Sketch book work

Research sources

Books

- Neville Brody - The Graphic Language of Neville Brody.
- How to design grids - Alan Swann.
- Movie Poster - Emily King.

Various DVD covers, TV magazines and cinema posters

Websites

- working with grid systems
http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/comments/five_simple_steps_to_designing
_grid_systems_part_1/


http://www.markboulton.co.uk/articles/detail/feeling_your_way_around_grids/

http://www.edward-norton.org/gallery/maglayout.html

Summary and Evaluation

I have enjoyed the challenges this project has created and have learnt alot about indesign and the vast amount of effort and work which goes into producing a magazine, working as a team. Aswell as grid systems, layouts and blogs. I was lucky to have a good group which worked well as a team. The mixed abilities ment that I was able to learn alot off of my group members during parts 1 and 2, which stood me in good stead for parts 3 and 4. It gave me confidence, and i was able to put into practice things that I had learned. We all worked together and completed parts 1 and 2 fairly hassel free.
On a personal level, I'am pleased with my outcomes for parts 3 and 4. But maybe more experimentation could have been carried out in order to create a more unusual, original and alternative piece of design.

My label design was based on the Screen International title header.

Part 4

For part 4 i initially experimented with removing the grid, Resetting the type in alphabetical order and drawing over the top of images in order to change the message the publication, or poster conveys. I looked at graffiti as a form of expression to alter a message. Re set type in alphabetical sequence bringing a new order to the magazine. I have looked at the likes of Neville Broady and the constructivists for inspiration. The alphabet and graffiti alter the intended message in a purely surface aesthetic way, were as by removing the grids alters how you take in the information. You can change the main focal point by altering scale and its page position, changing its significance within the composition.

Part 3 development

After Tuesdays session, I have made a few changes and improvements to my DVD and Magazine. Aswell as developing a poster, which I plan to graffiti on as an idea for part 4. My printer ran out of ink last night so I have been panicing, but at least I have time to fix the problem. I have started work rearranging the letters in alphabetical order for part 4 and done a few quick layouts with the removal of the grid. My group and i meet up this morning to finalise parts 1 and 2, ready for tommorrows assessment hand-in. I wanted to get my poster printed actual film poster size, 30"x40" but found out it would cost £50. So I settled for an A2 size version, I got this printed at Service point near Victoria tube. I was worried images might pixelate, but it came out really well : )

Tuesday 24th October 2006

Today we had a group review, I found this useful as I got to see what everyone else has been doing and find out what people thought of my work, in order to make the necessary improvements for Friday. Its annoying because they have put my elective, exhibitions, on Tuesdays for the first 3 weeks so I miss things from both!!! But today seemed to work out ok and I think I know what I need to go away and do. Aswell as finding out more to aid my understanding of part 4.

Part 3?

For part 3 I started to look at the concept of taking the Big screen content and presenting to the small screen viewers in the form of a free weekend TV guide. Death of the cinema, long live home entertainment systems. I found this a very useful task, as i got to put into practice alot of what i had learned from parts 1 and 2. I also liked making layout and editorial decisions. I had also played around with DVD covers, and when i spoke to Ben on Friday, he liked the idea and concept of putting the magazine on to DVD. So over the weekend i have been working on this concept, creating work for Tuesdays review. The magazine would take the form of an interactive DVD, which widens the audience to those interested in computers and games, it also makes production more enviromentally friendly. Putting it on to a DVD also changes the format, but keeps the previous intended audience interested. For part 4 I have started to experiment with removing the grid, layering up and collaging. I also plan to experiment with exploding images interesting crops, defacing and graffiti in order to change the message. Another development for part 3 would also be to create a film poster, were you have to be very selective on the content. It would then be open to graphetti, weather and wear and tear, which would link to part 4. I'm also interested in the idea of putting all the letters from the publication and setting them in alphabetical order, willst keeping the same format. Better start experimenting!

I have just found all the information out about the deadline for Friday, and theres still lots to do so better get back to it.

Dear blog,

The second part of the brief has gone really well and we were able to work fairly quickly and effectively. I was having trouble with Part three, but after speaking to Ben, I decided to look at the concept of bringing the big screen to the small screen, looking at TV guides as a format. To break away from the magazine I might also have a look at a DVD case cover. I thought last nights talk by Le Gun was really interesting and I liked a lot of there stuff, especially the humour that there work contains. Anyway better push on with Part 3 and then the destruction can begin.

Success!

Today i finally managed to upload pictures, yay! I found Luke and Bens talk really useful this afternoon, and i'm looking forward to destroying the magazine. Gotta run though as the evening lecture starts soon.....

Blogger problems!!!!!

I keep having problems trying to upload pictures on to my blog, at first it was because i didnt change the image size, so it was to big. So i saved it for the web, and it still won't up load!!! As soon as the problem gets sorted i promise my blog will look more exciting. Today i had to miss most of the morning because of a clash with my elective, exhibitions.

RE-MIX

Stage 2 of the brief ment that we swapped with another groups magazine. We were paired up with Screen magazine, after exchanging all the files we had to take screens content and place it into our easy cook grid. But at the same time thinking about how easy cook would handle this new and very different material. The designing of this new publication must be in keeping with the easy cook style. I'm finding it hard to come up with ideas for part 3 of the brief, which is were we have been asked to take the content of screen and rework it ourselves in order to appeal to a different audience. Screen is a fairly boring read with lots of text, and so I think that i'd like to make it more fun and more like a comic with a greater emphasis on the pictures, which is what film relys on. Alternatively, I thought about the content and creating something in a similar or parallel to the issues discussed in the magazine. Firstly doing some kind of cinema listings guide, or as a TV mag, suggesting the struggle of cinema vs the increasingly more popular and widely available TV and home cinema.

part one overview

Dear blog,

We all worked well as a team, and were able to locate all the fonts, photoshop the pictures and draw out all the grids. All was going well, until the weekend. Everyone experienced computer problems, not being able to open indesign cs2, as we all only have cs. A brake down in communication ment that late on sunday evening we had to plan a course of action for monday. Unfortunately Astrid had work, so the team was down to four. We started later than planned so had to work really hard. Trying to line up and resize the type proved particularly taxing! But we got there in the end, unfortunately due to bad organisation and computer problems we were unable to do a test print and had to dash to a local printers. This ment that our final piece although appeared very accurate, was in darker tones. We think that this is due to the fact we did not change from RGB screen based colours to CMYK. Today we were given the next stage of the brief, we must learn from mistakes made and technical issues and push to achieve a more successful outcome.

Day 2 Copying

This project has been abit of a struggle for me as im not that computer literate. My group have been helping me with a few basics, and slowly but surely I'm getting there.
Copying is going well and were working well as a team, although trying to find the fonts is proving a right pain in the arse! Lets hope that the BBC get back to us soon.
Pictures, grids and colours are all ready to go.

Day 1: Establishing a Blog

We've had the brief for a few days, had a few minutes spare so thaught i'd better get my blog up and running and bring you all up to date with my progress and deepest darkest thoughts. The brief seems all very complicated as i'm not that computer literate, although it does sound interesting. My group consists of four other people that I have not worked with before and I'm looking forward to working with them. Setting up my blog was a lot easier than i thought it would be, just have to get used keeping it all up to date and looking pretty.