Graphics Pathway Week 5

This week we continued with our workshops. My first workshop was colour and illustration which I found kind of weird. First we had to create a colour wheel with the primary colours and secondary colours, then we had to do the tertiary colours like Umber, Ocre and Sienna. This was interesting but hard to do because mixing paints and trying to engineer a correct colour scale was hard. Then we had to create illustrations using the tertiary colour scale.

I like these pieces because they were a good form of experimentation but they seem plain and boring to me. In addition, the colours are not the kind of choice that i would have used as they are dull. However, I persevered and created three illustrations as per the brief which I am semi proud of.

 (Authors Own, 2013)

 (Authors Own, 2013)

(Authors Own, 2013)

The Final day we had to play with type, then create an album cover. I found this fun and interesting because there are so many things that one can do with type. Blow it up, Space it out, Compress, Scale and so much more. I created six 120mm by 120mm squares and played with different type in each square and then I created a Computer Generated Album cover for a fake band called 'Ultimate Confusion'.

I like these pieces because it is something that I enjoy working with, The album cover is complex yet simple and it catches the eye of potential customers. However, if I had the opportunity to do it again I would play around with the saturation and colouring as it seems too simple.

 (Authors Own, 2013)

(Authors Own, 2013)

Graphics Pathway Week 4

On the fourth week of our graphics pathway we did a few workshops, on the first day we did calligraphy. This was an interesting workshop because I had never done calligraphy before, but I started to enjoy it.

We were given a brief to create a label for a wine, I chose the name Highland because it sounded prestigious and did a very simple but elegant style of calligraphy. I like the fact that it is so simple, yet eye-catching, but I would have preferred it if I could have spent a little bit longer on the final design.

(Authors Own, 2013)

On the second day of workshops, we had to create a movie poster for the upcoming film The 33. This was an interesting subject as it had to do with the miners that got trapped in Chile in 2010.

I chose to do a simple black and white movie poster with elegant, victorian style type that made it look like an older film. Then I super imposed other images of the miners into the main image. Finally, I made it look like a beam of light was shining down which gives the perception of hope.

I like this piece because it is simple and classy, it creates curiosity in the publics mind so that they would like to go and find out what the film is about. The editing is a bit amateur though, so I would spend a bit more time working through the process. With regards to the type, I would try and find a more appropriate style (as said in the group crits) it does seem a bit outdated for this film.

  (Authors Own, 2013)

Finally, on the third day of this weeks workshop week we had to create a book cover for a choice of topics. I chose to create a book cover for the history of typography because most typography book covers are dull and need to create more interest in the viewers mind.

I chose to use a very simple type coupled with a black background and simple shapes to add colour. The reason is because these are bright colours which attract everyone and brings them towards the book. In addition, typography books are aimed at an audience who are very visual and most would not be attracted to a white cover with black type on it.

I like this piece because I believe it fulfils my aims for what I wanted to do with this cover. However, I do believe that it is a bit plain and that my main ideas may be misconstrued with regards to the use of shapes and colours on a typography book.

(Authors Own, 2013)

Graphics Pathway Week 3

This week we had to create a personal manifesto, this was a hard topic because at first it was hard to come up with a topic and I did choose a really hard topic. I chose the topic of Technology. I came up with a very busy manifesto talking about why we depend on technology.

I do not like it because it goes against all of my beliefs of simplicity, I edited it with a photocopy filter which created a very nice effect but you can not see the cogs that I super imposed in the background.

(Authors Own, 2013)

Then after a group crit I decided to follow my beliefs and do a simpler design, this is ironic because Google is a tech giant and I am talking about why we depend on it. I like the simplicity and minimisation and I am very happy with it. 

(Authors Own, 2013)

Graphics Pathway Week 2

On the second week of our graphics pathway we were put into groups of six and told to pick a word at random from a envelope. Our word was "freedom" and we had to create a short video of how we see it, including typography. I found this project hard because freedom is a very open topic. After brainstorming the various ideas with my group we came up with graffiti. The reason we chose graffiti is because it is a form of typography and it is a form of freedom. Graffiti artists can express whatever they feel like (even though it is illegal which is ironic) which is an amazing way to work.

We decided to use a tube map and then zoom in on the random places where we got images and video's of graffiti. My Task in the group was to do all the editing and creating the tube map and the whole flow of the video. I found this very hard because I had never done video editing before but I am partly pleased with the results. If I had the opportunity to do it again and if I had a bit more time, I would work out a way to use the editing software to make a smoother zoom in and out process as well as being able to edit the imagery within the film. All in all I really enjoyed this project because it was a new experience for me.

Group Video Please follow the link for the video.

In addition to the group video, we had to create an individual A3 Poster for our word. I found this very interesting because even though I believe in simple and minimalistic work, graffiti is busy so I used this as a new form of work.

I like the fact that it is so clear and the images all overlap, yet are see through. If I had to do it again, I would add a bit more variety to the work.

(Authors Own, 2013)

Graphics Pathway Week 1

On the first week of our graphics pathway, we had the whole week off but we had to create an A3 poster with a deign showing our aspirations and one hundred word paragraph explaining our aspirations and goal throughout our degree and future.

I found this really hard because even though I know what I want to do, it is really hard to put it into a design. In the end I settled on a design that was minimalist and simple with icons for various social media's. The reason I chose to do this is because I aspire to become the best in digital advertising and design.

I do not like my design to be honest, I find it simple and boring. If I had the opportunity to re do it I would change the design completely, adding more complicated computer graphics and more colours. However, I would keep it minimalist and elegant.

(Authors Own, 2013)