Crit time again

For my crit this week I chose to have a one to one with Nigel because I was running out of time to keep writing the 1000 work evaluation all the time. Plus I found it better to talk to Nigel because I was then able to say to him what Id done and what needs to be done and for him to sit down with me and tell me whats right and wrong.
Now I know what needs to be down.... I need to work on another cover for my Faber and Faber because I only have 3 at the moment and I need to show what my design would be like on another topic such as screenplays.
PJ Smoothies is getting there just need plan it a bit more and work up some art work.

Essay

Yes its been a long time since my last post on my essay but work has been hectic I havent been able to do a post in ages.
So here it is.
I have worked on my essay here and there im pleased with the way it is coming along. But only last week I found out I some how deleted my draft copy of my Mac. So annoyed but however I did print of a 700 word draft for Paul couple of weeks back. So I will have to use that to get it up and running again :(.
I think I have chosen the worse subject as there is hardly nothing on TDR at all. Even though they no longer I can write about how that happened but still not a lot left to write about. No books on them and hardy and interent research I will have to come up with a plan.

Finished done out of the way end of see ya

I have completed the Optional modules they have been handed in and to be honest Im happy with the way they have come but not so much with the PJ Smoothies brief. Could of done better on that I feel, because I rushed it and didnt do what i should of done and that is plan my time I think I would of been able to do it.
Faber and Faber has come out really well and I think designing the typeface has been a credit to it.
Having two briefs to work on was a real struggle for me and has made me think about what should be done in the time that we are given.
Also having those vrits has really helped me when it comes to the idea development and seeing what else could be done to make them a lot better.
Time planning is so essential and one of the things that I have got better at. I still need to improve in areas but I think having this brief were there are two projects has shown me and other people how much time and effort has to be put in it for it to be successful.
I look forward to my next brief and next time I will plan my time correctly.

Not going so well

Even though with all these ideas I now have im really struggling with getting to grips with what I want it to look like. I have to admit with all thse ideas tht I have I thought it would work on the Mac but they dont its really annoying. So Im going to have a talk with Nigel and see what he says about the whole thing because I really dont know what to do about it.

Crit time!

Today we had another crit but this time we get to choose what we can to do for it, as we can have a one to one with Nigel, have a group discussion, do it on a blog or even write an evaluation about it.
I have gone for the evaluation as Im never good when it comes to talking to another person about my work.
I wrote down what I have done so far with the optional modules and what I plan to do until my next crit in two weeks time.
I have said that I have been working on the development of Faber and Faber and that I have researched loads on the two briefs.
My head at the moment is knowing what needs to be done and what has already been done so I can get on with it and have clear understanding about the two briefs.

Now or never!

Tomorrow is the last day and still havent a clue what I want my PJ's to look like. I think im gonna come up with a completely new design and leave it there because I really dont know what to do and its doing my head in.

Here they are!!

The final designs:

Ok now this is just silly

Still Im having problems with PJ's. When I spoke to Nigel last time he came up with an idea about doing the whole thing like a childrens drawing. I thought ok give it a shot and see what I come up with. But as soon as done it, it looked awful because I couldnt get it right and the whole thing looked a mess. Especially when I only like doing vector art I wasnt comfortable using bright colours and doing this sort of thing.
So again I will keep going at it and see what happens.

Today I wanted to come up with a completely different approach. I wanted to go through the vector route. Making it look like a childrens drawing was the idea that I had. But as I worked more on the Mac the more I didnt like it.
So therefore I will continue on the drawing board.

development

working on the PJ Smoothies hasnt gone so smooth as I thought, Ive been struggling to be able to get my ideas onto the Mac, so I went to see Nigel to get some advice I was told to add bright colours to make it stand out more so this is what I came up with. Im still a bit unsure at the moment cause Im not used to such vibrant work so I will start working on my ideas more.

Struggling again Faber and Faber

Today I have been working on my final cover design for Se7en its so hard because the other three look good and im hapy with them just having problems incorporating the seven sins into the type, because it just looks stupid. I think ill just do a transparency on it and see what it looks like.

essay essay ESSAY!!!

Well this week i am forcusing on my essay more then anything purely because its such a struggle for me to do. I have 300 words so far. I will also work on my PJ Smoothies because I havent done much on the drawing side so far. I know what I want to go for its just getting that idea down on paper. So I do have my work cut out for me this week......

Essay

My essay has proven a struggle but with 1500 words done im well under way =) I have researched and researched and there is not a lot on The Designers Republic and its a pain in the ass. I have searched high and low in books and on the internet and both have proven a difficulty. But now with the understanding that they have gone buss I can now talk about that and see were it will take me.

Ideas

I have been doing only a few sketches of what I want my F&F to look like cause I already have an idea of what I want it too look like. I have already done a few Mac draw ups and they look really nice I created my own type face which im really pleased with because it works really well.
Just going to continue with the development of that.

its been a while!!

Its been a while since I last wrote an entry purely because I havent had any time lately.
So I will show you what I have been upto.... so far I have created two covers for my Faber and Faber. I have also been working on my critical study as the draft has to be in this Thursday.

Faber and Faber ideas generation

Today I have worked on one cover for Faber and Faber..... 28 Days Later.
I done ideas generation this morning and then worked it up on the Mac.
The outcome has worked really well =)

I designed my own handed typeface because I'm working in the style of Saul Bass and his typeface is also hand drawn.
First I used a layout pad and worked out a grid so that the letters were set at the same size and it gave me room to plan out each letter.
I then worked up some designs using 3x3 inch squares to quickly jot down ideas. I then worked up the design I liked the most.

More research I think is in order

I have come to the conclusion that I think I need to research more into the PJ Smoothies brief because my ideas are so bad that Im having problems getting to gribs with what I want it to look like.
Hmmm back to the drawing board I think.

what!! no more Designers Republic!!

I started on my essay today on the movement of The Designers Republic. While researching them I discovered that they are no longer nooooooooo. Couldn't believe such a high end advertising firm has gone bust.
Its a working progress though so ill keep you posted on how its going!

idea development for PJ Smoothies......

Here are some drawn ideas for the PJ Smoothies campaign

Crit time

Today we had another crit just to see how things are going with the new projects and mine wasnt so smooth. I knew what I wanted to do with the Optional Briefs I just didnt put it in context right. But got there in the end.
I will know be doing my Faber and Faber in the style of Saul Bass purely because I like the style it make it look like its from the 1950's and I really like that style.
So today I will be researching him like mad and see what ideas I can come up with. When it comes to doing my PJ Smoothies I have the idea but getting it onto paper might be a bit hard. I will work on that.

Faber and Faber

I chose Faber and Faber because I wanted to give myself a challenge as I dont usually work with typography.
So far I have looked at their previous film covers to see what kind of style they have used over the years. Whilst looking I came across a design for the film "Burn After Reading" designed by the famous Saul Bass. I love his designs because they are simple yet they really catch your eye.
I need to work more on this as I havent gotten far with this yet.

PJ Smoothies what there is so far!

PJ SMOOTHIES..........

So far I have researched the company unfortunately the company is longer running, but I shall carry on as the brief is still live =}

Got some supermarket research showing what other companies sell.
Need to look more into how other companies have advertised, I know that Innocent Smoothies use like a stop motion kind of thing which is ok but not very appealing.

Gonna work on more with my vector work as you all know I love :D Started to work on that yesterday looks good but needs more development

Thats about it so far will keep you posted (always wanted to say that lol)

The critial study

The Designers Republic
Critical Study

I have chosen The Designers Republic purely because I havent really explored this company over the two years of being on this course so I thought I would look into what they do for my essay.

There are the main key objectives:
To learn about the key movements and designers
To learn about study skills and academic systems of referencing
Learn about how to research and examine the validity of research data
Learn to write in a academic style
Learn to present findings and answer questions about research findings.

This is what I have to include into my critical study.

At this stage i have collected as much research as I could find on the company.
I tells me what they do what they are about, what companies they have worked for and what they do for the advertising industry.
There are books out there on them but they are really hard to get hold of or they are really expensive.

So thats it for know ill keep you informed!!

The start of the D&AD and YCN "THE BRIEFS"

The briefs:

D&AD: PJ Smoothies
Faber and Faber

I have chosen these two briefs cause they appeal to me the most. The PJ Smoothies because its based on the advertising side, I enjoy that certain area so thats the reason I chose this brief.
Faber and Faber was my next choice because I fancied something different. Typography isnt my favorite area but I thought I would give it a go to see what I can come up with.

Im going to start by researching like mad to see what is out there and to see what I can come up with.

So here we go....................

"The Crit" the research stage for our briefs!

We had a group crit yesterday. We went around the room and each discussed our work and what we have been upto so far on the briefs. When it came to mine there wasnt so much research on the book side of things. This I need to do. I need to get some people in my head and see what they have done so I can get ideas from them. Also to see what is out there at the moment.
The work that I did put up was some images of the ideas that I already have in my head. Such as creating the film cover designs for Faber and Faber in a Saul Bass style. I love the way they look so simple yet so interesting to look at.
Next week im gonna get some ideas down on paper and start to work with different ideas.
When it came to the PJ Smoothies I had that covered I knew what I was gonna say and the idea I had was really interesting and I was looking forward to what the class had to say about it.
The idea of one of the poster designs was to have a blank wall with peeling fruit coming down the walls and into a large scaled bottle. Its something that Guerrilla Advertising would do because its very out there and seems impossible to do. I did have a few comments on how I was gonna be able to do this as the brief cleary says "poster", but then again there arent any specifications on what the size had to be "haha" so im going to make as exciting as I can to the eye.

HT e next crit is on the 27th by then I will be able to show some ideas on what I have on the briefs so far. I WILL BE PREPARED, so she says lol.

Faber and Faber research

Im researching F&F at the moment and trying to collect as much information as possible to try and make this easier on me as there is also another brief to complete at the same time. I have looked through what has to be done and what they previous work has been like through out the years on their website.
Looking through the film covers I really like the style in which some of the covers are in. Such as Saul Bass I love it because I really gives it that old feel and make the whole thing stand out.
Well thats one idea I have at the moment I will carry on my research and see were it leaves me.

Proposal for optional briefs

Module 1: Advertising Brief: PJ Smoothies
Module 2: Typography Brief: Faber and Faber

Module 1:PJ Smoothies

Outline your idea/conceptional approach in response to the chosen brief:
I want my poster campaign to really stand out and make people aware of th qualities that PJ Smoothies offer.
I have an idea of having a large scaled images of a bottle on a wall with images of peeling fruit coming down the walls and dropping into the bottle.
I want it to stand out and show people something new and exciting which will make them stop and look at it.
Also having some key facts about the product around the poster, not too many words as this wont take in what the product is.

What will be your comparative research-look at the competition:
There is a lot of competition out at the moment for smoothies and other similar drinks.
One because they are more better for you and two there is such a far rang of different types and offer you that choice.
Working at a superstore I have an advantage to see what is new on the shelves and what people go for, and smoothies are a big hit at the moment.
I know Tropicana are producing a new line of smoothies which will be big so there is defiantly a lot of competition there.
Also Innocent Smoothies are the top seller at the moment because they are well known for their exotic flavors and in your face design.
Even though I haven't seen an advert for this company on the T.V recently they are still as popular.
I will look further into this to see were PJ Smoothies stand and see what I have to do to promote the company to the fullest.

What audience are you designing for or trying to reach:
The targeted audience is between 16-25 year olds. Which shows these are the sort of people that are on the go all the time.
This is the sort of drink that people would go for if they had a wuick lunch break becuase its a healthy option and also because it offers so much in one drink which is part of your five a day.

Look at past/present campaigns for the company you will design/advertise for and comment on use of images and ideas:
On the website it shows stills of what adverts they have produced but I cant seem to find any youtube or any other website,

Possible Primary research:
Internet
Book
Consumers
E-mails



Module 2: Typography Brief: Faber and Faber
Outline your idea/conceptual approach in response to the chosen brief:
I have looked through the brief and I can tell thats its quite sophisticated and modern and the approach would have to be thought through.
I will use part history and incorporate typography into it, to make it interesting and exciting to look at.
I will use dark and neutral colours bu nothing to bright and in your face. Looking through the history of type as well the history of Faber and Faber I wnt to use old type to resemble the history of the company.


What will be your comparative research-look at the competition:
There are many companies such as this one, but I don't think they stand out as much as Faber and Faber, as its such a well n=known name through out the world.

What audience are you designing for or trying to reach?
The audience would be students who are learning about film and media industry and also experts in the field. So I think the targeted audience would be for people aged between 18-60. This is a large bracket but people between this gae if its a student or a professional with many years experience I think I have to think about each possible age to understand what this company is all about.

Faber and Faber

I have chosen the Faber and Faber brief because its all about typography. Im not too keen on typography so thought id give it a shot to see what I will come up with. This brief sounds interesting and will make a change to what i usually do.
I know that I want to make my won type as I think that will make a different edge to the film covers so lets see what I come up with......

Done its all done

Finished its all printed and out of the way. Really happy with what I have done and the way it has come out. Ive liked this project because I was able to work on something that I adore the most vector art and being able to produce just posters and not a 30 page book.
So glad that I got this one in time as well. I think I can look back at this now and know that I can hand a project in time if I just get my head down and do the work.
Christmas time im sure Paul has a new brief already and waiting for when we get back!

The ending to the book ( a little on what I done to get the book completed!)

When looking through the brief and having to decide what I had to do for it, it was a struggle. I wasnt sure what to do as it was such an open brief.
When Paul my tutor said that it had to be something that I liked or enjoyed I instantly thought of sweets I dont know why lol.
Then I got thinking and wanted my book to be interesting to read and to look at. When researching sweets there was a lot of information based on the old packaging and the timelines of all the English confectionery companies. So I decided to work on the old confectionery packaging starting from the 1900's to the 20th century.
I knew I had to get as much research as I could so I started to research well known companies such as Cadburys, Nestle, Mars, Fry's etc. There was a lot of information and I was able to email the companies to get information packs.
After having a chat with Paul He said to look at a person called Robert Opie. He owns a Museum of Old packaging in London. I hit the high when I found this bloke because it just gave me so much information about the topic I had chosen.
There were loads of images dating back from the 1900's to the 70's. The book was only tiny but was so useful to me.
After gaving some images I could start putting the layouts together. I knew that I wanted a clean look with contemporary feel to it.
Having made this book its made me feel like I have made another accomplishment.
This is just a snip it of what I done for the project.

Final prep work

Ok i have finally got my designs done finally and I now start to tweak them and get them printed out.
I really happy with the designs that I came up with knowing I only had a short amount of time to do it in.
I think these designs are the best that I have done this year.
Here I have put down the images of the final designs.

Oh ok

I started doing some artwork on the Mac with the drawing that I liked at the start but it wasnt looking right at all. So I started playing around with the images that I already had I liked the way it was coming out and this approach was far more better then my first idea.
I have been laying it out in the middle of that page because for some reason I like how it just catches the eye straight away. I still have to work on the colour scheme and would out what I will be doing for my other posters but Im getting there.

More drawings

I have drawn and drawn and come up with some more ideas as you can see here. I still like my first idea really because I think its a lot stronger. So I will now start to work it up on the Mac to see what it comes out like.

Drawings.....

Today I have been drawing mad with loads of ideas on what I want my posters to look like. Im going for the vector approach as I love this sort of design method. When I was looking through the catalogue I really liked the designs of the ski's that were shown at the back of the catalogue purely because the designs are vector based so I liked them straight away.
I want to incoropate that sort of style and also the image of the skii into my work.
As you can see I have made an image up of what looks like some sort of collage. Its got loads of different images to do with skiing in it. I really like this image because it works well with what I want to do.
But Im going to continue with more initial ideas to see what else I can come up with

The catalogues

Here are the images of the two catalogues that they produce I have used research from these two to see what sort of products they have to offer and I have also looked at the website to see what they offer as a company.
I have looked through other websites similar and have writen off to them so that I will recieve one of each catalouge.

Ellis Brigham research time!!!

I have been collecting countless bits of information about the company and what they do for their customers. The company is well known for their experienced staff knowledge and for their well branded clothing range.Its understandable looking through my research why they are thought so highly.
Their website is jammed packed full of information and about the events that they run. Everything that needs to be on a website is on this one.
Now I have collected all this research I now know what I want to do......

Ellis Brigham proposal

Here is my proposal for my Ellis Brigham brief:

Define your creative approach:
I have decided to work on the Ellis Brigham brief, purely because its the sort of brief that I would like to attempt.
My approach is to make a number of posters to promote the company. The posters will be vector based with striking pictures to catch the public eyes.

Identifying the unique qualities of the brand:
There are many qualities to this company as they have many shops all over the country and is a well branded company. They have many catalouges which are suitable for anyone who wants to go skiing or mountain climbing.
When it comes to this company there are five unique points:
- They are knowledgeable, knowing their company to a 't' and employing experienced staff who know what they are talking about.
- They are dependable, they carry a wide range of stock and would never be sold out of anything.
- They are open most days, they have a wide range catalogues and a wonderful website showing you everything from what they sell to weather reports of snow conditions etc.
- The team are enthusiastic. By reading my research I found out that they know their stuff and are their to help the customer in every way possible.
- The last point is their experience. This is a strong point to the company because this what makes tthe company so popular. Having a member of staff know so much information is a great selling point and makes the customer know exactly what they need for any adventure.

Comparative research:
I have looked at other brands that are similar to this one such as Blacks, Millets, Field and trek, Mountain Warehouse, Tiso, Aktive 8 etc.

Demographic profiles:
I have been able to get some research on the demographic of Ellis Brigham. I can see that most people ages between 35-49 are the most frequent buyers of the company. Also males are the most frequent then woman when it comes to buying items/products.

Specialist requirements:
The company logo

Sourcing of text and use of other images:
I will be using images from the catalogues as the quality will be to a high standard.

Copyright and other ethical matters:
I will keep a record of all images that I will be using and also any other material that I may use.

Finally the layouts

Finally! Had trouble loading this one up so had to get rid of some of the slides. So here you can some layouts of my book so far.
Very happy with the outcome!

the images

Going through Robert Opie's book I wanted to use some of images and here are just a few!

uh oh problems have occured

I have had a lot of problems while trying to export my files into the right format as my water mark on the pages isnt formatting right and making the whole book look rubbish.
So I had to re do the background and make sure that when i exported it to single pages that it matched up to each page propery!
After doing that it worked fine and I could send it off =) yay

Howard

I went and saw Howard and it went well its only going to cost £30 for 3 copies of my book. All i have to do is make sure I have put it in the right format and all is done!

uh oh its that time!

The printers................

Its that time. I need to think about what printer company I will be using. Aaron and Elliott have gone to Howard up in Wincheap so I think I will be taking my finished book up to him.

Next up is comparative research!

Books books books so much to look at!!

Here are just some images of what books I looked at to help me through my research stage of my project.
Going to research some more!


Just a small video once again showing you what comparative research I have looked at............

Starting with Robert Opie

Robert Opie was one of the key collectors. I chose to look at his book "Sweet Memories" because he has wide range of confectionery collectibles and just looking through the book I took in so much history.

Here is a snipit of what is in the book and some of the images I might use.


Here is a little video of me talking about Robert Opie and how brilliant his book and findings are.............. =)

beginning of the research!

Here are some images of the research that I have collected.
The first part of the video is images of Robert Opie's book "Sweet Memories", the second part is just some images of book layouts that were very useful. The third is just some images of the old sweet wrappers. I love this image! and finally the forth is an experimental piece of imagery. I thought it would look cool if I had a piece of the old packaging amongst some brown paper. But it doesnt look right so I wont be using this idea.

The handing in of the proposal!

Today I had to hand in my proposal for my advertising campaign.
So here it is just a brief show of what I'm going to do for it........

For the campaign I will be producing a book that shows old and new British sweet packaging. I wanted to go down this route because I wanted to see how it has changed over the years.
The chapters will be the years.

My creative approach will be to make the book looks clean and that its like to look at with a contemporary feel. The images will be placed on their own double page spread. They will have a little description on the top left hand corner of the left page just saying a little about the product.

1000 Extraordinary Objects produced by Taschen in 2006. This book caught my eye purely on the layout of the book because its approach I want to go for. The pages are quite minimal in such a way that its great to look at because its simple and easier to see. The pages had only one images per spread and thats what I want my book to look like. I also had on the left-hand side of the page, the artist of the image and a short description of what the image was about and who the artist is.
Also Badge Button by Gavin Lucas was great to look at because the book is so interesting also because of the images inside it. There was no text but I like the way the images were placed on the page.
Another book that i looked at was called Fashion Prints.
Sweet Memories by Robert Opie was also another book I looked at. It has loads of information about what I want to do for my book and I think this is the book thats going to help me during my process stage.

The structure of my book will work to a grid system so that everything will be straight and will be placed in the right order.
I will arrange the chapters so that when it comes to opening the book you can go directly to a page and you will be able to find the right image.
The copyright and the chapter will be at the front then the right at the back will be the index and also the credits so that is shows what images I have used and were abouts they are in my book.

My layout will be very simple. It will have credits, contents, contents and index page. Im going in the style of Taschen because I liked they way that pacific book was layed out.
My text will be Helvetica Neue Light. This type I love because its light and easy to read and look great on a white background.

While making this book I will make a little scaled version of my book so that I can keep track of what needs to be added and were about things need to be changed.

My book will be A5 with a perfect bound cover.

It will be approx 40 pages.

My book will be perfect bound. I wanted to go down this route because I think it makes a book look slick and also with only 40 pages it wont look right with a hard back cover on it.

I will make sure that I plan my time correctly by keeping a diary because I know there isnt a lot of time to fit the making of the book and also the production of it.
I will have a weekly breakdown of my project.
Week 4-5 Proposal and research
Week 6-7 Collecting of images, scaling them and then making them fit onto InDesign.
Week 7-8 Finish the book then off to the printers.

Making sure I credit other artists and books while making this book is crucial. So I will be placing my credits page at the back of the book.

I will be making sure that the quality of my images will be 100%. I will place them in a Photoshop and resize them to the right size so that the quality is right.