Presentation

Climate change and our need to save the Earth has received growing exposure in the media.

Countries such as China and India who are usually shamed for their pollution levels are now taking extraordinary efforts to reduce their carbon footprint by investing billions into the green energy sector. Therefore climate change is a very real problem that only has gained traction in recent years.

In an article by the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/05/china-invest-renewable-fuel-2020-energy), it is stated that China are to invest £292bn into renewable energy by 2020, as the "world's largest energy market" moves away from coal and into cleaner fuels. This investment into renewable energy will help produce half of China's energy requirements. As a result China has become "the world's top solar generator last year."

Milton Glaser's approach takes on a more honest and realistic tone of voice towards climate change. It criticises the numerous 'go green' campaigns that don't effectively communicate the reality of the situation. Through his use of colour and slight change in wording, the campaign creates more urgency against the numerous campaigns that add to the noise, making "global warming" a benign phrase. However the flaw in the campaign is the choice of product distribution.

Having buttons people can purchase only adds to the waste produced already. Unless the materials used in the campaign are entirely sustainable, the product choice contradicts and negates the point of the campaign.

Second to oil, fashion and textiles is the most polluting industry in the world. This is not helped by our consumerist society and fast fashion brands such as Zara that perpetuate the constant need to buy more clothes. It can take more than 20,000 litres of water just to produce 1kg of cotton, which is the equivalent to a single t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Up to 8,000 different chemicals are used to turn the raw materials into clothes. These processes are only 'worth it' if the consumer actually buys it. More often than not, the unsold, unfashionable and falling apart end up in the landfill. With almost everyone on the planet buying clothes, the fashion industry needs to become more sustainable. 

The recent collaboration between adidas and parley have created shoes made using Adidas' existing footwear manufacturing processes but the usual synthetic fibres are replaced with yarns made from the recycled Parley Ocean Plastic. 

Designer Tom Dixon worked with Lacoste to produce sustainable packing for Lacoste's unique shirt. Rather than using ink, embossing is used and a recyclable material for the packing. Efforts to make packaging more sustainable would be a good starting point to make fashion more sustainable. More often than not, packaging is always discarded after purchase. With the amount of clothes people buy daily, the amount of waste product going back into the landfills can be lessened with materials that have a lesser carbon and environmental impact. 

IKEA has recently developed a type of joint that requires not metal parts such as screws, bolts, screwdrivers or allen keys. Called a wedge dowel, it makes furniture assembly a lot simpler. This solution has been brought on by consumer complaints of the slow and frustrating process of putting together furniture. IKEA's solution may not change global warming however it does represent the small steps needed to be made by these companies in order to reduce our environmental impact. With this joint, it helps save resources, energy and waste. And given the amount of people who do buy IKEA products, this will have a large impact in the long run. It is an ethical form of design because it serves a purpose, improves the design and produces less impact on the environment. 

IKEA's 'Better Shelter', shown on the right above, is a solution to the current refugee crisis. Winning a Beazley Designs of the Year Award, the shelter is designed to last more than 3 years and is made from lightweight polymer panels laminated with thermal insulation, that each clip onto a steel frame. The panels, pipes, connectors and wires all come flat-packed and take just four hours to assemble, making the shelter a comfortable form of housing that is long lasting and easy to build. It is an example of how "democratic design can be used for humanitarian value."

Over fishing is another important concern regarding climate change. SafetyNet designed by Dan Watson uses a combination of light and strategically placed holes to help separate fish of different ages and species. The illuminated holes guide the smaller fish out of the net whilst still retaining the larger ones. As a result, less impact is had on the overall population, meaning a more sustainable form of fishing that keeps the ecosystem in balance. 

Fur For Animals - Submission Boards

Monotype - Submission Boards

Evaluation

As a whole OUGD503 was an interesting module that made me value the benefit of collaborating with other students from different disciplines. Having the briefs set by industry professional clients such as Penguin Books, Monotype and Fur For Animals demanded a higher level of professionalism and quality from the designer. Looking back on the work produced for the module however and there was a noticeable lack in aligning the solution to the briefs aim.

For Penguin, the briefs final resolution is a very typographical approach that may not take the design far in the competition. The brief suggests that a creative and unique approach to the book cover should be adopted as Penguin want a design that breaks the mould of what is seen on the shelves today. The typographical approach however is suited to my strengths in graphic design. The specific choices in typography, type size and layout demonstrate my awareness of typography and layout and is better communicated than an illustrative approach. My interest in typography had led to discovering type foundries such as Emigre which has influenced the outcome of the brief. Therefore my solution is both a demonstration of my understanding of graphic design and the designers I've encountered through personal interest. However with professional briefs, understanding the clients needs is an essential aim in creating a solution that is appropriate. The solution shows a lack of understanding of Penguins brief that may limit its success in the competition despite the solution representing me as a designer.


The AmazonFresh brief was a good opportunity to further practice creating art directions and as a way to get experience collaborating with other students. The client needed help in creating an art direction that better communicated towards her identified audience. I was given a good amount of creative freedom which can be both an advantage and disadvantage. On one hand having this freedom allowed for more interpretations of her ideas, creating designs that was unrelated to her own mockups. However when given back for feedback, the immediate approval of the design meant a lack of feedback that didn't necessarily push the concepts potential. Nevertheless the designs we agreed upon were representative of an understanding what the client wanted and a demonstration of my interest in graphic design.

D&AD's Monotype brief was chosen because it was a chance to demonstrate my interest in typography given the large library of fonts offered through their library. However, the solution presented is relatively ordinary for the context of a big brief within the module. A lack of personal drive and sudden disinterest in the brief half way caused under developed ideas that resulted in a campaign that misinterprets the brief. Instead of creating a campaign that would help 'generate a conversation' the solution became more about generating tourism. This highlights an important aspect of maintaining or finding a sense of enjoyment during briefs. Enjoying the brief often makes more thought out and creative design solutions. It is my responsibility however to actively find this be it through research, feedback or simply reinterpreting the brief. I should not rely on an good idea to suddenly come to me to help drive the solution forward.

Studio Brief 02's collaboration was the most enjoyable out of the briefs. It was exciting to properly work with an illustrator who provided an art style that I've never used before and to work with someone from another discipline. It also made me realise that working with other people produces much more thought out designs as opposed to working on your own. By collaborating, there is always the chance to ask for feedback on the work because it is everyone's obligation to help develop the solution. With this constant feedback, ideas are taken further and details fine tuned to produce a solution that best represents our aims. Working with Kieran was beneficial in providing a perspective on briefs from an illustrators point of view. Working with Georgina provided a female perspective that was beneficial in offering a different approach on the brief, a perspective that helped appeal the video to a wider demographic. When working in a team towards a professional brief, it generated a healthy amount of pressure to deliver your responsibilities. As a result the designs became more motivated than if it was a solo effort. An unexpected aspect of the brief was the amount of animating I had to do for the video. With little experience with aftereffects, it was surprising to see the video look as professional as it does. The experience of working collaboratively in this module has encouraged me to be more open about collaborating with others, especially with other disciplines

Printing process

The addition of another colour presented a problem prior to the screen printing process. The main concern was aligning the red stripes of the bars to the gaps in the block black colour. A misalignment and the poster loses its impact.
Speaking to Mike from the print room and receiving feedback on the issue, mono printing the block of red would be a better solution than to tediously align each print.
Mono printing the background allows screen printing to be a one colour process which produces a more reliable outcome, limiting the potential problems.

A limiting factor of the mono print process is how much pressure the press exerts on the lino. Little pressure and the print produces a textured finish that although is desirable for analog printing, it is not appropriate for the context of the poster. The logo's impact is lost with a textured finish, therefore a solid even register is desirable as shown below.

Textured monoprint finish

Even registration

With a solid block of red underneath, the black screen print turns a dark burgundy that almost gives the poster a 'glow'. In the sense that the red is showing through the slight translucency of the black screen print.

In preparation for the screen print, the mono printed square was purposely made smaller to reduce misalignment issues. The redesign has also noticeably reduced the amount of information shown on the poster. With how brief people give their attention to posters in the public space, the poster is aimed to communicate the name of the event and its logo. The visual impact drives curiosity from the reader to look in further into Light Night.

Left: One press. Right: Second over print.

The issue of producing a less than even registration of the red mono print kept persisting. It was only in the second run of printing did the idea of mono printing twice come about. The extra effort ensures a solid block colour as seen above.

In many ways the design of the poster has been influenced by the personal readings on the history of poster designs by Müller-Brockmann and looking into the work of modernist designers.

The design is a very graphic approach to the event with a considered grid system and placement of the elements whilst the logo concept is a simple idea that has been represented through abstraction. This is a trait I noticed in most of their design rationales. The simplicity of the logo allows for multiple interpretations and a design that can be applied to various formats.

Initial screen print and compositional development

'Tissue' paper

Tracing paper

Off white newsprint

The initial screen prints produced a clean register of ink, indicating that the design's simple enough for the screen printing process. This has been a constant issue in my work whilst using this process therefore to minimise printing issues, the simplicity of the poster's elements have been informed by the limitations of the process.

The design however still lacks the excitement it should have. The placement and the use of Univers is too functional of a typeface that imparts little to no visual presence onto the reader. As a result the design is flat, but because of this, the logo is effectively the focal point of the poster.

What is needed is more visually impactful design that would hopefully attract viewers attention as they walk past. Adding colour and changing the typesetting was suggested to help achieve this.

Univers is changed to a font reminiscent of Wim Crouwel's Hiroshima poster below. 

This font was chosen because the tall cap height, narrow character width and the thin ascenders relates visually to the fluorescent lighting concept, elongating the poster and building on its vertical qualities. 

The placement across the top of the page creates a headline for the event much like a mast head for a magazine cover. The larger typesetting grabs the reader better as well as brings presence to the poster. 

The addition of the block colour helps the logo stand out as well as retain the black and white colour scheme that was in the initial poster design. Without it, the type competes with the logo which produces an unbalanced composition, as shown below. Furthermore, a black background against the logo communicates a visible logo at night when the event is going to be held. 

The choice of red is meant to help create the poster's visual presence. Red is a powerful colour that is associated with 'stopping', which is appropriate given the poster will be displayed in public spaces near roads. The use of a strong red will help slow people down to process of the posters information. 

Development of the idea

When thinking literally of the event name 'Light Night', the first thing that came to mind was the everyday fluorescent light bulb. Used everywhere, the long strips of light are a more industrial interpretation of the event.

Being that the Night has a festival like atmosphere, ferris wheels also came into mind.

Combining these to interpretations together was aimed to produce a logo that represented a snapshot of the ferris wheel in motion. However the logo is relatively unrelated to what Light Night represents.

One of the unique aspects of Light Night is the breadth of the event across Leeds. Rather than just focusing on one specific public space in Leeds, Light Night is spread across into different zones, giving visitors a range of different attractions. To create more relation between the logo and the event, placing the logo over the map demonstrate the extent of its reach.

By removing the strokes that don't cover the map, the logo now has a function by demonstrating more explicitly how Light Night is spread across Leeds.

However the logo itself has to have a pleasing aesthetic quality in order to attract the viewers interest. Reduction of more strokes simplifies the logo to its core message whilst making the logo look visually lighter. The simplified logo shows a better relationship between the strokes and the negative space in its design, creating a more aesthetically pleasing design.

Thinking even further, the logo's function can be applied for real world usage. The logo can be lit through a buildings window and onto the road. By doing so it informs event goers of where other areas of Light Night may be. Therefore the logo now has a more informed purpose in relation to the event.

When turned vertically, the logo better represents the concept of both the fluorescent tubes and ferris wheel whilst the removal of the extra strokes creates the illusion of movement.

Presenting an initial mockup of the poster to feedback, there were comments that it still felt static and not developed enough to capture the atmosphere of Light Night. Despite a relatively valid concept for the logo, the overall composition felt too reserved for something that is meant to be celebratory.

To help communicate that sense of movement even more, each subsequent stroke becomes proportionally thinner in width, whilst the fading in colour adds depth and helps create the illusion that the logo is spinning.

In terms of the poster's composition, the logo is the main focus of the design, with the copy serving as a functional purpose of informing the reader of the event details. This has been informed by reading on Josef Müller-Brockmann's understanding of poster design.

To have the logo more representative of how we see lights at night, the bars were turned into shapes to replicate long exposure photography. Each line of the stripe is symbolic of a lightbulb being 'dragged' along a long exposure photo. Unintentionally this has created a 'tube' within the centre of the logo that creates an optical quality that is very much like the optical experience Light Night is all about.

Rather than using plain white stock, an off white paper creates 'depth' for the poster. It is a softer colour that contrasts against the rigid logo and is reminiscent of older poster designs. Given that Light Night is about conceptual art installations, the grey colour scheme represents the idea to screen print the design onto tracing paper. The translucency plays on the characteristics of light being able to shine through.