OUGD403 Self Evaluation

Print Workshop

Below are my pieces of work from a print workshop where we used woodblock and linocut. I particularly enjoyed the woodblock because of the textures created from the age and slight imperfections of the individual letters. I love how each one is unique and how when they come together each imperfection seems to be a strong point as opposed to a disadvantage.

The 2 linocuts below are based on my 'Expand' font, they're only quickly done and are quite rough but I really enjoy the effect the cut marks produce once printed. 

OUGD403 DESIGN SKILLS - MESSAGE & DELIVERY: DISTRIBUTION

Final Prints

This what my printed out copies look like, because of the way I designed the infograph to be printed on the inside of the envelope I had to print double sided. I had a small issue on the first print and that was lining up both sides perfectly, however, I quickly came up with a solution to fully block out the outside of the envelope because it only needs to be block colour. I also needed to nudge the title to the inside of the panel slightly just to be safe so I didn't trim any of the writing off when cutting from the other side.

I printed on to antique white paper same as the posters and again the block yellow works great when printed onto it. The paper gives the yellow a more muted vintage tone to it which I feel is relevant to the history and culture behind the Tour de France.

On the inside of the envelope I feel again the paper has done my designs justice, even though the paper doesn't have a clean crisp print, it does have an aesthetic that one would achieve by screen printing, kind of a not so perfect finish to it and I feel the colour also matches a screen printed style muted/dull. I'm very pleased with the way the prints came out even though the paper doesn't print clean and crisp, it has however printed all the detail and opacities.

This is just what the envelope looks like once cut out and slightly unfolded, I particularly enjoy how when you unfold the envelope it reveals one more panel as opposed to showing the whole infograph in one go.

This what the envelope looks like when posted through your door minus the stamp. I think the yellow has a massive impact when on the door mat, however I don't think it actually says much about the contents or subject. This is a good and a bad thing, good because it provokes thoughts, it makes the receiver want to open it and find out the inside. However it's bad because although it is an unbelievably crisp sleep design it can deter people from opening the letter and throwing it straight in the junk mail pile because it has no theme on the outside but also because it's not the normal withe or brown envelope, which is the 'norm' to receive.

Mailshot-

This is my mailing list for my mail shots, its pretty simple and straight forward similar to my posters and my mail shot. I have incorporated a bike wheel and used the same font as the posters and mail shot so it's in keeping with everything else. I have decided to send my mail shots to independent cycling blogs that post a substantial amount of cycle art therefor it would be a quick and easy way for my to get my mail shot out to the public. I'm not really a big fan of my mailing list, it looks similar to a receipt because of the tall slim font but also because of the choice of font colour.

OUGD403 DESIGN SKILLS - MESSAGE & DELIVERY: DISTRIBUTION

Proposed Final Design

Below are the final inside and outside designs for my envelope;

Above is the design for the outside of my final envelope in net format. I have decided to use the colour yellow to match my posters but also because of what it signifies in the Tour de France. Yellow is the colour of champions and I have decided to use it as a juxtapose against the shame and disgrace of using drugs in the tour. So from the outside it carries no information apart from the address which comes across as a innocent but once opened the information i want to put across will be revealed.

Above is the infograph the viewer will see once the envelope is opened and unfolded. The inside is clean, simple and very easy to navigate and understand. I've aimed to keep the text down to a minimum only adding key bits of information that I feel is relevant to the topic of drugs in the Tour de France and my set of 3 posters. 

The image poster was the weakest element of my series and feedback from the crit was that it didn't make much sense, therefore I have drawn elements from the poster and incorporated them with text meaning they are now in context and have more of a meaning.

OUGD403 DESIGN SKILLS - Alphabet soup Illustrator

For my illustrator typeface I decided to use my typeface that was supposed to imitate the font expanding in a concertina fashion similar to paper. The reason I decided upon this font is because it came out strongest in the group crit and also it seems like it would work really well as a digital font because of its simplicity.

To start off with I had to choose an existing font to base my font on. I decided on a font called Imagine off dafont because all of the letters are square which meant I could create a universal grid that could apply to every single letter but also because it's boxy it'd be easier to create the concertina effect as opposed to curved letters. Once I had decided on the font I set about creating grids that would help me out a great deal because I can create even columns and every aspect of my font can be precise.

I simply followed these grids and the outcome is above, I changed the colours to a grey and an opacity to easily distinguish between the folds but also create a shadow effect using the different tones. 

Above is the finished A, it's very simple and easy to create but the simplicity is key because if each letter is over complicated they won't work well together or in sequence because it'll be too much on the eye.

Above is the final complete alphabet finished, I think it's come out really well. It''s not really what I expected or wanted to it to look like, It's very rigid and very precise and perfect. I thought it looked better hand rendered with not so perfect lines that added quality and character to each letter rather than a kind of lifeless perfect structure. I think this could be down to the choice of font I based it on was already rather boxy and square where no letter had any individual characteristics. But if I had have chosen a font that had more features it would have been more difficult to create and I wouldn't have been able to get such a clean finish. But i'm happy with it even if it didn't turn out how I wanted it to.

Below is the finished alphabet printed onto matte paper-

OUGD403 DESIGN SKILLS - MESSAGE & DELIVERY: DISTRIBUTION

I am placing inside my envelope an infographic to show drug free winners, it is based on the poster 17-14=3 drug 3 winners. The wheel represent riders, the grey penalised for drugs and yellow means clean winners. Along with the graphic there will be a small statement to accompany it and make it more understandable.  Below are 3 different variations of the infograph, I have experimented with the positioning of the key and held a small crit to gain feedback on understandability and aesthetic positioning of the key.  Everybody understood the meaning of the graphic when shown and found it quite easy to follow when accompanied with the brief statement. They also said that the first positioning example is the best as it completes the graphic as a box whereas with the other 2 designs they work well but they just don't work well with the grid the wheels fit into.

2nd panel variations-

For the second panel of the envelope i would like to make the drug problem in the Tour de France more personal and less broad by relating the problem to Lance Armstrong. I'm going to extract the needles from my poster and apply them to Lance Armstrong. I will either use them as a header to accompany the title or use them as an infograph by lining seven in a row which represents the 7 titles he has recently been stripped of. 

Below are 2 variations of text layout that'll accompany the seven syringes; 

This layout of the text follows the gradients of the altitude map that is used in the tour de france, it doesn't really work because there is too much white space on the left and by adding text to this gap I feel it'll clutter the whole info graph.

For this one I have aligned both text and syringes to the right, this again leaves quite a substantial amount of white space on the right this time. The problem is the altitude map down the right hand side of the page it creates an awkward white space.

These two images below I have just played around with the layout of the text by having 'Lance Armstrong' all on one line and on the other splitting it on to separate lines. I think both these ideas are pretty poor, again there is awkward white space but also the link between just the one syringe and the title doesn't clearly make sense without additional information. Also I don't like how the needle from the syringe looks like it relates to the altitude map when positioned horizontally. 

From these small experiments I have taken away quite a lot and gained some very important information. I have learnt that the map on the side does nothing apart from create clutter and problems, that is why I am going to take it off and not use it at all. I have decided to use the seven syringes in a row because without the map along the side it's possible to fill the whole panel with syringes which fills the empty space but also serves a purpose by representing the seven years he had been accused of doping.

This is what my development led to, a simple info graph that needs no description apart from a title. I have decided to add dates into the top of each syringe that represents the years he won supposedly from doping.

For the bottom panel I have simply put the title that relates to the panel above and below. The reason I put the text aligned to the right is to keep with the grid system I used in the first panel, however this leaves me with a massive blank white space. I really like this big white space, I believe it provokes thoughts on the subject and the viewers views on the subject, the empty space says to me "Interpret"...

OUGD403 DESIGN SKILLS - MESSAGE & DELIVERY: DISTRIBUTION

 I have created a basic net of an envelope following the dimensions of a dl envelope,  I will add another panel and slightly change the flaps and openings of the envelope. From this I will design my infograph straight on to the net that will be folded up into the final envelope.

Below is my adapted dl envelope which I have customised with the addition of an extra panel and rounded opening flap. I have then added the stamp dimensions, colour and posting address as a mock up to see what my final envelop will look like. It works so well together and is easy to see how my envelop ties in to my set of posters I created. The final flaps won't be grey but I have just left them like that so I can distinguish between the flaps and main panels of the envelope.

OUGD403 DESIGN SKILLS - MESSAGE & DELIVERY: DISTRIBUTION

Based on the 3 posters I created in response to the Lance Armstrong doping article I must now create a mailshot that can be mass produced and sent out to cycling related blogs etc... The format of the envelope will be DL and I aim to create an envelope that unfolds to create an info graph that'll inform the viewer about the use of drugs in the Tour de France by using basic facts used in my posters plus some other bits of information I didn't include. 

Above are some basic nets and designs of how my envelope  will unfold. I have decided to use a net similar to the one in the top right of the picture but add flaps to tuck it all in neatly.

Above are some more nets this time I have added some basic deign ideas to see how it'll look once unfolded and how everything will be laid out. Below I have done the same thing but this time gone into more detail with image and layout. 

OUGD403 DESIGN SKILLS - MESSAGE DELIVERY: RESEARCH

Below are my final poster designs that have derived from my research, ideas and development-

The idea for my image poster is a syringe full of yellow liquid a drip coming out of the bottom that contains a wheel. First of a yellow relates to the Tour de France where yellow signifies the best, the leader and the champion. When wearing these colours the worlds eyes are fixed on them, they're seen as idols and receive the highest up most respect from fellow riders. Therefore by putting this into a syringe it represents the fact that drug cheats in the Tour de France don't earn these qualities, they're just injected, they falsely gain these colours and respect. By adding the wheel it helps pin the image to cycling visually. I think the image puts across the message fine but I have doubts people who have no knowledge of the Tour de France will understand the whole meaning but as long as they grasp it's related to drug use and cycling I will have done what I set out to achieve.

For the type and image poster I have approached it in a different way to the image poster, I have said it how it is and made as simple as possible with no hidden meaning. It simply says 'The Tour of Drugs', this phrase relates to the countless amount of cyclists that are found guilty each year. 2012 was the first Tour de France in 12 years where one of the top 3 riders hasn't failed a drugs test and been banned from the tour. I have gone for a quite a shock tactic with phrase and will cause controversy because people say it doesn't apply to all the riders in the tour, which is true but my statement is based on the Tours reputation and opinions that circle the sport. I have laid the type on top of a yellow altitude map which is a key feature in every stage of the Tour de France, this ties in the type with the image.

I think the type and image work together very well because the altitude map is an actual map used in the Tour de France meaning the text has been kerned to fit in to the peaks. Also the over simplicity of the design is just so clean and crisp, I think if anything else is to be added it would over complicate the design and also make it stick out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of my posters because the rest of them are so simple and clean.

The type poster is pretty straight forward to understand and gets straight to the point by simply stating the fact. I have filled the number fourteen with grey to show they're a disgrace, but also to draw attention to the shocking fact that 14 of the past 17 winners have been penalised for drug use. The bold yellow background again relates the poster to the Tour de France without actually stating anywhere that it's about the tour.

Above and below are my final posters printed on 2:1 A3 format antique white paper. The yellow looks dull and muted similar to a screen print which is something I didn't set out to achieve but think has really added to the aesthetics of the poster. Also the syringe poster has overlapped in parts but again that gives it the effect of being screen printed and i'm extremely happy with the final outcome. 

When all lined up next to they work amazingly as a set, there is a transition from the antique white to the traditional yellow of the Tour de France which again is serendipitous.  The altitude map on the type and image poster works as a great separator between the type poster and the image poster. And the stock quality has a great texture to it that i feel adds culture and history the yellow holds.

OUGD403 DESIGN SKILLS - MESSAGE DELIVERY: RESEARCH

We were asked to produce designs for a set of three high impact posters that deliver a personal identified message derived from our research into pt1 of this brief. As a starting point we filled in a quick sheet of questions that focused our ideas towards a more specific topic within that newspaper article;

1. What statement/fact/question are you intending to communicate? I aim to show how heavily drugs are used within pro cycling but more specifically the Tour de France.
2. What is the tone? The tone of my posters will be to shock people into the reality of drug use in the sport.
3. Who are my audience? My audience is the general public that don't follow cycling on a regular basis and know little about it. It will mainly be 18-30yr olds who don't have time to watch or read the news. 

Based on my previous research into my newspaper article I already had some initial ideas that will serve well as a basis for my design development. Below I have produced 20 ideas for each; image, type and type and image. They're only quick sketches but they include colour schemes i will hopefully use and basic design ideas. 

From these basic ideas I have chosen a few to transfer over into digital format and develop further;

Above are 3 designs variations i created quickly on illustrator, the on in the centre displays the simple message 'The of Drugs' The yellow signifies the leaders and winners jersey, I decided to create a simple minimal type post because it'll only be glanced at but also for the impact. I think it's short and sweet but really controversial because it's making a general comment across the whole field of cyclists about the use of drugs and not just one specific group of cyclists. With more development and variations I believe this could be the centre from which my other 2 posters circulate. The posters surrounding the centre one is based on naming and shaming the winners of the Tour de France which have failed a drugs test at some point in their career. I don't really Find this to be as effective as the centre idea mainly because it's just a simple name and shame, it doesn't mention when they tested positive or how long ago the won the Tour de France. I believe its kind of false accusations. 

Above are some digital ideas for my image poster that I have developed from my initial sketches. The middle poster has been developed from the one on the left. The polka dots are an iconic symbol of the Tour de France and is a sign that represents the start off a hill climb but also the 'King of the mountains' dons the polka dot jersey. What I have done is manipulated the polka dots so that they represent pills and drugs. However there is a downfall in my idea, cycling is a niche sport and the everyday public won't instantly recognise the relation between the design and the tour. 

Keeping on the idea of drugs I have decided to use drug paraphernalia as the focus point of the poster on the right. I have thrown in the yellow because of its significance and its history with the tour, it represents the drug cheats injecting them selves with greatness and respect as opposed to earning it the hard way. The wheel has been added to reinforce the relationship between the syringe, the colour and cycling.

My type posters I have chosen to keep simple and straight to the point not overcomplicating the message by adding unnecessary type or silly irrelevant layouts. Both messages are quite clear, 'The tour of drugs' and stating that only 3 winners in the last 17 years have won clean and never been penalised for doping in their professional career. 

The design in the middle seems to be my strongest design of the 3, just a simple fact that shocks viewers and opens eyes to the severity of drug use within professional cycling and more so the Tour de France. The grey colour signifies the cheats and how they deserve to ruled out, to be forgotten. I've decided to centre all the information to make it easier to read but so that it also fits the height of the paper.