PPP Blog: "Its upto you" brief ideas, development & production

"Its upto you" ideas, development & production

I began figuring out an idea for what to make for studio brief 2, "its upto you".

I saw the brief as an opportunity to reflect on the year, and my presentation so after having a think on the main concept behind it I decided on showing a snapshot of a journey in a before and after timescale. This would allow me to cut all the bits out I presented in the presentation and basically provide a brief yet concise explanation of what type of creative I am now compared to how I was before.

I began trying to figure out how to show a before & after journey, deciding on a 50-50 split in terms of content and how it will all be put together, nice and simple. Before content, and after content.

I began thinking of the key things that i mentioned in my presentation that have significantly changed for me. To show this journey I want to provide a snapshot of a before and after based on the common term "from A-B" which describes traveling from one point to another.

This consideration to a concept before actually creating work demonstrates how I think about concepts rather than aesthetics. Were as before I just went with my first idea and concentrated on making it look "nice" and aesthetically pleasing.

One idea at the moment to incorporate something that defined me at the start of the year and what defines me now in a visual output is to create a glyph for A & B, A would be using traditional image making mediums, linking back to how I was an image based, illustrative creative who used traditional mediums. The B glyph would be made digitally to visualize my transformation of style.

The format would be quite square to visualize my structure within my layouts and my consideration of grids learnt through design principles. I like the idea of the flip card or something that fold out to reveal hidden information (information on my style before the year started for example)

Began mocking up how it would look, the type elements will be very simple, Its going to be tricky to align the hyphen up when the pages are folded but if I'm successful it will help solidify my structured consideration within my use of grid and layout which is now a set rule through most my work.

Using a type of fold aloud me to hide the characteristics I used to have and just present the new characteristics I have while still allowing the A and B to sit next to each other.

But when folded out showed were I was before, the horizontal extended hyphen/line simulates a sort of timeline and shows progression leading the eye across the page and back to the front cover showing "B" content.

I began illustrating my "A" glyph using a style of drawing called stippling, something I used back in foundation when I created a full A-Z "bone typeface". This allows me to link back to the creative I used to be when I had no idea about proper typography design so this amateur attempt will work alongside & contrast against the more considered, clear, and considered digital B i create.

Inspiration

Resolution

Sort of the style the B could be taking forward the "stipple" dots into a more clear, concise and structured outcome using digital techniques to show a visualisation of a journey of style within 2 contrasting glyphs.

Playing around with more abstract and unique glyphs to show my old illustrative style been incorporated with digital techniques. But I want the glyphs aesthetics to stem from the A somehow.

Now to digital production, In adobe illustrator taking forward the dots used in the stippling and producing a structured digital outcome.

Just the 2 glyphs next to each other work well, a nice contrast but not sure how there going to work when placed in conjunction of the layout with body copy etc.

I also created a digital A just incase the traditional A doesn't work in the layout. I hope it does though as the traditional medium shows a journey much better.

Removed the slight angle within the crossbar as it looked more like a manipulated 8 rather than an A and has a more structured solid feel allowing the glyph to sit flush onto the baseline.

Trying out different sized circles to make up the Glyphs, small circles really hurt my eyes and make the glyphs quite illegible.

Medium weight dots helped a little but still prefer the heavier weight dots.

Taking forward the visual research of the design work I appreciate and inspires me now in the previous post I created a digital mock up of the rough hand drawn idea I created, really liking this but it looks far too empty. I know I said I have things minimal and simple but this looks rushed, and too much space leaves the body copy and other elements feeling lost within the negative space.

As I feared though I don't like how these glyphs work together, not keen on the contrast of mediums looks like a miss mash of visuals, I think its the body copy that ruins it, 3 different styles of typography within such a small surface area really goes against my morals of simple, clear design.

Much more considered.

Stretched out the body copy to take up more of the space, works much better now making the most of the negative space and not feeling as lost as it sits up and feels locked into the horizontal line running across the page.

Taking forward a fundamental element, the "dot" that came from my old favorite drawing technique "stippling". I created a background for the back of the construction so it didn't feel empty and added a nice visual spark to the whole design.

I wanted a strap to hold the folded construction together, I'm really not liking these bands thought they look so garish and bulky and ruin the clean cut, minimal aesthetic of the design. Maybe if the format size was a little bigger it would work but due to the small size its too rustic and garish.

To take up the space on the "A" page I devised a sort of point to point system to visualize a map/locations more which has relevance to my concept of displaying a journey of how I have changed in an A-B sort of way.

Began taking my test prints into physical production, I chose some shades of blue to play around with. Been quite a personal design I though for the stock choice I may swell chose my favorite color. The red point to point system is my second favorite color and also works well alongside blue.

I like this example for its contrast within the the body copy, the black contrasts nicely and allows very good readability. But the shade is a little childish I feel, I want something a little more toned downrather than something that looks bold and loud.

My favorite color combination, I love the antique off white and the dark blue tone they work together beautifully but the typography is far too illegible and unreadable. This was my last piece of this antique white kind of stock too so I can't even take this into the other color tests.

This shade of blue is perfect, in-between the above 2 shades its the perfect balance of light and dark. Im willing to sacrifice the more subtle contrast in body copy as the type is still readable enough. The contrast of texture between the blue and white stock is amazing too, the white has a leather like texture and the blue a smooth matte texture. This contrast of texture (rough & smooth) is a happy accident really, the texture on the white has a more traditional feel too it which has relevance with the content on that page describing my traditional creative style at the beginning of the course.

Obvious link back to the OCD attention to detail I mention in my presentation. Making sure the pages are perfectly stuck together and no overhanging edges for a perfect professional finish.

My 2 favorite colors, I like the idea of paper clipping the productions shut but It does look a little garish, it has a certain mechanical/rawness too it though which works nice with the whole minimal aesthetic and the yellow contrasts perfect creating a good overall color scheme.

Still to try an elastic band I feel this will work better.

The inside cover is my favorite bit, to strengthen my conceptual thinking that I have developed I feel the addition of these visuals that represent a point to point system really do strengthen the whole concept of my journey "A-B" in a simple and concise way not causing unnecessary visual confusion a nice subtle element that made use of the amount of negative space but didn't make it feel to busy and cramped.

Need some better photos but I mentioned in my manifesto with Niel about me considering paper stocks so I saw this design outcome an opportunity to bring back this consideration into my print based design solutions I like to create. I love the leather like texture it gives a crisp white stock a little more character which works well alongside the minimal and clean aesthetics.

I struck my name out on this page to represent how this was me before and how Im no longer like what it says on this page.