With the theoretical considered, I should now really consider what conceptual research is going to be useful to me, My issue is light pollution and so light must sit at the centre of everything i create. Light and shadow is often used in design with a high level of effectivness, given light and shadows constant appearance in design, there is plenty of research from a wide array of contexts that I can find.
Ranging from print to digital and moving to static, many of the conceptual concepts i have been looking at are below
https://www.behance.net/collection/182427583/FMP
while many of these projects have a black and white colour scheme, I do not think this would be a good idea. The limiting factors of a black and white colour scheme are very present, it would also limit me in how I could use light and shadow, the use of multiple colours would allow different types of light to interact with each other, something that would not be possible if only using a black and white colour scheme, perhaps using a dark background with multiple, highh contrasting and bright colours in the foreground would help to direct attention to my material while ensuring variety and contrast in my designs.
Light pollution is not a black and white issue, there are many different factors that cause it and so therefore I feel the colour scheme should reflect that. If my message is the artificual vs the natural, then these should be represented by individual colours, perhaps a natural orange glow battling a glaring and painful cyan glow, this way the battle of artifical vs natural can exist without the need to explicitly say it, as well as offering wide contrast and visual impact throughout my campaign while simultaeously avoiding the use of night sky photographs but still giving off a feeling of the night and the lights that brighten it.
My research here takes my theoretical research so far and begins to ask the questions that i will soon begin answering within my concepts, as well as looking at the different techniques and processes can be used to create my inital visual language.
Initial Three Concepts
My three intial concepts use a variety of different techniques, inspiration and approaches to solve the problem of light pollution in cities.
concept deconstruction & reflection
1,
Light diffusion as a way to reveal information. Although these examle often use a black and white colour scheme I do not think it is nessecary, the incluscion of coloured lights onto a white/black background could be an interesting way to create a dark and light alternative that I feel would compliment the artificial vs natural nature of light pollution. It also allows for further expansion of the designs by catergoising content based on whether it exist in the positive or negative colour scheme.
Something that I find particularly interesting are the examples here that are using noise heavily, they give the illusion of diffused light and when there is a gentle enough decay of the noise pixels, it gives a slight visual of stars in the night sky, this however would likely not be as obvious when placed on a different colour scheme, but I think that perhaps this being a more implicit addition would help to make my content more intelligenxt packed with meaning.
Gestalt theory seems important to use here I think that having content existing in the negative space is another way of effectivley revealing and concealing with the use of contrast, perhaps something like the artificial is the content that exists in the positive space, and the more gentle, natural content being revealed in the negative space. A consideration for this technique would be how to make this interesting beyond a simple one time reveal would be a challenge, but if the pace can be changed enough throughout the different outcomes I think this could be a very effective way to translate the feeling of light pollution into my designs.
2,
My second concept more so focusses on the vertical axis, calling to action through simple actions that can be executed by anyone, but focusesing on my target audience of permenant city dwellers. Asking people to look up is an effective way to engage the audience and establish a connection to the designs more than simply viewing what is infront of them, but experiencing something. However I think that more should be done with this idea, as previous example campaign lacked action then it should be at the center of this concept in particular, as well as asking people to look up to view what sights are above them, with a campaign that focusess on the verticle then looking up should also allow my audience to fully engage with my content. This is seen most effectively within the overhang concpet seen above, having a poster than hangs above the user allows me to input important questions/statistics in the overhang section, with important data visualisation/information designs existing in the rest of the print example.
3,
My third and final concept uses glare at its center.
I liked that my previous example is more based on experience, I also like it being used within this concept, the idea of light pollution can be translated onto peoples phone screens and computers, glare exploits the human eye into not allowing it to adjust to the massively contrasting light levels present within the (Movement based) designs.
I do not see this being done elsewhere and so the concept concerns me as to it’s overall effectivness, however it will be very innovative if done correctly, if this does not work it may still hold some of that impact if diluted and slightly altered in order to prioritise legibilty and functionailty over pure visual impact, this could perhaps be used varyingly to create a complex pace and set the tone for the different content that I will create.
Motion is not something that is often seen within my portfolio and so I like the opportunites that this concept brings forward, experimentations in after effects would reveal a whole different side to my skillset and massively diversify my portfolio. This would mean a large learning curve that could hurt my overall mark for my FMP, but I feel the risk is appropriatly risen with the reward potential, as well as the general excitment I’m feeling about the opportunity to fully immerse myself in motion design with such an interesting medium as light and shadow.
Reflections & Considerations
With considerable experience with creating a large amount of concepts for previous projects I think that this project is no different in that all of my concepts have some parts that are positive and can be transferred between and then combined together in order to make one successful concept, rather than just take one of these three concepts and ignore the potential positives that may exist within the other two.
I think the use of light in a pragmatic sense should be a concept to be taken forward, I feel this resonates well with all of the concepts that i’ve explored so far, the opportunities are vast and the design challenge of using environmental light to my own design advantage is not something that is often seen within design and is especially not something that previous light pollution cmapaigns have attempted, this massive different approach will help to set the tone of ‘this campaign is not the same as others’ hopefully then setting my audience in the mindset I want them to be in.
I think movement should exist within my campaign, it is my final project and thus should challenge me in new ways, and after effects is a programme i have basic knowledge in and would benefit from a project based around it.
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