OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01- Poster Ideas

Ideas behind the sketches: 

• Bold bubble writing resonates with blow up pool inflatables
• Ice cream and ice lollies are an iconic symbol of summer and would make nice bright, visuals. (Is a bit obvious)
• Bikinis and swimming trunks have the potential to be made into bright visuals but might be a bit suggestive and not representative of the city beach being for people of all ages including babies, children, and toddlers.
• Showing city beach as a merging of city and beach elements such as tie to sunglasses and work shoes to flip-flops marries the idea of the beach and the city being together however again, this approach targets a more mature audience and doesn't celebrate the city beach as an all-inclusive event. 
• An actual poster of a city merged with a beach is an age and gender neutral approach and would be an appropriate response to the brief. The city part would feature iconic Leeds landmarks and the beach would be bright and colorful celebrating both Leeds and the event. 
• Replacing the T in 'City' with a sunbathing woman is a fun approach and in the bottom corner would be her work clothes. Again, this raises the age/gender neutral issue and doesn't really celebrate the event. 
• Using a different approach of an inflatable pool flamingo would appeal to all ages but doesn't really have much meaning behind it. It would however, make a bright and eye-catching poster. 
• Merging pool inflatables plus bubble writing creates a bright and fun approach to the poster.
• Having a woman in a rubber ring sitting on Leeds City center is a funny visual.
• Iconic Leeds landmarks as sandcastles on the beach. Visuals may be quite full/sandy colour.
• Merging a birds-eye view of a city and a beach together. 
• Visuals representing someone taking their work shoes off on the beach with their footprints walking off on the sand. 
• Equus the Horse Sculpture in Leeds Trinity transformed into the donkeys you'd typically find on British beaches. 
• A city pigeon meeting a flamingo - I like this idea as it is funny, gender and age neutral and subtly allows the beach to meet the city with the flamingo bringing tropical vibes.
• A man running from the office to the beach in his work attire with an inflatable unicorn around his waist. 

After reviewing my ideas and asking my peers which ones they thought were the best and had the potential to be developed further I narrowed it down to:

• Leeds City merged next to a beach
• Pool inflatables like blow up flamingo (maybe merged with blow up bubble writing)
• A variation of Flamingo and Pigeon idea

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Public Space - Marylou Faure

For the traditional print poster, I have chosen city beach in Millenium Square as my celebratory public space. One artist, I have been particularly inspired by for her use of bright colours, bold vector shapes and bubble writing is French Illustrator Marylou Faure. 

Her bold, digital style would transfer perfectly onto a traditionally printed poster and successfully capture the bubbly and diverse atmosphere that City Beach brings to the city center every summer. 

OUGD503 - Responsive - Collaborative Practice - ROH - Summary

Explain why you chose this brief, and how your view of the brand has changed since you began working on it. 

We chose this brief because we were inspired by Sergei Polunin in Hozier’s video ‘Take me to church’ which showed ballet as a modern, raw and empowering art form that wasn’t being properly represented or perceived by a younger audience who would be interested in watching these style of performances. We also were both interested in creating a campaign that would incorporate both of our skills of traditional print, illustration and typography and bring them together in a modern and contemporary format.

Since working on this brief our views of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera House, as well as our peer’s who we interviewed in a questionnaire, have changed significantly. From myself personally never seeing a ballet before or being interested in going to see one, I am now extremely open to it and have even booked a ticket to go and watch one in the near future. Although we knew before that the ballet wasn’t mainly for girls and full of tutus I was unaware of the vast amount of modern and contemporary ballets being produced and how current the art form actually was.

Please give a short description of your work and the thinking behind it.

From this new found appreciation of Ballet as a powerful and emotive art form our aim was to create a campaign that was modern, contemporary and engaging to people of our own age group up to 30. As our research progressed, we identified that there were a whole host of modern ballets that opposed the perception that ballet was ‘old fashioned, filled with tututs and musically dry’. This inspired us to focus on the contradicting elements that people wouldn’t usually associate with the Ballet, using words such as grit, power and raw as the focus of the campaign.

The illustration itself is inspired by videos such as Sergei Polunin, ‘Take me to church’ and the form of the ballet dancer’s muscles and bodies. The hashtag #onpointe we created has three different levels to it. The first is that on pointe (en pointe) is a traditional ballet hold referring to the art form itself. The second is that the definition of ‘on point’ means relevance, bringing ballet into the 21st century. The third meaning behind this hashtag is the modern phrase or slang people use commonly on social media to describe things they find up to scratch. This approach to the campaign re-appropriates the meaning of on pointe and makes the ballet seem more inviting and accessible to the desired target audience. The # also allowed for us to move the conversation of ballet onto social media platforms and spread the message that ballet is accessible and open to a younger audience. Through designing imagery using traditional methods and juxtaposing it with a modern custom made typeface inspired by festival and gig posters, we have preserved the sophistication of the ballet but revamped and modernised it for a new audience.

OUGD503 - Responsive - Penguin Book Cover - Children's Design

Brief

Design a book cover for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole which will bring this much - loved classic to a new generation of readers. Create a design that ensures this original and hilariously funny book remains a must-read for every child.

Research 

Books that the target audience read

For the research part of this brief, I first read the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole to gain a good understanding of the tone of the book and to get to grips with Adrian’s character.

I then looked into other books currently on the market that are aimed at the target demographic to see what looks effective and what is popular, as well as looking at the previous cover designs for the book.

By conducting this research I was able to start coming up with different designs that would engage the target audience.

Development 

I then made a list of key objects that were in the book that I could potentially base the cover on.

Initial Designs and Ideas

Development 

The idea I took forward kept the tone of the cover classic and iconic while giving it a more modern and rebellious twist. 

It was inspired by a series of diary entries where Adrian is painting over the Noddy wallpaper in his bedroom with a tin of black vinyl paint which he acquired from his friend. It did not turn out well. 

The notion of being embarrassed by your childhood bedroom wallpaper is a feeling that many of the books readers will be able to relate to, and resonates with all young people making the transition into adolescence.

Not only is it an iconic moment of the book, but it creates a visually engaging front cover, whilst simultaneously creating a sense of ambiguity for people who have not yet read the story.

Artistic Styles

I made a Pinterest Board which collated a range of artists whose work I felt wold be appropriate for a bold and eye-catching children's book cover designs. Here are just a few examples: 

Marie Assénat

Mariana Rio

Marco Oggian

Arata Kubota

The use of a limited colour palette and primary colours in many of these designs created simple, bright and eyecatching illustrations that would appeal to both a male and female demographic.

Solution 

The solution I went for offers a bold and iconic front cover that perfectly captures both the embarrassing and rebellious moments associated with being a teenager.

It is also different to the previous designs of the book’s front cover as it doesn’t make any visual references to the book being a diary.

The idea created a good opportunity to use mixed media in the design and explore a range of styles. As noddy is a well known character I had to be sure to redesign him in my own style to avoid plagiarism and to make the design appealing to teenagers, as noddy is predominantly a character aimed at children aged 2 - 6 yrs.

Visual Style 

In terms of style I wanted to step away from the computer and use a more hand-rendered approach featuring a range of textures and strokes that can only be achieved by drawing, sketching and experimenting. This technique would also make the book stand out against many of it’s competitors.

The drawings of Noddy themselves were inspired by the original vintage Enid Blyton books in which he first appeared. Varying the line widths and sizes of my brush strokes created a more modern and abstract version of the character, bringing the design up to date with current trends.

Hand rendered typography was also an important feature of the cover as I wanted to get across the rebellious emotion of painting over the wallpaper, as if Adrian had written it himself in a moment of exasperation.

A range of paintings, drawings and sketches were all combined in the final design of the cover. 

Development

When I was happy with the composition of the over I took it to a crit for feedback which provided some fresh new perspective. 

These are the questions I asked:

Q) Should I hand write the back cover and the blurb or use a font that looks handwritten?

A) Use a font that looks handwritten as 'you have a handwritten font on the front', 'It might end up looking messy if it was handwritten', 'The typeface you've used (a font) looks like  children's book, friendly and like a diary' 'This typeface is readable and fits in with the concept' 'handwritten type for body text can be problematic'. 

Q) Should I do a similar thing to the front with the scribble and have writing inside for the back or is the torn out page more appropriate?

A) Torn out page. 'Definitely more appropriate and more legible when reading the small text', 'torn out page but needs to create more of a contrast like the scribble on the front'. 'Looks like a torn out page of a diary'. 'Leave it as a torn out page because it breaks up the design and doesn't distract you from the cover. 'The page is better because it still links with the theme and makes the design more interesting.' 'I like that the front and back are different as it makes them effective in their own right' 'I think it works really well, stands out and grabs my attention'. 

Q) Any other suggestions?

A) Rather than a scribble add a few more ink splats to the back of the design' 'Add some doodles and spelling mistakes' 

I took the suggestions on board and came back with the design below. In a final crit there were yet more suggestions which I wrote on the mock up to edit. 

Final Design

I made it more textured to look like old wallpaper and made the Noddies lighter. I also added in a spelling mistake to the diary entry on the back. To look more like wallpaper I made the Noddy on the back the same size as the ones on the front.

The final design effectively ties in all the different elements of hand-rendered type, modern drawings with rough edges and energetic paint splats, conveying Adrian’s frustration.

I also tried to get across some of Adrian’s personality through him circling Tom Sharpe’s name as if he’s doing research on how to be an intellectual.

The design effectively communicates the tone of the book, aswell as Adrian’s personality and resonates as much with today’s audience as the book did when it was first released.

OUGD503 - Responsive - YCN BEAR - Evidence of Submission

Explain why you chose this brief, and how your view of the brand has changed since you began working on it.

I chose the BEAR brief as I wanted to take part in a project where I could showcase my illustrative style and incorporate a range of processes such as hand rendered type, print making, textures and illustrations. I felt that BEAR had never previously explored a series in this style of design before, usually featuring purely digitally rendered graphics. I also thought it would be fun and exciting to research a fact series, learning new and interesting facts along the way. The brief also gave me the opportunity to explore another process as well as making a set of cards for their ‘collectible mechanic’, in this case App design.

I am already a consumer of bear products such as the Yoyo’s and the Alphabites due to their health benefits so was automatically drawn to the brief anyway.    

Since I began working on this project I’ve come to realise that the brand packs a punch for young children and doesn’t treat kids like they’re timid, fragile or naïve. It encourages children to be brave, adventurous and creative and hopefully I have created a series that reflects this and encourages their inquisitive minds.

Please give a short description of your work and the thinking behind it.

The theme I chose for the series of cards is Bonkers Bodies, exploring all of the gross, cool and fascinating facts associated with the human body. Each card is illustrated by hand in a range of mixed media including paint, ink and charcoal and then digitally rendered to incorporate a mix of organic textures. The front of the card features a bright and bold illustration of the accompanying ‘discovery’ made by Bear on the back of the card. There are then a range of facts on that body part that the card is exploring. For the ‘collectable mechanic’, Bear has been shrunken down to a minuscule size and is on an Anatomy Adventure exploring all of our bonkers body parts. He needs your help to navigate his way around which can be done by downloading the Anatomy Adventures app and unlocking new levels with the bar codes found on the outside of each pack. Each barcode unlocks a level matching the bonkers body part of the card inside the pack which kids can then play along with at home.

My concept was inspired by various children’s television shows such as Arthur, Honey I shrunk the Kids and even cartoons I now watch as an adult such as Rick and Morty. I was also shocked by the sheer amount of unbelievable facts I found on the body when I began my research, allowing for the concept to be stretched across a large range of cards without any overlap or lack of ideas.

OUGD503 - Responsive - YCN BEAR - Collectable Mechanic

For the ‘collectable mechanic’ to accompany the cards would be the Anatomy adventures app for parents and guardians to download onto their tablets or phones or an online anatomy adventures game. 

I began by designing an online game but after consulting a focus group decided that as most children's parents have ipads, tablets or smart phones, an app would be more accessible to them, as children are more likely to borrow their parent's devices for an app than to log into a computer to play an online game. 

This is what the online game looked like:

However, an app would work better on many different levels. 

With every new pack there would be an accompanying barcode which can be scanned in on the app to unlock a new level which links to it’s accompanying card’s body part.

Although unconventional compared to what the previous Bear cards series have done before, kids will enjoy unlocking and collecting new levels on a virtual game and parents will appreciate having less clutter to tidy up after their children.

This approach is also more environmentally conscious as an app creates less of a carbon footprint than a poster series or book would, reducing the use of paper in production and waste once the series goes out of date and is replaced with a new trend.

The game can remain on the tablet or phone for as long as possible and with the potential for an unlimited number of levels it will keep children entertained for hours and ensure the Bear brand is kept in the forefront of their minds.

The style of the drawings in the app create consistency between the game and the cards as they feature the same style of hand rendered illustrations and textures. 

The levels I created to accompany my cards were: 

• Belly Button Bounce - A game similar to doodle jump where you tilt the device from side to side to make the bear character move to the stepping stones, in this case bellybuttons. Bear can collect fruit yoyos along the way for extra points. The aim of the game is to get as high a score as possible with the bellybuttons gradually moving further away. 

• Hair Maze - A game where you can help Bear to get out of the maze by dragging him with your finger. Every time you complete a maze a more complicated one appears on the screen as a new level.

• Dodge the socks - A game where you tilt the device from side to side to help bear get out the way of the falling sweaty socks. The longer you stay in the game without a sock touching Bear the higher the score. If a sock lands on you the score goes back to zero. 

All scores are recorded in the score-board on the home page. New levels can be accessed by scanning the bar code on the pack of Yoyo's you have bought. 

For the game I had to create Bear as a virtual character so did some research into ways this could be done. I created Bear in a series of stances to be used in various scenarios. 
Again, I found this challenging and ended up playing around with lots of different styles and illustrations in a range of programmes including illustrator and photoshop until I found something I liked the look of. 

I wasn't happy with any of the above so decided to use the same technique as all of my other illustrations in the series I drew him in pen and ink and scanned him into Photoshop to add colour:

I was way more happy with this result and thought he was simple enough to be used as he is in a range of different scenarios and due to the age range of the target audience it didn't matter that he didn't move and acted more like a static toy object.