Visual Communication in Context 2 ( 4 projects)

VISUAL COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT 2

Bethany Wrayford

PROJECT 1‘Truths’

For this 2 days project the aim was to have 3 posters at the end of it. Each one will contain-Common Knowledge fact.-An Extraordinary fact-A statement that is a lie.The first thing we had to decide was a theme. We quickly decided on history and chatted as a group. We decided we would focus on interna-tional days. We found some strange days such as mistake day, curling is cool day etc. After a quick tutorial, they liked the idea of International days, but maybe focus on a country and find a way to verify the days as some of the ones we were looking at were simply made up. We decided to focus on the USA as they have a lot of commemorative days they celebrate throughout the year. Our chosen statements are:-5th July is Stars and Stripes day.(Lie)-2nd February is Groundhog day.(Common Knowledge)-1st June is Doughnut day.(Extraordinary fact) The Series of posters have to share a graphic system which revolve around one theme. This means theres a consistancy within the posters, whether its the colour, type, layour or tone of voice.

As we are basing our posters on American Commemorative days we decided we should look at America patriotic design. The first thing that pops to mind in the Obama Presiden-tial Campaign posters, above it the work of David Carson and Shepard Fairey. They are both very different but both highlighting the campaign and the idea of change and hope and Obamas key ideas and beliefs. Fairey’s work is very bold simple and patriotic and you can see the graphic system in place of layout and typog-raphy and the American colours. While Carson’s seems more chaotic and creative including layers of col-our and type and are all very indi-vidual and not something you would instantly recognise as campaign images, but they are very notice-able as Carson images and express key words of Obama. Looking at this research we know we wanted to use the USA colours and create them in a way which expresses the celebration of each day.


These are our initial mock ups we created. We kept with the USA col-ours and made theme text dominant with small images which link to the day. We also played around with the idea of stamps and how when something is stamp it seems more real and genuine. Therefore stamp-ing our posters give them a sense of validity. But after a quick tutorial we got mixed feedback. There was a graphic system in place but not as consistent as it should be. The text should stay the same throughout and need to be more considered and the images need to be bigger as that’s what people notice first. We were told to refer back to our USA design research and why it was successful. The stamp wasn’t really necessary and instead we could perhaps use a limited poster idea, for example 1/50 gives a sense of validity and exclusiveness.

These are Animal Alphabet Posters by Bart De Keyzer. We looked into simple graphic systems that work together well for our poster as our initial mock ups lacked consistency. The layout, and type are the same in each poster and the things that change are the letter, animal and colour. Although the image is im-portant the type is more dominant in these posters and the image makes each one is unique.


These are some other ideas are our group were working on they are bit more hands on looking and more naïve looking. We liked the images in the USA shape but we would of liked more USA colours The pattern in the USA shape works well but the type setting and placement didn’t really work. I think the stars and stripes day pattern just looks like a USA poster and we could consider a pattern which uses part of the USA flag. It’s good to have a range of different ideas and different ways we could go with the posters


STARS & STRIPES DAY07-05-2012

Commemorative DaysLimited Edition

12/30

These are our final 3 posters. We had a Pin up Critique which went quite well. Although people guessed which one was the lie there was a bit of confusion about them as the date is so similar to the 4th July which is what we intended. We kept to the USA Colours to keep in with American design and the idea of be-ing patriotic. We went for a simple design and a simple graphic system. We wanted to include the USA shape but were unsure about what to put in in. SO we kept to the typography and key words relating to the day. We were unsure about an outline, but in the critique people were unsure it was a USA shape so people were confused. Other feedback we got was a coloured background if we wanted to see the letters and shapes more. Also the dates the American way seemed appropriate but the text needs to be slightly bigger. The graphic system is consistent and works well as a set.

PROJECT 2Identity Rebrand

The identity we were asked, in groups, to re brand was 3 schemes used in the Visual Communication Course. PAL- Peer Assisted Learn-ing which involves the Second years sharing their knowledge to the first years. Design Buddies enables the 3rd years to be mentored by the practising designers. Finally is TLK which are lectures from local designers to share their experiences. Our task was to provide a new name, branding and publicity for the new scheme. Things to consider were programmes, activities, and the cor-rect word to sum up the schemes and how it can communicate knowl-edge transfer. After brainstorming we came up with words such as, progression, in sync, up to date and inspire. But we felt that as students we were lucky to have access to these experiences. So in the end we chose the word INSIGHT.

This is the logo we came up with. Its very simple, but it works. We played around with the idea of it not be-ing complete as in as students we haven’t finished developing as de-signers and we are constantly learn-ing. So we we removing parts of the word and the I being the middle of the word seemed to be the best letter to play around with. The circle in its place we thought could even become a icon in itself and potentially some-thing that is recognizable on its own.

We started researching icons/images that represent each different scheme or any images that relate to them. The ideas we came up with were, light bulbs, speech bubbles, eyes, cogs and clipboards. We wanted to keep it simple like the logo, so research Iconography and a group member found this Nebro Coffee company who use a simple logo and use various iconography on the pack-aging and the icons reflect the brand but in a modern consistent way.

This is our colour scheme we cre-ated on Kuler. Bold colours that work together well but, but also on their own.

Here is some of the iconography we created, we liked the idea of them being incomplete, this reflects us as students throughout the course, always developing and reiterates the fact that we never stop learning. Next we applied these to some posters.


These are some of the posters from our pitch, showing the range of ico-nography and different layouts. We even put in where lecture times could go. Because the logo and icons are quite simple we can play around with layout options. The pitch is about showing the different possibilities. We would aim to have each colour represent each of the schemes, but then the iconography represent what kind of event is coming up.

These are some other slides from our pitch. We showed the typefaces we used and the colour codes. We also wanted to show we thought of other avenues, so we designed a website layout which students could access. If you missed a lecture it would be on the website and local design related jobs posted. Also if you wanted to arrange a meet-ing or tutorial you could and there would be a calendar of events and lectures. Another thing we thought was the fact that some people know who others are and it makes it hard to approach someone you don’t know, so we liked the idea of maybe including profiles of students and practitioners with contact details, so you can contact them.

The Feedback from our pitch was quite positive and encouraging from the visiting tutors and tutors. They said there was a good consistency throughout the pitch. The amount of work was quite impressive; the ico-nography was a fresh idea. The logo is quite strong and the circle itself could potentially stand on its own, so maybe we could expand on that. The liked that we looked down another possible avenue, e.g. a website. They also recognized that we worked well as a team which I think we did, as we only had 24 hours it was quite full on but we produced a lot of work and possibilities for the new scheme and I think overall it went really well, and we were happy with the out-come. The tutors asked each group to expand on the feedback which they gave us.


As an extension to the pitch we decided to choose a colour for each scheme and then apply different posters. We used the dot from the logo as a clock and used smaller dots to show the times of meetings, lectures and appointments. It’s very simple but effective and also shows we have developed from our pitch and started to use the dot as a logo and icon as a basis for the posters. We also combined the colours to cre-ate a poster about a visiting practi-tioner. This shows that for everyone in the Vis Com course can gain from the lecture, as I think the schemes separately are focused on each year group but combining the colours shows that it is relevant throughout the course.

PROJECT 3Spatial Typography

For this spatial typography project we had to choose a space and a word that is meant to be represented in that space. We picked at random and the space I got was a bike, and the word to represent in the space was Expanse. We got together in groups of our space and chatted through everything to do with bikes to get some initial ideas. We all found out it was difficult to think of a bike as a space and not think of expanse as a space although the definition is a large open area.

It was a difficult project to grasp and to get some ideas I did a lot of research into bikes and photography. I looked at how to expand the space of the bike, so maybe I could disman-tle a bike, I looked at the history of bike over time and see if there was anything there, the only thing I liked was the changing of the wheel. In my tutorial they recommended to look at different camera angles like wide angled lenses and tilt shifting to give the illusion of a larger space being smaller. I also looked at types of bikes and how we associate people with different kinds of bikes to see if that helped with any ideas.

I continued to research by look-ing into type in different spaces to see how they interact together in a space. There’s so much you can do in an open space. I think what I found difficult is that a bike is a confined space, although its mobile it’s very intricate and does have hidden spaces but it’s a limited space so for me this project was a challenge.

After getting a bit stuck I had a tuto-rial and feedback I got was to challenge materials and look at expanding a bikes space to make the space larger. So dismantling a bike but how much can you take away form a bike until it’s not a bike anymore and just parts. Also how much can you add to a bike before it comes more like a home and is it still ride able. What are the less obvious spaces in a bike, for example a shadow is an extension of a bikes space as when you walk in the shad-ow you are changing and interrupting the space. Maybe I could even look at a miniature bike, or cardboard bike a different way of using materials.


I decided to look at what can be added to a bike to increase the space, and when does it stop being a bike and be more like a home or something other than a bike. These are some of the images i have found where people have increased the bikes space and in some cases the bike is their home and mode of transport as they travel. There are many things you can add to a bike (luggage, basket, rickshaw, kid’s seats, baby trailer etc.) Also the idea of a bike travelling over a large area/space/country can link to my word, Expanse. But I think this was quite a literal way of thinking of expanding space buy literally adding to it.

After my first shoot I discovered firstly that a bike has so many spaces around it, a lot are hidden and unexpected, so there are many places I could look at around the bike in further shoots. I created some letters out of card to place around the bike and photograph different angles. Then I started editing then playing with motion blurs, and differ-ent effects. I think there is some po-tential there, but they need sharping up. I think I will try a different setting, a larger more open space to reflect the word more. The beach or moors or cliffs or something would work better. The word as well looks made its not clean, so maybe I’ll look into the shadows and making the space larger as a shadow is an extension of a space/object.


On the left are some of the original shots of my shoot I did at Moores Valley Country Park. I cycled around the park photographing in the sun. I think these went a lot better as you get a sense of the bikes space grow-ing, as I feel a shadow is the exten-sion of an object, because if you walk into a shadow you interrupt the space. To the right is some edited images and I think the cropped images are more relevant as they still show that the bike is the space not the park. I like the idea of the just the shadow its taking the bikes space to a new dimension and it’s still using the space of the bike without using the bike as a final piece, the shadow gives a sense distortion as well everything gets stretched.I had to add the word expanse after the shoot as I would have had to create huge letters and they would be hard to attach to the bike. So I used various effects of Photoshop like Gaussian blur and I have distort-ed it as just as the bike does in the image. I think it blends quite well and allows me to move it around the bike.


These are my final spatial typogra-phy images. I created a series of 3 using the shadow of the bike as the space because a shadow is an extension of the bikes space which links to the word expanse and if you walk in a shadow you are interrupting the space which is the bike. Over-all I’m quite happy with them and I think they work well as a set they are coherent and the textures make them quite interesting. Another idea I’m working on is a video using a go pro camera which I will attach to a bike and film a journey and then I will at-tach it to the riders head. I think they

will create some interesting videos and perspectives of the bike in mo-tion travelling. I think these images and the video will make a good set of final images for the spatial typogra-phy project


These are some screen shots from some Go-pro camera films. This is what I will be using to film my bike videos. The Go-Pro is great for extreme sports and outdoor filming. Its versatile and there are various mounts available which allow you to film anything any-where so it’s perfect for filming on a bike. These are the 3 angles I used for the

go pro on the bike, to get a varia-tion. The different mounts make it possible to put the go pro almost anywhere. The shoot went really well and I got a lot of footage to work with.

Here are a few screen shots of my video I have created. Its 3 minutes long as features different angles of a jour-ney being made in a large space to link with the word Expanse. This video is an extra element to go with the photos. I think the footage is really interest-ing and can be slightly distorted and abstract in some areas and shows how different spaces around the bike can be viewed. The contrast of each shot works well together and shows the bike as a

moving space, which can change as it moves around its surroundings. The full video can be viewed on Tumblr.

PROJECT 4Book Series

For this project we had to choose an author out of a list of 10 and recreate 3 of their book covers. The author I chose was Mark Twain. After looking at some of the book covers I’m glad I chose him as an author. Some of the book covers are well designed like the penguin English classics ones, but some of the other ones seem dated and uninspiring. So they could do with modernising and updating. He’s an American author and his bestselling novels are American country based around the Mississippi so that’s an interesting concept I could work with. These Penguin English Library Book

Covers are great, Penguin never seem to fail with their covers of the classics. The all have the same graphic system but they all have their own theme relating to the book. The illustrations act as a pattern similar to fabric but very simple and gives you a small insight to what the book is about, but not giving away too much about the storyline.

The 3 books I have chosen are, the adventures of Tom Sawyer, the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer abroad. They all lead on from each other and contain the same 3 characters. After a tutorial I felt I had to get the theme sorted first as there is so much happening in the books. I also wanted to change people’s perception that the books are racist. Then after the theme I could look at graphic systems and way of representing the themes. I read through the plot summaries and found 5 common themes. These are Lies, naivety, adventure, danger and poor judgement.


I decided the themes for my books will be adventure. But the Mark Twain books I’m creating the covers for aren’t your typical adventure, so I want to highlight this in the covers. The characters are naive children therefore I may work in a naive way to highlight this. I’ve been looking at Illustrations/installations that have interested me; they all have a country/rural feel to them. I wanted to focus on the differences to a typi-cal adventure novel and look at how the characters grow as people in the books, but it was quite difficult. I didn’t want to fall into the trap of typical adventures. I asked people what they thought of when hearing the word adventure and they said things like, maps, things you take on an adventure, layers, post cards and travelling. So these are stereotypical adventures which I want to give an edge to that they aren’t what they seem.

Andrew Holder is another great illustrator who uses screen printing and layered up images and shapes. It’s geometric and considered and this is something i could consider using in my designs. I could of used this idea of building up layers of images or scenes that occur in the book. One thing i love about Andrews work is that some of it can be viewed at different angles and that would tell another/different aspect of the story or give a different view point. This is quite interesting, and something I could of applied to the Mark Twain books as they involve a lot of miss-communication and miss-interpretations which involve 2 different sides to a story.

This is one my images I was work-ing on. It’s based on Tom Sawyer Abroad and I’ve used the idea that the top part is what the boys think is happening from the balloon and when you turn the image is what actually happens later on to the camp on the ground, there is death and destruction. I think the image itself is quite abstract and maybe some audiences wouldn’t understand that you have to turn the book. I think the colours and simple shapes work well, but there is more development that could be made. It does show this idea that things are what them seem, but it seems quite negative which could lead to people not wanting to read them, but the image is working. Maybe I don’t need to be so literal in including so many aspects in one image.


This is a second idea I was working on, I think it was more successful than my first one. The idea of the binding behind this image is brochure binding so there is more space for me to work on and the necessary info on the inside. It’s hard to visualize without it be bound but i think it will be a different take to the standard book. This way of working can help me link all of the books together with the river Mississippi running through them and all linking. I wanted to look at maps and I think this is a more ab-stract take and a friend also noticed it looks a bit like the states of America which links to the setting of the books. After looking over the image again and again I think it looks very crowded. I think it may be too colourful which doesn’t reflect some

of the bad themes in the book. There’s a lot happening maybe too much. I think at this point I just need to get away from the computer and work by drawing maybe or another medium as I think the map idea link-ing in with adventure is a safe idea

I decided to focus more on maps and how they can look abstract so I researched how people have challenged what maps are and how they create them. You think of maps and precise and methodical and accurate but what some illustrators have done is created more illustrative abstract maps which sug-gest places and suggest the idea of a place which essentially make these images more fun. They aren’t overly accurate but that why they are ap-pealing. This is what I’m trying to cre-ate with my book illustration I want it to suggest to the reader what in store through images but not revealing too much. I think the idea of a map is a good approach to the books as the mark twain books are very busy and a lot is happening and there are non-typical adventure themes going on in them, so through the images i want to suggest to the reader things that may happen and there’s not neces-sary a ‘happy ending’ its continuous process they are going through.


After a tutorial, tutors recommended I look at collage and back to the idea that things aren’t what they seem as they liked my first idea. So I looked at optical illusions and how you can see 2 different things in an image or how you it takes you a while to notice another image. Some are more sub-tle than other but I could link this in with my book and different situations. Above are some great examples of optical illusions. They are quite hard to make so I think I will have to use the idea of an optical illusion, maybe having on side of the book one image which merges to another. It’s simple but gives the illusion that everything isn’t what it seems.

I did some research in to collage and found Christos Kourtoglou. These collage style book covers really caught my eye. They are very abstract and individual. The layers of textures work really well with the integration of text. It’s clear these are collage based and look completely hand made. There’s a lot to look at and at each glance you see some-thing new or that you hadn’t noticed before. They all reflect the book well with an individual theme for each book cover.

Some initial collages I created that when you look one way look like a scene but when you look the other way look like something related to the story. I felt this weren’t clear enough and could look too confusing for the audience. But this lead me to try to integrate a scene and a moment from the story more clearly.


These collages are more successful. I have used the idea that one side of the book is the scene like the moun-tains and then on the back it turns into something else like the silhou-ette. I think this goes with the theme of not everything is as it seems, peo-ple don’t expect it. I think the textures work and it’s completely opposite to my work on the computer, but this gives me more control to move things around.

These are the first set of full book covers I created for the final critique. I’ve kept it very simple overall and I’m starting to see what the final ones would look like. There were things I noticed once printed. The text is way too big, its takes attention away from the image. The blurb on the back needs to be fully justified or left, but not right. These were also things that were noticed in the critique. Other things mentioned were that the compass image needs to be more obvious as a compass at first glance. Also maybe use a background colour to get more texture as the images look a bit lost in the page. They look quite sharp not collage like. Further-more text can’t be an afterthought as it’s just as important, so I need to keep space for the type and consider placement more.


These are the collages I recreated. I think the textured background works so much better and it looks more like a collage. The compass side looks more like a compass with the top part and the different direction signs. I created them on A4 so i could use the remanding space.

So these are the final book covers. As you can see I have added a few more icons like the penguin and the barcode and price to make it look more professional. I played around with the type more and printing out he covers to see what the placement is like as on the computer it can look so different to a print out. I’ve edited the levels slightly to make them less pink and to bring out the textures more. The blurb is fully justified so there was a lot of playing around there to get it right as left justified didn’t look right either. I tried hard to have few hyphens as possible which worked. The Tom Sawyer cover was the one I had most trouble with as the image was quite big so I had to cut out some trees and create more brown background space as I was trying to squish the text one and there was no space and it was so

overcrowded. I must admit it’s hard to visualise them without being bound as the brochure binding is hard to visualise. I think they work as a set and there is a strong graphic system in place. I think they are a different take on what previous book covers are out there of these titles. They connect a lot more with the story not simply one character or one aspect. They look at the life lessons that the boys continue to learn but show their naivety with this slightly abstract hands on collage technique.


This is a guide of the binding choice of my books. It is called brochure binding and I think it’s a different but just as simple way or binding a book. It makes them look more personal and I think its unexpected. Also the way it opens show the image merg-ing into another better and clearer. So when the person is reading the book the full image is visible.

Here are some images of my final books just to show how the book opens and is lay out. I changed the size of the book last minute as I did a scale mock up and realised that the sizing was in fact a lot better they were less chunky and felt more suitable that size. The binding went relatively well and if more time was available I would like them profes-sionally bound with the stories in side to a get a full feel. I like the addition of the small penguin logo; I think when they are stacked on a shelf the logo and some texture of the images make them appealing. Overall I think

they make a coherent set and I would be interested in creating more covers for the Mark Twain books to make a set maybe as he is an interesting well known author whose books are in need of a re vamp.

Visual Communication in Context 2 ( 4 projects)

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