design for environment - development

Since having a chat with Joe Gilmore from Qubik about my own work in response to the design practice 3 briefs, he recommended trying something new with the front of the 'design for environment', as there was a lot of white space and wasn't really very interesting if i was intending it to end up on the desk of a designer...

So this design was the original, the one I had intended on using...but I've had second thoughts. I agree with Joe, it is very bland and there's so much space to work with. But I don't have to over crowd it, using the same typeface but trying new things with the size and angle.



Like this one, with the little 'for' sandwiched in-between the two other words.



This one is probably my favourite. At an angle. With the text slightly cut off at either end but still legible. Might have to tweek it slightly to get it to work a little bit better!



I like this one too!
I think I'll have to get other people's opinion before I make any of my own.

10 things... layout ideas

I'm currently working on the new idea I've had for my "10 things you should know about graphic design" brief. Which is now, not to make a book, but I've been looking at new formats, and I've decided to produce a small concertina booklet.
So I pretty much had the content sorted out, so the next step is to figure our what size and the layout I want to sit in on each page/fold/side of the concertina booklet.
Here are a few designs I've been trying out (the first one I did at the bottom, working it's way to the top with the more recent)
...more to come...



This is the most recent one that I've produced. Big difference between this one and the others is that the number of the 'thing you should know' is fairly large in the top left corner of the page/fold/side with the thin blue line underneath. I haven't yet decided whether I prefer this idea to the one where the number is positioned inside the blue circle....hummm....
but I really like the positioning of the text and the imagery. I think that works really well.



The number in the blue circle....not too sure what I think to this. I like it, but I don't know if it's appropriate. I guess it works with the '10 things..' because I think the numbers definitely need to be there, counting each of the 'things' as you read it. So that's something to think about.
Not sure if I like the positioning of the text and the images as much as I do on some of the other ideas.



The 'thing you should know' in the blue circle.
It's definitely missing the number, that should be included somewhere. It looks good, but I'm not sure how big I'd have to make the circle on some of the pages/sides/folds due to the length of the title, which might look a bit stupid.
Like the image being on the same 'side' as the title then the body of text and the list on the next page.



Like the image being completly on it's own on this one. The all the other information on the next page. Think it works well with the way you might read it. Finding the image more intriguing first that a page full of text. This then making you want to read the text perhaps.



Although this was the first idea I tried, I think it's one of the strongest, the one I think I prefer the most. Just needs a few alterations, such as the number which I now know I need.
Like the layout of the lis, spreading across both pages for each 'thing'.

Type Factory Identity

I've just recently started my third and final brief, which is the Type Factory brief. To design a visual identity and range of promotional material to go along side it.

So the first step I'm taking is to create the identity for the exhibition space. I've only just started looking into it, but these are some idea's I've had so far.

A first my idea's were extremely simple, using colour, but since this first design, I don't really want to look at using colour straight away, but more the shapes and the potential.
I like these simple 'speech mark' logo's, they aren't really appropriate for what I'm doing, but still, they look pretty!
I'm still not very sure what kind of 'look' I'm going for. I want it to be a fairly contemporary museum, similar to the Design Museum in London, so that it attracts designers, school-children and tourists. I don't want it to be anything traditional like the natural history museum, or anything like that. So when I look at it like that, these ideas do have potential. Especially the use of colours... but who knows at this stage.



Another idea very similar to the first. This time a totally random shape...but again with the bright colours. I like the text on this one, just the white outlines of the letterforms. I works well on the background.



I got this idea from something I saw advertising the 'type museum's' website. Which said " A good tpyeafce mkaes ahnythnig eeisar to raed." just like that, with all the letter's jumbles u. But you could still understand what it said. A really clever piece of advertising. But I think the word 'factory' on mine needs altering in order for it to work. It's a nice idea, but I'm not sure if Iwant to spend anymore time on it...but we'll see. Maybe with a different background colour and shape?



These next few ideas are all based on the same idea, and that's incorporating the 'Pica chart' into the logo somehow. The Pica chart, this being a tool to help those who work with type. Picas are use to measure width, such as the width of a typeset column (length of line) or the space between columns. Picas are more convenient than inches because smaller spaces can be measured in whole units instead of fractions.
So that's what the vector image is on these next few ideas. It's not really very clear because an actual Pica chart has soooooo much detail and I've had to miss a lot of that out. But if I go back to it and do some altering, it might work a bit better.




These two, where the actually type is just white and you get an idea of the shape just by the background black lines of the Pica chart.





I really like what's going with this logo. It's maybe a bit detailed, and I'm not sure how it would work at a smaller scale. But it gives you a clear idea of what this "Type Factory" is about. Showing the anatomy of a letterform. It's a bit different to the other idea's I've been working on, but I think it's the most appropriate. It doesn't have the contemporary look that I was going for, but still, it's something to work with...



Another idea playing with the way type can be read..



A fairly obvious idea to work with. Using an image of a factory..

I actually really like the one where the factory is pumping out type which then spells the word's "Type Factory".
But it's a bit bland and because of the name and purpose of the exhibition, I think the reasoning is to be clever about the way you work it and use type to it's full potential!

Still a long way to go, but at least I've made a start that I'm happy with...
Watch this space...

"Type Factory" Brief

This is the third brief that I am going to be doing, as part of the design strategies module. As well as the "10 Things you should know about Graphic Design" brief and the "Environmental Impact of Design", which like those, needs to be completed by Christmas.

The Brief

Design a visual identity and range of promotional material for a new museum/gallery exhibition in a space of my choice. The exhibition is called "Type Factory' but if I think of another name, I can use that.

Concept/Propostition

Keep it simple, but inform and enthuse. Use it across and appropriate range of applications and show how well it might work across various media.

Considerations

Identity needs to capture the essence of the visit.
Be clear.
Consider the size and format.

Target Audience

Designers, school-children and tourists

Tone of Voice

Fun, Informative, clear and simple

Background

For a new museum or gallery space being developed in a space of my choice. The information graphics, promotional material and anything else I think relevant to what you might find in a museum/gallery.

Mandatory Requirements

Identity
Local outdoor advertising
A leaflet
Indoor signage
Promotional material for the shop/cafe?
Research into other's a think relevant

Deliverables

Sketch book development
Research
Variety of promotional material
Presented on between 3&6 A2 presentation boards
Supporting work should be presented and ordered in A2 plastic sleeves

:: Design For Environment

This is the work I prepared for the presentation crit recently.
It's changed slightly from my original ideas, but defiantly for the better!

I'm still working to the same brief, I've not altered it in anyway. I'm creating a postable leaflet, that once opened up, transforms into a poster.
It's designed to be sent out to existing practicing designers, working in studio's and other office-like environments. Where they open it up and firstly read about some changes they could do in the working environment to reduce their environmental footprint. Open it up again and it reveals some facts and figures about the harm that some basic stuff can cause the environment and then open it up again, this time the final time, and it reveals an A2 poster, for the designer to then put up in their studio/office for the workers to see and give them advice on the little things they can do to be more green.

This is the poster, that the leaflet folds out into, to be pinned up on a wall...



The layout of the other side of the poster, of the leaflet that provides the facts and figures and the 'envelope' design as it would be sent out.



As you might see the poster on the wall of a studio



The 'envelope' as the leaflet/poster would be sent out. Space for an address label and a stamp



As you would receive information from the leaflet, how it fold's out to reveal each separate section before becoming a poster...

:: What you need to know about graphic design

This is my response to the '10 things you should know about graphic design' brief so far. There's still a long way to go, but I prepared these page layouts for the recent presentation crits so that I could get a response to what I'm thinking so far, what people think to the idea, so helpful hints as to what I might improve etc. In general, just some useful criticism to push me in the right direction, as I feel at this stage, I've hit a brick wall.
My intentions are to create a hardback book designed for the layman, those people who don't specialize in the subject and therefore don't really understand it, what we do and how important it is.
The content is nearly complete, but there are a few spaces! Such as the copy and the images for some of the chapters.

I have designed this front cover, but haven't yet decided which colour I prefer, blue on white or white on blue.... But that's something I would like to bring up in the presentation crit. But other than that, I am really pleased with the way it has turned out.




The chapters, featured here, so far consist of...
1. Graphic Design is invisible
2. We're not Mac monkey's
3. You'd be lost or dead without us
4. We are perfectionists
5. It's not a new trend, it's been around forever
6. The client isn't always right, but they always win
7. Graphic Design rules our lives AND yours...
















I'm aiming to have about 36 pages...ish. But I'm still not 100% sure. So it's not going to be a very thick book, so the format of this book may yet need considering to fit with the content.
But hopefully, after this next presentation crit I should have a better idea of what direction I need to head in and how I might go about it! I just need some things clarifying before I move on any more.

:: Environmental Impact of Design - 1

Here are the first few ideas that I tried out in response to my brief.
As I was concentrating on targeting my designs at existing practicing designers and focusing on their working environment.
I am aiming to produce a poster that would fit well in the work place so that everyone can see it and asses there own environmental impact on the world!

So my first idea was to take an image of our studio in college, and then for it to be a bit more personal, just a typical desk with a designers usual equipment laid out.
I chose to do it as a vector image as I thought that would be most clear and I didn't want to over complicate it and make it look too fussy!

Below are the vector images of my desk and of the studio.
Objects that im focusing my research on are the iMacs in the studio, the MacBook, paper, sketch books, pens, pencils, lighting, car keys, mobile phone, plugs and if I can find appropriate research, then the furniture aswell.




Using the vector images, I then created a symbol that I wanted to represent danger and 'badness' (that's not a word, but you get what I mean), so I designed the red skull and cross bones. The more there are next to piece of equipment, then the more harmful to the environment it is.

This one (below)... I took the vector image of the studio, drew some lines from the equipment to a gathering of skull symbols, and some facts and figures about that piece of equipment used by a designer. The facts and figures are meant to shock the designer...but I think I still needed to do some more effective research to find out more stuff!



The next design I had a go at producing was something a bit more simple and easier on the eye!
Just a simple black A2 poster, portrait. Still using the idea of the vector images of 'graphic designers equipment and tools'.
But they are now positioned more clearly, with the facts and figures below the illustrations (the bottom image shows a clearer example of this). This time not using the skull and cross bone symbols.

I prefer this design much more to the first idea I had. It's much more effective, you can read it better, it's clearer and just looks much nicer overall!




:: See the "Thinking" part of my blogs to find out what was said about my work in the crit...