Good is...? Studio Workshop 2

Todays workshop was centered on the premise of design - thinking and visualising. Through systematic thinking, we were asked to devise multiple designs based on words, letterforms or symbols/images.

To begin with, we were asked to create several designs, each based on a different word associated with our 'good' - for example, I used home, thought, optimism, positive, past, brain, process, mood etc. These had to have been inspired by the logos/images we collected previously - in terms of form, type choice, shape etc. We then had to choose one of these words and devise 8 different designs and then another 8 with just one letter. The last task was for 8 designs, just using images or symbols.

Task for 05/10

Create 150 logo designs based on nostalgia using a combination of 2 of the following: word, letter and symbol.

Requirements

1 colour only

Hand-rendered

A6 format

Good is...? Associated brand/logos

For Thursday's workshop, we were asked to gather 9 logos that reflected the 9 answers we devised.

Simply makes people happy
What else than happy meals from McDonalds. Aswell as the added nostalgia (of having them as a kid) the name itself connotes happiness and wellbeing. The colours are vibrant and the rounded type adds a child-like character.

Teenagers

In this generation, everyone tends to keep up with the latest trend therefore my immediate thought was to look at modern, up-to-date technology that appeals to this particular demographic. Apple seemed like the perfect choice.

Pessimism

Is the glass half full/empty is a rhetorical expression which people used to associate with pessimistic or optimistic situations. Cadbury's use the 'glass half full' approach to connote their optimism and strength as a business therefore I decided to use their logo due to the direct similarities.

Psychologist

After browsing through various logos, I came across the following which combined two profiles with the wings of the butterfly. The two faces may indicate face to face sessions whereas the butterfly connotes freedom and prosperity.

Derren Brown

Derren Brown is an illusionist and mentalist and frequently uses playing cards in his stage acts. I therefore used the four card suits as the 'identity' or symbol I would associate with him.

Home

I decided to choose the logo of the home furnishing superstore, Ikea due to its literal associations.

Vintage fair

The peace symbol, despite how cliche it might be, is frequently used in typical 'vintage' clothing as it reflects an era of fashion which everyone now looks back to for inspiration.

Vinyl records

I decided to focus on a band or artist which released music during the time when Vinyl was the primary format to listen and distribute music through - The Beatles was therefore my immediate choice.

Good is...? To do

• Research how we process emotions in more depth
• Look at more positive associations with nostalgia
• Explore as many ideas and concepts as possible
• Finish this list

Good is...? Studio Workshop - Why?

What makes it good?

Improves mood.. it simply makes people happy

Why?

We process smell and touch through the amygdala, the emotional seat of the brain. It has been proven that remembering past times improves self-esteem, mood, strengthens social bonds and imbues life with meaning; nostalgia is therefore seen as a natural anti-depressant.

Who finds it good?

Teenagers

Why?

This current generation (personally anyway), have positive associations with early technology, television programmes, films, games etc. Watching films from my childhood, for example, evoke many memories and the same could possible be said for many people of the same age. On the other hand, anyone, of any age can access nostalgia and their memories are not necessarily similar. The answer to this question, therefore, can be.. anyone? Aside from below:

Who wouldn't find it good?

Those with a negative past

Why?

Although nostalgia is defined as a longing for the past, people may have disruptive childhood memories which they do not want to relive. I will need to focus on the psychological benefits and positive associations in more depth.

What is it better than?

Pessimism

Why?

Pessimism is defined as a tendency to look at the worst of things whereas through using nostalgia, you are able to look at the best - the little things in life which you may have forgotten. Familiarity is comforting and is something that nostalgia can achieve.

If your good was a profession, what would it be?

Psychologist

Why? 

Psychology is the science of mental processes, a study which is applied to emotion and therefore nostalgia, also. Nostalgia is the process of remembering our past, through our sights, sounds, tastes, places etc.

If your good was a celebrity, who would it be?

Derren Brown

Why?

Derren Brown is an illusionist, mentalist and sceptic. In the majority of his acts, he experiments with how we process information and tends to 'read peoples minds'. Nostalgia is a mental process and something which I could relate to Derren Brown.

If your good was a place, where would it be?

Home

Why?

Home is where the majority of our childhood memories are from - it is the place where we grew up. It is where all our belonging were, where we invited our friends, where we slept, where we socialised, where we ate, where we could relax and so on.

If your good was an event, what would it be?

Vintage fair

Why?

Typically, vintage fairs sell products which are typical of previous decades. Clothing is a useful way of looking at the evolution of our culture - what has changed, what hasn't etc.

If your good was a product, what would it be?

Vinyl records

Why?

Vinyl records are a great case study in proving how we long for the past. For most of the 20th century, vinyl records were the primary format in how people used to listen and share music. However, as the digital age began to emerge, vinyl records left the mainstream. The vinyl record regained popularity by 2008, with nearly 2.9 million units shipped that year, the most in any year since 1998. Since then, the format has slowly increased in popularity with many independent artists opting to distribute their music through vinyl. Despite new and innovative technology, people tend to seek other options - those which we may have forgotten.

Good is...? Studio Workshop

Good is... the psychological benefits of nostalgia

In today's workshop, we were asked to think laterally, look at concepts and ideas we would not necessarily consider through a series of thought-provoking questions. To begin with (and to end with infact) I found this quite struggling due to the 'good' I chose. Nostalgia is an idea, an emotion, something which can not necessarily be compared against something else. In response to the 'Who finds it good?' question, for example, the answer can be extremely broad as not only can anyone use nostalgia but can access it anywhere.


1) What makes it good?

Simply makes people happy
Improves mood
Comfort
Familiarity
Can learn from past experiences
Strengthens social bonds
Easily accessible
Accessible anywhere

2) Who finds it good?

Teenagers

3) Who wouldn't find it good?

Younger children
Those with bad memories

4) What is it better than

Daydreaming
The present?
Pessimism
Unhappiness

5) If your good was a profession, what would it be?

Psychiatrist
Comedian
GP

6) If your good was a celebrity, who would it be?

Derren Brown

7) If your good was a place, where would it be?

Maldives
Home
Childhood
10 years ago

8) If your good was an event, what would it be?

Vintage fair

9) If your good was a product, what would it be?

Vinyl/records/CDs
Trading records

Refinement

We were then asked to choose the most effective or through-provoking word or statement from each of our 5 answers in order to collect a range of different associations which could help to focus our concept.

1. Improves mood and simply makes people happy
2. Teenagers (?)
3. Children (?)
4. Pessimism
5. Psychologist
6. Derren Brown
7. Home
8. Vintage Fair
9. Records

After talking to Lorraine, it was noted that even younger children are able to access nostalgia therefore the answer to question (3) needs to be refined.

As people may not want to relive their past due to particular memories they do not wish to remember or  a disruptive time of their life, nostalgia can be seen as a negative as well as a positive emotion. These people may therefore find it hard to focus on the psychological benefits of nostalgia - something which I need to overcome. I could possibly focus on particular childhood memories/associations rather than memories as a whole.

Print Seminar 1

The four types of printing are:

• Rotary
• Digital
• Screen
• Pad

Rotary

Image printing plates are wrapped around a cylinder and can be printed on various substrates which can then be further modified if required. The 3 main types of rotary printing are:

1) Offset lithography (planography)

An inked image is transferred or 'offset' from an etched aluminium plate, to a rubber blanket and then to the print surface. The planographic image carrier (plate) obtains ink from the ink rollers where the image is while the non-printing areas attracts a water-based film keeping these ink-free.

2) Gravure (Intaglio)

Copper plate transfer ink directly to the print surface, usually on rolls. They are the fastest and more durable of all the printing processes therefore are usually used for high volume products. Photo gravure is high quality but expensive.

3) Felxography (Relief)

A positive, mirror image rubber polymer plate on a cylinder, transfers 'sticky ink' directly onto the print surface. It can be used for printing on almost any type of substrate including plastic, cellophane and paper. Examples of products are crisp packets and bottle labels.

Digital printing

Direct from a computer to a material without an intermdiate physical process and is ideally suited for short runs (longer runs use the more traditional printing methods). An advised process would be:

1) Test print - Inspect colours, spelling, spacing and size

2) Refinement - Another mock up

3) Choose which stock you wish to use

Screen printing

It uses a woven mesh to support an ink blocking stencil. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen, forcing the ink through the open areas and onto the substrate. This is then repeated if necessary to achieve multiple colours.

Inspecting prints

Illustrator Workshop

Colour

CMYK are the 'process' colours

You can choose colours from the colour picker, colour palette and the swatches palette
There is more consistency using the swatches palette as you are able to 'save' colours
You are able to remove and add swatches through the options menu amongst other things
By changing the swatches menu to a list view, you can confirm whether it is a CMYK colour or not
You can also create a swatch through the colour palette window through the options menu
To save a group of swatches: Swatch options menu > Save swatch library as AI
(alternatively, save swatch library as ASE to use across all of the Adobe programs)
To open these swatches: Swatch options menu > Open swatch library > User defined

Global colours

"A global colour is automatically updated throughout your artwork when you edit it. All spot colours are global, however, process colours can be either global or local."

Swatches menu > Options > 'Add used colours' to add all colours from your document
These colours become 'global' swatches and when altered, affects every shape with the same swatch
You can change the tint percentage of a global swatch in the colour palette window
This can then be used to create new swatches of varying tints
By changing the colour of the 100% swatch, it will affect all of the tints you created
You cannot specify a tint if the swatch is not 'global'

Registration

Appears as a crosshair icon in the swatches window
It equates to 100% of each of the process colours
The registration swatch should only be used if you want it to appear on every printing plate
It is prominent when small text is used as the colours may be offset slightly

Spot colours

"A spot colour is a premixed ink that is used instead of, or in addition to CMYK process inks. You can identify spot-colour swatches by the spot-colour icon."

When screen-printing, you use a ready-made ink - the equivalent to a spot colour
Process colours are made up of the CMY and K plates whereas spot colours requires its own
Examples include metallic ink and fluorescent colours
Time equates to cost and using spot colours saves on time and therefore price
A 2 colour print using 2 spot colour plates will be cheaper in production as opposed to using four (CMYK) plates
Spot colours are primarily used in branding in order to keep consistency

Pantone

Pantone solid = ready mixed
Solid and uncoated refers to the stock you will be using
Swatches menu > Open Swatch Library > Colour Books to add pantone swatches

Printing

Print > Output > Mode > Separations will separate each of the image positives
This is useful for screen-printing as you are able to print each, individual positive
You are also given the option to convert all spot colours to process

Good is...? Rationale

What are you trying to communicate? An idea, a concept, a message, a lifestyle?  

Nostalgia is a concept and therefore not something physical in which I could package and promote - it is simply something which makes people happy. I aim to communicate the psychological and ‘medicinal’ benefits of nostalgia as it has been proven to improve self-esteem and strengthen social bonds. By simply reciting and looking back at our memories - something we can access anywhere - our mood can instantly improve.

Who are you trying to communicate to? Why and what do you want to achieve?  

Nostalgia can appeal to anyone as it is simply a way of reciting our memories, typically our childhood ones. A particular target audience will be hard to define as anyone can use nostalgia to improve our mood. However, throughout the developmental process, this may change as my ‘product’ changes.

How will you use print design and production methods to achieve this?  

Aforementioned, nostalgia is a concept and not something which can be packaged. Although I could use childhood memories through print in order to incite nostalgia, I wish to create an innovative product that ‘packages’ nostalgia to give the impression it is a real medicinal product.

What is already out there and how can you adapt, modify, reuse or respond to it?  

Nostalgia is defined as a longing for the past and as I wish to focus on the psychological benefits of this thought process, I will look at old medicinal packaging such as glass bottles and aluminium tins. The typography, colour and general aesthetic will possibly influence my final outcome. However, I wish to also look at modern tablet and medicine packaging in order to create a novelty product promoting nostalgia which, although using some aspects of conventional packaging, has a fun and unique approach.

Good is...? - Concept and rationale

Concept

Good is... the medicinal and psychological benefits of nostalgia

Rationale

I will look at conventional medicinal packaging such as tablets (pop out), tubes, glass bottles, tubs etc and devise a way on how I could package nostalgia in an innovative and novelty way whilst still keeping some of these conventions.

Good is...? - Defining the concept

We were asked to devise a more focused rationale as the current concept is too broad. With the idea of 'nostalgia', I could focus on the following

• Childhood films, TV programmes, technology etc
• Look at how different age groups respond to nostalgia and how (places, smells, sounds etc) 
• The medicinal and psychological benefits of using nostalgia as 'a natural anti-depressant'
• The evolution of technology/gadgets

I decided to research the medicinal aspects of nostalgia in more depth  One quote from an article I found stated that 'remembering past times improves mood, increases self-esteem, strengthens social bonds and imbues life with meaning'. For example, we process smell and touch through the amygdala - the emotional seat of the brain.

Other benefits include:

• Give us ambition and motivation to grow
• Makes you appreciate the little things in life
• Comfort and familiarity
• You can learn from past experiences

Good is...? - Brief

What is Good?

Over the summer, I researched the following 5 'things' I believed to be good - cardboard (object), go karting (activity), nostalgia (concept), cinema (place) and 'Internet Explorer is the worst browser' (opinion). Through questionnaires, facts, figures and statistics, I chose to focus on nostalgia as I thought this was the most intriguing.

Studio Brief 2 - 'Good is....!'


Part 1 - Concept Development.

Based on your Preparitory research and summer presentations explore a range of innovative reponses to the graphic communication of your informed opinions of 'Good'. Your concepts should focus on the development of effective use of industry standard print based media formats and production methods.

You should explore:

• What are you trying to communicate? An idea, a concept, a message a lifestyle......?
• Who are you trying to communicate to?
• Why and what do you want to achieve?
• How will you use print design and production methods to achieve this?
• What is already out there and how can you adapt, modify, reuse or respond to it?

The relationship between your concept, your audience and the context in which t is to be seen/delivered should inform the tone of voice. Do you require humour, sophistication, authority, clarity etc.  Where necessary you should consider the impact of stock choices, print processes and methods of distribution on the scale, scope and ambition of your concepts.

Part 2 - Production & Distribution.

Based on the research and concept development produced in response to Part 1 of this brief, design and produce a print based graphic response that effectively communicates an indepth and factually substantiated understanding of 'Good?'. Your response should demonstrate an incresingly informed investigation of one at least one of the following:

• Branding and Identity
• Packaging and Promotion
• Publishing & Editorial
• Information & Wayfinding

Your solution should explore the use of at least 2 or more print processes and finishing that are appropriate for, and clearly relate to your concept. Your response to this brief should consist of a product and its packaging (or equivalent) as well as a strategy for its distribution or delivery through print based media. Where possible or appropriate include considerations of cost and manufacture as well as further development of sets, series or sequences of product ranges.

What is design for print? - Brief

Studio Brief 1 - What is Design for Print?

Produce a ‘Top Ten’ manual of things to know, consider or remember in order to produce successful Design for Print. You should use the seminars and tasks from the module as a starting point for your own individual/independent investigation of the methods, processes and formats that can be used to create innovative but practical solutions to print based design briefs and all aspects of print- based delivery.

You are required to document your research and visual material on your Design Context blog. For submission for assessment you will also be required to select, summarise and evaluate appropriate source material as a multi-page pdf. document that shows your understanding of print processes, conventions and creative options from the perspective of a graphic designer. It should also demonstrates your ability to effectively organise and present a body information in a designed format. This document should be uploaded to your Design context blog via 'Issuu'. See additional briefings for further information.

What is good? - Presentation

For the 'What is Good' presentation, I focused on nostalgia - 'a sentimental longing for the past''. I began with the origin to introduce those who were not fully aware of the term as to what it meant, followed by some primary research to prove why I thought it was good. These slides consisted of personal nostalgic moments, why people thought the idea of nostalgia was good and some images to incite and engage people with childhood memories. I ended the presentation with secondary research collected from various news articles which stated that nostalgia was a 'good psychological medicine' and acted as a 'natural anti-depressant' - it 'simply makes you happy'.

I presented infront of 4 others (Alex, Frankie, Sadie and Sarah) and below is the feedback I received.

END OF 1ST YEAR