OUGD404 - The Birth of a Font

We had to choose a roman, gothic, script and block font, and dissect them to make possible other letterforms. Here is my documentation of each uppercase and lowercase letter:

Open publication - Free publishing - More a

Open publication - Free publishing - More b

Open publication - Free publishing - More b

Open publication - Free publishing - More bb

Open publication - Free publishing - More cc

Open publication - Free publishing - More cc

Now I am going to pick the five letterforms which I think are the most successful, and they are: 

I now need to create an uppercase A, B, C, X, Y and Z, and a lowercase a, b, c, x, y and z for each of the letters. To do this I am going to use the same fonts and mix them up on Illustrator, then trace and hand render them.

Vincent - I mixed Tondu and Onyx to make this font, and I did this by Creating Outlines on the letters, then deleting anchor points on certain parts of the letters to mix them with the others and make a new one. This is my favourite font because of the juxtaposing weight of the lines. 

Draper - I mixed Onyx and Raavi together for this one, and I think the different weights work well together. 

Simpson - I mixed Onyx and Palace for this font to make a script typeface, but I don't think it works that well, because the ABC look quite compact compared to the XYZ which look too wide in comparison. 

Vines - I mixed Tondu and Raavi together to make this font, but I don't think the thin serifs work well with the thick strokes, it looks to clumpy. It doesn't look in proportion. 

This was a mixture of Tondu, Raavi and Onyx, but I think I used too many fonts to make a new one here, as it looks too out of proportion and unreadable. It doesn't flow well and the characters don't look consistent next to each other. 

Davey - So I started to make another font, just using Raavi and Tondu, and some of the letters work well, but I'm not too keen on either of the C's and the lowercase A. I think this is because they don't look natural, and the shapes don't connect well with each other.

OUGD401 - Beauty, Style and Taste

We had to collect 6 images: two that involved just type; two that were just image, and two that included both. We had to like and dislike one of each. 
As a group we wrote down the things that we like and dislike in graphic design:

Like
Illustration
Handproduced
Skill
Choice of Type
Precise
Colour
Layout
Distinctive
Legible
Professional
Sophisticated
Harmonious
Clean
Modernist
Balanced

Dislike
Boldness of Colour
Mismatched type
Easily done/low standard of quality
Illegible
Cheesy
Style of Illustration
Generic
Cluttered
Chaotic
Garish
Unclear

We then had to pair up with someone in the class, and Laura was my partner. Then we had to swap the examples we bought in with each other, and write down on the back of them what aesthetic qualities we thought they had. We then compared what we thought.

We then wrote down a list of 10 aesthetic rules:

1. All design must be professional 
2. You should never use more than three fonts
3. All design should be legible
4. Use appropriate colours which correspond with the content
5. Maintain simplicity
6. Ensure design has a clear message
7. Always consider your target audience
8. Make sure text and image relate to each other
9. Use appropriate stock according to your method of distribution
10. Align your design to create the highest visual impact

We then chose three rules each and wrote them on a post-it note, mine were:

1. Use appropriate stock according to your method of distribution
2. Ensure design has a clear message
3. All design should be legible

Now we have these, I have to pick three examples of Graphic design that fulfill each of these aesthetic rules:

Use appropriate stock according to method of distribution

Snoop Dogg's Smokable Book

This book features all of Snoop Dogg's lyrics inside, and was designed to be smoked after reading - the pages are rolling papers, with non-toxic ink used. They are also perforated, so they can be easily taken out. The spine of the book is a striking surface, so you can light a match on it. The stock this book uses is one of a kind, and the concept behind the materials is very clever making it very desirable to Snoop Dogg fans. 





eBay Box

These boxes were designed to make shipping more eco-friendly, and are made out of 100% recycled material as well as using water based inks. The illustrations are green, which is associated with eco-friendliness and are friendly to encourage people to re-use them. They are simple and clean, which makes them appealing to people, and reduces the stigma that is surrounded by re-using things. It says that if they are re-used five times it could save up to 4000 trees, 2.4 million gallons of water and and save enough energy to power 49 homes for a year. It is important that these boxes are made out of sustainable packaging because so many are sent out to homes each day, and there is no way of not using any packaging to protect the contents.






Blue Marble

Throughout this identity, the blue marble logo is used on the packaging, t-shirts, sign and flyers, so to continue it onto the windows, it has to be printed onto transparent material. This is so customer's can still see into the shop, and design still looks clean and professional. 








Ensure design has a clear message

Network Rail Olympic Signage


These temporary signs were used during the Olympics so that people could find their way more easily - they are noticeable because of the bright pink colour which is used, and associated with other aspects of the London 2012 brand. The Olympic logo is used, as well as the signs which are featured throughout the railway stations such as arrows and station logos. This makes it clear to people that the Olympic directions can be trusted, because it has the same visual characteristics as the network rail identity.

Winter Cabin Collection

Pillows are designed to be slept on, and the text and image on this pillow relates to that directly. It is a known fact that bears hibernate, so to have an illustration of a sleeping bear and the words 'hibernate' together relates to the function of the pillow. Hibernating is also done in the Winter, and since this collection is called 'Winter Cabin', a bear represents the brand well too. 

Urban Organics

Urban Organics take vegetables grown on a farm directly to the city so that people can buy fresh, organic vegetables directly. The simple colour scheme and shapes reflect different vegetables, and the simplicity of the design reflects the concept. The message is clear, as the product being carried is shown in the illustrations, and the authenticity is shown in the words 'Keep It Real'. 

All design should be legible

Evoke

This is branding for a coffee shop, Evoke. These menus are very clear, using a simple but bold colour scheme, and the headings being bold so that they stand out against the white stock. The information is in a very clear font, using what seems to be a monospaced font, making it easy to read and digest. Because there is no illustration where the bodycopy is, there are no distractions, and the clean layout makes it easy to understand.

Metric

 The logo is legible because the type and image work well against each other. The image and type work well together with metric being a measurement, and a ruler being something you measure with. Each letter is placed underneath a lengthened cm mark on the ruler, giving enough distance between the image and type to make it legible. Because the background colour is bright yellow, there is limited text in black, keeping it simple.



Jon and Alecia

This wedding invitation uses bold lettering and numericals to emphasize the significance of the information. On the bottom image, speech bubbles and arrows are used to contain information of the schedule, and provide a visual order. This is legible because we understand arrows as directions, so provides a chronological order. By keeping the design monochrome, the bold design is easy to understand without being too chaotic.

Now I have to find 5 examples of non-graphic design for each of these aesthetic rules:



Use appropriate stock according to method of distribution

Casa Batllo

Gaudi designed the exterior and interior of this house for the Batllo family, and it is now a museum. It is incredibly unique, and unlike other houses, has a wavy shape and is decorated with ceramic and glass mosiac pieces, making it extremely colourful. The roof is in the shape of a dragon's back, with blue scales covering it. There are wrought iron pillars to help support the structure and stained glass windows which filter light. By using all of these materials he has created something iconic and beautiful, and extraordinary.

Toilet Paper Installations

These installations are made out of toilet paper, taking old, mundane house objects, and turning them into what some people call 'beautiful work of art'. It isn't a traditional material for creating art, but it is considered to be creative and fine art. 

Marcel Breuer

Marcel Breuer taught at the Bauhaus, and created this modernist chair made out of one piece of tubular steel. It is incredibly practial, and the Bauhaus' aim was to create affordable products ready for mass production, so that it was accessible for everybody, so fits in well with their ethos.












Lomography

To create an effect like this without using Photoshop, you need a lomography camera which have colour filters, multiple lens, double exposure buttons and other simple tools to create different effects like this. Using expired film also helps to alter the colours of the photographs. They are very popular at the moment, with the iPhone app Instagram mimicking the style that lomography achieves.











Leonid Afremov

These paintings by Afremov are used with oil paints, and the only way to achieve the effect that he creates is by using a palette knife to sweep the paint on, rather than using paintbrushes. This technique uses a lot of paint because it is applied on thickly. He uses them to create very bright, impressionist paintings.

Ensure design has a clear message

Lacoste Advert

This advertisement shows someone folding a Lacoste shirt, which transforms into a perfume bottle. It is very clever and simple how the product is achieved at the end of the advert, and although it is known to be a clothing brand, this shows that it sells other products too. It has a very clean design.







Samo

Samo was a grafitti name, which used to be used through the 7os and 80s in New York by Jean-Michael Basquiat. He targeted his messages at art students a lot. This particular message critcises the artists who think of themselves as avant-garde, and look down on others.







Margaret Bourke-White

Bourke-White worked for LIFE magazine, and took this photo during the Great Depression, and shows juxtaposition between reality and dream. The advertisement behind shows the 'perfect' American family, living the so-called American Dream, a lifestyle that so many people aspire to live, but in this case proves it might not even exist, as there is a queue underneath it of African-Americans lining up for food after the Kentucky flood, which left a million homeless. It shows that you shouldn't believe everything you read.


Harry Benson

This photograph of Caroline Kennedy sends a clear message to the viewer that this is her wedding day, as she is in her wedding dress and holding a bouquet of flowers. The setting is idyllic, and is surrounded by greenery and sea suggesting a perfect day. The smile on her face also shows the audience how happy she is to be getting married, and what a positive experience it will be for her. The whole image looks incredibly natural and candid, reflecting on the naturalness of their relationship.


Paper Pop-Ups

Mengyu Chen designed these for a pop-up back, and the concept is clear that if you push and pull the tabs at the side, the hand will open and the plane will fly. It is a simple concept, but an effective one because it works so easily.







All design should be legible

Baylor Street House

I decided to label this interior design as legible because the materials have not been covered up or painted over, so you know that it is wood which the walls, ceiling and floor are made up of. It seems very natual, and the windows and skylight bring in a lot of natural light meaning that the bedroom is more legible to people because everything is visible.












Kent Rogowski

This photography by Rogowski is a collage of self help books, which all feature the sky and rainbow on the front cover. They are all so similar, and the sky and rainbows are associated with freedom and happiness, so is recognisable to the viewer what they are.

Daniel Kornrumpf

This embroidery by Kornrumpf is incredible, because even though it is only thread what makes up this image, it looks like a person, and has all the features and colouring of someone. This makes it legible, because you could recognise the person if you had a photograph of them to compare it with. The texture and strokes of the embroidery make it visually engaging.

Shawn Smith

These sculptures are made up of small wood blocks, and even though this is not a fox, we accept it as being a sculpture of a fox because of the shape and colours of the wood blocks. 














 
Leonard McCombe

This photograph shows a boy whose Mother took the drug Thalidomide, as it was shown to help with morning sickness, but caused birth defects in many children. This child is using a device which helps him to hold a pencil. Even though there is no writing on the image, we can guess that because he is sat on a table with other children who are writing, he is probably in a school environment. We can read it is an image, even though there are no words, making it legible. Because it is a clear image, with a range of tones and a crispness to it, it is easy to understand.

OUGD405 - Typogateaux

Here is the process of making my cake.

Here are most of the ingredients that I needed for the cake. 

I put all of the oreos in a bag and crushed them. I had to double bag it, because the first bag split. I then poured them equally into cupcake cases.

I started measuring out all of the ingredients on the scales.

I mixed together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl I mixed sugar and butter together til it became fluffy and combined, and added an egg and vanilla extract. Then I bought them both together, whisking until it came cake batter.

I then poured the mixture equally on top of the crushed oreos in the cupcake cases.

Then I cooked them for 18 minutes on 180 degrees in my oven. Me and my flatmates tested one and liked it.

Following the instructions for the chocolate fudge cake, I greased the tin.

I followed all of the instructions to make the chocolate fudge cake, however the two cakes are supposed to be on top of each other with the fudge filling between them. But then I thought it didn't look big enough, because I had to fit the outline of the world on top, and the cupcakes. Therefore I put them side by side instead, for a thinner but wider cake. I put them on the biggest baking tray I could find for presenting, but it still wasn't big enough so I had to slice a little bit off one side.

When I looked at the size of the cakes, and the cupcakes, I realised that the cupcakes would be too big and heavy to put on wire in the cake, because the cake is quite thin. So at this point I thought it would be a better idea just to put the cupcakes on top of each country.

To make the frosting I mixed butter, vanilla extract and sugar together with a spoon which took a while to get the right consistency. I then started adding crushed oreo into it to create a speckled effect.

I had to add a loooooooot of food colouring to get the desired effect, but I was happy with this blue for the sea.

I started spreading the frosting on top of the cake, creating a wave effect as I did it.

I was going to create the frosting again but with green food colouring for the land, but then decided it would be more definable and recognisable if I cut it out of ready to roll icing. However, I only had white icing, so I broke up some small chunks of it and dropped a few drops of food colouring in and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds. When it came out i mixed it together so it changed the colouring to green. I then waited a while for it to cool down and harden, so that I could roll it out. Once I did that I used the image of the world map to see what shapes and size I should be cutting the icing out, which I did with a scalpel.

I also thought now that the world is on, the cupcakes would cover up a lot of the design because they are so big compared to the cake. This made me think that I should put all of the cupcakes at the bottom with the letter on, and join them up somehow to each country.

I made some icing and dripped it on the top of the cupcakes, which I had also cut into a square. This was so that the letters would stand out better on them, and cover up the sponge. By putting white icing on top of them, I could use some of the green fondant icing I made for the letters.

I started cutting out the letters to go on top of the cake, which took longer than I thought to get them to look right! Here is Courier and Bodoni.

To join up the letters to the countries they originated from, I brought some strawberry laces so that it was still edible. Overall,  it definitely isn't what I envisioned it would look like, but my flatmates asked me to bake another batch of cupcakes at midnight so it couldn't have tasted that bad!