Alternative Techniques - Research Task

My next module will be largely self directed and will focus on broadening and extending my skills. I have been asked to reflect on my graphic design practise to date and identify a preferred area of expertise, (editorial, typography, graphic illustration, branding, packaging, etc.) mine being graphic illustration.
I will begin by researching into developments of graphic illustration, then work of specialist practitioners, trend prediction/forecasting and job specifications.

My project will be structured around the completion of a negotiated live brief, a live brief, or a practice enriching self directed project. On completing this project/projects I need to concentrate on developing and documenting a complement of new skills. The project will be a host which I will exploit to the advantage of extending my skills set.


On the completion of my research I will complete a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats).

Strengths: My personal strengths lie within graphic illustration and I feel rather comfortable with Photoshop which has been my main programme of choice to use for many years.

Weaknesses: As I tend to be a lot more comfortable with Photoshop I neglect other programmes, such as Adobe Illustrator, which I feel restricts my work as if I had more skills on different programmes I would be able to utilise a range of different techniques and improve my work.

Opportunities: This will give me the chance to really improve my portfolio in order to show off my skills and make it more industry specific. This brief also gives me the opportunity to really improve my skills in other programmes and make myself more comfortable when using them.

Threats: Other personal commitments and time constraints could prove to be threats to me during this project. In order to try and avoid such threats I must remain organised throughout and perhaps create a personal time plan to follow.

Muffin Break Vouchers

I am currently working part-time at Muffin Break, a coffee shop. As a company we get approached regularly by charities requesting a basket of muffins to give away as a prize for raffles. This sometimes becomes an issue and my boss asked me if I could design a voucher which we could instead give to the winner so they could come in store and receive a free any size coffee and muffin for two. I came up with the following designs:

For these designs I tried to replicate the current, recent graphic design trends within the company with the colour scheme and hand rendered type.

Packaging Design - Urban Outfitters

During this project I began getting to grips with adobe illustrator, which is a programme I'm still not completely confident with as I always tend to use Photoshop throughout my projects. It was a good project to help me teach myself the basics as I approached my designs by creating each face of the box on illustrator, then putting them all together using the warp tools in Photoshop. It taught my the basics of vector shapes and the pathfinder and grouping.

I do like the final outcome of this however I would like to add to this project another time and create more designs using the packaging theme and perhaps make them a little more intricate as I feel this would really reflect urban outfitters as a brand.

This was my first ever packaging brief so my skills werent as good as they perhaps could have been and I have had fun learning new techniques and quite enjoyed the brief as a whole. I would like to work on more packaging brief as I feel there is still a lot more techniques for me to learn and improve on.

Edinburgh Visit

Yesterday the graphic design and advertising courses went on a trip to Edinburgh to visit 3 different advertising agencies in order to gain and insight on the design industry.

Our first stop was Newhaven. One of their biggest and main clients is Tennents Lager and they also created work for the Scottish Government which was nominated for a D&AD yellow pencil. We were invited for a tour around the agency which was a very helpful insight and the agency itself had a very positive and friendly atmosphere. It was clear that after receiving a talk from the creative director and some of the currently designers at the agency, that they were all very enthusiastic and passionate about their work and careers.

The second stop was Leith Agency which was actually located on its own boat. We were invited into their boardroom which we were then shown a whole range of their very successful work, including a set of adverts they had created for Aldi and Irn Bru. We were then given a talk from themselves about their journeys into the industry which was of course very inspiring.

Our final stop was at Story. Here, we were given  short talk about the agency themselves and a bit of background information before being set our own mini brief. We were split into small groups and given an hour to come up with a name and advertising campaign for an insect repellent. This was an interesting task and allowed me to improve my group work skills and gave me the opportunity to work with new people I didn't know. We then had to pitch our idea to everyone else and the end of the hour, which was in fact my first time actually pitching an idea in front of a group of others. This was an interesting visit and although it was focused on advertising, rather than graphic design, it was a positive experience and helped me to think outside the box and learn new skills.

Packaging Design - Urban Outfitters

My newest brief is to develop and produce a shipping packaging design for one of the following online stores: Phonica Records, NET-A-PORTER/MR-PORTER, Urban Outfitters, Fortnum & Mason or Space NK Apothecary.

The packaging should inform, inspire the imagination and also articulate the nature of the products sold by the company. I am to consider things such as boxes, sleeves, tubes, plastic bags, branded tape/ribbon, envelopes, branded tissue, bubble wrap/other alternative, stickers/ink stampers, and a 'documents enclosed' solution.

After briefly researching a little about each of the different companies I decided to choose Urban Outfitters. This appealed to me most as I am personally interested in the company and I feel I could really have some fun with this particular brief as I love the style of the brand.

I began to tackle the brief by conducting some research. I first found images from a company magazine and took images from the website and of a range of products which they sell. I then went on to research current packaging designs as well as competitor brands and their packaging. A lot of my images I put into my sketchbook and also on my Pintrest account, http://pinterest.com/alisonwaltham.
I continued to carry out research by looking into the brand logos and a range of different typefaces which suit the brand and its personality then dived in to some initial ideas.

Project Attire

A friend of mine was recently thinking of beginning his own clothing business. Everything is still currently on the drawing board, but he really wanted me to help get things started by designing a logo for him, to give him a little more motivation to get everything going.  I was told the company would begin with selling t-shirts, vests, jumpers and hoodies with various different designs. I thought I would design quite an intricate, aesthetically pleasing logo so the logo its self could be a design for some of the items, maybe large across the middle, or small in an upper left corner of the apparel. As well as the logo being pleasing to look at, I also wanted to follow trends and still reflect the brand personality. My personal favourite logo is the circular one wiht the zig-zag outside border.

Work Based Learning - Personal Brief Final Designs

For my final logo design I wanted to stay close to their current logo, using the characteristic helmet as this is quite individual and the band are known for this helmet and the red and blue colour scheme. However, updated the logo by adding a slight gradient and drop shadow. I then also used this particular typeface as the font for the band as I thought it looked very modern due to the low weight of the font and the way the 'A' and 'E' are different to average fonts. I wanted a very modern feel as this reflects the music genre.

I then chose to use these designs as the final two ep covers as I felt they were most successful out of the rest of my designs. The beige design is simplistic, yet the textures add more to the design making it a lot more interesting. The beige colour scheme is also a bit different and not usually seen on artwork for the particular dub-step genre, however, I feel it works particularly well with this design and it makes the logo really stand out. The second design really reflects the EP title with the use of the rainbow gradient. Also, the star and smoke brushes and textures add depth and make the final design a lot more interesting. This space theme is seen a lot throughout current dub-step graphics as its quite futuristic and modern, just like the music genre is.

I decided to go with these two poster designs due to the fact that they were the most successful as posters. The text stands out against the background in order to attract the audiences attention yet the designs themselves are also interesting due to the layers. I built up layers of colours and stars and lights to represent the atmosphere of the events and reflect the style of music.

Work Based Learning - Personal Brief Update

Luis Miguel Torres

Valp Maciej Hajnrich

Work Based Learing - Personal Brief Update

Newcastle Medical Photography Department

I was asked to produce some logo ideas for the medical photography department within the Newcastle RVI. The logo had to give the department an identity and stand out so I didnt want to go down the conventional route of images of cameras etc. There were no restrictions on colour or type other than making sure it was legible so I began by doing a bit of research.

I first looked at different parts of a camera so I could incorporate that into the logo rather than just an obvious camera. I also did a little research into photography and aperture.

I then looked mainly at Damien Hirst and his Pharmacy work to get a feel for a style of type and colour.

After my research I began to produce some very rough design ideas on Photoshop of things which just came straight into my head. I also experimented a little with some different layouts, fonts and colours. 

I began to develop these rough ideas further and produced the following designs

Personal Branding

 I began creating my own logo by doing a few rough sketches of some ideas which came straight to mind. I then scanned in some of the rough designs which I liked most and began manipulating them in photoshop to create the logo. The first design features my initials in a swirly, lower case hand written type. I traced this with the pen tool to create a smooth, black line. I then developed this further by incorporating the circle and experimenting with different colour choices. I repeated this process with a different design, the upper case 'AW'. I preferred this design as I thought it looked more effective.

I finally settled on the bottom left design. It is obvious that the letters are 'AW', however, the handwritten type makes it more individual and personal to myself and makes the letters look more interesting. I chose to use the pastel blue colour in my final logo as I personally thought it worked best.

Typographic and Editorial Design - Ministry Of Sound Brief

I was given the choice of two different briefs, one provided by Pentagram, the other by Ministry Of Sound, which I chose. The brief was to produce 3, typographical A2 outdoor posters which could be landscape or portrait, that would act as a 3 month advertising campaign for Ministry Of Sound's London event, 'Saturday Sessions'.

I was to communicate a clear, conceptual theme or idea based around the club or music and I could be as literal or as abstract as I wished.

Guidance was given on the logo, content and colour scheme, however, the type choice and size was up to me. I also had to communicate the dates, DJ's and brand very clearly and concisely, therefore the typography should strike a balance between expression, experimentation and legibility. The poster would also be outdoors therefore may often been seen by passers by or moving vehicles therefore impact was key.

My target audience was clubbers and dance music lovers aged around 18-30 years.

I began by researching some designers famous for their typography experimentation, such as David Carson and Andrea Tinnes. I continued my research by then collecting images of exsisting Ministry Of Sound graphics and Saturday Sessions posters and researching designers and companies who had previously designed for Ministry Of Sound such as Pawel Admek, Naju and Studio Output.

After my research I began to design some poster ideas.

MY FINAL DESIGNS

I decided to use these as my final 3 designs and I personally thought out of my designs that these met the brief requirements the most successfully and looked the most interesting. I wanted to keep the same design throughout the 3 posters as this created a link between all three, making the advertising campaign flow. By changing the colour behind the logo this made it easy to associate the different months and posters by their particular colour.