OUGD403 : Prep for Studio Brief 04: Poster Design

OUGD403 - Studio Brief 04: Message & Delivery - Research

Friday 31st October

Today we had the final critical for studio brief 03.

Initially, I wanted to present it like a webpage on twitter but I found it difficult to present this due to only having 140 characters to work with, I found it wasn't sufficient enough to present my information without it breaking up. I then attempted it as a powerpoint presentation, however I didn't feel this suited my work best so therefore I created a book which discussed the Queens Tweet as well as cyber bullying as an issue.

 I created a logo-like design on my front page, which combined both the Queen's crown and the twitter icon, to make it visually appealing. I wanted my magazine/leaflet to look sophisticated and keep the same format throughout.

I found the article in The Sun and The Daily Mail. The Sun's headline stated "CORONATION TWEET". She sent her first tweet through the @Britshmonarchy account - heralding the launch of a major new exhibition at London's science museum. Reported by BBC News online.

My first two pages just spoke about the Queens speech itself.

BBC News just stated that the tweet was sent and why however the Daily Mail and The Sun stated the backlash after the tweet was sent. However there was also a flood of support, follower account for @Britishmonarchy account rose from 722,000 to 731,000 and her message was retweeted 18,000 times in 5 hours.

I used this particular news coverage as a starting point to the real issue I wanted to talk about. Although my initial research quite clearly shows the modern day breakthrough into technology the underlying issue in all the coverage is in fact cyber bullying. I then created a double page spread to cover this.

I therefore looked at various articles about cyber bullying online such as on the mirror.co.uk, nytimes.com, the journal and western daily press.

In my opinion cyber bullying is cowardly and wrong, and can cause a great deal of harm which is shown through suicides and self harm. People do it as it is a lot more likely to be done over social media rather than face to face as it is a lot more easier for them. It is not entirely ethical in our society today to restrict someones happiness, thus freedom which is a reflection of society's morals. The more socially acceptable it becomes to voice these unwanted opinions, the more likely our society will conform to the norm and will therefore not only effect our morals but our freedom too.

I then looked into articles about the likelihood of legislation. I created another page about this.

I believe that bringing in a form of discipline to the misuse of social networking will help prevent suicides but also return our society to a sustained state. Journal online stated that internet trolls who engage in sinister forms should be hit with harsher penalties. The Guardian March 2014 also stated that cyber bullies could face 2 years in prison.

Finally I concluded my article on the last page.

OUGD404 - Basic Colour Theory

Tuesday 28th October

Today we brought in 5 different objects, in the colour we were given last week. I was given red. We then ordered each object from light to dark.

Next we ordered the colours into warm colours.

And then into cold colours.

We then swapped over onto another table with a different colour and created a continuous gradient.

We then did this with our own objects.

Lastly, we matched a few colours up with the Pantone booklets.

OUGD403 - Studio Brief 03 - Interim Crit

After undertaking research into a topic that interested me I presented it to a group who gave me feedback as I picked the story on the Queen taking her first tweet I realised that the story involved internet trolls and there has also been various news coverage on similar issues. I have made the decision to stick with this story and develop on it by looking at these other stories. This will help to create more varied and broader research for the deadline. I also realised that I needed to take into consideration how I am going to present my work.

OUGD403 - Presenting Research

Monday 27th October

This afternoon as a group we presented our ideas to another group. Collectively everyone agreed on our best design however mentioned the critiques to it also. One negative was that it almost looked like a memorial so we decided to alter it a little in order to eliminate this. We did this by taking the image and expanding it onto both pages.

OUGD403 - Study Task 3: Newspaper Layout

Newspaper Layout 

Task: 

Within your group research your provided story and make design decisions informed by the impact, the tone of voice, the word count, etc. Plan the layout, composition, colour, typography, etc. Research into opinions and facts will help inform your design decisions and direction you take with this task. There are no limitations on how you produce this, but you should aim to start the process hand rendered,

We were split into groups and within our groups we researched our provided story of "Micheal Shumacker makes progress" and make design decisions informed by the impact, the tone of voice, the word count, etc.

We planned the layout, composition, colour, typography, etc.

We further researched into opinions and facts that helped us inform our design decisions. We started the process hand rendered by producing a grid then created various ideas onto in design changing the layout, colour, type etc.

As a group we decided to go for a font that was easily legible and a font that represented the word "Process" We altered the colour slightly to match/flow into the picture.

OUGD403 - Studio Brief 3:Message and Delivery Research

Task: Create a body of visual research in response to a story, issue or theme found in the national press tomorrow, Saturday 25th October 

On Friday 24th October, we were given Studio Brief 3. The brief involved us buying newspapers on Saturday 25th October and filtering out one story we liked the most, and looking at the same stories across various sources. This enabled me to observe trends and differences in different press. The deliverables were deadlined for 31st October which includes a body of research as throughly and varied as possible presented effectively.

Naturally every Saturday morning there are a few papers and magazines to read with our breakfast, however I took a trip  to the shop and bought one we didn't have. A few stories caught my eye especially one mentioning the Queens first tweet which I came across in Saturdays issue of The Daily Mail, a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper. 

I then immediately looked at this story online to see if it had varied. I looked at BBC news, and instantly I could see the change in layout and tone of voice however the picture used was the same, I slowly lost interest in this article. I therefore took a trip down to the local newspaper and bought a copy of The Sun, also a daily tabloid newspaper however it is published both in the UK and Ireland. 

The front page I found hilarious, as it had a unflattering picture of Simon Cowell stating "I'M ALLERGIC TO COWELL", I instantly noticed the tongue and cheek manner the article used after finding it again on pages 4 & 5. I quickly scanned a few pages and then found the story about the queen again, however this article interested me a lot more as it was a completely different take on what I had initially read online on BBC News, as it only stated about the Queen making her first tweet to launch the science museum gallery, however the articles in both The Daily Mail and The Sun both stated the backlash after the tweet, where the Queen bombarded various abusive messages on twitter. As this was a different approach on the story, I instantly found it alot more interesting.

OUGD404 - Task 3

Tuesday 21st October

Today we were asked to bring in various pieces of cardboard. We were then split into groups and given the task to create a letter form at a certain viewpoint, similar to that shown on the channel 4 adverts.

Channel 4 Advert

We then collectively as a group chose a certain letterform. We went with the K from

Braggadocio as we felt it would be relatively easy to recreate. We then measured it and started to carve out the various shapes needed out of cardboard.

Next we created a viewpoint using another cardboard box. This would act as a visual aid in order to view the letter correctly as it alined. 

After creating the viewpoint we started to hang the shapes at various angles and distances. Although this took a lot of time, patience and slight modification eventually we created the letterform.

OUGD404 - Task 1

Tuesday 14th October, 2014

Today we brought 3 different fonts with different distinct characteristics into the studio. We then picked our favourite letter out of our favourite font and produced a wanted poster stating what our font was about and what we were looking for in a font. We then posted them up onto the wall and picked another wanted poster which we thought matched our requests. After finding who picked out our original posters we then created a font which borrowed characteristics from each letterform.

OUGD404 - Task 2

Tuesday 14th October, 2014

We were given a word in a certain font and we were asked to create/cut out a shape that represented that particular word.

OUGD403 - Studio Brief 01

Visual Thinking - Alphabet Soup

Studio Brief: Produce a set, series or sequence of ten letterforms, which explore and communicate your interpretation of the word that you have selected from the randomiser. You should use the typeface you selected from Vignellis six basic typefaces within Study Task 1 as a starting point for your manipulations.

Using your newfound appreciation of the anatomy of typographic forms and the wealth of research that you have already gathered, focus on the manipulation of existing letterforms in order to solve this problem.

My word:

2. 
   

My starter font: 

Helvetica 

I started by creating a mind-map to help brain storm ideologies of danger. I then printed out letters such as uppercase A and B and lowercase c and b and traced them to create their outlines. I then manipulated each letter individually to create a sense of danger referring back to my mind map. I also thought about various dangerous objects such as knives, fences, cliffs, broken glass, rocks etc and created letterforms based on these ideas. After producing roughly 20 different letterforms I then decided which ones I thought worked best and presented 10 letterforms into an A4 sketchpad. Each letter form was presented on their own page giving the letterform room to "breathe" as well as being easily legible. I also annotated each letter and sketched the objects/ideas that they were based upon. 

OUGD403 - Study Task 1

What's My Type? Task: use the following questions as a starting point to your investigations: When are you happiest? What is your greatest fear? What is your happiest memory? What was your most embarrassing memory? What makes you unhappy? What did you want to be when you were growing up? What is your guiltiest pleasure? What is your favourite hobby? Where is your favourite place? Research Massimo Vignellis 6 basic typefaces. Identify, which typeface best suits your personality. Produce a 3minute presentation on your personality and why the specific typeface is most appropriate. I produced a digital presentation and spoke to my group for roughly 3 minutes about the questions. I was sat on a field with my friends when I was younger and a group of hot boys walked past and waved over and I stood up and waved back, little did i know they weren't waving at me at all. I sat back down and went bright red and put my head in my hands. A singer/songwriter. Taylor swift moment?