Course Development Core Concepts

Summary of Graphic Design 1: Core Concepts highlighting key learning points and what has developed over this module Katie Smith 520237

Looking back on this module and the feedback that I first received from my tutor, it has become clearer to me the amount of progress that I have made throughout this unit. The assignments and exercises that I am submitting reflect the progression that I have made, highlighting my creativity, research and idea development as well as my evolving visual and technical skills.

Initially, I was quite confident in my research skills. I knew that I could use my research to establish and develop a fully informed idea that was surrounded by social constructs and ideas. But this was for photography.

Feedback quickly established that I wrote too much and not only was this hard for my tutor but upon reflection, it wasn’t helping me. This meant that throughout the unit I had to learn to edit my work. Taking on the role of editor for my own work as it was all considered important but through a slow editing process, it means that I am beginning to understand my work more from a reader’s perspective. Writing so much meant that I often had to focus more on the annotations than the production of work. Doing so limited my creativity and it got me into a bad working habit. It meant that ideas often weren’t fully developed but this changed once I started to edit my work as there was a stronger focus on the points I was learning along the way.

Once I had learnt to do this, I was able to focus on how I worked best and what skills I needed to develop to do this more successfully. From the start I have struggled to communicate ideas through sketches. During part 5, I was able to realise how well this benefitted me. I wouldn’t say that this is now one of my strong points, but I am learning to do it more accurately and it is something that I would like to continue to develop. At this point, I am comfortable with sketching out designs that involve varying layouts and typography but any illustrations would be more challenging.

By working in this way, I have shown that one of my strong points is experimentation, but once again this did have its constraints. Many exercises and assignments showed that I could experiment quite easily on different digital medium, but once illustrations were involved, like the POS exercise in part 2, I wasn’t as comfortable to experiment with different illustration styles. This is definitely something that I need to work on. Other than illustration, I know I also need to become more aware of contexts surrounding graphic design. To begin with I was comfortable doing this as the work situated itself within my style of glitch artwork however, once the briefs tested me in new ways, I believe that my awareness of historical contexts and practices didn’t become such a focus as I tried to develop the visuals of a style that I wasn’t necessarily used to. I was yet to realise that understanding the context more would have helped to develop the visuals.

Looking back on the module now, I am realising that the way in which I sourced my imagery and information should have perhaps had more ‘worth’. Instead of using google and stock image sources, it would have been more beneficial to me, to my research and to my understanding of context, to look at outside sources. Occasionally this is evident within my work however, when creating the photomontage in assignment 3, it is clear that I didn’t think about the old presentation of the images in terms of the new way in which it is presented.

The work that I am submitting reflects my strongest work from throughout the module. It highlights some strong personal development in terms of trying not to overcomplicate my designs which was a massive issue at the start of the module. Being able to start identifying this myself helped me to become more open to different design styles and expanding my creativity. My visualisation skills have also been particularly highlighted with a variety of sketches and mock ups (both digital and physical) used in order to bring some life into my work. In the future this will help to show clients exactly how the results will form once printed as well as help me work out what adjustments still need to be made.

Overall the module has helped me realise that not all visual subjects work in the same way. The transition between photography and graphic design in terms of the way in which I need to work has been the biggest learning curve. It has been difficult to adjust to the method of online learning with feedback only being once the work is completed but this is a more realistic expectation when going into a professional setting and it has taught me some important lessons that I can take forward with me throughout my time with the OCA.

Key Learning Points at a Glance: - Thoroughly analyse the brief and revisit it throughout the exercise.

- Focus on the purpose and the visual communication of a project in conjunction with the appearance but don’t let the appearance dominate a project when visual research shows that different techniques should be employed.

- My visual research should be less about finding inspiration but about seeing what visual communication techniques work successfully to then employ within my own work.

- Simplify my designs - Something that I continued to struggle with throughout but by developing my research skills, continuing to analyse the brief and by asking for feedback from peers, I was able to slowly but surely develop my designs.

- The way in which I visualise designs evolved - sketching out ideas allowed for more experimentation. Digital drawing experimentation is still not there because my illustration skills were developed in this module but not to the extent that I perhaps had hoped for.

- Text and image combinations reflect the way in which a message is communicated. Scale, contrast and form amongst other things all influence the message portrayed and how it is perceived by the audience.

- Everything has a purpose, including the typography. It has to fit in with the intent and target audience as well as portray the message that is explicity stated by its content.

- Contrast isn’t just in terms of tones. I always looked so closely at the use of tones and this unit has encouraged me to look at the other components and how messages are portrayed through these elements.

- The curation of components through hierarchys and grids make it easier to read. I always looked at ‘what looked good’ and this was something I did with many different structures. It was once I began to understand these structures, like I understood the rule of thirds and other rules within photography, that I started to understand why some designs were easier to follow than others.

Please note: For the exploration of this document, the research has been consolidated to show just a small segment. This document would be too long if I did not do this. To explore some of the development further, my learning logs are available alongside the blog posts on my website.

Initial learning point: Thoroughly analyse the brief and revisit it throughout the exercise.

Looking at this in more depth: I have never worked to a brief before in the way that this unit has made me do. I have been given a more direct approach to a project instead of being given free reign. This took a little bit of getting used to and can be evidenced through my progress between Assignment 1 and Assignment 2. In assignment 1, I read the brief to start with and then I didn’t revisit it. This was something that was noted by my tutor. Although I asked myself questions such as ‘What makes a postcard a postcard?’, I did not revisit the key words within the brief. It was therefore suggested that I deeply analyse the brief when i first receive it and that I make sure during my idea development to look at these key words in order to guide my progress. In the following pages i have shown how my analysis changed from being a mental process in assignment 1 (something that I can unfortunately not document) to a well documented mind map in assignment 2. To progress this further throughout the module, I have then been able to pick out examples from assignment 5 that show I revisited the brief in order to question which designs answer the main points and key words from the brief.

The progress that I made can be evidenced through the progress mentioned by my tutor within her feedback on each unit. Even revisiting some of the exercises again for the purpose of submission reminded me that I still didn’t revisit the brief enough in some exercises, this is perhaps most evident when I looked at the abstract cities exercise again from assignmnet 3. There were multiple aspects of this brief that I considered but at no point was I able to consider everything until I had fully developed all my skills by the end of the unit. Initially I went too abstract, so I made sure that the cover was more legible in terms of graphics which fitted with the style of other covers I had researched. But in doing so, by making it simpler, I had ended up not making the covers abstract enough.

Analysis in the first assignment didn’t exist, once it came to the exercises within the second assignment, everything was analysed like so:

But this was where the analysis stopped and it was picked up by my tutor. The brief was not helping to analyse my responses and what the aim of the brief was to help me learn.

Analysis of a brief during assignment 5:

My analysis of the designs with this brief were a lot more focused. They focused on what the client wanted the designs to portray, who the target audience was and identifying any further issues that could come up, for example, trying to identify any cliches or stereotypes. The phrasing below was taken directly from my learning log to identify that even after my research, the brief was returned to.

The brief specified to avoid using any cliches or stereotypes within this logo but what kind of cliches and stereotypes already exist that I need to avoid?

Not all concerns were answered within the brief: Asking for feedback from my peers brought up some comments that focused on the ‘French’ aspect of the name, suggesting that some looked more French than others. I revisited the brief and recognised that this was not something that the brief specified, whether it needed to play on the words of the restaurant or not.

I came to the conclusion that the designs that appeared more French were those that didn’t have the hen illustration. As a designer, I wanted the design to be easy to remember. Which would be easier to remember, the block colour that gave no indication to the name, or the hen illustration that would give some kind of pointer to jog the memory of the audience?

Revisiting the brief during this exercise reminded me that the brief often has more indications than shown at face value. Even if the experiments seem to be going well, it is important to revisit the brief to make sure they are not straying too far away from what the client wants.

As outlined before, this isn’t something I did but it was something pointed out to me by my tutor that I needed guidance through some of my experiments and revisiting the brief would have done this for earlier exercises.

Even between assignment 2 and 3 my tutor had noticed a difference as I now received this feedback:

Initial learning point:

Focus on the purpose and the visual communication of a project in conjunction with the appearance but don’t let the appearance dominate a project when visual research shows that different techniques should be employed.

Looking at this in more depth:

This was something that took a little bit more time to iron out than analysing the brief more closely. Assignment 1 asked me to look at postcards and the main thing that I missed out was the simple geometric structures on the back of the postcard to make them have this visual understanding to an audience that they had the intention of being used as a postcard. The primary focus of these was on the appearance and this followed through to a lot of my assignments and exercises. Although this is a key thing to focus on within the visual arts, it is also important to focus on how these components convey a message. This is where my focus needed to start also looking at the purpose of a project and the ways in which visual communication had been used previously in similar scenarios. Doing this would then develop the visuals and appearance more naturally but with a clearer intent.

The book covers as part of an exercise in part 2 were definitely led by appearance.

My analysis of previous work as well as my own focused on the appearance of the cover instead of how it builds up a perception of the storyline. Some of these issues were ironed out once I started to try and create a new symbol for movement in part 3.

The understanding of semiotics as part of my research was definitely there but the link between this research and my own work hadn’t quite combined at this point. There was still a very evident separation between the two. Despite this, it all finally came together in part 5 with the Chance Housing Association. I was able to research with a more refined eye of exactly what I needed to do in terms of the purpose and where the logos would be seen. I asked people within the target audience what they thought worked within the logos so that my visual analysis of the successful communication techniques didn’t just look at why a logo was successful but what made it successful for the target audience I was looking at. This involved looking at logos that weren’t for the specified target audience as well to work out what I needed to avoid within my designs.

Some initial analysis from the book covers exercise reflects upon my designs like so:

“Although I liked my initial design, I felt like the edit on the work had made it to abstract.

The title does help in shaping the way the image is viewed, but there is still an issue that this

could only be perceived to be the tardis by some people. Equally, this isn’t a Doctor Who

novel so I don’t want the audience to be expecting a Doctor Who story when this definitely isn’t one.

Despite this not working, using a block colour to highlight the title, like that used in the

Harry Potter books, has worked to my advantage here. The background definitely isn’t right

but using the blank space highlights the important part of the cover, the title and author.”

Similarly: “I really like the idea of lines surrounding the text, like on the example on the left. Although the spacing isn’t quite right between them at this point, I think this could be something that gets encorporated within one of my designs.

The gold lines also work really nicely, they send the eye around different points of the frame. As an audience you are constantly led back and forth between different points without there being too much dominating the frame, it feels like a natural movement around the frame. Despite this working, there wasn’t something quite right, it didn’t seem to fulfil the function of a book cover, it looks a little out of place. The cover to the left however, works more effectively. The simple image on the front (this was taken from a search engine just to see the effect) grabs the reader but doesn’t reveal too much and it encourages the reader to find out more”

To analyse the work like this reflects the appearance of work, it does not reflect the research that I have undertaken.

Whilst designing a symbol for an exercise as part 3, I kept asking my questions such as: - How else can movement be represented?

- What works? What doesn’t well?

- How does this piece suggest movement?

- What is a symbol?

- What have I learnt?

- Does this fulfil the brief?

The below analysis is separating out the purpose and appearance of the symbols however, it still doesn’t use the research to inform the visual communication techniques that are being employed. This reflects some learning from previous assignments but it still doesn’t reach the point needed.

“Does this work effectively? Does it fulfil the brief?

I think with this task I have been able to start identifying the key areas in which I need to develop my understanding and the way in which I present a task. Identifying exactly what I need to present to the audience, in this case a symbol, I was able to start researching what made a symbol work or more effective. So, at the start where I started looking at foreground and background choices, I was soon able to identify that having this distinction wasn’t something that needed to be considered as part of a symbol. It needs to be something that can stand alone and be added to other elements without having this distinction that separates the symbol to any other components that it is being added to.

Although these seem obvious identifications to make, designing with such a specific purpose is still something that I am getting used to and although I can tell you if something works effectively as a symbol, I am only just getting into the process of working out what components make it successful from a graphics perspective.

The symbol that I have designed encorporates all the elements from different symbols that I designed that had worked but didn’t work within their current design. The idea to use a natural movement in order to inspire the symbol works well as it allows for more connections to be made to the design. Equally, reflecting the movement within the tonal changes helps other types of viewers to understand the symbol, based upon what kind of reader and learner they are. It therefore, fulfils the brief as I have now produced a symbol in which the concept of movement is highlighted that has developed a concept from small sketches on post-it notes to something more coherant on computer systems.”

My research for this assignment was a lot more thorough and focused than it previously has been. Instead of analysing each logo as an individual now, I analysed them as a collective. This allowed me to identify similar communication techniques that were applied across them. The analysis below looks at the characteristics that made the logos appear more upper-class and expensive:

“- A couple of them use either Didot or a similar looking font. As established in other parts of this module, this font looks the most expensive and will therefore enforce this opinion about the company even when the font is the main feature of the logo with a black font, it is very simple and clean.

- Illustrations are kept at a minimal. It helps to keep up the appearance of being clean and simple and there being no faff in terms of service.

- If illustrations are used, they are used to mirror the fonts or add something that the font doesn’t have. The Williams & Williams logo for example, the slanted roof mirrors the slant of the capitalised W, it doesn’t go at the same angle or in the same direction but this doesn’t have to be the case in order to mirror the effect. Also, the font isn’t particularly weighted therefore, the slant is done at a heavy weight for the illustration in order to add some contrast. Although this should take your eye away from the text first as part of the visual hierarchy, it actually makes the eye want a slight break and therefore, the text is where you are first guided to. If this isn’t the case, your eye naturally still goes down the frame and you aren’t going to miss the name of the company.

- Colour combinations are kept to a minimum. It isn’t about trying to create depth or contrast in a way. Soft but definitive and established colour choices are used to keep a limited palette that would sit well on all advertising.”

From this I was able to ask myself the question what I had learnt from my digital developments.

The responses were more direct, looking at the purpose of the work alongside the appearance of it considering the format of the work. At this point nonthing else had been decided but I knew that the majority of stationary would be printed on white paper so some colour choices wouldn’t work as successfully with this choice.

“- Sometimes priorities need to be taken over which will portray the message best, illustrations or colour choices. Colour psychology is not a universal language, not everyone understands why a colour has a certain impact on them so sometimes it is best to defer back to the easiest way to understand a work, through images.

- Readability is important on something no matter how small it is. On a logo, this will be something that is read quickly but it will be the thing that is remembered the most so making sure that each individual element portrays one message and can be clearly understood, - Don’t just consider how this is going to be viewed on screen but also where it is going to be seen. The rest of the exercise requires various mockups of where the logo will be seen but if this weren’t the case, creating mockups would be beneficial.”

The transition in my way of thinking proved a vital learning point in terms of developing my work in a more successful manner. There was definitely a struggle in terms of shifting my mindset as previously it had been about creating artwork and deciding where it would be positioned and in what context. This time the context had already been set as part of the brief and it was important to realise that with this already being established, I couldn’t just focus on the appearance straight away but I also needed to focus on the visual communication principles that came with this. I began to understand more and more throughout the projects that this wasn’t a set of rules that I had to follow but the inspiration I was looking at was no longer in terms of the visual but it was in terms of the visual communication techniques that had previously worked in order to convey a similar message.

Initial learning point:

My visual research should be less about finding inspiration but about seeing what visual communication techniques work successfully to then employ within my own work.

Looking at this in more depth:

I have been used to doing visual research through my previous degree but the focus of this research was very different. Here, instead of looking for visual stimuli to influence the aesthetics of the work, I was actually looked at examples that had worked previously and what visual language indicators they used in order to communicate a message. To some people this would also seem like visual stimuli, which it is in many ways, but here it was more about identifying the visual communication techniques used instead of artistic techniques that I could employ within my own work.

My development of this throughout the unit was not such a linear progression. During some of the exercises of part 3 (more specifically the Abstract Cities exercise) there were elements of strong research. Here I was able to use visual stimuli to formulate a colour palette that could be used but I also looked at other tourist books to identify what characteristics they had. From here, I was able to identify that orange was used a lot and this shaped my research whilst looking more into colour theory. Assignment 4 however, an assignment that came much after this exercise, had no visual research whatsoever, not even for visual stimuli. For some reason on this assignment I had just forgotten to look at what worked and what hadn’t worked.

Although posters may not celebrate ginger hair, there are posters that celebrate colour which is something I did look into a develop from once I revisited the exercise. The best way to reflect on my progress in terms of my visual research would be to look at assignment 3. I had completed research when I first received the brief but as my tutor pointed out, the research in no way informed the choices that I made on the designs. Although I had identified pointers to take forward with me as I designed, these pointers were not evident in any part of the design.

After I revisited the assignment though, I undertook more research and made sure that my experiments were influenced by all the research that I had undertaken. This was with the main focus of the visual communication techniques used however, the appearance also had to evolve once the basics of visual language had been established on the cover.

Developing my visual research, alongisde making sure that my designs focused on purpose and visual communication techniques, meant that my designs got stronger throughout the process.

I always thought that it was my design skills that needed working on but I soon realised that I hadn’t got the basics covered in order to then move forward with progressing my design skills.

Research for Abstract Cities, part 3: My most thorough research was undertaken for this assignment. I looked at other examples of tourist books and from here I was able to identify the use of orange within these covers a lot which led me on to colour psychology. For each city I then looked at the advertising and tourist photos as well as some photographer’s responses to the city. I was able to draw out similar tones for each city in order to create a colour palette to be used. Below are some examples of the research but they are not fully explored here.

My own screenshot from Lonely Planet’s website: https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/

The design of the covers is kept relatively simple which suggests to me that these abstract covers cannot be too busy or possibly too abstract. If they are, the cover becomes too complex and difficult to read which will not encourage viewers to read the rest of the book, perhaps they would rather find out more information from the internet. I do have a tendancy to over complicate things so this is something that could take a while to get the exact style right but I need to bear this covers in mind, they work because they are kept simple with one main image and the title. There is less consideration on individual colour palettes due to the nature of the design, by only using one image, therefore, this is another component that I should carefully consider as I am trying to balance each component for the covers.

The psychology of orange “To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.” http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/colormeaning.html

“Orange has a loyal following; in colour terms it evokes feelings of sociability, sharing and encouraging togetherness with a unique, extra special identity and happiness vibe going on.”

McLeod, J. (2016) Colour Psychology Today.

John Hunt Publishing: Southampton.

Manchester

Image credits Darby Sawchuk

To go from this level of research to no research for assignment 4 was reflected in my responses. They were focused on the appearance and once again not the function (this is where the last 2 learning points connect.

My initial research and responses for Assignment 4:

My response The notes made in my learning log during this assignment: Pointers that I can take forward: - Keep it simple.

- Only have a few elements and build a strong visual hierarchy between each element.

- Engaging colours that elevate the type.

- Show the potentional of typography, some people won’t realise how much there is to experiment with it, so won’t buy the magazine and you are trying to encourage them to pick it up.

- Have clear positions of where the text should and shouldn’t be placed.

- Most of the covers actually have very few elements so keep it this way. Keep it simple, with an interesting layout that showcases information.

And my response did not fit these research observations.

further visual research

Key features of typography magazines: - There is a combination of different fonts, type is the illustration with this.

- The logo always stands out and still asserts a dominance over the rest of the cover.

- Strong textures - Size and colour of text being used to create a visual hierarchy.

- The text all remains at the right orientation (only one didn’t) so interest is created all at one level.

- Less chalkboard, script lettering than I expected. There was a trend of this at one point and it was interesting to find alternative examples that still create a focal point and some impact is made.

What do I need to focus on with my own designs?

- Making sure that despite varying text elements, that a visual hierarchy is still established.

- Creating a point of interest whether this be through texture within the design (not just a non-block font), depth, an image or a focus on form.

- The logo needs to establish a dominance and be clear to read. Don’t want the audience to be questioning what the magazine is actually called.

What have I learnt from this?

- That research needs to be a continual development.

- Hierarchy establishes itself everywhere and different magazines utilise it in different ways.

- A magazine cover doesn’t have to have blank space to process what is going on within the magazine, it can pilled with information, but once again visual hierarchy is important as this will guide your eye around the cover and not make it seem like so much visual noise.

- Unlike the card designs before, there doesn’t have to be the distinction between foreground and background, and everything isn’t portraying one single message but each component has to display the magazine’s identity.

- Typography is a collection of signs and symbols that we have collectively been able to transfer from different forms into words and a language that we can understand. Some of the covers break this down, only allowing the audience to see parts of words or certain symbols, which takes these signs and symbols back to what they are making the audience just focus on the form. This trick for the eye is clever as it is showing us everything we have seen before and interact with daily but showing it us within a new format.

The research and observations helped informed the following design: The designs previously shown are very different to my own final response. This shows a transition from finding visual inspiration to finding inspiration of visual communication techniques. This makes the design overall more successful and helps me to identify the failures of the previous design.

Developing the magazine cover and achieving this final result made me realise everything that was wrong with the previous cover.

- The logo is now clear and easy to read, it isn’t trying to function as both a logo and graphic as these two purposes have very different intents, hence why it didn’t work.

- The graphic instead now focuses on form, it is clear that this is some kind of lettering but instead the eye is constantly following the lines whilst being led down to some of the information that will be within the magazine.

- I did try putiing the logo at the bottom of the page but previous research shows that it normally features at the top, this is an easy establishment of hierarchy. There wasn’t much other text to try and balance in order to create a hierarchy but by using different text sizes and the overall positioning on the page makes it clear what should be read first.

- The original design still reflects that I like to overcomplicate everything and my research is sometimes disregarded for what I think looks good instead of looking at what visual communication techniques are used in order to characterise designs for a certain format. This is something that I have been able to develop since revsiting each assignment and I can see the difference this makes to how successful the designs are.

Initial learning point:

Simplify my designs Looking at this in more depth:

It was clear from the start that I was going to struggle simplifying my designs and I think this stemmed from two issues. One, that I hadn’t designed work with such a clear purpose before this unit. And two, my research was based on visual stimuli not the communication techniques that I needed to employ.

It was clear that I had my own style before this module but this style does not fit within the assignments that I was set and therefore, it was about trying to simplify the designs so that they functioned within the space that they needed to. In order to do this, I needed to start analysing the brief better, which I started to do, and asking for feedback from my peers helped me to develop my designs.

By the end of the module I was able to notice when I was making things too complicated and separate myself between a designer and reader. Asking myself questions from the perspective of the reader really helped to develop my designs.

This progress can be noted over 3 stages. The first assignment itself was quite complicated.

I overdid it on the designs, making them very busy and too much to focus on. As I focused on the designs more than the visual language of postcards, the designs didn’t function as a postcard. I needed to simplify the design, looking at what style is typically shown on a postcard, even an artistic postcard, and employ the same visual language. By the time I got to the abstract cities exercise in part 3, I was able to identify that I was perhaps overcomplicating the designs. As a result, I was able to continue developing the designs in order to simplify the visuals however, I did oversimplify them to the point that they didn’t answer the brief in terms of making the covers abstract (something resolved once I revisited the exercise). Then this was all fully ironed out once I got to Assignment 5.

The 1970s were a time of bold geometrics and patterns where big colour combinations were the thing! However, I knew that doing this on a design would overcomplicate it, go back to how I started the module. Instead I picked this brief to show that I could do simple but I could also do something that would still characterise the 1970s, which I did!

Finally I was able to not over complicate my work and use just a few components to work to my advantage and to the advantage of the reader’s eye!.

Some of the designs for assignment 1 were just too complicated

Abstract Cities saw me go from designs on the left to designs on the right

These designs didn’t comply with the brief therefore after some reworking the following designs were created. It shows that I was now able to control the abstraction but it also shows the importance of revisiting a brief.

old habits didn’t die quite so easily as I did try and complicate the designs a little during assignment 5 but I managed to not get so off track this time. although once again they didn’t answer the brief when first submitted.

Flyer advert

programme cover With these original designs, I managed to not overcomplicate them, make sure everything was legible, all components conveyed part of the story and the identity across each platform linked into the next. The overall identity was strong and this is due to not overcomplicating it. BUT they weren’t 1970s enough so they needed reworking a bit more just to make sure that this theme was really present.

Initial learning point:

The way in which I visualise my ideas has evolved.

Looking at this in more depth:

Sketching out ideas allowed for more experimentation but it wasn’t something that I was comfortable with at the start. I have never been able to draw and I avoided it but sketching up ideas digitally. Using other people’s images and experimenting with text and layouts in order to see what worked.

By looking at the H.G. Wells book cover exercise from part 2, I was able to see how I initially started brainstorming and it was digital experimentations. These lacked any kind of fun that is associated with experimenting. The designs were boring, uninspiring and didn’t give me much potential to work with. This is partially due to my lack of drawing skills (it could have helped to use a sketchpad and sketch out some digital designs) but this still wouldn’t have got me where I needed to be.

Part 3 saw me trial another idea, post it notes! On these post it notes I tried to come up with a different idea per post it. Some of them just had words on, some had images and I could play around with creating a narrative in regards to what order these were placed in. For this assignment it worked really well however, I couldn’t see post it notes being a successful way for me to visualise my ideas through every project.

So, before I started assignment 5, I wanted to look at what skills I hadn’t yet been able to develop from this unit, what goals had I perhaps subconsciously set myself ? One was to be more confident in sketching out ideas. I know it isn’t good practice to set yourself a target but I knew that if I didn’t with these ideas, that I wouldn’t experiment as much because I hated going freehand. But what I quickly established was that experimenting on paper allowed me to document EVERYTHING. All the small changes were here on one piece of paper to compare whereas on my computer screen it was hard to compare and I didn’t always save every variation.

Going freehand, I found myself experimenting a little more and noticing the small changes that I made between each design. It really helped here that I used different thickness pens as it meant that I could experiment with this as well and really know what I was trying to achieve when it was portrayed on to the screen.

The experiments didn’t stop after I went digitally. If anything they continued even more, trying to find the exact font that I wanted to use based on the design that I had managed to create by hand. This persistence allowed me to create several designs that I was really happy with and I know without sketching these ideas out, I wouldn’t have produced any of these logos as successfully as I had been able to.

What has this taught me? Always carry a sketchbok around just to experiment with.

Experimenting is supposed to be fun, not a chore and will help guide you through the digital designs so that you know exactly what you are aiming for with the designs.

The book design exercise saw me try and initiate ideas through digital experiments

The results were unsuccessful because I was unsure on how to initiate any kind of formulated responses that had such a direct purpose. Hand sketching was something that I really wasn’t keen on until later on in this unit.

Digital experimentation would have not allowed me to be so experimental with these responses. The hand drawn designs were able to be transmitted on to digital artwork that allowed a second layer of experimentation.

Although it was something that I didn’t necessarily enjoy the first time that I had to sketch out ideas, I can see this really helped. It helped to visualise my ideas clearer than going straight into digital experiments or just writing ideas down on a post it note like a mindmap.

Initial learning point:

Text and image combinations reflect the way in which a message is communicated. Scale, contrast and form amongst other things all influence the message portrayed and how it is perceived by the audience.

Looking at this in more depth: This was more of a realisation that I made throughout my experimentation, more noticeably on the lightbulb exercise and when designing magazine spreads for part 5.

Both exercises encourages a level of experimentation that saw me construct different layouts, experimenting with fonts, scale, layouts and contrast in order to see how the message could be portrayed differently. By combining text and images in such different ways, it gave me a real insight into how the smallest of changes could convey a varying message to the reader.

Initial learning point:

Everything has a purpose, including the typography. It has to fit in with the intent and target audience as well as portray the message that is explicitly stated by its content.

Looking at this in more depth:

Typography was something that I knew had some significance within design work but I never appreciated how much it impacted a design. Obviously throughout the first three parts of this module, typography did feature and I did experiment with it but I never fully understood what I was doing or why up until part four. Here I was able to realise that even the typography has to fit in with the intent and target audience of the work. Although this does seem a little obvious looking back on it, you don’t want a font that completely contrasts with the visuals of the rest of the work, this is all I really thought about. It was a secondary thought after the visuals had been created. It was a necessity instead of an accessory to the message.

This is evident from Assignment 2. My tutor commented that my cards were strong typographical responses. I agree, the typography worked really well here but I had mainly picked the font because it was one of my favourites. Yes, it did work with the designs and yes it complimented them but once again it goes back to my visual research. When researching the cards, I focused on the aesthetics, did I look at what typography was used? Yes, but I didn’t study it or draw any conclusions about visual language from it. This reflected once I revisited the assignment and noticed that the font was picked because it mirrored the lightning bolt. The strong, bold lines mirrored the slant of the lightning bolt. But did the writing aid the message in any way? No. Using a script font was identified as a strong technique to use from my research.

It added a more personal touch and helped to address the audience more directly. My final font choice combined the best of both worlds, it still had these strong, bold lines but there was a more script feel to the font which softened the overall appearance of the card which was needed based on the rest of the graphics.

This realisation was partially helped through the research undertaken in assignment 5.

Prior to this I didn’t realise that fonts also had perceptions about them. I understood that we connect some fonts to existing logos but other than that I thought they were chosen based on looks. As outlined above, I soon realised that this was an incorrect assuption to make but during the Chance Housing Association exercise, I wanted to make font selections that portrayed a sense of trust to the audience and after researching this, I realised how much impact it can have on designs.

My initial experiments seemed to have no logical development, it was pot luck. I ended up going with the font that I liked the most, the strong definitive lines of my final font worked with the slant of the lightning bolt.

After looking at my research and the points I made in regards to typography, I realised that I needed to use a more script font based on the visual language of other cards within the same category. The final font choice actually combined an element of script but it still had the capitalised, bold nature that the first font choice had. The typography here had a very clear purpose, it was supposed to be the most uplifting part of the card, the most direct part. The text already has this purpose and the phrasing helps with this. Based on the visual communication techniques that were identified through my research, this design employs the same techniques so therefore it fits with the intent and purpose as well as working with the appearance (in terms of the bold solid lines mirroring those shown on the bolt.

Font Research from Part 5, this time it was more directed and the choices were made based on research instead of pot luck.

The point was raised about feeling safe with your choice of estate agents through the use of keys on the logo of Reed Rains. As I haven’t yet decided on an illustration, I thought it important to see how this could also be applied through text choices and colours.

The Independent declared that Times New Roman is the most trustworthy choice. A study done by SoloPress of over 1,000 participants found that it was the most trusted font and The Independent put this down to its common use in academic articles.

A second investigation undertaken by Alessio Laiso at A Medium Corporation found that Baskerville was considered the most trustworthy. These results obviously all vary based on what fonts the participants are given to compare the fonts against.

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Image

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I thought I loved him; now I’m not so sure

Initial learning point: The curation of components through hierarchys and grids make it easier to read.

Looking at this in more depth: I always looked at ‘what looked good’ and this was something I did with many different structures. It was once I began to understand these structures, like I understood the rule of thirds and other compositional rules within photography, that I started to understand why some designs were easier to follow than others.

This one is quite hard to document my progress throughout the module for because the lack of grid structure became more apparent within my learning log and it was only once I started picking out different fonts during part 4 and designing letterheads in part 5 that I started to recognise the importance of establishing a hierarchy and grid system in terms of making something easier to read.

Pages from my learning log for assignment 1:

Originally these structures would have appeared t o work as dfferent components were alligned to each other but as a whole, looking at the spread, nothing from each page lines up with the next. This makes it difficult to work out where you are supposed to be reading next and the inconsistent borders give a sloppy finish to the work.

Establishing a hierarchy with text:

THREE WISHES

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Is the XBoxTEN really the best yet?

We asked some avid gamers to get there opinion on the new console and whether it really is worth the ÂŁ800 that customers are now being asked to pay.

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Identifying grid structures that either aided or made reading harder: