OUGD503 PENGUIN BOOKS FINAL OUTCOME

Here is the final outcome in my response to the penguin books brief. I took my final design and incorporated the texture and bent paper effect that I had previously experimented with. This final addition represents the school playground mentality. The paper texture refers to school work books and the bent paper symbolises the damage and bullying that Auggie suffers from.  This helps tie the whole design together and gives the aesthetic a more three dimensional style in comparison to the previous, which came across way too flat. 

OUGD503 FINDERS KEEPERS MOCK UP FEEDBACK

Today I met with Mike and shared the mock ups that I had created to get his feedback on what he thought of the zines current state. Most of the feedback was positive but there were a few things that needed to be addressed to make a more successful zine with a consistent style.

The first one was that I should not include the type from the 35mm exposures alone without any imagery. Although these are main influences of the aesthetic and house style, they don't belong alone with no context in the zine. He stated that one good part was the page where it shows sections of the image and then the next page is the whole exposure with the frame. I should focus on doing this more with these straggler frames.

Another thing to address was this page in the photoautomat zine. We decided that it shouldn't show the photo booth strip separately, but all together as one. This is because they all came together on one strip, not separately and I should not tamper with the form of the imagery because non of the others in this zine have been. 

 Finally, we agreed that we could stretch the zines to 24 pages instead of 20, meaning more content could be made of the images and the zines could reach their full potential. Mike has now began budgeting and figuring out how many we will want to print and how much it'll all cost. He is also going to test printing on several different paper stocks to see which one is the most successful print. We decided that it would be an uncoated paper stock because the imagery has all been uncovered after many years of storage, so we wanted to replicate this old and tattered feeling through the stock. We had to be careful which one we printed on however because we wanted the images to have great quality. This is why Mike was testing on several different stocks.

OUGD503 T-SHIRT DESIGN OUOTCOME

After some final feedback on my t-short design, I was informed that the idea was well conducted and the aesthetic was appealing. The only issue was the layout of the design on the shirt itself. I originally placed the design slap bang in the center of the shirt, however according to my peers this was a bizarre location for this design. They recommended having the large design on the back of the shirt and perhaps a small version or logo on the front of the shirt instead. I decided to take this feedback and try create some form of logo with the same shapes to casually sit on the front of the shirt.

This was a simple task given the fact I already has all the content I needed to create this small logo. I simply selected a nice rounded part of the design that would suit without the other shapes around it. I selected the eye of the face for this. I separated it from the rest of the design and placed it on the front of the shirt and then the larger design on the back. This reflects the design of most other graphic t-shirts around today, giving it more of an approachable design.

OUGD503 T-SHIRT DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

I wanted to continue using an illustrative style for my t-shirt design given the fact the previous winners design was entirely illustrated. I continued to play with the floating shapes and gradient tool to see what may come of it. After experimenting with spherical shapes and a few lines I was coming to the conclusion that nothing was really coming of it. I had to have an idea of what I actually wanted to illustrate instead of throwing lots of random shapes together.

The illustration clearly needed a concept so I decided that I would use these shapes and effects to illustrate an abstract face. This would give the design some form whilst maintaining this specific aesthetic I thrived to use. I had to generate a few more shapes to use to be able to complete this illustration, so I naturally began drawing with a slight idea of what I'd like the outcome to look like in mind.

I took these abstract shapes and condensed them down into a more human like shape. Selecting some individual shapes and refining them slightly to my needs whilst keeping the abstract form aided me in creating this abstract human face design. Now I had the shape of the face, I'd have to transform them into the gradients I wanted and experiment with a few different colour ways, making sure it would still be screen printable. 

Here are a few different alterations of the gradient and noise effected face. The two lower images show a two colour separation process meaning that more then one colour could be printed instead of just a single colour. This could highlight specific aspects of the face, expressing the fact that it is a face just incase the whole thing gets engulfed and the concept is lost. After using these two separation I experimented with the previous colours I had sourced before from inverting the previous winners design. 

After some feedback, I was recommended to use some more earthly tones, like pinks and reds to emphasise the fact this was a human form. I experimented with darker tones as this design reminded me of some old art deco style so I made sure the colours remained neutral in reflection of this whilst maintaining some more human like hues. 

OUGD503 T-SHIRT INITIAL IDEAS

To begin my initial ideas, I started off by designing something that I'd like to wear inspired by things that I enjoy. The first design was inspired by the band minor threat whom I just so happened to be listening to at the time. I used the lyrics and imagery illustrated by me which were inspired during the listening of the band to translate this design idea. It's a very simple idea created with the type of aesthetic that I like to use. It features a halftone image of the singer which aids in the design for screen printed content. Lyrics are placed on the image in a few different type variation which I'm quite fond of at the moment. One sans serif version and a serif one also.

This design was inspired by some of the parody logos found on Everpress. I thought it would be amusing to replicate a logo in using the Leeds Art Uni type as inspiration. Given the fact it was three simple words I replicated another logo that had three simple words, in this case The North Face. I simply took that logo and replicated it using Leeds Arts Uni as the type instead of The North Face. This could be quite amusing to some however I'm not sure if it's ethically aloud.

Finally, I wanted to use my aesthetic again to illustrate something that would gain peoples allure. This time I didn't want to use something that was not completely inspired around my interests but by graphic design interests in general, surrounding trends of this year. Todays trends that I researched were gradients, floating shapes and strong use of typography. I took the colours from the previous years winner and inverted them to represent a new change. This could be a simple base to begin a t-shirt design.

OUGD503 T-SHIRT DESIGN RESEARCH

I began to research into the brief a bit which proved to be quite difficult because it was so open ended. I studied the previous winners design and found out it was very illustrative and was simply an illustration of two birds in a very specific, playful style. It had no reference to anything related to the university or Leeds at all, it was just a well designed illustration. There seemed to be no concept at all, just personal style and preference. I think this would be easy to translate my work into this format as I could use my own personal style and illustrate anything I wanted really.

Something I'd have to consider is what people were interested in in the university, so the design would be something that they'd genuinely like to wear. This could be something that relates to a common aesthetic on the clothing people wear in the university already. By looking around, a lot of students like simple minimalistic designed shirts with either a small logo or clever use of typography. Some of the designs on peoples shirts are heavily influenced by graphic design principles of today and seem like the kind of shirts that could be found on Everpress.

Finally, I emailed the union to gain any other sorts of information I could about the brief as once again, it was very open ended. They replied and the only piece of useful information they gave me was that the winning design would be screen printed. This means my design would have to fit the specific design aspects of a screen printed design, meaning using solid colours and set a limit to how many I use. I'd have to make sure the design would have colours that would be easily separable for screen exposure.

Now I'd start experimenting with designs perhaps relating to my personal interests and taking into account the information I have achieved through this research.

OUGD503 POSTER BRIEF CHANGE

Initially, my third small brief for studio brief 1 was to create a poster for a bands event in February. However, due to a lack of communication I have had to let the brief go. Unfortunately due to the bands part of communication I had to let them down on the brief given the fact I have deadlines approaching and they would never reply to any of my messages or emails. This is unfortunate because I was really looking forward to doing it and they also promised a commission. This however has taught me about client etiquette and barriers in communication.

Now searching for a new brief, I stumbled upon this one in the union which would require just about the same amount of work as the initial brief. This brief is very open ended as requires any artwork or design of any form to be printed on t-shirts and sold in the union. This would be fun because I could generate any work based around my own aesthetic which would have been similar to the poster design. I would begin this brief by contacting the union to find some specifics for the design so I would have a base to work from.

OUGD503 ZINE DEVELOPMENT AND LAYOUT

I began to develop the font cover design for the zine collection. Mike shared his opinion in our design process and stated that the images on the front covers should be a slight bit larger. We also agreed that the design with the reflected type was the most successful one. Using a multi column grid to carefully increase the size of the image to the correct scale so it wouldn't clash with the type too much. Having done this I had to slightly rearrange the typesetting to fit around the image and keep the same aesthetic as before. I completed the same process for each of the cover designs, completing the cover series for the collection. Once again, the reflecting type has been inspired by a lot of the type setting from the film exposure from one of the briefs, finders keepers 01.

To continue the aesthetic throughout the zines, I used the same typesetting throughout by using the page numbers as an example. Within every page the page number changes of course and is reflected on the bottom of the page, once again being inspired by the film exposure. This will travel through every zine in the series, once again demonstrating that each one is together and part of the same collection. 

Now I began carefully placing the content into a layout with the same multi column grid used to design the front cover, giving the zine a consistent aesthetic throughout. Mike said he wanted it to be professional and clean, so limiting the amount of image sizes I use would help keep it consistent. Changing the size a bit every now and then through out would also keep variation upon each page, hopefully evoking more interest into the zine upon every page. I made sure the images stayed mainly central within this specific zine because the whole element of photo booth photography was that everything was perfect and central. Experimenting with different sizes with some of the better quality images expressed the quality and expression of some of the characters found in these images. Some pages have been offered a double page spread treatment, reflecting how the characters within these image interact with each other, taking the images further then their original use. 

OUGD503 ZINE COVERS INITIAL IDEAS FEEDBACK

After meeting with Mike and reviewing our initial ideas in person, we decided that the inverted cover idea was the most successful one. One thing that would needed to be changed was to take increase the size of the image in the center. Apart from that, the aesthetic was the right one and using that typeface (Raleway) was the right choice instead of a serif one. Increasing the image size would be a simple task. This would give the zine more emphasis on what was within and perhaps covering up a bit of that white space would make it look more finished.

We continued to discuss things such as the layout of the zines. We would attempt to make them all roughly 20-24 pages long however some of the briefs contained a lot less content compared to others so this would be a struggle. After some discussion we decided we would experiment with the layout of some of the images, increasing the sizes and only revealing certain aspects of them until the bigger reveal of the whole image. This would help us in fulfilling that page number.

One final thing we discussed was that we would remain with the A5 dimensions. I suggested several different options relating to the imagery like the same dimensions as the exposures or a straight up square. He made the point that further down the line, it would be more cost efficient to select A5 as the extra effort of cutting the paper could cost more. This doesn't meant it would be worse quality though, we still have to decide on the paper stock and binding for instance.

OUGD503 PENGUIN BOOKS DEVELOPMENT

I began developing my chosen idea, which was combining the three gradient shapes into one, to represent three perspectives within one narrative. By studying the previous winners, I noticed that a lot of them used textures within their work to translate a theme from the book a lot better. This gave their cover designs a lot more context to the story within. To take my idea further I thought I'd try using this technique to further improve my design.

The book was mainly set within school grounds and tackles with the issue of bullying quite often as a common them throughout the book. I attempted to replicate this idea by using texture on my design. By printing my current idea out onto normal printer paper and damaging it to a certain extent then scanning it back in, I have attempted to translate damaged school papers. This gives the design connotations of negativity relating to the bullying aspects of the book and its setting in a school.

Now I have experimented with the texture, I need to go back and complete the typesetting of the book cover. I need to include the authors name and obviously the title which could possibly play along the shape of the gradient image. 

Now I began adding the final touches to my design, for instance the type setting on the cover and spine. Upon receiving feedback, I was made aware that the type needed to be way more playful. I would do this by incorporating the title onto the image, making it one and the type seem less distant. To begin the next process, I selected the classic penguin marber grid to aid me in type setting and the arrangement of all the other pieces of the cover such as the logos and barcode.

I made sure the typeface was suitable one for the select age range. I selected Ubuntu as the typeface for my design because it is a sans serif type, giving it a less serious aesthetic and something more approachable for the younger generation. It also has softer edges and rounded ends surrounding every aspect of the typeface so it isn't too sharp or aggressive at all. Finally, to match the 'school work' aesthetic I had previously mentioned, I slanted some of the type on the back cover to represent a more childish slap dash approach the setting.

I used the central gradient image as a colour pallet in deciding what colour each of the pieces of type should be. Light blue resembling Auggie as the main title and the others scattered throughout the blurb and the front cover. After some further critical feedback it was made aware to me that there should be no monochromatic colours, for instance the white that travels through the whole jacket. This gives it a more grown up serious aesthetic and also a sense of being unfinished. To rectify this I finally chose one of the colours I was yet to select, to fill the jacket with more colour, playfulness and legibility. 

OUGD503 FINDERS KEEPERS FRONT COVER INITIAL IDEAS

I began my initial ideas for the front covers by studying the type used on the some the exposures in the imagery that would be used. By reviewing where the type was set and the size of it, I could perhaps translate that onto the covers I was designing. Something else that would aid me was an example Mike has shown me. This was the type of aesthetic he wanted to go for, very clean and minimal type but something that when repeated, could be identified as being a part of a series. This would be done by changing the main image and what the type says but if its in the same location, it would still look like the same project.

Upon studying the exposures, I noticed a few patterns in the places the type was set and how it was done. All the type was tightly worked around the imagery and most of them reflected the type from the top upside down on the bottom. These are all things I will experiment with on my covers. 

Here are a handful of initial ideas for the covers which respond to the type setting on the exposures and also the example Mike has given. I have experimented with sans serif type on some and some with serif. Having a serif typeface like this one here, PlayFare display, gives the cover a slightly more eye catching aesthetic value. It also compliments the imagery quite well but I will have to consider if it effects the imagery on the other projects in the same way.

Using a sans serif type has proven to create a slightly more neutral cover which does not effect the imagery too much but does in fact compliment the white space surrounding. I also find that reflecting the sans serif type on the bottom works better the with serifs. 

All the different typesetting experiments have been inspired by the exposures and also using a sans serif typeface (Raleway) also translates the type from the exposures quite well on even ground, given the fact they all use different typefaces. 

I chose two of the initial ideas that I enjoyed the most and put them into further context, expressing them as a series of three instead of just the one of zine. They both clearly translate the layout of the the exposures and remain quite neutral with a clean aesthetic. I've made sure that the main information is easily available on both, the projects title 'Finders Keepers' and the sub headings for each. They are in a heavy typeface expressing their importance whilst not distracting the audience from the imagery too much. I began on an A5 scaled document as this was what Mike originally suggested, however this might change given the dimensions of the content. I will later meet up with Mike and discuss these initial ideas for further development.