End of module evaluation

End of module evaluation

Overall, the strengths of my studio brief were definitely the improvements in my capability of combining image with type successfully, as well as considering audience perceptions more for the Penguin competition. As well as this, I feel I managed to balance time quite well throughout the module, as I had to multitask alongside the courses other modules also. In terms of the weaknesses, I feel like the brief was difficult in capturing the nature of the book, as it contained so much information; this was especially an issue having not read the book for the brief. Additionally, arguably I could have experimented more visually, and pushed my design further; although I like the final outcome, there are still areas that could be improved or developed, like the spine maybe. 

From this brief, I have explored more with focusing on concepts behind imagery, which further strengthened my ideas and the confidence in my designs; concepts such as 'a smile in the mind' really challenged the ideas within the process, and made me consider what I wanted to communicate more. I think that this focus on conceptualisation is crucial in image making, and I will take this approach into my future modules; as well as this, I feel like the context of your design and the initial research pays off, as my design was massively informed by research at the start of the brief.

Within this module, I have very much informed my design with more contemporary influences, especially from the likes of designers such as Braulio Amado; this helped push my designs to fir into a more contemporary atmosphere, which helped with my audience considerations. However, I feel like I could have taken more risks in this module in regards to experimentation and playing around with more type focused design; I still am less confident with type only image making, so didn't take the risk to play with it as much as I could have. 

The stage of the design process that I found the easiest was probably design developments; this is because once I had found a design that both peers and myself liked, it felt more natural to progress the visuals further. However, the element that I found the hardest was likely the initial ideas aspect as I had so much research to narrow down into a single design; as mentioned previously, the book had so much information that it was initially overwhelming to generate concepts to capture the whole book. 

I feel like that although I answered the brief quite well in this module, there are some limitations that have held me back from reaching my potential; I could have experimented more with my ideas, and maximised my conceptual approaches by developing a more clever design. Due to this, in future modules, I definitely will take more time to experiment rather than focusing on one format/ design concept. 

Regarding the use of facilities in the module, I think that I have used them to my best ability and allowed them to help push my designs; this is especially the case with peer feedback as it was the more regular group suggestions that developed my final design. A prime example of this would be the crit group feedback to use the bubble concept cover instead of the banana design, which was by far the best turning point of the design process as I was overall more happy with the final outcome. 

Workload wise, as previously mentioned, I feel like I have managed well to my best ability through keeping up to date with blogs and sketchbook work; I found it much easier by blogging mainly daily and printing stuff off regularly. The only thing I could have possibly changed to make it easier for me would to do the same for my design boards, as I had to dedicate a few days to them at the end of the module.

Developed posterzine formats

Developed posterzines

After designing an illustration for the posterzine print, I decided to print the full zine layout; I made some alterations by just including 2 comic strip pages as this allowed me to have an A5 format. Additionally, this linked more to the concept of having a monthly zine; due to this, I have developed the zine concept to be 'sold' in a plastic wallet. I want to introduce this idea of including stickers and a plastic wallet as it linked to the concept of the exclusivity of printed matter.   

I experimented with inks, and played with pinks and blues to test out what worked best; I really like how the coloured ink versions turned out, as they complimented the white paper and looked a lot more contemporary. 

Here are the designs pasted up in their poster format; showcases both sides of the poster zine. I like how the audience can have freedom with how the paste it up as a poster, further adding to the interactive element of the zine. 

Sticker outcomes

I also printed out my sticker sheet design to add into the plastic wallets; this again contributed to the exclusivity and playfulness of the design. 

Finished book cover

Final book cover design

I decided to tweak some elements of the final cover design based on peer feedback; this helped me identify areas to improve to create a more confident and well rounded design. 

The first element that was highlighted by peers was the uneven border around the front cover; it lacked consistency. I still wanted to feature some negative space around the busy texture, so just enlarged the image further and aligned it centrally - this still allowed me to fit the title around the border, which was crucial in the books legibility. 

I also was suggested to capitalise the text on the right, as previously it didn't fit amongst the text; this small change allowed the design to look more put together and visually consistent.

The spine was the main area of improvement, as it initially looked quite flat and was illegible to some extent. Consequently, I edited the type to be one strip of text, and used the same rule of cutting out holes to showcase it. The Bryson was also added horizontally to distinguish sections of text. 

A more subtle change was the blurb; in order to improve legibility and add more space to the design, the hole for the text was opened up a bit more; this made sense as the blurb is the key part of the back cover design. 

Responses to artist questions

Designer responses

I decided to record the responses I got from asking a few designers questions on instagram, touching on subjects such as advice and inspirations.

Seapunch

I'm really happy with the response from Seapunch, as he gave super detailed answers and had great advice as a designer. I feel like I can take a lot from how he finds inspiration for his designs, through looking at charity shops and car boot sales, which provides to his tacky, ironic style. I definitely will fit his advice into my advice section, as it comes from a fellow design student; this is what differentiates Seapunch from the other artists as he is still doing his degree and has gained a reputation. 

Designs for posterzine print

Posterzine print design

After getting a rough feel for the posterzines layout, I wanted to focus on the back of the poster and create a design for a print. I decided to focus on the idea behind Garfield Minus Garfield; in the sense that it portrays Garfield as a figure of Jons imagination. Due to this, I created this distorted illustration of Garfield and Jon, and wanted to use a lot of negative space to add an impact. 

Visually, the illustration uses the same black and white halftone to provide consistency alongside the previous sticker designs; I like the effect that this provides as it looks quite contemporary and adds a nice stylistic twist to the original comics. Out of the two above, I prefer the second one as the negative space is more prominent. 

Test posterzines

Physical posterzine test

Here above are the initial print outs for the posterzine concept; I printed on A4 paper to begin with in order to just get a grasp of the general layouts and structure of the zine. This physical test also allowed me to have more of a feel for the positioning of the comic strips and how the cover looks. Overall, in general I am happy with the posterzine contents in regards to the cover and back. However, some things I want to change are:

The back cover; I want to possibly feature a QR code?

Adding more comic strips; ideally 8 more (2 pages)

Designing an illustration for the back; to serve as a poster/ print

Decide on paper stock?

Further improvement of final book cover

Final designs

I wanted to do a last bit of experimentation to fully expand and finalise my ideas; taking advice from peer feedback to fully optimise my final design. 

I wanted to play with a different colour scheme for the cover, and used more blacks to develop a stronger juxtaposition between hues; I'm not sure if this looks too chaotic/ over the place, as there might be too many colours conflicting one another. 

This design has more of a subtle change, by having more white text framing the blurb, alongside the alignment of the book title being on the left; I don't really like this alignment of the text, as it offbalances the image. 

This alteration the same change to the white text as previously, but the title was slightly pushed to the centre to avoid it being to close to the edge; this allowed the text to all be aligned the same distance from the edge, which definitely looks cleaner. 

I think to fully finalise the design/ submission for penguin, I will ask for more peer feedback and get it sorted so I can focus on design boards all next week. 

5 events for 5X5 publication

5 events to feature in the 5X5 publication

Poster design selected by Oripeau 

I was really proud of having my poster selected by Oripeau, as it was the first instance where my work was professionally chosen to be exhibited; prior to this, I have never had recognition from a large studio, which made me have a lot more confidence in my sindividual design style.

Films - In The Mood For Love (watched this year)

Visually, In The Mood For Love by Hong Kong director Hong Kar-wai was super interesting in how it used frames within frames; throughout the film, Kar-wai uses this framing method to impose a motif of surveillance. Recently I have gotten into more foreign films, as New Wave pictures from other cultures are very refreshing outside the Western world in how they use visual languages.

Gigs - King Krule (new music video is cool as well, by Jamie Wolfe)

I have been a fan of King Krule for a while now, but found his new album Man Alive! in particular really impressive; as a very young artist, his new album is much more matured and refined through tackling a lot darker subject matter. Furthermore, his stage presence and energy at the album launch gig I went to was great. I also really like the visuals for his new album, the video for 'Cellular' by animator Jamie Wolfe is super cool too.

Going to Magma (zine shop in Manchester)

I've definitely become more aware of current contemporary design since coming to Uni, through visiting a lot more independent publication stores. An example of this was a recent visit to Magma in Manchester, where I discovered a lot more studios/ artists I liked (such as Dr.Me studio); I feel like looking at zine shops has pushed me as a designer to gain confidence in my own style and get more into publication design.

Pub quiz

A little tradition whilst being at Uni has been going to the weekly pub quiz at Headrow House; it's quite a fun event to partake in with a regular group/team - and we have even won prizes from it!

5 creative strategies for the 5X5 publication

Creative strategies

1. Braulio Amado - manipulating images of objects (e.g. coffee cup poster design)

I found the way that Amado uses unorthodox methods to develop visuals interesting, as it embraces everyday objects and the power of digitally manipulating them to generate something new. I used this approach in the textures/ visuals for the penguin book design, through digitally manipulating and warping an image of bubbles. 

2. A Smile in the Mind 

The witty thinking discussed in A Smile in the Mind relates to strategies that designers can use; focusing more on the concepts behind design and creating clever visuals. This is useful as it prevents me from simply focusing on the visuals of a design, and pushes designers to consider what they want to communicate.

3. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon 

This book discusses how to take inspiration for design work, focusing on the idea that ‘nothing is original’. 

‘All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original’ 

‘Everything is up for grabs’

‘The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from’ - David Bowie

‘Carry a notebook and a pen wherever you go. Get used to pulling it out and jotting down your thoughts and observations.’ 

‘It’s good to have a lot of projects going on at once so you can bounce between them’ 

‘Practice productive observation’ 

‘Step 1. Wonder at something. Step 2. Invite others to wonder with you. You should wonder about the things nobody else is wondering about’. 

4. Hijacking an object/ mocking existing stuff - e.g. @ermsy on instagram 

@ermsy uses existing and familiar cartoon characters and manipulates them into his own style. This allows designers to build a familiarity with their work, yet adding a stylistic twist. I did this for the Oripeau poster design, by creating a spoof/ spin off of Hot Stuff the little devil in order to provide a fun and playful atmosphere. 

Jay Vaz is also another designer that uses existing visuals and twists them into his own style; examples of this use scenes from the Simpsons; this method also inspired my Oripeau poster 

5. Failed it!

This book discusses how designers should embrace mistakes in order to generate new ideas; e.g. ripping images and adding unique textures. 

Questions to ask 5 artists

Interview questions for the 5x5 artists

I thought it would be useful to ask the 5 artists I am featuring in my publication several questions in order to gain an insight into their ways of working and any advice they might have. Here are the following questions:

1. Where do you find inspiration from? 
2. How do you overcome visual problems/ creative block?
3. How has your style evolved as a designer? How would you describe your style?
4. What was the last thing you were really impressed by?
5. What are your main goals/ objectives as a designer?
6. Do you think designers should take themselves less seriously?
7. How important is humour in graphic design? 
8. Do you think that contemporary design trends are becoming short lived/ outdated more quickly?  
9. What advice would you give to a graphic design student? 
10.  Do you work for a specific clientele? Do you find it important to be selective in who you work for? 

5 aims for PPP publication

Aims

What are your aims as a designer? 

I want to develop a strong definitive style as a designer, and build a reputation and brand image that clients and people will buy into and respect; I feel like having a confident contemporary aesthetic is important within the design industry, as I want to set myself apart from other designers through a unique approach regarding style. 

Strong confident contemporary design example (Aku Vig)

What do you aim to get from the course?

I mainly want to gain all of the visual tools and alternative approaches to create visuals; experimenting with ways of working in order to gather a strong approach to overcoming problems. Prior to the course, I was definitely boxed into a few ways of working, and a lot of my visuals were digital. I want the course to also help me gain a wider understanding of the industry, and have confidence to enter the design world with self awareness in my own work; I want to gain this in order to have strong connections within graphic design, and hopefully work within a good studio environment that encourages individual styles. 

I also want to gain a better understanding of type, as at the moment it is more likely to be my weakest area as a designer; it would be good to be able to communicate my style in typeface designs, as I feel like graphic designers that have this ability are in more demand. As well as this, I want to get more into animation and motion graphics, as I feel like it is a very versatile skill to have and can bring designs to life.   

Emilie Vizcano (type design reference)

Where do you want to be from now in the future?

I really want to leave university with a first in order to give me an initial advantage in the design industry regarding getting work/ jobs. Initially, I would like to move to a larger city like London to work with a design studio or agency; I feel like this will help me settle into the design environment and gain confidence in producing work for clients, as well as broadening my team work experience in the sense of overcoming visual problems and briefs. 

OPEN studio (East London)

I have considered freelance work to some extent, as it would be nice to have more control of who I work for and what designs I create, through working on my own terms; despite this, I think freelance design would be more suitable as side work alongside my main role in a studio, as I think it definitely takes a while to build a name and reputation for clients to come directly to you as a designer. As well as this, freelance design is a lot more competitive and isolated, which is quite daunting to me at the minute; however, this is not to say that I could take it up when more mature/ confident as a designer.  

What kind of work do you want to produce? 

Later down the line, I would definitely like to work in a partnership or a small studio, as I feel like my ideas and style would mature a lot more in a smaller environment where my concepts could bounce off other peoples; I really admire the work of small studios like Dr.Me, as they have a broad clientele and produce some really nice contemporary publications. Regarding this, I feel like my style and approaches as the minute would work well for publication design, so this could be a potential focus - however, I don’t want to pigeon hole myself into one specific area, as commercial wise, this would put me at a disadvantage for commission work. 

Dr.Me studio (studio reference)

What Clients would you like to have?

I definitely don’t want to work for massive commercial brands, as the designs produced for big name companies always seem to lack a unique style; most advertisements and merchandising for these always follow quite a boring structure and layout, and seem to be very ‘copy and paste’. 

Due to this, I would like to represent more niche and smaller brands/ companies, as it would be nice to help smaller names gain a strong aesthetic and a unique style; I would much rather create a more visually interesting design for less money than a boring design for more, as I still want to take something personally from every design I produce. 

The publication designs showcased in places like Village Books are really appealing to me, such as small zines created by students such as Seapunch; in the future I’d love to aim for my work to be sold in small independent stores, as I feel like it is more valuable and meaningful than large commercial products. The same can be applied for small commercial branding; I would like to develop brand images for small businesses, as I feel like designers are given more freedom in what outcomes they can produce. 

Village Books (visual reference)

Sticker designs

Sticker sheet concept

I decided to develop my sticker designs further by designing a full sticker sheet to be printed on Monday; I wanted to just make stickers of Garfield so the audience could put him back into the comics. I drew the cartoons by hand quite messily in order to provide a playful atmosphere. 

I think I prefer the halftoned/ black and white designs as they definitely fit more into a contemporary atmosphere, which links back to a modern audience - the coloured ones are too close to the original, as well as going against the recommendation in my crit that I stick to black and white. I like how these sticker designs turned out, and will likely print them A5 to fit with the zine format; they add a nice interactive element to the design, that contributes to its exclusivity akin to what was discussed in my essay. 

Playing with paper stock and layouts

Experimenting with a one strip layout

I wanted to take advice from the crit and experiment with different layout styles. This one in particular uses a one strip dimension, which was quite effective in producing a bulkier zine; I also really liked how the ratios worked and how it placed more emphasis on one strip at a time. I was thinking that I could combine layouts and possibly have a monthly package? 

Poster-zine concept

I thought the posterzine concept could work well as it would be more collective and also provide a space for a print; this could let me create an illustration for the back of the zine, and let the publication seem more interactive. As well as this, by printing stickers I could combine the two and make a 'monthly' collection; the stickers could be stuck on the poster? 

Initial plan

Here is the initial plan for the posterzine using a format I found in my visual research. I now need to decide what paper stock to print on, and what size to print; I was thinking that A3 could work quite well, as folded up it would be A5 (the same size as the sticker sheet), which could fold together in a plastic wallet. 

Visual research - DrMe studios

Dr. Me studios

I recently went to a zine store in Manchester and looked for some visual research for my CoP Garfield zine; I found a studio called Dr.Me that focus on publications. The style of their work is very much similar to the stuff I'm into, and they often use stickers and play with existing cartoons - mainly the Simpsons. Here below are a few examples of these zines. 

This zine was interesting as it considered packaging more over paper stock, and had a coloured plastic sleeve which had stickers on it; this allowed the paper stock and materials to interact with each other, and giving the paper a red tinge. This idea of overlaying textures could work for my own zine - I could possibly package the Garfield zine in a similar way e.g. plastic wallet?

This zine cover played with simple line drawings and had extreme negative space which was visually intriguing; the paper stock was also newsprint which could work nicely for my own publication? 

All of these zine covers manipulate visuals of cartoons, through collaging and digital editing; I like how these look, but prefer the idea of adding my own style and twist onto Garfield, as it would build a certain exclusivity. 

I found this zine interesting as it used QR codes and bar codes in a unique way; I could possibly try adding QR codes of the actual blog on the back of the design? This could work nicely to build a stronger familiarity with the audience and a reference to the publications' inspiration. 

1. Keep the zine in a plastic wallet? Coloured?
2. QR code idea