Thursday 19 May 2011

Speaking from experience.




This is an existing facebook group where people are able to post the silly things they do whilst at university named 'you know your a student when...' This links with my own idea because some of the things people have posted are tips and alternatives eg. using hair straighteners on your clothes instead of buying an iron. It's quite light hearted and people could also use the things that are posted here. It's given me a lot of inspiration for my own ideas and content for my book. 

Speaking from experience questionnaire; new idea.

I asked a new question to support my new idea 'how to survive on a student budget creatively' to find out what cheeky little ways people had come up with and also to see if anyone had experienced these ways. 


What cheeky things have you done throughout this year that has saved you money? eg. stealing flatmates food. How have you tried to hide what you have done? 


Chris Van Niekerk; 
At loughborough last year I urinated in my flatmates drink, to teach him a lesson for eating my food. It saved me money from not having to replace stolen food. 


Charlie Crosby;
Sneaking milk and tinfoil to put in my flask and wrap up my sandwiches. (those are two really good ways to save on food and caffeine). Also letting the clean freaks of the flat buy all the cleaning materials. 


Max Gregory; 
I just use cling film, tinfoil and my flatmate who has finished for the summer plates because I smashed all mine. 


Kirsty Fruin;
Needed a mixer so took some 7up and filled the bottle back up with water. 


Emily Fairbank;
Stealing food...milk, butter and mayo especially. 




I'm also aware of the cheeky things people get up to because i've been a target before in my flat and usually it's pretty obvious who has done what but sometimes I haven't realised for ages after it's happened. The things mentioned above can form the basis for my new idea and act as the content. They have also given me inspiration for other cheeky things people can carry out. 

Sunday 15 May 2011

What is graphic design? Type and image work.



'Chupa Chups' 
This was a foreign campaign created for chupa chups lolly pops. It advertises the lolly and is supposed to make people want to go out and buy the product or to at least consider it. The audience is anyone with a sweet tooth but the style of the poster communicates maybe a younger generation in particular. This could be seen in magazines or as posters and works so successfully due to it being a recognised brand. I think the fact a pastel colour and brighter colour have been used together is a good design feature because it means its simplistic so communication to an audience will be more successful. 

'Marmite Ad' 
The relationship between photography and illustration is really successful with this piece because the two compliment each other quite well without one over powering the other. This poster is promoting to parents the fact that if they buy marmite they can gain an audio download of the horrid henry book for their child. The play on words in the main text works really successfully because most people find marmite horrible but the target audience is supposed to be disagree. The target audience is marmite lovers  who have young children and this poster could be seen in magazines, possibly food related ones to meet that target audience. 

This poster is from a series that is trying to persuade people to sign up to romtelecom which is a foreign telecommunications company that provide internet services. The reason I chose this piece is because I really appreciate the journal style in particular and the relationships text and imagery have in a journal. I also like the fact odd fonts can be dropped in and the piece is still understandable. The audience is consumers of the internet so preferably an older one. This piece would be found in a magazine because of the fact it has to be read closely with there being so much text. I don't really think the idea is that successful because if I was the consumer I wouldn't want to read this whole page word for word. Something that was straight to the point and effortless would work a lot better. 

I wasn't really sure about the function of this piece although I do believe it could be used as a background for a computer. The audience is the younger generation and this is down to the fact the characters in the piece are cartoon style and theres a section stating something about status updates. As im not really sure about the function of the piece I don't really know where it would be found, maybe its a personal thing but the image would still work if it was tiled. This work is very similar to some that I found created for adidas.

'Dairy Milk' by Yulia Brodskaya.
This is a previous image that has been re-created in the style of the designer. It advertises dairy milk chocolate and is created for the consumer of chocolate to tempt them to go out and buy this particular brand. Originally this would be seen in magazines, on billboards possibly too as it works on various different scales. I feel this piece is about the designer trying to show that her style of work, works in advertising and not just her own interests. Again, it has to be seen literally to be appreciated more. 


'Underskin' by Sam Loman.
I thought this design was really clever because straight away I linked it to the london underground but then was intrigued when I saw the shape of it. This is a diagram of the human body stating where certain parts are but using the same system as the london underground. The audience may be people that have seen the underground map before so can appreciate the cleverness of this design but also people who appreciate things that are a little more complex. This would be a really successful large scale poster design because then all the pieces of text could be seen easily and the design understood better. 


'In the forest where you sleep' by Jared Nickerson and Marius Bauer.
This piece sets animals in a positive light and could be linked to a story due to its title. The audience may be animal lovers or people who enjoy simplistic yet colourful design. A range of characters were created as seen in the first image and they are a poster series. This work stood out to me because I liked the feel good atmosphere the images create through the use of colour. 



'Adidas Originals: Celebrate Originality' by Jared Nickerson. 
This is one of my favourite pieces I've come across whilst searching through designers because its simplistic and quite cheery due to the little characters with eyes and faces. The colour scheme relates back to the company because a lot of their products tend to be blue and white. This work advertises the company but could also be used on products as above there is a new logo. Again, for the fashion conscious or sport lovers these things could be found on products or as part of advertising as maybe a re-brand as everything has to move on with the times. I also believe it could be aimed at a younger audience because of the cartoon style of the work.





'Harley Davidson' by Brock Davis.
These designs caught my eye more for the composition of them rather than the actual design. I do however, think the idea is creative in the sense that they've created a different style of person for each style of bike using the parts. These posters are advertising harley davidson motorbikes and the audience is anyone who is able to drive a motorbike or anyone who has an interest in them. This could be seen in a motor vehicle magazine or possibly at a show room. The composition is successful because having the bike small still doesn't take away this is what its about and the whole layout just looks really neat. 









'McDonalds' by Pawell Nolbert.
The feel of this campaign and the style gives mcdonalds quite a sophisticated name really when we all know it as a cheap(ish) fast food restaurant with pretty much no class. The posters are advertising the fast food chain and in a sense making an attempt at encouraging people to visit. The audience is very wide spread as its aimed at anyone who likes to eat fast food. These designs are a bit like teaser ads even though the audience knows exactly what they are advertising. Although I get the impression these sort of ads may be found in magazines, I think they would make pretty cool postcards. 







'Nike footlocker 2010 apparel' by Peter Jaworowski, Karol Kolodzinski and Pawel Wilkos. 
Again, looking at design for Nike trainers, these are probably some of my favourite pieces as the composition and the colouring are incredibly strong and work in the favour of the designs. The first image in particular is my favourite because everything sits really neatly and I really like the positioning of the text. The purpose of the designs is to be printed onto t-shirts and the audience would be people who already purchase this brand or are fashion conscious. These designs would be found in stores on the t-shirts and would be meant to stand out from everything else in the shop. They would be seen as innovative, creative and exciting. 

'Fedrigoni' by Richard Nabarro. 
Fedrigoni is a paper company with a showroom based in London. I particularly liked this piece for its simplicity and obviousness as a massive part of the design is the paper that the man is 'walking' through. The balance between positive and negative spacing works really well and gives a neat finish to the whole design. Its an advertisement for the London showroom and would mainly be aimed at design companies as potential clients due to the fact you can buy the paper in massive bulk orders (and its quite pricey). This is most likely to be found in design magazines where it can hit its target audience and the colouring in the ad will definitely do so. 



'Coffee time' by Studio 43.
The style in particular made these pieces stand out to me because I really appreciate the whole old fashioned/sophisticated look. It makes the shop look as though it would be worth a visit because they've put effort into their packaging. The packaging has been created to hold products from this particular coffee shop and also to entice a new audience if they see others with it. The audience can range from an everyday person to your typical business person who may or may not work in an office as they tend to pop into places such as this on break. The audience also seems as though they may be a starbucks goer as it seems like a more 'high end' coffee shop. Its meant to be seen out in the public eye once someone has purchased something so that it could maybe encourage someone else to seek it out as well as a way of advertising. 




















What is graphic design? Type driven work.

'Design museum x State of the obvious collection' by Mash Creative. 
www.behance.net
This design stood out to me because it suits my personality and amused me straight away. The purpose of the design is to 'decorate' a wide range of items whilst making them comical at the same time. I can see things like this making a great gift for someone. The audience would generally have to have a sense of humour to enjoy this design so the age range could be anything from young to older. The different products would be purchased and then seen where the owner may use them eg. their telephone. Anyone who is to view should generally see the amusement in it. The black and white san serif font works really well because its simplistic and the text stands out so can be read successfully.


'Nike Zoom Kobe V iD illustration' by Darrin Crescenzi.
With this piece I really liked the way the text has been shaped to create the shape of the shoe because this seems different to a lot of the design work i've seen for Nike. The colour scheme works well and gives the design quite a sophisticated style. The font also looks good because due to the style of it not a lot of text has been used so the design is quite simplistic. The design is for the fashion conscious male as it was created for a Nike t-shirt. This would be found in a sports shop that stocks Nike products and would successfully stand out from other products as it looks stylish. 


'Nike commission' by Chato.
This is another design created for Nike but this time for a womans vest. The design stood out to me because I enjoy things that look hand rendered as I feel this is more personal. The style of background and text work really well together in creating texture. Created for a fashion conscious woman, maybe someone who enjoys sports or even someone who just enjoys the design on this style of t-shirt. This would also be found in store among all the other sporting products and again, would stand out from the rest because its different and visually exciting. 

'Typefunkography' by Rodrigo Francisco.
This piece is enjoyable for me because I like to see the process a designer went through to come up with a final resolution because this is a massive part of graphic design. There was a whole font created in the above style wether it be for the designer to enjoy or the public to make use of. The audience would be anyone who enjoys typography or other designers because they can appreciate a lot more with their understanding. This typography could be found across a great range of things depending on the designers intentions. Its supposed to be received as modern, exciting and even possibly retro.

'Futura' by Craig Ward.
This is another paper craft piece that is based around the font Futura and for this reason I believe its more type based rather than image. The fact the font is subtle works really well because on the piece its made up of strips of paper but can still be read quite well. The piece I think is supposed to represent a letter to a lover maybe because the block at the bottom looks like a letter and the text expands from this. The audience can be people who maybe enjoy this style of work or anyone that likes visually interesting pieces. This is something else that would be more likely to be found in a gallery or at an exhibition. 


'HMF' by HandMadeFont
This project reminded me of my own summer brief in which we had to create an alphabet that visually represents ourselves. The designer has created a huge range of fonts using various different things wether it be food or objects. It actually makes me really hungry everytime I look at this piece, wether this be the function or not but I do believe it's just there to be enjoyed. The potential audience could be doughnut lovers or just lovers of type in general and it could be used in any type of design realistically. Its fun and light hearted. 

'Values' by Yulia Brodskaya
Theres always been admirated for Yulia Brodskaya due to her hand crafted work and the precision of everything she designs. This piece feels as though its trying to communicate on a personal level and may be considered in various different ways depending on who is looking at it. Its visually exciting and stands out. The potential audience is anyone who enjoys this style and appreciates hand crafted work. This work can be found in books and online on the designers website but would also possibly be found in exhibitions as there can be more interaction when seeing the work 3D. There can be more of an appreciation if the work was seen properly. 

'Typography explosion' by Teakster.
Colour draws the eye in and this is something I enjoy about this piece. The fact the text is subtle works successfully because it creates an abstract piece. The concept behind the piece was to visually create and explosion of the text and this has been created in a simplistic yet visually interesting way. There isn't a particular target audience because this could be enjoyed by anyone if they found it interesting enough. This could be an art piece or exhibited because its been created in more of a personal sense rather than to be influential on people. 



I thought this piece was really creative because instead of using imagery to send a message, the designer has worked with the poster itself. As seen in the second picture above the poster has been rolled and burnt to make it look like a spliff. This poster is trying to send out a message to get people to change their ways or even steer well clear of new habits they may not have tried yet. I feel it targets a younger audience as habits like this tend to be picked up at a younger age, anything from 16+ in the current era. This poster would be placed somewhere it can be interacted with, with it being '3D' and it would work on a range of different scales. 




'I hate 2D posters' by Ersinhan Ersin.
This another 3D poster created by the same designer but this time to advertise skateboarding and in particular, a competition. The fact its been created to look like a skate ramp makes it more visually interesting and engaging. The audience would be anyone interested in skate boarding or even going to view the competition. It would be placed around areas where it can be interacted with so that the style of the poster could be enjoyed. My only concern for posters like these would be the fact they may get damaged pretty easily. 







'Slinkytype' by Paul Hollingworth.
This font stood out because I liked the fact it'd be experimented with in print so you could see if it really is a successful as you would think. Again, im all for the simple aspects of design and like the fact this design is so basic yet very modern looking. The function of the type is to look like a slinky toy and this has proved really successful in the design. Due to the fact the font looks quite modern the target audience could be a younger generation but then again it could also be anyone who enjoys typography. Looking at the test pieces that came with this font its maybe meant to be used for print/editorial and it serves its purpose really well as the design and colours still look as good once printed.