FMP: Past Overhaul

Looking at the style of the past in comparison to my designs for the present I was struggling to see the visual thread that was going to keep the book cohesive. Using colours that were so contrastingly different I think was a big part of this problem, I decided that using one and having different tones of it as the colour scheme would be much more suiting. I chose for the past to be the most vibrant and getting more diluted as it gets to the future, when navigating the book this will hoepfully give a sense of the industry diluting as time goes on.

I carried this colour style through to the Full and Sub chapter divides to make this transition apparent throughout the book. It is in unclear in these images but I also added a white border to the outside of these pages, this made the colours more a center piece to pay attention to, rather than just page furniture. I would of liked to keep the text white for consistency on the future but any colour theme I chose would always have legibility problems, hence having to go with black. This could however have positive connotations for the message, highlighting that the first to chapters set the scene while the future is the core message/prediction.

Previous Version

Current Version

In my most recent feedback it was highlighted that the quote page didn’t evoke the feeling of the past, I was trying to introduce it but having a modern picture and quote just didn’t make that transitition smooth. I was then introduced to the work of Ed Bernays after David suggested his relevance to the subject area. Looking deeper into his history I found so many great nuggets of influence on the field, I have since decided that there will be a few pages directly about the work of Ed Bernays later in this chapter. As I was looking for someone else to quote in my introduction it made sense to use Bernays as a way of forshadowing his inclusion. When building on the page further I tried gradient mapping him to a colour as opposed to the black & white I had been using before, using the chapter colour worked well at giving the page a sense of where you were in the book alongside the type weight, considering this I carried this out through the rest of the pages too, bringing in the pink wherever I would of used black in the present. The inclusion of the cats was my attempt at having the images interact further with the typographic elements. Although they don’t directly affect the text I don’t mind it, on reflection the rest of the book has a static ‘frozen in time’ feel to it with the imagery so playing into that with the more rigid style works in my favour.

The imagery I chose here is a represenation of how brands had illustrate their values just through their appearance as there was no longer the direct contact that existed in traditional shopping. Keeping the link going with cats being sued as a anamorphic signifier when talking about brands. Similiar to the chapter headings I chose not to make the image full bleed for two reasons, because it gave it space to breathe and be more of a focus and also to make the chapter feel bit lighter, Having more negative space in this chapter would hopefully make the next feel heavier.

Previous Version

Following that vein of giving objects more room to breath I realised just how much significant history I was trying cram onto this page, it competely devalued the significane of how marketing mentally impacted branding. In order to account for this split it into three spreads, making it much more digestable while also giving me the opportunity to give more background through examples.

As each page gets closer to the future I used my varying colour themes to depict the gradual dillution.

I had a similiar problem here as with the chapter titles, ultimately I decided to still go with black for legibilty and to carry through with my previous style choice.

The way the page layouts worked out meant that the future was the odd number giving it its own page, this allowed the page rip idea to work alot smoother than the jarring single page that I had previously; I intend to still bring this missing page back later in the book.

Since the last blog I have written my content for the parts on I LOVE NEW YORK, with the core message being about identities not necessarily being masterly crafted over months and thousands of pounds in order to evoke something great. A gut idea is a usually a good idea.

For the first spread I chose to play on the typical ‘design anatomy’ trend of disecting a logo into all of its elements in order to show this idea of perfect balance and craftsmanship. Yes may logos are made up of many perfect circles, but moslty it is an idea, the construction of it is secondary. I made sure to make the diagram satirical in the way that the lines do not actually create equilibirum incase it was misconstrude into looking like I was seriously deconstructing it.

An identity does not have to be geometrically perfect to be great.

The stylings of this page are designed to suggest a sense of gut vision of what an identity should be, I used the original sketch for the ILOVENEWYORK logo in order to further bring the idea to fruition of how it can come from humble beginings. This part of the chapter is meant to show a stark difference in design mentallity to some of more recent brands like Burberry.

Now that I have established a strong sense of chapter identity for both Past and Present I will now continue on my content for each to the point that each are fully realised and then begin putting that into design; allowing me to finish both chapters.

With easter break in its infancy my project for the break will mostly be to focus on creating this idea of a future of branding.

FMP:Designing Now Pt II

Since saying that I was done until the critique, I have since found some time to add another pages, hopefully this should open myself up to more expansive feedback.

It may also be clear now that I have a system of switching between both black and white pages within this chapter, there is no set reason for why each is its set colour other than what fits the aestetic most. For this pages for example it did not have the same impact on black and felt lost. The design of this page is to replicate the aspect ratio of a phone, without being overly explicit and adding the phone itself. The text itself is about how content adapted to the shapes and sizes of the new wave of devices so I have tried to give suggestion of shifting size, this could be more experimental I feel.

Of the pages created so far, this spread works the least succesfully. It fits the visual feel well enough but just doesn’t add much to the conversation, this is another that I feel could be revisited. With the page being about inclusivity I feel there would be room to make it a stand out page, perhaps with heavy use of colour that would make it unique to the rest of the chapter, suggesting how brands will go out of their comfort zone if they have to, just be inclusive.

This spread discusses the change in how physical stores work no that they have their digital link. As it made sense to use factual imagery on this page I chose to keep it simple and refined , with the layout drawing the most attention to the imagery. Having the picture in this position going full bleed at the top looks visually strong and I intend to replicate across the rest of the design when I am displaying pictures.

I had some rather big type in previous pages but for this one I opted for even bigger, this was to give a feel of the current state of the online influencer space. Youtube videos in particular are more sponsored than ever, with videos having mid-rolls within the video as well as standardised adverts. And in order to provide ‘full-disclosure’ on the views cast in the video they are likely accompanied with a #AD to cover this. Brands have been using influencers in recent years as a new form of advertising, instead of opting for set adverts they can get a whole army of people that are already loved to pedal a message, saving the brand creating any new relationships directly with the consumer.

This felt like perhaps my most experimental of the pages created, I’m not quite sure what inspired me to create it in this way but I’m loving the fun appeal of it, even if it is simple. The spread itself is centered around how the ever present personal assistants that we use can be used to push a brand, so having the ears listening in felt like a fun metaphor.

Using these more experimental and light hearted jests could be a good avenue to follow in the editorial, as much as the serious and heavy vibe fits the time zone, I think there must be ways that both can be present so that the design feels more ‘me’.

Protected: D&AD:Visual Research; Richard Wentworth

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Decision Trees and Clip Development

Continuing on from my idea of using film clips to make a video advertisement I have put together my first draft using the same visual style as my first test. Originally I intended to just use clips from any well known films but I have now taken it in a themed direction of sticking to all halloween clips. The thinking behind this is that there could be a series of these, each using different thematic holidays as their visual style. By doing this there would be a sense of incorporating the campaign into every day life. Even though this is only a first draft it did take a surprisingly long time to put together, a lot longer than I had originally expected considering I didn’t have to do any animation . The process was quite fiddly but I do like the visual style quite a bit.

I am left with two main concerns after though, the first was the sound, I had intended to overlay some kind of beat that was representative of an irregular or regular heartbeat but it just didn’t fit. I tried music as well, ones with a irregular beat that fitted the theme, i tried songs like Put a spell on you by Screamin Jay hawkins but music like that didn’t fit either. For now I have left it soundless and hope that when I develop the visuals further the direction for the music will be more apparent.

My other worry is the overall message, I think the slow pace of the video plays a part but the message just isn’t as strong or memorable as I had hoped. The visuals feel just that bit too random and separate from the message as much as I try to tie them in. I think in a revised version I would have to find clips that fit slightly better with the message, this could be following suggested actions that are being said or have clips that follow on from each-other. Either way it is going to be difficult one to get it just how I envisioned.

There is nothing to say I need to necessarily do printed outcomes but I have been considering how to elaborate on the diagnosis process and how someone would go about it, I have eluded that the viewer should do it but have said very little but how they would do so. So this next piece of design is meant to solve that, thinking about it as information design I have created a decision tree of sorts that guides you through the process. It was a fun one to think about constructing and it still allowed a bit of play amongst the serious nature. The first step technically serves little purpose as they both go to the same place but it is there to demonstrate that whether you think there could be something wrong or not you should still be checking regardless. I then go onto describe the process with a few points that guide you to seek GP assistance if it is irregular. The tree ends with a reminder that it is not something to just do once and forget about and that it should repeated in the future, something I feel should be in all of the outcomes in some way. In terms of how this would physically work I think this could work maybe as a fold up poster with the information in the top right being folded in a way that it is the front – giving information about what it is. Equally this could be reformatted into a leaflet of sorts where each decision is divided through the book. I think the concept is strong for the this context and if I found the right way to develop it it will work well.

Mind your own business- Sales

At this point in the project we ha started to build up a reasonable back stock of product that was ready to sell. In order to be able to gage sales for the final sales day while also ironing out any sales kinks we chose to participate a pre sales christmas faire event in the business building, this was on the 5th – five days before our main event. This ended up being invaluable to the success of our venture. In order to prepare for this event we had bought a card reader, for the simple reason that we believe cash is an outdated method in current times. It cost us £20 but it was a cost we were willing to factor in and could be easily made back, and we may of even gained extra sales by just having this option of paying. We also procured a mannequin for extra display-ability of the belted tool rolls and printed out any of our point of sale materials. Looking at the actual sales that were made for that pre-sales day it could be seen as underwhelming; However, we did on that day take preorders for the following week in which people could express a level of customisations in what they wanted. So factoring in these to this days sales means we did actually come off fairly well from it. We did feel that there are a number of contributing factors to why this day did not quite go as well as we had hoped. The biggest one being its location in the business center as it is primarily students that would not particularly have a use for this product and because of the set day that it was on there were also few art students on campus at all as they did not need to be in, leading to an all round quite day of sales for most stalls. The pitch itself did cost us nothing so apart from the cost of our time it was still a successful profitable day and worth doing for the experience and knowledge.

The main sales day was much more successful due to its pitch right in the middle of the main arts building in the heart space. All of our preorders came through to collect and pay which was a good start to the day as it was an extra 6 sales already putting in positive funds with the seed fund all made back, laying off the pressure for the day with that security behind us. On the morning of sales we were technically still in the making the process having some us on sales and some in the stitch room. This was not for a lack of time management, it was a choice decision to use up as many of our prepped materials that we could as it was important to us that we had as little waste as possible. Although we didn’t necessarily need the extra product we did manage to have no usable off cuts left over, therefore not negatively contributing to the problem with recycling denim at all only positive by taking unwanted jeans out of circulation into this new product. Overall the products were well received and each purchase was a very positive experience. It was clear people did appreciate the handmade background to each roll and the uniqueness that in turn came with each.

Exhibition Space Design

This is the layout that I have decided on the exhibition. It consists of a five room layout, three being exhibition spaces and the other two being exits and entrances. I forced myself to take a step back from trying to take people on some sort of deep experience and focus on how I could apply design and what kind of space would best promote this; then built the space from there. All of the way finding includes the same visual device as the logo in order to have the unified feel throughout. In the exit a ‘brick emporium’ can be seen. Instead of a standard gift shop this exhibition will have only one kind of merchandise. Bricks. Linking back to some of the original ideas of how people attach themselves to physical objects that they can feel and hold, a brick has so many strong characteristics that can promote the feelings of being grounded in the moment to ‘reality’. By having these branded bricks sold on the way out it can be an opportunity of grounding while also something that will always remind you of these ideas, a reminder of how things may not be how they seem.