Final 4 Briefs

After the crit, I have revised my briefs one last time, designed to be printed clearly alongside my work for future feedback sessions.

Crit Feedback - 24/10

5 questions

1. Do you think the continuous lines of the iconography help to give it simplicity?  Are they clear?
   Yes it works well - really like them.  More colour experimentation could capitalise on them.
   
2. What format would you like to see a set of typographic posters in? eg. screenprinting, lasercut - what processes?
   A2 screen-printed prints.
   
3. Do you think minimal typefaces are necessary?  Are they recognisable or do you spend most of the time figuring out the letterforms?
   Because you see some of the letters next to each other they work but alone they wouldn't.  The direction you are going looks good but don't take too much away from the letters.
   
4. In what printed form do you think Rugby League would appeal to people new to Leeds the most?  What would get the most exposure?
   A booklet publication - with poster/fold out/pull out with icons.
   
5. Are there any typefaces that you can that you can think of that reflect on the Futhark alphabet?  45 degree angles & no rounded corners?
   No responses.

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The general outlook of the feedback given to me by the group was the concepts behind the projects were unclear.  Although I have done some research to inform my projects, the briefs themselves need a final tweak to make it completely understandable in what I need to create.  This will be the first thing that I will address, in the next few days, to ensure that a concise, well-considered brief can be included in the next feedback session to give my projects further clarity and direction.

Before the crit, I wasn't aware that our work was not to be presented to the group - of course, that would inform my fellow classmates a lot better than the collection of sheets I laid out.  In future, I will ensure that my work is easy to follow, and is easy to identify where the project is going, in the form of design boards.  Hopefully, it will allow the people giving feedback to produce a better response as they can get a firmer grasp of my concept and design ideas.

Something to think about for the next session...

Typographic Posters - First Development

Initial development with quotes from films, relating to Courage and Fear.

Typeface Development 1

I decided to take Andy's advice from last week and focus on aspects of the Nordic alphabet and apply it to the English.  I started with the circular forms and minimised a standard sans serif typeface.

Researching & Selecting Emotions

Although I know that my typographic posters will reflect emotion, I am yet to identify exactly which emotions I will base my designs on.  Initially, I will pick 5 pairs of contrasting emotions that will give a broad range of possibilities and design potential as possible.  These are:

• Joy & Depression
• Fear & Courage
• Love & Hatred
• Amicability & Hostility
• Anger & Peace

I have also chosen Zeal & Zest, which are not contrasting but will make for some brilliant, inspiring quotes.  I picked apart each emotion and explored the possible themes of each - in the form of spider diagrams:

Comparing Rules: Rugby League & Union

Having talked with Andy, and getting his perspective on my ideas, I think it would be a good idea to create a comparison to Rugby Union in terms of rules and differences within the two sports.  Those who have a background in Union will then have a direct comparison and will grasp the rules of Rugby League more efficiently.

Here is what I have so far:

Rugby Union Points
Try - 5
Drop Goal - 3
Conversion - 3
Players - 15

Rugby League Points
Try - 4
Drop Goal - 1
Conversion - 2
Players - 13

I have also found a couple of websites that explain the rules well, which I will use for the body copy in my publication:

http://www.realbuzz.com/articles/rugby-league-rules-gb-en/
http://therfl.co.uk/

Tutorial with Andy 18/10

First tutorial with Andy, talked him through my briefs and where I'm at with it now.  These are the issues that came up, which I will address in the coming weeks:

Rugby League

• Think about the audience to influence the content.

Type & Emotion

• Use type/emotion to break up the bigger briefs.

Nordic Typeface

• Look at taking one or two key elements from the Nordic symbols and carry it through the Latin Alphabet.
• Look at some of the reductive exciting fonts for hints to new shapes.

Info Graphics

• Look at Jess3.com
• Be playful with them - not too literal.

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Something that came up, regarding the Best of Films brief, was to use info-graphics & icon design to describe the plot, any typical cliché used or key events that happened during - rather than keeping it too dry with the statistics regarding the sales of the films.

Best of Films: Initial Icon Designs - Action

I started with Action, quite a popular genre with many films to represent it.  I brainstormed subjects that fall under the category, and responded visually to them with simple icon-friendly ideas.

I then decided to digitise some of them, to see if they could be vectored effectively and clearly:

I began to re-create the diagram I had sketched out through idea development.  I sheared the pistol shape, cleaned the edges and rounded the corners before converting it to a stroke.  Both the human rights and the knife and fork icons, researched here, use iconography that doesn't connect up - but still manages to convey an idea and visual recognisability.  

I like the idea of one-line icons, it promotes simplicity and can also encourage viewers to try and replicate them through hand-drawn methods.  The only issue that arises is visual accuracy - the main aim for icons is to communicate an idea clearly - are these icons ticking that box?

Below is a mini-set that all reflect on the genre, the red being my initial take on the icon to represent the whole category - an exclamation mark that provokes attention:

Best of Films: Research & Categorisation

Luckily, I stumbled across a helpful collection of data provided by The Information is Beautiful Awards, a competition website dedicated to data visualisation and information design.  Their brief is to create a set of visuals that represent a set of data provided by them, including all Hollywood films of the past 5 years (excluding 2012)

[Link to "Challenge of the Stars"]

From this I have devised a complete list of film genres and storylines, which I will present as icon designs:

Genres

ACTION _ ADVENTURE _ ANIMATION _ BIOGRAPHY _ COMEDY _ CRIME _ DOCUMENTARY _ DRAMA _ HORROR _ MYSTERY _ ROMANCE

Storylines

COMEDY _ DISCOVERY _ ESCAPE _ FISH OUT OF WATER _ JOURNEY & RETURN _ LOVE _ MATURATION _ METAMORPHOSIS _ MONSTER FORCE _ PURSUIT _ QUEST _ RAGS TO RICHES _ RESCUE _ REVENGE _ RIVALRY _ SACRIFICE _ TEMPTATION _ THE RIDDLE _ TRAGEDY _ TRANSFORMATION _ UNDERDOG _ WRETCHED EXCESS

Initial Reaction to Nordic Runes

I decided to print out the Nordic Alphabet's I had found, and construct an initial reaction to them in a Latin alphabet form.  This is what I came up with:

Granted, it lacks any real structure, but it goes to show the true potential of the brief so far.  It makes for interesting letterforms, unorthodox line patterns and introduction of new aspects of letter design - for example the dot in the 'O' and the 'U'.

It's a start.  Some illegible characters and inconsistency initially, but a start nonetheless.

Revised Brief: Icon-athon

After an extensive, and extremely helpful, chat with Phil in the studio, it has come to my attention that the 'Icon-athon' brief is simply too difficult to pursue as a substantial brief.  The deliverables, the range and the product itself is seriously limited, and although it would be an excellent brief to get my creative juices flowing, it isn't suited to the module.

In light of this, something had to be done.  4 briefs down to 3.  Sure, I could choose one of the other briefs, but after the feedback from the tutorial I really wanted to find a purpose for my icon design.

I have proposed a brief to select 20 films from 2010-2012, researching the facts, figures & ratings for each one.  The findings will be presented visually, through info-graphics & iconography, as a double page spread  featured as special material in high-end film magazines such as Empire and Total Film.  This, of course, can be expanded to collectable posters, A5 postcards, a dedicated publication and other printed media.  These would be sold in entertainment stores such as HMV and Blockbusters, in the form of collectable prints.

If I wanted to go further I could propose a shift to digital media, including the info-graphics & iconography as  a website, an app, or as desktop backgrounds.

Proposal Form Re-Visited

Note - The brief 1 title "Rugby League Publication" has been altered to "An Introduction to... Rugby League"

The brief 3 title "Typeface Design" has been refined to "Nordic Typeface"

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Brief 1: An Introduction to... Rugby League

Product - Publication, Zines

Range -  Lanyards, Postcards, Pin-ups, Promotional Posters & Flyers.
Distribution -  Football Grounds, Tourist Centres, Student Unions, Sports Halls, Headingly Town Centre


Brief 2: Emotion & Type

Product - Typographic Posters
Range - Booklet, Different Stocks
Distribution - Type & Print Fairs, Typography Magazines/Zines, Online Stores, LCA pin-ups (4D)


Brief 3: Nordic Typeface

Product - Full Typeface
Range - Glyphs & Special Characters, Variations, Font, Typographic Posters
Distribution - Type & Print Fairs, Online Stores, Typography Magazines/Zines, Typographic Posters


Brief 4: The Best Films of 2010-12

Product - Double Page Spread
Range - Collectable Posters, Postcards, Collected Publication, Website, Phone App, Desktop Background
Distribution - Magazines, Entertainment Stores, Online Stores, Online Presence

Revised Briefs After 9/10 Crit

After realising how broad my briefs were, I had to refine them down.  These were my 4 altered briefs that I discussed with Phil, where we had a discussion and marked down potential issues with what was being proposed - most notably the Icon-athon brief.  A set of deliverables, an actual product & range needs to be identified.

Feedback From 9/10

(fred's feedback)

Feedback from the crit informed me that my briefs weren't focused enough to be sufficient.  Although everyone understood that I wanted to create a publication, a library of icons, a typeface and a set of typographic posters, I realised that I am not specific enough at this point of time.  For example, I have no idea what quotes I will be using, what style of typeface I want to create, which areas of Rugby League I want to cover and exactly what context the icons will appear in.

Fred also informed everyone that a proposal for the book fair next year would not be the correct deliverable, as hand in for the module is 3 or 4 months before the event; the work would be half finished.

It is clear that I haven't done sufficient research so far.  This is something that I need to address immediately.  I plan to rewrite the briefs that I have chosen so far - to refine them, to make them clearer, and take a look at the new ISTD briefs to find potential new briefs, or inspiration from them. 

Initial Proposal Form

Initial Icon Designs

Time Sheets

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In this session, we were asked to analyse our briefs and break down the 10 weeks we have left based on the  7 stages of design process:

1. Idea Generation
2. Research & Investigation
3. Concept Development & Clarification
4. Design Development
5. Evaluation & Selection
6. Production & Resolution
7. Presentation & Submission

It's a plan that doesn't account for mishaps and underestimations, so to stick by it religiously would be foolish.  It is, however, helpful for highlighting that the Typeface Design brief, for example, needs thorough research and the Icon-athon brief should be allocated roughly 2 weeks for Evaluation & Selection.

Brief Development Workshop 3/10

An introduction to... Rugby League

Rugby League publication

Typeface Design

designing my own typeface

Typographic Posters

on famous quotes

Weekly Icons

a library of icons

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In the session we started by narrowing down the 10 briefs down to 4, based on our practice and which briefs would create better work.

We were asked to list the skills we would use, the content that would be part of the brief, what context the outcomes would be in and finally what products would be developed and produced.  We were then asked to refer to our lists of wants and needs to cross-reference the four briefs, creating links between all four and outlining an overall practice that can take aspects from one brief and feed into an other.

10 Ultimate Things

The 10 Ultimate Things that I want to explore this year:

I want to Screen Print my typographic posters

Extremely cliché, but screen printing is something I have always admired, but never done myself.  Work that has been produced this way has a unique quality to them, giving them a higher value and desirability.  I have proposed a set of typographic posters for one of my briefs, and I intend to use this opportunity to screen print my final outcomes.

I want to design my own typeface

I have always had a passion for type, but never thought about creating one of my own until now.  I feel it would develop my understanding of each letterform and the varying characters within each one.  This of course will be informed by my...

Type Journal

Although I created one for the type module last year, I don’t think I took it as far as I could.  I enjoyed the practical side so much I let the research side struggle.  I want to make amends for that in the third year, delving into the world of typography and finding out the nitty gritty details that will set me apart from other type enthusiasts.

I want to produce a booklet based on a ‘weekly themed icons’ brief

To get my mind around icons, I want to produce a body of work each week with a certain theme behind them.  This will be part of a brief, but I aim to collect, break down and organise them into a booklet to be sold at the print fair in 2013.

I want to broaden my knowledge of Info-Graphic design and produce my own that effectively breaks down masses of information

I really enjoyed the work that I was producing in the last module of the second year; an informative publication on the Premier League.  It was the first time I had properly looked at info-graphics - how they broke down a chunk of information and what form the graphical aspect would come in really intrigued me.  I felt I was a slight beginner and I really want to develop this side of my practice, which will inform my icon designs in places and vice-versa. 

I want to produce work that is inspired by other cultures

The Great Exhibition of 1851 introduced artists and the general public to Japanese art and culture.  From then, artists took on the style and implemented it into their artwork, creating a brand new source of inspiration.  This is what I want to bring in to my personal practice.  Rosalind Stoughton from last year’s third year created a great typeface based on ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and came out with a fresh, well-informed body of work.  Just goes to show that new sources of inspiration can be fruitful.

I need to take part in a collaborative catalogue/promotional brief with a third year from another practice

I haven’t collaborated as thoroughly on a design brief as I had hoped to yet, and I feel collaborations with other graphic designers can create unproductive clashes, especially those specialising in type like myself.  Collaboration with a student on another course will allow both our specialities to shine through, creating work that we can both reflect on well.

I need to sketch my ideas before going digital

Although digital work is definitely my speciality, I think sketching ideas or a plan beforehand will greatly improve my design practice.  The 150 logos and the storyboards from the second year helped me reach my final outcome, without a doubt.  It gave me a stronger, better informed, final piece that was backed up with a bunch of development, getting me a higher grade.  When it wasn’t compulsory, I didn’t do it so much.  Looking back, I haven’t a clue why and I want to rectify it in my final year.  Also, it will improve my drawing skills.

Where are the most inspirational cities/places in Canada?

I have been stuck in Leeds all my life and my plan after graduation is to obtain a working visa that will allow me to move to Canada for an initial year.  I want to experience new surroundings & new people, but where is the best place to visit for a post-graduate such as myself in a year’s time?  This is what I need to find out, before I can devise any sort of plan of action.

What are the best ways to copyright work, to prevent other designers or companies stealing work?

Copyright issues are the greatest threat to me as a designer, personally, and I am disappointed in myself for not grasping a full understanding of this as of now.  This is one of my priorities to look up, which I can research through my PPD module and talking to tutors & visiting professionals.

20 Wants & 20 Needs

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20 Skills I want/need to use

20 Products I want/need to make

20 things I want/need to Research

20 things I want/need in my Portfolio

20 Questions I want/need to find out

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200 points altogether.  At first, I thought this was a little extensive, a little bit too many to be worthwhile.  However, after pinning the sheets up on my wall and having a thorough brainstorm, it has definitely informed me about my practice and which direction I want to take it in my final year.  Having wanted to focus on editorial, infographics & icon design, the obvious 'publications, screenprinting, typographic posters' made an appearance, but after delving further, some interesting outcomes started to appear.

'Research into Icelandic culture, printing processes of the 1920's, custom paper sizes' for example, were things that I started to recognise as possible devices for developing my practice.  After I completed all 200 points, I narrowed them down (the best I could) into 10 Ultimate Things.

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Initial 10 Briefs

These are the 10 briefs that I took into last Friday's session.  A few of them are pretty vague, but I wanted to go into the session with an open idea of what I wanted to do.  I know that I want to produce editorial, info-graphic and typographic work with an introduction of icon design into my practice, but I knew these sessions would help me focus down my briefs.

I have chosen the 'Faber and Faber' and 'Story of D&AD' competition briefs, as well as two research briefs dedicated to icon design and emigration to Canada, which is a life goal.