6C2, 6D2 - OUGD602 - Website - Descriptions / copy for projects

Descriptions / copy for projects on website

Key things considered for descriptions:

- On the main page of the website the titles of each project are hidden until hovered over, keeping the home page purely visual and allowing the photographs of the work to be clearly shown

- Titles for projects are kept short and clear to encourage people to click and find out more about the project 

- The first line of the description outlines the outcomes and purpose of the project allowing people to get a sense of the design as a whole 

- The longer descriptions aim to give background to each project, providing context, more details on the concept and reasoning behind the design decisions. My work is often concept driven so it feels important to outline the reasoning behind a project.    

Descriptions from website

G.F SMITH CALENDAR DESIGN

Seasons based calendar design 2019

The concept reflects the changing position of sunlight on the Earth during the year as it orbits the Sun, creating the four seasons.

Influenced by scientific diagrams and reflected in a minimalist way each month has a new shape determined by the angle of the light. Layered months combine to create the circular Earth.

The circular form combined with cut off sections in the shapes creates an interactive calendar that is reminiscent other G. F Smith promotional material. The colour palette aims to reflect each of the seasons with a gradual change between seasons. Minimalist design, light typography and placement of text allow the colour and materiality of the Colourplan papers to be the focus of the design. The typography has both angular and curved aspects continuing with the geometric nature of the calendars form, whilst non lining numerals reflect the heritage of the brand.

The removable weeks allow the year to physically decrease creating a sense of how much time there is left in the year. Functional both as a calendar and a memo pad, with dashed lines for daily notes. The calendars creative form and placement of text makes it interactive and engaging, whilst its minimal design creates an aesthetic object suitable for display.

PIPPED! BOARD GAME

Board game concept and branding design  

pipped! is a fun filled fruit matching game based on the traditional game of dominoes. The game, title and concept takes its inspiration from the name of the dots on dominoes, ‘pips’. The aim of the game is to match the pips between any of the three fruit pieces, with the shape of the pieces creating more challenging game play suitable for the audience, with a few added features.

The colour palette reflects each of the fruit in a bold and bright way which is applied across the packaging and instructions for continuity, whilst the illustrative fruit create a contemporary and playful aesthetic. Drawing on netted fruit bags and fruit stickers, the packaging uses neon colours to create a bright and colourful design that would be eyecatching on the shelf, with the tag highlighting the branding.

The folded instructions mimic the shape of the pieces and is interactive, reflecting the action of peeling a fruit.

The logotype is friendly and fun with elements that reflect the organic shape of pips whilst also playing on the pipped! segment shape, with the exclamation mark creating a sense of action and playfulness.

CITY PATCH PROJECT

Branding for The City Patch Project in Leeds and creation of a Membership pack for the scheme.

The City Patch Project rents out public space for local people to maintain and regenerate, with the aim of increasing and protecting green space to benefit biodiversity and the local community. The membership pack contains a personalised certificate, seed packet, map of patches, car sticker and newsletter and aims to enable people to get involved, through locally based participation.

The branding for The City Patch project creates a sense of contrast between green space and the urban environment through colour and type, whist creating a contemporary and playful aesthetic.

The logo plays on the projects name, reflecting a physical stitched patch, with this square format used throughout the collateral. The protection of green space is visualised with diagonal lines creating a sense of designated green space and reflecting the projects aim to increase green space. The logotype combines organic elements with geometric, reflecting the angularity of the city and curves of nature.

Patches are promoted through the use of a range of imagery showing the features of each patch.

To create a sense of community, each membership pack has a newsletter with local information about patches, projects and ways to help enabling members to get involved. Colloquial language creates friendly and positive tone of voice.

SUSTAINABILITY LOGO

Logo design for Leeds Arts University to highlight sustainability initiatives within the university.

The logo reflects how creativity and sustainability are combined within the university with sustainability being rooted in creative practice across the institution. By linking these themse together the design becomes reflective of the university and makes it specific and applicable to Leeds Arts University.

A pencil was used to reflect creativity as this tool is universal to all creative disciplines, making it appropriate to all courses, staff and students within the university. The seed is representative of the environment and that sustainability leads to regrowth. The perspective of the design means that it can be interpreted as a seed growing from the pencil or the pencil drawing a seed.

The colour scheme takes influence from common colours associated with the environment making it identifiable as being about sustainability. The use of light and dark greens are used for contrast, whilst reflecting a sense of growth and the brown reflects soil or earth. These in combination create a sense of the environment as a whole. Black is also used to outline elements in combination with colour to create a more three dimensional design, however the colours individually stand out aswell.

COMPOST HEAP FOR MICRO GENRE EXHIBITION

The object is in response to the micro genre Ambient Music and reflects some of the production methods used in the creation of ambient music, with the piece inspired by Brian Enos ‘On Land’ linear notes.

Within these notes in he describes his change in process from ‘electro - mechanical and acoustic instruments towards non instruments like pieces of chain and sticks and stones’. He also began using found sound that ‘included not only recordings of rooks, frogs and insects, but also the complete body of my own previous work’. He described this process as being ‘like composting: converting what would otherwise have been waste into nourishment.’

The object visualises the process of ‘composting’ sounds through a physical representation of a compost heap. Layers of sand were used to create a cross section view of the processes happening with the compost heap with different elements reflecting aspects of Brian Eno’s description. Found sounds are reflected through symbols on circular disks, whilst non instruments are scattered throughout the compost heap. Different types of arrows are used to represent the processes of conversion, reuse within the construction of ambient music, whilst other arrows reflect the physical pressure within a compost heap as it compresses.

The use of rich coloured sands create a bold design, whilst the positioning of elements within the compost heap is playful and engaging. This creates a sense of movement within the compost heap highlighting the many elements and influences that go into the construction of Ambient music.

MODULES

Modules is a sketchbook for the physical creation of experimental modular type.

The A5 sketchbook containing a variety of original grid systems which are used to create modular typography. The grids were created using basic geometric shapes, which are rotated and layered to form modules. The restrictions of the gridded structure force the user to work in a certain way, however the overlapping shapes extra possibilities to be explored making them adaptive and flexible.

The book enables designers of all skill levels, student to professional, to explore typography and encourage a more experimental approach to the construction of type. The physical format allows designers to engage with the process of creating typography enabling more control, flexibility and original outcomes. The format encourages experimentation through the traditional sketching process as a way of generating ideas for modular typography.

The minimalist design aims to appeal to a broad audience. The module logo reflects a module from each of the grid systems within the book, which creates a simple design that is reflective of the sketchbook content. The logotype reflects the blocky, geometric appearance of the modular grids through adapted letterforms.

The compact sketchbook format is familiar to designers and easily portable. The traditional approach to design increases fundamental skill and allows for a better knowledge of the make up of letterforms, whilst encouraging problem solving through constraints.