Business cards with a function is a great way to appeal to the target audience.
Thursday 28 February 2013
OUGD406 - Communication is a Virus : Business Card Research
As part of the promotion of our brand we are going to produce a business card to hand out to people in order to assist us in making our brand viral.
Tuesday 26 February 2013
OUGD406 - Communication is a Virus : Pills
One of my reservations about this brief is the use of pills as the main imagery behind the concept. To try and over come this I have been looking into some different ways in which we could display pills without linking to drugs. The examples I found are shown below.
I think these examples look less like drugs because of the use of colour. In this brief we are limited when it comes to colour palette. We are allowed two colours plus stock. Due to this the design will have to stay in its current state and as a group we will settle on a design which we feel is the most appropriate.
OUGD401 - Practical Publication : Research
Whilst I was in a book shop I came across this book based on Led Zeplin. I am not a fan of the band but I do find the book design very interesting. As we have to produce a publication into a topic of our choice I thought it could be quite interesting to have on my blog as some primary research.
I really liked how interactive the book was which I think is something which is important as books are slowly becoming irrelevant after the introduction of technological equivalents.
Thursday 21 February 2013
OUGD406 - Communication is a Virus : 5-a-day, Graphic Design
One of the ideas which we came up with was aimed more at an audience of young graphic design students who maybe are not fully confident with the industry and which blogs/studios/designers they should be looking at on a daily basis. Similarly to our course people do not seem to have the resources they need in order to keep up with the pace of the industry.
I came up with the idea of creating a website which is made up of different blogs, studio links and designers work which graphic designers should be aware of. This would be updated on a regular basis in order to keep up to date with the industry.
After discussing this idea with the group we developed it to a concept which we are all positive about.
We came produced a mind map of possible ideas and categories we could separate our website into. I think we would like to link the website to some of the tasks we were asked to complete during PPP. Our idea was to have 5 categories :
- Information and Way Finding
- Product and Packaging
- Publication and Editorial
- Retail and Promotion
- Branding and Identity
We feel that this idea will benefit many aspiring designers to make them more confident with what is expected at degree level whilst also keeping them up to date with the industry.
Tuesday 19 February 2013
OUGD406 - Communication is a Virus : 5-a-Day
Our task is 5-a-day which we could approach in either an obvious way or produce something very unique and out of the box.
To start I looked into the obvious option which was fruit and veg.
To start I looked into the obvious option which was fruit and veg.
As is widely known it is highly recommended that people eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. This ensures a healthy lifestyle and is better for our bodies.
The concepts we could use for this topic could be quite interesting but we found that they were not the most unique ideas.
Collectively we came up with a brainstorm of ideas we could develop to answer the brief.
The concepts we could use for this topic could be quite interesting but we found that they were not the most unique ideas.
My town is the birth place of an enlightening project called Incredible Edible. It is a project set up by a group of people who wanted to bring back the feeling of community and wanted people to start to grow fruit and vegetables.
I was lucky enough to be part of a film team who produced a documentary about Incredible Edible Todmorden.
Collectively we came up with a brainstorm of ideas we could develop to answer the brief.
After some discussion we decided to choose a topic which was useful to us and the people on the course.
OUGD406 - InDesign Brief : Duck Research
We were given an InDesign brief to produce a double page spread based on an animal which was taken from the randomiser. The animal I was given was a Duck.
To start off my research I looked on youtube for some animal documentaries about ducks in order for me to gather some visual information rather than a full text based collection of information.
I then looked into news stories based around ducks and I came across this example of a Chinese man who took his 5,000 ducks for a walk around the streets. Thus causing a lot of disruption to drivers and workers.
After looking for a few videos I carried out a simple google search.
I came across a page which categorised all of the variations of ducks and gave information as to where they can be found and some general facts. When producing my double page spread I would like to produce something which is this clear and this interesting.
I found this website very helpful during my research as it gives a really detailed overview of each type of duck.
OUGD406 - Communication is a Virus : Virals
For this brief we are focusing on how communication can become a virus. I am going to initially look into the videos, tweets and images which have gone viral in the past.
Joseph Kony was virtually unknown to the majority of people until invisiblechildreninc made a youtube video informing the world about Kony and the terrible life he leads. After a short amount of time the Kony video went viral. It currently has 96,536,341 views and 1,394,612 likes. As this video became viral it was shared through various forms of communication. The most common was probably Facebook.
One of the most recent viral videos is the Harlem Shake dance. It involves people coming together and dancing in a humorous way. It starts off very controlled and then breaks into a large collection of different dance moves made up on the spot.
With the release of the film 'Pitch Perfect' the 'cup song' went viral. This involved Anna Kendrick singing the Lulu and the Lampshades song 'You're gonna miss me'. Since this was showcased in the film and also on the popular American talk show 'David Letterman' videos have begun to appear on youtube and over the web.
The Redbull skydiving record achieved by Felix Baumgartner was another video which went viral. The difference between this video and the others was that this was globally broadcast live. Views of this video shot up in a matter of seconds, therefore making it viral.
Tom from McFly posted his wedding speech onto youtube and it has now received 8,007,899 views. It was shared over the social networking site Facebook which in turn made it a viral video which was watched by many people.
Source
'Charlie Bit My Finger' is a popular YouTube video and has been around for a number of years. This is an example of an amateur home video posted onto the web and becoming a virally shared video in several countries. This has brought a level of celebrity to the boys featured in the video, who recently appeared on the 'Big Fat Quiz of the Year' with Jimmy Carr.
Music is not always classed as viral as songs and videos are meant to be widely listened to and watched. The PSY Gangnam Style was a one off youtube hit made by a Korean man. This video and song hit the web significantly and quickly became number one in many countries.
What it Was:
An average web page of moderate popularity will receive a few thousand hits, and they’ll take home a tiny slice of ad revenue. Alex Tew thought that this plan was for suckers, so he decided to turn his entire homepage into a space for advertisements. Not just any advertisements; Alex sold a 1000X1000 pixel space at $1 per pixel. Depending on your resolution, that’s about half of the period at the end of this sentence. This means that when every pixel sold, Alex made well over a cool million.
Why it Went Viral
The currency of the Internet is, above all else, novelty. That is why dancing Jesuses and animated .gifs dominated the Internet before we all got sick of them. Alex’s idea was not only novel, but he somehow turned the most bald-faced money-making scheme into an interesting story. Combined with a super low barrier to entry for advertisers looking to capitalize on fame, it’s one of those ideas that sounds ridiculous, but when it works everyone swears they thought of it first.
The currency of the Internet is, above all else, novelty. That is why dancing Jesuses and animated .gifs dominated the Internet before we all got sick of them. Alex’s idea was not only novel, but he somehow turned the most bald-faced money-making scheme into an interesting story. Combined with a super low barrier to entry for advertisers looking to capitalize on fame, it’s one of those ideas that sounds ridiculous, but when it works everyone swears they thought of it first.
The Old Spice advertisement featuring a popular football player from America was another video which was very popular in the USA. It was shown during the ad break for the American Superbowl which is known to be the most valuable time to run. When this advert crossed over to other countries it was also very popular. The tone of voice within this ad was the main attraction point as it grabbed peoples attention through humorous tone of voice and simple ideas.
Twitter is a social networking site which monitors topics people are talking about the most. These are called Trends. Twitter lists the most popular trends around the globe, country and regional areas. People can use these within their tweets whilst also choosing to hash tag any phrase of their choice. Trends possibly link most to this brief as anyone can choose to hash tag anything and it is then up to the users to make it popular.
The Obama campaign was widely reported on Twitter with Obama himself tweeting images of him and his wife after he was awarded anther 4 years in office. This image became one of the most retweeted of 2012.
Wednesday 13 February 2013
OUGD406 - Live Brief : Vinyl Covers
For our first brief in OUGD406 we have to design a vinyl record sleeve for a competition called Secret 7. In order to get a grasp on what style I should aim for with this brief I researched some existing record sleeves.
As my work will be within the industry I would aim to make my work very simple and to the point as people want to be drawn into a design within a few seconds. I chose this design as I find the layout very visually pleasing. If I was to create something like this I think it would fit in perfectly with the kind of style I like and am good at.
Personally I prefer simple record sleeves as I think they work more and are too the point. Photography is used a lot in the music industry and I have chosen one which I think it interesting and works really well aesthetically. I think the use of colour against the black and white photography is very effective and eye-catching.
One thing I have noticed about the record sleeves I have found is that most seem to have a focal point in the centre which the design is focused on. I have chosen this design to illustrate this even though I do not particularly like it.
As photography is used a lot within this type of design I have to explore ways in which I could do this without having to physically photograph the artists. This design seems to merge different photos with colour filters and textures. I could produce something like this for a few of the artists but it would not suit the audience for the others.
I find negative space a very interesting effect within Graphic Design as it is simple, minimalistic but also very effective. I found two designs which feature negative space and also symmetry. One of the artists I favour is Jessie Ware, this style could work really well with a record sleeve for her.
Like other designs there are focal points which are usually centred. This simple design is one that I find really effective as it is to the point. I could use this style with every artist which is a major positive point.
As we are beginning to learn about layout and grid in Design Principles I feel that I now have the confidence to approach a design within a grid. I chose this example as I feel it would be a great way for me to include lots of imagery and keep the design clean and organised.
This example contradicts the style I favour but I think it has been produced very cleverly. The central point, again is the focal point of the design which makes it quite simplistic with the addition of complicated panels around the centre which makes the design interesting.
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