GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES : Final Brand Palette

Here is the design sheet for my brand palette. In it contains all the main focal points any associated design pieces would need, to reflect the brand and keep a strong visual theme running throughout. Obviously, I will be using this to dictate my poster design.

GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES : Viral Video Examples

Here are some exmaples of viral ads online that have caught my eye. The first is for a new Shaving Brand, which relies heavily on it's simplicity and the humour within the advertisement to really sell the product. This is the kind of humour element I would like to explore within my own viral.

Here's the latest Starbucks advert, advertising their scheme of writing customers' names on their coffee, instead of the order, to give a more personal feel to the service. It uses stop motion (or the computer animated illusion of stop motion) illustrations, where the letters of the names and orders form images, such as birds or rain. It gives a feel of a human quality and is really easy to watch multiple times.

BRANDING IN CONTEXT : Final Design for A1 Poster

GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES : Symbol Design Sheets

The symbol for the brand palette has been part of the design process I've struggled with - to create something original, relevant and interesting in a small, simple mark is a tall order. Here's my design sheets for the process I went through and I think it shows a successful outcome:

GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES / STRATEGIES : Potential Background Images

For my brand palette (and also into my microsite design) I am choosing which vintage-style. black & whit ephotograph images to use. I want them to be loosely linked into the campaign (such as the image of the lake is from yorkshire - a dialect I am using the dialect of), but also to be ambiguous enough that they don't put off some audience members.

BRANDING IN CONTEXT : A few more poster ideas...

A couple of designs I switched around a little (in arrangement and type...) to see if I could make them any stronger:

Also had another idea about "creativity being in the student's hands" and thought of making a more obvious 'type as image' poster. I think it could be quite effective...

GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES : Poster Design Proposal

BRANDING IN CONTEXT : Graphic Communication course poster design

In the latest "Branding In Context" module, we are being asked to create a poster that sums up a statement about the "BA [HONS] Graphic Communication" course at Wolverhampton University.

A part of the statement that struck a chord with me was: "reflect[s] industry practice and offers study options in print and screen media that reflect this diversity". The idea of "industry" makes me think of after the course and the careers that hopefully all participating students will go onto. Lots of these careers will lead students to the "big city", such as Manchester, Birmingham or London, or have a wider sense of that idea: the big, wide world. So I thought I'd play on that idea, using the strap-line: "Building Big City Dreams" (I am also potentially thinking of using "Ideas", instead of "Dreams"). I think this helps reflect the idea of students having big dreams for what the course can lead them onto and also offers opportunities to use imagery of buildings in an interesting way:

throughout these I kept my research into Russian constructivism in the back of my mind, such as the Stenberg brothers' work, looking at perspective and very sharp contrasting angles in their posters.

The second set of posters I began playing round with was the idea of the student bringing their own creativity to unlock the potential of the course. Sometimes around the MK building, some rooms or walls feel bare, large expanses of white. Students must be the ones to fill those spaces, therefore: "Fill The Space" or "Fill This Space" can speak volumes, a command for students on the course to take the tools taught to them and use them to be creative and innovative:

GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES : Beauty of language and it's use in everyday life...

So for my theme I will be "Promoting the beauty of language and it's use in everyday life". When I first heard that phrase (connected with the idea of poster design), I thought of type heavy film posters. Such as those created by "Ignition Print". A couple of my favourites are the posters designed for the film "Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy":

Another one that I like even more is for the film "Buried", where the film's reviews are used in snappy quotes and then placed to appear like they are part of the image. It is very effective:

GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES : Viral Video

For one of our new modules we have to consider inclusion of a viral video element, with a connecting theme to the "Graphic Communication Principles" module. I have decided to choose the theme of "Promoting the beauty of language and it's use in everyday life". For me, when I was first told about this theme, I immediately thought of a certain type of viral video becoming ever popular on the video sharing site Youtube. They are called lyric videos, used by record companies to give fans a chance to listen to music and watch a visual linked to the songs theme/content, until an official video can be made and released. These lyric videos can be as simple as having the song's lyrics scrolling up the screen or (like the ones below) use the "type as image" approach, creating a really interesting piece that brings the song to life:

"StooShe - Betty W.O.Z. Gone" - This song is centred on a story about youths on a London housing estate, so the type is inspired by graffiti, text messaging and slang. It is really interesting to see how the designer has tried to represent the singers' ad-libs and voices into the typography.

"Labrinth - Last Time" - A electro pop song based around the idea of dancing in different countries, so when the singer talks about the country the type reflects it, with an over arching electronic feel (such as in colour choice) to reflect the song's sound.

In the past year, the use and popularity of "lyric videos" has grown immensely, with some fans preferring them to some of the eventual "official music videos" featuring the actual music artist, as they don't match up to the vibrancy and uniqueness. In my own viral video work, I would like to use elements of these videos, linking it to the idea of "beauty of language", I feel there could be opportunity to create something very interesting, maybe not using songs, but spoken pieces/monologues.