Update from Thank You card Live brief

Entries were judged on monday 21st of february and i'm happy to say that my Elvis inspired entry won! I received £50 in vouchers for Details art shop and a little thank you card from the judges at Create and Anna Shortland, who set the brief. Very happy :)

Came across this while looking through Pat Perrys blog, had to post it because this style of illustration influences my own, plus its a light hearted take on something serious. Pretty cool.

Go look at Pat Perrys work!
Go!

http://www.patperry.net/

Thank You Card - Live Brief

This is my post card design for a thank you card live brief we were given during assessment week. The winner of this brief receives £50 voucher for Details art store, which would come in handy to me. I decided to make mine quite funny and base it on the elvis 'thank you, thank you very much' quote. I found a picture of elvis on the internet and illustrated that with ink and acrylic paint. I then added in and edited the face from the original photography. The card would be postcard size. I really like the way the paint looks and i'm happy with the outcome of it.

Typographic Blogs

Thinking with type

http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/

I found this website very useful as it had several articles on the different attributes of type, some that i had never even considered.

http://www.thinkingwithtype.com/contents/letter/#Mixing_Typefaces

I found this article very helpful. It covers using different typefaces on one design, and how they can fit together and not necessarily be the same font. 

It also points out a few mistakes in designs which have been produced, like the one above. I wouldn't have even noticed the different in weight of the text on this sign, but once it has been pointed out, it is hard not to notice it!

Typeface drawing

Also from the previous link, there is an article showing an example of how a typeface is created.

I found this really interesting to see a hand drawn typeface, which has become an actual font design. It just shows that all fonts have to start somewhere.

I Love Typography

http://ilovetypography.com/

The ilovetypography blog was another site that i looked at which i found useful. Unlike FormFiftyFive, this blog mainly focuses on the understanding of typography in graphic design, and why it is relevant/how to use it. Not only this, it covers what fonts are currently relevant in the market, and how to make your own typography. As well as this, like FormFiftyFive, it also posts inspirational typography designs. 

http://ilovetypography.com/2010/01/21/my-favourite-fonts-of-2009/

I found this article very useful as it shows a varying list of fonts that one blogger found were his favourite. I think this would give anyone an idea of the current trends in the market of typography, and how it is evolving constantly.

http://ilovetypography.com/2007/10/06/arial-versus-helvetica/

I also found this article helpful and interesting. As i haven't really looked into fonts that much, reading about the differences between two similar fonts really pointed things out to me.

As you can see, even though 'helvetica' and 'arial' are quite similar fonts, there are some differences, pointed out by this blog, which i probably would have looked over myself.

I found this article useful, as i often struggle with choosing typefaces in my own designs. i think the most useful quotes i took from this article was to chose your font careful, don't abuse it and make sure you read it yourself, because you are the best judge of how a layout looks with the font you have chosen. You will know if it doesn't look right to you, it won't to the reader.

http://ilovetypography.com/2008/04/04/on-choosing-type/

50 Years Of Helvetica

50 Years of Helvetica is an exhibition about the typeface helvetica, and its influence on the past 50 years of Graphic design and culture.

Online galleries were made by designers from all different parts of the world, displaying 50 influential and memorable events from the past 50 years. Helvetica was used to display each of these events in a creative way.

This image caught my eye because of the simplicity of the design. Using only typography to illustrate the birth of an iconic man in music, and such a famous name, is a really brave idea. I also really like the style of this design, it reminds me of old movie theatres where the names of the films would be placed up outside on a board. This also fits the year of michael jackson and gives the design a vintage feel, even though it was created recently.

This design illustrates the life of Sam Cooke. I love the way this piece has been created, using only the helvetica font. I think the different tones of blue make this piece pop out at your, and it is really clever how they have matched out the features on his face by doing this.

I think this design is my favourite out of the helvetica gallery. I love the illustration style used and the simple use of colour. The helvetica font is subtle in this piece with the characters covering the '60' but i think that works really well, because after looking at the illustrations, you see what era they are meant to be from.

I love the embossed effect on this design. I think the use of clean typography and embossing works really well, and made this piece stand out for me. It almost reminds me of the imprint in some soap products, where it can be seen but only subtly. 

I love the cut out design used in the piece. I think the font works really well hand rendered, giving it a unique look, especially when cut out. I also love the simple character designs, it gives the design a childish feel, but also makes it look very modern.

Fontsmith and Daltonmag - Bespoke Typography

Fontsmith

Fontsmith is a London based type design studio, founded in 1999 by Jason Smith. The studio has a team dedicated to designing and developing high qualite as well as bespoke fonts.

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Fontsmith worked on the Channel 4 typography design, as shown above. I think this typography works really well as it is instantly recognisable and really creates a branding for the company. It is a very clean font which obviously works well for a tv company as it needs to be easily legible when seen by the public. 

Also, this is avery unique font as it mix's serif and san serif fonts together, which i don't think i have seen before.

The benefits of having typography made especially for a company are that is creates a unique look that no-one else has, while branding the company and making that font recognisable to that brand.

Daltonmag

Daltonmag is another Typographic Design Company which specializes in bespoke Typography. Looking through their client base, i didn't really recognise many of their work, however i did recognise the vodaphone typography.

Vodaphone has a very recognisable font, and similar to the Channel 4 font, it gives a branding to the company just by using bespoke typography. It is a very simple font, but looks really clean and works really well, especially the colours.

Typography Designers

Alex Trochut

This is an example of a typography design for Channel 4 by Alex Trochut. I love how makes the text look 3D, I think it is a very modern approach with the interlocking text, and the fact that he created his own typeface makes this piece even better. The way he has created the film roll makes it all seem very realistic, and is a very inspirational piece showing you what can be achieved with typography today.

Alan Kitching

This is a typography design by Alan Kitching. I really love the faded effect of the colours, that is what first caught my eye. It has a watercolour style effect on it, but almost looks like material, like faded jeans. The colours really stand out and the blue and orange go well together. The whole piece looks very messy which is a style i like to use a lot in my own work, so this design really appeals to me.

Mike Perry

Mike Perry uses a lot of hand drawn elements in his designs, as shown above in the alphabet he create. I think hand rendered typography has a unique look to it and it doesn't have to have perfect shape or use perfect illustrations for it to look good. It shows that not all typography has to be computer generated for it to look modern in graphic design.

Neville Brody

Looking through Neville Brody's work, this piece really caught my eye. I love how he has made up the face from different fonts and i think the gradient works really well, considering i usually don't like gradients. It is a very detailed piece and i think my favourite so far out of the typographers i have researched. It also helps that i like radiohead...

David Carson

In this design, i really like how the typography has been created. All the colours work really well together, especially on the yellow background, and i like the style of lettering that has been used. They almost look like fluid, which i think helps create the effect of the text spilling out of the box at the bottom of the poster.

Herb Lubalin

This design caught my eye firstly because i thought the whole idea of it was quite funny. It is a very clever design as the typography has been shaped so it looks messy and curly, just like a beard, so i think it works really well. Herb lubalin hasn't made it too obvious and complicated though, which i think helps the design.

Stephan Sagmeister

This is a very striking piece by Stefan Sagmeister, once i read that he actually carved the words into his own body, i had to put it in my list of typographers. It is certainly a unique way of using typography, and could be classed as hand rendered. Disturbing but interesting.

Si Scott

I have been a fan of Si Scott for a while, especially his typography work. While the lettering is fairly simple, the detail he puts in to the designs that flow through the letter is amazing, especially since he creates them by hand. Although i like a few of his designs, this one caught my eye because of how many elements are included.

Julene Harrison

I recently found Julene Harrisons work while doing my last project. I think the way she uses typography in all of her work looks amazing, especially since its hand cut. Each letter has something different added into it, making her typography really unique and quite elegant. 

Usugrow

Usugrow is a japanese calligraphy artist. I have been a huge fan of his work for a long time, and his style of typography has always caught my eye. It clearly has a japanese influence, especially in this piece shown above as the letters look a bit like japanese symbols. It is a really unique style, and shows a modern way of using calligraphy in an urban graffiti style.

My Top Ten Font's

Helvetica

Helvetica is one of my favourite fonts. I have used it several times in my projects both outside and in University, mainly because it looks timeless. It never ages and I think can be used for a range of designs and still look modern.

Geo-sans light
I really like this font for its simple line layout, and its very light appearance, hence the name. It has an almost elegant look to it, which I think would suit a lot of modern designs. Although I haven’t used it yet in my work, it is always I font I consider when creating something that needs typography.

Giorgio Sans

This font to me looks very up-market with its clean layout and design. I think it would fit great in a fashion-based layout, possibly a magazine or even as part of a fashion label logo. It is a very elegant font, as well as being slim and tall.

Memoriam
I only recently found this font, but the contrast of the thin lines with the thick strokes really caught my eye. To me it is both elegant and bold, which i think is a great contrast to have in a font, although I would find it hard to use with it having such a unique look to it.

Biographer

This font caught my eye because I thought it flowed very well throughout the type, and had a very fluid, elegant look to it. It almost has a slight gothic feel to it, which I personally like. It does however look quite old fashioned.

Rockwell

I came across this font when I first created a business card, as a friend suggested it to me. I thought it really suited a smaller case, and worked very well and I tend to use it on most business cards that I produce now. I think I like it because of the slim lines and how modern it looks.

Americana

  VTC nue tattoo script

I’ve always liked tattoo style calligraphy ever since watching Miami ink and LA ink. This is the closest font I have found that replicates Kat Von D’s style of calligraphy, and I really like it, considering I don’t like too many calligraphy fonts. It is a very old school style font, but I think thanks to tattoo’s become more and more popular, it does look quite modern now.

                           

                                  

  

                              

I have used this font in a few of my projects, most recently my Bistro project. It is a simple serif font but I think it works quite well and looks modern if used correctly. It is probably my favorite serif font I have come across as the spacing is pretty much spot on between the letters, so not much work has been needed on it most of the time I have used it.

Eurostile

This is a very modern looking font I think, although I only really like it in its normal state, as I think it looks quite high fashion and would suit a fashion ad or something along those lines. I think I have seen this font used quite a lot for headlines in books, which is probably why I recognize it.

Reboard

I first used this font in my final project of my national diploma course. I really like the look of the filled in letters and the striking appearance of the font overall. Some of the letters are a bit close together however, especially the ‘q’ and ‘r’, but overall I think this is one of my favourite fonts for how unique it looks.

    

Penguin Book Cover Project

This project was a live brief for Penguin Books. We were asked to design a cover for either James and the giant peach, or One hundred years of solitude. I decided to choose One hundred years of solitude, displayed above

What i enjoyed about the project

I enjoyed this project as it gave me a chance to explore illustration, which I am a huge fan of, so this project was extremely fun for me.

What i didn't enjoy about the project

I found the template a bit annoying to stick to for the book cover, but other than that I really enjoyed this project.

Problems i encountered

I found it hard to recreate a style that looked unique and modern, and I had to go through a lot of research before I found a style I wanted to create.

What went well

I think the cutting out of my design went far better than expected, and I was really happy with the outcome of it.

What didn't go well

Scanning my cut out into the computer proved a problem as it took me a long time to clean up both sides so that they were ready to be used. Also I had to finish my project in photoshop as when I put it into InDesign it became very pixelated.

New Skills acquired

Cutting out detailed illustrations was very new to me so I think I gained a bit of experience in that which I could use in future designs.

New Knowledge acquired

I gained knowledge of some new illustrators throughout my research/report, which gave me more inspiration to refer to for future ideas.

Time management

I think I managed my time well during this project, although I left the report quite late and wish I’d started it earlier, but got it finished in the end.

Bistro Project Review

Logo + sign set 

Stationery set

Coffee menu

This project was a live brief for newcastle college. The task was to design a logo for one of four restaurants on campus, as well as a stationery set and a menu example.

What i enjoyed about the project

I enjoyed this project as I have not tried to create many logos as I have always been a bit frightened of them. I think completing this project really boosted my confidence in logo design.

What i didn't enjoy about the project

I did find it really difficult to come up with ideas for this project at first, and I think the initial idea stage was a struggle.

Problems i encountered

As this was a live brief, and would be displayed to students, I found it really difficult to come up with an idea that I was happy with, and that would appeal to students.

What went well

I think once I had my bistro idea in my head, I developed that really well and I thought my final outcome was good.

What didn't go well

I think working on my chefs academy design too much left me with little time to work on my bistro design, which I thought I rushed slightly, although I was happy with the outcome.

New Skills acquired

I think I gained a lot more confidence in logo design and I will look to try as many ideas as I can, good or bad, in the future instead of trying to perfect one design straight away.

New Knowledge acquired

My research into more modern logo designs, even simple ones, really helped me and I will take this forward into future logo related projects.

Time management

I think I managed my time well and was overall happy with the outcome of my project. I would of liked to spend a bit more time on the menu designs however.