Overview

CHRISTMAS SALE 70% OFF

Got your attention? Signs like this are advertised in such a way that they grab our attention and encourage us to buy, even if we have no interest in buying. Signage is all around us – from road signs to advertisements to building names – however, we are so used to seeing signs around us that we often become ‘blind’ to them. Due to such, designers have to work extra hard to get their signs noticed in an oversaturated world of signs.

The brief

The brief was to make and install physical signage around DJCAD that would affect the behavior of people viewing it. By using colours, layouts, and formats, the reaction and behavior of those viewing can be altered. Once the signs were placed around DJCAD we had to observe and document the reactions of people as they walk past. This task was a completed in groups of three.

Planning Stage

The planning stage was split into primary research and secondary research, both of which are essential parts of the process. Primary research includes going out and collecting first-hand research which consists of interviews, questionnaires, and exploration of the environment. While secondary research involves using the internet, books, and magazines to read up on information that someone has already discovered.

With regards to our research, we went out into the center of Dundee and took photos of where we saw signage and had a think about why they were effective. Is it colour? Simplistic design? Positioning? Some examples included safety signage, waste bin signage, and road signs. I noticed that for safety signage, red was used for danger warnings whilst green used to provide advice, however as I am so used to seeing safety signs that these were not interesting to me and something I often ignore. On the other hand, the signage on bins appeared to be much more eye-catching as the colour used were much more vibrant and less serious.

Next, we looked around DJCAD to find ideal locations for our sign as well as signs that are currently around DJCAD. I thought that putting signage next to social areas or at places where many people pass during their day would be a good option. The long corridor outside the first year studio seemed to be ideal for people passing.

Once the primary research was completed we started generating ideas. This allowed us to write and draw some ideas that been in our head down on paper. We decided to write down anything that came to mind, regardless of how bizarre or unsure we were of said idea. It was all worth getting down in our sketchbooks.

Another process that helped us was creating mood boards. We took our primary research and rough ideas and moved into secondary research. Using the internet and adobe illustrator, we constructed our moodboards by searching information on symbols, typefaces, and colours to see how these factors help signage in the world today.

Development Stage

Once the research was explored we had three main ideas that we wanted to develop further and see what one would be most effective. These ideas consisted of visual interested that the passerby would have. Possibly danger beware, keep out or danger of death. These types of signs would get people to fear what is ahead and think about their action before they continue. We considered using imagery such as skulls, creepy typography or simply a bright red sign.

The idea we decided on was a sign that draws someone in with the promise of an unbelievable deal when in reality the deal is terrible and would provoke anger. We felt as though this would be easy to achieve and covered the criteria for this project.

 

Final Design

Our final design is a Christmas sale poster that grabs the observers attention with 70% OFF and in turn, makes their smile turn into a frown. By using layout, colour, specific font and bright illustrations we can get a passerby to react in a certain way. I believe we accomplished what we set out to do.

We used an elegant, happy font to attract them and by using boring almost angry font we make them mad they came over to read it.

Conclusion

Personally, I found it to be a difficult brief as there aren’t many parameters to restrict ourselves. A lot of thinking as a group was needed here, while I find working in a group to be more difficult than by myself. In the end, we all contributed to the final poster and think it came out how we wanted.

 

 

Sketchbook available upon request

Overview

Record sleeves are a way music artists visually communicate to music fans. They can be used to represent emotions you feel from listening to a certain type of music. Every genre has a theme and by using graphic design we can display the experience of music visually.

Reggae Album Cover

Brief

From the songs listed, I must design a new album cover for one of these genre starting songs. To make a revolutionary album cover by taking inspiration from the genre’s past and other designers. This is to be achieved by using either cutouts, collage, drawings or another hands-on approach.

Planning

Starting my research by looking at the different themes that each music genre has. Each genre has a different feel and when creating something as powerful as an album cover I must consider my options.

I decided that, before I chose the album cover I would redesign, I created moodboards exploring the genres and the bands associated with them. This led to more knowledge about the subject matter and allowed for an insight into this brief. I became passionate about making this redesign professional as though you I was designing it for real distribution.

Further research into the genres and imagery alongside them pointed me towards the reggae genre. The bright, enthusiastic look you have some looking at this array of colour and passion . Pursuing this it leads me to these mesmerising illustrations. I began sketching ideas from images on my moodboards that I thought were particularly inspiring. They were simplistic yet said everything they needed to. I thought this style would look great on an album cover. Colours that I thought would work really well with the album and the feel I was going for.

Development

Then I adapted several illustrations I liked to create my own version which I felt looked better and suited the theme. This illustration of a heart/ instruments has a lot of potential to be visually beautiful. Taking this illustration and somehow turning it into an album cover was a tricky task but one I believe accomplished perfectly.

Final Design

By using a strong, bright, colourful palette you can see the genre from a distance, which was an objective for me as I find some albums difficult to tell what style of music they are.

Alongside that, by adding curved lines growing out of the heart gives the look of organic and musical. I wanted the illustration to be obvious yet symbolic. Research showed how beautiful and powerful this genre is and trying to portray that became easier the more passionate I became throughout the design process.

The instruments used in the final design are of a speaker, bass guitar, keyboard, drums and a cymbal. These instruments are used in the creation of reggae music and seeing as this is the album that made it known I felt as though it was appropriate. By keeping the instruments black and white it stands out on the red background, making it a focal point for buyers.

 

Conclusion

My final design gave me the ability to use my strengths and some of my weaknesses. The fact that we were not allowed to do the final design on the computer was a bit of a challenge for me because in my past I have created something similar to this using the Adobe software and the finished result looked professional. My worry here was that by me using handheld media that it would not look professional and a little messy. Looking back now I believe the way I designed the cover allowed me to use my other talents with pen illustration and craft knife skills. This brief has helped me overcome my fears with non-computer based briefs.

To conclude I really enjoyed this brief. It took my passion for design and love of music and combined them. My favorite brief in the picture, symbol, icon module and encourage you to use it next year.

 

Sketchbook work available upon request