Final project development

When researching I came across the three posters above. I really liked the effect of the third one, The letters fit together perfectly and the swirls create the illusion of smoke and smoothness. I also liked the idea of the text coming out of the coffee cup. I thought it was quite clever. However I think using script writing might market it towards older more upper-class people and I want it to appeal to a more varied market.  I would like to create a more fun and free-flowing feel to my piece.

I really like the idea of cutting out shapes and incorporating it into the design like the above. I thought I could incorporate this into the teacup idea  - could the teacup idea be cut out of the box?

I created the teacup design using the pen tool and think this will work well.  The colours I have used reflect the creaminess and caramel of the tea. I used quite a curly found as I want to render the letter forms to create a smoky, swirly effect to reflect the warmth and creaminess of the tea.

I changed the text to 'Bellyfish' because I think the swirly, crazy essence of it will work well in creating the  fun , free-flowing idea.

Experimenting with placement of letters

Although type is 'crazy' although creative, using the P for both lines makes it very confusing to read, also text is too close together.

I don't think the brown, earthy colours represent the upbeat song, I will research more modern packaging to see if I can get inspiration in using brighter colours.

Research into colour

 

I like the contrast between the white and bright colours. I will incorporate this into my own design.

After looking into the idea of cutting out the shape of a tea cup I thought about what you will be seeing through. A transparent bag holding the tea would not look particularly attractive with a bright colour scheme, but I thought about using a gold foil bag and incorporating that into the design, as gold would represent the 'buttercup' theme well.

Considering colour schemes with gold I decided to go with a purple gradient background because I think it envokes feelings of luxury. Although purple is well known for chocolate I was thinking about my target audience. I want the tea to appeal to people that would not usually buy herbal teas  or  East India teas - I thought by using this colour scheme and selling it as a 'creamy, delicious drink' rather then a 'herbal drink' or 'flavoured tea' it might attract more people towards it.

 I think it works well and will entices people into reading more into it. 

This is the final nets after a lot of moving things round, kerning etc. There were originally a fair few orpheons and widows which I had to correct. I am happy with the layout.

I used a flower separator between the text because I think it went with the 'Buttercup' theme well.

Now I have finished the box designs I will now start looking at poster designs.

Earlier on I made some sketches in  my sketchbook looking at using type to create  the shape of a teacup. I used the font 'boopee' as I think it comes across as quite fun, but still legible for people to read. After creating this design and printing it off I realised that the text looked far too big and there was too much going on. 

I think the cup is taking up far too much of the page and isn't getting across the 'luxurious' feel to the tea that I want it to. After experimenting with a curving path to create the text I thought this worked well. With this in mind I decided to change the idea and use this technique more in the poster. I decided to make the shape of the teacup smaller and have text curving around it. Although the text is on curved lines, I have made it so it flows down and across the page so the eye follows it and doesn't get lost. I think this works well because although the type is small I think it would draw people people into getting closer to the poster to read what it is all about. The flowing text gives a luxurious smooth feel to the piece and the use of yellows and golds represents the 'buttercream taste' and the caramel and vanilla in the tea.

Mockup including cut out gold detail

I created a mockup of the box and experimented with the cut out gold detail of the mug. I think it worked quite well. 

Graffiti task

We have had a task to sum up the positives and negatives to graffiti.

For
It's Art like any other
Forces people to look and to think and have an opinion
Expression of ideas from people that may not be able to express otherwise
Brings people together (such as on graffiti boards)
Graffiti artists have rules  and morals too, they don't just do it because it's illegal. (such as not to graffiti on churches, or graffiti over something that is better then yours etc)
Brings a more modern look to the city (some people actually pay for it to be done to their building, tastefully of course)
Often political meaning

Against
Vandalism
Ruins view
Hard on the eye

Personally I like graffiti when it is in good taste. In my home town in Liverpool there are a few graffiti boards with some really brilliant drawings on them. I think it is art like any other, many of them also have very political underlying ideas which are very interesting to think about. Just because it is graffiti doesn't mean it has to be dumb, or vandalising. It is an expression of ideas then can often, though not always, be a work of art.

Semiotics

In a group we had to create our own 'Pecha Kucha'
We found 20 typographic designs that incorporated the idea of semiotics well.

This was inspirational in creating our own 'semiotics type' using objects.

I decided to create one using odd socks, to portray that they always go missing. I thought this would be fun to do. I used the word 'lost' but I think 'odd' or 'missing' might have went better.

This was a fun task and I also learned a lot. I will definitely consider semiotics more in my work to help portray certain ideas. I think semiotics can also be used quite understatedly but still work if done well - it may be beneficial to use this in the future, especially in advertising to put certain ideas accross to consumers.

Illustrator Semiotics Task

We were given short tasks (a couple of minutes or so for each one) to create typography to suit a certain word. For example 'flash' or 'segment'. We had to think and communicate ideas quickly but I think it helped push the boundaries a lot. To express an idea and not use image to do so is difficult but is possible. I have definitely learnt from this and will possibly use these ideas to help further the major project.

Poster Design

Who was  Claude Garamond? (1490-1561)

Garamond was a french publisher from Paris. He is said to have introduced the apostrophe and the accent to the French language. Because of the soundness and legibility to Garamond's designs they have been used again and again throughout the years. The serifs used in the Garamond typeface means large bulks of text are almost effortless to read. The letter forms used in Garamond had slightly thicker lines then later serif fonts as it was due to the printing process of punch cutting.Claude Garamond's contribution to typography has lived on through many post inspired typefaces and will continue to live on through the years.


1925 Designed by D.Stempel Eg. Based on original works of Claude Garamond


1922 Designed by Monotype Design Studio. Based on: Jean Jannon
Cut in 1922, Monotype Garamond was the first of Stanley Morison’s celebrated typeface revival projects at the English Monotype Corporation. The design was patterned after type from the archives of the French Imprimerie Nationale, the centuries-old office of French government printing (broadly equivalent to the US Government Printing Office, or Her Majesty’s Stationery Office in the U

Designed by: D. Stempel AG
Year: 1925
Based on: Claude Garamond

This single font is a slightly different digital version from Monotype of the Roman style of Stempel Garamond.

I wanted to go with the idea of Claude Garamond being french, because he incorporated certain features into the french alphabet such as the cedilla and the accent.  This is why the larger header is in french and italic and I believe it works well with the theme. I like that the large 'G' i created for the background inverted looks a bit like a paint palette, this also works well with my 'french' theme to the piece. The paragraph however could have done with better alignment to the text, I know this now looking back.

Typographical Terminology and Hand rendered Type

Terminology

The letter forms exercise: we had to draw on the page the various parts that make up a letterform, I realised from this how much I had actually forgotten from this exercises and benefited from learning them again.

   

      

Hand-rendered Exercise 

This task was set we were standing on the opposite side of a room of a wall a good 8 metres from us had three letters on the wall. We had to draw these letters. After doing so and getting closer to the images I realised I missed a few things (the flick of the italic f was different, certain areas were straighter/rounder). It made me realise how type can be perceived and also how the smallest detail counts.

We also had another task where we were given letter-forms on a page and asked to copy the letterforms exactly how they were on the page. From doing this I realised how difficult it must be to create a typeface to be mathematically and anatomically correct. Letter-forms are complicated things and a lot of areas need to be taken into account, mathematically and decoratively. 

Typography

Modern/Legible Font - Helvetica?

This font is very popular in design due to it's wonderful softness and simplicity. It flows beautifully and works well large and small. The sans serif keeps it modern, yet it is classic at the same instance. There are so many possibilities of use with this typeface.

Old Fashioned - This typographic peice shows how old-fashioned type can still portray an interesting artistic and even modern appeal when incorporated into the right design.  The serifs make it easier to read text in bulks, so this font would probably be best used in books or on paper.

Funky/Trendy Fonts

I love the playfulness of these letterforms. Not only because of the colours but also the shapes. The slanted A and W for instance gives the font a quirky and modern appeal.  However the font could only be used with designs

Obviously this font could not be used in bulks, as it would be difficult to read and take the attention away from the content of the text - but I think it would be a fun alternative to use for headers on illustrations or posters.