23rd October

Today we were given our new project. I am looking forward to starting it as i enjoy editorial design and am considering doing editorial for my final project.

First steps are to:

1> Devise project management plan to get the breif finished in the next 4 weeks - deadline - 27th Nov

2> Dedicate the first week to research and deciding what type of design aspect i want to take with the design..research editorial designs and publications.

Crit..following the crit this morning i am happy that the typographic poster and postcard are complete in terms of design. There are some technical errors i need to correct before i can print to add it to my portfolio.

Identity - today i have been doing some more research into what direction i want to take for my personal identity. I want to incorporate arabic typography because it is elegant and interesting, with illustration aspects to add more detail to it and not make it too arabic.

I want to experiment with painting with different types of tea! to make the design - as i love tea!

Some inspiring images i found today: Stina Perrson - beautiful watercolour illustrations.

different shape business card so that it can be used as a coaster and play on the tea! theme..?

Using arabic typography to draw a logo..interesting concept to be explored..

22nd October

Completed my typographic project and displayed it ready for our crit in the morning. I am happy with the results and the underlying concept i think is strong although following print there were some fundamental errors that will need to be corrected before hand-in.

1> The reflection on the bottom of the poster under each letter does not look crisp and detracts from the clean crisp image. This was suited to on-screen rather than flat print

2> Technical error which i have come across before - i used a different black in photoshop for the image to the black i used in indesign for the black background and because the two black values didn't match there is slight difference in the colours which is obvious when printed out. Black should always be absolute: 0,0,0.

My postcard shown here is effective. The stencil spells 'Love Me' from the front. This has two meanings - on a postcard you write 'Love from me' and Helvetica is famously either loved or hated so it's asking - Love me. I wanted to use this stencil and spray it in random places so show its application.

Also by cutting out the shapes it gave me appreciation for the craftsmanship that was needed to create the typeface in the first place.

19th October

this is the final week of the typography project and ive been developing my final concept. I had to re-arrange the layout to make it more visually interesting and decided to add the alphabet. I have decided to do a series of posters, as the letter element on the page is now smaller and letters such as i will now look better balanced. I was opting for the posters to spell a descriptive word of helvetica but on second thoughts im going to spell helvetica as the concept on its own is strong enough without over complicating it.

I have experimented with different layouts and like the dimensional angle but unfortunately it doesn't support the concept of flowing milk - so my composition shows the letter upright.

Given more time the other concepts i started could have been taken further, in particular the bath letters i think could work well.

Next steps are to perfect the graphic in photoshop and design the layout for the postcard which will be either a stencil design or a mock-up of a Letraset to show the idea of 'take-away' typography..to be continued tommorow.

16th October

I have decided on my final concept for my design museum poster. A black and white poster showing helvetica as an essential ingredient for design showing adding milk to a character... I think designers will find this witty and interesting. The poster will be part of a series, each poster put together will spell a word (to be decided!) that will represent helvetica eg clarity, love, perfection, max miedinger?..tbc

The postcard will be a stencil..matching the chosen word it will enforce the idea of spreading the typeface you can take it away and spray it. Also it makes the postcard more interesting than just printing as normal..

Next steps for the final crit next week is to find printer suppliers as i want to print on glossy black paper, and research stencil art to create the postcard..starting with of course...Banksy!!

15th October

I have been exploring another idea to try and combine contemporary design which i want to focus on for my final design with the use of a grid. Bathtime foam letters on a tiled bathroom wall..

I experimented in photoshop by manipulating the letters to look like helvetica..the concept is that helvetica is absolutely everywhere..even in the most unusual places..

One of the aspects of swiss style that appealed to me was the use of blurred imagery to constrast with the clarity of the typeface..with the help of my daughter..i used her hands in the composition - slightly blurred to show movement..

the tiles in the background can be made into a white grid..and the colour of the letters can be made more dramatic by possibly using black, white and red? I want to develop this idea although i dont think it will be my final concept..

14th October

I have been collecting and creating a scrap book to give me ideas on what to use for my identity. I currently have a business card and stationery and this is my starting point. I need to change my logo. I want to use my name as it represents me and it is unique. The meaning of ilona is 'beautiful' so i could play on the idea of beautiful design.

I have started looking at different types of typography and would like to create a custom typeface for myself. I really like arabic type fonts as they are bold and elegant - also they can be used well to form illustrations.

I like the work of Mehdi Saeedi from Iran:he uses elegant typography and uses a grid structure to layout his work..

I also like the work of Oded Ezer who experiments alot with type and pushes it to the boundaries like torturing type and looking at the link between type and biology. One piece that caught my eye is use tea to create a design..i love tea and this is something i was going to play around with...

Design Museum Visit

Yesterday i visited the design museum in London to get a sense of the audience for the poster and postcard that we are designing. It was a shame that most of the museum was closed to the public as they are installing a new exhibition but it was useful to see the space available, the people at the museum and the shop had lots of inspiration.

It has given me more direction with my concepts for the design..the rest of this week will be spent developing my final designs. I want to progress more than one idea.

I got a really good book called the atlas of contemporary graphic designers which has been really good to quickly see who i can research.

Also, i saw a artist creating elegant cards (www.rodgerlaborde.com)using a stencil as the face of the card. This gave me the idea of using a stencil for my postcard - the idea of 'take away d-i-y' typography.

6th October

i have been looking in more detail at the swiss style of graphic design. My initial ideas for my helvetica poster are not plausible as they wouldnt fulfil the brief - initial concepts included typographic illustration - but it doesnt represent helvetica in the form it was intended for - for clarity and clear communication.

I really like typographic art and thought this would be a great way to create a really beautiful poster to look at using photoshop techniques..here is one of my absolute favourites below:

But Helvetica wasnt specifically designed to be beautiful. It was designed to be simple, rational, harmonious and concise. The swiss style of graphic design resonates all of these attributes.

I have been looking at the work of Joseph muller-brockmann and armin hofmann, the latter produced a great poster in 1959 at the height of modernism. The image shows high contrast between the clearness of the helvetica typeface and the blur of the image.

5th October

Yesterday i watched the documentary on Helvetica to find out more about the history of the font and the viewpoint of other designers. I have started doing more research on Swiss Graphic design and like the use of the grid for the layout of the design.

This link is a good resource for great swiss style design

Seeing the movie has given me a greater feeling of what the typeface stands for..

Feedback

I need to focus more on carrying my research through to my work. I really like the idea of doing typographic art on one character of the alphabet and celebrating the forms of one character and producing a poster that is beautiful to look at but i was reminded today that this wouldn't fit the brief.

I need to focus the final piece on what Helvetica was created for..what makes it different? What is it known for..the answer is timeless, modern.. ordered, post-war idealism where design was used to re-construct. These early experiment of the 1950's were driven by Swiss graphic design.

4th October

I have sent the first draft for the design of the magazine to the client. You can see the magazine here:

Open publication - Free publishing - More magazine

1st October

Today we were introduced to the CP3 module - it will be focusing on our exit strategy from the course and looking at the career that we want to go into within graphic design..there are a few areas which interest me..in particular my first thought is editorial work but that is subject to change.

Ive found a fantastic website where you can upload your PDF documents and it converts them into digital magazine's. It's a great way to display work to clients as they can visualise more how the publication will look as a PDF can look flat. Ive created a 'book shelve' to display my designs for the editorial work i am doing. You can see it here

It's also great for seeing unusual editorial design that you wouldnt find at the high street magazine rack..