Competition Brief - Sound Bites

Evaluation

I found this brief particularly difficult as I found out last minute that the competition brief we had to do, had to be a current, after being told otherwise. So I looked at a few on the ISTD briefs and found 'sound bites' we was very similar to my 'Doing my nut in' brief. It gave me the opportunity to produce the promotional material for my books, which I didn't have time for. Using the content of the 'Doing my nut in' brief, I created a visual concept for explaining sound visually. I loved the process of listening and trying to explain the sound through typography, it was something I hadn't done before. Considering the amount of time I had to do this brief, I was proud to have come up with such a strong concept and a suitable amount of work to cover 3 boards. This became strongly a concept and research driven brief, which I don't think I've done before. Ideally I'd like to re-do / spend more time on this brief and take it into FMP, to explore my concept further and how I can push it.

Competition Brief - App Giff

So after speaking to Phil about how i was struggling to create a range for my competition brief he suggested I made an app, which I'd already designed the still visuals but he suggested I made a working giff. I'd never created one before so after following a few tutorials I tried making one within Photoshop but found it quite difficult. I came across an online giff maker, which I didn't think would work too well but I tried it anyway and i'm quite happy with the result, It communicates how the app works.

www.picasion.com

The app has been designed to add more depth to the publication, the app can be accessed by scanning the bar code of the purchased book, each app will only be accessible once the book is purchased. It has two levels to teach you more so how to pronounce and understand. On one hand it works as a translator, so a recording can be made for it to tell you what someone is saying. Or you can physically type what you want to say in that accent, and it will give you the phonics and words and how to pronounce it.

There is also the option of whether its a word or phrase you want to translate, and whether you want to hear it, or see it in writing. 

The below giff is the 'read it' option, which you type what you want translated, and it gives a written translation back.

The below giff shows the hear it option being used, the phrase wanted is types in, it then translates and shows the infographic I had produced within the posters, alongside an audio.

create an animated gif

Competition Brief - Final product shots

Competition Board plan

1 - Brief, content, small image of Books - Posters
2 - Extra Promotional Material - Audio CD, Book Mark, Retail Graphics
3 - Digital Media - Apps, Ipad, i phone, website?

Competition Brief - Book Marks

I wanted to design a range of book marks which could be used alongside the pocket size books, in order to keep your place, which makes it easier to quickly find something you may be looking for when out and about. There is a design for each book.

Competition Brief - Audio Cds

So I decided a great idea would be to produce a design for a proposed audio CD which would accompany the books, the idea would be for it to help you understand how to say and pronounce the words and phrases within the book. This would work in the same way as the posters, using the info graphics to help visually understand how to say / pronounce the regional dialect. The visuals would work alongside the audio, for your pronunciations to be more accurate, and understandable. The design for the audio CD case is consistent with the posters, for it to be recognisable as part of the product range.

Competition Brief - Further Poster design Development

So I wanted to try and tie the designs more with the books I had created by producing graidents for the sound waves which matched the coat or arms colour palette. Once I had produced these, I really wasn't happy with the result, It was too inconsistant with colour, and I preferred the original designs.

So I retained the watercolour produced gradient, but improved the format and layout of the posters, including the crest to make it more recognisable as being part of my books:

Competition Brief - Poster Design - Communication

So I got some feedback from a peer as I was really struggling with communicating my posters. he suggested making it clear that the quote related to the info graphic, by positioning text in line with peaks a troughs. I thought I would keep the quote as it were to be legible, but to add letters so readers automatically have to say it out loud to understand what it says. I'm really happy with the result but I need to make it clearer (i feel) that it relates back to my books by containing the icons seen on the spines.

Competition Brief - Poster Design and Experimentation

Some Initial Experimentation, I wanted to try manipulating type to represent how its meant to sound. With a few experiments, visually it wasn't great and didn't work well alongside my graphs, it would take a lot of explanation alongside for it to be understandable. So I decided to simply write the quote underneath the chart, with a small amount of info graphic information.

To start with I wanted to manipulate:

The Posters I eventually produced:

Competition Brief - Using gradients

I wanted to use colours too which would represent the idea of pitch and sound. It is recognisable that red is of a high pitch, orange medium and blue very low. I decided to create a gradient, this I firstly created on illustrator but found it too harsh, so I decided to paint one with watercolour to apply as a swatch.

The swatch didn't fit the shapes as I originally wanted them, but instead have create a strange but wonderful array of colours. As a set, the graphs work together representing the levels of pitch.

I tried with a line swatch but wasn't too keen on the result

I then tried to revert the colours, this too I feel works well with the swatch but I fear it looks too much like a silhouette of a city scape.

The gradient created on illustrator - it doesn't represent the colours transition as smooth as I wanted and achieved through watercolour paints.

The gradient I created

I used this directly on drawings. I intend on cutting and working with these at a later date.

Competition Brief - Creating Visual accent graphs

One of the main ideas I had for the brief, was to try and analyse the accents through sound, pitch levels, volume etc to create a sound wave image for each accent and phrase. I listened for particular groups of letters and words within each Recording from the BBC Sounds library 'accents and dialect' which were found in my chosen regional phrases. For each I analysed how I would visually interpret the phrases, alongside a graph which represents how to pronounce the phrases more efficiently. 

The charts I drew for each location and regional phrase.

I then drew the charts onto InDesign using columns and a baseline grid to create a level of consistency between each.

Competition Brief - More thoughts

So I've decided I want to make Advertisement and promotional material for my existing publications through typographic posters relating to onomatopoeia, but one thing which was suggested to me was to produce a range for each location, but only to place specific posters in specific locations - relating to the locations of my publications.

Another thought was to incorporate sound waves, to make it clearer as to how to pronounce the phrases and words correctly. It will also give a visual element which I can incorporate across a range of products.

I'm going to listen to the BBC accents recordings and make note of letters and words and the pitch change between each, hopefully applying these to my chosen phrases:

Birmingham - Our Wench
Liverpool - Thats when jesus christ was playing full back 
Newcastle - Ye knaa what ah mean leik
Yorkshire - Take the rod out of your arse
Ireland - Do you think i came up the lagan in a bubble

The way in which they're spoken:

Birmingham - arr wenj

Liverpool - thts wen jezuz cryst woz playing full back

Newcastle - Yee naa wha ameen layk

Yorkshire - tek rod owt yur arz

Ireland - Do yoo think ay caym up thu lagan in a bubul

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Millenium-memory-bank/021M-C0900X11129X-2200V1 - Newcastle

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/BBC-Voices/021M-C1190X0042XX-0201V0 - Birmingham

 http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/BBC-Voices/021M-C1190X0022XX-0201V0 - Liverpool

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Survey-of-English-dialects/021M-C0908X0047XX-0300V1 - Yorkshire

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/BBC-Voices/021M-C1190X0044XX-0501V0 - Irish

Competition Brief - Visual Onomatopoeia

So I want to focus my designs on Onomatopoeia, the idea of words looking how they sound, and trying to achieve this through typography design of chosen individual letterforms and words. I found an image which explains clearer:

Firstly I need to pick the phrases I intend on designing for poster format.

Competition Brief - Starting

So I needed to look back at the competition brief and really make a start on what i was going to decided to do for it. So the brief:

Brief:

You are required to design a range of advertisement, promotional and product material which will be driven by your 'Doing my nut in' outcome. The products designed will need to investigate sound recordings from the British Library Sounds collection, focusing on accents and dialects. Design material will need to have a typographic and language focus.

Considerations:

Consider the way that different accents may suggest particular fonts – some bolder, some softer, sharp, distressed, condensed, thin, fat, serif/sans serif etc. You decide – the possibilities are endless.

Background:

Use whatever methods and media you consider appropriate to convey your solution effectively – as long as you express a solid idea, inform us and show us your typographic skills. Make sure that you incorporate typographically detailed text matter that expresses an information hierarchy. Remember that words and language are our collateral and that your submission should be essentially typographic.

Mandatory Requirements:

Broad range of research

The products designed need to be typographically led

A range of appropriate advertisement, promotional material and retail graphics

I have decided:

For this brief I intend on creating a range of poster designs, for promotional and advertisement purpose of my 'Doing my nut in' publications. These will explore the relation between spoken and written language. My content will be a phrase taken from a sound recording found on the british library recordings - Accent and Dialect, and constructed in a way to make the words look how they are said. I will be exploring line weight, shape, and height of letterforms to create a visual sound. I also intent on exploring soundwaves and how these can influence my design decisions. 

Looking at Competition Briefs

I was looking for potential competition briefs to do and I came across 'Sound bites' within ISTD and found it really interesting, and link closely alongside my 'doing my nut in' brief. Its potentially a brief I could apply to extra product materials that may come with my books, or act as advertisement or promotional material. I intend for it to become part of my 'doing my nut in' brief, as a whole. For submission I would submit the entirety of all the products I have made / yet to make. The brief in summary:

The Original Brief

You are required to design a submission that investigates sound recordings selected from the British Library Sounds digital collections. This brief presents you with the opportunity to express the essence and spirit of your chosen sound recordings. You may wish to edit and select appropriate ‘sound bites’ from these audio clips or use transcripts for your text matter. Consider the juxtaposition of your chosen recordings – do they have anything in common? Do they address similar issues/themes? Are they opposites? Or simply celebrate the emotions that are aroused by your chosen words.

Consider the way that different accents may suggest particular fonts – some bolder, some softer, sharp, distressed, condensed, thin, fat, serif/sans serif etc. You decide – the possibilities are endless.

Use whatever methods and media you consider appropriate to convey your solution effectively – as long as you express a solid idea, inform us and show us your typographic skills. Make sure that you incorporate typographically detailed text matter that expresses an information hierarchy. Remember that words and language are our collateral and that your submission should be essentially typographic.

Re-written:

Brief:

You are required to design a range of advertisement, promotional and product material which will be driven by your 'Doing my nut in' outcome. The products designed will need to investigate sound recordings from the British Library Sounds collection, focusing on accents and dialects. Design material will need to have a typographic and language focus.

Considerations:

Consider the way that different accents may suggest particular fonts – some bolder, some softer, sharp, distressed, condensed, thin, fat, serif/sans serif etc. You decide – the possibilities are endless.

Background:

Use whatever methods and media you consider appropriate to convey your solution effectively – as long as you express a solid idea, inform us and show us your typographic skills. Make sure that you incorporate typographically detailed text matter that expresses an information hierarchy. Remember that words and language are our collateral and that your submission should be essentially typographic.

Mandatory Requirements:

Broad range of research

The products designed need to be typographically led

A range of appropriate advertisement, promotional material and retail graphics