Chat Room Final Designs & Information Leaflet

I've printed both my posters, the first on A4 matte which is to be stuck on university notice boards and the other on A3 gloss which is to be hung around universities promoting the service to wider audiences of students who may not necessarily be looking out on notice boards or initially contemplate wether they would benefit from the service. 

The vinyl stickers came out really well however it was frustrating during the production process as even though I tried to book a slot to print onto vinyl in the morning on the first day back from easter, it was booked up for two weeks. This meant I had to manually cut out the designs by hand, I'm not particularly skilled with a craft knife so this was very time consuming and initially very crooked. I had to then buy a new craft knife as the previous was just a little too blunt meaning the edges lost pigment as the cut was not so precise, stretching the vinyl.



You can see above how before I went over it with the new craft knife the holes were had very rough jagged edges. After this was remedied, I was really pleased with the outcome.

Feedback:

Subtle but not too vague they make no sense, assuming people have seen the posters, otherwise they're ambiguous enough that people will not feel embarrassed following them if they don't want others to know they're using the service.

Information Leaflet

I felt looking back over this work it could've done with an additional information leaflet. Having no time to print this in the digital print suite due to lack of available slots I've started mocking one up. This is just to make aware that Chat Room is run by student volunteers and is a friendly, confidential environment to express ourselves anonymously, that runs just like a health drop in service so you can avoid waiting lists which my questionnaire stated would put/ have put 100% of students off using welfare/ counselling services.

I can just print this out using a classroom printer, fitting the brief by cutting costs as this is already the biggest strain on welfare services. This leaflet can be handed out during freshers fairs and events such as welfare week, currently happening at Leeds Arts University; furthermore normalising the service.

I chose the final leaflet with help from peer feedback. They liked the text bubble as it was reminiscent of an online chat room, linking it also to the app I intend to make for my COP practical. It also increases the legibility of the font as Loopy Regular has quite a thin stroke.

I feel this service could be implemented in universities and would be beneficial for both students volunteering in terms of work experience and those seeking help, as I’ve heard of so many cases where negligence has led to serious circumstances. 

Photography Poster Outcome

Research/ Inspiration 

For another poster I'd like to show through another medium, one more relatable, the message Chat Room is communicating. Through photography I want to use a model giving it more of a human touch than the other poster, but ensuring I emphasise anonymity visually. This is down to the fact that many people who answered my questionnare remarked how uncomfortable they felt expressing their mental health or issues to do with stress with other people. This stigma and fear of expressing ourselves I aim to tackle through this poster, highlighting also that there is no specific audience or type of person which would be excluded from utilising this service.

I drew inspiration from the character 'No Name' which I remember watching in Spirited Away animated by Studio Ghibli, as a child and being terrified of this demonic manifestation, similar I felt to this fear of expressing ourselves, only this demon actually comes from within us which we can tackle. This mask then lead me to Anonymous, the mask uniting those who rebel against 'the system' and are curious and often aggressive in the means to find out more which seems furthermore relevant in this discussion as we hope to uncover emotions that may be suppressed.

Considering more this idea of a mask or featureless face I stumbled across this image by instagram user mimles, her representation of a hole in her face was created just using make up. This approach visually was perfect. She was inspired by <Salvador Daali's bronze sculpture 'Surrealist Newton'.


Canadian makeup artist Mimi Choi aka mimles has some inspiring makeup designs which led me to question further the face of anonymity:

My favourite was the 'hole in face' which was most appropriate in terms of tentacles emerging from the face.

Feedback agreed this appeared "like a void", this gaping dark casm visually represents mental health perfectly, a place in which monsters are bred (the kraken).  

Implementation 

Experimenting with the concept of anonymity I didn't want the poster to look specific to a certain type of person or gender so as to not alienate student audiences, hence the distortion of the face and gender neutral clothing the model is wearing. The main focus is therefore on the tentacle, being the metaphorical representation of that person's inner demons.

Re-creating this facial void I played around with the breadth of the tentacle, I wanted to use the same tentacle as I am for one of the way-finding stickers, further aiding visual recognition  and fluidity in terms of design. I also added the logo in the bottom right corner indicating a link as well between this and the other poster which will be pinned up on university notice boards. 

This poster however I want to print in A3, this will stand alone and hopefully emphasise the importance of this issue, whilst there is often large prints/ posters around universities advertising certain clubs or people's work, it seems just as vital to advertise the importance of mental health. This will engage wider audiences of students and reach out to those who may not have been looking for it deliberately on notice boards for example, ensuring everyone is welcome and it's not exclusive or something to be ashamed of. 

Poster / Installation Mock up (Final Outcome)

To suspend the bag from the wall I initially had someone holding it but the hand in the way didn't look at all natural as I wanted it to look like it was all falling, I then sewed string to the strap, attaching all the strings to a pin in the wall. As it's thin white string it's not easily visible, I plan to further get rid of these during the editing process. I also used white string to suspend the objects, sewing them into the inside of the bag.

Initially I had the bag upside down so it looked like the hanging objects were falling out of it but in the photos it just wasn't clear visually that this was the case the bag was just upside down for no reason so you can see the printed font less. I adjusted this so the bag looked more like it was falling, as were the objects falling out of the bag. I feel the latter images are a much better composition and enable legibility of the text.

I'm debating wether to remove the spots from the wall, I feel they tie in with the spray painted aesthetic of graffiti so will probably leave them.

Editing / Print

I initially thought I'd just print out the poster with some minor lighting changes but upon playing around with inverting and posterizing effects I found the visuals even more fitting as neon tones emerged, reminiscent of lasers and lighting effects you'd see 'at rave'.

I edited out the pin holding up the bag and string initially, then found the heavily edited version to be mine and my peers feedback:

"So Jump-Up".

People furthermore seemed to find the attention to detail amusing like the scorpion pattern on the empty drugs packet (which is referenced in my bars). 

The neon flashed surrounding the objects furthermore suggest motion, which makes it look even more like the bag is falling and makes me think of someone 'skanking so hard' their 'shotters' pouch' goes flying, with their rave essentials flying out on the dancefloor.

I printed this out onto A3 gloss; it had to be gloss as all Jump Up music event posters are so, it was necessary to fit in with the tacky aesthetic to some degree as the simple composition of the poster itself is very minimal in comparison to the hectic lineup posters advertising nights such as Next Hype; challenging the aesthetic, inspired by the Gunfingers candle, contrasting concepts.

Brief 1: Making the 'Shotters' Pouch'

Screen Printing 

Luke sent me an initial alphabet to approve, before he wrote out my 'bars' which I then transferred onto a screen. Having spent a large part of my last hand in in the textile screen print room I felt very comfortable preparing the screen right the way through to printing it. The outcome was absolutely perfect, I made sure I didn't wash away all the emulsion so as to create a slightly grainy effect, reminiscent of graffiti done with spray cans, as well as logotype for Low Down Deep (Jump Up label: see research).

Unfortunately however Luke is also very preoccupied with deadlines and hasn't had time to finish off all the lyrics so I had to work with most of them written out, however this isn't an issue as the bag won't fit all the lyrics, if they did the font would be way too small to be legible. I made sure I had at least one key word on the bag, which I have, and possibly the most emotive: rapist. 

Figuring out how to attach the fabric was difficult as I tried stitching it but the bag material was far too thick to do by sewing machine (and to awkwardly shaped) or hand. I resorted to using super glue: folding the edges so they don't fray, which in hand helped so that the superglue didn't soak through as much, however in some instances it did however from any kind of distance it's not at all noticeable.

I'm so pleased with the bag, it (minus the minuscule super glue marks) it looks really professional which hasn't even been the main aim, but I feel this has inspired me to continue exploring bag making, I've previously made bum bags "to wear at rave", this could possibly be a business venture. 

Furthermore, Luke's typography goes perfectly with the Jump Up aesthetic and the screen print came out incredibly clean. I now plan to mock up the exhibition set up and photograph it.

Installation Set-up

I was inspired by somebody I met, ironically at a Jump Up rave, who has made great success designing practical pouches perfect for raving and all else.

He gave me his business card and I've followed his instagram for years now; a recent series of posts he made got me thinking about how I want to display my pouch.

 

Brief 2: Wayfinding Final Design

In response to my last group crit, the feedback instructed me to not only remove the head from the logo, but alter the way-finding system in accordance. I just took the key visual representation of mental health, the tentacles. This allows me more freedom in drawing different forms of arrow, feedback also agreed vinyl stickers on the university walls would be the best way of presenting the way-finding system, so it's "not too obvious as to where the arrows lead them unless they've seen the poster" which now says 'follow the tentacle' for further reference.

These two above are what I plan to print on Vinyl as stickers and mock up the way-finding system onto the walls, the latter rising up from the skirting boards. 

Brief 2: Feedback // Final Digital Poster

Showing my digital poster alongside my way-finding ideas people thought I should make it more obvious that these two are linked, they approved my suggestion of adding "follow the tentacle" onto the poster so it's more obvious that the way-finding symbols are arrows as without this it's too vague.

Furthermore they suggested making the logo bigger on the poster to make a point of the fact that this is the key symbol, linked to the way-finding system.

After this feedback I reviewed and altered my poster which received positive feedback that it's more coherent:




I did another crit with other people and they found that the tentacle was somewhat lost in the design and thought I should focus more on this symbol, perhaps having just the mouth with the tentacle emerging "makes it less about the (image of) the person". This made me think about my Moving Images brief where I had a tentacle emerging from a mouth in my animation.

Taking this concept, I utilised one of the frames of my animation to create my new logo, I like the continuation of personal themes as I develop my own style alongside all these projects, my visual language is developing. I wanted to maintain the hand drawn aesthetic as I felt it was more approachable and softens the aggressive nature of the protruding tentacle.

 Alongside this it was suggested I mirror this in the way-finding system, so I use either just the tentacle, or the mouth with this as a symbol rather than the original head logo.



The I played around with the composition until I was happy and feedback agreed this was a lot more appropriate, the tentacle was the main feature which will link to the way-finding system.

Brief 2: Way-finding System Development

 


I had to ensure there was no grey when I filled in colours as the stickers initially looked gappy, of low quality when zoomed out.

For the way-finding I want to keep it consistent with the poster series, it has to be due to it's simplicity which would be impossibly vague unless student's have seen the posters and logo on them. The tentacle and teal colour are key consistent elements which aid visual identity and will enable students to recognise something that initially is too ambiguous to be coherent as a way-finding system. This is to avoid students feeling awkward due to the stigma surrounding mental health. I thought I'd keep the design simple, I have not yet decided if I want it as a vinyl sticker on walls or a normal sticker, which would enable me to add colour.

I chose to have stickers as these are low costing, in-keeping with my brief as there has been so many cuts to welfare services in universities.

Consistent visuals (teal, tentacles) in the way-finding symbol link back to the poster series, similar to the logo in the corner of each, creating visual identity.

Brief 2: Poster 1- Digital Outcome Development

Looking back on what I thought could be my final poster design I felt there was too much going on, in terms of colours as well as typography. I feel it's not fitting in terms of context, it looks too 'cheerful' and playful, holding connotations of informality to a point which I don't feel people could trust this service, mental health is obviously a serious, sensitive topic and making it too aesthetically playful send out the wrong message.

I redesigned it with a more simplistic layout, one that is less chaotic, more legible and less vague without the connotations of joy.

Feedback:

I was initially worried that the message was too vague and worried I may need to add more text to offer explanation but my peers could immediately understand the message. I also questioned wether it was obvious the symbol in the corner is supposed to be an equal sign (=) and luckily this was clear. 

 

The second and third designs (utilising Keep On Truckin font) the warped font is too difficult to read and as it slopes is suggestive of something bad, like a slippery slope which is a negative for this context. The use of black is furthermore too dark carrying connotations of a darkness inhibited by mental health issues.

The turquoise designs use the best colour, more relevant as it's an updated use of colour leading on from existing aesthetic using shades of blue.

People's favourites seemed to be these two:

 




Further feedback suggested I removed the head from the center and try using it as a smaller logo in the corner, keeping it minimal and adding emphasis to the central text which. I made sure it was all aligned perfectly, something I'm usually not particularly vigilant with as I preferably use a collaged chaotic style with disregard for alignment.

Brief 1: Feminist 'Bars' / Typography

I want to maintain the same aggressive tone that is consistent throughout Jump Up bars (lyrics), whilst injecting a feminist perspective.

I initially could only write these when I was drunk because I found it so embarrassing, growing out of this music sub-genre has made me feel more and more embarrassed by the use of language and tone. However I've found it to be really writing them today and finished them off quickly. I wanted to have a consistently brash, aggressive tone that wasn't particularly intelligent or well thought out, consistent of many Jump Up bars; I used London slang consistent with Jump Up MC's I'm used to seeing.



Initially I experimented with digitalised type:

I chose to have the colours stereotypically 'feminine' to combat the usual garish aesthetic, the background being pastel contrasts the usual use of neon tones.

Inspired by Ego Tripping and ACMC's album cover 'Quick On The Draw' where they adopted an updated Western aesthetic:

I then tried out colours that were more specific to Jump Up, in-keeping with the current aesthetic as I remind myself to stick to the brief which is representing Jump Up as it is rather than trying to change the aesthetic to what would be less offensive, socially and aesthetically.




Inspo from Jump Up producer Kanine's logotype:






legibility becomes an issue with a neon stroke.

(Font: Rave King)

Low Down Deep Recordings Logotype Inspo:







I re-considered how it could be presented typographically and thought it would be most fitting within the context of Jump Up night posters, I initially used an existing font:



but knew I'd have to try this out myself, or to have the my friend on Illustration write out the bars for me. He's an amazing illustrator and can replicate the graffiti style using thick pens, as he does in many of his pieces:

Luke Goodman 



I'm going to get Luke to write out my bars so I can vectorise them before printing them onto fabric, which I can then attatch to the bag /'drugs pouch' I bought, typically worn by drug dealers at Jump Up events:



As ridiculous as I look, this includes key characteristics of a Jump Up lover
gunfingers
bassface
shotters bag (shotter being a drug dealer)