OUGD603 - Brief Six - Evaluation

The project was a client brief and collaborative project between James Green and myself. The project saw us produce a wide variety of promotional material for the Manchester Indie band New Luna. 

The Collaborative side of the project was successful as I got to see how other designs aproach work and how that differs from my own practice. Working with James I found our styles, aesthetics and beliefs were aligned, this helped the work flow and the end solutions produced with relative ease. 

The clients heavy involvement helped keep the project focussed and made designing simpler, the constant feedback and critique of work from the band helped James and I conclude the project and find the best possible outcome for the bands music and most relevant and exciting visuals to attract the correct target audience.  

The bands involvement also lead to tension through not allowing enough creative freedom, through discussion and compromise we were able to work out differences and make designs we were all happy with, this helped me to gain a better understanding of how client - designer relationships can faulter and how the conflicts can be resolved to avoid future friction. 

The project lead to both James and I, joining the band on tour to sell our merchandise, this allowed us to explain our designs to the bands fans and meet new musicians with the possibility of more work coming from it. Over all the brief was succesful in that we produced designs that the band loved and used, this also lead to the band offering future work on more releases at the end of 2018. 

Unfortunately due to the band continuing there tour on, they sold every copy of the tour poster, this is why these materials are not included in the physical submission.

OUGD603 - Brief Six - Outcome and reaction

The staggered release and deadline for each aspect allowed for a strong body of material to be produced. The band posted all the designs we produced on there social media accounts promoting both mine and James final designs. 

The band also used all the screen printed material we made during the tour, selling out of all merch throughout there tour. 

OUGD603 - Brief Six - Design and Production (Now With Feedback!)

OUGD603 - Brief Six - Design Development and idea application

Working with designer James Green, we produced a multitude of different designs with a combination of our ideas. First off splitting the work load by allowing James to produce the art work while I would apply typography, looking for new expressive ways to advertise the band that had not been tried before, experimenting with ideas such as producing letter forms from blocks to experimenting with Helveticas lettering and look to produce a unique typographic look for the bands new releases.

Keeping in contact with the band and sending them regular updates we were able to focus the brief and progress it with ease due to the constant feedback from the client. 

OUGD603 - Brief Six - Research

New Luna wanted a whole new branding from there last few releases, to go in a new direction and achieve a more reflective aesthitic in their visual output. For this I familiarised myself with there previous releases so to get the feel for what they did not want. 

The band specified we have creative freedom on the design and that both James and I were chosen because of our individual styles. The band asked that our collage skills be used to produce visuals for the required products. The band have specified they want similar aesthetic to the work of mine which they have seen previously, examples of my work which they feel could be the style and aesthetic inspiration are shown above.

The band wanted collage work of Manchester intergrated into the design. For this I looked at clean photography of manchester architecture which could form the basis for the work.

OUGD603 - New Luna - Brief

Brief -

Produce the single cover and promotional material for two different events for the band New Luna. 

Background-

New Luna are a manchester based guitar band, they have approached me and my peer, James Green, with the task of designing the single cover for the release of new song ‘Opinionated’, the promotional material for the release event, and the promotional material and merchandies for there UK tour.

Requirements-

The work must represent the bands music and aesthetic. 

Must work in collaboration with the band and James Green.

Deliverables

-Single Cover

- Single release gig posters

- Tour Posters

- Tshirt Design

Target Audience-

The Band want to visually appreciate the design. 

New Luna Fans

Indie music fans

Manchester public 

Who Will See it:

-Band

-other musicians (when posters are used in venues)

Aim-

To work collaboratively to achieve the desired products from the band to coincide with the release of the new music. To produce creative pieces on the specifications outlined by the band.

OUGD505 Evaluation

The main aims of OUGD505 were to produce projects which show a clear understanding to a topic, this meant both studio briefs would need a wide body of research and exploration as well as informed relevant design to show that the subject has been approached correctly. For studio brief one, I visited Leeds City Museum to learn more about the cities history and to find a subject for the poster to be on. This led to looking at Quarry Hill Flats and the history of the modernist flats which sat in the city centre until the late 70's. The research undertaken was throughout and well explored, this can be seen through the production and outcome of the posters. With studio brief two, a different style of research was needed, instead of looking at historic happenings, the topic was ethics, and ethical design or good design, this meant exploring a topics which affect people, looking at things for for good, charities and organisations, this lead to looking at anti-war movements and groups who are opposed to war. This then evolved into looking at protest art and movements which protested and produced protest pieces and anti-war art. Recent political news of a snap election occurring on June 8th meant that the project could have a clear campaign point, this led to the design of the final outcomes produced. A clear design path can be seen within either project, though studio brief two has a much stronger evolution to it, with a wide body of research being undertaken and high quality outcomes produced.

Throughout the module I have been able to explore traditional print in different ways, firstly through studio brief one, which required the production of a traditionally printed A3 poster, the limitation of having to produce a printed piece meant that I could explore other processes such as mono-print which is a key feature on the poster. Print was also explored through studio brief to where my research led me to produce a screen printed outcome due to production considerations. Both projects explored print in different ways and both relevantly and effectively, with the tones wanted for either brief being achieved. This was also an opportunity to experiment with poster form and size, with the posters in SB2 opting for a long format, this helped fit more content on the page while keeping all elements bold and clear. 

Overall the SB1 project helped me to explore an interesting topic and influenced a refreshed look at swiss design as well as being an opportunity to explore more print methods, attempting to strengthen monoprint techniques and seeing if it is an easier medium than screen print in some aspects. The outcomes I feel could have been cleaner, mono-printing has its down falls in that the paint easily gets through thin paper, this is a consideration which will be remembered and considered in future projects. Though the outcomes are still interesting and relevant representations of the research and project undertaken. SB2 made me consider the actions of a designer and the messages which can and should be put into public view, looking at a heavy topic of war I had to be careful what could and couldnt be said, the brief helped me consider my own actions as a designer. The project explores anti-war themes, looking at protest design and peaceful organisations, this influenced a propaganda style piece which was screen printed, these outcomes were strong and were met with positive feedback from peers. The module has helped me to explore wide research, new design processes and made me think of design considerations such as production, content and distribution, all of which has been well explored and outlined within SB2. 

Ethical Design - Screen Printed posters - Bulky News Print

Screenprints Stock One - Bulky News Print

Looking for a stock which would be both, cost efficient and heavy enough to print on, the stock had to be easy to place around walls and poster boards. Choosing to use bulky newsprint was made through looking at other posters and how they are printed, bulky newsprint is 6p for an A1 sheet this can produce 3 posters at the size of 520mm length x  298 widths, this is A3 size with 100mm on the length, this is not an unusual technique in poster design, inspired by my recent interview with Nick Loaring of the Print project whose posters are long and thin, much similar to this size, it is a technique to fit more information onto the page. 

The bulky newsprint is an off white almost cream in colour this helped the red stand out well, making it bolder as well as giving character to the white space of the page. The paper has a rough recycled grain to it, this is one of the aspects which makes it cost effective and also environmentally friendly. The prints came out really strong and clear, the production ran very smooth which enabled a large production of posters, this outlines how simple and cheaply multiple posters can be produced to a high quality.    

Ethical Design - Screenprint - Yellow stock - analysis and feedback

With the production method being screenprint, there was a freedom to try different stocks of paper. Influenced by the research into protest design such as 'See Red' and the work shown in Astrid Prolls book 'Goodbye To London - Radical and Political Art In the 70's' which showed political art work printed using bold colours on bold coloured paper to make it eye catching and striking, with this in mind, yellow stock was purchased. Though with it being more expensive than the bulky newsprint it meant the production would be more expensive and fewer posters produced, which meant these limited few would be best placed in busy places where it would be seen by the most people, a limited print run in strong social place such as a student union or popular bar. 

The print onto the yellow stock made the red bolder and firmer than it had printed on the News print, the image was stronger aswell as the black type which stood out stronger too, this worked well with the central and bottom type. The head type, which is covered by the red Komika Axis font, has come out so strong that the red cannot be seen well until up close. Apart from this the posters are bold and visually striking. 

Through feedback of these posters I was told of connotations of Kodak with the three colours which feature on the poster. Though the over all response was positive and people suggested that the posters, both on yellow stock and bulky news print, should be posted together, the repetition of the bold images makes it more striking than if alone.  

Ethical Design - Screenprints - Off white card

Continuing to experiment with a range of stocks to get the best prints as well as the most cost efficient stock, this off white paper offers a thicker quality that both the yellow stock and the bulky newsprint though the prints that were produced were faded in different ways, of the number printed on this stock only 2 came out up to a good quality. The lower sections of the  poster, the subtext of the poster is very faded and almost unreadable this did not occur on the two other stock types. 

Despite set backs these prints got high praise through peer feedback and a good choice of stock.

Ethical Design Negatives and final digital design

Designing for Screen printing

Having explored a number of design ideas for how the content could be displayed, choosing the below design as it felt most effective, bold and informative. The type in black has serious bold tones which make it eye catching and loud, while the red type adds a playful more engaging feel to it, it also stands out above the black, an effect when screen printing these colours, though will have more of a blended look, and the effect that the red type has been scribbled onto the real printed type, giving it a propaganda style poster, though undertones of a real hard hitting campaign. The posters intention is to make people not vote for the Conservatives in June, but it is not literally telling people to do that, but saying vote no on war and using images and slogans which suggest vote no for tories. Elements such as the image of Theresa Mays face have been cropped down to focus on her mouth, not her full face, this is to excentuate the words she is speaking which feature on the page, these are covered with the synonyms of the words, the opposites, 'broken' and 'untrustworthy', this is to outline Stop The Wars stance on Theresa May, something which they project through the website which the poster directs to.

The typefaces used are Akzidenz Grotesk Medium (main black type 'Strong and stable', 'Stop The War') Akzidenz Grotesk Regular (Subtext 'Theresa may will seek a vote in parliament for British airstrikes against Assad if she wins a big enough majority in the general election. she is keen to step up british military involvement in the middle east. find out more at stopthewar.org') and Komika Axis (Red text handwritten style 'Broken and untrustworthy', 'Vote to') this was chosen because of its handwritten nature, making it look as if it has been painted or drawn over in thick red medium, giving it a feel of protest, though the smaller Komika Axis type that sits at the bottom of the page gives a sense that its part of the branding of the poster rather than graffiti.

The below images show the individual negatives and which colours they will be, these shall be turned black and printed out to use as a negative in exposing a screen, the image has been halftoned to make it printable.

Ethical Design - Stop The War - Campaigns

STOP THE WAR

Founded September 2001 in the weeks following 9/11 when George W. Bush announced the war on terror. Stop the war has since been dedicated to preventing and ending the wars in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere. Stop the war opposes the British Establishments disastrous addiction to war and its squandering of public resources on militarism.

Stop the war has organised around 40 national demonstrations, including the largest protests ever held in Britain, most memorably on 15th of February 2003, when up to two million gathered on Londons streets to oppose the war in Iraq. All money raised from merchandise is used in Stop The War's campaigning work, opposing the Governments war policies.

Stop The Wars merchandise ranges from t-shirts to badges all which keep to a singular style, using large bold san-serif font, yet replacing o's with a blood spot, this also appears on their famous 'Bliar' t-shirt and poster. The site also sells posters by Peter Kennard, Martin Rowson, Jamie Reid, Ralph Steadman and Clifford Harper. Having looked at a number of these I feel that the style of the design work produced should have influences from these different aspects, though it must remain relevant to the brief.

Concept - Working on a new protest/series of propaganda for Stop The Wars - using graphics, slogans and facts as content for posters, banners and flyers.

- Current evidence to consider using - The press is full of reports that Theresa May will seek a vote in parliament for British airstrikes against Assad if she wins a big enough majority in the general election. They show that she is keen to step up British military involvement in the Middle East and in particular that she wants to position Britain as Donald Trump's most enthusiastic and loyal military ally.

Ethical Design - Meme Culture and Current Politics

In todays society social media and digital content is at the forefront of everything, being use by political groups to broadcast messages and ideas through status', videos and images. A more modern aspect of social media phenomenon is Meme's, these a comedic images defined as 'an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means.', memes are used as social commentary, with topics like politics being commented on, above are a number of memes which have been produced and shared (viral) on social media which are inspired by the upcoming general election. Memes are being used to scrutinise political leaders and ideas, for example Theresa May has been under scrutiny for her policies and the phrases she has used in recent interviews and speeches, one which has been heavily looked at on social media and meme culture is her 'Strong and Stable Leadership' quote which is being used in satirical ways to undermine the current PM. These techniques echo those which were used in the past just through different ways, editing photos of popular culture icons (i.e Daleks) and adding Theresa Mays face to mock her, making her look like Davros an evil overlord character from British tv show Doctor Who.

These techniques and quotes can be used on a bigger scale to produce posters and put across messages in an almost satirical style.

Ethical Design - Digital experiments - idea development

Through Drawn experiments, it helped me to realise the style and tone I wanted the poster to communicate, though to fully feel the effect of the words and the tone of the poster, it had to be produced digitally to push where it could go. Through designing ideas digitally the project soon evolved into new ideas and different ideas which adopted more colour, larger type and a cleaner feel than the rough images had previously been outlined in the development stages. I experimented with the colours that could be used, looking at black as the main colour, yet attempting to add in reds and greens, primary colours which would make type bold, especially with the black type. I refrained from using images to begin with, only experimenting at the end with them, wanting to keep a type heavy poster as that is what is needed on this poster, it will hold the chosen content which clearly puts across the message of 'Stop The Wars' 'Vote No to War' campaign. Choosing to use bold san-serif type to have bold clear type which clearly shouts the message off the page, I began by using Universe bold a simple standard san-serif font with simple features though this was too simple and didn't have much personality to it, at least not one which was needed to be on the posters. Looking at repetition of the message to really get it across and how the words can be used most effectively, experimenting with rows, large type, overlapping and different colours, though at this point the limitations of digitally developing the posters became apparent. 

Through playing with form and colour it became clear that the posters were too flat and needed more character to make them unique, stand out and project the message within the content. These limitations and inspiration from research influenced the idea that the poster would be screen printed. Many political posters are screen printed and produced through more traditional methods, this method is cost efficient while also being a simple way to mass produce posters. Though screenprinting is not without its limitations, there are different things which must be considered such as colour mixing, stock and printing preparation. The posters are A3 but can be transferred onto A2, the screens for screen printing which are available will accommodate up to A2, though that is a huge size which would make them difficult to distribute, especially if the posters will use a Guerilla style of ad campaign where the posters will be put up across the city without permission. The design needs to incorporate the bold message as well as be viable to screen print.