Designing logos

On Monday we was given are new assignment A7 I picked assignment 1 to do. Which we have to redesign a logo, CD case and create a pre-flight document for the record label Emit. I think that I am going to enjoy this assignment as there is different creative parts to the assignment and the work that we had done in the reading week will help me be able to create the work and use as inspiration.

After we was given are assignment we then had a presentation on logo designs. I think that this presentation was interesting as it gave us a chance to see lots of different logos and see why these where designed. We also had a presentation from Jonny Haynes who works for the company Technophobia. I thought this was use full having some one come in to talk to us about the industry as it gave us an idea of what its like to be in the industry. After this I then started to design my logos for "Emit" in my sketch book. I did quite a lot of different designs also looking at the Emit work that I had done and also looking at different logos that I had in my sketch book for inspiration. I thought this was good as I was able to see what would and wouldn't work for this type of design.

Today we had a presentation on logo case studies where we learnt about the CND logo and then in are groups we had to redesign the logo. We started off by creating different logo ideas in are sketch book and then comparing the different designs that we had. We then picked are favourite design where we had kept the same design idea but making it have a more modern look. We also did a presentation on what we had done to the logo to the rest of the class.

We then went on to designing are logo's for Emit and then I created my favourite ones in colour. This week I am going to make sure that I have done more logos and try to design the final logo on the computer for next week.

Reading week

The weeks tasks so far have been enjoyable, first of all Monday morning I emailed Steve for the days task. The first task was to find logos on major company’s and annotate them. I found this quite easy as there are lots of different company’s out there which vary in their designs, so I found lots of inspiring logo designs.

The second task was to listen to our Cd which mine was “Slim”, I listened to it a few time before starting the first task which was to create spider diagrams of what the music suggested to me. At first I didn't really like the Album as it came across as dark and depressing, so I broke down my spider diagrams in to scenery, key words, emotions, genre and musical instruments so that I was able to implement ideas into different categories. After this, the fourth task was to create a positive review on our Cd encouraging people to buy it. I then did some research on the artist so that I was able to find more ideas and reviews of the Cd so that I could add this to my spider diagram. I then wrote from my ideas my Cd review. I didn't think that I would be able to write a review for the Cd as I haven’t done one before, but when I started the task I then began to enjoy it and come up with a well written review. Today I emailed Steve again to ask for today's tasks. My first task was to create mood boards that related to my music using the spider diagrams that I created yesterday. First of all I listened to my Cd again before starting the task. I really enjoyed this task as it allowed me to get creative. First of all I broke down different categories for my spider diagrams so that I was able to create 4 different individual mood boards. After this I then looked through magazines and the Internet for things that I could put on the mood board. I found loads of good pictures which fitted well with the category of each board.

The second task was to collect more logos of record company’s that represented my Cd. I didn’t think that they would be lots of logos on this type of music but I found lots on my Genre of music and also added a few different record labels to give variation.

The third task was to create spider diagrams and mood boards about the word “Emit”. I researched what the company was about before starting my spider diagrams. There wasn’t much information on “Emit” but I found enough out to create my spider diagrams. I then moved on to create the mood boards from my spider diagrams. There where lots of pictures on the emit site which I added in to my mood boards which I created 3 mood boards.

So overall all I feel that this as been a really productive week so far and feel that I have learnt a lot.

Slim the review

The artist Slim released her album “Slim 0097” in 1997 by the label Emit. Slim is a unique, inspiring musician who brings originality in to her music. The singer performs a number of different genres, which is influenced by a multiple of sounds such as Jungle, R & B, Soul, Jazz and Pop. The female singer has a soft vocal tone to her music which attracts our attention, also giving a dramatic feel when there are other instruments accompanying her music. Her wide range of instruments such as piano, drums and guitar give a sophisticated feel to the melody which explores a cultural instrumental sound.

Her music is expressive making sure that she has used the same amount of vocal and instruments incorporated in to her melodies. She has also based her musical sound on an African feel to the music, which gives an outstanding style.

Slim is one of the must have albums as she has created sophisticated style in her music which makes her album suitable for people who want easy listening melody’s. She explores different genres in her music which some sound tracks are up tempo, but also could be used as background music as the songs in the album flow together easily.

A6 Evaluation

Over all I feel that this assignment has been productive, there has been good and bad points to the assignment. I have learnt a great deal about typography and how a design studio is run by having different time tasks.

I have enjoyed learning about typography something that I didn’t really know much about before I started this assignment. I was given a typographer to research, which was Erik Spikermann. I have done lots of research on my chosen typographer and feel that I know more about typography from doing this task. I then produced a presentation about Erik Spikermann which I found quit easy to put together, I felt that I did the right amount of research to produce the final presentation with the information that I had found, and from the presentations that we had in the lesson really helped. I then had to perform my final presentation. I felt that I could have done better at the presentation if it wasn’t for nerves, but overall I think I did quit well as I haven’t really done that many presentations before.

Over all I didn’t think that I would enjoy the timed tasks as much as I did and feel that I have really benefited from having the opportunity to experience what a studio environment is like. I made sure that before we started this part of the assignment I had researched Indesign so that when it came to the timed tasks I knew exactly how to work the different tools in this software and feel that I benefited for this as I had taken screen shots in my sketch book so that I was able to look back at these for help if I needed it. I liked the way that none of the timed tasks were the same which meant that I was able to improve my design skills and also learning more about the design industry.

The first task was Hokai, In this task we had to produce packaging for a paint tube. I feel that my performance wasn’t as good as the other timed task because for some reason I couldn't’t get the measurements correct as the aliments on the page wasn’t to the correct size. But when I worked out what was wrong with the layout I was then able to produce a more standard piece of work. It was also a challenge to make all of the information fit in a small amount of space. We were given the information but needed to work the design around the information so that it would all fit on the page.

The second task was Vodafone, we had to design an advertisement for the phone company. We were given the information that needed to go on the page, but we had to work out which would be the best size layout to fit the logo and information on to. I liked the task as there was more to think about then just being given the size of the page, we had to decide which would be the best design solution. Even though I didn’t think this was one of my best designs I still feel that you could see a big improvement from the other timed tasks that I did before this one.

The third timed task was Johnathan Gee, we had to produce a news paper article making columns so that the title, information and logo would fit to the structure of the columns. I feel that this was one of my best design tasks as it was a lot different to the other task that we had done. There was more to it then just designing one product I had to think about where the title, main text and the picture would go, I had to split it up into smaller design tasks. I feel that the presentation that we had before really helped me structure my work as I don’t think I would have been able to produce as good a design as I did for this task.

The fourth timed task was Grid, we had to produce a template of a newspaper article, we had to structure the page so that we used columns and grids. I thought that this task was one of the hardest because we had to make sure that we had used measurements which where exact, so that when we came to designing our structure in Indesign we knew exactly how the page should look. I felt that this tasks wasn’t the most existing of the tasks as there was no information or graphics to be placed on to the design. We had to make sure that boxes where placed where the columns and grids where going and placing measurements on to the design. So that it would make it easier to produce the next design task.

The fifth task was story, this followed on from the grid task where we designed a structure for a newspaper article. I enjoyed this task as we was able to produce a graphical title, implement the given information and choose our own heading. This was more of a task where it was the chance to structure the design as we wanted. I feel that I had really improved from the first design that I had done and feel that this was my best design out of them all and also feel that this was the most enjoyable.

I feel that in this assignment you can really see the improvements that I have made form the other assignments and feel that I have really improved in my design skills, however there is still lots more that I need to learn. But feel that learning about typography will benefit me when I have to design any other web sites, as I will know more about which fonts go best with different typefaces and what fonts should be used where. I also feel that the timed tasks will help me be able to plan my work better as we had a strict amount of time to produce these tasks and feel that I now can implement this in to the other assignments.

Design task

On Monday it was another chance to finish off any changes for A5, so I just made changes to my site and made sure that I had made screen shots of the changes so that I was able to put them in to my sketch book. I also made a list of the things that I needed to do before the hand in date.

Today we had another timed task which was to create a newspaper page. We had 2 hours to design and create the finished design. I started off by making simple design ideas and then choose 2 off the best designs and added measurements to them so that it was easier when I designed it in Indesign. When I had finished the design I then started to design it on to the computer, we had to make sure the page was A5 which was quit small. I started off by typing the information as there was quit a lot of information to fit on a page. After that I added the title and picture so that I would know how much room I had to change the layout of the text. When I had finished this I then showed Steve the design to get feedback which was to change the text so that it fit on the page better.
In the afternoon we had the chance to finish off are presentations and finish off any thing else we had to do for A6, which I checked if there was any spelling mistake's. In the group meeting this week we went over what needed to be in are assignments and how they should be set out.

This week I am going to make sure that I have completed the presentation before I start to practice the presentation. Then I will finish any changes to my site making sure that its complete.

Another task

On Monday we started off the day by testing every ones site by filling in there questionnaire. I thought this was very useful to get feed back on my site as there were still things that needed improving. After we had finished this I then read the comments to see what changes I could implement in to my site. I then spent the day changing some of my site, but there are still a few things that need to be changed to suit my target audience more. I will also be putting the information in to graphs so that I am able to compare the results which will help me to make more changes to the site.

Today we had a presentation on newspaper devices, I thought this was really useful as we will be able to use what we have learnt from this and use it in any other work we do. After this we then had a timed task to do which was to make an advertisement, so the presentation that we had in the morning really helped with the structure I set my work out as. I started off by designing some designs for the advert in my sketch book and then got some feed back from Steve. Then when I was happy with the way my design looked I then went and designed it in Indesign. There was quit a lot of information that needed to be fit on the design, so I started off by adding the text and making sure that all the spellings where correct before I added any design on to the advert. I wanted to keep the design simple so that I got the message across of what the advert was actually about. When I had finished this I then showed Steve the design to see if there was any improvements that I could make, which was just to move the text down a little bit making more space for the text. I then handed my work in which I still had a bit of time left but I was glad that I got my design done on time.

In the afternoon we had the chance to finish off the presentation we had made for A6 which I didn't really have much to do, only to add more information on to my hand out. In are group meeting this week we had to practice are presentation. But I was unable to practice the presentation in front of are group as I got to nervous and didn't feel confident enough to present my presentation, which was a shame as I would have been able to get more feed back from the group. So Steve suggested that I just did the presentation in front of him this time. Which I did get good feed back from, only the changers that I really need to make are to add a bit more in about the different fonts. So after this Vicky suggested that we practised the presentations so that we was able to gain more confidence.
So this week I am going to practice my presentation more and also finish of my site.

Starting the image restoration again

On Monday we had the chance to finish off designing our sites. Ive started my site a few times as I have had problems with the boarder around the page so I decided that I would have to change the design of my site abit, so I am going to make any changes I do in my sketch book and show screen shots of the colour changes and layout of the site.
I made sure that I had completed the questionnaire for the testing of the site and the presentation handout was ready for the group meeting.

Today we started off the day with a timed task which I wasn't really expecting. We had to design the packaging for a paint company. We had to pick a colour of are choose so I picked red. The layout for the design was very small and there was quit a bit of information to add to the packaging we had to add on the design the English, Spanish and French version of the colour. So we had to research this on the Internet to find out the names. I made sure that when planning the task that I had enough time so that I would be able to get the work in on time. I started off by making about 9 different designs so that I would be able to pick from a range of designs. I made sure that the design was quit simple as there wasn't a lot of space to design a lot on the packaging. When it came to designing the packaging on the computer I found it a bit hard to set the page out as it wasn't to scale, so I designed it the best I could. Then when I showed Steve he realised it wasn't to size so he had a look at it for me and the problem was soon fixed.

This afternoon it has been feed back for A4 I have to restarted the image Restoration I was show some more tools in Photoshop which will make the whole image look alot neater.
In are group meeting to day we have been looking at the questions for the testing which I found improvements which I will implement on mine. We also looked at are handouts which I will add more information about the typography of the fonts.
So this week I am going to make sure that the site is completed making sure that every thing is in the right order. I will also be practicing my presentation so that I feel more confident enough for when we have to do are presentation and also I will start the image restoration.