crit feedback 25/10

Another quick observation...it was suggested that the 'modular' idea I had developed for the logo was perhaps a little too subtle maybe...so I will see what I can do about this in the near future...

crit boards..

A couple of boards I put together for a crit this morning. Turns out this was quite useful in terms of actually seeing how far I have come along with these projects; obviously not as far as I thought I had.



Able Concept Board



PBpdf

Business documents...

Mocked up a quick receipt type thing; one that could be used for materials charges and all that kind of thing. Now I've got the general aesthetic style down, I can apply it across various pieces of documentation and whatnot.

Bearing in mind the initial plan to use a modular-style logo; this kind of form would be used towards the end of the project process - earlier documents could use a more stripped-back version, to signify a particular stage of the building process.

Colours

Brick red -

C - 0
M - 72
Y - 100
K - 4


Sandy Yellow -

C - 0
M - 13
Y - 38
K - 4


Black:

C - 0
M - 0
Y - 0
K - 100

document headers

A few quick ideas for letterhead-type things, generally a design that could be used for various pieces of documentation. I prefer the ones towards the end - the simpler ones; I don't feel as though there is any need for cluttering up the page with too many bits of colour here and there.



Letterheads 1

Potential product range

Drew up a list of potential products to apply the aesthetic across;

Various pieces of documentation, including:

- Contracts
- Bill of Quantities
- Technical drawings
- Specifications
- Technical/pricing schedules
- Bills/receipts
- Tax forms
- Insurance details
- Wage slips

A general styling can be applied across all of these, aspects such as format will have to be taken into account here.

Other items, such as:

- Brochure/publication (most likely unnecessary for a small company - a small webpage is sufficient, as well as cheaper and far more accessible)
- Stationery - business cards etc.
- Builder's mugs
- Van decals

Hopefully I will be able to add to this list in some way.

A letterhead idea

Beginning to work on all this side of the brief. Put this together just to get an idea of what it might look like, though it bothers me that it looks really familiar for some reason. I'm sure I've seen something like this before, but I'm not sure what it is yet..

colours 1

Colour Tests1



A few quick colour tests...I there's only a certain range of colours that can really be used with this kind of brief...thought I'd get a few down to get a good idea of the overall aesthetic before applying it to products.

The last two are the kind of thing I'm aiming for here.

Moving type development

A bit more development with the modular logo animation...















Towards the final version, which incorporates the banner. I'm fairly happy with it at this stage, it is a fairly basic animation but it serves it's purpose...i.e. it looks as though it is building up, symbolic of the way a building project would develop...the base drawing, foundations etc. towards the finishing touches (drop shadow&outline).

I'll leave it at this stage to move on with the rest of the brief, and maybe return to improve it at some point later on.

Logo.

The logo as it stands right now. May potentially add a couple of shapes in perhaps to give it a kind of hook as such, but this one can be used as the basic logo kind of thing.

Banner typeface

Messing about with a few typefaces for the banner...to be honest I think the top right is the obvious choice, maybe too obvious but I think from a potential customer's perspective it is more effective than a particularly neat typeface.

Now

I am going to make the illustrator files ready so I can mess around with each letter individually! And then I will add a banner underneath to make it a proper logo!

Take Two...

Take one....

My first AfterEffects piece in a long time...a very basic animation for my Modular logo...

Problem is it's not very modular at the moment I don't think...well it might be, I think it's almost too basic at the moment. But that's no problem right now, I will upload one more tonight and then attempt to make it properly crafty and fun to look at, i.e. different letters doing different things and all that.

I also think the drop shadow at the end isn't quite obvious enough.

Bit of AfterEffects

Started working with AfterEffects for the first time in months, so I'm a bit rusty. The screenshots below show the sequence...sort of. I figure this might be a little too basic..Yaf suggested maybe I should do something different for each letter, which I'm well up for doing, I might try and create the range before perfecting the animation, as this was never really part of the plan. That said, I kind of feel this might end up becoming something of a centrepiece as such...as in it would definitely be the most interesting thing to look at.

modular logo design...

Thought I'd have a go at taking one of the logo ideas and making it modular as such...pretty much just splitting it into several parts so they can be combined into various different things. These parts can also be used to make a quick AfterEffects animation, which I will move onto shortly to make a potential web asset - even though this is a print based module, I might mock up a quick web page where it could be used.



The basic idea:

The order they would appear in on various pieces of documentation:

Splitting it into various parts:

Took a little while longer than I had imagined to do this, and obviously I had not accounted for this in my general plan as this was not the original idea...nevermind though, this may well end up being the final logo, maybe with some kind of basic shape/image type thing to go with it.

The Idea.....: Modular Typefaces > logo

Basically whilst doing some of the sketches from earlier, I came up with the idea of making a Modular Logo as such....

This is based on the idea of Modular Typefaces, which is explained using this video:






Hopefully this explains it fairly well.

SO the idea is to create a similar sort of thing (a logo, not a whole typeface), which can develop as a building project moves forward.

Essentially, at the beginning of a project, i.e. when a contract is drawn up, the contract will have a basic, shell of a logo at the top.

As the project moves along, receipts and the final bill and guarantee etc, the logo will develop into a 'finished' logo. There will be a couple of stages along the way...semi-built logos, perhaps with the foundations or something.

I figure this would be quite a nice little touch to go on the top of letterheads and whatnot. I will have to identify the various stages of the building process so I can create logos that match this.

italic ideas

Messing around with a few ideas for the logo text...I'm fairly sure I'm not going to use italics but there's a few visual styles here that I'm thinking about carrying forward...mainly the white inline-type thing...either way, it's nice to see a few ideas on paper as such.


Building Logos1

Logo sketches.

A few visual ideas, working around the slab serif...the original is called ChunkFive or something, I had to make an italic version myself by Shearing it in Illustrator. Nothing too complex. Mitchell observed that the italic versions kind of suggest shoddy craftsmanship perhaps, and that maybe the normal version works better to convey strength and well-built structures. He might well be right. He also said that the first one on the second row down was his favourite; or the one he thought was most effective.

The idea I had is in the bottom right hand corner, though I will go into that a bit more after a bit of research........essentially it will work in the same way as modular typefaces work; a modular logo as such that will develop as a building project happens.

a few typefaces...'Able Builders'

Messing round with a few potential typefaces for building company branding brief I am doing. 'Able Builders'. A quick turnaround brief...needs a good, solid, sturdy, strong typeface. 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to use the italic version of the typeface second row down second in from the left. A nice heavy slab serif with a slightly speedy, efficient feel to it. 

I'll experiment with that one a bit and see what happens. 

initial sketches...

A small bit of mindmapping and a few initial sketches to get the ball rolling...not a very extensive mind map I am aware! Then again I don't really feel this brief needs much of that, more like a solid idea of aesthetic style, besides I have a slightly crafty idea up my sleeve which I will explain in detail later.....

Mainly I wanted to mess around with that slab serif style, I feel this suits a building company fairly well.

Able Builders

Before my tutorial session the other day I was feeling a little bewildered kind of thing, and so following advice that was given to me I decided to quickly complete one of the two branding briefs I have set myself (the building one).

The reason for this is almost simply to get me working; other briefs have taken a bit longer to get the ball rolling so it would be good to get a smaller, quicker brief out the way in order to produce some visuals and feel some kind of achievement.

I aim to complete this in a matter of days - planning, development and resolutions etc. and have it ready to present for the concept crit on wednesday.

I feel that after completing one brief I will be more than ready to complete the others. I will research and develop a few ideas in one day hopefully, then complete and present in the couple of days following that.

Plan of Action - Exhibit A

Just a quick plan to help me organise myself over the next couple of weeks.



Research;

- Collect information regarding audience/context etc
- Look at some related design work, plus take some inspiration from alternative sources, for example other magazines or general day to day life.


P/R/D;

- Look into potential product range, and assess what would be possible and effective, and what would be unnecessary - being quite a low-key kind of product, promotional materials will be very thin on the ground, more of a word-of-mouth type of thing - it won't be shouted from the rooftops as such.


Conceptualise;

- initial design work - sketches (some of this may happen before P/R/D section), initial logo/lettering ideas. Spend a fair while refining ideas before reaching a final product. Final logo should be to some extent alterable and versatile.


Magazine development;

- Combine previous work with content to begin putting together the magazine spreads; at this point it will become apparent whether it will be possible to put together a full magazine at this point in time or simply a proposal for how it will look.


- Finalise Design Work -


- Printing/finishing - having investigated possibilities for cheap and effective printing, on reasonable eco-friendly stocks. More on this in detail later on...

Exhibit A initial mindmapping

Spent a bit of time having a think about potential products for this brief. Due to the nature of the project, i.e. what is essentially to become a documentation of graffiti arts and stuff like that, it seems wise to perhaps not stray too far from the obvious core products that would stem from this brief. Of course it is a nice idea to have a wide range of products and logos applied to every possible relatable object I can think of, but in reality there would be a lack of reasoning behind this if I were to fully take into account the audience, which in this case would be quite a limited number of people who are potentially only really interested in what is inside the publication.

I suppose I've not really explained myself very clearly here - this is a heavily content-driven project, and  in this case the content is the photographs themselves, and this is what the audience would be interested in - the visual identity side of things merely becomes a nice touch on the cover of a good series of photographs - to begin thinking about applying this to anything more than say T-shirts for example would almost be pointless.

I may be wrong however.

For the time being, I will research into various possibilities for the visual identity and aesthetic style, and begin developing some logo ideas. All your favourites.

Statement of Intent etc.

SOI form. Contains my week-by-week rough plan and a few details about each brief.


SOI form.

Tutorial Feedback 11/10/12

4th Brief

Instead of the sign painting brief which we have temporarily postponed, instead I will undertake two branding briefs that were originally in my lost of ten potential briefs. I will write this out properly shortly...

Sign Painting brief....

After a quick discussion and a few timing issues myself and Mitchell decided to hold off the Sign Painting brief for a while. Either we could run it as a side project or begin the brief at a later stage, but at this point in time it would be problematic to start a collaboration, so I am now looking at a few of the other briefs I have written previously to see which one can replace it.

Books Still? Brief main points

Having decided to go with the Books Still? despite having some kind of good feeling about the other ISTD brief that I had taken an interest in I felt it would be good to extract the main points from it as such, so I can begin to get an idea of what they are asking for here;


-


- Explore traditional and contemporary book and publication design in terms of typography, image, navigation, hierarchy, formats and binding
- Consider how design has been used to express structure and narrative
- Explore the creative possibilities offered by production processes and materials, finishing and binding
- Develop an editorial design project that considers how we read in the 21st century
- Consider current developments in terms of format
- Express a solid idea
- Perhaps move beyond book design into the broader arena of editorial design
- Express an information hierarchy


-


It must include:

- Strategy
- Research/design development
- Specs/Grids
- Final outcomes
- Presentation disk

Potential ISTD briefs (4th brief)

Two potentially interesting and useful briefs that I could use to become my 4th main brief. I have decided to go with one of these as it serves as a competition brief, and it is also nice to have a brief written by someone else - as opposed to the other three which I have written myself. I wrote up a quick list of pro's and con's to help me decide which one to undertake:


'Circus'

pro's:

- Possibility of moving image work, something which I have not picked up on in a while.
- Cultural Branding work; an exciting area of the design world, usually allowing quite a significant amount of creative freedom.
- Scope for vast brief expansion; to create a range of related products and apply work to a apply work to a range

con's:

- Not too keen on subject matter; although it would be possible to re-write this brief to suit my own interests more, it would stop being a competition brief, and it is always good experience to put something out there in public to be assessed by somebody outside of the college.


'Books still?'

pro's:

- Yet more editorial design work
- Interesting subject matter; This particular topic has always caught my attention since I have developed an interest in graphic design
- Relevant to Dissertation work; research would apply to both the brief and the essay.
- Research-driven
- Heavily typographic

con's:

- Yet more editorial design work; 2 out of 3 of my other briefs are fairly content-driven and publication-orientated, so it would be good to take a different direction for a change.


Obviously I will have to make a decision very soon so I can crack on with it; I have decided to go with 'Books still?'; after reading the lists of pro's and con's I feel that this kind of thing is more likely to keep me interested for a greater length of time and also crosses over with my dissertation work. Seems like a good situation to be in.

I may try and re-write the brief myself to get a solid idea of what it is asking me to do; although the ISTD briefs tend to be fairly well written as far as competition briefs go. I reckon I will have a go at simplifying it at the least to allow me to get on with research as soon as possible.

'Proper Bait' Fishing magazine

-

A content-driven investigation into publication design with a focus on print process and layout skills.

A collaboration with Eddie, aiming to develop a fresh, alternative aesthetic for a fishing magazine. This will allow us to spend a significant amount of time improving our type and layout skills, building on various workshops last year. It will also allow us to make some investigations into print processes to create a magazine with some kind of additional value, contrasting to existing fishing magzines which all retain a fairly similar, basic aesthetic style.

Products:

- Magazine samples making use of a range of print processes
- Layout designs + specifications
- Logo design + visual aesthetics
- Packaging ideas
- Potential designs for digital material (basic ideas)

Distribution:

- Local Magazine distributors
- Fishing Community Events
- Online Promotion




'Exhibit A' Magazine

-

A research and content-driven investigation into publication design with a focus on photography and layout skills.

A collaboration with a friend of mine from my home town, looking into local art/graffiti scenes; currently he runs a tumblr named 'Exhibit A' which he uses as a platform for his photographs. After numerous discussions in the summer we decided it would be a good idea to push this forward into some kind of physical publication, documenting various happenings and hopefully making this available to sell at some point in the near future. This type of publication quite often comes at quite a price, so by reducing printing costs we should be able to produce an affordable, well-designed magazine.

Products:

- Proposal for a range of magazines
- Cover designs + visual aesthetics (logos etc.)
- Layout prototypes
- Investigations into affordable and sustainable print processes.

Distribution:

- Various specialised art shops (C&B, Artofficial, The Bench 504 for example)
- Related blogs and websites, social media groups etc.




Sign Painting Business

-

A skills-driven investigation into the art of sign-painting with a focus on hand-drawn type and business strategies.

A collaboration with Mitchell, an idea rooted in our mutual interests in such aspects of design such as hand-drawn lettering design, sign-painting, general open-air activities, painting etc. This will allow us to explore a wide variety of different media on a range of scales, and potentially open a gateway towards being able to do some commercial sign-painting work on a part-time sort of basis. As of yet this is quite an open-ended sort of brief, acting as a starting point as such - the general direction and development of the work will be defined by the results of working together i.e. beginning to understand the potential contexts of finished pieces.

Products:

- Various large-scale design lettering/image designs
- Potential live work
- Self-branding
- Investigations into various materials and media




4th Brief - Undecided

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This brief will be decided once the ISTD/various other competition briefs have been released.