The Design Process: Week 1

Day 1: Colour and Illustration

Aim: To gather an understanding of the use of colour and to demonstrate this by creating illustrations for pieces of text/poetry using specific colour ways. One illustration then has to be put into context.

This workshop was focused on considering the importance of knowing how to manipulate colour in my work as it can be vital in areas such as illustration. To begin with, I thought the workshop was tedious in the sense that it was quite basic information. Nevertheless, I quickly discovered that I wasn't aware of a few elements concerning the use of colour such as some of the names of the variations of colours. The aim of the workshop was to illustrate pieces of text using each of the colour variations. I decided to take a different approach that I typically would by making my illustrations quite abstract and emotive. I found this interesting as I wasn't used to illustrating/communicating things without using literal text or image.  Overall, I enjoyed this workshop as it enabled be to be more thoughtful and expressive with my use of colour.

Fig.1 Book review illustration (authors own, 2013)

Day 2: Type Layout

Aim: To experiment with the layout of existing typography and to produce a CD cover demonstrating an understanding of typography.

I found this workshop useful as it made me return to basics and consider the graphic formal elements I tend to overlook whilst designing. Similarly to the colour and illustration task from the previous day I initially found it quite tedious and a bit restricting as I was limited to the use of 3 fonts: Helvetica, Gill Sans and Palatino. As I progressed with the task I later understood the lesson to be understood in the workshop as the point of it was to be able to successfully manipulate simple existing typefaces in order to go on to manipulate more complex type and drawn type created by me. 

For my final outcome of this workshop I chose to create an album cover for a band as I felt that it was better to create my own version of an already existing piece of work in order to have something to compare and contrast with. I chose the band Haim's cover for their album 'Days are gone' as I felt they would be interesting to work with due to their unique identity in regards to branding. 

Fig.2 CD cover (authors own, 2013)

Day 3: Poetry and Calligraphy

Aim: To experiment with calligraphy using text/poetry. To produce a wine label using a piece of calligraphy. 

Prior to doing this workshop I was really looking forward to it as I find the use of calligraphy quite effective aesthetically as it provides a certain finish. This is evident in the use of this style in several campaigns. I also liked the idea of using poetry with calligraphy as the two go quite well together. The problems I had with calligraphy as a medium was the control I had over the brush as compared to another medium like drawing, I didn't feel like i was completely able to incorporate my own style into what  I was designing. However, I feel to be able to accomplish this would take time as I will have to practice in order to feel confident. 

The set brief for the outcome of this workshop was to design a piece of calligraphy for a wine bottle. I decided to use the name 'Sacré' which is french for sacred as I wanted the name to blend with the style of my calligraphy in order to make it seem 'real'. In terms of the aesthetic I wanted to go for quite a different visual in terms of the conventional approach to the packaging of wine bottles by designing the external layer of the bottle to be blank and all the designs to be internal in order to create a more interesting effective and to encourage people to closer examine what they are consuming. This was however impractical with the given amount of time. I decided to not only create a wine label but to also stylise the wine bottle as well in order to create a complete aesthetic. I also chose to use all 3 colour variations to represent the versatile nature of the design as it can be used for all types on wine. 

Fig.3 Wine label (authors own, 2013)