personal exploration and professional practice”
– Matt Owens, Volumeone.
There are three ways in which we can start to think about design practice.
- Appropriateness of response (appropriate to brief/target audience)
- Quality of resolution (Aesthetically engaging)
- Meeting the deadline (Produced in time to meet the deadline)
When thinking about our own personal design practice we need to consider what it is we want to do as designers, and what we need to do. Our own personal taste and preferences affect this.
Moreover, our rationale is affected by our own preferences, what we want to do/design and why and the reasoning behind our design choices.
As designers our work can be affected by how we approach our design process. Our approach to a project can usually be defined by three different design approaches that are as followed;
Concept driven
Ideas driven
Research driven
Different briefs require different approaches, such as if you are designing for a specific audience, context or media.
Other things that can affect our rationale is our priorities as a designer, such as if the design and creative aspect of a design is everything. Moreover, ethical priorities can also affect the clients we work for, such as some designers would not design for large corporations and businesses whereas others only design for commercial purposes.
There are complex relationships between the topics and finding were you sit within them is vital to your personal design practice.
Moreover, our rational is also affected by how we work, such as if our work is;
- Handmade
- Digital
- Lens based
Or the dimensions of the outcome;
- 2 Dimensional (paper)
- 3 Dimensional (Object - packaging)\
- 4 Dimensional (Movement/Time - Sequence of posters)
We can improve the quality of our resolutions by carrying out on going evaluations of our outcomes. The quality of a resolution can be affected by numerous factors;
- Depth of appropriate research
- Breadth of initial ideas
- Selection of potential solutions
- Thorough visual development
- Attention to detail / Crafting
- Clarity of presentation
Additionally, considerations need to be thought about with regards to the useage of type and image to communicate a message, and the usage of media. Does the media used conflict or support the message.
TASK
Near to the end of the session we were given a sheet of 10 questions to complete, these were relevant to the topics discussed in lesson and required us to list things such as our 5 strongest design skills.
After writing our personal responses to each task we were divided up into small groups were we then presented our information. I was put into a group with Adam and Alex, as each person presented their information we took detailed notes, Fred then introduced us to the task.
ADAM
- Adam Garbutt
- Hand made, Digital, Illustrative, Solid colour, Concentration.
- On time for deadlines, Creative, Friendly, Open.
- Manipulation, Illustration, Typography, Hand made, Photography.
- Advertising, Motion Graphics, Flyers, Leaflets and hand-outs.
- Olly moss, David Shrigley, Saul Bass, Sagmeister & Walsh.
- Digitally Illustrative (simple yet effective communication), Simplification of ideas.
- Pretty shitty, Computer Arts.
- Freelance/Independent work, Own Studio.
- Hard work, Commitment, Make industry connections.
ALEX
- Alex Dyson, Behance.com/AlexDyson
- Clean, Simple, Well Presented, Experimental, Modern.
- Hungry, Motivated, Sleepy, To the Point, Fun.
- Photoshop, Illustrator, Photography, Drawing, Curiosity.
- Branding and Identity, Information and way-finding, Album artwork, Posters.
- Drew Milward, Sagmiester and Walsh, Cube 3, We are Good.
- Wearecube3.com, Wearegood.com
- Computer arts, Creative Review, Design Inspiration, Design week, Identity Designed.
- Individual, Signature work, Experience, Designs.
- Efficient, Skilled, Experimental, Clever, Individual.
We are required to design a free add that will communicate the design practice of myself and the two other members of my group. The add needs to reflect the design practice of each member, and will be presented at
RESEARCH
I started by collecting some visual research into some design free adds.
Simple effective add, the style it has been created in makes me think that the designers style will be hand rendered and illustrative. Additionally, the add is effective as its simple and uses an intense yellow background color that grabs the audiences attention. However, I think the add would benefit by having something to put it in context, as it is not mentioned that the add is advertising a designer.
This add is a lot more appropriate as it gives the audience an introduction to the stye of the designer, and provides information regarding the designers name and how to contact him.
Finally, I looked at this design. As an advertisement it is effective, it clearly states the speciality and introduces us to the designers. However, if being produced to advertise the designer, contact i name information would need to be added.
The add needs to capture the individual tastes and style of each designer to accurately advertise them. Therefore, I research further into the information gathered from the questions, and support this further with information gathered from their personal blogs regarding artists and aesthetic preferences.
ADAM
These three posters were created by Olly moss an illustrator mentioned as one of Adams favorite designers. The posters are designed in a very illustrative way relying on image to communicate the message.
Additionally, Adam also listed David Shrigley as one of his favorite designers. Shrigley creates simple illustrations which often have a funny tone of voice. I could possibly create an illustration in a similar style for his add.
These designs were created by designer Saul Bass another one of Adams favorite designers, they all use a mix of type and illustration to communicate their message.
Finally, I have used Adams favorite designers work to form my visual research. I plan to create a simple Saul Bass style illustration to support the information that will be communicated through typography.
ALEX
Image taken from Alex's behance page, its shows a selection of his past projects, looking at these will help me get an idea of style.
Illustrative logo created for Satans Hollow.
Illustrative logo created for a t-shirt design.
Moreover, you can also look at projects from professional designers that he has appreciated.
Joshua M Smith
Beatrice Mikulskyte
Next, I looked at a collection of work from his artists to get a further understanding of the work Alex likes.
Illustrated screen-print poster created for a Ben Folds gig by Drew Millward.
Above is a piece by Sagmeister and Walsh, the poster is illustrative and uses a pattern of bike chain to form the posters content. A lot of work from Sagmeister and Walsh is clean, modern and focused.
Beer labels created by Wearegood.com, aesthetically effective as the labels are clean and used a limited amount of colour.
I used a range of images collected from the inspiration given when Alex answered the set of questions, I will combine this with the other responses regarding how he works to help me create an add which accurately portrays him as a designer.
DESIGN SHEETS
Before I started designing the adds I made some design sheets to explore my ideas for each add.
FINALS
ADAM
ALEX
MINE
