End of Year Show Concept

End of Year Show Concept Brief

We have been asked to form a concept for the end of year show which is span all of the print and digital media, as well as any possible physical media at the event. We are to form small groups to tackle this task- I have assembled a group consisting of myself, Declan Bell, Joe Valentine and Ashley Woodrow-Smith. 

I came up with 3 ideas, 1 involving mannequins being disassembled and designed by students, the other being based around birds taking flight, and a third using lego to represent construction and the building up of ourselves whilst at the university.

The mannequin idea seemed strongest so we went straight into developing it, seeing what could be done if the idea were to expand into different creative areas. We first researched mannequin art to see how the figures shape influences the art, and to get some sort of creative inspiration on how complex the designs should be and how we'd show them on print media.

 Vinyl wrapped looked the best and most professional, however having it contour to a body's shape is very difficult.

the intricacies of the body add to the designs so that even simple hand drawn designs look good using mannequins as the canvas.

the mannequins could be worked onto using other materials such as metals and ceramics shown here. This would mean that the fashion course is not excluded. They could also dress their mannequins however the like, which would look great for a photoshoot. 

Seen here, smaller drawing mannequins when designed look fantastic, and would be superb for wayfinding or inside the curators boxes. small scenes could be made in each one by certain courses using the mannequins and other small props. 

bright colours and high contrast works fantastically well, and would certainly look eye-catching and interesting on print media.

We decided to produce some mockups to see how different patterns and designs look.

We also looked at flat designs rather than 3d renders again thinking about print media, but also just to see how the design can be expanded.

Foodprints could be used throughout the exhibition as wayfinding. 

The arms could also be used in wayfinding, pointing towards different areas of the university. The arms would be designed by the students from the course it'd directing you to.

Simple design idea means that creating designs in portrait and landscape is very simple. We opted to use Butler for the primary font thanks to it's modern take on a serif- our redesigned mannequins would be doing a similar twist, making a traditional item like a mannequin modern. It has a wide variety of different weights and is also free for commercial usage, saving money to be used elsewhere in the project. We paired this with Brandon Grotesque, a highly legible typeface that works well as body copy- We know this as I used it in one of my projects last year, and have seen it used in body copy in the Another Escape magazine that I am subscribed to.

We loved the idea of using the outside box as a statue. This would be far more eyecatching than any design on the box as it is so unusual. It also means that there would be more space on the box itself for typography and event information.

A black variation makes the whole thing even more attention grabbing thanks to the contrast between the box and it's surroundings. 

A projection down the side of the building at night time means that even when it's dark the event is getting advertised. We would suggest having the projection animated, possibly with a mannequin stop-motion animated walking down the building.

The email image renders well thanks to high quality photographs and is sized so that type is legible on all devices. The high contrast from background to type makes it easier to read on mobile devices in bright weather conditions. 

The curators boxs would house designed arms or the small wooden drawing mannequins like so. 

We also thought about legibility issues incase type on the mannequins was too difficult to read, instead the hands would hold signage.

The website looked fantastic thanks to the bright colours and obsidian black, all working well with the white black and pink colour scheme of the website. The polygon shape we used is the same as LCA use, which adds some continuity. 

The instagram would be a big part of the advertising and would help build interest before, during and after the event, giving great exposure for LCA. It would showcase all of the students who got involved, the university itself, and the fact that the university would be willing to take risks and champion creativity in every sense. Given that almost every student uses instagram, and that when one person likes a photo it appears in a newsfeed for all of their followers, this medium would be superb for spreading the word about the event. 

For the submission I assembled a presentation that speaks in depth about the project and how it would be handled. I used a dark black background (the same as we used for the LCA polygon) to make the presentation look more professional and less like a powerpoint. We used Brandon Grotesque in the presentation, which we also used in the project itself, adding to the continuity. 

Band Logo and Album Cover

I was approached by some musicians that I know and offered some paid work - To produce a logo and an album cover design for their EP.

Name : Nine Arches

''What makes a great logo design for a band? A clever concept and the ability to become just as iconic as the music is a good start, but originality can be just as important.''

''Typically, a logo's design is for immediate recognition, inspiring trust, admiration, loyalty and an implied superiority. The logo is one aspect of a band's commercial brand or economic entity. It's shapes, colors, fonts, and images usually are different from others in a similar market.''



I looked into existing band logos and tried to deduce what it was that made them work so well and become iconic. It was important that I also looked into the band the logos belonged to, as it if definitely possible that the logo became iconic purely because the band did, and the design itself was essentially unimportant.

The Doors - a bold and geometric design with a small psychedelically styled 'the' sums up the 60's attitude of the band and times. simplicity is a key factor in this logos success.

HIM - the 'heartagram' is essentially just a stylised pentagram, but is easily accessable and recognisable thanks to it's reappropriation and altering of a known symbol. The pentagram having satanic connotations, it resonated well with teen angst and the rebellious. 

ACDC- The gothic lettering used in the AC-DC logo was inspired by a typeface found in Gutenburg's Bible, and reflects bibilical imagery found in some of their songs, juxtaposed by the lightning bolt which suggests some darker undertones. The logo when colourized is blood red, against furthering the idea of darkness and evil.

Dead Kennedys - ''Designed by artist Winston Smith, the Dead Kennedys "DK" logo is a perfect example of simple, easily immitatable graphic design. A clever way of achieving a 70's shaped viral campaign, singer Jello Biafra is quoted as saying, "I wanted to make sure it was something simple and easy to spray-paint so people would graffiti it all over the place."

After showing it to Smith, he "came back with a bunch of designs that had the circle and slightly 3-D looking letters and he had ones with different patterns behind it. I liked the one with bricks, but ultimately I thought simple red behind it was the boldest and the best."''

 Buzzcocks - echoing the bands music, the logo is fast with it's italisized styling, sharp and disjointed, the harsh lines and corners giving the logo a punky feel. the raised Z gives the logo an interesting aesthetic and suggests breaking free and non-conformity.

Oasis - Like the gallaghers, the Oasis logo is bold and in your face. The bounding box gives the logo a punch and confidence that is similar to that of the use of a fullstop. The heavy weight connoting strength and power reflect the emotional and atmospheric music Oasis became famous for. Colour would be an unnecessary decoration, which again isn't something found with Oasis.  

Nirvana - supposedly inspired by a Seattle stripclub, this punk logo works thanks to it's bright colour and the juxtaposition between the serious typeface and the goofy childlike drawing, suggesting a playfulness but also a serious undertone. It seems that there is a trend in that the logo 

The Who - This logo designed by Brian Pike is very British, using the colours of the union jack. The O with the arrow suggests masculinity and progression, whilst the target shape is almost hypnotic, luring your eye to the centre. 

They asked for the logo to be relevant to the name, sending me some images for inspiration.

The idea of repetition and structure is prevalent in both architecture and music, so would be fitting for the bands logo. 

I originally came up with an idea of the 9 as negative space, with the top of the logo being an arch.

I then progressed to a different style using the archway imagery but attempting to have them look like sound waves. This logo reflected the music far better, with softer edges and the repeating pattern suggesting structure and beat.

My sketches looked at concept, format and balance mainly, with colour being an after thought. It would need to work in black and white first.

I did many variations of the number 9, but realised that because it's such a common symbol, that it wouldn't be unique enough for the logo. 

I digitized the archway logo but disliked how blocky it looked given that the music of the band is quite fluid and smooth rather than hard. 

Deciding what typeface to use was problematic. I wanted to demonstrate a high level of craft, whilst also showing britishness, indie rock and cool attitude. I ended up going for Gill Sans, a known british font which uses hard lines but soft flowing edges at the same time, which echoes the band's music nicely. The contrast in line weight against the logo also looks good. 

The client asked for more waves to be applied 'reminiscent of the arctic monkeys album'. I applied it originally with no box around the logo, but it interfered with the white arches. with the black box it looks unclean, the second set of waves making the cover too confusing and conflicting- detracting from the concept.

I looked at band T-Shirts to see how they follow the logos concept, and every single one simply had the logo on the chest. The only thing that kept continuity was the use of colour, and the style of shirt (the Red Hot Chili Peppers using a america varsity style which was adopted by the punk movement). 

It made sense to have the T-shirt in very dark grey- this is representing rock music whilst not being so dark that it may communicate metal.

I thought about different finishes and how most band shirts are just printed for cheap costs. A Foiled element could seperate the t-shirt from the crowd, however I don't think that a rock music fan would like to be seen with a shiny shirt. 

The design could be used like this, focusing on the pattern (The design would cover the entire shirt, this mockup didn't allow that). The pattern could then be carried over to a wide range of different media.

The logo fits a bass drum well, sizable so that the type is easily readable. Thanks to it's easy shape, the enblem is very easy to reproduce- the lack of bowls in the logo means that it can be spray painted onto different surfaces with ease.

It looks psychelic and 60's esque when applied as pattern only, which doesn't fit the music they produce, so the former was more suited. 

Again thanks to the simplicity of the logo and the fact that it works at all sizes, stickers and badges are easy to produce which are used often by rock crowds- stickers on intruments, books etc, and badges on coats and bags. 

I felt the best way to make the album cover since it's their first piece of music out, is to let the logo and type speak for itself. Any use of photography or illustration wouldn't suit the band members (I've known them a long time, so understand their personalities, straight forward and honest). 

After a test print, I decided to refine the idea as it looks poorly designed with the logo being so big. I opted for white on black as before, but with a smaller more delicate logo, with a white box around the outside for decoration. I also changed the vinyl centre so it too was white on black as the black on white version looked very dull.

LOGO IMPROVEMENT

I realised that I had taken out the 9th arch from the logo and it looked much better without the heavy white block at the bottom corner, the entire logo felt more balanced. To match the concept, I added one more archway so it was still conceptually relevant.

 New improved logo

On black

New logo on album cover