Design Context

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Brief 4/ History of Graphic Design

This beautiful book is partly what helped to inspire the brief I have written. As a designer, I think I pay most attention to books when they look good, and when every thing is laid out in an interesting and easier to manage way. So this book was definitely a more interesting way to learn about the history of graphic design than a text book I could have found anywhere.

Here are some pages from inside the book. I like the simplicity of the colour schemes compared to the busy illustrations. The book has print finishes to make it stand out, like the use of spot varnish on the cover and for the raindrops in the cover jacket. I also like the spine and think overall this book is very well designed. At the back of the book are even card pages with cut outs and fun things. The book may look like it is aimed at a younger audience but I think any designer would appreciate the quality of the design.

Sunday, 16 September 2012

Brief 3/ Decorative Type Examples

Here are some examples of decorative type I've found in past issues of Creative Arts magazine, which are kind of what gave me inspiration to start this brief. I'm not really sure what styles I want to go with yet in terms of the type I will create, so just finding examples which stand out to me is a good place to start, and then I can think about creating some of my own, influenced by the ones that I have liked.

Hand drawn type with a mix of fonts to create a message. This is something I've tried before that I think I would like to do again now that I have a lot more software knowledge to create a much better version.

There was actually a tutorial included about how to create type like this, as it is made from attaching glyphs to an existing typeface to decorate it, so I think I might try this out, as this poster really stands out to me, showing that decorative type can be done on the computer.

Type cut out of wood - This kind of typography has got me thinking about how I can push my type further. Will it be 3d and photographed? What materials will I use? There are so many more possibilities than just writing out the message on a computer to create image from type.

Simple but effective messages - but here the quality is in the choices of colours and the print process used. I would like to try screen printing again to create prints that stand out

There was also a tutorial about creating a piece like this, so think this is something I will try. This is quite modern and on trend. It would only be good for a title page, as legibility is an issue with a typeface like this. But again, its a good example of how type can work by itself and create an image.

This is a piece which started off hand drawn and was improved using a computer. I think this is probably the best way to work and I would like to try something like this. Its the same style as some examples of illustrative type I have looked at in the past.

Brief 2/ Example Products/ Computer Arts

Here are some examples of the types of products I would be wanting to create for the brief where I will be producing stationery. I need to think about how I would display the products when I actually make them, and also, could do with working on my photography skills.

As seen in Computer Arts - I've taken some photos of their designed for life pages where they include a few products they recommend for that month, all which would make great gifts for the type of people who read this magazine.