DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - EVALUATION

I am really proud of my outcome of this brief, I do feel my final pieces could work a lot better if the opacity was lowered so I could overlap the images to create a montage. I feel my idea was strong, I tried to make it dramatic in colour choice and by adjusting the levels in my photos to have a contrast of dark and light. I really enjoyed working with photography, it gave a whole new look and real element to my designs. My body part were positioned on the body, so the messages within them could be related to a body itself.

My chosen colour palette for the body parts were simple, legible and effective. I really seemed to enjoy and be motivated within this brief, there was so many options I could take with it and felt the need to explore each thoroughly. 

I tried a range of media, working with hand crafting, illustrator, photography and hand drawn to be edited on the computer. I am pretty gutted I didn't hear back from the book producer which set up the competition !

POSTERS IN ALL THEIR GLORY

Unfortunately I didn't quite achieve the outcome I wanted, which was for each of the images to be translucent enough to place over each other. But I still feel they look good on my chosen stock of acetate. next time I will be sure to do a mock up and printing test. I do feel it was a good idea to step away from hand crafting, I was able to give my type a lot more detail and legibility.

As a series I feel the posters work really well. This placement and layout really compliments the layout of my hand crafted and rendered images within the photographs. 

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Reflection

I have found a new love for mixed media, and how they can really compliment each other, I will defiantly be working with photography again soon!

 I need to get an understanding of realistic goals in relation to time. I set out on something to big in the time given, but feel I did well in making the decision to step away from it and finding something a lot simpler to produce in the time. From this brief I am taking away the importance of keeping and sticking to, to do lists. Although I made them, I didn't always stick to them.

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - Final poster outcomes

An overlay of all three

I really like the aesthetics of this piece, Although there may be an issue with aesthetics. I could take this forward into a poster design, perhaps focusing on the design element rather than the content, or I could place within the poster the phrases of each of the body parts. For now I will try and achieve this quality by printing out each of my pieces individually so they can be read, and be layered.

I stepped well away from the hand crafting and cutting and decided on a simpler approach to type. Keeping the organ like shapes, but drawing type with a fine liner instead. I feel this make it legible to read, and gives it that contrasting monochrome finish which my photographs have.

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - Thumbnails

Some of the digital idea's and development of my product

And hand produced

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - Final poster designs

Using a range of related backgrounds, i tired to create a continuity with a orange, sepia tone, a centred black and white image.

I don't think this is quite there yet, I feel it need's to be smaller, centred, and for the tubes to and from the stomach to be longer and thinner.

I dislike the lack of type use here so hope to improve on that. I'll rid of the hearts and Jack, queen, king etc symbols and use a 'full house' related phrase or quote instead.

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - Craft and photo

Taking snaps

Positioning the cut out where the organ would lie.

From all of the images I do feel the above works best, in that the light is particularly contrasting, the cut out is easier to see and is the focus. I will take this forward.

This doesn't work as well, I do feel the persons busy attire has something to do with this.

The scanned in work

Using Illustrator and photoshop

My design I feel works best

Working with live trace on illustrator

Although I like these designs, the genre seems to be that of guns and crime, which obviously isn't my main focus!

From seeing my results, I have found that plain, unedited photography is the way forward. I will need to prepare a set up in which there is a contrasting light, and choose a model, in which there attire is complimentary to my designs; perhaps a dark plain t-shirt, hair back, no jewellery would would best.

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - Illustrator

Using simple line drawings.

I decided to try another approach, that of using illustrator, using the existing outline of my organ to create a vector image, feeling this could be used in my final outcome.

Firstly a design using hand rendered type, shape and a existing font. The use of existing serif font doesn't go with the very simple line drawing. My own created type, shown inside the heart, seems to work better.

Using hand rendered text:

This works a lot better, using just two colours and very simple outline drawings.

This very simple yet effective image seems to be the better of the three.

These designs I could try using within my posters.

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - lets get crafty

'When the stomach is full, It is easy to talk of fasting'

'I feel pretty empty on the inside'

The outline

After spending several hours cutting, I did find it very tedious and lengthy. I'm not sure if it would be a wise decision to take this medium forward, it may take too long for my to cut out a piece for 3 designs in the time given. I will try to find a more appropriate medium to take forward.

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - Further idea generation

FURTHER IDEA GENERATION

Idea's for the singular words

Drawing up on an idea's

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - Full & Empty - Research

Research

I asked several peers any phrases they could come up with using the two words 'full' and 'empty', there weren't very many! So I looked up a few phrases and quotes on the internet.

Quotes, words, and saying relevant to the opposites 'empty' and 'full'

• "Sleeping on a full stomach"
• "Is it half full or half empty?"
• Washing machine pre-set - Full Load
• Hotel sign - Full
• "I feel pretty empty inside and out"
• "i've got such a full stomach"
• "When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting"
• 'Full to the brim'
• 'Empty the bins'
• Full Stop
• Emptied Pockets
• Full house
• Full time work
• Emptiness
• "Whats your full name?"
• Full Battery
• "Running on empty"
• Fully loaded

DESIGN IS ABOUT DOING - Some idea's

Initial idea

Thinking on the basis of the word 'Empty'

With the phrase, empty the box?

Contradiction - the boxes are obviously empty

Some other idea's - Using a pint glass

Some experiments with cut out font

Here I was thinking along contradictions, using objects to reveal this, using alongside my hand rendered type and images. I do feel this could limit me, as empty and full are very easy and simple to come up with objects to reveal a contradiction - literally anything which can have something in it. It would mean designs would be repeated and pointless.