Format & Font Selection Concepts

A key point within this brief is how the text MUST own the page, however the actual amount of copy that I have been given is quite small, each tale is only one small paragraph long, this issue is then made more extreme by the requirement for my book, if it is physical to be of a large format, minimum sizes are given however I think that to answer the brief in the most successful way, my format size should be larger than the bare minimum. This raises many questions as to how I am going to have the text own the page with such large spreads and such a small amount of body copy.

A positive of having less copy means that I am given vast amounts of space to experiment with hierarchy as well as with different hero visuals that can flow throughout the spreads. The book does require a cover and an introduction as well as a title page, however it also asks me to challenge the regular ways to reading books, this prompts me to stretch out of the normal as Calvino does so well with his writing style, beyond requiring a single cover, the contents of the book itself can take on any format. Folding techniques and format experimentation could, if done to a high and appropriate standard, assist in delivering my impactful and meaningful messages to a higher degree as well as showcasing specialist format and paper stock knowledge.

This idea of using specialist formats and stocks is constantly seen within my best practice research, and also seen often within some professional publication design examples.

KAPOW!

KAPOW is an extremely useful example of how normally unconsidered parts of a book can be altered to make the narrative and information within much more interesting and engaging to read. By incorporating typographical rotations and altercations to the actual body copy itself the book becomes unique and innovative. This effect could work well within my work, by altering the axis or size of different key words and phrases within the paragraphs of the city tales themselves it will allow words that are especially expressive to be expressed or singled out as a word that needs reflection or is of high importance without falling into the trap of simply making it bold or a larger point size.

As well as being more interesting to read this type of type manipulation can show a greater sense and understanding of hierarchal systems, this would of course need to be done well to showcase this and thus would require extensive experimentation, but it would allow my stories to be told in a more unconventional way, as well as giving me sufficient reason to leave space around phrases and paragraphs, filing the spreads more and allowing them to feel more like they belong on the page itself rather than simply being printed onto a book that already exists.

While KAPOW! brings up many ideas about how to manipulate body copy within a conventionally bounded publication, I think there is room within my brief to experiment with the binding and folding techniques themselves, allowing me to express my themes of duality and perception within the appearance of the paper stock itself, and then giving it an extra edge by manipulating the body copy and disrupting the hierarchical systems within the innovatively bound document.

Typeface Selection

As “Invisible Cities” is based upon the 13/14th century travels of Marco Polo, and the elegant and poetic prose the book is written in, I feel my typeface choices should lie primarily within the serif category, The refined and beautiful look of well-placed and present serifs would work well to reflect the writing style of Polo and Calvino. However, I should not overdo the use of serifs, large overly luxurious serifs would bring illegibility with them, the text needs to be well set and thought about, not assumed and presumptuous.

Some thoughts for inital typefaces that fit this descriptions are below:

My options here all share a common theme within the category of serif, these typeface choices all have a high contrast. I think this aspect is positive as these typefaces generally look better when placed into large titles, given the large format that I must complete my work into this will play into my favour later on into the project, I do think that the typeface should reflect the writing style of Calvino more. Given how unusually structured the “novel” is, i think this element should be present within both the narrative and the type that tells it. Once again this should not be overdone, Calvino’s writing style is famously unconventional, but his writing still fall within the novel category, so any distortion/alteration should still allow the typeface to fall into the serif category, but should stretch the envelope in terms of its classification. I think the closest to what I want within the list above is “Lust Script” it almost falls into the slab serif category but isn’t quite conventional enough to find very similar examples elsewhere.

Brightfate is a serif typeface that has less contrast within the actual strokes of the type itself, however it does give itself larger contrast by having some unconvential aspects within the letterforms, after a short amount of research I have also found why I am finding heavier typefaces within the serif catagory more resonate with the themes within the book as well as the time period of Marco Polo himself.

Early teen century manuscripts are often seen within typefaces similar to that which i have been experimenting with myself. This also promotes the use of drop caps with decortate additions, this could be done by illustrating the drop cap illustrations myself or by supporting the letterform with several themed fluerons, acting as a garnish to the drop cap that could assist me in expressing the themes within the book.

Dissertation Proposal

Previous to my first dissertation proposal meeting my initial thoughts for my dissertations including branding, due to my recent completion of a Russian based branding project I was particularly interested within that area and therefore the topic of Russian branding history was a prime area of interest. After my first tutorial the topics of Russian revolution was brought up and the lack of graphic design that was present within that time period. This also brought up the mass amount of propaganda that was produced throughout the Russian revolution area.

Throughout the two weeks following the first tutorial I attempted to research into a theroised “Graphic Design Vacuum” that may have existed once the USSR collapsed and restrictions on advertising and nationalisation periods came to an end. However after significant research I failed to find much interesting information within this topic. I did find a large amounnt of information on the topic of propaganda itself.

Given the lack of information on my chosen topic and the abundance of information on advertisements and propaganda within Russia I proceeded to introduce this new angle in my next dissertation proposal meeting. During the meeting I purposed that I research the development of propaganda in contrast with advertising throughout history, as well as the differences and similarities between the two. My ideas were supported and I decided to expand my dissertation to the entire world rather than simply remaining within Russia.

Very soon into my research I began to discover just common propaganda is within everyday advertising, as well as how tolerated it is. The relationship between the two appeared interesting and required further investigation. After discovering the main forms of propaganda and advertising I then researched into the differences and similarities of the two. After researching into the true meanings of both of the terms I discovered that propaganda, by definition is not a negative phrase, it has simply been used to a terrible means such a large number of times so famously throughout history that it is generally considered a negative phrase. As well as discovering the truth about propaganda I also learnt that Branding is not always a positive phrase, while it has been used positively, even groups such as the nazis used branding and advertising successfully to pursade and convince people. This research began to formulate my dissertation question, clearly the line between what is considered branding and propaganda is a thin line that often becomes blurred.

Following on from my next tutorial I created my plans for my three chapters, these would establish the meaning of branding and propaganda, establish the differences and similarities as well as discuss the theoretical future side of branding and propaganda.

I used resources such as MetSearch and JSTOR to find verified and reliable sources for my information, this allowed me to formulate a critical position with articles that both supported and opposed it. My critical position was formulated slowly, once I began research my position looked like I thought that the rise of the digital age, with the introductions of modern smartphones and social media, the line between branding and propaganda blurred ever more. Alonsgside conducting secondary research I also found it vital to make plans for primary research, this would support my critical position by using line graphs to display a curve that agreed with this critical position.

Initally thinking of exploring the history of branding of propaganda, after my research and meetings I thought that perhaps exploring different industries within a smaller time period would be more advantageous than exploring only one or two examples throughout a much longer history. Given my critical position there was minimal need to explore much further pervious than the times when computers and phones were being introduced to the public. given the scale of my dissertation plans the longer 8000-10000 word thesis reminded my primary consideration for format throughout the duration of my meetings.

After further meetings I found that conducting further research into larger companies more interesting, and also opened up additional angles for the more complex parts of my dissertation. An additional section of if companies can achieve a status of invincibility due to such a concrete brand message that then proceeding to consistently produce advertisements that may sit on the other side of the thin, blurred thin of advertising.

I found the psychological research particularly interesting, how companies use many different means in order to subtly attempt to change the minds of those who view the adverts by these companies. as well as how well known this fact is by those who are involved in the creation and study of advertisements, but how unknown these facts are to the general public. This set the tone for the dissertation, it will be an educational tool for those interesting in understanding and studying the thin line that advertisements walk.

Overall this project has taught me how to effectively research and reference sources, as well as extract the most vital information from those sources. Alongisde this I found the opportunities for primary research to be interesting and useful. The primary research that I plan to conduct seems unique to my dissertation, the information for my primary research (TV Ads) are easily found and as such can be researched in extreme depth and variance. Moving forward I plan to improve and expand my current research in order to achieve a more varied pool of opinions and positions presented by reputable authors and professors. I have found the progression of my thoughts as well as my dissertation itself to be significant and helpful to my overall thoughts on essay writing.

Logo Development

Proclaim Logo Marque (Fingerprints) basic

After creating my initial marque outcomes, I decided to press forward with the fingerprint textured outcome, although my initial worries are that it is not entirely obvious that the texture is that of a fingerprint, it may at first appear as a zebra type pattern, however hopefully the Eastern bloc typeface as well as the Cyrillic alphabet will give off more a dark atmosphere, making the overall logo look less like a zebra striped pattern. My other worry with this logo is that the fingerprint texture does sometimes miss out on some parts of certain letterforms, this does hurt legibility slightly, however I think it does also play into the decaying aspect of the logo by reducing some of the visibility within one or two of the Cyrillic translation. This also helps to translate the gradual fading away of the “Facts” that were put forward by the soviet union in relation to the Chernobyl disaster. As the real truths and facts are revealed, what people were previously told fades way within their memory and is eventually forgotten about. I think to improve the legibility and explore different possible patterns it would be a good idea to attempt the fingerprint pattern with different overlays. As the way I have created this texture is by simply pressing my fingerprint onto a piece of paper, photographing it, I then proceed to illustrate it within a vector format, giving the illustration perfectly clear quality. The lines are slightly reduced and simplified before I then place the entire fingerprint over the top of the proclaim name written in my chosen typeface (Myra 4F Caps), I then select the fingerprint, go back on to the type layer, before I finally inverse my selection and simply erase everything that is not selected. This allows only the colour that is present within both the text and fingerprint layer to show through, producing a legible fingerprint texture.

On Display- “Hidden Heroes”

im planning on making part of my exhibition a booklet that can be used while within the exhibition space. I wanted the appearance to be professional, government themed. Possibly a leather bound booklet with coloured archival type paper stock.

Initially I was thinking of creating the booklet physically however as part of the brief mentioned that actually creating the work within the exhibition space is not necessary. Due to this I am planning on changing the idea to an app, I think creating the work within an app would not only fit the brief better, it would also make the fingerprint effect that i plan on creating much easier, as i am unsure whether the paper stock exists that i need, whereas within an app the technology could very easily be achieved.

hidden hero pic

My first draft iteration of a hidden heroes page, attempting to replicate the atmosphere of a formal themed piece, I’m thinking of having the body copy in large, regimented sections. As well as having a strong sense of symmetry within the page making it appear more formal. While this layout will work effectively if the booklet is printed physically I am worried about if the body copy will be too small and therefore lose legibilty if it is placed within an app format.

A potential improvement for this piece is to make the large photo within the centre of the page as a photogram. This allows me to potentially manipulate the photo with objects placed above the photo when it is being exposed to light. An idea is once the photo has been exposed to light, I could leave the small fragments of chemicals on the photogram on the photo, after being left for an amount of days, the chemicals slightly corrode the photo and the reminants group together to form small brownish clumps on the page, making it look irradiated and aged.

On Display, Developing My Visual Style

Poster

Moving forward with my digital and typographical outcomes, I was next needing to expand my outcomes into the deliverables format that I am required to submit at the end of the project. After inital thoughts on what the visual language might look like within the logo marque, I decided to try and create some digital mockups of potential poster layouts. For my poster I need to be able to attract audeinces from a far distance away, while still keeping them interested while they approach closer, I personally find it exteremly easy to miss the perfect mark when creating a poster. With previous experimentations I used a large amount of red and black within my colour scheme,as much of my inspirational research also contained this colour scheme, it seems advantageous to carry this theme onwards moving fowards.

After my research it became clear to me that the true facts of Chernobyl are much uglier than the facts that were told at the time at the disaster. Due to the nature of the nation in which the diaster occured as well as their effort to prevent a panic situation from arrising with the Soviet Union. However due to the pure scale of the diaster, the nuclear radiation was detected in countries as far away as Sweden merely hours after the incident occured. This is also the most dangerous time for radioactivity. Those unstable elements that producde the greatest amount of radiation also last the shortest amount of time. However the short lived fuel used within the Chernobyl reactor four was also only used by the soviet union, so once the small levels of radioactivity were detected within Sweden, it was very easy to tell that the soviet union was the origin of the disaster.

After this research I decided to attempt to use imagery and visual metaphor for this situation. Throughout the disaster there were many other examples of the Russians attempting to play down the severity of the disaster e.g. when the workers required robots to clean the roof of reactor no.4. The soviet government gave other countries a much lower number of radiation that was actually detected. Due to this, the other countries donated robots that were not capable of withstanding the radiation, leading to men having to clear the roofs manually, nicknamed “bio-robots”.

The image I decided to take forward was this image of “in Russian, everything is neat and refined” however in other languages it is a total disaster. I decided to attempt to translate this throughout all of my text in my brand. Seen in this particular poster I have translated that message within the text by having the Russian headings text be perfectly set kerning, leading and all other typographic systems, however this text is hidden behind the slightly larger English heading where the kerning is changed often between letterforms, some of the letterforms are turned italic whereas some are not, as well as some tails on letterforms appearing to melt down the page.

Overall, by applying this effect the English writing becomes slightly unsettlingly to look at, translating the ugly truths of the events of Chernobyl that have been proven to be true. As this exhibition is taking place in the present tense and the true facts have been revealed I decided to have the neat and perfectly formed Russian letterforms placed in the background, so that the English letterforms are glaring at the viewers more significantly.

A Lived Experience Week one

Begin thinking what question to ask in dissertation. Constellation term 1 used as dissertation trial run.

Link essay question heavily into graphics.

Contextualize and reference what you say, over coming up with 100% original ideas and arguments.

Assessment is formative.

Becoming more aware to the way in medium in which we live in,

Fish analogy (Mention on blog), interesting and extremely relevant.

1^st part of analogy- not realizing the place you are at now, taking a moment to

Becoming aware to events going on in the world affects the way you judge and how you think/perceive the world.

E.G. if someone is never taught about the concept of cruelty, to them, life is sweet and innocent.

Being surrounded by people with the same viewpoint makes you forget opposing points.

The unconscious decisions of day to day life.

What does “here” and “now” mean to you

Depends on the situation, when I am inside the lecture room, only that is my here, but once I step outdoors the entire campus becomes my here.

Now depends on the impact and change of the fore-coming events. If something presents a dramatic enough change, Reflecting back I would consider them two different sets of time.

Our perceptions of time have an ethical dimension, an impact on human lives. Our attitudes of the here and now have more consequences to people more than ourselves.

Critical position is taking your thoughts and ideas do not happen in a vacuum, but within the context of other writers and theorists who may have opposing or similar views.

Our stories shape our sense of reality- Palimpsest

The impact culture has on your attitude to time.

In indi, same word for yesterday and tomorrow.

Italian reniessence0 introduction of linear perspective, allows the viewer to view the vanishing point, bringing them into the illusion of being in a particular position in correspondence to the event that is occurring within the art piece, Madonna painting for reference.

Look back at, more symbolic, less literal from clives constellation.

European art normally depicts a moment in time

Where Eastern art normally represents a continuous condition. An archetype,

Example of board could not include a linear perspective due to the present of an omnipresent observer, perhaps because in Indian culture a belief is that all things contain a consciousness. Painting in narrative and figurative containing multiple moments within it. Because there is multiple events in one painting, a linear perspective is not appropriate.

Explore Orientalism.

Carl Yung.

Link things into theory of general relativity.

Reading: The Living Present

Look at presentation slide

How do artworks invite us to contemplate on the aspect of time?

Portfolio

For this project I have been tasked with creating a portfolio to display my work. It would have a clear theme throughout, having my style of work shine through both the work I am going to showcase as well as the backgrounds and orientation of the page.

To begin this project I did a small amount of research into portfolios in order to gauge just how long and they should be as well as how much content to put on each page. I decided that my portfolio would likely be digital based since that is what the majority of my work is made on, using digital mediums. Planning to keep to one project per double page spread, allowing me to input a large array of work while still avoiding making the page looking too full.

My initial concept is displayed below:

portfolio blog one.jpg

For this example i have attempted to create a content filled, minimalist piece. With the aim of including very small amounts of simple, block colour background content in order to allows maximum focus on the foreground images of the app wire frame itself. However I think that the large AD within the background does throw focus off too much and attracts far to much attention, possibly because it has too much opacity and the fact that the drop shadow is very large. I think this could be improved by including a greater amount of images that are within context, such as hands holding the phones rather than simply dropping the JPEG files into the document itself. I also want to experiment with more photography, if the correct photo is chosen for the project, then perhaps there will be no need for a heading at all.

I have decided to create the app design page first as think that would take up the mot space and therefore would set a good gauge for how long the portfolio should be, within my research I found that it should be no longer than 10-12 pages/spreads. given that I have only had around six projects this year it should be easily achievable to create a detailed but still condense portfolio.

I began experimenting with photograph in an effort to contextualise my portfolio. Beginning with some simple photos that could be used anywhere within my app design portion of my portfolio.

Examples are below: