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Bold Type: Final Reflection

The time constraints on this project meant I didn’t develop my ideas as much as I would have liked to. Even though my final typeface is a strong design it still definitely needs refinement and some development. I would have liked to have figured out a way to make the whole alphabet and then test out writing with the type to see how it would look.

My idea development was strong at the beginning of the project, when I started to experiment away from the computer that's when ideas started flowing more. Looking back, I would have liked to explore hand-drawn type more, one of my favourite outcomes from this project was the type drawn with a plastic knife, it is playful and unique. I should have researched more in to geometric art and how it is done, it could have made my work process a lot easier and maybe resulted in some stronger outcomes.

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Bold Type: Final Outcomes

I think my final type has an interesting look, something I’ve not seen before. Due to the linear, geometric style I found it a lot harder to create letters that don’t have a centre point to base the pattern from. If I had had more time I would have liked to have experimented more, maybe find a way t create more typefaces that look good together. When presenting the type I found it hard to make them all look good together because the kerning is very off, something that I would have to edit. 

I have decided to name the type ‘Pylon’ because of its resemblance to a telephone pylon. I like the short snappyness of the name, it goes well with the typeface.

As I said, I had been finding it quite difficult to find a way to lay out the type because they didn’t really fit together. In the end, laying them out in a vertical way works really well, the sizing of the type puts emphasis on the patterns within it making it look a bit 3D. The aesthetic of the poster goes well with the name of the typeface.

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Bold Type: Idea Development

With these experimentations, I have tried be playful and not think too much about what the final outcome is going to look like. I think the messy lettering (last image) made with the plastic knife is particularly successful because of the uniqueness of it. I like the hand drawn feeling of it. When I then put it in to the app cam scanner it created an all black vector of the type which looks really cool.

Next I started to play around on graph paper, I think the type made out of triangles works the best, I like the geometric style of it. People sitting around me said this was the most successful outcome as well. Where I have tried to use more circular shapes, I don't think it works as well, maybe because it’s on graph paper but I found keeping the circular type consistent was more of a challenge.

I then started to experiment on illustrator using the triangle method. I found it a lot more challenging than I thought it would be just because its hard to find the right spacing for the triangles. I realise now as I’m writing this I was an idiot and didn’t use a grid so therefore it was obviously going to be harder to place the triangles with equal spacing.

After realising I didn’t want to go with the first triangle idea I started to play around with layering in illustrator. I like the look of the layered triangles however I have found it quite hard to work out the positioning of the crossbar especially when the triangles aren’t equilateral.

I started to try other letters with more dense layering of the triangles. I don’t think this works the lettering looks too clunky and poorly designed.

I then trialed a new way of laying out the triangles, spacing them out and then connecting them with lines. I think it creates a cool and edgy design, something different from anything I’ve seen before.

After the initial A I realised it was actually quite hard to produce other letters that weren’t symmetrical, they just seemed poorly executed.

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Bold Type: Research

To try and get some in visual inspiration I looked at the book: The Typography Idea book and Wood type alphabets.

I love the playfulness of the type inspired by the 3D installation by Andrew Byrom. The linear style makes each of the letters an artwork in its own right, interesting to see how type can be made in 3D form, a clever way to develop an idea.    

I like the classic feel of the wood type, there's something so nice about analog type that has been hand-printed, something you can’t recreate digitally. If I was going to use this style of type I would definitely scan in the original prints to try and keep the authentic feel and then maybe distort it digitally. 

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Editorial: Final Reflection

Overall, I am pleased with how my editorial project turned out. I think my work process could have been better, I didn’t set out enough time do loads of experimentation, which I probably should have done as it may have meant my final collages would be more refined. Having said that this project had a very fast turnaround and I’m proud of myself for making an individual piece of art for most pages because it took very, very long at some points. I like the overall style of the publication, the white space gave a nod to the Tibor Kalman work I looked at but the style of the collages and the layout of the text had my own personal stamp on it.

If I was to do this project again I would definitely experiment more, I don't think I was as adventurous as i should have been in my thought process as well. I wish I had moved away from my computer and worked with printed imagery for a few if not all of the outcomes as I think analog collage can create some beautiful visuals. However, I do think the simple cut outs done on photoshop work well because they fit in with the text and makes sense to the story.

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Editorial: Final Outcome

Overall, I think my editorial is successful, I like the style of it. The simplicity works well with the choices of imagery and I think the visuals connect to the text throughout. I decided to keep the front and back cover very plain so as to put more emphasis on the artwork inside. I think this works nicely, the plain front cover is consistent with the use of white space so fits in with the whole outcome.

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Editorial: Idea Development

During the brief I started writing down some initial ideas and specifications.

I decided collages would be the best way to illustrate my essay as it is an effective visual, you can use it in a way that accentuates certain points of the text for the reader. 

For my first collage I wanted to illustrate the relationship between designers and commercialism. I think this collage communicates that quite well and the overall aesthetic looks good. I particularly like the pop of colour on the black and white, combined with white space adds to the overall look.

Here I took the title too literally and added roots in to the visual. I think the overall look of this collage is clunky and poorly designed. The tree roots just don’t work as a cut-out, I think because the image is too detailed its not a clean shape. The whole combination of imagery just doesn’t work either, the styles contrast too much.

Here I attempted to do a double page spread with my first collage and some more tree roots I had cut out. Again, I don’t think this works. The overall aesthetic seems a bit over the top, the dramatic ness of the tree roots over-power the collage which looks better surrounded by white space. This collage doesn’t work as a double page spread, it looks best as the statement piece on a single page.

To help my ideas more for the collages, I started to sketch as I read the essay. 

By doing this, I was able to quickly produce ideas that could be used for collages. 

For my second collage I was trying to illustrate the fact the ideas spoken about had their roots in San Antonio using the San Antonio skyline combined with ‘The Face’ imagery by Neville Brody. I think this collage is successful it communicates the idea well, like the previous collage it looks good on white space, giving it a more graphic feel.

I then added type which I think gives it more of an edge, the collage fits in well with the type.

Here I have illustrated the line ‘conference in San Francisco was lifeless and flat’ I like the simplicity of this visual, it’s straight to the point and i think look good with the typography.

I like the graphic feel of this collage especially combined with the typography, the combination of bright red with black and white photography works well.

I like this combination of typography with image, the typography itself becomes part of the image putting emphasis on what is being said.

I think the simplicity of this works well but I would have liked to have develop this page a bit more if I had had the time. Maybe adding another element to the imagery to further illustrate the text.

This is probably my favourite page, the graphicness of the bold type combined with the photography makes it quite a striking image. The white space with the type and cut-outs also add to it.

The pop of yellow on this page really works and the imagery relates to what is being said in the text. I also like the way the typography is laid out it also fits in with the text and it makes sense as a combination as you read.

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Editorial: Research

I have chosen to do my editorial on the essay ‘1989: Roots of Revolution’. It’s an essay based on the AIGA conference in 1989 where designers such as Tibor Kalman call for graphic design skills to be used for interesting, meaningful motives not commercialism.

I started my research by looking deeper in to the conference that Beirut is talking about. I found the talk by Neville Brody and Stewart Ewen that essentially said graphic designers skills are not used for the right reasons. I also found an excerpt from the talk by Tibor Kalman and Karrie Jacobs, which had the same vibe as the Brody talk; they called for ‘awareness and resistance’ to commercialism. These ideas reminded me of the First Things First manifesto 2000 edition, a manifesto calling for designers to use their skills for good. This research was good for me to get the context of the essay and gave me a deeper understanding of what he is talking about. It was helpful that this was prior to the brief as I could think about the ideas behind the essay in depth without thinking of how it could look visually straight away.

To kick start some visual inspiration I looked at some of Kalman’s work. He was mostly known for his work as editor of Colors magazine where he pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable and the norm at the time. He was a critic of ‘professional’ design, he wanted designers to take more responsibility in what they create.

Here I have looked at Colors magazine issues 1-13 and the book Tibor Kalman:Perverse Optimist (a collection of Kalman's work throughout his career). The work that really stood out to me the most was the imagery where he had kept predominantly white space around it. I feel it made the pictures really stand out and the whole design feels quite clean and not too much going on. Where there is colour involved as well, the white background makes the colours pop more. I also love his use of different font sizes mixed together, it really emphasises his going against classic, commercial design.

When thinking about what kind of imagery I want in my editorial, I feel collage would definitely work well to illustrate what is going on throughout.

These are taken from the book ‘Cut That Out: Contemporary Collage in Graphic Design’. When looking through the book the ones that stood out to me most had a clean aesthetic, where there's not too much going on. The colour choices also compliment each other and isn’t too overbearing, similar to Kalman's work.

To get a further understanding of what looks good in an actual printed editorial zine, I went to Magculture a magazine shop in Islington. I found there were some good collage-type imagery in some of the zines, to helped to see it printed as well, again I feel the ones with more white space pop and stand out the most. I also found the use of handwritten type combined with photography quite interesting, it could look good to handwrite some of the text from the essay and lay it out with collage imagery.

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16x9: Final Reflection

Considering how technically difficult this project turned out to be I think we did quite well. This was always going to be an ambitious project and I think in places the cinematography reflects what we set out to achieve. 

However, overall, the flow of it lets down the concept of the film. I don’t think we fully comprehended just how challenging it would be to achieve the continuous shots like the Adidas adverts. The audio also doesn't match up as well as it should have in places making the story a bit hard to follow, I can imagine it would leave a viewer a bit confused as to what is going on. 

I found 16x9 to be probably one of my weakest projects I've done for myself personally just because film is really not my thing. I've been lucky because the group I've been in is extremely talented in this area and has resulted in us being very ambitious. But there were times where I felt a bit useless because I'm not very technically skilled in film so it was harder for me to get my ideas across during the production and editing process. I think as well because it's a group with quite big personalities who are talented at editing and filming not having the technical skills myself meant I naturally took a backseat for a lot of it which I hated. Despite this I obviously worked where I could, mainly with the research and treatment process and some cinematography and sound recording.

All in all I think it has been a successful project and it was useful for me to realise that film is not something I have the patience for, it showed me how truly difficult it can be to create a really successful piece of film. I was particularly shocked at how hard it is to match up and create audio, something that I hadn’t considered much before starting this project. It has definitely given me a new found respect for film-makers.

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16x9: Process

After finalising what we wanted from the idea we started on a storyboard to map out the different scenes and how the audio will fit in to it. 

We then started to do some test shots on our iPhones on the roads outside Chelsea. This was useful for seeing how the shots were going to work. During this we tested out experimental shots such as gum flying through the air tied to a piece of hair (improvised obviously). Some of which worked like the foot stepping over the camera and transitioning to the next shot. But the shot of the gum flying through the air did not work (unsurprisingly). We also found that bubblegum 1) bubblegum isn’t pink, or at least not the kind of pink we want and 2) it isn’t very sticky, especially if it’s been raining. So we decided to make our own bubblegum out of White Tac that was then dyed pink. This worked a lot better as it stuck to various surfaces and also didn’t make our hands disgustingly sticky. 

After the test shoots we moved on to the real thing.

We started with the pub scene, Katie had been in touch with our local pub The Black Dog, but unfortunately as there had been some miscommunication within the pub management and we weren’t allowed to film there so production moved to The Grosvenor. 

This worked well, the footage turned out a bit dark but it feels authentic to a London pub. It was also good to get some background audio as the pub was busy.

Katie made a call sheet for our next shoots.

I made some risk assessments.

Next there was the scene with the little girl, unfortunately due to illness I couldn’t be there but I heard she was very patient for a 2 year old even though she refused to use the toy London bus that we originally wanted her to use. 

While at the park they also shot the scene of the lady running over the camera (we used Katie).

After this they then went to Chelsea to shoot the office scene with Corrin. Which, from the final shots, went successfully. I particularly like the close-up shots of his hand, its an interesting perspective and sticks to our original concept. 

On the Saturday, we shot the train scene, bus scene and street scene. Luckily there was space to shoot the scenes and there wasn’t any problems with members of the public getting in the shots. We had a couple of problems when Sam tried to film the scene on her own with the gimble, it turned out to be quite hard for her because of the motion of the moving train/bus and the heaviness of the equipment but with some help it was ok. Throughout the day I was recording audio, I managed to get the sound of the train voice by recording the speaker on the train using my iPhone. We managed to get some good shots during the day there was some issues with motion of the bus as one of our actors nearly fell over but we managed to get everything we wanted done.

We shot our other scenes the next week; protest scene and cleaning scene. They turned out well, the protest scene turned out to be quite hard because we didn’t have a large group of people but we did close ups of our feet and followed a group of tourists which seemed to work ok. The cleaning scene was good as well, I particularly like the shot of the gum going up the vacuum its quite abstract.

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16x9: Idea Development

To start the project we had to come up with 3 ideas to pitch to Peter and Ansel, all showing ways of telling a story in London. 

Our first idea is called ‘Gum’, the concept is that the camera will follow a piece of gum around London, overhearing multiple conversations as it goes. We all liked this idea as its quite a unique way of telling a story and could result in some interesting camera imagery if done well.

For our references we chose images with a dark and dingy colour scheme, as we want the gum to stand out in the shots. This idea was my personal favourite, just because of the uniqueness of it.

Our second idea is called ‘Tuesday’s, the concept is to follow an old lady through her day, mainly in a stereotypical ‘old lady flat’ then out to the shops. The vibe would be quite comical as we would make the whole film full of suspense with the climax being she is just going to the shops.

 For our aesthetic we would want a film-like colour grade, in-keeping with with the old-lady vibe. We would also want sharp and snappy shots with extreme close ups to keep up the suspense and also for comedic value. I think this idea could work well, it would definitely be less of a technical challenge than Gum but it can also be quite hard to be funny which is what this film would rely quite heavily on to be entertaining.

Our third idea is called ‘Rye Lane’ the concept being to follow someone down Rye Lane (or somewhere similar) while they collect different things from different cultures, at the end putting them all together to show the multicultural side of London. 

We want the aesthetic to be bright, colourful shop settings, relevant to the country that the object is from. We would possibly shoot at night to accentuate these colours and get a different kind of feel than you would during the day. I think this idea could work well but we would need to think in depth a lot more to  make it entertaining as 3 minutes of someone walking around the shops could be very boring.

After presenting our 3 ideas we all came to the conclusion that ‘Gum’ seemed like the one with the most potential. 

When we spoke about the idea in more depth we decided we wanted a grungy, urban feel to it with the gum being a bright bubblegum pink to really accentuate it. We also want it to have an underlying sense of humour to it, so quite funny dialog and possibly funny shots depending on how that would work. When thinking of possible shoot locations, we really want to incorporate public transport somehow, an integral part of London’s identity. All of the shots would be at ground level, never seeing anyones face, putting further emphasis on the gum itself. With the use of natural light, it would create the dull, urban vibe we want that can then make the pink of the gum more intense. The edit would be fast but in a continuous shot motion, the gum would flow from one scene to another while the dialog cuts and changes throughout. The dialog would be peoples conversations overlapping with each other but still making sense as one continuous monologue (see research for reference). There will be noises from location in the audio as well  to get the authentic London feel. 

I think our idea sounds very promising I am a bit concerned about technical difficulties such as the continuous motion and how its going to flow from one shot to another but this will just have to be tested out.

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16x9: Research

Once we had settled on our idea (see idea development first) we started to research the aesthetic and style of our idea in more depth.

Because we want the shots to be all ground level I started to look at footwear adverts and I found the Adidas campaigns seemed to be exactly what we were trying to achieve with the continuous motion but fast pace.

The focus on the shoe in this video is what we wanted to achieve with the Gum.

There was also this video from Tyler the Creator where the whole focus of the video is ground level, again focusing on the shoes. Although this isn't the fast pace we want the whole colour scheme and grungy vibe is the perfect reference for what we want to do.

We all then started to screenshot and take pictures of the kind of visual we wanted to recreate, sticking to the urban, grungy vibe.

References:

https://www.instagram.com/adidas/

https://www.instagram.com/feliciathegoat/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5Y99wb_00

For the audio; we knew we wanted a continuous stream of dialog from a range of different voices, representing Londoners.

I found this reference from Austin Powers where each finishing line connects to the start of the next line. This could definitely work once we sort out what people are actually going to say.

When we knew we had to cast a little person for one of scenes, we started to look at casting website ‘Star Now’.  

Through this we managed to hire a little girl for one of our scenes.

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Branding: Final Reflection

I think overall my branding project went well, my idea development with lots of experimentation meant that I could come up with some successful final outcomes and a strong agency identity. Really throwing myself in to the making process meant that I could write off outcomes that weren’t really working and finally come to a successful solution.

At first, I found it quite a struggle to try and come up with a concept that I thought was truly representative of young people. In the end, I’m so glad I chose to use young creatives work as I think the creative community is so strong and so connected to people through social media it seems like the perfect way for brands to market their products. It definitely helped that the concept was something I’m passionate about myself as well, so I new where to look for strong and interesting imagery and I knew how to present it an exciting way.

I definitely found it easier working independently on this project although I know in the real world this kind of thing would more likely be done in a team. If I was to continue the project I would definitely like to collaborate with more people to find a broader range of styles and work that would further represent this creative generation.

This has definitely been one of my favourite projects on the course so far, it was so nice to finally feel like I was doing something that could be a possible career path.

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Branding: Final Presentation

For our final presentation we went to the Ogilvy building to show our work to the team. As there were time constraints we weren’t able to talk through our presentation so I tried to choose the posts and order them in a way that spoke for themselves. I think my final presentation is successful and represents my agency well. The feedback I got was positive, they said the image choices were strong and was a good representation of the young community.

The only negative was the mockup with the plant they said was a bit cliche and boring which I agree with. 

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Branding: Idea Development

My idea for the agency is to create a way for young creatives to use their skillsets to advertise products. So ad campaigns would be focusing on how a creative would use a product while creating work, also incorporating their own styles and work in to the campaigns. The use of the younger generation of creatives would mean the campaigns stay relevant to younger people.

When thinking of the 18-30 year old demographic I know this generation of people is called ‘generation Z’. I wanted to channel this in the name of my agency so when the name is seen or heard there is an automatic connection to the younger generation. I went through a range of names including Z-Nation, GZ, Z and Gen Z but eventually settled on Zation. This name works well because it is punchy and catchy, its also quite a memorable name for potential clients.  

When creating the logo, I trialled a range of different fonts. I found it quite hard to find a look that had a young vibe but didn't feel too immature. I liked the look of the more editorial fonts such as Blenny but felt they were a bit serious and would more likely be used to market to an older demographic. 

I finally settled on the font Freehouse but opted for an outlined version as this style is quite in style right now and also gives a quite boring, editorial font more of an edge. I went for an electric blue colour because it fits in with the original colour scheme I wanted. I want the colour to be interchangeable though so that it fits in with different creatives work and ad campaigns. This logo works really nicely and I think it represents the mood of my agency well. It’s not too age specific so potential clients would understand this agency can appeal to both 18 and 30 year olds and the ages in-between. I did have some trouble with the kerning at first but managed to fix it as much as I could, it still could maybe use a bit of work, if I had longer on the project this is something I could spend more time on.

My initial idea when starting the instagram campaign was to use very plain imagery with the logo as the main focal point, so as not to give Zation too much of it’s own identity that could potentially draw attention away from the young creatives work.

I like the use of colour in this post, the plain colour and style of the photography combined with the pop of colour is the look I had wanted to achieve from the start. I think there’s a bit of a mysterious element to it as well which would work well for an instagram story as you down have much time to catch someones attention. The post overall, however, is quite boring and doesn’t have much substance to it.

Again, I like the colours in this post but it’s not saying much. It doesn’t stick in your mind and I don't think it would entice an instagram user in to clicking the link to see what Zation is.

The legibility of the logo doesn’t work so well in this post I also think the plain boringness of it would mean its not eye-catching to a potential client or consumer.

Here I have used a slightly more exciting image but it’s still not having the edgy vibe I want work from Zation to have. Also the nature of the shadows in the image means the legibility of the logo suffers in places.

After trailing the plain imagery posts I decided it just wasn’t working. The whole essence of the agency is that it consists of young, creative work that is exciting and fresh, these posts were not representative of that.

This kind of image definitely works better, I like the accent of red as well. Theres something about it that's still not clicking though, maybe because the photograph feels quite contrived.

I really don’t like this post, it feels quite corporate, something an out-of-touch company would create. What does work well is the change of slogan from ‘a new branding agency for creatives by creatives’ to ‘a new branding agency with young creatives at the centre’ I think it works with the use of a border. Maybe this could become a signature thing for Zation.

This still isn't quite right but it’s getting on the right tracks. I think the colours work well and I really like the border made out of the Zation logo it has the edginess I wanted from the start.

After these trials I decided that my choice of photography needed to be more considered. After confirming with Peter that I didn’t have to use stock imagery I decided to use more exciting photography within the posts.

Already this feels more fun and lively. The use of better, more creative photography gives it the feel I want for Zation. Again, the use of the border with the slogan works really nicely.

I love the overall aesthetic of this image, it communicates the creativeness of the agency well. The colours really compliment one another as well.

This post works well but could be more exciting, the photograph is good but feels a bit too ‘nice’ not so edgy. The colours also feel a bit too ‘nice’. But I do like the overall look of the post.

I love the attitude in this image and the colours compliment one another in a way that makes the Zation logo pop.

I love the colours in this post, the close up of the face also makes the overall all post more effective.

Again, the creative use of makeup and styling in this image really channels Zations ethos. I like the colours but the slogan could be a bit more legible.

Love the attitude in this photo however the nature of the neon green means the slogan and logo legibility are affected. However, I think the bright green border looks so good on the toned down colouring of the image.

I don’t think this photograph is the strongest but I like the fact the film borders are kept in, again reminding the client of the creative nature Zation has. The red border also works well with the contrasting blue but makes the slogan and logo harder to read.

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Branding: Research

For this project the brief is to create a branch off of exiting branding agency Ogilvy for the younger market specifically 18-30 year olds. I am excited about this brief as branding has always been something I am interested in and the brief gives us scope to create something new and fresh and different from the existing Ogilvy style.

To gain initial inspiration and create a moodboard I started by looking at branding agencies websites and instagrams. I also looked at magazine websites and instagrams as I think the imagery that some editorials produce is the kind of vibe I want for my agency. When looking at these I kept an eye out for successful colour schemes and also what type of style would appeal to a younger audience.

References:

https://www.wonderlandmagazine.com

https://rollacoaster.tv

https://gretelny.com

https://breaksagency.com

https://www.motherdesign.com

https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk

https://www.ryanhaskins.com

For my moodboard, I have chosen a darkish colour scheme which still has a bright pop to it through the use of colourful, neon accents. I like the combination of dark, neutral colours such as grey combined with a more fun colour such as neon green. I think the mood created from this conflicting colour scheme is young and fresh but isn’t too age specific so can appeal to both 18 and 30 year olds plus the ages in-between.

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More Than Modernism: Final Reflection

I found over this project that working in a group where there is a lack of constant communication, some people will end up not producing as much work as others which has a negative impact on the group as a whole. Some people weren’t clear on the project brief and because of the communication issues this wasn’t realised until the night before the workshop. This resulted in some work not being to the same standard as others and some people only producing one piece of work if any. I found it quite frustrating as well that I was the only one on the group who was willing to put together PDFs and get the groups work organised for the workshop. Out of a group of 6 only 3 of us created the set amount of work which is a shame because the use of more imagery could have meant stronger final outcomes.

Despite this, I feel as an individual I worked well, researching beyond the obvious and managing to find imagery and typography authentic to modern-day Brazil. Looking back on my work, the collages are good but I feel I could have been more experimental and playful with some of them. I also wish I created more as I think towards the end of the making process I had found a style I really liked and one that would have worked well with the other collages in my group. If I was to do the project again I definitely would have pushed myself to create more also using imagery from more authentic sources such as books or publications.

Overall, I think this project was a success, our final outcomes look good and it was an enriching experience researching Brazilian modernism as it is not something I have previously learned about.