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.