OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 07 GF Smith Exhibition Digital Development

There were a lot of digital trials that simply didn't work. However, I will detail them briefly in order to demonstrate the reasons for mant of my decisions.

The many faces of amethyst purple just seemed a but lack lustre and pointless, also a lot of different screens, not really worth the intensive process.

Introducing the angular branches, heading towards the aubergine idea looked even worse, it also over crowded the page and didn't give the paper any chance to show off.

Breaking this down into the lines of the structure definitely helped and the effectiveness of this seen at the sketching stage came through. Starting with a lighter purple allowed contract but also drew attention to the intensity of the amethyst purple. ( it should be noted that the colour for the stock was taken directly from the GF Smith website). 

Creating a number of playful patterns took some time. starting with an enlarged comic book like halftone dot simulation and moving to more geometric forms.

I found that sharp edges created the best sense of crystalline faces and also fitted with e the precision that forms the back bone of the GF Smith brand.

 I tried some patterns that were slightly more free form, inspired by marbled patterns. However it was just distractingly inconstant next to the other patterns. So, the patterns would have to be all digital or all hand made and as previously mentioned the vector patters had a better sense of precision. 

Playing with a pastel green rather than the purple. This was inspired by the colour combinations for the Beauty in the making exhibition. Using a fully contrasting colour but then making it pastel works really well in terms of showcasing the colour of the stock and also fits with the playful pastels of the colours may vary merchandise.

Although the clarity of the one colour works I felt like it needed something extra and it came in thinking further about the reflective properties of amethyst. I added highlights on the areas of the faces that would reflect light as the highest points of each face, as relates to the original pattern on faces. This could either be produced in a soft grey with flecks of silver or even a UV spot shine. 

I experimented with adding highlight gradients to the other faces but this made the design far too busy and was unnecessary for the message and purpose of the print.

These are the screen print positives ready to go. I will experiment during printing to find exactly the finish I want with this design.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 07 GF Smith Paper Thumbnails and IdeaGeneration

After my research into the name amethyst I spent some time thinking about what I had found and the intended purpose of the print. The most important point is the fact that this needs to demonstrate how the paper takes colour and print processes.  

Using the central themes of the amethyst crystal, the luxury well crafted paper and the playfulness of of the Colours may vary identity, thumbnails were generated. I spent some time playing with the idea of and aubergine because of the similarity of the dark purple to the fruit. This came from the playful side just because it was a bit of a weird connection. I connected it with the crystalline forms and looked at crossing branches in angular shapes. This led me to the idea of fragments of different colours either side of the branches, much like the faces of an amethyst crystal. 

It struck me that perhaps different textures could be used on the different faces of the crystal to communicate reflections of a three diminutional object. 

The concept of a geode also came to the surface but this felt too complex to use the different textured faces concept. The textured or patterned surfaces seemed like a wise direction to go in because of the opportunities it provided to showcase the colour of the paper in different circumstances. 

Before going digital I played with a few of the strongest ideas at full scale. Using cut out paper to create sharp crystalline edges really worked and the shapes connoted paper in an abstract sense that works with the whole GF Smith centre to the project. However, This leaked any real unity or purpose. What seemed charmingly random as an idea became slightly inane in practice.

I also tried the crystalline lines concept out at full scale and this really captured the precision of the GF Smith identity isolated in my research. I also showed a number of my peers both full size experiments and my thumbnails and got complete positive responses for the abstract crystalline forms. It was suggested, however, that not every face is textured so that the colour of the stock can be seen fully in some areas.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 07 GF Smith Research into Paper Colour

The colour of colour plan I have been given is Amethyst .

Because the colour is so dark the colours I will be printing with will have to be lighter in order to register on the surface. This could work in terms of screen printing, especially with metallic inks.

In Beauty in the Making, Amethyst was a staple colour. This seems to be because it combines really well with lighter pastel colours. This could work really well in the Colours May Vary context, which I have found very pastel heavy.

When generating ideas for subject matter, of course the crystal formation of the amethyst crystal came up. However, I also want to look at a more playful subject matter. It strikes me that this dark purple is very similar to that of an aubergine. The next step is to generate some thumbnail ideas.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 07 GF Smith Exhibition Research Colours May Vary

The exhibition will be taking place at colure may vary, so it is worth taking into account, their identity and what will fit well in the space. 

There is a definite tradition of white space and pastels when it comes to colours may vary. Their space is open and bright and their merchandise is usually sunny and bright with a fun friendly tone of voice, occasionally serious in a slightly editorial way. However,  they have a tradition of clean lines and allowing space for objects to breath. This is the most relevant information for this brief. Colours wise I want to look at introducing pastels and maintaining a crisp finish depending on the print process. However, the notable aspect of the colours may vary is the tinge of weirdness that their merchandise indulges in from time to time. This is something that I will need to play with during the design process.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 07 GF Smith Exhibition Research GF Smith Exhibitions

Recently GF Smith went through a re brand and an exhibition to go with it. Because this brief is to create something for the GF Smith archives and an exhibition, I thought it would be worth while to look into this re brand and how they orchestrated the exhibition.

The exhibition they used to introduce colour plane was called Beauty in the Making.

Both the process of paper making and the bright colours it makes possible were the focus of the exhibition pieces. Perspective has been used to its best advantage, the space to circle the paper pallets allowing communication of the bright colour, all the way through the grain. They have played on contrasts, using comparative colour to create a sense that the colours are even brighter. They enhance one another. This has been done brilliantly with one changeable but memorable identity detail, the fold. Through this one fold the comparative colour is allowed to do its job, like a cheeky flash of what is to come, GF Smith have managed to ingrain the sense of the well made along with that of fun and playfulness (the tone of voice of the colour plan paper range).

Because of the huge number of applications that this logo has to have, the communication is all in the details. The light and sharp letter forms again come back to the precise, the well made and crafted. It is on the lower case wider application of the identity that a certain nod of the head to the playfully contemporary is made. This can be seen in the heavier line weight and angled terminals that are throughout the logo font. 

This tone of voice, the mix between the playful and the well crafted is what I am aiming to communicate with my design.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 04 FAFF Brand Guideline Oragnisation

Once I had my brand guideline research I made a list of the different applications that we know will and might be required for the FAFF logo. This is what I came up with.

Now I am going to bring this to a meeting with Izzy and see if she has any further ideas for applications. I think because this might go further as a brand than we can guess, we should also make up and expansions page, with the aspects of the brand that can be changed if the applications we put in the guidelines are exceeded at a later date.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 01 SU Work Part 2 Elections Brand Guidelines

After my research into constructing brand guidelines I made a list of the different applications that the elections brand was applied to and how it should be included in the guidelines.

Now I have this I can start constructing the guidelines with each page allocated to a different application. I will also talk with Billie to see if I have missed anything that would be worth detailing.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 02 SU Work Part 3 Staff and Student Awards brief

Brief:
Create a set of three, different but connected certificates, to be awarded as part of the Student and Staff awards.  They need to be producible in a very basic laser printer but also have a sense of something precious and won. They also should connect to the trophies being designed for the awards so there is a sense of continuity throughout the produced merchandise.
The numbers are as follows:

A5 ‘Nominated’ certificates – unknown number until the close of the nominations [each person nominated will receive a certificate]

A4 ‘Shortlisted’ certificates – 21 in total 

A3 ‘Winner’ certificates – 7 in total

Background considerations:

-The cost of printing will have to be low, see if you can find ways to make the certificates seem valuable.

- There has already been promotional material sent out for the awards, what you produce needs to align with this.

-Remember, these are things that people should be proud of winning, make sure they look that way.

Deliverables:

-Printed versions of each design.

-Recorded development of project on your design practice blog.

First Thoughts:

I need to make contact with Emma and get the font and colour details for the designs they have already sent out as promotions.

I also need to maintain contact with Helen who is producing the trophies that are the awards for the 7 winners.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 01 Part 2 and Brief 04 FAFF Brand Guidelines Research

Because I am going to construct brand guidelines for two of my extended practice briefs I thought it would be useful to collect together information about how to best do this. These are the best web pages I found with images of the best tips.

https://designschool.canva.com/blog/your-brand-needs-a-visual-style-guide/

This is something that I hadn't considered until this point. The framing and choice of images needs to be constant to maintain a consistent tone of voice.

This website had a great breakdown of what every style guide should at least have.

http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/how-to-create-your-own-brand-guidelines--cms-24901

This is all information that I am going to use to construct brand guidelines for the elections campaign and FAFF branding brief. The next step seems to be breaking down hat the branding will be applied to in each project so I know exactly what needs to be included in the Guidelines.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 03 Botanical Collaboration

Collaboration Partner: Jess Wood

This project has been on hold for quite a while due to the context of practice module. However, I did bring along some of the work we had done to the latest extended practice crit. I showed them the work so far and also an old botanical type project that I did at the beginning of first year that I was thinking of developing for this project, or simply using as a reference point.

It was agreed that scaling down the project was wise and focussing on the publication a good idea. It was also suggested that a fully design and function body copy font was a big stretch and that perhaps (after looking at the 1st year project) creating a set of capitals to work with the Baskerville font would work better. these could act as almost illuminated capitals in the layout and use the negative space of the designs to interact with the illustrations. This is a great I sea and I think I will revisit the old project and extract what I feel will work and look at creating just that.

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 06 Triptych Poster Final Designs

Evaluation:
I have loved working on this project. Not only because of the freedom  of the brief but also because of the speed at which it needed to be done. This fast paced working makes me make design decisions without dallying, which I find actually makes the decisions better. I enjoyed playing with the idea of distance legibility and how this came from the context of the piece. Although I intended the secondary layer of type to be less legible at a distance, this could be seen as the weaker part of the design. The issue being that on all reproductions, including photographs, the poster is smaller than in real life, immediately making pat of the type less legible. This is something I perhaps should have considered during the design stage. However, I will include a full scale print of the poster in my submission, so that it can be viewed as intended. I feel that the consideration of the audience in this brief made it really strong. Thinking carefully about the content and how it addresses the people that walk past the poster daily gave the design a structure and purpose that it wouldn't of otherwise had. The choice of words also created structure for the typography. The tone of voice is matched and enhanced by the typography creating a visual and tonal juxtaposition that increases the effectiveness of the design. The colour decisions were dictated by the posters to be put on either side of it. This came from discussions with the designers creating these and  good communication throughout. When looking at the three together it does create a strong sense of togetherness and harmony that none the less allows for the individual styles of the designers at work. If I had a chance to work on this design further there are two things that I would address. One would be the interweaving of the two ;entering styles and how this could be increased to enhance the design. Also because of the two tone nature f the design and its sharp edges, this could work really well as a screen print. 

OUGD603 Extended Practice Brief 05 Penguin Book Cover Final Designs Evaluation

Evaluation:

This was a relatively speedy one considering the fast approaching submission deadline for the competition. However, This seemed to give the impetus to make decisions more assertively during the development process and meant not getting tired with the design, which often happens over extended briefs. The choice to research the penguin classics designs and use them to inform the design, was a strong one that will hopefully appeal to the judges. Taking note of previous good design and using it to communicate meaning was effective in this case and meant a cohesive finished design. The high contrast colours and the decisive angular font choice makes the book really stand out in a shop context. I would also say that effectively representing the contents of the book has been successful. This comes from time spent re-familurising  with the contents and realising that Caitlyn herself was the selling and defining point of the book. If I had the chance to re do the project I would look into a more hand made aesthetic because that could have represented Caitlyn Moran's wild and unruly personality possibly more effectively. However,  I was aiming for a meeting point between her tone of voice in the book and the penguin classics look, which I have achieved. Something that went particularly well would be my slight editing of the type on the design. I liked the letters of the font I chose but the kerning was ungainly, for once I managed to use very subtle changes to achieve a typographic finish that created the right decisive tone of voice. 

Proof of Submission:

Contextualising Photographs: