The Fundamentals - Graphic Design Work

This is the work from our first Graphic Design project, The Fundamentals, including my CD Design cover, I have included images from each of the pages which I completed in my sketchbook. I have researched Josef Muller-Brockman, Matt Needle, Typography and Logos, David Carson, Ed Fella, Mr Brainwash and Christopher Wool. I have included my "Trubble" CD cover, "The Process" CD cover which was inspired by Mr Brainwash and my final Process T-shirt and CD covers. I really liked this task as it gave us free rein to design many covers and t-shirts, so that we were able to vary the colours and the techniques used. By using Adobe Photoshop to edit images and make typefaces, I created individual, unique final pieces.

Conflict in Words and Images

Typography

I used the Website 1001 Free Fonts to create some magazine headlines which are related to my chosen subject field. Overall I really liked the first three options as i feel that they could really stand out when placed on a page with images, however i do not like the fourth example as I feel that it looks childish. I have also included examples using Love, Comedy and Horror.

My Chosen Font

To choose my final type face, i Went onto the website MyFonts and looked through all the fonts. I really liked the

look of the fonts Miller Banner. Here, I chose to select "Choose your own sample text" and Typesd in my heading, I then was able to chose which of the fonts I liked best. I have included a few of the examples which I created.

Miller Banner Bold 

Miller Banner Italic

Miller Banner Light

Miller Banner Roman

This is the final type face which I have chosen to use on my Final Piece. It is called Miller Banner Light Italic. I really like this font as I think that it is a very sophisticated font, which adds a mature style to the article. I think that the flicks which have been added onto the lettering, which give the impression that the letters are all joined together. This helps the Typeface to be fluid and ensures that it flows smoothly.

David Foldvari

David Foldvari was born in Budapest, Hungary, but has lived in the United Kingdom for the past 20 years. His work often tackles issues of alienations, identity and belonging, formed by a preoccupation with his eastern European roots combined with growing up in the UK. His work is often darkly humerous, bold and often political in tone his considered and energetic draftsmanship having led to a prolific output both personally  and commercially. Some of his previous clients includethe New York Times, Greenpeace, Random House, Penguin Books, Dazed and Confused and Island Records. In 2007 he earned a  D&AD award for involvement on the Nike Run London and for his input on the Becks; The Information.

I really like Foldvari's work. He used really simple techniques which are really effective. By adding blocks of colour with Greyscale images, David creates Aesthetically pleasing works. Foldvari picks out really individual images and mixes them with contemporary, controversial backgrounds and supporting images.

                                            

Josh Vanover

Born and raised in North Carolina, designer/illustrator Josh Vanover has established a dense and foreboding visual language. Often working in black and white, Vanover masterfully fuses hand-drawn elements with stark photographic source materials. He is an unfettered manipulator of original and found imagery; his style informed by an encyclopaedic knowledge of visual sources ranging from cult film footage, erotica and video stills to cartoons, war photography and even phsycedelic. Vanover's signature style and workman-like approach have attracted the attention of clients such as Nike, Stussy and Hennessy, and most recently having done album artwork for the likes of Linkin Park.

Art Chantry

Art Chantry is an American Graphic Designer often associated with the album covers and posters he designed for Pacific Northwest bands, such as Nirvana, Hole and the Sonics. He is also notable for his Logo Design work. Chantry designed the cover for "Some Perople Can't Surf" which was written by Julie Lasky. Chantry advocates a low tech approach to design that is informed by the history of the field. His work has been exhibited at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, the Smithsonian and the Lourve. He recieved a batchelors degree from Western Washington University in 1978. I really like Art Chantry's style of work. The way that he uses block colour to emphasise points is a really professional approach. I think that because Chantry has edited photographs, for example the man's face in the photograph below, he mises both high-tech manipulation and low-tech manipulation to create amazing outcomes.

Magazine Layouts

I have collected four examples of Magazine Layouts from the Internet, and I am going to be using them as examples for Good/Bad/Ugly. The First layout is a really good example of a Good magazine layout. There is a good use of space, which makes the article look really well planned out. The colours also work really well together, by using a greyscale palette, the designer has created a sophisticated article. The image on the opposite page to the text works really well as it looks like it could be a make believe photograph. I really like this layout, I feel that it is the best one which I chose to evatuate.

The Second Layout which I have chosen is my example for the Ugly magazine layout. I feel that the colours are too bland and there isn't and images to break up the text.The few spashes of colour which are on the spread are not really enough to break up the blocks of black and white. However I do feel that the light blue and black work really well together and add a small amount of thought into the article. I don't really like this Layout as it is really far too plain and simple. It does not look very inviting, therefore I don't think that the article would entice the reader.

This is the Third example I have for the magazine layouts. I think that this article would fit into the Bad category. I feel this way because in my own opinion there is too much going on within the article itself. the colours are too bright and they do not really work that well together, the text is small and illegible, and the image makes the page look quite immature. I dont think that the designer had put much thought into the layout as it is too busy to be a sophisticated, professional layout.

"Wet" Magazine Covers

Wet was an avant-garde Los Angeles-based magazine that revolved around the idea of "gourmet bathing" and later evolved to "gourmet bathing and beyond." Its publisher and creator was Leonard Koren, an architecture school graduate. The magazine covered cultural issues and was known for its innovative use of graphic art.

Over the years, Wet began to reflect a broader expanse of stories, capturing a kind of smart, artsy Los Angeles attitude that was emerging at the same time as punk, but had its own distinct aesthetic. Wet lasted 34 issues, spanning the years 1976 to 1981. I really like these  magazine covers, alothough the colours are really bright and shouldn't work together, they work really well. The overall front cover gives the impression that the designer had cut and pasted the cover and then re-photographed it to create a unique and individualistic cover. Most covers displayed contraversial images dealinf with issues such as sexuality, conspiracy and murder.

My Magazine Ideas

These are two examples of my own magazine layouts which I have completed. By using Adobe Photoshop CS3, I used images found on the internet which were relevant to my chosen idea. I decided to use the phrase "9/11: A Conspiracy?" for the first of my examples. I chose to have an image of the plane crashing into the second tower because I feel that it is a really powerful, Contraversial image, and really gives us an insight into the sheer force of the attacks. By creating two layers on Photoshop, I erased the back ground of the first layer, so that it was just the tower, smoke and buildings. I then added the second layer on top of this, Here i decided to change the opacity of the whole image, giving me the desired effect. I really like the sharp contrast between the bright orange of the flames, to the thick black smoke and the pale blue sky. I think that this works really well and actually looks quite professional. I decided to use a white font that was quite formal for my design, as I think that it looks really professional and the colours will really stand out. For the second of my examples, I chose to use an image of the World Trade Centre's Memorial Pool. By changing the tones to Greyscale, I created a melancholic feeling. The text had been chosen to state the date and the simple, "We Still Remember Them" ties in really well with the image used. I really liek the font used here, I feel that it gives a sincere feel. Again, I chose to use a white font, I feel that it hasn't worked as well for this design, I think this is because the background colours are fairly light in tone and the white can't really contrast against much. If I was to create these examples again, I think I would like to have a go at using brighter colours, therefore possibly adding a fresh feel towards the images.

I also decided to have a go at designed a fun, 80's themed magazine cover. By using Bold Block colours I created a bright cover. I am not really keen on this design as I do think that it is bland and doesn't really have much going for it. The font which I used to create the title, is a fun Sans Serif font, which gives a 80's feel too it. The repetition of the design is a really simple idea, yet I feel that it does look alright, and could work quite well if it was bigger than two prints. 

Typography and Design.

Logo Style

Image Replacement

 

Combination Text and Photography

Abstract Shapes and Letters

Typography Silhouettes

Augmented Typography

These are just a few of the styles of Typography in Design. I have searched the styles on the internet, and have collected some images of the design so that I have future reference to help design my Final Piece.  I think that this will help me because i will be able to choose how the text would be styled.

My Final Magazine Layout (David Carson Inspired)

This is my final magazine layout idea. I had a lot of inspiration from David Carson with this idea. After researching Carson in Detail, I decided that I really liked his "BOUNCE" magazine layout, this is the particular image which gave me inspiration for my final idea. I chose to use the story of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and afte researching into it, I decided that I wished to go in to depth about whether or not the attacks were a Conspiracy.  By using a bright colourful image, in contrast with the Black background with White writing, I created an eye-catching poster, which draws attention to the graphic image. I chose to use some captions which I had made up, that I hope create an idea of how the conflict in America at this time, was for the people. I am really pleased with this final magazine layout, and I think that by uysing David Carson as an influence was a really good idea. I have tried to put my own twist on the layout as I have kept all my text horizontal and in the same bold typefont. If I was to re-create this poster, I think I would like to have changed the colour schemes, which could give a totally different effect than that by using a black background. Looking back on this I realise that I have cheared more of a poster than a magazine layout, So I have developed this idea and have tried to make it more like the way David Carson works. I am going to achieve this by using distorted texts of various sizes, I am going to inster transparent boxes beneath the texts aswell to create a stand-out effect. I would also like to edit the photograph of the twin towers, possibly by creating an illustration of the towers.