GRAPHICS PATHWAY - 3 PROJECTS IN 2 WEEKS: 3) ILLUSTRATION COVERS

For my third and final project I choose the Illustrative covers brief. I feel this brief was may favourite out of the three, although I enjoyed the others, I fell this brief is more personal to my interests. The freedom of this project was also endearing as all we had to do was pick a potential title for either the 'New Scientist' or 'The Economist' magazines. I generally like to do cover art and anything related to this so I would enjoy this project. Out of a choice of titles for both magazine I choose to do 'China V Russia' as, for some reason, as soon as I saw this title a wealth of different ideas and imagery sprang to mind, I looked at the other titles briefly and thought about how I could portray them nevertheless the 'China V Russia' title. 

To begin with, I looked at what makes these two nations what they are. For instance, their languages, cultures, flags, leaders and so on. I looked at the Chinese languages and the difference between mandarin and Cantonese. Similarly the strange nature of the Russian alphabet interested me. The leaders Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia are often seen shaking hands in a political sense. I thought I could maybe perhaps play around with this image of them appearing to shake hands but actually thinking and suggesting something else.

I researched into some typical stereotypes of the two nations and found that there are some typical things one would associate with China and Russia. For China there was the Chinese dragon, the colour red and communism (an ideal once shared with Russia). With Russia there is snow, vodka, bears, red square and the soviet union. All these are very generalised and I only researched into them to give me an idea and some inspiration







I then decided to focus on the Russian Bear and the Chinese Dragon because I feel these two symbolise the nations well and both have their own significant meanings to their natives. I began to draw out and sketch some rough ideas and layouts using some imagery. I also tried to include some text maybe the Russian alphabet or some authentic Chinese script





Below are the black biro drawings I did on the final day of the project. They are both A4 in size because I realised that when illustrating often, illustrators tend to draw something large in scale and then scale it back down to use in the final piece, that way it is more detailed. This is what I put into practice for use ion the final cover. I am pleased with these drawings and I feel they have a bold quality with the use of black biro.

Once I was happy with my final drawings, I scanned them into Photoshop to begin with and then  into Illustartor to add the text. I then played with the final placing of the two images on an A4 template to see which sizes and proportion works the best for a magazine cover. I had to erase some of the background space so that the two drawings appear as though they were drawn straight onto the sheet but apart from that, the process was fairly straight forward.

 

This is the final cover with 'The Economist' masthead and logo.
In hindsight I think the cover seems a bit obvious and slightly
unimaginative. I like how the drawings work and I feel the layout is
 well executed but considering the audience of 'The Economist' I
think they will think that this is almost a bit too obvious. Nevertheless
given the time period I am pleased with my final outcome.

Images - Author's Own 02/02/14

GRAPHICS PATHWAY - 3 PROJECTS IN 2 WEEKS: 2) TYPE TRANSFORMERS

For the second project of three I choose to do the Type Transformers brief. I selected this typographic project rather than the alphabetype brief because I like the idea of being able to experiment with letters and changing the shape and meaning. Furthermore I had already completed a simpler form of the alphabetype brief by creating my own hand drawn alphabet earlier on in the year. I first began just doodling and making rough sketches seeing what object I could manipulate the letters into. This process was rough and free-flowing to get my ideas down onto paper and gain inspiration. I thought about real and everyday objects that surround me like glasses, lamps etc.

To further help my thought process and gain some inspiration, I did some research online to see how others have shown objects in letters and manipulated physical objects to resemble letters and so on. I found that there a re a lot of everyday objects that are shaped similarly to letters and vice verse. Once I had thought of a few objects to study further, I began making some neater drawings of the letters and trying out different mediums such as pen, pencil, felt tips an biros to see which worked the best. I also tried different colour palettes as well to add some vibrancy to the lettering. Throughout this process I found that more ideas spontaneously came to me and that's when I had the idea of depicting a swan in the letter S which is already very similar to the general shape of a swan.

Final drawing - original size 20cm x 20cm

This is my final type transformations drawing that I completed myself using felt tip, pen and red biro. I choose to depict glasses, an eye and a swan as I felt these were my strongest concepts. In conclusion I am pleased with my final outcome, again it was a short time period so I feel I have maximised the time available to come up with a reasonable outcome for the project. I p[lan to scan this into Photoshop and adjust the levels of contrast, brightness and saturation to see if this enhances the drawings in any way.

Images - Authors's Own 28/01/14

GRAPHICS PATHWAY - 3 PROJECTS IN 2 WEEKS: 1) SUBVERSIVE DESIGN

I began the first project of the two week period, subversive design, looking at ways designers can be ironic and humerus with imagery and text. I looked at a number of different sources and gained inspiration through researching brand parodies and how intentionally misspelling or rearranging letters affect the brand identity.

I also researched into the history of some popular brands to see if there was a socio-cultural element that I could highlight in the brands or in their imagery. I looked closer to home and into my own likes and dislikes. I have always tried to avoid using the tube because I hate being cramped and squashed into tight spaces at rush hour. Another aspect I noticed was the frequency of delays, suspensions and cancellations of trains, tubes and public transport in general.





From this I began looking at the London Underground sign itself, maps and sign typically found at most stations. I then thought about re-naming the stops to the emotions and feelings of not only myself on the tube but also the average everyday commuter. Words like stress, frustration and irritation came to mind and I expanded on those. Using the traditional Gill Sans font, I created a mock platform and line guide where the names of the stops are different and instead of district line you have delayed line and so on. Later on in the project, I realised how eye contact in the tube is treated, I noticed that people often avoid eye contact at all times and if you make eye contact it feels as though you have broken the unwritten code of conduct. Of course this is purely for a comical purpose so I included it also in my final piece. 

In conclusion to this short project, I feel I have captured the essence of subversive design and using imagery and text to be ironic, as this project is quick and only a few days long in order to complete the other projects, my final piece is a representation of this time period. 

Final Piece for the subversion design project, using the emotions
of the everyday commuter to summarise a typical experience
on the tube. Original size A2

Images - Author's Own 25/01/14

GRAPHICS PATHWAY - 3 PROJECTS IN 2 WEEKS

From a choice of 6 projects we had to choose 3 to complete over the next 2 weeks. The projects I have picked are 1) Subversive Design, 2) Type Transformers and 3) Illustration Covers. I have picked these three because of the variety, at the end of the two weeks I should have some solid design work, typographic work and some illustration which I feel covers the breadth of graphic design and my capabilities well. I look forward to working on these projects further and developing final outcomes throughout the two weeks.

GRAPHICS PATHWAY - DATA TRANSLATION

This week's project was focused around ways to solve visual design problems in an effective way. We had to communicate information and data in as visually interesting and graphic a manner as possible. We tried to represent the data in a fresh, imaginative and unique way avoiding the obvious but nevertheless being clear and effective. I had many ideas at the very start of the project and was unsure which path to follow. I wanted to make the project unique to myself so I thought about ways I could do this. I looked at data in my passions: music and football. I thought about representing the most popular genres of music in current times, best selling albums and artists. In relation to football I looked at the highest goalscorers of all time in the premier league. It was then a question of choosing a way to represent this data and importantly how I could make it interesting and clear for football enthusiasts as well as those who are not so interested in football.

 I researched into infographics and a lot of what I found was circular or involved circles in some way because of their natural shape and versatility, I looked into this further and eventually decided to base the top ten goalscorers of all time in the premier league around a circular design. I experimented with width and colour which helped me discover that I could represent the number of goals scored by the width of the circle in mm or cm for example. Centimetres were too big however millimetres were perfect as 1 mm could represent 10 goals, I then realised that I could use the same system for appearances so the goals/appearances could both be shown together. I made the appearances circle slightly transparent as they are not the main focus of the data and the goals circle a solid colour to show clearly the amount of goals scored in comparison to the appearances. I thought this worked well as it was a clear comparison, making the background black I feel also makes the colour stand out even more. 

Overall, I feel it is a simple but clear and effective design, I also wanted to try something different to what I usually do as I tend to favour more illustrative imagery, this is something slightly different and somewhat out of my comfort zone. However, I have enjoyed this project and I am happy with my final outcome.

Final Design, original size A2

Images - Author's Own 17/01/14

GRAPHICS PATHWAY - WAYFINDING & MAPPING PROJECT

For this project we were tasked with trying to find a new and fresh way of mapping and wayfinding a particular location. We only had a week for this brief therefore ideas generation and development had to occur quickly. I choose to map out Greenwich park in a new way. Initially, I highlighted all the most significant landmarks, roads and points of interest of the park. I also researched a little into the history and heritage of the park for instance what it is known/famous for. Using an existing map I played around with the shape of the park and sketched its layout in some different ways.

Following this I found some patters in the layout and found it was quite linear. This immediately made me think of star constellations, I decided to research to see if there were any start constellations that had a similar layout to Greenwich Park and there were a few. I thought this was a good idea because in the context of the Royal Observatory in that it was unique to the park's astronomical heritage. After some further research I found the Phoenix and Cepheus constellations which both had similar layouts however the Cepheus constellation was nearly identical. I therefore decided to run with the Cepheus constellation and researched it further.

I then made some comparisons with the constellation and looked for the patterns in the park, marked in red pen. From this I used Illustrator to create my final idea or piece which consisted of the Cepheus constellation in the background with the mapping of the parks points of interest and entrances in relation to the starts, for instance Errai = Blackheath Gate and so on. I found this worked well and the white stood out from the background well. I used Arial font initially but on reflection it was a safe choice and lacked a bit of interest, it was fairly plain in relation to the rest of the imagery. I think in future I will experiment with different fonts a bit more. In addition I and others felt that I could increased the size of the piece to allow more space for the text and imagery to work as the general view was that it was a little cramped and some of the text sizing was disproportional.

Final piece/idea roughly an A2 square

Imagery - Author's Own 12/01/14

GREENWICH PARK - WAYFINDING PHOTOS

Here some photos that were taking in advance of the wayfinding project. I went to Greenwich park the weekend before the wayfinding and mapping project to do a photographic survey of the area before beginning the project. Most of these photos will serve as a reference for my own design process. I took photos of the surrounding area, the mains roads/avenues, existing maps, and landmarks in Greenwich Park. I choose to survey Greenwich Park because of extensive space and different features, it served as one of the 2012 Olympic venues and it is the home of the Royal Observatory therefore I thought this would be interesting to investigate.

Images - Author's Own 04/01/14

GRAPHICS PATHWAY - PASSAGE OF TIME PROJECT

Over Christmas, we were set a number of different briefs to choose from. I choose the  'Passage of Time' brief because I felt it had the most potential to expand and become a number of different things. I first began by brainstorming a number of ideas in relation to time and the passing of time for instance, ways of measuring time, units of time, the seasons, the sun and so on. I researched a little into the earliest ways of measuring time which included sand-timers or hour glasses, quartz clocks and sundials, I found interesting the natural ways of measuring time and so decided to pursue this a bit further and maybe incorporate an element of text into the final piece.

Following this, I looked at some quotes in relation to time as I feel quotes can be a powerful way of summarising an individual's opinion of time. The most striking quote I discovered was from Benjamin Franklin, he stated that 'You may delay but time will not' and this I feel applies to everyone, the inevitability of time passing is something we cannot control. This inevitability of time is something I wanted to go with. After some experimentation in illustrator I discovered that I could incorporate the quote into maybe an hour glass or sundial. I found it worked well in the hour glass because the quote gets physically separated by the two different sections. The sand that flows through to the other side is the past and represents the time we have lost or cannot get back, on the other hand the sand that is yet to flow through represents the present and the future. Therefore the quote can be separated, 'you may delay' representing the present and future 'but time will not' representing the past.

To elaborate further on this idea I used a collage background which consisted of a ripped up calender/diary symbolizing the loss of time or lack of organisation of time. I scanned this into illustrator and added some filters and adjusted the contrast levels and then placed the sand-timer on top of the collage. I also made the overlayed design slightly transparent so that you can see some of the background coming through. Overall I was pleased with this project however on reflection I think my idea was maybe a little bit too safe and predictably about time, I like how the sand-timer clearly represents the passage of time and the quote is strong however I feel it is a little safe. I would maybe in the future like to do something slightly less obvious maybe even something in 3D as I often do 2D final pieces which gets a little repetitive after a while. I t was suggested that maybe I could have done some engraving into wood or maybe thin metals which could be a possible alternative. In conclusion, I didn't enjoy this project as much as some others, I feel I didn't get immersed into enough although I am fairly pleased with my final outcome.

Final piece, A3 poster

Images - Author's Own 10/01/14