OUGD402 | Studio Brief 02 - Designers that interest me

I find pinterest the easiest place to find designers that inspire me. Funnily enough, many of the designers that I found specialise in branding for other people/companies.

Jessica Comingore is a design studio which specialises in Graphic Design, Photography, web design and Art Direction.

www.jessicacomingore.com

I was most inspired by her own self-branding in the form of business cards. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love flowers. Most of what I own features some sort of floral pattern. So floral pattern is how I have imagined my own branding to be.

Lauren Ledbetter is another design studio that is focussed on branding. I am inspired by their illustrative approach, especially in terms of type. Much of this is created using ink and paint and is handwritten. This is a technique I plan to explore as a part of my Personal & Professional Practice.  

laurenledbetter.com

I like the range of brands and styles that the studio covers. This shows the talent within the agency. Each brand identity is displayed in a greyscale tile format. I think the greyscale adds an element of mystery to each branding. 

Here are two of my favourite brand identities on the site.  I've noticed that both of these feature Serif fonts such as Didot and Bodoni. This is interesting as Bodoni was my chosen typeface to describe me in one of the first study tasks. This may reflect the fashion magazines that I am so interested in reading. In the first branding I like the pastel colours. These are the colours I always naturally choose, they also suit my skin tone for clothing as I have fairly pale skin. I do also like the second colour palette as it features tone which I feel represent nature which I am amazed by.

Salted ink is a design studio I found a while ago on Pinterest. Again, the logo features a script/hand rendered font, and the colour scheme on the website features pastel tones. 

The studio specialises in logo and branding, web design and event branding. 

saltedink.com

The portfolio on the website is brilliant in that the process of the design is shown, including showing images of what inspired each branding and the logo designs that they went through.

Below is a great example of showing the design process. I particularly like the bright colours on this design and the plant inspiration. 

From seeing all the brands above, the quality of the photography is evident. This is a skill I really want to master, and I plan to practise this will the cameras available in LCA.

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 02 - Self Branding

I am very excited about this next brief as it allows me the opportunity to brand myself. The challenge I feel that comes with this brief is that I need to work out what kind of person I am and how to communicate this. It will also allow me to consider what areas of graphic design I am most interested in.
The brief instructs me to "reflect upon your learning aspirations and design direction.". I feel that I need to spend time breaking down what I am about, a planning stage and research into myself is key with this brief. 

"You should aim to communicate the context of your interests by referencing specific designers, studios, principles and audiences where necessary."

I need to ask myself what designers I am interested in! 

"Fully resolved self branding, including but not limited to:
A logotype/symbolColour swatchTypeface (display and body copy)Presentation template (grid)"

What would I like to create as a part of my branding? What is relevant?



NEXT STEPS
Create a plan for the brief
Research designers that I am interested in
Research MYSELF - break down questions in brief

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 01 - The Great Interior Design Challenge

Recently, I have been watch 'The Great Interior Design Challenge' on BBC2 and have become obsessed with the world of interior design.
Although it is not directly related to graphic design, I feel that the show has been incredibly inspiring for me as a designer. I have been interested in interior design from a young age and even embarked on some work experience when I was younger, so naturally after watching the show I have engrossed myself into the design world again. One thing the show particularly inspired me to do was up cycle! Due to the contestants tight budgets it was the best option. But it has amazed me what you can do with something old. I feel that this can definitely translate into my design as I am a student on a tight budget. I also like the idea of photographing the 3D and bringing this into my designs.  The show has also challenged me to get creative with colour and to develop my understanding of colour relationships. I now have the Dulux paint swatches layering the walls in my room. I am also thoroughly excited to live in a house next year as this gives me more of an opportunity to experiment with interior decor!
After the show, I began to research the presenters themselves. I am particularly interested in Sophie Robinson (photographed above). I have fallen in love with her website and the designs featured on it. I am interested in her career in magazines as this is an area of graphic design I would consider entering.
I have now begun a board on pinterest- pinning all interior inspiration I can find with a focus on up cycling. I have even joined Leeds freecycle!
I am eager to own my own house but for now, I am going to use this source of inspiration to improve my creativity in graphic design.

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 01 - SNASK Clients/Yay Festival

In continuation of my research of SNASK, I fell in love with this design SNASK created for the Yay festival. I always love a floral background- probably because I'm a girl - but I also adore the painted style in which the main text is created. The text is readable despite the background being fairly complex, and the logo is simplistic yet striking. It just ticks all the right boxes for me. What I also think is great about SNASK is that with their designs they display colours and typefaces used in each design. I am definitely inspired for future projects! 

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 01 - SNASK

SNASK is a wonderfully unique graphic design studio which we had to research as a group. I was instantly struck by the movement on the homepage of their website produced by a variety of stop monition and GIFs. They are rule breakers who appear to me to do whatever the hell they want- and it works! Their manifesto is particularly striking...

OUR MANIFESTO

It doesn’t matter if you’re a brand or a dog. Say it loud and like you mean it. Here is our 10 point manifesto.

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01) If you don’t like your work – quit.

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02) If you love someone – let it show.

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03) Generosity always pays itself back automatically.

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04) Always smile when you talk to an annoying person on the phone.

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05) If you want to be a rock star, don’t study graphic design.

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06) Talk with clients as you talk to your family, friends and pets.

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07) Social skills are as important as being good at setting type or knowing how to spell.

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08) See people as people, not as target groups.

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09) Just because you wear a black suit doesn’t mean you’re successful.

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10) Having enemies is good and necessary.

They have a great handmade approach to design which only adds to their unique attitude. I also love their attitude towards what they choose to design in that they will only design for something that they agree with! I think this approach is something all designers need to consider. 

However, it is also clear that they have a very relaxed approach...

"In our studio its okay to drink milk straight from the bottle. SNASK OFF" 

This must generate a very positive atmosphere in the studio, hence the production of great work. 

What I think is wonderful is that despite all of these unusual characteristics of SNASK, it is still obvious that they have a professional attitude towards their work. 

Below is the slide show we created as a part of our research task...

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 01 -Geometric flooring - Ana Varela

After browsing on itsnicethat.com I came across an art director named Ana Verela. I was particularly interested in her flooring design which was created to disguise the lines between each panel in the flooring. 

The design is simple, yet effective. I admire the use of simple lines and shapes to make a creative pattern. I can imagine this technique on posters and packaging. I may experiment with this technique after learning a few skills from our first illustrator workshop. 

OUGD402 | Study Task 2 - Who am I?

For this task, we were asked to answer a series of questions about ourselves, then research Massimo Vignellis 6 basic typefaces. From this we would then select which of the 6 fonts best described ourself. 

For this task I put together a presentation explaining my answers and research. 

An introductory slide from my presentation.

Here are my answers to the questions we were given- 

When are you happiest? 

When I'm at a christian event called Soul Survivor. 

When I've bought new clothes!

What is your greatest fear?

Being forever alone. Being sick!

What is your happiest memory?

Everything from my trip to Kenya but in particular when we travelled up a mountain to a remote school and I was the first white person the children had ever seen.

What was your most embarrassing moment? 

In year 6, I failed my cycling proficiency and cried in front of the whole class.

What makes you unhappy? 

Seeing other people deliberately trying to make other people unhappy! 

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

artist/vet/ballerina.

What is your guiltiest pleasure? 

Watching friends constantly (Not even guilty!!) 

What is your favourite hobby?

eating, sleeping, watching friends, shopping, sending ugly snapchats, going to Nandos.

Where is your favourite place?

Southport, its my home. 

- Font Research -

I found it surprisingly difficult to research the fonts. This was for a mixture of reasons. Firstly, many of my sources contradicted each other factually, and it was difficult to identify how reliable the source was . Secondly, I came across a lot of typographic terminology I am yet to learn and understand. I did try to learn what various words meant but I felt that an explanation from a tutor would be more valuable to be and that I would gain a more solid understanding of typography this way than the mixture of sources I was coming across. 

There is a lot to consider when choosing a font which describes you, so I decided to focus my ideas on where the font is used and its initial uses. I found it much easier to understand the font and why it was designed by looking at it from this point of view, rather than through the structural forms of the letters themselves. I would find it difficult to relate myself to a letter by its shape. 

For my presentation, I laid out the basic facts about the fonts such as when it was created and who by, and of course where it is commonly found. 

I was actually fairly surprised as the more I looked into these fonts, I really began to appreciate the typographic forms and see beauty in each letter form, even on fonts I was originally put off by!

I don't feel that the answers to my questions above really made any font stand out to relate to me. I chose a font that was not so visibly related to me in the questions. My final choice was Bodoni. This was because of its success in fashion labels and magazines. I have always been massively interested in magazines, mainly because of the layout design. It is what got me interested in graphic design in the first place. I used magazines for inspiration and in my art as well, in the use of textures and collage. Of course, I am a bit of a shopping addict and as mentioned I am happiest when I get to fill up my wardrobe more. What also attracted me to Bodoni was its description of a "romantic type" and its use in italian love poem texts. I have always loved a good romcom or in fact any story involving romance. This is potentially why I am so interested in Friends as a TV show because many of the story lines involve a romance of some sort. Finally, I thought I would consider the types form in some sense; I like the contrast in thick and thin strokes in the letters of Bodoni, I suppose this represents a few aspects of my personality, such as my mood swings (haha) and how I feel that I have a real mixed personality- I like a bit of everything. I suppose I go through phases of liking very different things. Its very difficult to explain..but I know what I mean!

A slide from my presentation and my final font. 

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