Core Concepts- Assignment 1: Getting Started
Assignment 1:
Design a series of at least three postcards (final size A6) that say something about who you are, your interests in graphic design and your wider cultural influences or interests.
What are my interests? What styles of design do I like? How do I convey who I am? Initially these were some of the questions that came to mind when thinking about this assignment. First I decided to create some mind maps about me, my interests, and my interests in design/art to begin to formulate some ideas.
Following on from my mind maps and mood board, a few ideas were in my head with what I wanted to do. Although these quick sketches and notes of my ideas look a mess, they were very helpful. While I started to jot ideas down, others formed and refined. I knew that I wanted to try something new, this being collaging. I have been interested in many collagists such as Richard Vergez and Robert Rauschenburg for a long time and thought this was a good opportunity to try some myself. Another idea that stood out in my head was the Berlin music poster, I had an idea of the imagery I wanted in my head and looked forward to trying it out.
I began to test with collaging and tried to do one of my ideas just to get a feel for what things would look like/how a physical collage would work. The process of finding and editing the images, cutting them out etc gave me more of an idea for what I could do next. I liked testing with different backgrounds, one from a 1960s woodwork magazine, and the other cooked paper.
After scanning my images and laying them out in photoshop I felt like the background needed something more. I decided on a scribble in black pencil (after testing a crayon and pencil in different colours. I feel like this added to the ‘handmade’ collage affect and worked well. I tested with a digitally made off white coloured background, but didn’t find this as affective as the paper.
For the backs of the postcards I wanted them to look handwritten and authentic. I looked through eBay for some old postcards and found a pack of 50 random ones from different places around the world. I found this very interesting and ended up scanning them, editing out any other writing then placing my information on the postcards as if it had been handwritten.
As I began my mind maps on who I was and my interests in design/externally I began to think what I wanted to focus on. In particular I wanted to explore my ‘journey’ thus far in my life and also travel/music which is something I enjoy and think I can create interesting visuals for.
After producing the mind maps, (particularly the interests one) I found myself scrolling through screenshots on my phone and on Instagram looking at designs/art that I’m interested in. This made me think to make a more conscious effort at doing so, I then decided to create a mood board of my findings. I really found collating these images together helpful as it directly visualises a varied group of designs and colour that I can draw inspiration from for creating my postcards. I feel like this helped a lot with visualising ideas in my head ready for planning.
I knew with this postcard I wanted to convey my struggles with ideas when creating, and my interests as an 'explosion’ coming from the head. For the images I decided with the American Psycho scream as it references my love for film and hints at my confusion when wanting to create. Other imagery such as the god of war statue, the car, and the Berlin train map were cut out and scanned from German magazines. The remaining were found via Instagram and screenshots on my phone. The quote by Virginia Woolf I decided to not use when testing as I felt there was already a lot ‘going on’ in the postcard. When testing the layout I used a piece of cooked paper that I had already (which is why it’s not A6.)
Final 1:
Finally I changed the background to an old paper texture. I did this by cooking paper and scanning it. I feel this works well as it adds to the handmade feel of the postcard that I wanted. I added another layer paper with low opacity ontop of the collage, so the images would look the same and part of the background.
I enjoyed producing this postcard in particular because I’ve intended on collaging for a while and this was a good opportunity to do so. I think that the final outcome is ok, I like imagery used but feel like I could of tested more with different photos and colour. I also feel as if I could’ve included more typography or at least tested with some, for example the quote by Virginia Woolf. I think that the composition is quite good, but I should of test others so I could compare. Overall I am pleased with the outcome as it was my first time collaging and I look forward to doing it more.
I wanted to make my next postcard based around a place and time in my life that was a big part of why I chose to pursue graphic design. That place was Berlin. I went for the music and rave scene there, but found myself in galleries and museums in the day time (including the typography museum.) When expanding on my ideas for this I decided that I wanted it to be a black and white almost poster looking postcard, inspired from different music posters I had seen all over the city. I created a quick mood board of some images I had found that I was thinking of using. I also dug up some train tickets that I had kept, scanned them in and made them black and white, I wanted to see if I could add these in to give the postcard a more personal feel.
I then tested with editing the images into black and white; these 2 looked the best. I decided to go with an almost spray painted looking stencil font as I felt that it added to the music poster gritty feel. For the other I decided on an old magazine style font as I felt I wanted it to look smarter and more timeless suiting to the photo of the people by the river.
When looking at the ‘flat’ black and white designs I felt like it needed some texture adding to make it more interesting. I decided to use a crumpled paper texture and made the image fit around it. I feel like this worked well as it adds to the gritty poster feel of the postcard that I wanted.
Final 2:
I decided on this one for my final postcard because I feel like it captures Berlin as a whole better, rather than just the music side. I added in a scanned part of one of my train tickets to the top part to fill some negative space and I feel like this works well and adds a more personal touch. Overall I quite like the outcome but feel like I should’ve tested with more typography and compositions. I feel like I could’ve produced more plans/tests and may of got better results; as my final version wasn’t the one I had planned to make originally anyway, which shows me that its ok for my plans to change.
Lange, D. 1937 On the Road to Los Angeles, California [Online.] [Accessed 8 October 2020.] Available from: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/44521?sov_referrer=artist&artist_id=3373&page=1
I liked how my initial idea turned out. I found an image of a mountain range and cut it out from its original photo, then I scanned and used a brown card for the foreground, digital colours for the middle, and the sky a cream coloured paper, I feel like this works well. I digitally created the shadows for the people, and layered an enlarged risograph texture over the sun to add some more texture.
I felt like there was more to add to this collage, so decided to add some hand drawn typography and shapes. I tested using different mediums; pencil, pen and crayon.
For my next postcard I wanted it to be about my ‘journey’ and where I’m heading to next, both with Graphic Design and life. When planning I was debating on using photography from Edward Weston or Dorothea Lange. I decided to go with Dorothea Lange as I feel like her On the Road to Los Angeles, California photograph best suits my idea.
Final 3:
I tested each pencil, crayon and pen textures on the background and decided on the crayon as the best. I feel like it adds to the collage style and feels more personal. I also added a layer of chalk to the final to add more texture to the sky and foreground, I like this gritty look it gives.
I quite like the final outcome of this postcard and enjoyed making it in particular because of its combination of physical and digital elements. I think that the idea worked well but again I definitely feel like I should’ve tested with different compositions and colours. I am also unsure if the added “where next?” is too obvious or takes away from the image. I had an almost finished idea in my head of this postcard more than any of the others before I started and feel like this might of held me back from doing something better because I didn’t test or try different things out. I look forward to improving my skills in future projects and focusing on plans/tests more.
