Pick Me Up Exbitition

The Pick Me Up Exhibition was an contemporary graphic art fair experience run at Somerset House from 22 March - 1 April 2012. I found this event very insightful, discovering such a large variety of graphic art that I had never come across before and I found it exciting to see in real life some of the artists that I had heard of and researched previously. Some of the artist which were related to the illustration brief that I chose were Chris Dent, David Sparshatt and Zelbot. The artist gave us an insight into how to create pieces similar to there own which will help in my final outcomes and there will definitely be hints of there work in mine where i have tried to incorporate all the i have learned from this art fair as possible.

Postage Stamp Analysis

These are postage stamps from Manchester and are worth one penny which in the time period would have been the average amount spent on a single postage stamp in England. They have been very well preserved seeing as they are so dated, they have only suffered minor discolouration to the powerful and vivid red base colour. The design with stamp is similar to modern money in which their is a portrait of a person; most likely part of the royal family which can be assumed from the crown at the top of the stamp  and arches on either side with the lion underneath signifying England.

In depth analysis of paper made creation by Peter Callesen

This is Peter Callesen's paper art piece called 'A Distant Wish', my first reaction to the piece was that I liked how delicate and intricate it looked also the way it is almost a pop up of the paper showing a transition from 2D to 3D. The part that drawsmy attention the most is the bird figure especially the wings which are extremely detailed even detailing the ridges and feathers in he wings would be which fit perfectly proportionate to the body of the hummingbird. I feel like this piece resembles freedom because it as if the hummingbird has escaped the paper and is spreading its wings to get away or has escaped the 2D element of the flat paper. It also emotes a sense happiness which related to the freedom, happy that its free from the paper and leaving the cut out behind to get to the flower which is also free from its 2D form.
I think that the piece is symbolic to feeling of breaking free of limitations going for what you want in life as the hummingbird is breaking free from the limits of 2D and basic shape and features to get to the flower which is what it would want, so i think that interpretation is easy to get from the piece and the desired effect.
I think the choice not to use colour adds to power of the piece because it keeps the emphasis on the objects themselves whereas if it had a lot of colour it may take away from the message it is truing to present and the viewer would lose the focus on freedom and just concentrate on the painting and any detail presented through the paint. The white works really well with the concept of the piece because it keeps your attention to what the piece is trying to portray and allows you to recognise the detail of the 3D sculptures more clearly on the wings and tail parts of the sculpture. The usage of space is key to capturing the concept of getting what you want because it reflects pursuing what you what and going to get it because of the space between the bird and the flower.

This is the type of artistry that is normally associated with Peter Callesen whom lately has mainly been doing paper sculpting and other forms of art mainly using the medium of paper to make pieces of art and then photographing them in a way which accentuated the visuals of the piece and made the main focus easily noticeable as the focus of the piece.

                     

Exam Unit Moodboard

In depth analysis of paper made creation by Zim and Zou

My first reaction to the work is that I think it is a very creative and expressive creation of what an ordinary object is and I like that aspect of it because I think it is more impressive to view a piece that has a twist to it or the artist has put some personality to it. The part that draws my attention the most is definitely the earth in the center because it is the main focus and the light is hitting it just right for it to be easily noticeable that it is the main part. This is a very fun and light hearted piece which you can tell from the cartoon style used such as the clouds in typical cartoon style, intentionally not adding to much realism to the piece to keep it fun. 

I think this piece represents the beauty of earth in simplistic form to make it more obvious; the colours used, arrangement of the surroundings of the earth and the lighting is what makes the representation of earths beauty even more poignant. this message may spread further to cover preserving the beauty of the earth by recycling, this can be assumed by another Zim and Zou piece on that topic in similar style. 

This type of art is paper installation where you use paper as your main or only material in a piece this is not only difficult in terms of creating solid forms but using your imagination to make something out of paper is no easy task. Zim and Zou have not only successfully made a creation out of paper but pulled it off in such a magnitude their mastery of paper has allowed them to create an environment of sorts using smaller planets and 'paper planes' with colour combinations and gradients of colour which mesh very well together to create 3D space experience.

I think they used paper to make this installation because it is impressive technically in terms of aesthetics but i think they chose paper for its texture qualities, the texture of paper is perfect for this kind of piece especially as it is 3D the thin and lightness of the paper compliments those aspects of the hanging installation.   

AS Graphics Trip

I felt that the Graphics Trip, the Hayward Gallery exhibitions was definitely geared towards my brief of illustration and therefore I found it very informative and enlighten in the types of art that can be made for illustration and actually how much thought is put into the pieces to give them such powerful messages. I found David Shringley's part to be more interesting as did most of the other students Deller's dents, i felt that his more quirky, crude stye gave him an edge and this edginess was embraced by the group. Jeremy Deller's part was in my opinion more plain and ordinary compared to David Shringley's. Jeremy Deller's use of colour is very literal and this can sometimes be boring if they images are quite straight forward to begin with. DAvid Shringley's colour usage was almost child like which appealed to us and had a sense of freedom and wittiness to it, his popularity proved that sometimes strange is more interesting.

My Exam Brief

Illustration

Why have you selected this brief?  

I feel that this is the brief, which best suites the type of graphical art I enjoy and would like to develop my skills in.

What are you planning to look at for primary/secondary research?

I am planning to look at tickets from events I participated in held in Manchester and also for secondary research of train tickets from the Manchester Metrolink service and postage evidence from the internet and any other secondary sources I can get a hold of.

Which artists/designers will you be looking at?

The artists I will mainly be looking at and taking inspiration from is: Lizzie Finn, Tim Marrs, Andy Potts and Yulia Brodskaya.

What materials/techniques would you like to experiment with?

I would like to have the opportunity to do some deep experimentation with pastels because i think they give a very unique texture and depth to any piece and i would like to experiment with that.

Which outcome(s) are you planning to make?

I would like to make a set of 5 postcards because I think I could incorporate both my illustrative skills but also show a good grasp of the concept of travel buy designing the postcard aesthetics.

Branding Brief Mindmaps

Post Card Analysis

This is a postcard from Manchester to Brussels with the sent and received stamps and also the message from Manchester to Brussels and reply back from Brussels. The date is unconfirmed but the stamps date around 1911 so you would assume the postcard is around the same time. You can see some age on the postcard from the de-colouration of the paper which has a goldfish tint. The stamps from each place which confirmed that the postcard arrived at both ends and the postage stamps were approved and by the Belgium.  

Ticket Analysis

This is a Metrolink train ticket from a Manchester train station for a return to Piccadilly, this is an extremely popular mode of transport for Mancunians to get from there to London or when visitors from London would like to avoid the long drive. The colour used on the ticket is the same as the colour scheme for the whole Manchester Metrolink organisation the trademark yellow and design with circles, the bold colour is also very useful for catching the eye of passengers, so they are easily noticed.

Project Evaluation

This project was he Retail Graphics Project this entailed forming an imaginary company of our choice and producing packaging and swing tag outcomes for the company of our choice. I chose to do a video games company because of my interest in the industry and general knowledge of video game shops, which I thought would help motivate and encourage me to make the best final outcome possible.

I started off by creating a mood board of the logos and of the industry I had chosen to get to grips with the kind of companies packaging and principles our outcomes should envisage. The next thing we did was a large broad ranged mind map of ideas for any type of shop to get a general understanding of the direction we should take our project in regardless of the specific industry. I started to create a logo for my brand and using pencil and other mediums of design started to get an idea of what I wanted to do with my logo and whole I wanted it to look as a base before adding any graphics to it. At this stage I started to develop my logo using computer software such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to develop my logo and try out different ways of editing the base that I had created. After using cross-stitching to edit the logo I found that this was the best way to keep it relevant to the industry I was using.

I then started to concentrate on packaging and the surface pattern for the packaging getting inspiration and influence from the research of packaging of the main competitors in the video game market. I compared them to the best to push my own to be of that standard. I researched nets and fastenings using card templates of different types of fastening and boxes to get a general idea of how I wanted my box to work. I found that combing different fastening and box shapes depended on the product that was going to be inside. I then analyzed swing tags of top brands to understand the significance of them and find out what I need do include on my own to finish of my research.

This research helped me to get a better understanding of the workings of packaging and why they are used and made the way they are this made for my product to be more realistic because my research had given me a broader impression of the use of packaging.

My end product was a box and swing tag which was inspired by all of the brands and packaging examples I had researched and also some independent work on surface patterns especially the marbling technique and chose to use that as my surface pattern for my outcome packaging. I also made a swing tag with the same surface pattern because form my research ad experiments found that most brands kept them the same. I feel that this was a successful project, and I feel it was successful due to the in depth experimenting and research I did into the industry and packaging and also my interest in it also.

Final Swing Tag

This is my final swing tag design similar to my packaging net in surface pattern but but in swing tag form. I decided to keep the surface pattern for the swing tag to keep some consistency with the packaging but used my sub logo of just the 'custom star and exclamation mark'  as well as the whole logo on the other. I also used components form game box art and added them t the swing tag to add the factor of most swing tags to have additional information on the product. I included a barcode on my swing tag to make it authenticity, as usually swing tags would have the barcode on them.

Experiments: Swing Tags

I experimented with different designs of swing tags from my research examples of swing tags and also my in depth analysis of three different brand's swing tags. I found that the tag itself was the most limited in design change because of the purpose it is supposed to serve; as a small source of information on a product and eye catching advertising. Other than shape and surface pattern there wasn't much I could do different for my tag therefore I decided to concentrate on the part that attaches my tag to the product or box.
I first tried using white plastic string which I threaded through my tag and attached to the box but found it frayed very easily because of the very relaxed and loose binding which made the box and swing tag look very unprofessional and messy. The second method i tried was the standard string which i found was more sturdy and stronger than the plastic string but lacked in originality, eye catching abilities or practicality which is probably the reason was not used on any of the swing tags I researched or analysed.
I finally settled on metallic coloured ribbon that complimented the colours of the surface pattern on the tag. I used three individual length of ribbon all the same length to add depth and layers. I used the colours red, blue and silver I used these colours because they went well with the tag colours but instead of standard ribbon I used metallic coloured ribbon to add an eye-catching factor and also the three separate pieces of ribbon to add to that eye catching feature.

Final Packaging Outcome

Final Logo

this is my final logo design after going through several different materials and techniques using several different paints, ink, pencil and pastels before settling on the cross-stitch after practicing on grab paper and colouring in squares to produce a less impressive but base version of this logo. i also took inspiration from other fonts that i found on internet researching the look of font i wanted to go for and putting them all together and making my own 'star and exclamation' part of the goo which will also come t be a side logo used on the swing tag packaging.

Swing Tag Examples

Image Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The North Face - Swing Tag Analysis

This a swing tag made by The North Face taken apart to illustrate their type of swing tag detail and depth. There are 5 layers of this swing tag all different lengths. the colours chosen are very eye-catching and bold reds and whites with one of the layers just being the logo to catch the eye of passers by that the product is high quality made by the very well known The North Face.
There is a lot of information given on this swing tag and the use of layers makes it that the information is not all congested on a singe layer swing tag which is more appealing to the custom who does not way to be squinting to read the mass of text squeezed on one small piece of card. All these layers lead on to each other showing the bottom of selected layers like a information bookmark to another layer usually about the quality and features of the coat.

Image Source

Nike x Supreme - Swing Tag Analysis

Nike and Supreme partnered up for a trainer series and designed these special edition swing tags made from plastic casing and metal bead tag. I think that the swing tag is very well put together and and not as flimsy of insignificant as the paper versions preferred by other brands and also the simplicity of them in terms of information on the tag itself is very limited to a tagline and logos. as displayed these came in a variation of colours according to the colour of trainer you purchased which is, in my opinion very thoughtful on Nike and Supremes part to input such detail for no reason other than minor aesthetics. this style of swing tag is usually better at attracting attention because it is block bold colour with a clear statement also in bold and the branding, this catches the eye of shoppers well because they will catch the colour and statement in the corner of their eye which may draw them to the product, because this style of swing tag is usually plead easily visible on the product on shelf. However the more common swing tag of paper and yarn or string has a lot more information on it which could help in the sale of an item if the customer has a queries and there ant enough or even no information at all on display, this must have been considered but Nike and supreme must be relying on the colour and tagline to do the selling.

Image Source

Ralph Lauren Polo - Swing Tag Analysis

Ralph Lauren Polo designed this swing tag using card and yarn in traditional swing tag style. I think the swing tag is very well constructed and designed with a lot of originality and good use of colour coordination, one of my first thoughts when I saw the swing tag was that it looked dated and had a vintage or original look to it which was the desired effect.

I think the designer was trying to represent originality in its design but making the material look dated and worn to show that it is an established brand and is something original and individual to the rest of the market. And this was captured through the swing tag.     

The colours used all accompany each other very well all relevant to the representation of originality beige, black and blue blend together to create the perception that the material is of age. The use of words such as "original" and "classic" really emphasise the point that they want to be considered the top of the range in style and originality.    

Image Source                  

Final Packaging Net Design

This is my my final packaging net that I used to construct my box packaging i took inspiration from the experimentation i did with box fastenings to put different ideas together to come up with a fold in fastening which also locks into to side fastening for added security of items inside the bag. the design is in the fashion to hold a video game case in with limited width room to minimise the amount of movement that can take place which could lead to loss of loose items, damage to the product inside the bag or in the unlikely event that the item drops out of the bag.

Christmas Work - Surface Patterns

 This is one of my surface patterns using the technique marbling, for this i used mostly blue and three quarters as much red and splashed some yellow in just to add another element to the pattern i encouraged the pattern by mixing, but only in certain areas so it didn't all look the same or look like a purple blur.

 This surface pattern is simply all xbox 360 game discs shiny side up facing the light to cause the rainbow effect I chose xbox 360 discs because as you can see they have a shiny inner ring with the logo in it so I used them to hard another dimension to the surface pattern idea.

 This surface pattern idea is completely made from xbox 360 discs of different games in a 4-3-4 formation and a line of Kinect games diagonally down the middle of the shot. I overlapped some of the discs because I thought I added depth to the picture instead of just a 4 by 3 grid of discs.

For this I used highlighters in a crosshatch similar to my final logo design, I thought of doing this with colouring pencils but opted to use highlighter because after trying it out found it didn't give the holographic effect that the highlighters did in such an outstanding way almost looking 3D on the page, I actual used a condensed version of my net to construct this on as you can see above.

Initial ideas: Logo

These are my initial ideas for my logo using different mediums of pencil and other materials such as ink, oil pastels and colouring pencils. These ideas were ideas off top of my head and put on paper to see how they looked practically

Packaging Analysis

This is some analysis of packaging of a soap company that I did in the spider diagram method for clarity and added some decoration and imagination to some of the annotations because I thought it would ale the analysis more interesting to look at compared to a normal spider diagram.

Ubisoft Logo Analysis

1. This is the logo of the game developing company Ubisoft. The logo itself is a purple gradient overlapping spiral with the company name underneath.

2. The font used n the logo is Ubisofts own font heavily bolded for significant sake so it isn’t ignored because of the very interesting graphic part of the logo.

3. The coloring of the logo is very deep and powerful because of the use purple which is already a powerful color but the use of gradients is a very significant reason why the logo is so successful. The use of 3D is a very good idea because it gives even more depth to the logo to make a well-rounded logo.

4. I think that the use of different tones of purple making it from a deep a powerful color to a softer gentle color is very representative of the type of games they develop because they make games for teenagers to adults such as Assassins Creed series but also children’s games such as Rayman

5. They are a very successful brand and game developer with some of their older games still standing the test of time and being relevant in modern technology but also their newer games still being the top stature of their genres at all times




Pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4

Epic Games Logo Analysis

1. This is the logo for EPIC Games a game development company and it looks like a shield or badge of some kind with the word ‘EPIC’ on it taking up the majority of the badge and heavily bolded which links to the word

2. The logo is used on the games they make box art to show who developed the game

3. I think the font used is very epic and bold and powerful which is the same direction I want to take my logo also that the log is mainly type is something I though of doing

4. The logo without a doubt is towards adults, which can be easily identified from the games that they make and they ratings they get

5. The brand has been extremely successful they have received a large amount of rewards for their gears of war series and are constantly praised for their games from Xbox 360 to apple Iphone game development skill

6. The colors used in the logo are transferred into their games the majority of the time with lots of metallic and earthy colors used but also variations of red for more gruesome parts




Pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4

GAME Store Logo Analysis

1. This is the GAME store logo and it is simple, the word game, I think the simplicity is very clever because it is very to the point and direct the is no confusion of what is being sold in the shop

2. The logo is used as the icon and identity of the franchise but also on shop fronts, branding on carrier bags, reward cards and their products GAMEWare, which are cheaper, or replacement accessories for consoles

3. The Game Group PLC is easily the most succesful video game retailer in the UK and ireleand and are currently the the  selling leader of the video game market in UK, Ireland, Spain, Scandavia and Czech Republic

4. This logo will influence mine because I also want to take the simplicity aspect and implement it into my logo design

5. The logo is extremly direct no use of background so the text gets your full attention, the text ids extremely bold and on shopfronts lit up so adds to the effect of direct message of what they sell


Pictures: 1, 2, 3

CyberConnect2 Logo Analysis

1. This is the logo for the game developing company Cyberconect2 made of a green background with two c’s on one side and 2 on the other signifying the name Cyberconnect2 that is underneath

2. The target audience is all ages because the genre of games is fighting and adventure but it is an anime which as a show and manga has attracted all ages to watch and read all over the world

3. The brand is extremely successful because they have created a game for a franchise which other game developers have tried to make and been less successful, they have attracted custom from consumers who have never experienced Naruto but the games quality impressed them enough

4. I think the boldness of the text inside the background is a very good technique because it looks very authoritative which is something I would like to incorporate into my own logo design

5. The logo falls into the logo category of typo and graphic because it uses type with the graphic of the green background to make a logo and not separate media

Pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4

Packaging Nets

These are packaging nets made from card that I cut out from templates and put together to display different types of packaging net and also the different fastenings that can be used. I plan on combining them together to develop something more original and unique and making my actual net more specific to the product it is supposed to hold which may alter that way some of the fastenings work of may mean I cannot use some of the fastenings at all. These findings meant this experiment with packaging nets was invaluable to the creation of my own net and fastening choices.