external positioning Tim Harris
contents. 1. Development 2. Outlets Blog/Cargo 3. Handmade & Bound 4. Stamps 5. Penguin. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest 6. New-U-Trition 7. Fourth Quarter 8. Tomasz 9. Business Card 10. Elaluate
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development. 1
I’ve spent my time at UCA so far trying to figure out which direction I intend to go with my design practices, what best suits me and what I’ll be happy doing. My keen, most focused interests are within typography and photography. Resulting in recently going down an editorial route, looking at layout and the hierarchy of images and text. However I am still stuck in terms of where I would like to end up. I’ve been looking at various agencies and magazines, the main focus when researching being the editorial element and where I could make the most from extending this practice. I feel however I am still uncertain on wanting to take a specific route within graphic design and feel the need to still experiment and explore with as many aspects of design as I can without settling down within a certain role straight away. The past term I have developed my independent work (not the other unit) I have ‘gone with the flow‘ setting myself no boundaries or rules to think or worry about. Over-thinking is usually my downfall.
outlets. 2
“We have become global wanderers, information gatherers rather than food gatherers” Marshall McLuhan The internet has been one of the most important and useful tools within my studies, allowing me to explore artists, galleries and cultures. I have began looking at coding, to be honest its a mind-melt. I’ve been putting it off for a long time, dreading it. I’ve been using CargoCollective, its a simple site offering preset themes that can be changed easily through coding. It’s really just an experiment, playing and testing how things work before I buy my own domain name. Just to add, I am aware the type below is hideous. Alongside this I also have my blog on Tumblr which I randomly named OCDisco, this is a great tool for seeing current trends and styles from all across the world as well as sharing my own work and the work of others find inspiring and interesting. It’s very easy to get lost in, scrolling through randomness for hours.
You can view my Blog here: You can view My Cargo-Collective site here:
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handmade&bound. 3
Handmade & Bound is an annual book fair which specializes in hand made items, from books to screen prints, all is welcome. Last year I created a zine for the fair with the help of Laura Heckford, unfortunately however I was unable to attend. It was a collaboration of students work including my own showing strengths in illustration, typography and photography. This year for my FMP proposal I have been looking at book making and editorial design so decided to put together some zines of my photography. I created 3 zines, two of which were collaborations. The ongoing theme throughout the zines was specifically analogue photography but the main focus for me was the layout and editorial side. The whole day was a really good experience to see other books which gave me some really good ideas for my FMP. Also the chance to meet other designers and discuss each others work. You can view my zines here:
stamps. 4
This was the first RSA Design Brief I have down. The brief asked for a set of stamps celebrating the art of letter writing. I approached this from a few angles. I looked at typography first and the anatomy of letter forms, how they have evolved and formed consistent structure from handwriting. This was a bit of track and didn’t seem personal enough so I began looking into how I could create stamps with a unique personal feel. As everyone’s handwriting is unique I wanted to incorporate the opportunity for a personal message to be added to the stamp. The scale of this of course was a bit tricky so I moved away looking at a set of stamps that could incorporate similar messages or themes just like a birthday or Anniversary card would. Less personal in some ways however still holding that personal quality.
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The anatomy of Typog raphy
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Compose Message on Dotted Line
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66
68
OV EYY YO OU I IL OU I LO LO VE VE YOO U
IS SY YO OU I IM MISS O OU IMISS MISSYY YO U
H APP BIRTHD YBBIRT IRTH DA AY YY HAPPY APPY A H APP BIRTH Y BIRTHD BIRTHDH DA AY
76
£1
1.10
st
CO NGRAATTU TU LA CO ONGR NGRA LAATION TIONSS S CO NGRA TUUL LA TION
GE TW ELSOO LS SO OO O NN GET ET WELL WELL SOO GE T WELL WELL SOON
HAPP ANNIVERSA YA NNIVERSA HAPPY APPY HAPP ANNIVERSA Y ANNIVERSA ANNIVERSAR
RYRY YR
1
66
68
76
£1
1.10
1
66
68
st
st
George Orwel
William Shakespear
£1
76
Ja ne Auste n
l
Virginia W oolf
1.10
Roald Dahl
Char les Dickens
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￥1
1.10
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Moving away from the personal theme of stamps I began looking at influential writers and their work. From the likes of William Shakespeare to Virginia Woolf. I put together a set of simple Illustrations to celebrate these authors as well as another set displaying their work in a hand written form, some of which is their own handwriting. The two sets in some ways can be used side by side or sold as a complete set of 12. This however was not the intention, more an either or sort of thing. My final set of stamps above quite simply points out the need for people to write more. Boldly implying the need for more hand written communication. I am still undecided as to what set of stamps I would pick as my final 6 as they’re all so different.
p KQ J A 10
KQ J A 10
A KQ
J 1 0
A
KQ
J 1 0
penguin. 5
The Penguin book cover brief was for ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest‘ I had never seen the film or read the book before but doing so for this brief had me lost in the world mad, yet not so mad, dark world of McMurphy. I was fascinated with how round every corner of the story there was mischief and drama. How such inadequate objects such as a basketball or sink played such huge parts in the story. Bearing all this in mind I began looking at kaleidoscopes and how they mix and deceive the most simple of shapes. I wanted to try and replicate this with all the material objects McMurphy interacted with throughout the story. Once I had finally achieved an image I was happy with I began looking at the layout of text for the cover. I wanted it to contrast against the kaleidoscope image, I wanted it to hold some formality compared to it. I used Baskerville as its a traditional serif face and also as its my favourite. I wanted all the text to be central quite and controlled. On the next page are a few of my layout designs, with the final layout on the right hand side. As crazy as the kaleidoscope image was I still wanted it to be subtle, making it something people would have to take a closer look at and depict each image within it.
new-u-trition. 6
I was approached by a friend and asked to put a logo together for a fitness and health business he was putting together. He’s calling it ‘New-U-Trition‘ physical activity. He wants it to be a fresh and inviting business for all ages. The green ‘U‘ contrasting against the rest of the type in grey represents a positive image, a healthy image. The client was very clear on what he wanted so I didn’t have much room to ‘play‘ but I did get to experiment with a lot of sanserif faces as one of the requests was for the type to be clean looking with a fresh and modern feel. Here’s where am so far with it.
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U
y
new- -trition New-U-Trition ph sical activit
new-U-trition physical activity new-U-trition new-U-trition physical activity PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
& Physical Activity
new-U nutri t i o n physical activity
t U r i t i w o e n n PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
new-U-trition new-U-trition AL ACTIVITY PHYSIC
new-U-trition l a a c c t i i s v y i t h y p
f
FQ FOURTH QUARTER
F URTH Q
UA RTER
q h t r fou
r a u
r e t
fourth quarter. 7
Fourth Quarter is a future shop being set up by a close friend of mine, specialising in basketball apparel and equipment. He too asked for something modern but not too ‘hairdresser‘ as he put it. He suggested incorporating a basketball player into the logo but as the official NBA and Jordan logo both contain this I steered him away from it and suggested something more obvious like incorporating the ball. Still a work in progress but we seem to be making progress which is positive.
Fourth Quarter
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tomasz. 8
This was a business card i created for a recent New Media graduate. I created the type face below for him, a quite geometric and different style to my previous typefaces so this was quite an exciting challenge. I designed the typeface with his logo in mind, something he had requested for me to incorporate into the design. It was a simple challenge but one I found quite satisfying as i feel the logo and text sit rather nicely next to one another. This business card may be the reason he has a job, who knows...
business. 9
I wanted my business card to be subtle and simple. So I can distribute them to potential clients at events I didn’t want it to scream at the viewer as I wanted it to be quite formal. The colours are also representative of my in progress website so the client can link the relationship between the colours and my name.
Tim Harris
harristim.tumblr t-harris@live.co.uk 07789261876
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evaluate. 10
I’ve never really had the confidence to initially interact or speak up in front of new people. The briefs I have tackled in this unit as well as the events I have visited have allowed for me to socialise with other designers, get a better understanding of the design industry and integration with potential clients as well as pointing me in the right direction towards where I could possibly see myself working. My biggest problem has always been worry, never letting lose and experimenting, I tend to stay within my comfort zone which is can be a major problem. I intend to avoid this for my FMP as well as getting in touch with design agencies I have met throughout the semester for summer internships. Hopefully my business cards will portray a good image of myself. Preparing myself for ‘the big wide world.‘ I have overcome some of my frustrating technical issues in programmes such as Adobe Premier and Final Cut Pro as well as sharpening my skills in Photoshop and Illustrator. I feel I have become more focused on my work as there was a point when I wasn’t happy with what I was producing and what direction I was heading. This semester has made things a lot clearer for me. Next semester I am set to be focused on what I want to achieve and put in 110% commitment and raise my work ethic to the fullest as I have been slacking at times.