Experimental JetSet

After seeing Helvetica over Xmas, I have been looking at experimental jetsets work alot. I found their opinions on the typeface very interesting and almost brave due to the slating that many of the 'pro's' delivered during their interviews on the font. They stated thatby using Helvetica for alot of their work they are not spending ages looking for a typeface

Experimental Jetsets work uses bold type, in well designed grid systems to create 'easy to use' designs which speak in a very neutral manner due to their 'over-use' of the font. An over use which I find inspiring and interesting (who knows maybe I like the font too much...). In short I think they are one of the better collectives which I know about it, a great group of creatives!!



(Extremely popular T shirt by the JetSet, which incidently has been worn by a number of high profile celebrities and has also been heavily ripped off, using the same idea for different bands or groups).

Helvetica: A Film by Gary Hustwit

I watched Helvetica earlier this week and thought I would write my thoughts and opinions on the film as well on the huge influential and probably the most discussed typeface ever.

I actually began watching the film as a last resort, thinking it would be extremely boring and monotonous to listen to various type and design professionals either moan or praise Helvetica but in actual fact is was very interesting. The film gives a run down of the history and development of the typeface, Helvetica (an apparantly cleaner akzidenz grotesk).

I personally really like the font and see nothing wrong with using it, or its overuse for that matter. Why has it been used so much? Because it works, I dont think that that makes it worth a debate. I find it quite amusing when so many people (including very well known designers) have such an issue with the typeface being used; If anything I have a feeling that such people are somewhat jealous that they didnt design it themselves.

The type has gone through various versions and revisions, as wellas going through a stage of overuse, followed by a stage of almost boycotting of the type family before returning to its rightful place within society, being used, when a neutral type is required.

When watching the documentary I found the positive comments and discussions from certain type designers much more of worth than some of the almost immature accusations which people put on the typeface. In particular I found the section in which Experimental Jetset discussed their opinions of the type extremely interesting. Their opinion is that Helvetica is a font that saves a designer looking through all their fonts as it is well rounded and suits such a huge number of jobs. An opinion that by and large I totally agree with, if it aint broke dont fix it!

Many similar fonts exist (Akzidenz Grotesk, Univers,etc) including almost direct copies due to licensing issues(Microsoft' Arial), however, after watching the documentary and listening to the different designer's opinions, as well as using the typeface myself, I have decided that Helvetica as a typeface deserves a certain amount of respect due to it being the most heavily used type as well its overall neutral, well balanced forms, in the huge amount of versions and weights avaliable.

Visual Communication In Context 2 - Results and Feedback

We recieved our feedback for the VCC2 brief today and I was... satisfied with my mark (happy would be pushing it abit). I agreed with all the feedback about the work I handed in for this first brief but that doesn't stop me being disapointed.

My final mark was (53) and all my individual grades fell within the (50-59) bracket which is... satisfactory. The worst bit about it is I know its the mark the work I handed in deserved, sure I wish it was a higher mark but I know the work didn't deserve it.

I really need to knuckle down on the next few projects to really get where I want to be. Anyways Christmas to enjoy now... aka. Do loads of work.

Well... A Week and a Half Later...

Thought maybe writing a post for ye olde blogge, would snap me out of the infection known as holiday mode. Since discussing my rough direction in terms of the D&AD briefs with Mike last week (an extremely useful couple of days in my opinion), I was feeling extremely good about really knuckling down.

The website project which was given to us over a week and a half ago now, I was looking forward to, a chance to develop an identity, to put it online in an innovative and interestig way... alas nothing has been done!

Well, thats not quite true. A brief run down of the little progress made for each is included below.


D&AD - Home Base 'Grow Your Own' Packaging/POS
- Previous to discussing the brief with Mike, I had only chosen this brief to work on, no work or ideas had actually been considered. After getting some very rough ideas and looking in Homebase, I met with Mike and he first suggested that we discuss ideas and research as a group to get some initial ideas (this was extremely useful as we were able to consider the ideas from everyones point of view, an extremely good way of thinking of or developing ideas you never would have thought of).

Next I just began further brainstorming before talking to Mike and discussing my working methods and where he felt I should start. We discussed a few ideas and he recommended I begin to consider the phyisical shape, size and workings of the packaging and to worry about point of sale and branding later.

I am yet to really get on with this one but I plan to concentrate my efforts over the holiday on working on this competition brief... Note: That means getting alot SBC 2 out of the way with this last week before the holidays start.

Brief - Screen Based Communication 2
- When I say I haven't done anything on this piece of work is abit of a tall tale as I have actually considered it a fair bit, I have got a relatively solid idea of a Flash site on paper, but would quite like to experiment with the other options avaliable to us; namely developing the use of CSS for a site (or possibly combining the two (Flash/CSS)to create a Flash Site, with easily updateable text content)...
I still need to get some solid inspiration and visiual identity but so far I think I am progressing in a good direction.

Sadly I have not done anything more than that stated and would quite like to have had developed at least one of the projects to a stage where I could devote the majority of the holidays to working on the other project. Well there's my progress thus far, Ill hopefully get some work done now!!!

Screen Based Communication 2 - Briefing

Today we received our second brief of the year; Screen based Communication 2. I am really looking forward to getting underway with this brief as I enjoy web development and am seriously considering it as one potential route my studies could take me down (especially seeing as web design is one of the easier graphic design fields to get into).

So far, not surprisingly I don't have any ideas but hey, what do I expect... My first thoughts of how to get the ball moving on this project are as follows; look at my own work and look for common ground from brief to brief, try and develop an identity or image for myself from my work which will then give the design of my website some direction. I will also look at as many existing websites as possible to get some inspiration and ideas about how I wish to promote myself and the work that I do. One thing which I am already concerned about is the lack of material I have or have that I am willing to put up to portray my working and methods, however I briefly discussed this with Neil who informed me that this is not a problem and that space can be included on the site for future work and additions which may have a place within my online portfolio of work.

So far I have just been looking at different websites to immerse myself in the field of screen based design and communication. As far as technical workings and development is concerned I am currently unsure of how I will construct my site but am keeping my options open. The sites I like the most are quick and easily accessible with no difficulty finding the content of the sites at hand. I plan to either CSS or Flash to create a slick and minimalist site, but this is just first ideas and could all change.

While looking at various websites which are showcased on http://www.minimalsites.com/
I have posted a few screenshots of websites which I found really nice to navigate and look at due to their simplicity. At this early stage of the brief this is the sort of website design and style which I feel best suits my work. Simplistic, straight to the point and no messing!

http://www.bravoistanbul.com

http://www.ab-c.com.au

http://www.experimentaljetset.nl

The Year So Far!

So far this year I really haven’t been working to my full potential..., not by a long shot. This is annoying to say the least. I am extremely pleased that the first brief is done and out of the way to allow me to concentrate on really getting on with the screen based communication 2 brief which requires me to develop an identity and put it forward by developing a website which can act as an on screen portfolio.
I am also looking forward to concentrating on at least one competition or live brief but hopefully more.

All in all, I really think I need to develop better time management and work ethic for these next two pieces of work because otherwise I’m selling myself short. I will begin looking at existing websites and identity’s to help me decide how I wish to style my own website and will also begin reading through the live competition briefs in order to decide which one (or more) best suits me, whether it be D&AD, ISTD or other.

So overall it just comes down to (as it always does) better organisational and time management skill’s improved confidence and more focus and concentration.

Evaluations - Visual Communication in Context 2

Well nearly a week after handing in the Visual Communication in Context 2 brief, it’s about time I evaluated my work (processes, ideas and concepts, and final hand in work).

Look Again/Think Again
This first brief took me a while to get into and that would have been fine apart from there wasn’t a while to waste. I think my development and final design was relatively good considering that I did not really get into the brief straight away as my ideas and concepts changed multiple times before I arrived at my final idea which I decided to pursue.

I felt my final design worked really well actually, but that is purely my opinion, however I felt it fit the brief well and I also feel that my final poster design did what it was intended to do which was raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. I think the image and the message work well with each other, in the critique I received some feedback which I didn’t really agree with so I didn’t change my poster a huge amount although I did make the type more legible. I also experimented with different images but decided what I had was what I would stick with due to the other parts of the brief pending.

I also think that I was lucky to get a reasonable design as I failed to use my time particularly well. I’m hoping I can put that down to the first brief back and not really being back in the swing of things.

Greetings Cards
At the beginning of this brief I was a bit puzzled as to what was expected but after discussing ideas with Neil and Claire it became clear that the brief was extremely open and was pretty much anything goes. I was pleased to have focused my idea a lot quicker in comparison to the first section of the brief. I feel that all my research and development is relevant but I also think I may have got too bogged down in one aspect of the target audience and lifestyle I was trying to appear to.

That said I think I managed to develop a good looking and working set of greetings cards for the final critique complete with envelopes. After the critique I concentrated a lot of effort into finalising my final greetings cards as I had a lot of necessary elements which I was required to add to them such as space for a note inside the cards and an address on the envelopes. After completing this and altering the colour of the materials used for my cards I was extremely pleased with my final designs. I also feel that the six greetings cards are probably the best piece of work I completed while working through this first brief.

Animal Watch Packaging
Similarly to the first part of the brief I failed to get started on this brief immediately as I was still pursuing perfection with my greetings cards (something im still to aquire). I also got bogged down on a lot of the research we should have done within our groups.

Once I got an idea and direction I really enjoyed this part of the brief as it was more of a life brief and we had logos and an existing company style to work with. I feel my research into existing packaging helped me to direct my ideas towards something a lot more appropriate to appeal to the target audience. I think I managed to create a decent piece of packaging design which with some slight refinements to fixing of the package could be an extremely cheap, sustainable peice of packaging to put into production.

I think the piece of this brief that lets me down somewhat is the design that features upon the package. The reason I say this is not because I dislike the design, I actually really like it, however I wish I had looked into more ways of capturing the portrayed lifetstyle which Animal sells with their products eg. illustration, surf graphics, pattern.

That said I still feel the designs I came up with are quite strong, I plan to develop the project abit further to bring it to a more final state so as to have a piece of work which presents idea through to final design for my portfolio.