Type & Grid - Workshop 2

From the last session we were told to find a magazine spread and draw out the grid for that article. We then had to scale it down so we could create thumbnail sketches of this spread. With the grid we were to re design the spread using some or all of the elements, to create a more designed sensed spread. We have to produce 18 thumb nails, then work up one of the 18 spreads.
On the magazine spread we chose we had to work out the point size of the different type, the linefeed, leading and pica. This will be needed when digitalising the spread.

Article i chose to use, all the relevant information has been marked up on the spread.

original grid for the magazine.

Scaled down versions of the grid. The smallest one is the grid that i used for my thumbnails.

First sheet of thumbnails. Experimenting with the different elements of the spread. I only chose to use a couple of the components on the spread, because i wanted the thumbnails to be more focused on the actual article. I think they look a lot cleaner and the layout has been thought out and looks a lot more professional.

100 things… rationales and evaluations

Throughout this brief we have been revisiting our rationale and making more specific as we go along, i thought i do a seperate post to show the develop of the rationale and how it has become more and more specific to the audience.

First Rationale:
Backpacking information pack. 
10 outcomes:
1. Timeline of history of travel - A2 poster
2. Flight information - A3 infograph
3. Accommodation - booklet
4. Characteristics of Backpacker - A3 poster
5. What to pack - booklet
6. Transport - booklet with map of each region
7. Attractions - booklet with map of each region
8. Destinations - booklet with map of each region
9. Visa/insurance/jobs - booklet
10. Packaging design of the information pack

The title of the information pack will be 'Australia: the essentials to Backpacking'. The pack will be slightly bigger than A5. Everything inside will vary in format, just so that its something different and makes it more interesting for the reader and for me when i'm designing it, all the different formats will fold down to A5 though. I have decided A5 size as i think its a nice size that fits well in your hand when reading and looks good on display too.


2nd rationale:

This is where i decided to focus my 10 ideas more on one subject within what i wanted to do, and make it more or series than just random designs here and there. This would make my whole project look alot more professional and focused.

Detailed Rationale:

This version of my rationale was alot more detailed, its were i began to think of the audience of my products more and how i was actually going to design my products, with the imagery and type. This point was where all the design ideas started to flow.

Evaluation, Focus & Development

Evaluation, focus and development.

EVALUATION

What is the problem?

To provide information for backpacking around Australia, through the means of travel guides.

What subject of study are you focussing on?

Travel guides, minimalistic design, information graphics

To what depth are you investigating this area/subject? Is this sufficient?

For the travel guides i have researched into guides through primary and secondary resources, also taking particular interest into the design of the inside pages. For information graphics i have looked at simple but efficient symbols and ways of displaying information through simple graphics.

What is the form and amount of your research to date?

I have researched into my given subject as much as i feel i can, i have found all the relevant information i need to produce my 10 products. For the design side of things i have researched through primary and secondary resources to get an idea of the way to design the booklets, using the designs out there already i have kept it inline but changed and revamped the whole 'travel guide' aesthetic.

What visual material do you have to work with?

Again i have looked into the designs of travel guides and pocket guides that are out on the market at the minute. This has given me visuals of the current style within many of the travel guides. I will use this to work from and work up my own designs, relating to similar elements but revamping the whole look.

Is there an appropriate amount of work for the time you have had to develop it?

I think so yes. I have done thorough research and taken time over doing this, this has provided me with the relevant information and made the design flow alot easier.

If there isn't why is this? How could you improve your work rate?

For what i am producing as my final 10 products, i believe i have enough research for everything, but there is always something that you can improve or research into differently to get more information. But i feel i have done enough to get the information needed.

What is your time scale? When is the deadline?

The overall brief was 5 weeks, for the actual design stage of this project we have about 2 weeks left.

What is achievable in the time available?

I am going to design my 10 final products to the best standard that i can within this given time.

What methods are you using to evaluate the progress of your ideas?

Throughout the brief i have been doing design sheets, planning out designs and ideas to get to the final design of everything, i have been evaluating all these design ideas throughout and commenting on them on my blog.

FOCUS

What are you identifying as areas worth developing further?
I am looking at developing the idea of a travel guide, that is well designed and has the relevant information included, but simplified by using info graphs. I am taking a travel guide and going to make the design much more readable and more aesthetically pleasing.

What are you trying to communicate?
I am communicating information about backpacking. It is to inform the readers.

What audience have you identified?

Backpackers - 18-30 - young adults - covering both sexes and both students and working people.

Who are they?

The public. People who enjoy being in the outdoors, travellers, backpackers.

What problem(s) have you identified?

Informing people about backpacking in Australia. Relevant information about it and what they need, information about places in australia.

How do you intend to solve these?

Displaying all the information in travel guides. These will be split down into different categories.

What further research is required?

I need to find out more information about:
- climate
- transport in different areas
- distances from main cities to smaller towns, airports too.
- maps of australia
- tourist attractions

What is your intention?

To design a series of pocket travel guides covering the whole of australia. These will be split into three main categories:
- preparation
- maps
- city guides

DEVELOPMENT

Have you moved on from your initial starting point. If so how and why?

Yes i have, my initial idea was to create 10 posters on backpacking through infographics, when i looked at creating these i couldnt really find any subjects within backpacking to create info graphics on. So i thought to do an information pack about backpacking in different areas around the world. I realised that this was too broad, so narrowed it down to Australia. When we finally got onto the designing stage i realised this would be too much to do, so i simplified it down to the 10 guides i have produced now.

What methods are you using to document this development?

I have been doing design sheets all the way through the project, any thoughts/ideas be it changes or improvements have been documented on my blog

What processes will you need to use to develop your work?

I am basically working on book layouts for the whole project, within this there will be some designing for illustrations/pictures within the books. But the main part is the layouts. To get these right i will be looking into grids etc and working with a grid throughout the designing stage, experimenting with the grids and layouts will be the best way to develop the guides.

Do these processes require workshop access?

No not really, i am happy with using Indesign, which will be the main program to use. 

When do you intend to access these workshops?

N/A

Crit:

We had a crit before our final one, which was with everyone in the group, we basically had to lay out all our work we had done so far, with some descriptions of what we were going to produce and the direction we were working in. We then swapped places around the room and a second person would answer questions about your work.

I was really pleased with this feedback that i got. I had designed the logo and some of the booklets by this point so i had something to show, but because i had done this and was on with the designing i was worried that if i got bad feedback then i would have to change it all. But it was all good, as you can see above they liked all the visuals and the look of the booklets, they thought that it was a good idea and liked everything they saw. This gave me more confidence and i started doing everything a lot better and quicker because i now knew my template for the booklets was a success!

After this we had to fill out the same form ourself, to self-critise our own work so far and just to give ourself some time to look back and see what we were actually designing and how it was all coming together.

Photoshop Brief - Postcards

From the workshops we did for photoshop we had to go away and design 5 double sided postcards. These postcards had to be based on the photos we had taken in our design principles workshops.
I decided to use the photos from the colour theory workshops, these were the best photos i had and the ones that i thought would work best in a design.
For the design of the postcard i had to choose the colour i was working with which was green, and i am basically going to carry on the investigation we did with car but digitally. I will use the photos of the green card i took to create a pattern on photoshop and then using different colour backgrounds, blending modes and opacities, i will create the designs. Using the blending modes etc should give different effects when using different background colours, so it should be interesting to see.
The bak of the postcards will have a plain white background and the pattern in the background, taking down the opacity, i will design the back like an actual postcard with the space for writing and address. I think this will make it become a better design as you can actually see it in context and what it would look it to scale and in the right format.

Meaning of colour green - Green is the color of nature, fertility, life. Grass green is the most restful color. Green symbolizes self-respect and well being. Green is the color of balance. It also means learning, growth and harmony. Green is a safe color, if you don't know what color to use anywhere use green.

Green is favored by well balanced people. Green symbolizes the master healer and the life force. It often symbolizes money. It was believed green was healing for the eyes. Egyptians wore green eyeliner. Green eyeshades are still used. You should eat raw green foods for good health. Friday is the day of green. Green jade is a sacred stone of Asia.

As this meaning ties in with the whole idea of my postcards i think it will be fine and i am now confident with carrying on with designing the postcards.

From these original designs i had created, i like the idea of them but thought it needed something else within the design of each. As its the photoshop brief and we were doing alot of photo manipulation i thought id add a photo into them some how. For the photo i looked through everything i had on my computer and chose the 5 that i thought best represented nature (because my colour is green, when i think of green i think of nature). So here are the finished designs ready to print.

I have chosen to print onto Antique White card from the library, it is slightly thicker than normal paper and has a nice texture to it, so should give the postcards a nice finish.

100 things…Booklet front covers

For the front covers i wanted to keep the design simple as there not that big, so i am going to use the adapted logo and just have the name of it on it, using the colour scheme too. I think that it will clean and professional, they should stand out in a shop too.

As you can see i have but a bleed on the document, this is because i am going to double side print the page, so the inside will be the same colour as the front cover, this will give me extra room for cutting etc and for the lining up on the printer when printing double sided as its not always accurate.

These printed out really nice and all the colours look good together, when they are laid out it looks like a spectrum going from one end to the other, which is what i was looking at creating, so i am happy with that. 

The only problem i have had is folding them, because i wanted the books to have a thicker front cover, i printed them onto card, but when i folded them to make the booklets the spine has cracked and the ink has come away leaving a white spine and ripped edge, this has really annoyed me and i should of thought of this earlier but if i was to do it again i would definitely use thinner card.