Category: Student work

Bang! And The Dirt Is Gone!

As part of the TY1INT1 module, we were asked to explore Adobe InDesign and create our own Penguin Book covers inspired by a book, movie or quote. I landed on the idea of the cleaning products Cillit Bang which are manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser. I used the colour palette from the limescale remover range to design my book cover. These bright purples and oranges allowed me to create an eye-catching and bold design. I wanted to stray from the simple lines and shapes used in classic Penguin Books, and so I came up with the idea of using an almost star-like, explosion shape to highlight the ‘title’ and ‘author’ of my book.  Below is my initial sketch which I used to plan out my ideas.

I am new to all Adobe apps, so this was a fun experience, trying out the tools available to create each element of my book cover. I am pleased with my final outcome, however there are a few areas that I could improve on. I look forward to gaining a better understanding of InDesign and other Adobe apps in the future.

Blood Orange

I found this session interesting and it refreshed my knowledge on how to use indesign. The one part I struggled with was the penguin book logo. I found it hard to make the curve of the ovals. Which I have gone over by re watching the video from that day.

For my messed up book I chose blood orange, as it is my most recent read book. I kept the layout the same as the original penguin books and altered the other elements. The changed the font to Chalkduster to create a horror effect. Although I would never use this typeface again as it just wrongs all the Typography rules on so many levels. I used neon pink as my colour as original penguin uses neutral respectable colours, so thought it would create more fun. I lastly changed the colour of the penguin symbol to a space galaxy effect. Just to add to the fun quirkinesses of this new cover.

Harry Potter

 

Having never used Indesign before, after completing this task, I have learned a range of fundamental skills needed to work the software effectively. As well as following the tutorial, when I was not able to do something, I researched alternative ways in doing the same thing. Photoshop is a program I have used before which has been an advantage as I was able to transfer some of the skills I’d known from there onto this task. One of the main skills I learned was how leading and tracking makes a big difference in organising and keeping your titles and headings separated proportionally. Although I did find it difficult at times, I managed to distort the typical Penguin cover into a book from a series I LOVE!

The Shining

PENGUIN BOOK COVER

In James’ lesson we followed a tutorial on how to recreate a penguin book cover. I used in design to create both of these covers, in the lesson i learned how to use some of in designs tools as the program is new to me. I learned how to group shapes together and how to manipulate parts of type such as the kerning and the height. In my version of the book cover i choose to represent the movie/ book ‘The Shining’ by Stephen King, i followed the same tutorial and layout we had used in class for the new design. I featured some of the films well known quotes such as ‘Here’s Johnny’ ‘Redrum’ and ‘all work and no play makes jack a dull boy’. I changed the opacity of ‘Redrum’ to 21% so it would be easier to see the title and author of the book, i also gave the penguin an axe as it was an iconic item in the film. I also learned how to change the direction of text as well as make certain objects different colours.

Social media in a PANDEMIC!

During the outbreak of COVID-19, social media has been quite literally an essential part in people’s lives. Social media has not only been used to find out new information or regulations put into place, but it has become a coping mechanism. It has somewhat distracted us from the real problem. This has been done by the use of memes. Instagram pages like ‘World Health Organisation’ use a different style within their posts compared to a page like ‘coronavirus_memes’. Although their posts are relating to the same topic, they both contribute differently to the social media bubble. Memes take out the seriousness the subject holds and adds a sense of humour and excitement to the post. Like in the example shown above, back when the lockdown was introduced, the public had gone through a mental craze. Shops were left empty and houses were full of bulk-bought items. Economically, this was a complete disaster, however nearly every meme showed a comical aspect. On the other hand, when we look at the ‘WHO’ Instagram page, we see instructive, clean and well-presented posts. Each new update is a thought out piece of artwork, compared to a meme which usually never has an organised finish. They intend for their message to reach an older and responsible target audience, whilst the meme pages target the younger demographic.

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Additional collages made in the task:

 

 

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Finstagram.com%2Fcoronavirus_memes%3Figshid%3D130b3th5ncyig%26fbclid%3DIwAR06bGQ0lh8daQA0WIiTfzLSbabeZGzkidgk-gOj-l9ivuVWnb5l6SQfZJw&h=AT2TRevOTeH7FOBRERXmJvUvgYx3sgrPZ1Wj0ugVFE9NMMH41M_fcahUu56Y6xPQKnav4BSarMRedGkLNi_HkhrDwzz2dDYIEoMIQqPQI8DPfvLhr1XQqCtTZWjcDIxdHUBPaQbBxBs

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Finstagram.com%2Fwho%3Figshid%3Dn7s7kndnsf28%26fbclid%3DIwAR0Tq8gmj_rdBHIq_lzT1vBguU7cd7-kQ-_yxeK2iz-CcB6voSHbvcBb7yA&h=AT2TRevOTeH7FOBRERXmJvUvgYx3sgrPZ1Wj0ugVFE9NMMH41M_fcahUu56Y6xPQKnav4BSarMRedGkLNi_HkhrDwzz2dDYIEoMIQqPQI8DPfvLhr1XQqCtTZWjcDIxdHUBPaQbBxBs

 

 

Covid 19 In Reading Town

Today for Sue’s and Emma’s Covid 19 project I headed into to town to find any kind of sign or poster that portrayed a warning or instruction about Corona Virus. We then grouped back together to share all of our images and talk about them. We discussed how the general public are growing accustomed to the shear abundance of Covid posters to the point where we have built up a sort of tolerance to them. I personally barley notice these signs anymore and they only really catch my eye when I’m actively looking for them. It was interesting to look at posters that were perhaps not made by professional designers and were a bit more creative and fun. A lot of the signs had a very lighthearted aesthetic to them which is strange considering the disease has killed thousands of people. As a group we evaluated whether we thought these signs might be taken more seriously and further catch the eye if they used scare tactics like on the packaging of cigarettes. The top right image shows a warning poster from decades ago (from the collection) and the image to the left of that is a poster I found around the campus today, it is interesting to see the visual similarities between these to two.

Eyes on the Little Things

Taking Picture from the Surrounding

The Best 3 Images

  1. A tiny corner from a mental fence

2. The parking label on the floor

 

3. The building name of Contraction Management and Engineering

When I was searching around the campus, instead of taking pictures of large scale objects, I chose to look at some converted places. I took the above image from an undertaking area where they fenced up the whole building. I started looking closely at any objects and I found that so interesting I would never see those fonts on the fence if I was not standing in front of it at a certain distance. Not only did the distance matter, the angle of how you observe the thing also affect the look of the font. For example, I took the first picture and the third one in a side approach, rather than facing in front of the object. This way can show the depth of the font and create a three-dimensional effect. I liked how these fonts are carefully and neatly done for the second image. It was also interesting to see which strokes got written first, as the texture of its paint shows the layer of brushstrokes.

 

Grouping those Pictures in Different Category Orders

1. Angle (Looking downwards)

2. Material (Mental)

3. Colour scheme

4. Object (Building’s names)

Classifying is an action to grouping up things that share some same characteristics. I tried to find their obvious similarities between each other, such as the first one, all of those pictures are taken in a downwards angle, from top to down, overlooking at those objects. This in fact shows no depth but only plainness. Another example, some images share the same colour palette, the blue sky, the redness from those signs and the green grass.

Self-reflection

This one-day project was really a fun time to experience around the campus. In fact, we seldom have time to hang around and observe things in detail, but today I finally got a chance to have a closer look at anything else in the surrounding. Moreover, I learnt about how letterings corporate with the environment. Some of them with only the intention of decorating purpose, some of them being particularly legible to readers, all letterings have their own function. Overall, it was such an interesting project to do individually or with classmates.

Are they still a family

For Sara project Impactful images, we were asked to design two images based on a topic given to us. One of the images should be direct and the other indirect towards the topic. The second image should be less subtle but still allow readers to be able to identify the theme of the topic.

I did a mind map of family and I decided to explore pregnancy, as that is what brings the next generation of a family. However, I used pregnancy to represent a mother who dies from childbirth and now the father is left to deal with the trauma and raise two sobbing kids.

For family my original images show a typical family, a father 2 children and a pregnant wife, to go deeper into the topic of  family my theme pregnancy and how it brings joy to those around, however, there are some people in this world suffering from a pregnancy that does not bring life but takes it.

The uses of black in the second image is to show mourning and loss of a family member, I made the mother and the child emotionless to show that they have gone from this world and no longer with their family.

The title ‘Are they still a family?’ is to ask viewers if this mourning family can still be a happy family even though they have lost what brings them joy.

Moreover, I enjoyed this topic cause is similar to that of storytelling, which I have interest in but with images. I would love a  similar topic in the future but with more time to develop and explore my ideas.

CH monogram

In today’s class we were provided with two fonts, Garamond and Futura. Using one of these fonts, we had to use our initials to create a monogram.

I sketched out my initials, CH, and then photocopied them at different sizes, playing around with the scale. I mixed the two initials to see which shapes I could create with them. I found that I was getting lost in my own ideas, making the initials blend in such way that I could not tell they were a C & H anymore. I wanted my monogram to be a clean and clear presentation of my initials, and that is why I chose the final design that can be seen below (the last three drawings on the page).

I thought it would be fun to add some colour to my design. I chose green because it is a calm colour that is associated with nature and good-luck. It is fresh and cool, and to me it holds the idea of hope and new life.

Yellow is a happy colour. It is fun and youthful, and adds energy, just like the sun .

 

Education system

In this session presented by Sara Chapman, we explored designs and art that convey a deeper meaning. Looking at artists such as Banksy, we discussed how his work has dual meaning and presents emotion and thought provoking imagery. We were all assigned a word to focus on conveying our own message for and my word was ‘education’. I had several ideas and took time to create a spider diagram to get all of them on paper and consider which ones were the best. I decided to convey how in school we are taught a lot of information that many of us don’t and wont ever use but are made to learn as they are obligatory topics. I used topics such as algebra and physics equations which can be handy but not for all and show how once we grow up, we realise we haven’t been taught some of the most important and vital pieces of information that we need as adults.

To represent the decline in understanding life and topics, I used only primary colours in the first image. Not only does it have that stereotypical school life feel but when it changes to the the second image, it accentuates the hopelessness we begin to feel as  we grow up. The  colours change to grey and dismal tones. I also only used my own handwriting in the first image to convey that sense of innocence and typical school taught handwriting. I then contrast it in the second image by using bold and capitalised font to show the harsh reality of our life changes and us not being given the education to keep up with it. To complete this concept, I decided to do it digitally as I felt it would convey my ideas better due to the solid colouring.  I used Adobe Draw for the entire process.