Original Idea (sneak peek)

Here is one of my first 'in situation' posters. (I am not going to upload any final ones until after the competition). The i logo was made up from red ink on a page using a stencil and then placed in a light box to be photographed. The brush was included to provide some environmental context and this was mainly an experimentation in text placement on the images.

Past Two Weeks Update

I got carried away updating old pictures last week so I forgot to do my weekly update! The past two weeks have mainly involved me taking on board suggestions from John and some of my classmates as to how I could move my project along. I worked with my existing photographs, which i had always made sure featured the i logo in an environment which was relevant to the objects, and photoshopped out the backgrounds. This was because these designs were going to be used on billboards which are only ever looked at for a few seconds. By clearing the background, it meant that the objects were the only things that were focused on and therefore they immediately communicated the message of the campaign.


One other thing I have been experimenting with is by using separate images to build up the ideas I have already made. For example, the book stacked idea was also made up from different books photographed individually and then put together in a collage. This also allows me to 'cheat' the sizes of the books and items in order to help make the i logo up more easily and clearly.


I have also began looking at various other advertising formats. I have edited adshels, 48 sheet billboards, beermats, train tunnel posters and now web banners. I aim to include tese to diversify how the images can be used in a variety of ares and therefore reach a greater audience. It also shows how the campaign can run and adapt for future ideas.

Post Its Concept

This was one of my newer ideas when it came to development. It is The i logo made up from several post it notes pinned up on a wall in the second year studio. Although the idea was sound, the execution needs some work, as feedback has stated that the post its should be placed more haphazardly, as post it notes are rarely placed so structurally as this. Also, the identity should be placed in the bottom right hand corner instead of on the left, so this needs to be changed.

Desk Setup: 'Crafted'

This was one of my first setups, done in the final year studio with a craft set and some other pieces of stationery. I kept the 'Crafted for busy students' tagline and also added more information. I included The Independent's logo in a png file I had made from an image found online. I also added the links to The i's facebook and twitter pages. This was to experiment with how much information could be included and where it would fit on the images.

Stationery Collage

Here is my first concept recreated using second hand photography. I added a banner at the bottom to separate the main image from the text and logo. This again was a very loose idea, but it helped me see how different items of different shapes could fit together to form the i logo.

Original Photography Idea

Shown here is one of the very first photographs I took as an experiment in photography composition. The idea was to make the i logo up from various pieces of stationery and put them in a proper environment. This was just a quick set up, as obviously in a real advertising campaign, the logos for the other products would not be visible. I clone stamped out the logo on the highlighter to see how this would work without the writing. This worked as a proof of concept, but required much more development.

Image Update

I have realised that there are no images so far of my work in progress. So here I am going to upload a few images of my original planning and ideas. The idea shown here was made in Illustrator and uses the required Stag Typeface. The concept was that The i logo was cut from a stencil and placed over a cutting mat. The tagline 'Crafted for creative students' was a play on the use of crafting materials, as well as the idea that the small format paper was 'crafted' especially for busy audiences.

Sunday 4th March

This week was quite useful, as I got some peer feedback from the group on Monday morning. On Wednesday, I took several photos for a setup in the library of a set of stacked books, however they did not come out properly, meaning I had to retake them. Thursday and Friday were spent taking some more photographs of different pieces of stationery again. Also, I experimented with taking photographs of post-it notes and red chairs in collage to see if they could be developed further.

On Saturday, I came into University when the library was quiet and retook all of my book setup images. These turned out quite well and I only had to make minimal adjustments to them to make them work as strong images.

I had an idea to use a table and chairs to make up the logo, but could not get into my kitchen for several days due to wallpapering being done. On Sunday night, I was finally able to set up the table with a red tablecloth, place a circular clock on the wall and manage to take the table idea properly. These images were alright as proof of concept, however they may need to be retaken in order for them to be used properly.

Sunday 26th February

This week was quite productive, as most of thursday and friday were spent in the photography studio doing a shoot using some of my objects that I was going to use in my advertising campaign. I spent around four hours setting up the coloured markers and inks into the shape of The i logo. I experimented with putting them both in an environment and with them against a stark white background. Some of my images came out quite well, as Chris Barr was nice enough to help me work the flash and provided me with some filters and materials to use.

Saturday and Sunday were spent working with my photographs, by choosing the best ones and placing text and the i logo onto them.

Monday, 20th february

John's seminar was cancelled, so just worked with the photograph setups I had taken last night. Due to my experimental knowledge of SLR cameras, most of the shots were immediately discarded. Some of them were useful enough to make some quick poster layouts for them. After altering these photographs, I experimented with text placement and image composition.

Week Three Summary

Monday 13^th February

Talk from Richard, then did a more accurate version of collage mock up. Looked up some design ideas online.

Tuesday 14^th February

External examiner looked at work and gave general feedback. Printed off some more research.

Wednesday 15th February

Finished mockup of collage idea and found some designers who make collages out of everyday items.

Thursday 16th February

Met with John and showed him my collage mockup, he was very positive and helped me with ideas for further set up ideas.

Friday 17th February

Started blog again properly, added fancy new 1950s style header.

Saturday 18th February

Nine hour shift as usual, did very little, but read more on ISO and white balance settings on my camera.

Sunday 19th February

Did first proper desk, stationery collage photography setups. Experimented with light and camera settings.

Week Two Summary

Monday 06^th February

Met up as a group for first seminar. Mentioned which briefs I had chosen and initial ideas.

Tuesday 07^th February

Began researching different advertising campaigns for newspapers

Wednesday 08^th February

After hours of searching, finally managed to…acquire…the required Stag typeface. Also met with Alex to get his ideas on the brief.

Thursday 09^th February

Individual meeting with John where we discussed my ideas for the project and media. Presented all work so far. Met with Alex again to discuss typographic detailing.

Friday 10^th February

Sat on D Floor due to studio being occupied for interviews. Began creating rough mockups of collage idea for project.

Saturday 11^th February

At work all day, too tired for anything productive.

Sunday 12^th February.

Practiced with camera settings and quick shots of close ups on items.

Week One Summary

Monday 30^th January

First day back. There was an introduction talk outlining the semester including the grading and the dates. Shortly afterwards, we spoke to our tutors briefly and found out our marks. 45, 38 and 60. Quite disappointing, but am aiming to do much better in this semester.

Tuesday 31^st January

Arranged a meeting with Christine to discuss my disappointing marks and to get some advice. It helped me feel a bit better about everything. Started looking at all the briefs and made a long list of all 43.

Wednesday 01^st February

Went in and narrowed list down to 10 briefs that I might be interested in, started weekly planner.

Thursday 02^nd February

Met up with John to discuss marks in greater detail and decide which briefs to do. Helped to choose the final 2 that I will actually work on. Bought first issue of the i.

Friday 03^rd February

Talk from John about ISTD projects of the past. Was useful and helped me realise that typographic projects were not for me, due to my shortcomings in the area. Stayed in the library reading creative review and finding details about The Independent. Bought second issue of The i.

Saturday 04^th February

Randomly given day off work. Watched Super 8 to help with illustration project.

Sunday 05^th February

Watched Drive for illustration project. Sketched out some ideas for projects and mind mapped brand values.

Final Year: Final Semester: The Beginning of the End

Ok, so here is my first post in quite a long time. I didn't continue this blog throughout the end of second year, or the beginning of final year, but have resurrected it to help act as a better log for my work on a daily basis. So far, final year has been quite challenging and the first semester was a struggle for me, to say the least.

However, this final semester involves choosing your own projects, working on them at your own pace and is largely an independent one. As I write this, I am just finishing my third week, but I have been keeping a brief log of my daily work back at home. I had a few problems with Blogger again, during my revamp of this blog's design and layout, but I'm finally ready to continue this. Soon, I will post two entries detailing my first three weeks, then after those, each day will be a more in depth description of my work.

Quote Poster

The brief: to take a quote about design and visualise it in a way that you don't need to see the quote to tell what it is. "Design is intelligence made visible." - Alina Wheeler. But you already knew that, yes?

Design Alliance Competition

Ok first post in a long time. I am currently working in a group of 4, in a competition set up by The Design Alliance, to design an art gallery that will tour hospitals. I would like to reveal more about our plans, but given that it is a competition, I'd rather not say here!

Another update soon...

Blurb.com Book

Week 12 complete! I'm free! well, not quite. The deadline for one module is over, the other is the 6th of January. For this module, we have to make a photo essay, complete a sketchbook and create a book online using Blurb.com. I made myself go in on the day after we finished the other module (15th December) and worked on my photo essay. After several hours, it was complete! Not willing to give myself a rest, I went home at started my book at 7pm. 5 1/2 hours later it was done.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/1376680/5bdc2ea19f5017d6b8f18929ef7d16f8?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget

Now all that remains is the sketchbook...

The Event Part 1

On the 7th of December, we finally hosted our event 'The Surgery.' 12 weeks in the making, with various rebooting of our ideas and name, we finally brought it all together. It was on the ground floor of our university in the gallery space, as it was far too cold and snow covered outside to realistically stand there all day. Overall, I think it went fairly well, we didn't get that many visitors, but I like to remain positive. It was a long day but quite frankly I'm glad it's all over us.

Next Issue: The Publication!

The Event Part 2

Pinhole Photography: The Gritty Reboot

OK so we had the dark room rented for just VisCommers last week, after the Photographers were less than happy with us moving in on their turf when we initially started this project weeks ago. We had the option to reatke our pinhole photographs and I'm very glad I did. When we started, there were only 3 of us in so the place was a lot less crowded (the polar opposite to the previous time, when about 35 of us were in the dark room.) I decided to hold the camera for a minute this time, instead of just 30 seconds. Given that it was a sunny day, this meant the images turned out much clearer and very dark. I went to the bridge (or link, whatever pleases you) between the two buildings of the university and took the photographs running along the edges and down the middle of the walkway. Here are the results, for your viewing pleasure.

Pinhole Photography Reboot: Part 2

Event Location

OK so it has been a while since I have uploaded anything, mainly because I have been working on photography projects, etc that take time to upload. Also, some of the stuff I'm workining on is on acetate so scanning it would be difficult (More on that in the future.) I just wanted to include a photograph showing the size of the gazebo that will house our exhibition. The gazebo (found and bought by yours truly) turned out to be way bigger than I had pictured it in my head, which is a good thing, considering the large amount of stuff we want to put in our exhibit now. (Again, something I will outline in greater detail in a future post-today has been a long day.) We set this up in an abandoned corner of the university on the floor just below ours, just for scale's sake. The thing is 3m x 3m and as you can see beside my bearded self on the right there, quite tall. I think this event is going to be a lot better than I initially thought, and that this gazebo was a great find, as it fits in well with our new theme. Stay tuned, fellow designers.

New Logo Designs

OK: this time, everything was done by me, no stealing images off the internet! I went for an ink drop shape, then quickly scribbled it in, deliberately leaving gaps to give it a more stylised look, instead of just being a solid colour. To the right, I left a semicircular shape to look like a reflection on the drop, then added the word 'Bleed' with the paintbrush tool, not using an existing font to again replicate a hand drawn style. I then duplicated the image four times, each time altering the colours to the four CMYK ones, respectively. Although I am not a logo designer, I like how these turned out as a first time effort, as they are simple and effectively show our name in a colourful and eye catching way.

Computer Designed Logos

I'm not really that good at branding, but I thought I would give it a go. After reinventing ourselves as 'Bleed,' Paper Rainbow has a new name and a new overall style. I took the ink splat shapes from the internet, then, using Adobe Illustrator, added text and changed the colours. I thought of using t'Bleed Incorporated' as a possible name, abbreviating Incorporated to 'Inc,' which plays on our use of ink. Although nothing spectacular, I like how these logos turned out as a quick experiment.

Flyer/Poster Design

This is yet another attempt, only this time using the proper logo. I think this would potentially make a graet banner/poster advertising our event, or dust jacket for our publication. I played around with text placement on this one, but found that it worked best at the intersect of the two rainbows.

Proposal Publication

http://www.issuu.com/tooshytoscream/docs/paper-rainbow1

Here is the link to our group proposal. we designed a publication last week, to present our ideas for our tutor and our class. I didn't want to upload this before the presentation, so it would have a full effect when we revealed it in front of everyone. Here is is in all its CMYK glory, for your viewing pleasure.

Paper Rainbow...Literally. (Part 1)

Ok, so I'm not sure where these are going (if anywhere.) But the name of our group 'Paper Rainbow' got me thinking of ways of visualising that name. I had went out to The Paper Mill Shop a few weeks ago and collected pieces of card and paper of every colour available, including all seven colours in the rainbow spectrum. Placing these aagainst white and black backgrounds on my kitchen table, which also gives a nice reflection on its surface, I set fourteen pages (two of every colour) up in creative and visually striking ways. Then, shining a light on them, I experimented with composition and scale, leaving negative space for text. Using the same fonts used in our group's brand name, I began coming up with possible slogans that related either to our name, or our theme. I was thinking of maybe using some of these designs for flyers to promote our event, or as a sort of postcard at the actual exhibition. I have only shown six examples here, but took over one hundred photographs, the majority of which could be adapted into further designs.

Paper Rainbow...Literally. (Part 2)

CMYK T-shirts

I think that these t-shirt designs are pretty cool, although anyone that isn't a graphic designer would be left scratching their heads. I found these when searching for CMYK on the internet, and found a company SupremeBeing that have an entire range of CMYK themed clothing! They have even created characters for each respective letter-the second t-shirt here shows them. Basically, I want these t-shirts, but they are all about £25 each! I love CMYK, but not THAT much!

Pinhole Photography Part 1

If this project has taught me one thing, it is this: I love whoever invented digital photography.

We had to get a tin, some photo paper and a pin, combine them and get a pinhole camera. My tin was fairly shallow so i only exposed my paper for 20 to 35 seconds each. Surprisingly, mine worked, when most people's failed (polar opposite to normality there). I stayed inside when taking mine, partially because I found it easier, as I knew twenty seconds worked inside, partially because my only attempt outside resulted in a solid black page. About 4/6 of these worked, even though in the negatives, they all looked fine. Me? I'm just happy they produced SOMETHING! I enjoyed the process, albeit a long and sometimes infuriating one.

Pinhole Photography Part 2

Setting For Event

This is a gazebo that we are looking at as a possible setting for our event, as it gives off a 'hand made' style look that we are going for with our exhibition. I think that this would be fitting location, as it can be set up anywhere, allowing for versatility in choosing where we will finally set our event up.

Constructivism Inspired Part 1

These are just 8 of about 150 photos that I took for a project that required us to replicate the constructivist style of photography. My initial attempt was panned by both me and my tutor, so I made myself have a proper shot at it. This time, I took photographs of several utensils. After about an hour, I was tidying them away, when I realised that the container they were in was also quite an interesting shape. These 8 photographs show that container. Quite an improvement, if I do say so myself!

Constructivism Inspired Photographs Part 2