Overall I think this avenue looks a lot more professional and I'm very happy with how it has turned out.For detail, click to enlarge.
Sunday 28 February 2010
Ria Ritchie: Myspace Layout Development 02
With it being a Sunday I have again had chance to make progress with the Myspace layout imagery for Ria. Today I managed to redesign what I think may be a final background image. Having spoken to Ria again she expressed an interest in an off-white textured image which is what I have aimed to achieve here.
Overall I think this avenue looks a lot more professional and I'm very happy with how it has turned out.
For detail, click to enlarge.
Overall I think this avenue looks a lot more professional and I'm very happy with how it has turned out.For detail, click to enlarge.
Self Promotion 04
Having had a lovely Sunday lunch, I have again decided to revisit the notion of branding myself. It's something that I really want done, but the more I want it done the less I feel like I'm getting anywhere with it.
With this set of experiements I went for a more sophistcasted approach and used Bodoni, a typeface with some nice serifs. I first came across this in an article about Salavor Dali and how it was his favourite typeface, great minds think alike... or moustaches rather.
I definitely like the vibe this type conveys about me a lot more, I think sans-serif typefaces are a bit too contemporary in their appearance for my liking. All of these need more work however, but a step in the right direction it would seem!
Just need to clarify the legibilty of the letter-illision and ligatures. Quite like the broken 'a' on the bottom left experiment also; much, much better with a perpendicular serif also.
More to follow...
With this set of experiements I went for a more sophistcasted approach and used Bodoni, a typeface with some nice serifs. I first came across this in an article about Salavor Dali and how it was his favourite typeface, great minds think alike... or moustaches rather.
I definitely like the vibe this type conveys about me a lot more, I think sans-serif typefaces are a bit too contemporary in their appearance for my liking. All of these need more work however, but a step in the right direction it would seem!
Just need to clarify the legibilty of the letter-illision and ligatures. Quite like the broken 'a' on the bottom left experiment also; much, much better with a perpendicular serif also.
More to follow...
Saturday 27 February 2010
Self Promotion 03
Revisted this self promotion situation again today as it is something that has been niggling at me a great deal.. purely because I know I'm not happy with it and it feels unfinished.
This time I tried to experiment with rotating letters such as the 'e' and testing what would happen to the legibilty if the bottoms of the stems/bowls were removed.
To be honest, I am very unsatisfied again. It just isn't working, time for a new idea I think.
This time I tried to experiment with rotating letters such as the 'e' and testing what would happen to the legibilty if the bottoms of the stems/bowls were removed.
To be honest, I am very unsatisfied again. It just isn't working, time for a new idea I think.
Friday 26 February 2010
Ria Ritchie: Rebrand 02
Back to Ria's rebrand today and I think a final resolve has been agreed upon by both parties.
From previous attempts I was determined to make the double R work in such a way that it would deliver clarity and remain creative. This most recent effort in my opinion does both of those. In addition I have also decided to include Ria's full name below. The typeface selection for this in my mind was imperative. I wanted to convey a sense of class in conjunction with a modern, sophisicated edge. In the end, Ria and I both agreed that Century Gothic (top right) did this best although the full stop was perhaps unnecessary.
From here, all that remained to be decided was the final weight of the type. Ria and I again made a mutual agreement, this time the bottom left example was the one to hit the nail on the head in terms of aesthetics. Job done then.
From previous attempts I was determined to make the double R work in such a way that it would deliver clarity and remain creative. This most recent effort in my opinion does both of those. In addition I have also decided to include Ria's full name below. The typeface selection for this in my mind was imperative. I wanted to convey a sense of class in conjunction with a modern, sophisicated edge. In the end, Ria and I both agreed that Century Gothic (top right) did this best although the full stop was perhaps unnecessary.
From here, all that remained to be decided was the final weight of the type. Ria and I again made a mutual agreement, this time the bottom left example was the one to hit the nail on the head in terms of aesthetics. Job done then.
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Self Promotion 02
Today I spent a few hours trying to develop the intial ideas that I had for a brand identity. It's certainly more difficult doing this for yourself as opposed to a company or other individual.
I eventually used ITC Avant Garde as I feel it connotes me as a designer...ish. I'm not really hapy with the results at present but it's early days as yet and my 'branding' will no doubt change completely in the near future. That's the plan at least.
I eventually used ITC Avant Garde as I feel it connotes me as a designer...ish. I'm not really hapy with the results at present but it's early days as yet and my 'branding' will no doubt change completely in the near future. That's the plan at least.
Monday 22 February 2010
Ria Ritchie: Rebrand 01
Managed to spare a couple of hours today drafting up a few initial ideas for the Ria Ritchie rebrand. I wanted to make a point of using the two R's as it's not everyday you get a job where the client has the same initial for their christian name and surname.
Ironically however, out of the above selection I think the single R is working better at present. It delivers more clarity than the others. I will try and get closer to resolve by the end of the week... time permitting.
Ironically however, out of the above selection I think the single R is working better at present. It delivers more clarity than the others. I will try and get closer to resolve by the end of the week... time permitting.
Sunday 21 February 2010
Ria Ritchie: Myspace Layout Development 01
Today I began working on a new Myspace layout and rebrand package for a friend of mine from back home - Ria Ritchie. At present Ria is currently recording some new songs in the studio with Plan B and is in negotiation with Virgin Records so I hope that in doing this it will benefit us both; her web presence and promotion will look professional and in return I may get some coverage and recognition.
First off this is the image that I have been given to work with, credit to another friend of mine Ryan Mason for his photography. It will most likely be the main header image as opposed to the background.
Thus far I have only experimented with an inital idea for a background image which was intended to reflect the striped wallpaper within the photograph, the result as seen below.
In truth, I don't like it all and was very quick to dismiss it. The better part of me actually dismissed it as I was designing it, but either way it needed to be done in order for me to be able to progress with others ideas without hindrance -these of which will be explored within the near future.
To be continued.
First off this is the image that I have been given to work with, credit to another friend of mine Ryan Mason for his photography. It will most likely be the main header image as opposed to the background.
Thus far I have only experimented with an inital idea for a background image which was intended to reflect the striped wallpaper within the photograph, the result as seen below.
In truth, I don't like it all and was very quick to dismiss it. The better part of me actually dismissed it as I was designing it, but either way it needed to be done in order for me to be able to progress with others ideas without hindrance -these of which will be explored within the near future.To be continued.
Tuesday 16 February 2010
Saturday 13 February 2010
OUGD202: Self Evaluation
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
The skills that I have developed throughout this module naturally reflect on the application of software packages such After Effects & DVD Studio Pro; exploring what is achievable within them & how they can be used as a tool within my design practice. Most importantly in my opinion however was the investment of time spent preparing & organising a strategic approach that assisted in navigating the battle between what I would like to produce in the ideal world & what is realistically possible given my skills & the time available.
Of most significance to me was learning how to effectively apply the use of storyboarding in relation to key events that would transpose into key frames within the software. This in my opinion was an invaluable experience as it allowed me to filter my ideas down & produce a clarified direction that I believed to be realistic yet challenging.
Furthermore, one key aspect of this module was the preparation of imagery in relation to the screen based format & in this particular instance the 16:9 ratio. Choosing to work with Photoshop in conjunction to After Effects made this unquestionably important as the opportunity to scale assests up, not to mention maintain a balanced line weighting was often challenging & an aspect that needed re-visiting when preparation within the initial stages of storyboarding was not sufficient or thorough enough.
2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
Unlike most, this module (at least to an extent) for me was not dictated or governed by the software that I was introduced to & nor would I have wished it to have been given what I have achieved upon relfection. In this instance I found it beneficial to learn about the techniques that were available to me & to interpret how the opportunities provided by the software could be used as a tool within my design practice. Beyond this, I was very focussed on looking into how my approach to designing for a World War Two themed movie season could be enhanced in refence to my design practice as well as the screen based distribution received by the chosen target audience outlined within my rationale.
As a result I invested a substantial amount of time into researching, sourcing & selecting relevant materials & ephemera of the era that I could subsequently use within my collage based approach & further analyse in terms of design concepts such as colour, type, iconography etc & tone of voice.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
The main success for me personally was addressing my target audience directly through a use of genuine World War Two ephemera that allowed me to not only produce imagery contextually relevant, but also analyse how the media interacted the public in the period specific to my theme.
Furthermore, it was imperative to me that I was able to achieve a balance between working with paper based collage in context to digital design alongside hand rendered illustration & to not over power one aspect with the other.
I am particularly fond of my selection of type, although at times this was problematic. The alphabet I chose omitted the two letters L & Y, both of which I had to manually contruct & second guess from structures of similar letters.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
Time management for me in this module was nowhere near as maintained as it was in the previous module & in that respect I feel the DVD side of the module suffered. Most frustrating to me was the fact that I know how to produce what I would have liked to achieved, i.e an animated menu sequence with audio and looping sections etc. I just simply didn't allow myself enough time to see out what I wanted to complete.
As with last year, I firmly believe this was down the Christmas break & my reluctancy to get back into the swing of things again. To address this more fully I most certainly need to keep myself busy over the times spent outside of collage & this is something I am pro-actively working on as we speak over this forth coming reading week.
5. Identify 5 things that you will do differently and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Allow more time to explore & complete the final resolution instead of neglecting visual development for research.
2. Be more A LOT more selective in the materials that I source as scanning imagery is particularly time consuming. I have a terrible habit of over-collecting & preparing imagery whilst working with collage; it's a classic case of the 'just in case' syndrome and I end up not using half of what I thought I might.
3. Balance all aspects of the brief. Within the last module I gave more thought to the What is Good? aspect as opposed to the What is Print? booklet. This module I spent 99% of the time producing my idents and neglecting the DVD construction.
4. Work with vector based graphics. Elimating scalability issues is a substantial advantage that saves times & complications. Bitmap is nothing but a headache if you want to alter something after storyboarding.
5. Again be realistic with my blogging, or more appropriately keep on top of it. Posting a lot isn't always effective or necessary, but I do need to be more organised with this.
The skills that I have developed throughout this module naturally reflect on the application of software packages such After Effects & DVD Studio Pro; exploring what is achievable within them & how they can be used as a tool within my design practice. Most importantly in my opinion however was the investment of time spent preparing & organising a strategic approach that assisted in navigating the battle between what I would like to produce in the ideal world & what is realistically possible given my skills & the time available.
Of most significance to me was learning how to effectively apply the use of storyboarding in relation to key events that would transpose into key frames within the software. This in my opinion was an invaluable experience as it allowed me to filter my ideas down & produce a clarified direction that I believed to be realistic yet challenging.
Furthermore, one key aspect of this module was the preparation of imagery in relation to the screen based format & in this particular instance the 16:9 ratio. Choosing to work with Photoshop in conjunction to After Effects made this unquestionably important as the opportunity to scale assests up, not to mention maintain a balanced line weighting was often challenging & an aspect that needed re-visiting when preparation within the initial stages of storyboarding was not sufficient or thorough enough.
2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
Unlike most, this module (at least to an extent) for me was not dictated or governed by the software that I was introduced to & nor would I have wished it to have been given what I have achieved upon relfection. In this instance I found it beneficial to learn about the techniques that were available to me & to interpret how the opportunities provided by the software could be used as a tool within my design practice. Beyond this, I was very focussed on looking into how my approach to designing for a World War Two themed movie season could be enhanced in refence to my design practice as well as the screen based distribution received by the chosen target audience outlined within my rationale.
As a result I invested a substantial amount of time into researching, sourcing & selecting relevant materials & ephemera of the era that I could subsequently use within my collage based approach & further analyse in terms of design concepts such as colour, type, iconography etc & tone of voice.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
The main success for me personally was addressing my target audience directly through a use of genuine World War Two ephemera that allowed me to not only produce imagery contextually relevant, but also analyse how the media interacted the public in the period specific to my theme.
Furthermore, it was imperative to me that I was able to achieve a balance between working with paper based collage in context to digital design alongside hand rendered illustration & to not over power one aspect with the other.
I am particularly fond of my selection of type, although at times this was problematic. The alphabet I chose omitted the two letters L & Y, both of which I had to manually contruct & second guess from structures of similar letters.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?
Time management for me in this module was nowhere near as maintained as it was in the previous module & in that respect I feel the DVD side of the module suffered. Most frustrating to me was the fact that I know how to produce what I would have liked to achieved, i.e an animated menu sequence with audio and looping sections etc. I just simply didn't allow myself enough time to see out what I wanted to complete.
As with last year, I firmly believe this was down the Christmas break & my reluctancy to get back into the swing of things again. To address this more fully I most certainly need to keep myself busy over the times spent outside of collage & this is something I am pro-actively working on as we speak over this forth coming reading week.
5. Identify 5 things that you will do differently and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
1. Allow more time to explore & complete the final resolution instead of neglecting visual development for research.
2. Be more A LOT more selective in the materials that I source as scanning imagery is particularly time consuming. I have a terrible habit of over-collecting & preparing imagery whilst working with collage; it's a classic case of the 'just in case' syndrome and I end up not using half of what I thought I might.
3. Balance all aspects of the brief. Within the last module I gave more thought to the What is Good? aspect as opposed to the What is Print? booklet. This module I spent 99% of the time producing my idents and neglecting the DVD construction.
4. Work with vector based graphics. Elimating scalability issues is a substantial advantage that saves times & complications. Bitmap is nothing but a headache if you want to alter something after storyboarding.
5. Again be realistic with my blogging, or more appropriately keep on top of it. Posting a lot isn't always effective or necessary, but I do need to be more organised with this.
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