changed the book page in ANY way ... here are my three changed book pages. Also for my Shooting Stars Brief here is the link to watch the video i made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_ embedded&v=PA7Z6ifoS5I
Serial Thriller... I explored with the concept of people having their own opinions and interests in specific matters. Social networking sights are a very good way of demonstrating this concept as status updates trigger thoughts and opinions in which people comment and express their views it also leads people to justify and answer back and share this knowledge with others. I stated by updating statuses with a leading sentence for people to complete the sentence. This caused people to be highly opinionated and led others to become involved. This lead my idea into a typographic piece exploring with quotations that people had said. I think the idea worked well as the comments were random and displayed negative comments which were continued by new people joining the conversation.
Paper Co Virgin.... I worked in a group to promote the 25th anniversary of part of one of the Virgin brands and also the Virgin brand itself. To start with I produced numerous ideas and decided to create a net box along with book pages we realised that we wanted to expand this idea further and focus on the vinyl, as without the record label the Virgin brand wouldn’t have been so widely representative.
Biographies... I created this biography in a very personal and distinctive manner. Biographies are generally very plan and consistent and I wanted to create an idea that was fun and imaginative and also straightforward. My stop frame animation explores with the visual composition, layout and text that makes the dullest of biographies seem interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_ embedded&v=UWKSbom6BYc
Interrogation
Independent Practice
Architectural drawings... I wanted to explore with the layout, design and construction of architecture by experimenting with the shape and forms of buildings. I try to make the designs interesting by considering the possibilities for exploration and originality.
Photography advertisements for Deutschland... Dßsseldorf, KÜln and Duisburg have become my second home and I wanted to capture the essence of the quality it has to offer in my work. I have captured areas, places and objects that contribute widely to these areas and have arranged a series of posters using a variety of images and collated these together to advertise each area. The use of typography in an experimental and interesting way was to ensure that the name of the place was literal but didn’t disregard the overall quality of the images.
Book of architecture... This book explores with the graphical element and precision of constructing visually interesting and detailed drawings with fine liner.
Typography inspired Architecture... On my recent visit to D端sseldorf, Germany I was intrigued by the image of multi coloured figures experimentally attached and positioned on a building in the North Rhine Westphalia. This made me think about how literally anything can transform into an architecturally pleasing building so I decided to take my love of type and architecture and place them both together. The outcome of this was a production of a series of graphic architecture.
Marketing materials for Esquire Developments Ltd... I have produced a series of marketing materials to advertise a new business empire. The idea of the images was to demonstrate a set of houses showing the development and finish look. The business is property development so it would be a clear indicator as to what it represents both visually and literally with the type of the name of the company. The set is very minimalistic and involves the basic use of colour so that the whole design wasn’t overloaded and taken away from the concept.
Deutschland Photography... Germany is my solace, my inspiration and a prime focal point for the transition of my ideas. The visual and artistic expression the country magnifies makes my visits seem all the more relevant. I have put together a selection of photographs that highlight my interests and inspirational sources that contribute to my ideas and developments. These are significant places to my memories and demonstrate my passion of art and architecture.
Independent practice- My German Influence: Typography Vs Architecture I wanted to explore with my new found interest of Germany and my love for architecture. I wanted to establish, incorporate, develop and initiate a bond between the two. I started to think about the key places and areas that are significant to Germany and what would be interesting and iconic places for people to visit. I realised that German architecture was never simultaneous or never similar in any way shape or form and wanted to express this key area within my work. I started by taking a camera with me everywhere I went and started taking pictures that were symbolic of the randomness of German architecture and design. Many had modern influences some were historic like the gothic cathedral in Cologne, but they each had personality and depth. From these photographs I decided to pick the pictures that held a strong representative image and structure and wanted these to be collated together. I thought that the best way to do this to present them all together and found it tricky to incorporate them all as artistically the balance and contrast of images wouldn’t have worked. They contrasted in scale, and colour and together they looked too confusing and didn’t hold a specific meaning or a clear message. I decided to collate them altogether into a book so that I could grasp the correct balance of images and to develop the overall presentation. They worked well at this scale and size and by using fewer images made the overall presentation look professional as well as making the images more dominant and effective. I decided that I didn’t want this project to end there, as it was a starting point for numerous ideas to progress. I decided to break down the images specifically and group them into some sort of category. The only realistic idea was by the place as Cologne, Dusseldorf and Duisburg are all very different cities that were contrasting in size, style, popularity and significance. I decided to present these ideas into poster formats using the original images as the basis and I experimented with the contrast. I decided that I wanted to make a creative arrangement of images and I felt that the idea needed to have a huge impact, which was difficult to determine. Visually the images were strong and together they were even stronger but I found that sometimes images aren’t significant enough to stand-alone. This is where I thought of the idea of incorporating an interesting typeface to acknowledge the places. I thought carefully about the composition and I found it looked too practical and convenient to just be a title above or centred so I decided to explore with the possibility of the lettering flowing throughout the images. I found this worked well as it made a huge impact to the images. They worked well as a whole as the image seemed evenly balanced and the incorporation of colour added a sudden burst to the image. After experimenting with the idea of type and its contributory factor in advertising German cities I decided to explore with the possibility of typography providing the structure and framework of buildings. I looked at some of my original drawings of buildings and the photographs I had recently taken and this inspired my new creations. I equipped myself with a series of letterset that consisted of different lettering sizes and different fonts and was determined to create something typographically creative. I started by mapping out the idea then I started from the grounding of the page and built it up from there. I found it intriguing trying to combine and compact the lettering together and I was truly amazed by the result. The overall quality the type buildings was interesting, well balanced and was intriguing to observe. I was pleased with the end result as I felt the series worked extremely well together. Next time I am going to explore with this area further and want to evolve from the idea looking flat and I am going to enhance it graphically by incorporating 3D forms and considering the use of colour and where the structures would be positioned. I think it would be a good idea to incorporate my model making experience by constructing microstructures of these to grasp the real impact of the drawings and to understand how effective it could be. I am very pleased how this project worked out and I think each process and technique was significant and relevant and forms the start of an on going process that could transform into something extremely imaginative. I am going to continue to explore with my interest in Germany and try to incorporate more of the German culture into my work. At the moment the pieces I have created are strong but could deem more relevant after in-depth research and recognition of the vital contributors of German architecture, culture, passion and uniqueness. Independent practice- Marketing Tools: Esquire Developments Ltd. I was given a fantastic opportunity of creating a series of marketing tools for a new upcoming business. The aim was to create a logo design, business cards, letterheads and the layout for a website. I was overwhelmed by the possibility of creating something that would be accessible for the world to see but excited at the prospect of getting recognition for my hard work and determination. I started by researching property development businesses to gain an insight into those that were existent and to see how it could inspire me to create something that would be original and unique. I came up with lots of different ideas, each were very individual but lacked a key element. I was trying to make them too complex and different but I found that this just made them too confusing and they began to lose there meaning. Logo creation is something that requires accuracy and simplicity and I wanted my idea to be more than just words and letterforms. I wanted to incorporate an element of personality and so I looked at the prospect of incorporating imagery. Having a house or a few houses as recognition seemed too dull so I decided to experiment with the idea of showing an ongoing process- the developmental process of the construction of houses. This seemed like an appropriate idea as it was symbolic of its meaning and demonstrated visually a clear symbolic meaning. Once I had constructed the image I started to explore with the idea of incorporating the name of the business. This was a time consuming process determining the right letter size, choosing the correct font, thinking about the composition of the type. Establishing the right mood-using colour was just as tricky- colour was too overpowering or too dull and uninteresting. I decided to stick to the understated black and white as this made the image more powerful, elegant and sophisticated. Once the logo was determined it made the rest of the process much easier to do. The letterheads needed to acquire the same simplistic method in order for the company name to be recognisable but also not to overpower the written letter, as the information contained in this would have been more important. I was happy about the overall presentation of his as I felt that it looked professional and met the required expectations, as the information was clear and focused and straight to the point. The website design was something I was unfamiliar with so I was nervous about this. I actually realise that the process was actually a lot easier than I had first imagined as this was actually a straight forward process and with a design and artistically creative mind its all about the idea and the processes and techniques are just a minimal amount of the problem. Website deign is about obtaining the correct balance within each page and making the information easy to read and accessible. The website is still under construction but the design work is done and it will be an ongoing process until the business is fully up and running but overall I am pleased with the results and how strong the marketing materials are as they all contribute well together. I am looking to further broaden my knowledge and experience of different design practices further. I want to explore with the possibility of creating my own website from scratch and to be able to be experimental and limitless with the layout and the design. I would like to create something original, creative, colourful and typographically strong to showcase whom I am as a person, what my interests are and to showcase my ever-increasing portfolio of work. This will be something I start to construct and initiate in the near future.
Evaluation I really enjoyed working on the Paper Co brief for Virgin as it allowed me to have the advantage of working in a team. It made me realise that by working in a team you could share and learn new skills, which can be combined to produce numerous ideas. It can make you become more open minded about ideas and help you to see the bigger picture. Vince and myself worked strongly as a group as we were able to bounce ideas of one another and see a bigger picture behind it. I really enjoyed being able to present our idea to the client as it made me understand how to be able to ‘sell’ an idea and to understand what it would be like to be working in the industry. Sometimes clients don’t like your ideas or the simplest ideas were the best so the ability to be adaptable is key. If we were to be able to revisit the brief I would like to explore the different possibilities and solutions I could create with the packaging. I think it may also consider introducing more typography and consider the different layout options. I think the Emily Bronte stop frame worked well as it presented the biography in a fun and experimental way. I tried to make the stop frame easy to understand easy to read and ensured it was straight to the point. It documented key information and I experimented with the layouts and angles with the screen shots to make the film intriguing so the viewer wasn’t bored by a continuation of the same outcome. The shooting stars project based on the London riots was a successful piece. It demonstrated a clear message in a visual way with the use of key words to highlight the meaning behind each point. The whole idea behind it was to demonstrate people’s attitude towards the riots and how David Cameron and The Conservative party had influenced this to happen. People were not happy about change and violently protested and caused havoc to get a response. The piece was straightforward to understand and it met all expectations. Overall I particularly enjoyed the Paper Co brief as it explored my interests more and gave me the opportunity to work alongside someone else and to understand the role of a graphic designer in terms of meeting clients. I found the Emily Bronte task challenging as I hadn’t explored this type of graphic communication before. I struggled at first to come up with an idea but I do think the final outcome worked well. I also think if I had more time or I could have created a very different idea. The shooting stars project was just as successful and to extend the idea further I would have obtained world wide political views about the riots and would have had the voices overlapping the images to demonstrate the havoc, chaos and personal opinions of the riots.