A to Z of Graphic Language - C

CMYK:  My initial idea is to take a picture and separate the colours to end up with a copy of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and finally Black.

Just converted it into greyscale then saved each version as described above.

After feedback yesterday, suggesting to look at other ojects (which I will do) but my main concern is what do I do with this?

I have tried to print and copy each of them on transparent paper, which once all put on top of each other should give a different effect/ colour....

Unfortunately the transparent paper that I used did not hold the ink and it sort of "never quite dried"

I still would like to try this but first I need to find the right paper....

In the meantime I am thinking as a format,  a set of postcards (4) where the front would have the respective letter; cut out.

A to Z of Graphic Language - B

I have chosen Bodycopy for my second word.

"Main text found in publications we read.  Bodycopy is the text of the stories and articles.  It is usually between 8 and 14 points in size.  Readability is the key to selecting fonts for bodycopy."

So far I am thinking of using bodycopy of newspaper cuttings, which I would use in a context other than a publication i.e. booklet, magazine, spread etc...

Text is usually found just about everywhere; although on publicity items it is usually no more than a few words or a sentence as the message needs to be understood fast; which is why I thought it may be interesting to put large amount of text on a product not initially designed for this purpose.

Other 3D formats to consider: boxes. On the inside newspaper clippings.

The outside would have the definition of bodycopy.

On the lid, I want the letters BODYCOPY to have bodycopy inside them... I know how to do it with Photoshop...but that is too easy so I will try manually and compare both results.

The process to get there was quite lengthy... but each letter holds enough text to be "passed on" as bodycopy... now how about the computerised version?

This looks much cleaner (not to mention it can be achieved very quickly!) and I guess it looks at least as good as the handmade one...could definitely do with more text.

Now about mixing them up?

  

I think this one with some work would probably be better than the two above.  It is the handmade version scanned in; as it is now computerised, it offers some flexibility and potential.

Ampersand_Experimenting

Following some of the images online I have found; I have been experimenting with Mono Printing.
I will be doing a small square booklet; french fold - only a few pages - which will relate the experiments I have been undertaking to get to the final piece - last page.  I guess it is like the pdf we had to do for our very first project - but in a much simple, succinct way.

Gonna try and see if I could achieve a similar effect (top left) using Mono Printing.

Not quite what I was looking for - too dark and on the right I forgot one line.

Slightly better as there is less ink; the background needs to be reviewed on the right one.

The "scribbles" do not work.

Too light -  not enough ink. The right one is sort of all right although ultimately, I would love a background of a different colour.

Would it still be called Mono Printing?

This is more like I would like.  It is simply the top left picture put into Photoshop.  There are a few layers.  I want to be able to achieve this - I don't think it will matter too much if there are more than a colour but I want a this sort of background!

A to Z of Graphic Language

We have been given a list of words which all begin with the letters of the alphabet.
The aim is to explore and research our chosen words and representing them through graphics.
In the first instance, we must represent all 26 words using any formats possible (3D, movies, animation, magazine, flyers and many many more); those will need to fit in a A3 box.  At the beginning of December; we will receive our first feedback and between 5 to 10 pieces will be chosen to work in much more detail.  Those will need to be handed in at the beginning of June 2011.

I have started researching some words, for the time being I am unsure if those chosen words will stay, I may have a change of art for a few of them in the next couple of weeks or so.

In the meantime, I have found this for A- Ampersand

Ampersand Typography

Going back...for a second year!

We just started back yesterday; it was great seeing everyone again after such a long break!
This year I chose to create a new blog as I thought the one from last year has quite a lot of inconsistency.
I want this one to be better from a design point of view.

We have two briefs to start with:

• A-Z of Graphic Language
• 'Hidden London' Book Project

They are both really exiting but extremely different.

This year we had to chose a Cross College Elective Course; I chose Writing for Design.  There was a lot of very interesting classes to chose from.  Obviously with the Blackboard sign up list, some classes got filled literally in as much time it takes to say the word! But in all I think this one will be good; I am hoping to work within the magazine/ publishing so who know those skills may come handy then.

Nearly the end...

I think we must have all said it but it is so true; this year has gone by extremely quickly.


I have enjoyed it; even though I had a few lows and have been struggling.
If this year has gone that quick, I can only imagine how much quicker next year will be.
When I first applied for this course, I never thought I would do a 3rd year; then at one point during the year I thought it would be better if I did, now however I am not so sure.  
Not because I would not enjoy it or because I think it is not worth it but because I have really struggled this year.  I have so much "commitments" in my personal life that I have really felt as thought I could barely keep my head above water.
Next year will be much harder; there is a degree at the end.
If I am still struggling as much then I do not think I will apply for a 3rd year; as they say it is quality not quantity.  I do not want to hand rushed pieces of work.  I guess I will just have to wait and see.


Although, it has not always been obvious for me, I do think I have learnt; it is only now that I can actually see that I have developed ( I hope!).  
Although, when you study design, your eyes automatically attracted towards "design" (leaflet, posters, magazine...) and you become quite critical.  I have actually noticed recently that I do this much more (even pieces of design on TV!) and I am not just critical, I am processing it.


I have also enjoyed keeping a blog; it is nice to look back at what you've done throughout the year; funny how something you though was completely rubbish I am able to say it is not as bad as I thought, or something you've done you can't bear to look at it...lol!


What brought me to graphic design in the first place is magazine layout/ brochure, and I know now it is still what I want to do.  After having designed the packaged bottle for the collage extension; I looked at a lot of packaging and I must say that it is also something I would be happy to carry on experimenting.  Working 3D is very different than flat but I really did like it.


Well I think this will be one of the last entries for this year, although I will try to keep blogging and put up things that hopefully I'll be working on this summer - for myself, for my portfolio, I have a lot of unfinished business to make presentable.

London Through the Eye of a Designer - Book

I just started to put things together for my research book; I struggled a lot at first, there are a lot of pictures of all different sizes and shapes which makes it quite awkward.  I think were I went wrong is because I took it for granted that I could just put stuff in and sort of arranging around as I went along but that clearly did not work.

Those spreads look all over the place; but although I had a grid I still struggled with the captions, quotes, text...

I spent a bit of time designing the grid; as well as master pages for chapters.  I need to figure out how to put 2 page numbers in one page; I'm afraid so far I've been unsuccessful.

London Through the Eye of a Designer - London in Map

I really enjoyed this workshop; I love working with type.

We were each given a section of a map, then using Illustrator, we had to duplicate it with type only.

Ooops - Didn't mean to do that but turned out great anyway

I was just working on a photos, actually quite a few, this is why I was using shortcuts; I typed this (thinking it would brink the image size box) but it gave me a nice unexpected effect instead...now I just need to find out what it is...!

Ctrl+I

From this

To This

I know what it is now, it's invert...

Interesting use of Typography

I saw those design a little while ago

On both those pieces, I like how the type is very much part of the design as opposed to being informative.

Out of London

I went away for the Bank Holiday Weekend; was really lovely to get away from the madness than London can be at times...

I visited an aquarium there (well the visit only took half an hour but hey...!) and was really quite amazed by how much colours and shapes natures has to offer, in this instance the sea/ocean.  There were some really amazing fishes, some little "Nemos" and some little "Daureen".  I must say it is really hard to take a picture of a fish: they don't stop moving!. I saw baby sharks too but the pictures did not come good.  As I said some really beautiful ones but unfortunately some not so lucky in the "look department"

Just a normal fish...

Quite amazing

Playing hide and seek...

Those are so cute

Hmm quite scary and a bit ugly...poor thing!

Beautiful shapes and colours

Visit to Pick Me Up Gallery

The Gallery located near between Coven Garden in the Somerset House.

There was a lot of work on display.

London Through The Eye Of A Designer - 3D Workshop

We had quite a lot of fun, trying to build elements of London in 3D design.

It could as well be monuments/buildings or letters or a combination of both.

I chose to do London Bridge, although I simplified it a lot.

I simply drew the front of both towers, which I joined by words: London Bridge.

I did not foresee the problem I encountered with the letters, but it is nothing I can't fix.

This would be a really nice element to add to the book.

Although, this is just a prototype and I would not leave it as it is.

 Starting by just a rough sketch of the outline.

Just tracing some handrawn letters.

Which I transferred onto light cardboard.  Next time, I will draw them straight away on it.

London Through The Eye Of A Designer - Icons, Symbols & Pictograms

This workshop reminded me about the Isotype one.  Both were about the use of images/symbols to communicate a message. In Isotype, we made up our own 3D Isotype to communicate figures/statistics.  Icons, Symbols and Pictograms was different in the way that we had to use images/symbols to create a Crest/Coat of Arms

A few examples:

• Nunavut
• The Vatican

• Bahamas

 
 

We formed a group to create our own Coat of Arms.  Both myself and Ewa live near Askew Road.

Askew Road, W12 is a long mainly residential road, linking Shepherds Bush to East Acton.

This symbolises Askew Road, linking Goldhawk Road and Uxbridge Road.

This road has a Chinese Take Away, A funeral Home, A pub called the Orchard another called Angel (hence the snake...Adam & Eve... a bit far fetched...but hey!)

This is our final design.

The chinese take away box has become the crest and the postcode has been made up of iconic symbols representing Askew Road.

London Through The Eye Of A Designer - Communication and Texture

This workshop was about describing London, using different methods.  We went through several ways such as:

• Non - Visual
• Non - Aural
• Non - Verbal
• As Time
• As Sound
• As Words
• As Space
• As Smell
• One Word
• As a Personality

It is quite amazing how people perceive the same city very much different from one another.  I guess that depends on how long you have lived in London, if you were born here, if you know you are only here for a specific goal ie: studying.

Personally, I know that my views of London have changed within time but that is most definitely because my circumstances have changed from being an Au Pair to actually living here and building a life.

  

Near the end of the workshop, we had to pick a word that described London and do a collage of what it meant to us.

London Through The Eye Of A Designer - Isotype Workshop

Isotype stands for International System of TYpographic Picture Education.

Those were first created by Otto Neurath around 1935.  They are symbol or a set of symbols representing a communication which would be understood by everyone, whether they are literate or not.  They are really developed now and can be found for many purpose.

Here are a few examples:

In this workshop, we were asked to create our own 3D Isotype, relating to homelessness statistic.

We worked in a group of 3, we chose to represent our statistic using one of London's landmark, the London Eye; as it doubles up as a pie chart.

Each colour represents a percentage

We finalised it by putting a legend

An example of another group's 3D Isotype

Hmm, Yummy Jelly Beans!