OUGD503 Secret 7, Mock Up Designs - 30 Thumbnails (Studio Brief One)

Before jumping straight onto a computer, I thought it might be helpful to draw out some potential ideas so that I don't forget whilst focusing on one idea. These can be seen below. I particularly like the designs 1, 2, 3, 13, 5 and 7. So these are the ideas I am going to take forward and develop further. These are quite vague to someone who doesn't understand, however I have the initial idea on paper and I will explain each one once designed properly. 

OUGD503 Collaborative Practice, Desperados - Further Website Development (Studio Brief Two)

This was my first attempt at trying to incorporate the packaging design into the website. Personally, I think it's unsuccessful as it has lost the elements of negative space, and frankly makes it more difficult to read. The colours now also look far too bright. I feel as though it has lost the fun element, even though it should've of because of the fun shapes. 

I also tried adding the packaging design to the homepage, which can be seen below. I think it is also unsuccessful as it now looks very messy, something I was specifically trying to avoid. For this reason, I am going to stick with the original design as I think it looks a lot more slick and relevant for the event.

This is the final chosen design mocked up on macs. I think it looks really slick and successful for the project. It also has a minimal feel, which is a contrast to Desperados branding, which I think is successful as the event will be completely different to everything the company has ever done.

OUGD503 Collaborative Practice, Desperados - Poster Developments (Studio Brief Two)

Now its my turn to make some posters. This is the first poster that I created. It uses all of the colours in the packaging to try and symbolise the energy of the event. I originally thought it was good, however now I don't think it's successful on a smaller scale. On a bigger scale, it wasn't at obvious that the colours weren't blended together.

This is the next poster design. It uses the same pattern used in the packaging and is very vague - which I think is a good thing, as the person would wonder what it is and then go home and search/use their phone right there and then to find out what the poster was about.

I then combined both of the above posters. I think this is the most successful poster design so far, as it's very bright and colourful and would definitely catch the attention of anybody walking past. Now I am going to try to make a poster about the bottle.

Next I tried to incorporate the pattern for the packaging on a poster. These poster designs were unsuccessful as they were far too crowded and actually quite confusing to look at. They would be successful in gaining the viewers attention, but they definitely wouldn't be interested as they're very confusing. The idea behind these posters was that the white would be what the poster looked like in the daylight, and the other would be what it looked like at night - all of the shapes would glow in the dark.

I tried to make this poster design a lot less complicated by getting rid of a lot of the shapes. I believe this made it a lot more successful as it no longer hurt to look at and actually just reiterated the packaging design, which I think worked.

I then decided to get rid of the pattern all together. I don't think it needed the pattern, as the pattern was already present on the packaging, and it was just complicating the design. I will ask for feedback on all of these posters from my group and see what they say, but I think they will agree.

OUGD503 Individual Practice, Brompton Bikes - Paper Cut Leeds (Studio Brief One)

I started by drawing out each building I was going to cut out onto different coloured paper. The colour of stock chosen wasn't necessarily relative to the building, the main reason I chose unrealistic colours was the fact that if the buildings weren't in bright colours, the stop motion would be quite boring to watch, as there would be close to no colours used. This is the drawing from Parkinson Steps. I drew it out very roughly as I knew I could easily correct the small errors when actually cutting out the shapes. 

I decided against using a ruler to cut out all the buildings, as I thought the rough styled cuttings would give the designs some character and originality, which I was right about as it made the cut outs look quirky and interesting. This is the building once cut out. This whole process took me around 2-3 hours including breaks, so it will be quite time consuming to create the rest of the buildings as well. I don't think it necessarily should've taken this long, however I kept needing to give my hand a break as my thumb and forefinger kept getting really numb and painful due to the pressure needed to slice through the paper. 

OUGD503 Individual Practice, Secret 7 - Synesthesia (Studio Brief One)

From previous experience when designing for music, I have found it beneficial to try to design album covers just by listening to the music. These are some quick responses to Dream 3 using felt tips and paper. I find this method really helpful as it helps you visualise the song and the colours of the song. This could be helpful when I come to design the final product. I also find it helpful as the shapes used are the way I can picture the song at different intervals.

OUGD503 Individual Practice, Secret 7 - Idea Generation (Studio Brief One)

I thought it would be beneficial if I tried to narrow down the possible artists that I could respond to. To do this, i made a mind map of possible ideas for each song and artist. This can be seen below.

I had quite a lot of ideas for each album, so this didn't really help me. I decided to narrow it down further with songs that I enjoy and would love to respond to. This left me with three final songs to choose from.

Dream 3 - Max Richter

Clearest Blue - Chvrches

The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala

As my possible ideas for Chvrches and Tame Impala were quite limited, I decided it would be easiest to focus my vinyl sleeve on Dream 3 by Max Richter. I think this song is really beautiful and I love the album as a whole. I think it's an interesting song to respond to as it doesn't have any lyrics, so I will literally have to use my imagination and figure out what the song means to me. 

OUGD503 Individual Practice, Secret 7 - Research (Studio Brief One)

Before I start thinking of my own vinyl ideas, I want to research into some designs that are recognisable and have had a huge impact on the world. I think it will also be useful to see what colours and typefaces have been used, as it could influence my own choices. This album cover is for Doldinger - Jazz Made in Germany. It's created in a very modernist, minimal style. I think the album cover is very effective as the colour scheme is very eye catching, and only uses CMYK colours. It also focuses a lot on negative space around the illustration/pattern design. The typeface used is Helvetica, which I think is very successful as it makes the design look more modern.

This is a record for Design for Life 12 inch single for Manic Street Preachers by Farrow Design. This record is a Record day 2016 exclusive. It's a record I have been following for a while, as I saw Farrow Design tweet about it and I think it would be an amazing record to have in my own collection, as I really love the sleeve design. The design is simply type debossed onto a metallic stock. 

This record sleeve design is for Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures, and was designed by Peter Saville. He is well known for sleeve designs for successful artists, such as Joy Division. This design is successful and was probably the first album design of its time not to feature the artists name on the sleeve. It's successful, however simple as he literally just inverted an image that Joy Division gave to him. 

The album design below is for the album 'Abbey Road' by The Beatles and was designed by Kosh/Iain MacMillan. It's incredibly effective as it symbolises the band as a whole, for example John Lennon is wearing a fully white suit and Paul McCartney is wearing no shoes. The design is considered to be incredibly British. I think it's really effective as this particular zebra crossing in London is now a type of landmark, and many tourists go there and try to take photos on the crossing in a similar style - which I'm sure would be very annoying for drivers as there will constantly be people crossing the road. There is also a website of a livecam set up of the road where you can watch people constantly crossing the road and taking pictures, which I think is really cool. The website can be found HERE.

This album cover is for the artist Bjork for the album Homogenic and was designed by Alexander McQueen. Bjork is well known for pushing the boundries for her music and has also been well known for her approach to album artwork. McQueen went with the image of Bjork being a "warrior of love". The hair alone weighed 10 kilos. 

This is the album art for the album Nevermind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols. It was designed by Jamie Reed. It is said that Reed had no interest of putting the band on the cover as "the band were ugly anyway". He used ransom-note styled lettering, incredibly striking colours and simplicity that anyone could recreate, which was perfect for the genre of the album - the DIY Punk aesthetic.

This album is for the band Pink Floyd's album called Wish You Were Here and was designed by Storm Thorgerson. Thorgerson based his design on the idea of absence, with the album shrink-wrapped in a dark colour to hide the artwork. The gesture of a handshake between the two men was inspired by Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar, and by the idea of people that hide their true feelings for fear of 'getting burned'.

This is the album artwork for the band Justice for the album entitled †. Justice are one of the coolest French duo's since Daft Punk. The album cover was designed by Surface2Air. Their adoption of the cross as their symbol was appropriate, given the quasi-religious following they obtained and built through the underground. The colour scheme referenced T-rex's Electric Warrior.

This was the album cover designed by Robert Fisher for the album Nevermind by Nirvana. It's an iconic image of an innocent baby swimming toward a dollar bill. Kurt Cobain apparently concieved the idea after watching a TV show about water births. The meaning of the album cover has never been released and never will be, however I imagine it to be about the corruption of the government and how we are brought up from as soon as we are born to be reliant on money.

This album cover was designed by Andy Warhol for the band The Velvet Underground. Early copies of the sleeve had the invitation to "Peel slowly and see, enabling the owner to peel back the banana skin to reveal a flesh-coloured banana underneath. The album artwork would've been successful for whichever band it was designed for, as Andy Warhol's artwork is iconic and always will be.

This cover was designed by John Squire for the band The Stone Roses. Squire was higely influenced by abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. The piece referred to the May 1968 Parisian Riots - hence the coloured daubings of the French tricolore on the left. The lemons pointed to the fact that they could be used as an antidote to tear gas. 

OUGD503 Individual Practice, Secret 7 - The Brief (Studio Brief One)

Secret 7" takes 7 tracks from 7 of the best-known musicians around and presses each one 100 times to 7" vinyl. We then invite creatives from around the world to interpret the tracks in their own style for every 7". 700 sleeves are exhibited and then sold for £50 a piece. You don't know who created the sleeve, or even which song it's for, until you have parted with your cash - the secret lies within.

This year, the bands and songs you can design a sleeve for are as follows:

Clearest Blue - Chvrches

Etta James - At Last

Jack Garratt - Worry

The Jam - Art School

John Lennon - Imagine

Max Richter - Dream 3

Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better

The deadline: 2nd March 2016

Exhibition dates: 8th April - 1st May 2016

OUGD503 Individual Practice, Brompton Bikes - Leeds (Studio Brief One)

Now I have created the bike, I am going to brainstorm and research into the landmarks of Leeds and also think about what makes Leeds a great city from my perspective. I found this list from Leeds-List, which was really helpful as it discusses all of Leeds' great buildings and attractions.

http://leeds-list.com/culture/30-must-see-landmarks-and-attractions-in-leeds/

I thought it would be useful to come up with my own perspective of what makes Leeds a very interesting city.

1. Parkinson Steps
2. Leeds Beckett building
3. O2 Academy
4. Leeds Town Hall
5. Millenium Square
6. Leeds Art Gallery
7. Leeds City Market
8. Corn Exchange
9. Duke Studios

These are a lot of places to consider, so I thought it would be easier to create paper cuts solely on interesting looking buildings, which definitely slimmed down my list to a more do-able size. Here is my newly refined list:

1. Parkinson Steps

2. Leeds Beckett

3. O2 Academy

4. Leeds City Market

5. The Corn Exchange

These attractions on my list are mainly places I like to go, but also interesting buildings that catch my eye, such as Parkinson Steps and Leeds Beckett. I have created this list in a specific way, in that from 1-5 all of these buildings are heading down hill, meaning I will be able to incorporate my concept of not having to pedal as much in Leeds. due to hills.

OUGD505 Licence to Print Money - Feedback (Studio Brief One)

For this interim critique, I decided the best way to get feedback would be to take the two designs that I like the most, and then ask some questions about them. To display the work, I decided to make a quick presentation. This can be seen below.

These are the questions posed and the comments that I received:

1. Which design do you prefer?

- The first, because it's illustrated child friendly

- 2, because I prefer the minimal feel, however I do like the first and there is a good focus on negative space.

- also 1, same as above.

- ^ same as first comment, I would suggest using colour - maybe do a three/four colour screen print

- 1, but change the type so it matches the style of illustration.

2. What colours would you suggest using?

- Maybe pastel colours? would be calm & friendly

- As it's typically british, maybe british colours? red, white & blue.

- Agreed ^

- I'd say try a range? maybe use a gradient or something

3. I plan to screen print - maybe two or three colours. Do you think I should use any other printing techniques?

- You could experiment with a few, but I don't think it would necessarily need it.

- A three colour screen print sounds perfect for this - any more would maybe overcomplicate the design.

- No, screen print would be enough

- Depends on the back if you are creating two sides - both would have to fit well together & use same printing methods.

From this group critique, I think the best colour scheme to use would be red, blue, white and black, as these are typically British colours as they are the colours of the Union Jack flag. I will also go with the illustrated design, as I agree that it is more child friendly and approachable. Finally, I am going to do a three colour screen print, meaning I have the opportunity to experiment with different coloured stocks, however I think the best design will be on white stock as it will be more clear.

OUGD503 Collaborative Practice, Desperados - Relevant Poster Research (Studio Brief Two)

I have now decided to look at some events posters that could be more helpful when designing my own. This particular poster is for a camp fair, and it's incredibly successful. Its information is spread out nicely and there isn't too much - just what it is, the times, place and date. Also the background of the poster is really aesthetically pleasing - it looks like it's made out of paper. It's very intricate. 

This is a poster design for a club night. I think it's actually very relevant for my project, as it has a huge focus on light - similar to mine. The poster is spaced out really successfully and it's very colourful, therefore it would grab peoples attention. Colour will definitely have to be a focus of my own posters. I also really like the way all of the information is central, as it's a lot of information but it's spread out so it's not harsh or boring to look at.

This is another poster design that I found. In my opinion, it's incredibly unsuccessful; there is FAR too much type used, nobody would read it unless you're very interested in the event. The actual background of the poster makes the event seen really interesting, however it's taken away from with the pure volume of text.