Self Expression Poster

I see design as a form of communication that (for the most part) transcends language and cultural barriers. And I see software such as the Adobe suite as the pen that the designer uses to communicate. The paintbrush is Adobe illustrator as indicated by the AI above the brush and the star shape coming off the tip is the designers creative spark. I have used orange as the primary colour for my design as it is the colour used in the illustrator logo, and blue for the guides as they are oranges compliment. I have drawn in the guides and bezier handles to show the underlying technicalities of the design process. The brushes stroke continuously shrinks, leaning the eye to the brush. The brush itself is made from typography, utilising closure. The whole piece is arranged along a single axis, that intersects the brush length ways.

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Self Expression Poster – Mood Board

Self Expression Poster Mind map

Got a little carried away designing this mindmap…

Postcard mind-map

For my postcard assignment I have decided to use times of the day as my continuing theme.

Colour theory in the food industry

McDonald’s (like many fast food chains) have used primary colours in their design such as yellow and red. These colours tend to be quite loud and draw the viewers eyes to them quickly. The colours are sharp and highly visible making it the first thing you notice in any scene.

Gravity Coffee have used secondary colours such as orange and purple to create a warm, welcoming and familiar feeling design. Not as sharp or intrusive as primary colours, these secondary colours don’t show so much contrast that it’s distracting but uses just the right amount to keep it aesthetically pleasing.

World Classics coffee has used the three tertiary colours orange-yellow, violet-red and yellow-green. Not only are these colours incredibly soft, they are also highly saturated, making the product look rich and vibrant. While these products are tertiary together, each individual package is analogous, using only shades of the main colours.

Lio Fruit uses a mostly analogues colour scheme working in shades of red and orange. The similar colours makes it incredibly easy on the eyes but also gives it very little contrast to work with. This means it may not ‘pop’ as well as a product designed using complementary colours.

This box of biscuits (as well as most christmas product) use complementary colours red and green as primary elements of their design. These colours are incredibly contrasted. Making the products visually loud, causing it to be the first thing people see, and what could be better in a competitive market.

Newspeak 1984

When I started the first designs for the font that would soon become Newspeak my intent was to design an uncomplicated font that was purposefully simple. The reason for this was two fold; I have a personal preference for uncomplicated design, and given the time constraints I was given it wouldn’t be feasible to design an outrageously complex font without it finishing up half baked and ,more importantly, tacky.

I worked through many revisions of the font. So many that by the time I came to my final design it was no longer even similar to where I had started.

I believe in the end I was successful in creating a font that is both simple enough to be completed in the allocated time but still consistent and relatively well designed. If I had one doubt with my design it would be the diagonal lines found in a few letters. I couldn’t find a better way to redesign the letters while still keeping it legible and I’m not entirely certain how I feel with the final results of certain letters. Specifically letters like “X”.

The targeted use of Newspeak is anything that requires a kind of computational uniformity.  It could be used for advertising various tech products, or as a SCI-FI movie title.

“The font ‘Newspeak’ is designed to be a modern day reinvention of the LED displays found on microwaves and most digital watches. These LED displays could only display numbers and a few rudimentary letters, this font intends to fix that. “Newspeak” supports all numbers, letters and most punctuation symbols while still retaining it’s original style. The cold calculated appearance earns its title, an allusion to the George Orwell dystopian classic “1984”.

Font Analysis

The bad

Caricature

Over complicated design renders text difficult to read. Fairly consistent style, but a consistently bad font is still a bad font. X-height varies from character to character. Could be appealing to children but with that said, so is comic sans.

LED bus

Inconsistent x-height. Inconsistent dot size. inconsistent character size (see “b” and “h”). inconsistent kerning (see “3” and “4”). Just generally inconsistent. Difficult to read due to LED matrix style. Strains eyes like an optical illusion.

Nervous

Very difficult to read. Potential application in very niche field. Could perhaps be used in drunk driving PSA or optometry commercial (?). Over all good consistency; each character keeps the same scale and the bars are all on very similar levels. But the overall fragmented style not only causes illegibility but is also unpleasant to read, bordering on painful.

The good

Optimus Princeps

Traditional style, long tails, serif. Easy to read. Consistent character size and height. Comfortable kerning. Simple clean font that still has personality to it. Could easily be utilised for formal applications such as wedding invitations or formal dining.

Basic Title Font

San serif. Clean font. Consistently tall letters. Constant upper case gives sense of urgency and importance as well as making it easy to read quickly; font predictability allows the viewer to read without needing to stop and think about what the next letter is meant to be.

Caviar Dreams

Semi-formal style. San serif. Overall font has a clear style to it. The circle element is included in every possible character without looking ridiculous. Letters such as “e”, “q”, “b” and “d” all incorporate perfectly rounded circles, while other letters such as “T”, “x”, “v” and “z” that have no curves omit the circle to maximise readability. The designer shows good restraint to not stick to their style so closely that all the letters start to look the same.