OUGD406 Studio Brief 04 Expansion of brief and Designing Belly Bands

When I sat down for a chat with our tutor and talked about the numbers I would be producing he suggested an alternative to multiple designs. I will produce one really well done menu and a selection of posters that outline the processes available. To achieve continuity throughout the products Simon suggested using the illustrations in the menu to create a pattern that can be used on everything as a texture. As a first test for this idea I set about creating some belly bands.

As another option I looked t using acetate for the belly bands because it allows someone to see through to the title of the product.

I had to produce this design in about 20 mins so there aren't any construction images. However, I simply used an inDesign document and imported the vector graphics from illustrator. I made two different options because I didn't have a definite look I wanted to achieve in my head. I was uncertain about changing from the negative space theme I had set up in the rest of the design but I really liked the way the grey on white looked. (I took the grey from the black board image so that it wasn't too intense).

I printed onto some lightly texture paper that is the same GSM as the menu, so that it had enough power to restrain the pages of the menu. I talked to my tutors about this because I originally thought I would want something slightly more insubstantial but practicality dictated otherwise.

Because I am cutting width way strips of the pattern I thought it would be fine if the pattern has a give (part of the repeat that creates a line that can be seen). I tried a number of different styles. I went for quite a wide band at first because I thought if I am going to obscure the title I may as well do so as much as possible to keep people curious. I also don't mind covering it up because you can still read that it is a print menu for Rossington street.

I tried both a slightly thinner band and the same width in the white on grey print but I find that the fact that the paper takes the colour differently is so noticeable and really distracting.

I really like the look of an acetate band because it creates the impression of a clean professional finish.

I also tried some layering but felt this was overkill.

However, it did give me the idea of creating a window to show the type.

I think this is too in-between though. The best effects are achieved by being decisive, and in this situation this is completely covering up the title as much as possible or showing it all. I will bring both the wide white band and the acetate to the final crit and make a decision based on the feedback.