Week 8 Directed Study - Creativity With Paper

Brief 1: A Hardcore punk band require a flyer for a forthcoming gig. The band must reflect their punk ethos, and will be handed out at a range of other events.

The Flyers are going to be on A5 size paper, but since I will print 1000 copies, flyers will be printed on A1 size paper for money saving. Instead of printing 1000 copies, I will print 62 copies.  
I will be using glossy paper. The reason is because on the flyer will be a photographic image, and with glossy paper will have better quality. Plus most of the times flyers are thrown on the streets and the glossy paper will not be destroyed easily.
The paper stock will be at 150gsm. The reason is because we do not need either a hard paper or a very soft one.
For the flyer design I will be concentrated on colour like black and white, plus a pink colour or a yellow one. The reason to that is because punk bands usually their image and ethos is in within those colours.
The photograph I used in my design is one of my own picture portfolio, which I took from a live gig.
Since I used Sex Pistols for my flyer, I tried to make a logo of the band, which associates with the band's image.

This is the original picture without any editing, that I used for the flyer. 

This is the part when I edited the image and started to "play" with the design.

This is the part when I did the Sex Pistols logo and continued the design.

Here is the part when I was exercising with colour and shape.

Here I added some more editing into the design. The outline of the guitar is in pink colour.

This is the final design.

Brief 2: A company that makes "green" products requires a set of business card for their sales team.

This is the front of the business card.

My Business card will be on a standard size (85x55mm). It will be printed on A3 size paper for money saving, therefore 40 business cards on each copy. The paper that is going to be printed on, will be recycled or uncoated paper, since is an environmental friendly company. The paper stock will be 400 gsm because business cards have to be thick so they are not destroyed easily.

Furthermore for the design I am going to use colours of nature, like green, brown and some creamy colour. I also created a logo for the company,

 that is called RecycleME.

This is the back of the business card.

This is the first step I did to create the logo of the company.

This is the colour i decided that was going to be. A more warm colour since we want a "green" planet.

This is the background of the business card. I liked the texture of the fallen leaves and the creamy background.

This is the step where I started using inDesign, and finished the logo of the company. 

Those 2 are the finish versions of the business card.

Week 7 - The Golden Ratio

The golden ratio is a mathematical equation. All living things are structured by the golden ratio. From humans, to buildings, from paintings to natural disasters. Why is it important in visual design? It is important because even modern websites, and magazines are in the golden ratio structure. Every designer has to have in mind what a golden ratio is.
Here are some examples:

This is the simpliest formula of golden ratio.
                                            

This is how the golden ratio is divided. You can find it everywhere. Look at some examples!












A seashell is made exactly as the golden ratio formula.  Also the galaxy and the plants are made by golden ratio.

The galaxy with golden ratio.

The Mona Lisa Painting. 

The Parthenon is on the golden ratio formula.

Even my twitter page.

Even Parthenon is made by the golden ratio, which is 2500 years old. And from that age, now, in 2011 we use the golden ratio on web site designs. This is a screen shot from my twitter account. I draw with the orange line the golden ratio of the web page. It's unbelievable in how many things this formula exists.


Reference: http://www.mathfail.com/2010/02/fibonacci-spiral.html
http://www.sacredgeometry.com.au/shopcontent.asp?type=thegoldenratio
http://dinetta.tedehu.brasilia.me/show_page/golden-ratio-in-nature
http://amazingdata.com/fibonacci-sequence-illustrated-by-nature-pics/
http://lotsasplainin.blogspot.com/2008/01/wednesday-math-vol-8-phi-golden-ratio.html

Week 7 Directed Study - The Grid

Exercise 1: Completed grid layouts from class.
Grid Layout 1:

Grid Layout 2:




































Further Exercises: Two pages article.
Page 1:                                                                    

Page 2:

Final Article:

Exercise 2: Exercise with "breaking the grid" and evaluation of your work.
Step One: Experimenting with braking the grid and colour.

Step 2: Experimenting with braking the grid.

 Step 3: Experimenting with random "braking the grid", type, font and colour.

 Final Article:

First of all I was experimenting with how I was going to structure my whole page article. After I researched though different magazines articles and video tutorials in the internet, on how you can "break the grid" and have more understanding of how you can do that, I started to "play" in InDesign with type, font, shape and colour.

When I decided where I am going to place my image, then I place the title of the article to the bottom of the image. The reason I placed my image on top is because it creates nice contrast and balance on the whole page. Also this kind of structure article can be seen into web pages. For the article and the title I used just the "arial" font, which is clear and clean. After that I took a quote from the article and made it big and bold, and then I broke a little bit the grid. 

Furthermore I made the first phrase of the article in bold and with bigger fonts, so the reader can understand from the beginning what the article will be about.

Finally I chose another quote from the reading from the right side of the page and I break the grid one more time for more structure and rhythm.

I fully understood how the grid is working and how you can brake it. As soon as you understand the meaning of grid then you can be even more create to your work.

Exercise 3: Locate 2 grid layout case studies and evaluate on the whole design.

This is an example of a simple grid layout. The designer is following step by step the grid layout rules. He uses a little bit creativity with title and I would say is a nice one. Its simple and knit. 

Here are 3 examples, that the designer is "braking the grid". If you know how to do it, then  is way better that the simple form. The grid now provides rhythm, balance, and structure. I really liked the third one because the designer user more colour and also he uses vertical typography.  


Reference: http://designhanna.blogspot.com/2010/02/grid-exercise.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/1592531253
http://www.dzobel.com/blog/archives/17

Week 5 Directed Study - CD Cover Design

Produce a design for a CD cover. It can be for an existing CD from a band you know, or from an unsigned band. The cover must include at least one photograph.
Produce a brief critical evaluation reflecting upon:

1. Your choice of image
2. Your use of type and shape
3. Your use of colour

The band I chose is called Katatonia. Is one of my favourate bands and they are playing doom metal. So an atmospheric image could be the correct choice to use, for this band's album cover. The image I chose is a photograph I took in Liverpool. I really like this picture because its really dark and atmospheric. The logo of Katatonia its there official logo so I couldn't change it. The album title is made by me. It is not an existing title but it is in the same mood as their songs. I didn't use simple fonts. The reason is because the band's logo uses a complex way of typography.


This is the original picture which I took with my camera last November:

Week 5 Directed Study - Communicating with colours

Colour: What is the meaning of each colour around us? What emotions can we feel with a colour in our mind? Did you ever though how a colour can affect your mood? Colour is one of the most important things, we need to have in mind to be a visual designer. So here is my research on colour and what are the meanings for each colour.


RED: Red is the colour of blood, love and fire. This is the reason everyone associate it with war, fear, energy, love, passion and power. It's an emotionally intense colour and it is proven that it can stimulate a faster breathing and a faster heartbeat.


ORANGE: People think is a combination of red and yellow. Yes it is! Red gives you energy and yellow happiness. Orange can give you both. Also represents sunshine, joy, creativity and success. Orange has very high visibility and is very important to know if you are a designer.


YELLOW: Yellow can be described as the colour of the sun, energy, happiness and also is a warming effect.


GREEN: if you would give a colour name to the smell, this could be green. The reason is because green symbolizes nature. It is very calming and refreshing colour to the eye.


BLUE: Blue is the colour of the ocean, water and sky. Also blue can refer to cold, fear or even death. Also blue can show loyalty and is a reason why many uniforms are in shades of blue.


PURPLE: Purple is the colour of royalty, wealth, money, and luxury. And also can be the colour of romance and girlish act. 


Companies that own colour:

1. Ferrari, Vodafone, Red Bull, Coca Cola, KFC
2. Orange, TNT, KTM
3. DHL, Shell, Kodak
4. BP, Animal Planet, Jaguar, Rolex, Starbucks
5. Intel, Ford, IBM, Philips, Facebook
6. Cadbury, AVID

Exercise 1: Write a brief report on how to source images and copyright:


I searched on www.istockphoto.com and on www.imagesource.com to investigate how you can buy different pictures and images that you may want to use them for design proposes. Those two sites differ in the process of how you can buy an image. istockphoto is working with credits. The more the picture's resolution the more the credits. Also there is a difference from photographer to photographer. The rating allows you to earn more credits for your image. On the other side now the imagesource web page has standard prices to buy a photograph. Again the biggest the resolution, more the price. Overall both sites are really good image web pages for source images and its appropriate for any good photographer to post their photographs.


Exercise 2: Locate 2 interesting colour case studies.
Theorise as to why those colour choices were made.
How brands "own" colour.

The Ferrari colour is red. At the moment you hear the word "Ferrari", in your mind comes the colour of red. The reason to that is because they created a very good branding. They choose red colour because it reminds you the words of speed, aggressiveness, and hot. Also as soon as you see their logo, you know is Italian because of the use of green, white and red colour.

TNT has a good branding. The orange colour is suitable to that company because of branding. The use of orange and white gives a nice contrast to the viewer's eye.

I like a lot the use of colour of Harrods company. I think that the colour choice is very clever. The dark green says that is British if you consider other big British companies such us Jaguar and Aston Martin or even the colour of tea, that is very popular in United Kingdom. This colour gives you the feeling of quality and luxury. 

Exercise 3: Locate 2 or more designs that incorporate photography and analyse them:

1.This is a very clever advert for AIDS.  The image add depth to the advert by putting many hands on the woman's body. It gives you the message that you have to use protection because you don't know the past of that person.

2.Another good example of AIDS advert. The scorpion symbolizes the woman, which is having an affair with the man on top. It also gives the message that if you don't use any protection, this woman will give you a painful death. 

3.Very clever advert by the BBC channel. The choice of the photograph the chose makes it event better. The 3D trick they used makes the message even clearer with their slogan. When I first saw this advert, I was really impressed by this result.

4.An advert for Panasonic and a very good one! They promote their new digital camera with the title wide-angle. The choice of the image they used couldn't have been better. 

5.Another good advert from Panasonic! The slogan they have used to the image they used is very clever and professional. "With intelligent face detector" 

References: http://www.smashingtips.com/35-creative-ads-that-makes-you-look-twice
                      http://pinewooddesign.co.uk/2009/04/14/spider-sex-shocking-condom-adverts/