Graphic Design Research.

Review the designers website…

This website is very easy to navigate as everything is set out in list’s. The colours used are very prominent throughout. The neon pink is used immediately to attract the viewers eye and the way it has been used through the rest of the website shows the hierarchy of information. I think the way the website is set out is very successful because of the simple layout and the large illustrations to immediately catch your eye.

Introduce the company, history, background and structure…

The company is a London based group that have worked for a lot of big brands including; The BBC, Jaguar and Ford. The company is made up of 50 people, from illustrators to designers to creative directors. The design group has been working and producing successful pieces of work for the past 25 years and have gained a good reputation.
Discuss any information on the Graphic Design Company…

The agency have gained numerous awards for their work but a few of the most recognizable ones are:  Richard House Hospice, Office Games that they received in 2009 and Fine Cell Work which they were the Winners in 2011. They say they ‘Thrive on working for smaller projects as well as big ones’ they stated that smaller projects keep them fresh.A piece of work taken from ‘The partners’… I think this piece of work is the most successful I have seen from the DesignCompany. I think it really works because of the use of colour and the faint green used on the car in the follow on page and how it has been used on the

main page to connect It. Reflect on the company…

I think the company is obviously very successful with the amount of awards they have been given and all the big jobs they have done, I think one way of keeping fresh and up to date that I have learnt is to do short, small projects and to keep creative. 

Ziggurat Brands

“All brands have stories to tell”

•Focus more on the idea behind the brand, like to connect emotionally with people the products are aimed towards:“Make your consumers happy. Make an emotional connection with them. Increase sales.”

Hawaii

•Leading design agency established in 2005

•Led by designer Paul McAnelly

•Well known for the multimedia designs they apply to their projects.

•Worked for clients worldwide, such as:

    MTV, Miss Selfridge, Virgin, AOL, etc

•Worked on publications for Grafik Magazine.

Fisherprice

Review the designers website…

I think this website is really successful because of the way it has been set out. I think it immediately attracts your attention by every time you go onto the page the illustration changes. The colours used are very good as they keep the website looking soft by just using 80% black instead of a solid 100%. I think the way the menu bar runs along the top and the other text goes down the left hand column really ties it all up together.

Introduce the company, history, background and structure…

The company is very successful and you can immediately tell by the list of people they have worked for. They have a very successful set of clients and I think they are a very worshiped design agency. The company is based in London and has over 60 members of staff.

Discuss any information on the Graphic Design Company…

The company is one of the most successful I have yet came across but still works for the likes of ‘innocent’ and ‘Absolute Vodka’ One of the most recent pieces of work they have done is a whole new rebranding of the ‘Waitrose’ shop. This shows that they like to vary their work and not just work to one specific clientele. The company is also very successful and have been nominated for two DBA awards.

A piece of work taken from ‘Pearlfisher’…

I really like this piece of work they have created and I think the fact that its just one piece of typography is very successful and the colours used work really well together, I think the bright Orange in the ‘J’ is really complimented by the soft shade of gray in the ‘me’

Reflect on the company…

Overall I think the company is a very well branded, well known successful group of people and they all obviously work really close together producing pieces of work like this one. 

I think designs like this one that are more abstract seem to work a lot better that the ones that are very complex and busy as designs like this one look more appealing and easier on the eye.

Creative Record Labels'

Looking at inspirational work like this really encourages me to try to use modern up to date design work as one of the main pointers in the brief was to create a logo that was 'Fresh' and 'Modern'. I think the use of illustration in this Logo works really well and it makes the design look really current. I think the illustrator has been really successful. 

Time plan; 22 – 25th March.

Tuesday AM:

Create action plan for the rest of week

Update blog

Add Inspirational pieces

Tuesday PM:

Start to develop a few initial ideas

Put forward some initial ideas onto the Mac and work with them in Photoshop/Illustrator.

Wednesday AM:

Start to consider final designs.

Take forward 3 ideas to do further development.

Finalize all 3 ideas.

Wednesday PM:

Select one idea to use as my final

Final Developments

Print off and look at it in perspective – T-shirts, Letterheads etc

Print off finals and professionally mount them.

Have everything ready to present to client. 

Inspiration...

Typography Blogs.

Friends of Type.

I really love this blog. I think its very useful because it shows a technique that I never thought would be as successful as it is. I think the use of hand rendered text in the current market works really well and the way the main focal points have been brought out with the red pen works well. I think the article about Jeff Rogers' work is really useful because it shows different techniques coming to use and mediums that once was frowned upon in the graphic design industry. 

I Love Typography.

I think this article is really useful because of how it tells you what they think about producing a typeface and how they use models from other typefaces to create there own individual one. I think this is very useful for when I come to create my own typeface. This article has been very useful as at one stage in the process of working I will have to start creating my own typefaces.

Ministry of Type.

I think this article is quite useful as it tells you all about the use of typography and about the layout. It shows you in images that the layout of the type is very important with the sizing at an ample importance. The article shows a lot about composition of the type, exposed structure and flow. 

Form Fifty Five.

I think this blog really is quite useful because it has showed me that the typography is sometimes printed all over the world. I think the typeface has to be very legible because its printed on t-shirts etc.

Thinking with Type

This article about Kerning is very useful as it tells you all about what it is, how its used and when to use it. It shows you how to use it on the adobe programs and when and where its been used. I will use this technique a lot in my work when trying to sort out the spacing in my design work. 

Typographic Design Companies...

FontSmith.

I really like the work of FontSmith. I think this piece in particular is very effective with the way the logo has been set out so the work film is inside of the shape of the number 4. I think the typeface used in the general body of type is really effective being very legible and the colours used with the black and white works well for the hierarchy of information. I think the setup of the bespoke typography in the logo is really effective with the spacing to the left and right of the word 'film' being exactly the same makes it look really effective. 

Dalton Maag.

I think the work of Dalton Maag is amazing. They produce a new typeface for each client that is specifically made to precise details. This particular piece of typography is really nice. I think the 'Galactic' typeface works best with the heavy text at the beginning leading back into the finer size. I think the typography in the middle of the illustration works really well and is now obviously very successful as when its seen it is immediately recognised as the typography for Virgin. I think the whole typeface is incredibly successful and immediately recognisable.