OUGD503 Monotype

In spite of mine and Leo's initial thoughts to focus on The Big Issue Up North, we thought that it may be more interesting and diverse to look into a redesign of Flack Cambridge, thinking that less people would chose this magazine. On top of this, Flack is much more text based than The Big Issue and appears as though it is targeted at a more specific audience, perhaps one that has more of an interest in reading the articles.

We started by re-writing the brief, giving us more scope to identify exactly what we needed to do. This proved extremely helpful as the original Monotype brief is very vague and at some points confusing.

We concluded that we would be able to get the most out of the brief if we had a selection of tasks that we would complete alone and a selection we would complete together.

We decided that we would each design our own typeface to be used for either headings or sub-headings, something we would decide on based on the outcome of our designs.

I chose to base my designs on a simple sans serif font, as that could give me the scope to experiment with it more than if I had used a serif base.

I started by outlining Helvetica Neue Light, and after doing so thought it might be interesting to give some parts of the letters a heavier line.

Doing this allowed me to do something interesting with the heavier line when it wasn't filled. I used a finer line to create a simple pattern on the inside.

After doing this I still thought the concept was a bit basic so I added a 'highlight' to the heavier side

After completing the whole typeface I put it in context by creating a quick mock up doubly page spread using my typeface as a header, however, I found upon doing this that there might have been too much going on with the typeface for it to just be a header. It had become a bit too decorative and so I decided to alter it a bit more.

I found that taking out the linear visual inside the heavier side actually made it appear bolder, as the lines had given it a delicacy that wasn't appropriate as a header.

I decided to name the final typeface Duotone Neue, taking the Neue from the typeface I had based it on, and calling it Duotone put emphasis on the almost even weighting between black and white.

One of the spreads that I was responsible for was the spot the difference spread. In the original Flack spread it is an image based game, and since we were creating a typography edition, we decided to do a typography based Spot the Difference.

I chose to use Garamond for the spot the difference as I thought that using a serif font would allow me to create more subtle differences to make it a bit harder than if it were a sans serif font. Similarly, to make it authentic I figured I would need to create at least 10 differences, and this would give me the scope to do that.

After finishing the spot the difference I created a selection of default layouts for the spreads, using the rule of thirds as a guide.

When I came to create the actual spreads I maintained the same initial rule of thirds guide but chose to alter some of the layout options I had made.

We had already decided to use a selection of pastel colours for the spreads, and so I took this into account when deciding on the layout and the use of both my typeface and the typeface Leo had designed for the subheads.

This spread includes two of the pages from the original magazine, a section on poetry in which readers can send in their poems to be published in the magazine, and the Spot the Difference.

The brief had stated that they wanted to see us making reference to the digital world and how we can create a digital counterpart to the magazine. We decided to give readers the option to download a PDF version of the magazine via the website, by submitting the QR code inside the magazine. Leo created this to be placed on one of the spreads of the magazine, as well as the listings pages that he was responsible for.

I chose to place the PDF download code on a double page spread that was based on a feature that had been in the previous issue of the magazine.

Below are a selection of front cover options that leo designed. We chose to base the issue on an 'impossible' theme as this would give us scope to include impossible typefaces as well as the content.

Below are the type and layout guidelines we made to correspond with each of our typefaces and spreads.

OUGD505 1920s Publication

Brief

Produce a body of work that explores the relationship between content context and product in relation to your individually identified subject or theme. You should aim to produce a response that clearly and effectively exploits the function of your concepts in relation to: A Brief History of.... A collection of..... An Introduction to..... Things you need to know about.... An exhibition of....... Your work should practically and conceptually explore the possible products, ranges and methods of distribution that may be suggested by your content or reflect your own creative ambitions within Graphic Design.

Background / Considerations

This brief is in three parts Part 1:  Based on the introductory workshops develop a practical, visual and contextual investigation of a specific subject of your own choosing. You should aim to develop research from a range of primary and secondary sources in order to fully explore the opportunities for informed creative development. Your research and development of this part of the brief should be documented on appropriate blogs and will be presented as part of your interim concept pitch. Part 2:  Develop a body of practical and contextual research that explores the relationship between TWO of the following areas of design. Publishing & Editorial Information & Way-finding Branding & Identity Product & Packaging Retail & Promotion One of these should be your primary focus of contextual research with the second allowing you to relate this discipline to the broader creative and professional contexts of graphic design. Your contextual research, critical observations and reflective evaluations should be documented on your Design Context blog and summarised in the design and production of a 16 page Design Context Publication. Part 3: Develop and produce a practical and contextual response to your research that brings together your research into content, context, specific design disciplines and appropriate media/formats. Your response should explore the relationship between product range and method/media of distribution as well as specific audiences, contexts and appropriate tone of voice.

After learning that our research was going towards a publication on our chosen topic, it became apparent to me that I needed to break down a lot of the research I had done as it is such a vast topic.

I chose to break it into the following categories:

• Art Deco
• Film
• Dance
• Jazz
• The prohibition/speakeasy

These topics would each have a short chapter to themselves. Based on my research, I had chosen to design a magazine style publication that would capitalise on the excessive nature of the era. I initially looked into the layout design and chose a selection that I felt lent themselves to the topic.

I chose a selection of layouts that differed from one another but bore similarities that could tie them all together. After doing this I assigned each layout to a topic, allowing for the formats to alter based on the density of the chapter. I chose to show the headers in Metrpolis 1920, a typeface that I think is a accurate modern interpretation of the design fad of the era, the use of angular and geometric shapes:

In terms of the cover design, I wanted to maintain this glossy exterior, while creating a design that would work with the typeface I chose. I came up with a simple angular pattern which I then repeated a few times making the design appear more dense.

I also allowed for the design to pull the focus into the centre, where I could then effectively place the title of the publication.

I chose to capitalise on the excessive nature of the era and altered the design to a gold colour with a black background, and I am considering foiling the cover to maintain a glossy aspect to it.

I used this same design in slightly less dense variations throughout the publication, altering the opacity so as to ensure it didn't demand all the attention of the reader.

I chose at this point to vary between a black and a white background, as this was another design tendency of the era.

I was initially unsure of how I wanted to incorporate images into the design, as I worried that they may be overwhelming when combined with some elements of the design itself. However, I found that much of the information given in the publication required images to be fully explanatory, so I used a small selection of images that i felt appropriately backed up the information.

On those pages that required more imagery, I either used less or none of the original pattern.

OUGD505 Studio Brief 1 Research Boards