Boards Notes

2 ~ Typography Sketchbooks

Board 1 - Brief, Concept, Audience (large image of whole pack)

Brief ~
Create a series of typography sketchbooks allowing creatives to experience, learn about and engage with typeface design. Consider how to make the grids flexible, allowing the user to insert their own principles and style of design into their responses, but maintain some structure and guidance within the grids. Key to the development of the brief is the involvement of others, gathering responses to the grids and recoding the results, this will allow the grids to develop and evolve into flexible and functional forms.

Concept ~
The concept for each grid is based on the principles of different typographers and classifications of typefaces, creates a running narrative about the grids through the book. The grids allow the user to create typography that reflects their own practice and provides a basic structure for them to work from.

Point of Sale & Audience ~
The sketchbooks are aimed at creatives with a varied knowledge of typography, as the book explains the principles of typographers it allows the user to learn kinetically as the respond to each grid. They would be sold in creative environments such as art and design shops, galleries and other creative spaces.

Board 2 - Grids - (digital file & close ups of grids)

The colour scheme used through the project stems from the conventional forms of notebooks used in schools, such as graph paper, maths, English and other such notebooks. The colour aims to reinstate the educational factor of the project, as well as not overpowering the materials used to draw on the grids.

The white space created between the grids is more important than their physical form, as this is essentially what the user will respond to, similarly to the white space in the counters of letter forms defining their personality and legibility. The grids are more of a rough guide than a rigid structure, but again this is something that will be defined through the users individual use of the forms.

Board 3 ~ Sketchbooks (shot of range of sketchbooks & single unfolded books)

The sketchbooks offer a less educational format allowing to user to play with the grids and export the results into digital formats. The sketchbooks would be sold individually or part of a pack with the posters and book opening them a broader range of audiences and points of sale.

The choice of bind allows the user to exploit all the entirety of the grid and take out pages to scan in for further development. It also reduces the cost of the books, delivering the right aesthetic, meaning people won't feel to precious about them and consider more about what they put inside them than how they treat the sketchbook.

Board 4 ~ Publication (cover & spreads - 3 ~ 4 images)

The publication creates a space for people to scan and trace over the grids extending the products lifespan. It explains the concept behind each grid as well as the typographers and influences. It outlines basic principles of typography as you read through and discover each grid influencing the users process of typeface design. It also consists of a series of experimental grids that aren't in the sketchbooks giving users an incentive to purchase the whole package, instead of buying the individual sketchbooks.

Board 5 ~ Extending the brief

The brief will be extended through into next year reinforcing the engagement of others. It will become part of a workshop where different creatives spend half a day creating letter forms and the second half digitising the results to create a full alphabet showcasing what they have worked on

To continue this brief into FMP making it into an event, adding incentive and an end point. I am working on the proposal of a workshop with an old college tutor, introducing students to typography and explaining some of the basic principles, again putting the design into their hands and letting them decipher the results.

3 ~ Unit Bookshop

Board 1 ~ Printed branding deliverable's (Brief, concept and audience)

Brief ~
Produce an identity for a creative bookshop that aims to create a network promoting the integration of different creative practices. The books in the shop are focused around art, fashion, design and architecture, in turn defining its audience. The bookshop shouldn't feel to pretentious making it accessible to customers outside of the creative community.

Concept ~
The concept behind the identity surrounds the idea of an education circle with each pattern representing the different practices and how the integrate. There will be signage and a key outlining each practice. The patterns are stemmed from initial research into the patterns architects use when creating floor plans for houses to outline different materials.

Board 2 ~ More about the identity
The identity changes its form across mediums, expanding and becoming interactive through digital media representing the influence of the customers on the success of the shop. The receipts are stapled to bookmarks that are proposed to generate the patterns and shapes through programming to represent the subject matter and size of the customers purchase.

Board 3 ~ Example images (bookmarks etc)
The printed identity will link up with separate parts of others again connoting the idea of integration and expanding links between the creative subjects.

5 ~ Audio Visual

Board 1 ~ Shot of printed deliveribles (Brief, concept & audience)

Brief ~
This brief stemmed from a level 05 project completed during the image module, based on the basic principles of cymatics (the visual study of sound). The project explores the relationship between audio and image, using a range of digital and analogue tests to define the visuals created at the end.

It is just as much a collaborative exploration of processes as a audience led brief, given the content of the project the audience is self defined within those who have an existing interest in the subject. When extended over into FMP the project will engage a larger audience, using interactive experiments hosted at a local night in Leeds entitled Loco.

Board 2 ~ The experiments (photos and video stills)

The key part of this brief was recording the process that we underwent to create the visuals, this gave us a starting point and genuine understanding of the relationship between audio and visual. Again this was a collaborative process utilising individual skills, I mainly worked with an SLR while Dom focused on filming the results.

Analogue 1 ~ The paper was positioned at 90 degrees parallel to the speaker and kept there for the duration of each song. The results were digitised and re-worked to display the results from the test.

Analogue 2 ~  The paper was positioned at 180 degrees above the speaker around 15cm above and kept there for the duration of each song. The results were digitised and re-worked to display the results from the test.

Digital 1 ~ Each song was imported into Audacity (audio editing software) and the highest wave-point / sound in the song was heavily zoomed in and located. Vectors were created from the highest points each song and manipulated in Adobe Illustrator.

Digital 2 ~ The Mp3. file for each song was changed to a .raw file and imported into Adobe Photoshop. A number of options are available when importing which are documented through the posters and book.

Board 3 ~ Posters ~ Collaborative practice (posters)

The idea generation of the poster designs was completed collaboratively, making sure we both had at least some input into each part of the brief, even if this was simply running ideas via one another. We then separated into our own focus areas, I worked on the layout of the back while Dom worked on the visuals for the front, utilising each of our personal strengths.

The back of the posters integrate with one another at different points connoting the connection between audio and visual. They were kept in black and white because of the vibrant colours on the front to create a contrast between the informative side of the design and the visuals on the back. Each poster correlates to one of the tests, using the labeling for each song and test on the poster representing each experiment.

Brief 4 ~ Book design / posters layout (individual Role)

A collaboration on the format of the book was worked out before designing and integrated with the colour schemes and layout produced in the posters. We also worked out the relationship between the posters and book collaboratively using the books as a colour hi-lighting tool of the images on the back of the poster designs. The book layout also reflects the nature of sound-waves, with the images going up and down across the spreads, creating waves as the book is flicked through at pace.

The book documents the imagery and visuals created through the experiments, as well as explaining the project and each test in more detail. It uses a series of simple icons to represent each experiment based on the simple forms that were created for each test. The triangle for upwards splatters of paint, circle for above test 2, a line for the wave forms and a square for the file conversion from audio to pixel.

Board 4 ~ Extension of the Brief (Exhibition)

This is the exhibition space that we are proposing to work within as part of the Logo nights next year
The exhibition will feature live experiments allowing the invitees of the event to interact and engage with the project.

Giving the nature of the night and its experimental approach to music, it seemed like the perfect place to host the event. Also the organizers of the night are happy to get involved and we have been keeping an ongoing dialect with them. We will produce a pitch before the nights begin, working on signage and promotion for the venue.

6 ~ The Devil's in the Tittle


Board 1 ~ Publication / Posters (Brief, Concept)
Analyse typography as a practice and produce a piece of design that reestablish enthusiasm and interest and put typographic detailing back in its rightful place. It should be aimed at designers and/ or students, and also those people who are visually aware and enjoy beautiful typography.
 
Concept ~
As a response to the brief I created a publication exploring the loss of attention to detail in typography. It focuses on my dissertation topic of the effect of the computer on typography and uses Johnston sans as a case study explaining the choices he made through his design process.

Board 2 ~ Spreads and content
The layout explores communicating the common messages of the underground through layout and typography, as well as comparing the identity of the underground before and after the typeface was introduced in 1916. It also hi-lights key details in the typefaces form that make it so unique embodying the message of attention to detail in typography, examples include the diamond tittle and upturned boot on the l and the counter space in the lower case o.

Board 3 ~