Paul Arden.

This was a quote that has stuck with me throughout this module. I used to be offended easily and think any criticism was meant personally. I find myself now in the search of people who would be willing to criticize my work, so that I can improve it. I decided that this quote meant alot to me that I would look into the origin a bit more and see if there are any others that would stand out to me. I did not realise that this originated from Paul Arden. I have extended this to three other quotes. I am thinking about getting these printed and selling them at crash records at my stall on Friday. 

Paul Arden ^^ 

This is going to be the front side of my design context print. The other side will be more layout based. I need to do some paper based designs for back, but I think I am going to select some of the letterforms I have picked out to use on the back and discuss 5 studios. Really simple and neat typography. It would be good to have this done by this evening so I can use drop in to get it printed and ready for the final crit tomorrow - no room for mistakes though. 

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After the Crit I realized that my layout had a similar style to IDN's. So I looked through the website and came across a typography issue. Cant believe I missed this one! I was wanting to order it but it cost £10 for the magazine and £15 for delivery so I will have to wait until I have a little more money to spare as there are a couple of other back Issues I would like to buy. I really like the 'scattered' feel to it, mixed with the use of grid for the type. The scattered image and gridded type means it still has a sense of structured design to it but with a unique feel. 

ANDREW BYROM. 

Reading through IDN magazine online, has lead me to find even more designers working with this innovative type context. I particularly like the 'yes' piece at the end of this post. I always find it refreshing to see type working off screen and paper and in the environment, I hope after uni I can find a studio that works in this way or I can develop my own practice to work in this way. It is good to see how the type is working in a commercial context such as the open signs. After all this is how I am going to make money. 

From Keetra. Lovely pieces of Illustrative type design. I picked out the phrase, 'invest in the fantastic' as one of my favourite pieces. To make the design appeal to be sellable, it needs to have an attractive phrase to go with it. This is something I really need to work on. My ampersand and cities print have been picked out for this reason, but I think I could knock out lots of these illustrative type postcards. I just feel they do not have much concept to them which is why i usually move away from doing something such as this. As part of my design context piece I picked out a key quote, 'do not seek praise, seek criticism.' I think this is such an important quote, especially within design. I am thinking about making this into a postcard or print. 

A quick interview with Rick Banks....

1. The converstation normally goes like this:

"What do you do for a living?"
Me : "I'm a designer"
"What do you design"
Me :  "Well, I'm a graphic designer so I design magazines, annual reports, posters, typefaces...that sort of thing"

*Still a look of confusion*

Me: "I do logos"
"Ahhh okay okay...so do you do you use Word?"


Officially, I say I specialise in branding with an emphasise on typography.

2. I think I always wanted to be a graphic designer when I was younger but I didn’t quite know it. Looking back in my life, I was always intrigued about the typographic side of design. For example, I remember nearly crying when I was a child because a sports shop had put the wrong font on the back of my football shirt!!

3. Work hard. Show passion. Learn how to set type properly. Have a website. Try and show different skills in your portfolio. Do not seek praise, seek criticism. Be Nice. Have energy. Aim beyond what you think you can achieve.

4. I targeted my portfolio to potential agencies. Went to London for a day and had several interviews. I cheekily rang up SEA Design and asked for an interview....luckily the senior designer at the time wasn't busy. Getting a good job in design is 50% work and 50% luck.

Final piece ideas?

Illusions.

I put these two images on for research as part of my perception brief. The one to the right is a logo, I have seen this style of illusions done quite often. I think I will experiment with doing this, but maybe trying with different styles of line - dotted lines, lines of shape. 

The one on the left I put on because it shows how you still recognize letterforms even though they are not all there. This was a topic I wrote down to focus in on as part of my perception brief, just looking at breaking down the letterforms to their absolute basics but still being legible. 

Bumper, Liverpool.

I successfully saved this receipt after going to this club in Liverpool. I don't often come across receipts that have branding on the top instead of just typing out the name of the venue. I found this one quite eye catching, the way the letters had been broken up with stripes. I googled to find the actual logo. You can kind of see on the second image in he left corner that they have utilized the stripes from the logo on the receipt in the window design. 

Thonik.

Another piece by Thonik. Trying to keep up with the topic of innovative type applications. I am liking the use of pattern as a grid to create a typeface. This reminds me of my Magic Brief, the way I use the grid to create letters. After looking at this brief I can see how I can improve my Magic pattern and type. I get the impression that this type is by water, which is why I think this works so well. The type is made up of a strict rigid grid but ends up looking like it has fluidity to it because the structure is not made up of straights lines, which reflects the motion of the water.

 Type design and a variety of other applications for an exhibition. I really like the mixture of sold shape and broken lines which have then been applied the the box to create a game to enhance the idea of play. The type seems really strong across all contexts. It is quite satisfying seeing it printed on al those exhibition hand outs too. This is really relevant to my exhibition brief, it just keeps giving me more ideas of what I could did and enhancing the possibility of me actually putting on an exhibition.

l'outsider

Not usually a fan of grafitti art, but these are considered typographic pieces of the work outside. I particularaly like the fourth one down, it seems more like work that has been designed digitally for another purpose and then applied to grafitti, rather than random spur of the moment grafitti work. I think that is why I like these pieces so much, they are intruiging because they seem alot more considered than most grafitti work, typographically wise. It seems a bit adventurous but I would really like to consider doing some work in an urban enviroment such as this.

Glasfurdandwalker

I am been finding myself drawn to typeface design that uses simple shape and colour. It has a youthful feel to this design. I love how the front of the business card is white and the back is coloured, this is quite unusual as it is often the other way around. Aestheic is important within in a business card I think as it draws the viewer in to see what it is all about, the only issue with this one is the spacing between heth and PR, I think it looks like it is all one word.

Moire.

I like how they have created a subtle link of sound by working with layers of the type to create a kind of vibrating/travelling effect. This works well with the plain backgrounds, and I think the injection of colour on certain pages helps keep it vibrant and interesting. This is a design for CD cover and booklet to go with it. This is a context I may also consider looking at, as it allows you to have quite a lot of freedom and focus on the aesthetic over concept. I think I am going to do this a one of the briefs for my FMP as well as the exhibition.

Identity for Rotwand Gallery. i thought this was relevant for my exhibition brief. Because I want to include branding of the exhibition. I like the small touches like they have created on the Lightbox matching the back of the letterhead pages. I was considering creating some light box graphics for my exhibition too, as I saw some as a setting on stage at a gig I went to a the weekend that looked really effective.