Studio Brief 3 - Message and Delivery: Distribution

Brief

You have developed a message/opinion in response to the previous brief. Produce a mail shot that distributes, disseminates and reinforces your message to an appropriate list of recipients. Your resolution should fit within the envelope provided* and be accompanied by a visually appropriate mailing list. You should consider the relation ship between the outside/inside of the envelope and its contents. * You can remake, modify or reproduce the envelope in any other media but the dimensions must remain the same.

Background / Considerations

What do you want to say and how do you want to say it? What language would be appropriate? What visual languages exist that relate to your message and how can you use them. Is the content communicated primarily through type or image? If it is both what is the relationship between the two? What does the mail shot aim to achieve. Does it direct you to a website, encourage you to attend an event, is it interactive or is it self-contained. A limited colour pallet (no more than 2 colours) will allow for the reproduction of your designs across arrange of media. The tone of voice should be appropriate to your message, the context in which it’s intended to be read and the audience to whom your work will be delivered.

From my initial ideas, I decided to go with the idea of editing text, originally by hand before being digitally enhanced and reworked. The fact I decided to use was this; I chose this statement as when creating my design I wanted to make it visually link to what it was stating. I can achieve this here through the use of colour and making the text all join, as though it was a fire hose.

I then traced my statement and started thinking about how I would join each letter to the next, thinking about legibility as well as readability.

After I had planned how each letter was to join to the next I re-traced the image, most of which was linear, thinking about how I would get each letter form to be easily distinguishable from the one adjacent to it. To do so, I left a thin stroke around the 'hose' which gave the impression that some segments were above other ones.

 

I then scanned my tracing into Illustrator and, through the combination of the pen tool, pencil tool and smooth tool, digitally traced the text again. I used the pathfinder to remove the counters from the letter forms, leaving me with a stencil like block of text. However, I felt that the letter form 'f' was illegible and looked too similar to the 't' so I replaced them with a new, completely hand-rendered version. This also helped with readability, allowing the readers eyes to quickly flow through the text.

 

Once the letter forms were complete, I added little sections such as a coil at the bottom, and the end of a hose pipe at the top thus adding to the 'hose' concept. This is the design I took to my crit.

From the crit, I realised that the coil wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as the rest of the design and decided to remove it, replacing it with a simple and much more cohesive stroke leading off the page. Due to readability issues, I added more actual text at the top and bottom of the piece. The top reads 'Who really deserves the movie star pay cheque?' which gives a lot more context to my design; the bottom simply repeating what my design reads to ensure the message can always be understood.

 

I wanted to keep the envelope fairly simple but still link it to my mailshot. I used the same font as I did within all of my mailshot to keep unity throughout the design. I added a fire hydrant on the front of the envelope, with a 'hose pipe' leading to the right which, when placed next to the mailshot, joins perfectly as though it was one whole design.  I added '007' on the back to add slightly more context as well as entice the receiver of the mail.

I then created a mailing list to the people I felt were appropriate to my message. To keep cohesion with the rest of my designs, I included the 'hose pipe' as well as using the same colour scheme and font.

Studio Brief 2 - Message and Delivery: Research

Brief

Produce designs for a set of three high impact posters that deliver a personal identified message derived from your research into part one of this brief. The three posters should work as a set or series and be visually consistent. The first must be produced solely using type, the second solely with image and the third a combination of both type and image.

Background / Considerations

Focus on what you are trying to say and avoid generalisations and vague messages. Keep it simple and to the point. Are you making a statement, delivering facts or posing a question? You should consider and investigate a broad range of possible visual solutions before making your design decisions. Tone of Voice. Memorable, immediate high impact and clear. Challenging, potentially controversial but appropriate and not offensive. Factual, statistical, informed and specific.

Once I had generated a series of ideas for each poster, I began by working on my 'only type' design.

• This is a very basic design that was my main starting point. I have tried to include as much reference to James Bond as I can, even the block shape behind the text forms the letter 'j'. However, I think it isn't very readable and need to reorganise the layout.

• I then looked at over laying text to create a visually more compact design that contained the same message. I like the idea of the audience having to really read the design but find this piece too unreadable.

• Continuing from my earlier idea I changed the arrangment of the layers, trying to make both phrases instantly and easily readable. Again I find this doesn't work.

• Here, although my concept is very similar, I have used a second font in order to make more sections of the sentence stand apart. I think that this will work very effectively but find that in this case, mainly due to the overlay of the text, it still lacks readability.

• This is where my idea is really starting to become more successful in terms of both parts of the statement becoming readable. The block colours work nicely when used in conjunction with the other as well as the combination of fonts which I find not only aesthetically suited but also appropriate for James Bond.

• Here I have made the readability the main aspect of the design. It is clean and instantly clear as to what the message is. Although this does work, I find the previous design more visually interesting and would like to explore that a little more.

• I have used the same font with two different colours in order to make the image look very clean and professional whilst maintaining its easy readability. Due to the arrangement of the text, I don't find that the black and red text are read as different statements as, even with the colour difference, because the letter 'D' at the end of 'Bond' is there it is still read as part of that statement.

• These are two examples of very similar designs that have slightly different text but are overall the same basic layout. I really like this design as I think although its not the easiest thing to read, it makes the reader actually need to focus on what my poster is saying.

•  I really like this design as I find the statements are clear and the layout forces the reader to actually READ the text and try to decifer its meaning. I added another smaller message at the bottom in order to give the design some context.

• These are both just slight variations on the previous design, using different colours and line qualities. I think I prefer the design when the main statement, 'James Bond Is Not Real', is in red as this instantly grabs the viewer and makes it clear that this is the most important aspect of the design. 

This is the final design that I shall be taking to my crit. I think that the colour difference in conjunction with the difference in typeface should make my statements easier to distinguish. I added the smaller text at the bottom of the design to give my image some context and ensure its clarity.

•  From the crit I realised that in order for the design to read more successfully, I had to start with the 'James Bond Is Not Real' statement. This would force the audience to read the statements in the correct order, enhancing the impact of my image.

Final Outcome: 

 I then moved onto working with type and image. My favoured idea was based around the concept of a magazine style layout in which I was to emphasise the difference in expenses between a surgeon and an actor.

This was the kind of  layout I had in mind when starting this poster.

I then gathered various images that I could use to represent the different parts of the actor and the surgeon within my image. These were then traced around on Illustrator and put together to create my design.

 Final Outcome:

 

 I then started work on my final poster, image alone. This is the most difficult in my opinion as the lack of text means the imagery has to express the message with no context. My design was based around the idea of a toy gun with a flag coming out of it; the flag would have a 'pound' symbol on to represent money with a red cross, representing the health services, incorporated into it.

I gathered some imagery to use as reference points when creating my design.

 

I used the golden gun as it is a clearer representation of James Bond than an ordinary gun, making my imagery have stronger links to the subject matter.

Final Outcome: