'GOOD IS' - Logo Amendments.

The band logo I designed early on has gone under a lot of changes and tweaks throughout the process of applying it to the packaging so I've put together these screenshots to show whats been changed.

This was the first logo I made. Initial response was that its a bit bland but the design is fun and 'cute'.

Here I've added more colour to the ukulele and the string on the monocle giving it a much more complete look. 

On top of this I have arranged the ukulele so that its in between the two blue circle that create the monocle to make it look as though its trapped inside it and it gives the colours a duller tone which softens it making it less aggressive visually. I now have my typefaces chosen so I have scraped the vectored type face on the previous version for the 'Riesling' type face which works a lot better and sits more comfortably on the logo.

Finally adjustments. On the banner I've changed the outlines on all the shapes to the fill colour so it looks slightly less cartoon like. I've done a similar thing with the flea illustration and I've also added a few things that were missing previously like a moustache and a string for the monocle, before people assumed that was just part of the eye. On the body of the flea I've given it some shadowing to add more detail and make it less flat even though it's a 2D image. Lastly I've changed the 4 bars at the bottom underneath the banner to the colours on the body of the flea which I think made it more subtle and because I had changed the banners outline the bars looked out of place.

'GOOD IS' - Flea poster choices.

These are the poster designs that I've developed and composed from my logos and type choices. I stuck to my original plan of creating 3 variations of poster; type, image and type and image. The three below would be promotional and/or decorative posters for fans to collect or they would work as give aways in the packaging.

These are the choices in design for the promotional posters and flyers that would advertise the bands debut album and a gig at the Hype Park Picture House.

The burgundy/red on the back ground is roughly the colour of the stock I'm using to print onto.

The flyers would be printed using offset lithography as they would be printed on mass but the posters would be digital short runs and would have gold foil blocking for the borders and the type.

Type workshop 3 - All day.

We began by reviewing what we had covered in the last workshop and looked at the exercises we were set to complete for this session.


This time we were moving on from the word and the sentence to the paragraph.


Exercise 1


We were given a paragraph and instructed to make it fill the column as closely as possible. After this was done we had to copy that column of text and lower the point size by 1 whole point and then make the text fill the column again by changing the leading. This was repeated twice after this like a sequence.


Comparing the now different body copies we had to determine which we prefer in terms of comfort, readability and how easy it is to look at (remember looking is not the same as reading). It was a toss up between the 2nd and 3rd column but we decided on the 2nd.


This was being judged by what we could see on screen which isn't always best. If your working with layouts for printed media then print it and see how it looks and how you react to the leading and point size comparisons. For example, if it were for a novel then it would be a smaller point and larger leading but if it was a magazine it would be a larger one. These are only fractional differences but they make all the difference.


Adding leading makes it more readable but lots makes it lose its presence as a body of text.

Here we looked at the column width and how board or narrow the text can be without it being difficult to read.

The narrowest column isn't very pleasant to read because its break the sentences up too much and they become just a word standing a lone or a few small words. In a juxtaposition to this the broadest column of text makes your eyes travel a long way across the page to read a line which can have a negative effect on the reader.

The two centre columns are both good in their own rights. The left would be good for high end tabloids that use bigger words and the one on the right would be acceptable for a novel.

Changing the font will also change the size of the text because each individual typeface has its own 'X' height which we learnt about last year in one of Lorenzo's seminars.

Removing the line spacing makes the text harder to look at. It doesn't make you want to read the text. Spaces between paragraphs is always the more appealing option for the reader but sometimes having none has to be the option.

Function - changing the indent on all the paragraphs - TYPE/ PARAGRAPH/ ADJUST THE INDENT 

This is the text with a 3mm indent.

RULE - you never use line spacing and an indent

RULE - you never indent using the TAB key

The TAB key is good for info graphics and getting exact measurements between text, words or symbols.

1 TAB is equal to 1cm.

This exercise was about editing the layout of the text to incorporate an image. We could change the size of the image and the point size of the text if we wanted to.

Text before image.

Text after image.

Progressing from this we had to make the text fit and make the image as big as we could. Some people turned the image so it was portrait and some peoples weren't as big as the kept it within the boarders. The ones that did this had much more attractive layouts as the image worked better with the type. Also this required us to change the font to one with a smaller 'X' height to condense it.

Notes from the session.

Always refer to your font size as something on something never just the pt size, e.g. 9 on 12

- printed versions of type look very different to type on the screen because your looking at the physical outcome.

- never use negative leading or kerning

- you should have favourite fonts that you know about to use for specific kinds of jobs, small, medium and large 'x' heights.

- essentially your trying to make your text the easiest to read not just easy.

- 6 words per line in a column is the minimum you will normally find in a publication

- 12 words roughly for books

- font affects how many words you can have on a line

- novels are 9pt or 8pt depending on the 'x' height

- never use line spacing between paragraphs and indents at the same time

- the tab key is equal to 1cm

-  an indent should usually be 3 characters wide

- never use a tab as an indent, tabbing is useful for info graphics

'GOOD IS' - Response To Final Crit.

I got a lot of disruptive feedback from the crit this week which has pointed out a lot of things which I need to readdress and consider. Personally I felt that I wasn't considering print enough  and as the module is based around print it's the key factor to doing well. I've spent too much time doing the design work and getting ideas together for things that I could do and not enough time considering the printing methods and finishes for them.


On top of this I have bitten off more than I can chew with the range so I have decided to not go forward with the publication but propose it on my boards for the hand in along with the content that I would have included. This is secondary to getting my packaging and promotional materials printed and finished.


Most of the designs are complete and just need proofing and then printing finals. Whats more is that I need to go back and consider what types of print finishing options I have for my designs and see if I can incorporate any of them at this stage. If they don't work or suit the designs then I'd take that as a positive as I would have at least tried out those processes and finishes and learnt how to use them.


Finally the biggest issue with my project is that it has digressed away from my original proposed good which was the ukulele and it is now more about Chap Hop. My crit group said I could incorporate the ukulele more into the design work to relate it back to my good or I could redefine my good as being Chap Hop.


My response has been very personal so far and needs to be directed a little more towards a commercial response as I'm dealing mainly with commercial print.

'GOOD IS' - Magazine Mock Ups.

These are a few ideas for the cover of the publication. The photos I took on the photo shoot were meant specifically for this part of my range, however I have seen some potential to use them in the rest of my designs. I don't want to risk diluting the aesthetic, however, by including too many types of media.

These were quick mock ups so the quality of the images and resolution is distorted somewhat but they provide enough to get a good insight into the final outcome.

'The Chap'

http://thechap.net/

'Esquire'

http://www.esquire.co.uk/

'NME New Musical Express'

http://www.nme.com/

'GOOD IS' - Poster Ideas.

I've started to develop my promotional materials for the bands album release. I have a lot of options for the designs so I've tried a bit of everything.

Photography & Type/ Photography & Logo/ Photography & Banner

This was my favourite from the three above as it doesn't over complicate the design and communicates clearly.

Type & Illustration/ Type, Illustration & Logo/ Type & Logo

Again I'm drawn more to the designs that aren't too visually noisy as the don't offend the audience.

Type & Decorative Marks/ Type/ Type & Decorative Marks

I like this one out of its simplicity however I feel the one on the left would work just as well.

I need to narrow down which poster I'm going to develop and use in my final printed range and how I would print them. I think the most suitable option would be determined by my other designs so they remain relevant and consistent.

'GOOD IS' - Presentation Boards.

After the Crit Lorenzo gave us a briefing on the presentation boards that we need to produce to show our work for the module hand in. These are some notes I took.

Specifications

- 5 boards

- A2

- Lanscape/portrait optional

Make it easy for yourself - break it down - collective board, concept board, proposal board etc

story/ development/ idea

Explain what your project is about - you decide what goes on them

Use drawings, computer generated art, photographs

minimal annotation - print processes - size - format - print finishes

What the best way to display something? e.g. T-shirt - do you have a vector of a shirt or a picture of someone wearing it and the design beside it as well?

Product - Content - Context

First board should explain the rest should elaborate.

Not a presentation its a hand in so it needs to speak for you.

Make them feel like they belong as a set - titles - boards - stock - layout - info - header and footers  - visual consistency.

Afterwards I went a designed my boards aiming firstly to make them all the same visually. The aesthetic is defined by my project so they look like they belong together.

I've used the same decorative boarder that i've used throughout my packaging designs and stuck to just using a footer that has my name, the module code, the brief title and what my 'good' is on each board. In addition to this each board has a different title which go as follows: -

- Range - this will be imagery of my final printed range with some annotations to the printing methods and considerations used to make them

- Packaging - purely about the package designs for the merchandise, the promotional goodies and the CD case

- Promotion - Designs and development of the posters, flyers, T-shirts and the give aways

- Publication - evidence of layout development and selection for a cover and either 1 or 2 DPS's

- Proposals - this will consist of any other ideas or possible developments of the work I've produced to show what could be done, what I've considered and where I would go with the project after this point

I don't have much content to put on the boards at the moment so I've put in place some boxes to represent where I would or could position my imagery. I would like to have mainly photographs of my final printed works and development, with some computer generated works to go alongside these. I think that including some of my older ideas and considerations where possible would be good also, to show my selection in designs.