Design boards 2. LCA Triptych

Design boards 2. LCA Triptych

The brief

The choice to embark on this brief was due to how the posters would be representing the graphics section of LCA and also having the freedom to create a poster of your choice with any message didn't arise in many briefs nowadays therefore this brief had a lot of freedom.

The brief was to design an A2 poster for LCA Triptych, a poster that would be situated on the corridor outside of the BA Graphic design area at Leeds college of art.

With the posters not having no description alongside them, the image must work along and covey the message or simply just work as a piece of art or design.

Having seen most of the other entries for the previous Triptych's I had noticed that the designs were based on the style of designs the students liked/followed and also the topics were based around the student's interests.

Research

I thought on how I could make something intriguing that reflected my interests and would work successfully in A2 format. The idea of the audience taking from a piece of art what they will, and everyone perceiving the piece in different ways appeals to me.

The quality of the design was an aspect that mattered immensely as it would reflect the course and the ideas BA Graphic design stood for, and allowed to grow on the course over the three years.

Idea Generation

The choice to delve down the route of 'illuminati', anti religion symbols was all my own. An interest in different ways of thinking, the occult and almost 'higher power' is a basis for my design and representing this was the next step.

Triangles are commonly connected as symbols of the illuminati by people of my generation, where ever triangles appear prominently people tend to question why they are there and what hidden meanings they could be conveying.

Development

Various triangles and also anti christ symbols were used to create a continuing pattern containing larger and smaller scale triangles and crosses, ensuring all the crosses remained upside down in adverse to the normal orientation.

The colours of the piece at this time were not reflecting the mood of intrigue I intended to go for, these would be altered simply to black and white, with the idea that the audience takes their own message from the piece of design.

Outcome

The black and white design worked more effectively, isolating the shapes and forming an almost hypnotic spiral pattern. Accompanied with a design style of the shapes being drawn by hand, the final design decisions were made, the only remaining consideration was the placement of the circle.

A clockwork Orange cover copy

Cover copy

Front cover

A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess ‘A gruesomely witty cautionary tale’ – Time [Penguin logo – as positioned on the PDF template]

Spine

A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess [Penguin logo – as positioned on the PDF template]

Back cover

‘What we were after was lashings of ultraviolence.’ In this nightmare vision of youth in revolt, fifteen-year-old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. Alex is jailed for his teenage delinquency and the State tries to reform him – but at what cost? Social prophecy? Black comedy? A study of free will? A Clockwork Orange is all of these. It is also a dazzling experiment in language, as Burgess creates ‘nadsat’, the teenage slang of a not-too-distant future. ‘Every generation should discover this book’ Time Out [Info box containing barcode, price, website etc, – can be repositioned, but elements within the box must not be altered]

A Clockwork orange book cover redesign - meaning and iconography

A Clockwork Orange

Wikipedia

"A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel by Anthony Burgess published in 1962. Set in a near future English society that has a subculture of extreme youth violence, the novella has a teenage protagonist, Alex, who narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him."
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange]

Urban dictionary 

"A Clockwork Orange is a book and movie with many different levels. The most obvious level is the theme of violence and 'ultra-violence'. A bunch of droogs get-off and take joy in terrorizing others. On that level it is an extreme example to those that do not feel self-empowered. This makes it a cult classic. On other levels it is also about learning self-constraint and how we alienate others by selfishly fulfilling our own needs before those of others, and on yet another level, it shows how being short sighted and trying to race to the end of a learning process can actually completely defeat the process. The story clearly shows that 'law' tries to subvert its criminals via brainwashing, but if someone doesn't learn to change for themselves, then you are only just holding them prisoner.

It is a book/movie I highly recommend for the analytical types. There are many levels to it and although there are some scenes that may disturb the faint-of-heart, it is worth it for the rest of the movie.

The movie A Clockwork Orange gives deep insight into those of us that feel alienated and yet self-empowered. It reinforces the feeling that I may do as I please, without regard to the repercussions. Thankfully I don't actually want to rape people."
 [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=A+Clockwork+Orange]

"Superficially, "a clockwork orange" was just some lingo that author Anthony Burgess overheard among old Londoners. In Anthony Burgess's own words in the introduction entitled "A Clockwork Orange Resucked," the title refers to a person who "has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or (since this is increasingly replacing both) the Almighty State." In other words, and again Burgess's own, it stands for the "application of a mechanistic morality to a living organism oozing with juice and sweetness." So, basically, it refers to a person who is robotic behaviorally but one that is, in all other respects, human. The title is significant not only because Burgess references it about, say, 1,000 times throughout the book, but also because it sums up what threatened our protagonist-narrator so much. Oops. Did that get your attention?'
[http://www.shmoop.com/clockwork-orange/title.html]

"has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or (since this is increasingly replacing both) the Almighty State."

"The title of the novel, A Clockwork Orange, derived from, Burgess claimed, ‘ a phrase which I heard many years ago and so fell in love with, I wanted to use it [as] the title of the book. But the phrase itself I did not make up. The phrase “as queer as a clockwork orange” is good old East London slang and it didn’t seem necessary to explain it. Now, obviously, I have to give it an extra meaning. I’ve implied an extra dimension. I’ve implied a junction of the organic, the lively, the sweet — in other words, life, the orange — and the mechanical, the cold, the disciplined. I’ve brought them together in a kind of oxymoron’. "

The life and the diciplined 

A Clockwork orange book cover redesign - Research into previous book covers

Having seen the film A Clockwork orange multiple times, but never read the book, a good direction to head in would be to research the book covers.

Milkshake Syrup brief - contacting the company

After reading the brief, certain details of the messages struck me and concerns arose.

The Brief

"The name of the company is Tropics Foods Uk Ltd, we are based in the Leeds 7 area. We have been in the food manufacturing game for over three decades. We have many of our branded products under Tropics in stores such as Asda, Tesco and Morrisons. We also do lots of contract work and these are often under names such as KTC, Enco, Dunns River. Our website further explains and gives you a better insight in to our company.

My aim is to launch 4 flavours of milkshake syrup mix, these are bottles of syrup which when mixed with milk creates a milkshake.

My product is based under the American diner menu, so it will look very 1950's in design. The front of the label will consist of a milkshake glass with a straw in it and a fruit on the side. I have many concepts that will make life for the designer much easy.

I have realised that the Graphic Artist department has many eager artists willing to undertake such tasks that will further enhance their portfolios.

Thank you, we look forward in working together with the college."

Contacting

It struck me that this brief didn't explain or even give the name of this milkshake product I was to be designing for, as far as I knew, the title of the product labelling would read 'Milkshake',

Also another concern that arose was that at this stage, I did not know the flavours of this product, the brief explained how 4 flavours were to be released, the problem was I did not know these flavours.

Finally, the client explained how they had concepts that would ' will make life for the designer much easy' I was interested to hear what these concepts were and how the could benefit my designs, for this reason I finished by asking that question.

My email read:

"Hello there, I am Ryan Daley, A 3rd and final year of Leeds college of art's BAhons Graphic design course. 

I have read the briefing email and have a few questions to ask about the product.

Firstly, you have mentioned that the product will come in 4 flavoured syrups? Please could you inform me as to what these flavours are.

Secondly, is there a name associated with this milkshake product? or is this something that the designer must design on?

Thirdly and finally, you have mentioned "I have many concepts that will make life for the designer much easy." do you care to expand on these concepts please?

Thank you very much for your time, I am looking forward to hearing back from you and beginning the brief.

Yours faithfully, Ryan Daley"

Milkshake Syrup brief - existing milkshake packaging research

Evocative milkshake branding takes a step back in time

http://www.creativebloq.com/branding/evocative-milkshake-branding-takes-step-back-time-61411909

"New Zealand designers transport Master Milkshakes back to the 1950s with this new brand identity and packaging design.

Auckland-based graphic design studio Fuman was recently commissioned to create a brand identity for Master Milkshakes. The brief required the inclusion of a hand-drawn character, which should have a "1950s retro vibe but not too 'hipster' - something that would have a timeless feel and stand out from the crowd"."

Overall, A very effective, unique and eye catching range of branding for the milkshake products.

Criticism has been made with the milkshake syrup being contained in brown medicine style bottles, this is almost a killing point in term of marketing a product for children in my opinion, a bad connection between a fun consumable product for all ages and the relation between potentially dangerous medicine bottles. 

Milkshake Syrup brief - 1950s packaging research

Having read the Milkshake packaging brief, the logical steps is to become acquainted with how food was branded in the 1950s and in the modern day to gather contextual research into how these products could eventually look.

A theme/style that correlates with all of these food packaging products from the 1950s is illustrative, colourful but almost minimal designs.

The use of demonstrative illustrations is abundant within most of these products. This could be used in relation to how the milkshake syrup must be mixed with milk as part of the sequence to creating this drink.

fig4

Another element that has been noticed from these packaging designs is the fact that characters / creatures which have been personified often take a major roll in the branding of these products.

By contemporary standards, this 1950s packaging for Bassett's Jelly babies [fig4] is strikingly simple but also extraordinarily eye catching. The use of bright colours, endearing characters and a general unisex brand would explain how this product would appeal in a super market situation.

In the contemporary world, this packaging would be seen as vintage and outdated almost especially in comparison to the how the branding has evolved in the modern day. [see below, fig5.]

fig5

One of the major concerns in modern day confectionary as well as snack foods is consuming artificial  sweeteners or E numbers.
[http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/artificial-sweeteners-sugar-free-but-at-what-cost-201207165030]

These taboo flavouring products have a stigma attached in which they are promoted using bright, vibrant colours to attract children, despite the modern Jelly babies evidently conveying the use of 'Natural colours & flavours' this packing still screams artificial colours and the connection with hyperactivity.

Something that this brand could take note of is the previous [Fig.4]'s less punchy and artificial colour scheme.

In conclusion, the comparison to be made between Jelly babies' vintage packaging and their contemporary one is that in modern supermarkets, bright vibrant colours can be effectively used when appealing to children, but adults and parents often hold the opinion that these products contain artificial flavourings. A middle ground must be found in which the product's packaging appeals to all ages of the target market, but in the same sense conveys healthy values in adverse to additives, E numbers and artificial flavourings. 

Milkshake Syrup brief - Tropics food

Milkshake Syrup brief

The Brief

"The name of the company is Tropics Foods Uk Ltd, we are based in the Leeds 7 area. We have been in the food manufacturing game for over three decades. We have many of our branded products under Tropics in stores such as Asda, Tesco and Morrisons. We also do lots of contract work and these are often under names such as KTC, Enco, Dunns River. Our website further explains and gives you a better insight in to our company.

My aim is to launch 4 flavours of milkshake syrup mix, these are bottles of syrup which when mixed with milk creates a milkshake.

My product is based under the American diner menu, so it will look very 1950's in design. The front of the label will consist of a milkshake glass with a straw in it and a fruit on the side. I have many concepts that will make life for the designer much easy.

I have realised that the Graphic Artist department has many eager artists willing to undertake such tasks that will further enhance their portfolios.

Thank you, we look forward in working together with the college."

Details:

• 4 flavours of milkshake syrup mix
• food manufacturing game for over three decades.
• American diner menu - very 1950's in design
• The front of the label will consist of a milkshake glass with a straw in it and a fruit on the side.
•  I have many concepts that will make life for the designer much easy.

Tropics Foods Uk Ltd

Adult Fiction Cover Award - The Brief: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

http://penguinrandomhousedesignaward.co.uk/index.php

A Clockwork orange book cover redesign

"A Clockwork Orange is as dazzling and inventive to new readers today as it was when it was first published half a century ago. The story is well known both in celluloid and print so it is essential to come at it from a fresh angle. Try to design a new cover for a new generation of readers, avoiding the obvious clichés. Originality is key.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine width 10mm)."

Dissertation proposal (take 3)

Moving on from our COP presentations in front of Amber, Simon Jones and my peers, the feedback that I received indicated that my COP title/focus was overly specific and would work better as a broader topic.

Moving on from this I had to generate a new Dissertation title, having discussed films such as Nymphomanic which has a very iconic movie poster and concept created by a graphic designer.

This sparked up the topic of my dissertation focussing around a graphic designer's approach to sensitive movie issues (again relating to my previous dissertation proposal) issues such as abuse/horror, drug addiction and sex.

I then proposed this to my COP tutor, Amber, with the working title being 'How does a graphic design approach sensitive issues when designing movie posters?'

We then began discussing the evolution of horror movie posters ranging back from the popular 1950s movie posters which were some of the first to represent horror films in a paper 2D format, to the current post millennial

(Initial question to be proposed to COP tutor)

How does a movie poster designer tackle sensitive issues?

(Improved question after discussion with COP tutor)

What tactics do Graphic designers employ to communicate contentious themes?

The current dissertation title will then be expanded on showing more focus and direction.

(Hills have eyes remake: 1977 - 2006)

Research routes:

Advertising constraints 

Advertising standards

Group together by: X rated, Director, genre

'Green inferno trailer'

Theory: Typefaces, Semiotics, colour theory

-Zombie apocalypse 

-Night of the living dead

1950s VS Contemporary 

'Grind house'

Historical film posters designed by 'Ad men' rather than Gdesigners

Deep meaning/concepts nowadays in film posters

Figurative

'It follows' film

Literal translation

illustrative 

Modern remakes

'Day the earth stood still'

The medium

Proposal

Creative networks poster brief:

Creative networks poster brief

Subject matter - To design a series promotive posters (and other materials) to be used at the LCA Creative Network nights. The range of material design and selected should professionally communicate the content of the event, promoting the guest speaker and generally acting as material that will highlight the importance of these events.

Research methods - From researching into the past styles and designs that have been created for the CN events, using the powerpoint provided by the CN team.
Researching thoroughly into the works of Daft Punk and Andrew Graham Dixon to be in full comprehension of their job roles and also to find imagery that relate to their works and personalities.

Examining the exhibition space we have to work with for the CN events and attempting to make full use of the resources. 

Practical development (media, productions, skills)

Using a variety of software, working together gathering ideas which would form our design process. We made use of Image based and video software to produce work on a variety of mediums.
The final pieces of design would function in a 2D printed material form, along side vinyl stickers and also moving images.

Contextual references
Searching the internet for detailed information on these 2 guests, along with sourcing stock imagery to use which will represent these visitors.

Approaches to documentation
Documentation in the form of blog posts, alongside presentation boards and also design sheets for the final submission. 

Reflection and evaluation
This will be completed once both of the guests have been designed for.

Time scale
Week long brief to enter the competition, if successful then more design work will be coming in the future from these briefs.

We were set the task to design a poster each for Daft Punk creative network event and also Andrew Greham-Dixon visiting Leeds college of art. 

Reasons for tackling this brief:
• Having passion for the CN events, noticing that they’re a great
resource.
• I work at these events and put up the printed material, would love for
it to be my designs.
• If victorious, great exposure as a freelance independent outside brief.

Collaborative partner Jamie Smith:
• Proficient with software that I have no experience using
• Works at a fast pace – similar to me
• Great rapport for bouncing ideas off each other
• Differ in styles and interests. (He’s more comfortable with the Daft
punk side where as I am happy to design for Andrew Dixon's brief.)

Approaching the brief from the standing that Daft Punk visting LCA was fictional where as  Andrew Greham-Dixon was appearing for Creative Networks. For this reason I immediately knew that more focus was to be put not the Daft Punk event, but the Andrew Greham-Dixon one seen as he was actually appearing at Creative Networks. 

Back ground information:

Myself and Jamie have both visited the Creative networks in the past, for this reason I knew what promotional material would contribute to the events.

Both heard music by Daft Punk and appreciated their current design styles and the iconography they currently have attached to themselves. 

Large scale posters that defined what these events were about, but again highlighted the achievements of the guests were vital, we proposed to create 3 posters in total for Daft Punk.

Short, punchy interactive videos were to be implemented in the cafeteria area to entice the audience to admire these videos. 

Vinyl wall stickers were to be placed above the bar area, almost the focal point in the mixing room, where guests reside before proceeding into the lecture hall to view the talk. 

Finally, directional vinyl floor stickers came into use to direct guests into the lecture hall, rather than the audience members getting lost amongst the building.

Initial ideas:

We began designing for the Daft punk brief after discussing ideas and quickly finding a concept that was wanted to run with.

Making use of a futuristic glitchy techno effect to convey their background in music and the futuristic design style they have associated to themselves.

Researching the techno design style revealed a futuristic aesthetic which focussed very strongly around a computerised look. 

We had to find a way to incorporate this alongside the Daft Punk imagery.

Using Daft Punk's original typography we managed to alter 

Beginning by using the highly iconic image of one of the member's masks, exhibiting how the easily recognisable double act would be visiting Leeds college of Art's Creative networks. 

We explored a route of their techno futuristic, digital background by inserting 'glitch' crackled styled hexagons, showing reference to both, Lca's logo and Daft Punk's techno background.

The dark black background extenuating the golden colours of the mask.

We moved on from this current design as we thought more would could be put into this design to make the poster more of our own, rather than a simple addition to an existing image of the mask.

The images of the two masks progressed down even more of a digitised techno route, with a glowing edges effects added to the original photograph.

Moving on from the glowing edges,