Visual Thinking Exercise

We were given a brief to work on as a group for 1 day. The brief was based on the current economy and how the governement are encouraging people to 'Spend More & Save Less' to inject more money back in.

We were put in a group of 5 and we spent the morning in the library researching economics and different methods of getting our message across. We looked into many ways of conveying our research and how we could put this across to all age groups.

Around Midday we settled on the idea of using facts as our way of presenting our work. We felt this was going to be the most effective method and would encourage people to spend their money. We decided to make 2 posters, aiming one at students and the other at OAP's.

We thought about what things would make us spend a bit more of the little money we had in order to help the economy and we decided that what we most wanted once finishing university was a good job. We used this to research facts on the difference you could make spending a little more every week.

Everything in these posters is accurate and true.

Shocking Advertisements

Here is some examples of advertisements using shock tactics. Trend Hunter.

This is some of my research into Amnesty International and looking into different types of advertising campaigns.

Amnesty International Brief

Our next project is a brief for Amnesty International. For this we need knowledge on the kind of things that Amnesty do around the world and the work they do for different causes.

This gives me the chance to do some real research into
Amnesty, and looked into all the different ways of
approaching the brief.

The Brief is to raise Amnesty's profile and create a higher awareness of their work. The target audience is people who rarely or never donate to charity and to encourage all ages to support the work that Amnesty International do.

Book Binding

For one part of the course we try bookbinding. Hannah showed us examples of her work, which was very good and demonstrates many different ways of binding pages and creating covers.

The first book we made was made from card scored on the folds and then joined together with tabs. The larger the card and the number of folds determines the amount of pages in the book. This technique is simple and a very effective way of creating a book. This technique is known as the Circle Accordion.

The next type of binding we tried was Japanese Stab Stitch. This involved cutting a back cover from card, then cutting another piece the same size. With the front cover you have to cut a piece off the end and subtract 2mm for the join where the book opens. Once you have all your pages cut, you clamp the book together and punch the holes for the stitch. With all the pages and covers lined up, you stitch through the holes until it is secure. La Voila!

Type & Tape/What the duck!

Here's the final piece from our type & tape brief which was to make a typeface using tape.
We decided to create a typeface that was to be used outside and could be used on a large scale.
We tried a few different characters to see if the style would work across
the board.
I think this worked out well and from a distance this looked like it was actually painted on.

I enjoyed this brief and it was good experimenting
and realizing that a multitude of materials could
be used to design type.

Roman Cieslewicz

Here is some work by the Polish designer Roman Cieslewicz. He was a fine artist and specialised in poster and display designs. He has some amazing examples on hand rendered typefaces and loads of examples of different methods of printing.

http://www.poster.com.pl/cieslewicz.htm
http://www.theartofposter.com/romancieslewicz.htm

Some Photos.

Here's some photos I took this weekend. I wanted to try a few different things in photshop playing around with levels and colour correcting.

Clive gave me a few tips last week on painting in colour from the bottom layer with black & white so I tried that on a couple of photos.

I am going to try and take and edit 10 photos week. So I can try different ways of masking and different ways of adjusting them in photoshop.

Inspiration for Vernacular Typography

http://www.practise.co.uk/work/2004/urban-wild.html

http://www.bookworks.org.uk/asp/home.asp

For my Vernacular Typography project I am producing 3 small books. Each book will boast an illustrated front cover relating to the content but keeping an obvious continuity between them.

The bookworks site has some excellent examples of page layouts and colour schemes and popular designs
that have
been
published.

Thank you bookworks!

Vier5. http://www.vier5.de/10/info.html

Visual Communicators, typographers and designers.

Vier5 design & apply many of their own new up to date fonts, and do lots of experimental typography work. They say their work is based on the classical notion of design and they work with creative statements, trying to cut out the use of visual empty phrases.

I especially like the catalogue for the musee d'art moderne they created and the Douglas Coupland poster which uses lots of different styles of typeface together.

I think this work appealed to me most because of the instant impact it has, it looks interesting. Even though it is foreign, the use of symbols and letters together draws you in.

Viva Vier5!

Boondock Font

This is typeface I started to make today. It's called 'boondock'.

I wanted to keep it bold and very simple, using block letters for a solid feel. I think the letters flow well from A to Z and I am working on the numbers now so will post them when finished.

Letterpress.

'Cheka Kidogo' is Swahili for
laugh a little.
This was our second letterpress
session and we started experimenting with different colors
& and on different materials. I think these for work the best, on black paper with solid,clean edges on the letters i think it looks most effective.

More next week watch this space.

Vernacular Typography

For the vernacular type brief I have decided to produce a set of books each documenting a different type/style of lettering around London. I have edited the photos and have around 20-25 for each set.

Each book will have an illustrated cover relating to the subject, which I have rough sketches of but haven't finished the designs. I am looking at different colors and weights of paper to print the main pages on and looking into different materials to use for the front and back covers.

I have also looked into different ways of binding the book. I thought about spiral binding so the books are easy to flick through but I have now decided to use one pin so they can fan out to view all the images together.

The color scheme for each book will represent the style of the images and the different typefaces used and each will be assigned a theme to follow.

Illustration Video from rinpaeshiodan.jp

Check it out.

http://rinpaeshidan.jp/works/

Adhemas Batista

Adhemas Batista is a Brazilian illustrator I researched last year for inspiration for my digital illustration. He has done a massive amount of work for loads of companies, I won't go into it because there's lots. Check out the link though. it's worth it!

http://www.adhemas.com/

Here's a few of his pieces to tickle the taste buds.

Journey Recorded

For the way-finding brief I decided to document a small section of a journey to somewhere new. This was so I could use the small things I remember and create an accurate vision into my design.

Many of the things in this piece may seem irrelevant but no two people would remember the same things about any journey they took, this is because there is just too much to see. These are the things I remember, the things I notice, but if I did the same journey again it would all be different.

Everything in this piece has a real meaning and place.

It may look random but I can assure you it is well thought out.

• The black spots are the small parts when I didn't really remember anything.
• The text that is darkest are my thoughts at the time.
• The things I remember less are fainter or blurred.
• The % is equal to how much I remember of them, which is what the opacity is set at for each image.
  
• The background is the bus journey which is very faint, this was unmemorable.
• I wanted to keep the design messy because nobodys memory is totally clear.
• The shoes in the top left were kept black & white because I couldn't remember the exact color.
• The white circles in the piece represent the times when you do remember slightly but your not sure about. Small details in things.

Brushes & Type

Boring title but I couldn't think of anything else. I wanted to find a typeface that would fit well with brushes used in the background.
I think I found this font on wwwUrbanFonts.com but I am not sure and it's called fuc*ker. I decided to make some of my own brushes from photos and scans and used some stock brushes.
I just rasterized the type then loaded the brushes I wanted to use. Then with the eraser tool with the mode set to brush added the designs in the background.

Simple & Effective

Terry O'Neill Photography

Terry O'Neill is an English photographer I have admired since seeing his work last year in a fashion book from the 1960's. He documented the change in fashion styles through the 60's and was a very influential celebrity photographer.

There is an exhibition of his work at the Royal Bath Hotel on the 25th of October.

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/artist.php?art=2492

WayFinding/Recording a Journey

We were given a brief by Neil to document a journey as we drift through a new or unfamiliar area. When we describe a journey we have different ways of describing the experience, some factual some emotional. We only tend to focus on the information that leaves an impression on us, so we don't actually take in that much info. Everybody will take different parts of the journey in and recognize only what they feel is most important.

When in a new place you will notice much more of whats around you. A new area and things you haven't seen before is a new memory therefore you find interesting, but somewhere that you pass everyday is less so and you probably won't notice as much because you have seen it before.

What things do you notice on your journey through somewhere new???????

Vernacular Typography Brief

For this brief we were asked to create a series of photographs that record lettering in the public environment. We have to use this information and present 3 different sets of lettering used, taking into account
- Typeface
- Materials used
- Origin and Place
- Textures and Colour
-Tone of Voice

Vernacular Typography is type that is found within the local area.

Navigational Typography is signs that show you the way or letting you know where something is.

Fascia Typography is type or signs that are attached to a surface but can be moved i.e illuminated signs.

Architectural Typography is type that is part of the building and are usual set in stone using simple san serif fonts. Also memorial plaques.

Hand-Rendered Typography is type that is painted on by hand, things like labels on bins, stencils and noted scrawled on walls or doors.

Visual Recording Brief

For this brief we were asked to record primary research in Poole using photography, drawing and note taking. We were to look for symbols, signs and landmarks that help us to navigate through an area we are unfamiliar with. We then have to produce 3 editorial illustrations visually recording our experience in Poole.

Look Again/Think Again

The brief was to take a series of abstract photographs that we think reflect on the statement 'Look Again'. Taking an experimental approach by using different camera angles and techniques. I don't have a camera at the moment so I decided to use some photos that I had taken last year whilst travelling.

The brief was very vague so open to personal interpretation, I decided to match images together to highlight different views on the same picture.

Heaven or Hell? Which image do you think of as heaven and which do you see as hell?

Illustrators!

www.illustrationweb.com is full of illustrators of all kinds. If you are at all interested in any kind of drawing or painting then this is definitely worth having a look at. It has everything from Fashion, Animation, Collage and Graphics and loads more different styles.

New Designers

I have recently been looking into graphic designers,typographers and illustrators that i have heard of and read a little about but don't really feel I know enough about them or the work they produce. An important thing for me at the moment is to look into as many different areas of Vis Com that I can and read about the history as well as whats happening now.

I looked at an Illustrator yesterday called Peter Stemmler on www.quickhoney.com and was amazed by his vector drawings. He has done a really good collection of celebrity portraits including Kanye West, Andy Warhol and my personal favourite Norman Mailer which is done on a brown background in the style of a stencil. This picture is so simple yet so effect, I have an ongoing interest in stencilling and think the composition and colours used fit very well together.

Jonathon Barnbrook is another designer whos work I recently came across. I have been looking at his 'Friendly Fire' exibihition in London 2007 which is a look back across alot of their work in Britain. It included student work, typographic design, print and film. It seems alot of the work at this exhibition has a political msg or motive behind it which is maybe half the reason I liked it so much. Some work in the exhibition was street art with political meanings, maybe attacking a government or using posters or graffiti to put across important messages. They also including some Damian Hirst work and had work Jonathon had done as a student along side some of his work from present. www.barnbrook.net worth checking out.