Alphabet soup...

Following the summer alphabet brief, i have been given an extending brief to create 10 letter forms influenced by the word FLATTEN. I have started by looking at existing letter forms i have collected to inspire me.When i think of the word flatten, the immediate things that came to mind were embossing and debossing. From this i thought of different visuals that could communicate this.

Here's a collection of some letter forms all visually different from one another, showing a small fraction of the vast variety of type you can get.

I also had access to the work of others in my group when we all presented our individual alphabet sets, another means of inspiration and ideas.

 This is the brainstorm i drew up when i first recieved the word FLATTEN.There are also some examples of letters that i felt had some relevance to my chosen word.I looked at concertina and the use of shadow and directional lines.

When i think of the word flatten, as i said embossing and debossing were my first thoughts.I looked at letters that had a 3D effect to them, whether that made them appear debossed or embossed.I then tried to design letters based on this principle.I found it challenging to draw letters that looked debossed, so i tried thinking of a way of creating an illusion of flatness and de-bossment.

These are examples of the use of directional lines and shadow to create an illusion of de-bossment, the lines reach down to the bottom right, which i think gives the letterform a distant look.This set shows the 'shadow' around the letter getting flatter, but i don't think it's clear enough as to what my influence is.

I tried out several ways with the letter B in which i could portray the word FLATTEN, i did a few simple ideas just working with line, i think they worked well, with this idea i then played around with the stroke of the letter. So as the letter form got flatter so did the stroke. 

The slow graduation  of the letters getting flatter is obviously important,  i have tried to do this subtly as i felt it was more effective.

An example of the subtle graduation of flattening.

This is what my final solution will look like, this shows examples of the letterform alone and with the directional line shadow. You can also get an idea of the subtle flattening.

A more complete example of my set, details still need to be more defined.

The first letterform and underneath the flattest letterform.

I took one of my letter forms into photoshop to try out the embossment filter, i think it looks too digital and i didn't really feel that it worked as well visually as the hand rendered examples, it looked tacky.

How to...

This is from the How to... brief, which was set between a small group.We created our problem and went through a range of process of ellimination to then find a resolution to the problem.The title of our brief is 'How to survive Leeds weather on a student budget'.From these brainstorms we will gather research to support our final outcome.

The brief came from situations in which students found difficult when moving to university.Ideas that we came up with included homesickness, time management, money management, weather change and things like the long walk to college.The concepts we came up with are something we can all relate to as we are new students.

I have done some research into pakamac ads and student booklets and informative graphics. I wanted to look at how current information graphics was used in the approach to the student generation, and of course looking into the history of the Pakamac which inspired my student survival kit.The student booklet image is very busy but the layout works.I wanted to keep my poster design simple as that is a particular style i prefer to work in.The pakamac ad is very retro and old, it gets straight to the point and has a very effective punch line.

                                                                

The above photo summarises the ideas that i have for the particular message i am communicating to the student audience.

When we had been given the format that we had to work in (poster), we had to design suitable layouts that would be 'student friendly'. The idea of having an easy informative way of communicating with our audience all links with the type, colour and imagery we use.

My ideas have began to come together in a sense that i know what sort of style i want my final outcome to be like.The layout i have chosen to work with is clear and simple, there is a fair bit of negative space, which makes it easier to read.The imagery i have used in this sample is hand drawn and then scanned and edited on photoshopped.The type is informative yet humourous, therefore making it more appealing to a student generation.

Within my poster i have also included photography, which is another design aspect i enjoy to work with.The photos are of the Bin bag 'a' mak being modelled by myself.This is a good selling point, if a student is shown wearing the product then it engages well with the student audience as it is an example of how it can be useful and student friendly.The first photo seems to formal where as the second is fun and more light hearted, again a good way to engage with a student generation.

                                                                

The two designs above contain the type and imagery that will be in the final solution.After looking at the layout of the poster i thought that there was to much negative space, which made the poster look empty and incomplete.

I have changed the paragraphs of text into a colunm, it looks more organised and easier to read.

These are the final solution posters, they are communicating the invented idea of a student "Bin bag 'a' mak". The design is informative, yet i have tried to communicate my message in a clear and simple way. I figured if you overload a student with too much text, they just don't take the information in. Hence why i changed the text layout.The colour used for the base is a cold pastel blue symbolising cold, wet weather, but the red on the umbrella is very vibrant and draws your eye in. The steps of how to make the Bin bag 'a' mak have been put into a white box, this emphasises them and makes them easier to read.

                                                                

The above images are the final outcome of the 'How to...' brief.The final solution was in the format of a poster, i have photographed them with the made product and an object that relates to the ideas.

                                                                

The letter 'K' has been emphasised as it stands for my first initial, yet it still works as a set with the 25 remaining letters.

I chose to work in this particular style with my alphabet as i like the idea of simple yet effective.The crisp white card along with the cut out element gives the letters a very sophisticated look.

My personalised alphabet from the summer brief.