Considering using the space & displaying double sided prints and a dotted way-finding system:
This was the design I made today however almost all of my group members preferred a neater graphic alternative, I prefer mine in honesty due to the nature of my personal design style and feel it would be better suited as the imperfections are symbolic of those in screen printing. However I'm happy with the design we're going with, particularly as we plan to screen print the logos onto our invitations printing multiple at a time, hopefully producing inconsistency in the prints.
Another idea we looked into was brail, as the layout of black dots visually reminded us of this, Alex made some designs, instead of using it as a logotype I thought it could be an addition to the space; above exhibition doors or on the walls.
Thinking ahead, I started playing around with my design mocking the up on possible beermats as I had done originally before we decided against using the logotype in Halftone as it was too detailed and drew attention away from the prints. This outcome is far more visually aesthetic as well as in keeping with the circles.
These are the other designs we have for the logotype, including the circle as the 'O'.
Our group decided to name itself Half Tone in keeping with this formatting on software that is initially used to prepare images for screen printing, which seemed fitting as the brief is to create an identity branding for Leeds College of Arts' print exhibition which will be held at the Leeds Central Library.
Half Tone images are composed of small dots which can be altered in concentration, we have therefore chosen to use the dot symbolically throughout our branding, with the idea of printing circular badges/ stickers and beermats which will be particularly useful to students, with our branding on it with a hashtag in order to tie in social media. Developing the social media aspect further, we're considering having some form of frame like the ones used in screen printing and/or having fine mesh over the screens, so that people can use this as a frame for photographs, mocked up like an instagram frame, like this example:
I volunteered to start work on some research and the beermats while other group members played around with typography for the logo and colour schemes. I thought it would be a good idea to have screen prints featured as the backgrounds for all our branding, and we all agreed a monochrome logo would stand out on this and leave the focus on the prints. It was natural therefore that we further chose the 'neutral' font Helvetica, before the logo was made I mocked up two beermats just using mock ups of my own potential prints.
This is the logo developed by another group member and below, an implementation onto the beer mat mock up.
Leeds Tapestry - 16 panels of extraordinary work of art about the history of the city.
Newspapers and journals
Online resources
Photocopiers
Printing - black and white, colour
Quiet study area
Readers' group and writers' group
Request service
Special collections
The building itself was designed by George Corson, a Leeds architect with Scottish roots who in fact won the competition to do so. He divided the building into a 'business side' situated on the ground floor and a Free Public Library on the first. The present restoration work has now fully restored the Tiled Hall to its original magnificence, after a £1.5m refurbishment of the gallery and the adjacentArt Gallery. The renovation was completed in June 2007, including opening up the magnificent Victorian tiled hall (used as a café and bookshop) which links the gallery and the library. At first floor level there is direct access from the gallery to the Art Library.
Aside from the history of the building, what interested me most was the mosaic stain glass windows and vibrant blue tiling. In our group discussion we thought about a Way-finding system compiled of black/ white or grey dots, as a continuation with the halftone theme and signifying there is more work round the corner for example (to be continued).
Dr Me design studios are in today to give a session about collage.
Our task was to take 10 photographs that would make a gif when shown in succession, with the topic of a word selected at random from a crossword. We were paired up and our word was 'label'. We chose to use a moving arrow pinned to our collage highlighting individuals we've collaged with labels circling them which we moved so they appeared animated.
I then made two collages continuing on with the theme of 'label':
These collages I then proceeded to make relevant to my project at the moment focusing on Unity Free Party in Hyde Park:
I really enjoyed today, especially going back to traditional hand rendered methods of collage which I used to do almost never using digital methods. I feel today has helped me realise that I should be less hung up on relying on easier digital methods, when in reality this is not essential and is potentially not as personal or original which I strive to achieve throughout all my work.
Dr. Me was incredibly insightful and helpful when it came to creating the gif and composing our ten images and gave good feedback. I feel inspired to continue experimenting with this method of composition for my print and hopefully make a collage by hand initially as opposed to going straight onto photoshop.
Working as part of a collaborative team put together a pitch for the conecept, branding, identity and promotional collateral for the Pubic Spaces Leeds (title to be decided by you ) exhibition at Leeds Central Library
Create an engaging identity and promotional campaign
consider audience, context...
Considerations:
exhibition title
location, times
content, exhibitors
social media
contact details
format
signage
opening night invites
Restrictions:
Costing
Production
Resources
Each day blog to show time management, planning and presentation for a 15 min pitch of your ideas and concept
Considerations:
Identity
Invites
Exhibition
social media
curation
Exhibition Catalogue
Deliverables:
15 min pitch
mock ups of key pieced of print/ digital collateral
Self and peer evaluation
It needs to be relevant
underpinning theme/ concept
consideration of context
adaptable for collateral
consideration of production and materials
Look at:
Sammlung Design Museum
Unplugged exhibiton
OK.RM - Under the Same Sun (Latin American Exhibition
Visit Leeds Central Library
By Friday:
Independant and group research
Exhibition branding primary research : The Tetley ,The Hepworth, Henry Moore Institute
A range of tentative concepts
consideration of group roles
Create PDF relative research
range of tentative concepts, including initial design mock ups of how these would be deployed
list of group roles
The event is paid for through grants and team fundraising, which has included car boots sales, gypsy and folk music nights, jumble sales, dub sound clashes, sponsored leg waxing and various band nights. Each year a new wave of talent is selected by volunteer committee members; the free party aims to celebrate a variety of arts from bellydancing to Dub music. Bellydancing in particular caught my eye as I have recently started taking classes in this; I aim to incorporate the aesthetics therefore of the outfits worn by bellydancers as they include intricate details with coin belts, beads and gems. I could therefore overlay this almost like a net over the top of an image of hyde park, with collages of a variety of different people who attend this community based party. I could also include other elements such as the artists' work, mazes, massage tents and so on having it like a visual clash of everything in the park.
must be:
A3
2 colour print
suitable for public viewing
celebratory
All design decisions must be led by your information
Image:
collage
digital illustration
hand drawn
photographs; typography / objects in studio
Text:
digital
hand drawn/ stencil (Sister Gorita)
Graphus
Printing Stock:
must be A3
paper type?
Other material
Colour
Single/ double sided
folded (could reveal something in reverse)
For Monday 20th
hand in design boards for studio brief 01 (9.30 am)
5 different design ideas for A3 print (ready for crit) - can be printed, on paper, on computer screen etc.
Research various events and happenings in Leeds (in a public space) that helped shape the city.
Outcome is an A3 traditional printed poster celebratory of the event.
Put research into PDF by Friday
Research 2-3 public spaces
find out what flash-mobs, festivals, markets, exhibitions, markets, concerts
Find out more obscure information: organisers backgrounds, motivations
Horsforth Hall Park, Japanese Gardens
Here is an image of the Japanese Gardens, constructed in the early 1980s. This park is within the Horsforth Hall Park, Leeds and was built to reflect the important elements of traditional Japanese garden design. This includes spiritualism and the appreciation of natural materials. However in terms of events taking place here there seems to be none apart from the re-opening of the park as naturally, it was built to remain a place of tranquility as opposed to a public space fit for events.
Leeds City Council executive member for leisure Councillor John Procter, said: "This project has been a major success and the restored garden looks fantastic. The only one of its type in Leeds, the Japanese garden provides a wonderfully tranquil environment with diverse and interesting features, and I am sure it will once again prove a very popular attraction at this well-used community park. Everyone involved in the project can feel very proud of their efforts." It took a staggering £90,000 to reconstruct the park.
There are workshops which you can attend however which aid the preservation of the park; you're taught how to maintain a traditional Japanese garden from trimming hedges to simple weed plucking. I imagine this would be as rewarding as it was de-stressing.
Another place I began researching had the opposite problem, in that I found no evidence of it being in a public space despite claiming itself as a festival with stalls/ activities however it seems that they're all indoors at the Eiger Studios; which is a shame because I love the design of their promotional posters:
I then thought about exploring festivals as a more obvious choice for events in open spaces, and was drawn to those 'less obvious' or in fact rarely documented due to their illegality; these events being 'free parties' which are raves organised in outdoor areas, mainly large parks and forests. It will be more difficult to take photographs and produce imagery from these however I am searching for events. It may actually be beneficial this way as I was planning on documenting the areas which used to hold free parties in the past, taking scenic shots and overlaying them with collages of modern day free parties if I can find one in time, or pictures of people at squat or legal raves, highlighting a progression of the original free party.
There are more free parties organised elsewhere in Yorkshire but uncommonly in Leeds as police have cracked down on illegal raves, squat raves are more common in London where I originally live but ever since large illegal raves were shut down such as the iconic Hounslow rave where a boy overdosed and died, someone lost their finger and violence broke out as police barricaded the disused postal office. Squat raves such as these clearly highlight the negative aspects of such parties almost free from laws, however free parties are usually outside, host far smaller crowds and promote a friendly atmosphere in the surrounding nature as opposed to industrial estate.
I then stumbled across past free parties held by an organisation called 'Unity'.
After riots broke out in 1995 in the L6 area of Leeds, the community was appalled at the bad press they received and were outraged at the police's need to send uneccessary riot vans; a pub was burned down and the public wanted to rebuild a sense of community so in Hyde Park set up a free party named 'Unity', where elderly locals to fresher students came together to party in the park.
Here is footage of the riots.
Here is a an example set from the Iration Steppas Sound system in 2012.
Here is far more raw footage from the event in 2008, a more fitting documentation of the free party.
Union is a continuing party but is unfortunately held in the Summer so I will be unable to physically document it first hand, however I did then go round Hyde Park and took photographs; with the intention of collaging images over the top of people raving, as per my initial idea when looking into free parties.
Imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
It's clear the preferred book design is this cover with Tom Robinson which is also my favourite design as it seems most fitting to the brief, somebody mentioned however that the line coming from his eye which is supposed to be representative of a tear drop is "ambiguous and confusing". Having deleted it I think it does look better.
Competently executed with strong use of typography
It was also noted I should smooth out the cut out on photoshop, I'd initially made this purposely messy to symbolise the roughness of injustice and sloppy handling of the court case however looking at it now it does just appear to look like a mistake, I shall rectify this. The same person however noted that I had "very good use of type/ image with contemporary appearance." It was also noted I should move around the typography so that on the cover the 'A' is further down and on the back cover the text should be moved further away from the image. I initially quite liked the idea of the typography coming out of the head however realise now it effects legibility and looks chaotic.
Appeal to a contemporary readership
This therefore matches the brief for suiting it to a new wave of readers as it's been noted my typography and collaged imagery is contemporary.
"The design with Tom on it is the strongest and most impactful and relates to the focus of the book. The back typography needs to be further away from the image. On the front the typography could be more diagonal."
It was noted my decreasing the textural effect on the feathered hand drawn book design it may look more contemporary, while the imagery of the other design appears modern as it's collaged out of it's traditional context.
Good understanding of the marketplace
"It remains quite a serious design as it's a classical book due to the nature of the subject" so is in keeping and relevantly designed with the marketplace. Someone asked for a higher resolution image of Tom Robinson however I feel this would subtract from the merge of tradition with contemporary as this image is taken from the original film and I feel enraptures the concept of old thought patterns and segregation. The typography I feel is what makes this cover particularly modern but remains understanding of the market place with the inclusion of an original film image. Have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against
On the other book cover design it's been commented that on the back of the book the text is too large and needs to be broken up, possibly into columns. I asked people if it was clear the image on the front was drawings of feathers as the image trace I used blurred the lines, which although I do like as I enhanced the texture; I was concerned it was unclear. People noted it was initially unclear, one person thought "it looks like they were twigs at first". This proves however that I have moved away from the typical use of the symbolic mockingbird, as I have done with the other book cover design as often they stray away from the main topic, this may highlight a shift away from racial segregation and development of equality.
On reflection I've decided not to alter my final design (the Tom Robinson design) to make it cleaner cut in terms on neatening up my photoshop collage as this is the way I intended it. To avoid copyright infringements however I plan to experiment with altering the image more, with image tracing and or drawing the image roughly in photoshop as I feel this is more my style. I furthermore like how the typography appears to be coming out of the side of his face so won't be altering the spacing.
This is my final design. I aligned the design to fit within the guidelines which I hadn't originally and intensified the drawing over the photography as I felt this works really well, representing the chaos the Tom Robinson trial creates, as well as being symbolic of mental chains enforced on him through the injustice of segregation.
Considering using the space & displaying double sided prints and a dotted way-finding system:
