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I tried to replicate my self branding design template within my ppp presentation. To get one recurring style. I shall mainly be focusing on the evolution of my practice and my ambitions/ how my year went and how I would like to improve. I am finding it difficult to find methods of visually engaging the audience with my blog, I do not want it just be an overload of text, however due to late submission I had to change my content to be more descriptive as I will not be present to verbally communicate my presentation. Which I feel may hinder my grade for the presentation. Above is an example of how the style of my presentation shall go and how I shall visually engage my audience.  

ANORAK MAGAZINE PRESENTATION

The Anorak Press is an independent kids publishing house established in 2006 by Cathy Olmedillas, formerly of 90s lifestyle bibles The Face and Sleazenation. It publishes Anorak Magazine and DOT four times a year.  Both titles are unisex and sold all around the world in kids boutiques, museum shops and newsagents.

I attended the Anorak presentation, presented by the director of the magazine. It was an inspiring presentation, as I learnt she pretty much does everything the way she wants to do it. She has creative control and she said she based her releases not on focus groups, or market research but on her gut feeling. If she feels positive on a design idea she sticks with it. Which is something very rare you see in todays world of business particularly in editorial design. 




Am I a particular fan of the design? No, but I think it suits and fits the target market well particular in the niche sector, as majority of kids publications are to do with other material. This focus' more on philosophy of the child etc. The presentation was more satisfying to me due to her story on how she got to where she is now. She believed in her idea, she spent her savings on that idea, and never let anyone change her creativity to suit the market she was going into, and by doing so she has now published 39 magazines and is a steadily growing in popularity.  

WHY AM I HERE? WHAT DO I WANT TO LEARN?

Identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this course

I chose this course because I want to strengthen my skills as a designer to one day perhaps own my own studio, or be a creative director. I understand this will take practice and experience in a professional environment before I can attain any of this. I think its important to look at the bigger picture and to aim big, if I did not do that I probably would not have done this course. I believe my imagination is a massive part to play and although my skills do not match my imagination I am looking to improve on this, because once I know how to use the tools a lot better my work will speak for itself.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the course

I want to learn all tools of design during my time here. I want to strengthen my skills in illustrator as I am new to the system. A long with taking advantage of all the tech available here in the printing room. Learning to print on new materials, use the vinyl cutter etc. after that print induction I realised the scope and potential for new and existing design ideas and practices. I also want to learn a bit more about business in the design world. After leaving it behind at a-level I do miss the subject as I believed it to be very useful in the real world. Something that can be applied to real life situations unlike the application of lets say trigonometry. So ow after leaving leeds can I make profit and a wealthy living for myself. Knowing about the corporate ins and outs of the design world will help me get there.

Identify and explain 5 things that you think are your strengths

Keep it short. Imagination, business minded, sensible, confident. Cannot think of a fifth. 

Identify and explain 5 things you would like to improve

I think this is the same as 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the course surely? Learning is improving.

Identify and explain 5 things that inspire you

Leif Podhajsky my favourite designer, I think his style is so out of the box. The one designer i think i could possibly relate to. You could say his designs are 'trippy' but define trippy? I hate the word because it takes away from the piece gives it a gimmick vibe. When it isn't i think it is good for the work to be a label of this because it evokes a different reaction visually. The level and amount he has accomplished as also provided much inspiration. Nature is a big part of my inspiration, I like using it as a basis for my work because of its beauty. Its already a design piece in itself. Paul Smith... do I think his style is revolutionary? No. Do I admire and appreciate the scope and level he has created with a simple Bridget Rileyesque brand identity? Yes. He has managed to create a well recognised brand image which can be repackaged and designed on a number of products. 

Identify 5 examples of design that demonstrate your fields of creative interest

Album cover art is a massive themed purpose I believe my work could be used for. I believe it has the perfect balance of both type and design, one in which they both work in motion and fluidity with each other. Similarly to a magazine or book cover. Product generation, something that always comes to mind when I am designing a piece, is can it be reproduced onto something else? Can the design be used to be published on a number of things and work as something stronger than just a design more like a symbol. Any form of being able to advertise the design to give it a purpose. I enjoy when theres a purpose to my designs, it gives it more depth. 

STUDIO DUMBAR - GETTING TO KNOW PEOPLE

• dutch graphic design agency 
• outposts in China, Korea
• founded by Gert Dumbar (1977)
• visual branding, online branding 
• designed identity for National Rail

"our style is, that we don't have one"

• won the European Design awards 
• successful - 3rd most awarded design outfit 
• worked with - Apple, Nike, TNT

UNIQUE:

• distortion with typography 
• abstract
• digital
• durable designs 
• first company from Netherlands to go international 
• international agency w/ Dutch heritage

- focusing his design efforts on drawing public attention to non profit-making organisations

- 1/3 of work unpaid... passion 
- controversial painted trains bright yellow                                   

Dumbar's ethos is more passion for design and providing a genuine use for a design rather than to promote big companies.

THE WHITNEY EXHIBIT

The Whitney exhibit’s rebrand is effective as it reflects the company even though it is simplistic. The minimalism and simplicity creates a sleek design and you can transfer the logo effectively onto signage and outer design elements effectively. Just one of the inspirations was a specific piece of work by Ad Reinhardt in a comic strip from the 1940’s, a wonderful ‘typology of lines’. However the design was influenced by so many different ideas it gives it so much depth and meaning. The new logo also reflects the modernism of the new building. The white space gives examples of the gallery’s work more impact and makes it more striking. It’s simplistic but has so much reasoning and justification through the context which ads more significance and purpose to the design. The simple logo can be incorporated into direction signage and other graphic design and it is a flexible platform for different texts.

EXPERIMENTATION WITH MARBLE INK

Here is some experimentation with marble ink. I enjoy using marble ink as it can create such a crazy array of colour and pattern. Expensive to experiment with so its difficult to get much practice with it. I find it to be very touch and go as you print it off using water and shape it in water so its hard to control the direction of the ink but colour selection is vital, this is where the colour theory lectures really aid the design process as you want the correct colours that are complimentary to the design direction. 

Here I worked with green mainly infused with red and blue and white however it was important use measure the level of these colours that I should use because I did not want it to over shadow the overall colour scheme, I think its important to have one underlining colour (background) in this piece so I went with green stock, and I like the results.

Here is another which is far lighter in colour scheme... 

This is probably my favourite out of all of the following experimentations, I think the baby blue, pink and yellow compliment each other massively, to create a page that is effortlessly simplistic in its approach but incredibly detailed if you analyse in depth. 

The last two designs were left last purposely as I believe I did not achieve the correct colour scheme of course it is very much touch and go but you have a certain degree of control and say in the design, overall I wasn't happy with the colour schemes. The orange and yellow is just too sore on the eyes, the blending was all off. As for the last one I actually really liked the design whilst curating however I foolishly decided to flick some purple dashes onto the page, I thought at the time would blend well with the overall inking however it did not work.

I enjoy this type of design process, it may be touch and go however it is practice and the more experimentations I undergo the better the results are, I am not done with marble ink yet I think I still need to explore the medium a bit more.

THENEWRAFAEL STUDY

http://makeagif.com/i/gpeiRv

THENEWRAFAEL is a perfect example of a style I would like to experiment with in terms of gif design. As I am a beginner in designing animation and do not really have much knowledge in the subject, I think working with basic shape and pattern and simply alternating the colour scheme, that could potentially add a mood to my designs. And it is not too complicated to create. 

Simply moving shape with different gradient textures, you would be surprised how simple yet effective the concept is. It somehow evokes a reaction/mood through watching. I like gifs as it brings life to your designs.

Simplicity is key sometimes and perhaps gifs do not need to be complicated thorough design but just simply relying on your creativity can create an effective final outcome. Above is a design I admire most of rafael again with the tonal gradients layered on top of each other, placed broken mirrors below to reflect the light back. Simple to create but still amazing in my perspective. I would imagine being in this room would create a mood through his designs. 

CREATING A GIF

I have been wanting to create a gif for a while, I have not yet made a piece specifically for one, but I've used a design of mine, simply changing colour scheme to different high saturation levels. It is my first gif creation and I'm looking into making motion gifs next. This is the design I used to create my gif, I simply created around 10 different versions just with different colour schemes and then sped up the switch in image change. It's a start, do I like it? Personally no. The image of this in my head was much better than the actual final outcome.

  

DESIGN EXPERIMENTATION 1

A photo taken in Canada, I have been looking forward to experimenting with this image, as I find there are a lot of possible design outcomes, with a range of styles.

I found these two designs two dark, I was trying to experiment with the same design to get different outcomes and this is to stark and negative for the specific design.

This is me trying to express a high saturated loud expressive design, with a fuzzy tv effect in place, I think its theres too much going on in this design which detracts from the overall aesthetic.

This was the final design concept, I much prefer this design as it is the mood I was going for somber lonely but with a certain warmth applied to it. I want to experiment further with this design perhaps working with GIF. If I had the skills to do so I wanted to have the mysterious man walk along the water and simply sit down on the rock. A simple idea but I feel with the colour and ocean flowing it can be very effective. I might go on the student collaborations profile on Facebook and see if I can find an animator to assist me. 

CANADA

Last year I went travelling for a few months in Canada/America. The environment and contextual features I obtained through taking pictures really aided a lot of my design processes. I spent a lot of time experimenting with materials and textures in my pictures. A long with obviously taking many scenic photos that America is famous for.  

The abandoned lady is a personal favourite of mine, artistically theres a lot of themes and motifs here that transpire a lot of emotion if changed into an actual design. 

SAUL BASS - ANATOMY OF A POSTER

http://illusion.scene360.com/design/49712/saul-bass-anatomy-of-a-poster/

ANATOMY OF A MURDER

Quintessential Bass: this lone symbol superbly synthesized is arguably his best. There’s no misreading the broken figure, the cocked head, even before you catch the title. The work is so spare, you might see any number of influences within it. You might see Picasso in the chunky forms, or the line of Matisse. This Bass classic is so influential that it was blatantly lifted for the original poster for Spike Lee’s “Clockers” (1995). Designer Art Simms claimed, “It’s a salute rather than a rip-off.” Bass didn’t believe it for one second: “The convention is when anyone steals something, they call it an homage.” ^[1]

'Saul Bass changed everything when he designed the poster for “The Man With the Golden Arm.” In 1955, so many film posters read like a paperback cover or a magazine ad. Plenty of those designs conveyed all the refinement of a ransom note collage.'

Bass threw out the whole history of one-sheet design. His approach centered on symbolizing a movie, boiling it down into a basic, essential representation. His work turned the film poster and title logo from bad commercial design into the realm of visual substance. A framed print of “Rebel Without a Cause” is memorabilia; “The Man With the Golden Arm” is a piece of Art.

I really like Saul Bass' style, it is unique like no other and polarising at the time of its design. It's simplicity is key and you can say that about a lot of design but it could not be more apparent and related than to this mans work. It is effortless in its depiction yet mesmerizing. I myself am not a particular fan of the typography used in his work however it relates and suits his designs. Theres a lot of inspiration I have gained from studying him as a designer and although I have not experimented

 with his style yet I look forward to doing so, in my own unique style. 

THIS STYLE IS VERY RELATABLE TO 'CATCH ME IF YOU CAN' INTRO... 

LOGICAL MAGAZINE

A competition I entered, to create the front cover for 'Logical Magazine' I tried to look at space, I personally find space absolutely amazing from a design perspective, I love the animation films create of space in Sci-fi films, such an array of colour and pattern but in such a restricted way, theres really nothing like it. In this design I took black holes and space travel into perspective, using a vortex like design, with the image of a galaxy in the background. I looked for many different colour schemes, I found it difficult to choose one for my final outcome.  

Here is a final layout version of my design, I realised after submitting this that I did not like this version of my design as it was too cold as a design, I prefer the much warmer tonal colours used in previous designs above. 

GIF RESEARCH

Below are gifs found on google images just looking gaining ideas, I still do not know the method these designers used to create their gifs, I like the way they have used a basic shape and changed the form of these shapes to form a continuos form in harmony.  
















Miron is quite a different designer. I do not like him as an artist, I think his pieces are far too psychedelic for me, I agree with loud colours and high contrasting designs for gifs however I think he provides too much of this in his work. The one above is an exception, appears to have an amazonian essence, I like the pattern and movement he creates in this design. I do like the following:

I do not know the artist of the above design, but it probably my favourite so far. I like the idea of creating many designs all of the same design so when put together they match each other and are instantly recognisable as a brand of gifs.