Sunday, June 26, 2011

Book Cover Designs

TASK: Post JPGS of the finished covers to your blog and explain clearly how your design and typography fits the style you are designing for. Make sure you explain this compehensively using standard Graphi Design and Typographuc terminology where applicable.


DYNAMIC


In the catcher in the Rye Holden escapes to the world of New York, throughout the novel there are many flashbacks to his childhood and other events in his past. The story does not seem to have a traditional beginning middle and end. The novel jumps backward and forwards to significant episodes in Holden’s past and present life. The cover represents this theme of motion and confusing going on in Holdens’ life.
In the design I wanted to convey the act of motion, I believe I have done this by using layers upon layers of text in the font Viva with the back text blurred to emphasise movement.
The typeface Viva gives the background an original look and empathises movement by the typeface itself with various lines throughout each letter. 
I decided to use a contemporary typeface for the title and author, as I did not want to show the dynamic typeface through these elements, as I would ruin the look and feel of my design. The type I choose for this was Futura as it was a strong contemporary font that would compliment Viva.


CLASSIC
In the novel the catcher and the rye Holden refers to the ducks and where to fly away to in winter this symbolises Holdens innocence and insecurities of the world. I have used silhouette shapes of ducks flying on the front cover to represent this theme in the book.
When researching the meaning of this term I found classic meant ‘over a period of time has become the highest quality and outstanding of its kind/of a simple elegant style not greatly subject to changes in faction’ (dictionary.com). I also looked at several novels from the past and present. I decided that I wanted something very simple plain and elegant to represent this style.
I read through the book “Just my Type, by Simon Garfield” which suggested Bembo, Bondi and Garamond are the most common classic typefaces. For my book cover design I played with these typefaces and found Garamond was the best typeface that suited my design.




MODERN
The catcher in the Rye is a Modern twentieth century novel, although it has many links with Western civilisation the central idea of the novel is that the main character is on a journey. Holden’s journey does not involve the traditional sleighing of dragons or rescuing the princess, Holden’s journey is to find his innocence and sense of moral values.
“He Is not like a traditional hero but rather an anti-hero, a type of character commonly found in twentieth-century fiction” (York Notes, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger)
For the design cover I have used a modern colour combination, which seems to be popular in this day and age. I found it quite hard to allocate a particular ‘modern’ style as I believe every body uses styles from every era with a twist to it. But found that mixed media and bright colours seemed to be a trend of today. This is why I chose to find a tutorial and follow it to come up with a modern image of something that designers would use today.
I have used the rule of thirds to create my design and the type I have used is called Eurofurence light as when researching modern typefaces I found that this style was common for modern styles. I found that there was some outlandish fonts but also a lot of contemporary typefaces where used as well for modern design I think that this typeface had both. I found this font on dafont.com in modern themes.


















































RETRO:


The Catcher in the Rye sets the novel in a real city with recognisable landmarks and building which adds to the sense of realism and as a reader when can track Holden’s steps and feel as though we are there with him. My book cover relates to the novel as the abstract shape represents the streets of New York City
When researching retro artworks and designs I found a lot of tutorials on retro design. This is a tutorial I found that would be perfect for my design http://www.tutorial9.net/tutorials/photoshop-tutorials/amazing-vector-retro-rainbow-curves/. Because the design was very outlandish I wanted to create a typeface that had retro characteristics but also was not also highly outlandish I found the typeface “bellerose” from dafont.com and believe my design interacts perfectly using Hierarchy to direct the viewers eye in order of preference.











































MONOTONE


Throughout the novel Holden jumps back and forth from central park, which is the only place where Holden fins some moments of happiness. It is in the park that he finally has a moment of true happiness when he sees his sister riding the carrousel. In a way the park is a metaphor for the wide-open spaces to which Holden dreams of running away (York Notes, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger)
The cover design represents the theme monotone as it is of a singular colour in both the image and the type.
I have used the type Times to represent strength and firmness and to base it clearly show the changing colour of the black and white.












































FUTURISTIC


When the Catcher in the Rye was release in America in 1951 it caused instant constroversy of its bad language and the shocking nature of some of the schenes. Although today this type of novel is quite normal and would not be looked at twice for these schenes in the time it was created it was some of the “future”.
I have used a background of spaceage beams and colours to represent the novel. I found this tutorial, which I thought, would work perfectly to get the look I was looking for. http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/design-a-colorful-retro-futuristic-poster-in-photoshop
The typeface I have used to convey the message of a Futuristic theme was Blue Island, which successfully balances readability with intriguing decorative forms. 







































PASSIVE
The catcher in the Rye uses the ducks as a metaphor for the immaturity and innocence of the character Holden. I have used an image of ducks on the lake to convey this message shown in the novel. The image is passive as it uses soft colours and is shown in a peaceful pond.
For the book cover design I have used a passive colour combination as well as using the purist of colours, which is “white” for the typeface. I used the typeface Jane Austen to represent a calm, soft script font to show the passive theme, I then used a simple classy font (futura) for the authors name to complement the script font and balance the design.





AGGRESSIVE
The Catcher in the Rye deals with teenage rebellion and how Holden sees false values in the society around him.
I have used a silhouette of New York City to represent the aggression in Holden’s life, as the novel is set in New York City in which Holden finds a frightening place full of shallow people that Holden describes as “phonies”.  To Holden New York City represents the bad in the world as he sees as an aggressive and corrupt place. We see Holden rebel against some of the social attributes and values.
I have used the colour red to represent associated with authority and anger. The colour red also represents Holden’s rebellion against some of the social attributes and values. We cam see a sign of this by Holden wearing his red hunting hat, as red was associated with communism.
 The aggression shown through the cover, as in the Western world we associate red for authority and anger.
I have used Aggressive angry baby killer for the type as the abrupt changes in the stroke, pointed stroke ends and changing slant direction represent the aggressive nature of the font.

GRUNGE
The characteristic if Grunge design is dirty stains, torn images and broken icons and creased pieces of paper. I believe this relates to Holden and his journey throughout  the novel and his emotion breakdown and struggle into adulthood.
I have tried to convey this message through the use of splatter, dots and colours. The silhouette on the cover represents holden, slummed and looking to the ground.  
I have used the typeface A bite from the grunge theme in dafont.com. I did play with several typefaces bout found this most effect with my design and how I wanted to convey the book. 



Saturday, June 25, 2011

The design Solution


























My design concept was to represent Fitness 4 Women in a way that was completely different to the previous business Contours, I believe I have done this through the design with the use of colour, type and imagery.
I have used a strong typeface to represent that Fitness 4 Women is serious about being healthy, fit and loosing weight, but it still showcases a feminine approach through the colour and imagery.
The colour is welcoming and represents a soft female friendly environment where women can feel safe and not feel intimidated.
The shape represents the womanly curves of the female body, showing potential clients straight away that this is a female facility.
I believe my logo concept will attract new clients to Fitness 4 Women as it is strong, inviting, modern and feminine.

Generating ideas

My idea for the design was to incorporate the female figure into the design so that straight away you were able to identify that it was something relating to females.
In the beginning of the design solution i wanted to have a script font to represent femininity but later discovered that i need a stronger typeface to portray the message that the gym is serious and committed about being healthy and loosing weight etc.
These are a few sketches I came up with in the design process...





















Next I came up with some illustrations on ideas elaborate from sketches.
















From these designs I got the opinions of partner, mother, friends and class mates on their opinions on what they thought of designs

The designs were narrowed down to these three designs below. Comments made about other logos was that the female figure on top left was that it reminded people of a beauty place and was much to sexy and sexual for a gym.
























As mentioned in above comment I used a script typeface to represent femininity through the design. When asking advice from Luke he mentioned that it was a good idea to use a bold strong typeface, as the colour and the female figure represent femininity .

This is my final design that i sent to Sharon that explains my design solutions.

Undertaking research to inform the design solution

When researching similar businesses and also trends in logo design this is what i found;

Defining the design challenge

Were you prepared? Yes I had written up some notes and suggested we meet for coffer prior to arrange what we were going to say and who was going to speak.
Was the client prepared? Yes they had examples of what they had done
did the client know what they wanted? yes ...... (add what they wanted)
was the client relying on your suggestions? No
Did you behave in a professional manner? Yes we all dressed & spoke appropraiatly
were you firm enough with the client? yes
were you intimidated by the client? I was a bit just as I was a student and did not know if they would take us seriously or if they were going to be difficult
was the client intimidated by you? no i dont think so she was very friendly
what other information can you elaborate with?
(look at what elise wrote)

As a class we were given the task to create a design solution for a real company.
we were divided into groups to do work for 4 companies they included;
Gibbs design - create a website
Home Tavern - Graphic for Tv inside the premise
Fitness 4 Women - Re-branding
TAFE Department - Promotional posters

Luke asked us if we had a preference of what we wanted to do. Elsie Pip and I all chose to do Fitness 4 Women.

Elise prepared a meeting with Charles (the owner of the store) and we ended up having a meeting with his wife sharon who manages and runs the gym.
We prepared a group meeting and discussed what questions that we were going to ask Sharon prior to meeting her that day.
Some of the questions included;

- What colours would she like/dislike for her business identity?
- What promotional materials would she like done?
- If so will images be supplied?
- Will the rebrand package just be a business name or include and logo?

We approached her by asking her what she wanted from us and what she had in mind. We decided as group that we listen to her and write down everything she wanted us to do and then go from the meeting a discuss what we could do and prepare a proposal. 

Sharons' first suggestion was motivational posters for inside the gym, and also promotional girts like pens, nail files etc.
We discussed more of looking at re-designing a logo and identity for the company.
A list of what the client wanted was;
  • Motivational posters
  • pull up signs with information added
  • t-shirts/backpacks
  • hats/lanyards
  • towels
  • letterhead
  • logo
  • business cards (individual ones for each staff member)
  • stickers for car/window
  • 12 day pass
  • signage for frot of shop
  • display board for front of shop.

I believe we were prepared for the meeting a we discussed questions and possible outcomes. After the initial meeting with Sharon we discussed how the meeting went and meet with Luke to gain more insight on what he believed we should do.  We spoke as group and decided that we could work on the corporate identity for the business. 

The client was prepared an knew what she wanted. She was happy with our suggestions but also had a lot of her own and a wide range of things that she wanted done for the business.
Sharon knew what she wanted in promotional material but when it came to the corporate identity she did not seem as confident and as a group we got the impression that they were happy with the design they had just wanted it placed on motivational posters and promotional material.

Throughout all the meeting with the client all of the group behaved in a professional manner and dressed appropriate for meeting. 

I believe we firm enough with the client in suggesting that we just work on a corporate identity and not everything else she wanted as it was a lot of work to undertake in such a short amount of time. The client was very friendly and acceptable to the advice and information we gave her.
At the beginning i was slightly intimidated as I was a student and I was not sure how she would perceive us or take us seriously. After meeting with the client I was much more relaxed as she was friendly and easy to work with. Sharon works with people everyday as part of running her business and I belive she was not intimiaded by us as she is used to working and speaking to people all day everyday.

After the initial meeting I arranged for the group to meet with Sharon to discuss the proposal and design solutions for her business. Sharon happily signed everything we had in proposal and was happy with everything we included. Throughout the time spent with the client we used email and phone as a way of communicating. Our last meeting was the week of Monday the 13th of July.
The experience of working with a real client in my experience was great, I think this had a lot to do with the client being easy to get alone with and happy with all we wanted to do. I think if their were charges involved they would be a lot more pickier. 






Friday, June 24, 2011

Water bottle design rationale & feedback summary


Our aim for the project was to create a poster to stop the use of plastic bottles around the Riverina TAFE Institutes.


My original design concept was to create a poster of a women drinking out of a water bottle but instead of water coming out, oil and gunk would be coming out instead.  When questioned about this design concept I found that the design concept was to complex and it needed to be simplified. I came up with some Other ideas including a bottle shape filled with type, a tap dripping with facts in the 'drip' and serveral other ideas.  I still was not 100 % happy with my design. I came across a poster design for global warming in a magazine a fell in love with the design. I gained inspiration from this poster and wanted to create my own design using the shape of a bottle instead of the earth shape they used for their design. my early design for the poster was very similar and I thought it may breach copyright so I changed certain elements, colours and positioning. 


The feedback given of my final design concept was;

  •  to have a deeper meaning on the concept and learn how to speak about my design confidently.
  • Authors messahe Vs viewers message
  • That the white droplet cannot be seen from a long distance
  • It was noted that it was a good idea to bring up the issue of copyright with other people and finding the line of what is copying and what is getting inspiration.
  • the design has 60% form and 40% function
  • slightly missing the mark on message but a good piece overall




Water bottle project roughs

BSBDES401A - Generate Design Solution





We had to come up with a poster to stop the use of plastic bottles within the TAFE campus
This is my final design.





My concept for this poster was to create something simple but in a complex and interesting way, I believe I have achieved this in my design.




When thinking about a design solution, my original idea was to have a women drinking out of a bottle and instead of water comming out of the bottle having oil or gunk comming out and a fact about the harm of plastic bottles. Other ideas included a bottle shape filled with type, a tap dripping with facts in the 'drip' and serveral other ideas.  As a class we discussed our ideas and we were told that our conecpts where to complex and we needed to simplify them. 

This are my original sketches and concept for the Water bottle poster.

SKETCHES:














CONECPTS:











When purchasing some photoshop magazines I found an article on Global Warming, which featured a poster which i fell in love with and thought it would be an awesome to create a variation from it using the water bottle campaign instead ...
This is the Global warming poster



Thursday, June 16, 2011


1. What is the purpose of a critique?
The purpose of a critique is to step away from the specifics of the design process and start by asking "what is it we're really trying to do here?" and How close are we doing it"



2. What steps would you take to begin critiquing a design?
Basic elements the article advise to follow are respect for the hard work and experience, a dispassionate approach, recognition that the critic lacks authority, ad justification for the discussion points.


3. How do you minimise the risk of offending a designer when critiquing their work?
To minimise the risk of offending a designer when critiquing their work it is best to understand and acknowledge the hard work that has been put into the design, go beyond basic cordiality and politeness.


4. As a designer, what are the benefits of being able to accept critiquing of your work?
The benefits of being able to accept critiquing is being able to think more broadly about your own work.


Class Project: Go to http://pleasecritiqueme.com and find at least 5 designs you would like to critique. Write down your thoughts about the work and any suggestions you have on improvements. We will then dicuss and critique these designs with the class. Post your comments to the website.

Homework: Submit your website design portfolio for critiquing.
This is my website



Friday, June 3, 2011

Creative Latitude Articles

www.creativelatitude.com


Portfolio Design 101



  • Three types of portfolios: traditional, online and PDF
  • Many portfolio formats are available, from custom-built cases lined with beautiful fabrics to mass-produced vinyl portfolios with acetate sleeves to 3-ring presentation binders. - Employers are usually more impressed with a custom built case
  • A good rule of thumb is to include between 12-15 samples. Don’t go over 20.
  • The first, middle and last projects in my portfolio are examples of my strongest work and usually feature large, integrated campaigns.
  • Craftsmanship counts – take care that there are no smudges, glue spots
    or poorly-trimmed boards.
  • Decide on a horizontal or vertical format and mount all work to stay consistent within that format.
  • Consider integrating sketches to show how a concept evolved. This can be done by building a pocket on back of a board or acetate sleeve, and storing the sketches there. The sketches can also be mounted directly below a larger version of the project so they can be viewed as the project is discussed.
http://www.creativelatitude.com/articles/article_200701_swengler.html

Setting yourself Apart from Other Designers

  • You may be talented at graphic design, but what else are you good at in related fields that could make you a far better designer? A passion for photography, creative writing or an unusually high ability in color and composition are just a few. Any of these add value, so invest the time and energy to develop them further.
  • Sitting in front of a computer is the worst place to be for brainstorming.
  • Remember everything you experience today will effect what you design tomorrow, so go to plays, visit art exhibits, see movies and absorb the world around you. Finally, analyze and critique everything you see and experience in life.
  • Taking risks is one of life's greatest joys and can be the first step to success or failure. I believe that success can even be found in failure.
  • Take time outside the work environment to learn more about your profession. Becoming more familiar with the operation system and software as well as keeping up with the latest design trends benefits you and your employer, and will help you rise above your coworkers.
  • It is vital to you and your client that you write clear contracts, explain additional charges before they occur, and provide the best customer service possible. That means returning calls and emails when it's not convenient, extra meetings to explain your concepts and meeting unreasonable deadlines. Your goal is to provide a level of service unlike the designers around you. Your reward will be the coveted "referral".
  • Developing a unique set of talents, abilities and business skills will eventually get you noticed and raise you to a level of success that will be measured in personal satisfaction
  • list of attributes I keep above my computer to remind me what I need to be each day to reach my personal and professional goals.
My "Setting Yourself Apart" List 
• Be honest
• Be friendly
• Be positive
• Be focused
• Be intelligent
• Be respectful
• Be persevering
• Be sales-minded
• Have a sense of humor
• Listen more than speaking
• Be different than everyone else
• Do not take rejection personally
• I am an intelligent colleague who is here to offer help
• Have an engaging conversational tone
• Be relaxed
• Speak clearly and concisely
• Don't use slang or profanity with clients or vendors
• Don't communicate political or religious views in business
• Don't hesitate or procrastinate
• Set goals
• Keep learning
• Be friendly, firm and fair in all your business activities.

http://www.creativelatitude.com/articles/article_1204_schul.html



Self Promotion Finding your theme

  • When you do start sketching out ideas, it is important to remember that unabashed honesty is a critical ingredient in creating designs that successfully represent you as an artist.
  • Finding our own unique theme for self-design requires coming to terms with ourselves, and not just as creative lifers but also as people. Like many forms of art, it can often seem like public self-examination.
  • Our process to this point includes: (1) self-examination (2) defining a collective theme about "you" (3) building art direction (4) actual design. The audience will process everything in reverse order. (1) Your design (2) they "get" the art direction (3) infer your theme (4) make assumptions about your personality.

  • If your design is successful and honest, your audience, namely potential clients, will create a mental image of you and subconsciously decide if they like you or not — all by interacting with your self-design.
  • For freelancers working from home or out of an office, sometimes we have to go through the Five Stages of Procrastination before the creative juices start flowing:
Denial – “I have nothing better to do tonight…maybe I can sway a couple of my colleagues to go have a couple of drinks and hang out – besides, it is soooo nice out.”
Anger – “You want me to write how many pages in an hour? Isn’t it enough that I got my daughter to school, showed up on time for the staff meeting, got caught up on my emails, and actually organized my desk before 11am?”
Bargaining – “If I spend 45 minutes working on the article, then I deserve to play Tetris for 15 minutes.”
Depression – “There’s too much to do, it is so overwhelming, where do I start, I’ll be up all nite…..gosh, I’m so tired - I think I’ll take a nap.”
Acceptance – “Why didn’t I start this article sooner? A paycheck would be nice right about now, so I guess I’ll do it.” 
  • Why do we procrastinate? Let us count the ways:

1. Lack of vision. 

2. Distractions.

3. Fear of Getting It Wrong and Lack of Confidence.

4. Indecision.

5. Boring tasks.

6. This task is overwhelming! I just don’t have the time! 

7. I don’t have a “real” deadline, so I should get something else done.