OUGD603 Extended Practice Print Festival Brief

Today we got a Brief for the print festival. The details are below.

1st-9th

Brief: work with colour plan and the print process create something for an exhibition space in colours may vary for the print festival. The theme is experimentation through process, use whatever print process you choose. It will be A3 square and be framed, also other prints will be sold in the Colours may vary shop. Content must be kept clean. 29.7cm x 2. For the GF Smith archive of colour plan paper.

Background considerations:

- GF smith Beauty in the Making exhibition might be a good start for research.

- you will be given a colour to work with, go with it and see what you can do.

- the prints will be sold at about £20-25 so make it look like it is worth spending that on.

- These are also intended for the GF Smith Paper archive so make the best use possible of the medium

My paper colour is Amethyst

Deliverables:
-Full set of prints for the exhibition
-Record of development on design practice blog

First areas of research:
-GF Smith Branding and identity
-print methods available
-Allocated paper colour

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 05 Penguin Book Cover Brief and First Thoughts

Taking he brief from the website, I have re-written it for my own purposes.

The reason I chose the non-fiction option:

This book is frankly one of my all time favourites. It is not only hugely entertaining, honest and refreshing but also enlightening in terms of modern feminism. It approaches feminism from a personal perspective and is a book I am constantly lending out to friends. Getting a chance to design something around this narrative is really exciting. That is why I wanted to design the cover for How to Be a Woman.

How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain. . . 

Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask you when you're going to have a baby?

Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin answers the questions that every modern woman is asking.

‘This might just be the funniest intelligent book ever written’ Stylist

‘Moran's writing sparkles with wit and warmth. Like the confidences of your smartest friend’ Simon Pegg

‘It would almost be unkind to call this an important book, because what it mostly is is engaging, brave and consistently, cleverly, naughtily funny, but actually it is important that we talk about this stuff’ Katy Guest Independent on Sunday

The Brief

We would like you to design a new, classic cover for Caitlin Moran's book, How to Be a Woman.

The design needs to feel timeless and classic, whilst at the same time making it clear to the reader that it is very entertaining and often very funny. The book should feel very accessible, immediately ‘pickupable’ and something that exists within the world of Popular Culture. You are welcome to use an image of the author, but do not feel that you need to take that approach.

The ideal design will make us smile, make us want to own a copy of the book, and keep it proudly on our shelves for a long time.

What the judges are looking for:

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 126mm wide, spine width 20mm).

The winning design will need to:

• have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
• be competently executed with strong use of typography
• appeal to a contemporary readership
• show a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against
• be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops.

Own brief:

Create a book cover design for 'How to Be a Woman' by Caitlyn Moran to the specifications of the penguin book cover competition, for submission. The book will be re published as part of the classics range and needs a new cover to match its new position in literary history.

Background Considerations:
- As a classic cover, the cover should make a nod to the history of classics that have come before it.
- Although it is a feminist manifesto, it is about Caitlyn Moran's own personal feminism and constructing your own set of ideas and beliefs on the subject.
- Consider the evolution of the audience as the book becomes a classic.
- Think about design decisions in term of creating a striking and assertive visual for the cover that allows destination on a busy bookshop shelf.

Deliverables:
-Printed Book cover design and suitable contextualising photographs.
-Record of development on design practice blog.

Research Areas:
- Penguin Classics Range
- The book its self
- The context of book shops
- The author

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 06 Triptych Poster Vectorising and Colour Decisions

Once I had the sketches of the lettering I scanned them in and created a framework of guides around the letters and used them to maintain straight lines while constructing the glyphs.

This, once completed, did not achieve the blocky strength that I wanted. So, I thought about the juxtaposition that I wanted between tho two layers and found that DIn really achieved that angular effect in a way my own could not without extensive work. When it comes to edges, refined font are often the best.

However, when I arranged the letters to full justification this strength was lost again, the space between the letters is as important as the letters themselves and this layout ruins this. So, I centrally justified the text and then looked to the second half of the text.

Once scanned in the second layer was easy to image trace and then refine. I removed some of the barbs and flourished to strip back the letters to see the basic glyphs so that I could improve them accurately.

I used some randomly selected colours while I was working on the sillhouette of the design, but I knew that I would need a certain level of contrast to ensure that the two layers would be legible. it was now that the distance play that I had been planning started to show through. The different sections falling to the front when viewed from different distances.

I then looked at adding some ornamentation to connect the two sepeerate elements of the poster

Extending the concept of splashes into small dots and languid vector strokes.

For the colour decisions I took samples from both Jess and Roz's posters so that mine could join them together and give the full triptych a sense of cohesion.

I also played around with opacity and the position of parts of the ornamentation again to bring together the separate aspects of the design.

I looked at lighter colour combinations,

And backgrounds to frame the colour but nothing really improved the design so I when back to what worked.

I also integrated my logo ident into the design, really subtly because this is what I designed the icon to do and I feel this is a good chance to test it out.

I also added a soft egg shell colour radiant around the type. I did this because on reflection my research suggested that at least one graphic form or shoe can hugely increase the impact of the piece. I think it is fair to say that it has really improved the piece.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 06 Triptych Lettering Influance

There are couple of distinct things that have influenced my decisions regarding lettering style during this brief One such influence is actually some lettering I did a couple of months ago on a self initiated piece. This combination of the all caps angular letters in the background and the cursive style in the foreground tested out how this could effect the information hierarch and I have wanted to push this idea further ever since. 

I follow a huge number of typographers and letterers through instagram, but a great catch all for this is the account type.gang which pools resources and reposts the work of talented people.

The piece of work below particularly caught my attention because of the directional expressiveness of the glyphs and the way the the rough sketch texture has been stylised and put into the type design in the form of mid serifs usually found on blacklister styles.

These are just a few of the things that have influenced my lettering but are the ones that can be traced to this project in particular.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 06 Triptych Poster Sketch Development

When I considered the words I had to letter it occurred to me that there are two different sections to them. This division also applies to a tone of voice change; the first section is quite straight cut and definite, this can easily be represented in the typography with definite directional lines and sharp corners. These second half has a direct connection to the spoken tone of voice of the line, this can be conveyed in type terms through more fluid and open lines.

I began with the first section creating an oblong grid to put the type into. this is because I want the type to sit in self contained space within the A1 space available. This is also because the open space around the lettering allow it to dominate attention in a very effective way. However, I want to create a hierarchy of information that works on the part of the distance approach that the context of the poster allows. This is so that the first section is readable from a greater distance and then as the viewer approaches the second section will come into view.

I included the spacing required to put the type fully into the space available. however, I was uncertain of the effectiveness of this and whether this actually makes the type less legible.

Once it was inked I thought that this may not be the best form for this section, because hand drawn type is hard to get truly angular and sharp. Perhaps this might be better in an actual font to make enough of a juxtaposition between the finish of the two lines.

Using tracing paper I matched up the second half of the sentence to overlap with the first meant that I could lay about with the layout. Matching the x height through the lines of the all caps. I use a messy brush pen like style with splayed almost bristle like extensions  to increase the sense of a casual conversational style.

There were some issues with the alignment because I wanted the second layer sitting central to the type on the first and I couldn't quite manage this on the first draft. However, positioning is definitely something that is editable one I have victoried the lettering. This is the next step.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 06 Triptych Poster Perspective Trials

As a final text of this design I used the extra space in the studi to test the perspective theory that I have about the two layers of type.

When far away the first section is very much what is more legible and draws the attention first.

Although this photograph doesn't capture this, the second section does come to the fore the closer you view the design. This is exactly the effect I want to achieve with the long approach towards the posters that the corridor provides.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 06 Triptych Poster Choosing a Quote

I started by collecting together all of the quotes and ideas that I could come up with that could work in This context.

I am. Thinking mainly along the lines of communicating with the graphic design students that pass these posters everyday.

I wanted the tone of voice to be open and playful but the subject matter to be course specific to allow people to really relate to it on a personal level.

I talked to my peers about the different options I had for content and a definite favourite became apparent. It was the 'Real life is better than Graphic Design, hahaha, just kidding get back to work.'

So I am going to take this and develop it in terms of typographic layout and design.