Brief 4 - Creative Networks (Part 2)

The Brief & Background

This post follows up the previous Creative Networks brief. The reason I’m presenting them separately is because I spearheaded this brief as creative leader on our team; so this specific event project was more a taste in creative direction as much as it was in producing artwork. Thursday the 3^rd of March, Leeds College of Art played host to a range of creative professionals under the banner ‘The Future of Colour and Application’, and invited Dennis Parren, Kit Miles and Blond & Bieber to present workshops within the college. Once again it was my task along with James and Ashley to complete a range of material for the event.

Speakers that joined us on the event night:

- Kit Miles

(Textile Designer)

- Dennis Parren

(Multidisciplinary Artist)

- Blond & Bieber

(Textile Design Duo)

Concept

Since the theme of the night was focused entirely on the future and application of colour, that had to be the focal point of the concept. I saw the night as a ‘journey through colour’, as though the students would discover more about it as the night went on; I tried to parry this effect within the posters themselves. Discovering and understanding the striking potential of colour. Considering the target audience would once again be students throughout the college, the concept translated quite effectively, as it would serve to be the basis for a poster that was more than just a plain piece of 2D design.

Development

Myself and Ashley developed the concept of revealing colour  and applying it to our posters through a brainstorming session, where we decided that a double-skinned poster with removable credit card sized information flyers could be removed to reveal the same image behind but in colour. The images (of various pieces of work created by the guest speakers) were supplied by the Creative Networks team and were exceptionally striking. Using a series of practical processes, we were able to produce three well crafted posters that were interactive. This also addressed an improvement where both posters and flyers could be part of the same design, saving time, money, and materials. I decided on all of the aesthetic attributes of the design, layout was important and type hierarchy left the information to be read appropriately from the viewers perspective. Due to the images being the forefront of my designs, I structured the work in such a way that each poster could ‘host’ the image whilst looking seamless; this is where the idea for a ripped and overlayed effect between image and type was implemented.

Artwork & Evaluation

The posters were very well recieved throughout the college for their tangible nature, the tear-off flyers that revealed the colour image recieved positive feedback. As mentioned, we created the three large A2 posters that went up before the event, and a range of slightly modifed, smaller A3 pieces that were sent out by the LCA external engagement team to industry. Unfortunately, due to unforseen complications, we were unable print an extra series of posters for the cafeteria area where the event space is, so we were limited to vinyl wayfinding and the posters we had on hand. It’s also worth mentioning that there is a digital GIF version of one of the posters that demonstrates the removal and colour exposing effect, this is accessible on the USB drive I submitted and is filed under the same brief, or on my website here:

http://www.declanbell.com/7i5l6oasd7npy9152jpr1dt78s7j48

Brief 5 - Montage

The Brief & Background

Name and create a visual identity, for the Leeds College of Art End of Year Show 2016. The campaign needs to promote the show at the same time as reflecting the quality and values of the college. This look and feel will be applied to a number of different collateral from signage to print and online applications. I worked as part of a team of four to produce a host of digital material that supported our design structure, one that was heavily concept influenced.

Research

As previously mentioned, the brief is repeated every year, so we had a host of material that had been produced in previous years that we could analyse. Group critiques of the previous artwork mentioned resulted in the team agreeing that whilst everything that had won was on trend and visually pleasing, it was also flat, boring and safe. This led us in a direction that made us explore the possibilites of three-dimensional work, which we felt would be a much more striking choice.

Concept

The nature of the brief required that the concept was absolutely watertight; once the winning pitch was accepted, the remainder of the work was to be outsourced by external Design Studio: Peter & Paul.  Again meaning that the strongest aspect of our design had to be the concept that tied it all together. We symbolised the whole reg rewgyi yufw Art College with the manifestation of a mannaquin (which in itself is fitting and has numerous connetations with the creative sector), and having individual bodyparts that made it up being representative of the different BA courses. These mannaquins would then fit under the tagline and theme ‘Montage’, and become the three-dimensional aspect to the visuals we would produce.

“The mannequins are the embodiment of LCA and its students, representing freedom, creativity and passion. Each bodypart of the mannequin represent a different course.”

Development

Knowing the deliverables, and deciding & delegating between us we were able to split up tasks. I was left with designing how the posters would be laid out, both for the external four walled folly and the digital fly prints for pasting around the city. I decided that with the visuals of the mannequins we’d created being so visually dynamic, any more design elements would need to be kept at a minimal as to not overcrowd the designs. So type and image was considered very carefully, I suggested to use Butler to the group for our titles, which we opted for due to its simplistic, and traditional beauty. Butler is also free, which helps fonts licensing (or the lack of). I’m skilled with Google Sketchup, so decided that to really get a feel for how the work would look in context, we should 3D render it, providing an even more in-depth view of the boards than what a 2D mock up would demonstrate. The concept of the mannequin extended to arranging the limbs to function as way-finding.

Artwork & Evaluation

Unfortunately my group were unsuccessful with our pitch, and my evaluation as to why I think that is, is as follows: I mentioned previously within my research that I concluded the previous winners of this brief produced work that was both aesthetically well thought through and trendy, yet were flat and uninteresting at the same time. The four boards outside the college get a tremendous amount of traffic coming by everyday, and a piece of 2D flat design just isn’t going to pull as much attention as a mannequin perched on top would. I stand by that, however perhaps we have been too outlandish in our approach, we made considerations in our pitch towards techniques to decorate the mannequins, and pricing for these effects. Through and through I thought the project was exceptionally well considered, the target audience would’ve responded well to the artwork.