'GOOD IS' - Photo Editing.

I spoke to Lorraine and showed her the photos from the shoot and there was a lot of difference in lighting and tones in the photos, I didn't want to spend too much time editing the photos but Lorraine talked me through a bit of colour theory behind editing and what you need to look for and how you can adjust different aspects of the image.

So I selected the photos I wanted to use and narrowed it down to about 40 from 400, this is still too many and I wont be using all of them but it gives me a wider range to choose from.

Using the techniques Lorraine Showed me I've edited the images. The adjustment layers I found most useful were Brightness and Contrast, Hue and Saturation and Colour Balance. I've also used Photo Filters on some of the images but not all of them.

Brightness/Contrast                     Hue/Saturation                        Colour Balance

The photos taken outside need the colours adjusting slightly as they were a little cold, so I've added the warmer colours Red, Magenta and Yellow. In reverse to this the darker photos and the photos from inside the house and the antique shop are a lot warmer than the ones from outside so I've brought then down a bit by adding to cooler tones of Cyan, Green and Blue.

'GOOD IS' - Photo Shoot.

As part of my range I'm planning on designing a DPS and cover for a magazine which features the band and their 'new album' the publication will be mostly image based and contain interviews with the band, band profiles, a review of the album, information on their genre of music and their instruments.

Other considerations are that the publication could contain adverts for he band merchandise and poster art advertising their gigs and tour dates.

The photo shoot took place in two locations using 4 different environments. The first location was my own house, I used my living room as the furniture, the carpet, the lights etc are all very victorian so it looks like a place where the chaps would live.

 The next part of the shoot took place in my cellar which is quite dark and looks like a derelict building from the inside. The reason I used this space is because the walls are covered in graffiti and by place the chaps in this environment it emphasises the contrast of their aesthetic and manor with the genre of their music, adding to the image and also the bizarre humour.

Afterwards I took the chaps outside to the garden to get them in them looking like their in the grounds of a manor house. There was little time to do this as we were racing against the sunlight but I got a few good photos.

 The last part was in the second location down the road from my house at the shop called Antique Boutique. They kindly let me photograph them without having asked prior to the shoot. The shop was difficult to shoot in as there were a lot of random lights placed everywhere and mirrors and other object lying around or getting in the way.
I took them to this location because it seemed like a good place to get them to walk around and look natural as if they were gentlemen out browsing the shop normally. It also provided a lot of opportunities for them to interact with props other than the ukuleles I provided for them.

Overall I'm pleased with the result of the shoot and I've got lots to work with from it. Now I need to edit the photos and start to apply them to my designs and design the layout for the publication that I've proposed.

'GOOD IS' - Product Names With Type.

These are the names and titles of the products that I am proposing to make. I've used the 2 typefaces I've selected to see which works best.

I personally prefer the middle column however some of the words become distorted as letter over lap e.g. 'Tea Bags'. Arguably I could solve this through editing the kerning.

The column on the left is more readable than the middle column however I find It to be less visually pleasing and engaging.

I will have to apply all three variations to the packaging and get someone other than myself to give me their opinion to really define which works best.

Which brings me to the next step which is getting on with the package designs and the illustrations and patterns to go with them.

'GOOD IS' - Colour

A lot of people in the crit hadn't been considering colour enough in their designs and developments and although I had looked into it already I though I should re address it and make some collections of colour samples applied to my illustrations and typefaces.

Some of my crit group suggested making mono prints of the illustrations for the T-shirts, I have come to the conclusion that I will print 3 shirts, 1 with type, 1 with image and one with type and image. When it comes to the hand in I will include variations of the designs to show a range of T-shirts that would be available to buy at the bands gigs and online. This also addresses the issue of peoples taste as having a variety allows people to be selective.

'GOOD IS' - Flea Logo

The Illustrated face designs are a great fun visual for the band but they work best as extra designs for things like T-shirt prints, album artwork, tea cup prints, stickers, badges etc. I have decided to make a more rounded logo to accompany the illustrations that will be printed across my entire range.

I've kept a consistency in aesthetic for the logo so that it wont clash with any of the illustrations. This was my first design which I vectored from the original drawing.

The typeface was crafted digitally using the line tool and shape tool which was a big mistake as it meant I couldn't manipulate the type as much as actual typeface. Furthermore, the letters are quite cramped together which makes readability an issue.

From here it was clear that I needed to find a suitable typeface to make it more readable and look more stable as a logo.

This is a more developed design with the colour on the ukulele finished and placed behind a layer of the monocle to give it a softer colour. The type face I used definitely gives a stronger impact and is far more readable than the custom one I was working with previously.

Just to be thorough, I duplicated the logo and applied the old typeface along with the two new typefaces that I have chosen so I can get a better comparison of which typeface works best.

From the crit I was advised to look into how the design would look with just black and whit and also grey, just to get an insight into whether using such amounts of colour is a reductive method of designing.