Tuesday 15 March 2016

Self-evaluation

During the creation of the presentation for Studio Brief 3 I had to do a self-evaluation, and now it's time to put on the blog the ideas behind it.

In terms of what I've learnt, I'd like to think that it has been many things. It's been an intense year, and it's difficult to number all the things one by one. But I consider important everything one learns and it's applicable to other things not just in Graphic Design, but in life. For instance, I've learnt that right or wrong are concepts that don't exist. They are in our mind. What really matters is the hard work. The inspiration is important as well, but it only works as a complement to the hard work. And another thing I think is important to highlight: notice, if you want to be noticed. If one complains about the world ignoring his work, then it's time to see what the world has to offer that we are so obsessed with our stuff.

Now, looking what's on the future I'd like to learn everything that has to do with graphic design in cinematography. Branding, branding within the films or tv series, promotions, etc.

Looking back, I've made some mistakes. Like thinking my work is not good enough, like others. Not trusting my criteria and creativity and looking for other's ideas to feed mine. Another important thing to improve is the testing area: I have to try more in order to have different choices at the end.

My weaknesses are, in short, time managing. If I manage better my time I could go to exhibitions and other events without worrying about college's work. That'd mean that I'd be doing more networking, which is really important.

My strengths, I am a resourceful person. I'm able to change the problem if I can't find a solution to one. Even though, I have to be it even more. Lord Whitney was a very good example of resourceful designers.

From this course I expected challenges, and I've had more than that! (way too much) but it's been very positive and teaching. Studying in another country has been really teaching, as I've had to fit in another culture, learn another language and get used to another system, which I'd like to think it has made me a better and more flexible person.

Sunday 13 March 2016

Loads of books

Since September, I've bought an important amount of books about graphic design and everything related to it. I have read some of them and others are to help me finding inspiration when designing. Some of these books were at 1p on Amazon, so they are definitely worth to buy.

This is the top 12 of this first year in Graphic Design at LCA.


Vignelli Canon - Massimo Vignelli


Show Your Work - Austin Kleon


Design for the Real World - Victor Papanek


Propaganda - Edward Bernays


How to - Michael Bierut


Graphic Design Cookbook - Koren/Meckler



How to Fold - Laurence K. Withers


Symbol - Angus Hyland



Logo - Michael Evamy


Stop Stealing Sheep /& find out how type works - Erik Spiekermann



Whatever you think, think the opposite - Paul Arden


Looking Closer - Michael Bierut

Sunday 6 March 2016

Album cover design

A friend of mine that is into hip hop and has being rapping for some years has asked me to design an album cover for his new work he is realising in a couple of months. I was given some vague directions, like the title was a japanese word that defines the essence of the album itself, which is quite melancholic and it's a journey from the darkness in search of the light.

Here I'm posting part of the evolution of the design, but what I would highlight of this project is the good communication between my friend and me. The design has been progressing as he has been participating in the design decissions and in feedback sessions with other friends. I think this is very positive because I learn a lot from people outside of the graphic design world and also he feels safe because I'm not doing whatever I want. He feels he is part of the process, and that's very important to me. There is no point in designing something beautiful and great if he is not part of it.

The actual status of the design is the woman with the butterfly on her face. The meaning is quite metaphorical: the butterfly represents the evolution, from being a larva to be a beautiful butterfly. But that evolution keeps us sometimes in the darkness, avoiding us to see the reality.

The texture on the butterfly is inspired by a scientific investigation about how tears' molecular composition varies depending on the reason why those tears have been produced. The tears from grief have a very specific aspect:


We both identified some kind of map, representing a city on a coast or something similar. I proposed to use a map picture, since this images are copyrighted. So I used a picture from the space of a coast side in Alaska, which its coldness also goes along with the whole meaning previously explained.







The design is not finished yet. There are some things that need to be polished, but so far this project has been very teaching.

Self branding production

Logotype

The logotype was the first thing I decided to design so I could develop the rest of the theme from it. In the previous post I show how I got to this shape. This has been the evolution afterwards:



The shape of the initial logo didn't convince me much, so I thought about making a mosaic with it and using it as a theme rather than a logo. When used on business cards, presentation template and animation the result was quite engaging, so I decided to use it like that.

The typeface used for the logo is ITC Ronda. This decision was made after trying different typefaces that could make a contrast with the crisp triangular shapes. The subtitle in Baskerville, which makes a good combination and contrast with ITC Ronda. Body text is Montserrat, a free version of Proxima Nova, which is very similar to ITC ronda but more legible and appropriate for body text. I changed my title from graphic designer to media producer, as I think those two words define me much better, because I do video production and some other stuff rather than just graphic design.


Business cards

This was the first thing I started to design after the logotype and it helped me to define the theme that is going to represent me. Here are different approaches I had and how they have been developed. I first started with vertical approaches



Then I tried the horizontal ones


More vertical ones:


After all this experimentation I concluded that the design that represented me the most was the following due to it's simplicity and minimalism. The others using the triangle as a logo were problematic, as they created too much contrast or they faded in the background. The horizontal choice was a choice based on layout and the potential engagement.


Signature for e-mails/forums

I also designed a signature that can be used as footer note in the e-mails, forums and other platforms. It contains the same information as the businesscards. I used the blue range of colours to make it stand out from a most likely white background. I followed the instructions of this video to make it as engaging as possible.



Website

To be able to easily design the website I used adobe portfolio. It would contain a section for projects, an about and contact section. Also, links to other social networks I work in. The intention of the website was to make every section with the header in a different colour, which I think it's not possible. But if other platform were used to design the website, it's something that shouldn't be hard to do.


Animation


As I aim to be not only a graphic designer, but also a video producer too, I designed an animation as intro for my videos in youtube, vimeo, etc. It contains the social networks I use, which can be made a button in youtube.

I used the theme previously designed for the business cards along an elegant music and presentation of the logo, but with a touch of old school hip hop, a style of music I really like and has influenced my work in great measure.