- Research -

- Corruption -



"Corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on."

I obtained this image from the website www.globalissues.org/article/590/corruption. There was a lot of useful information on the website about social, economic and environment issues on the world we live in today. One which caught my eye was corruption and how strongly it links to poverty in rich and poor countries.

Corruption is when votes are bought but not fairly won. When politicians make decisions that do not benefit the public but only themselves is another form of corruption as these are the people that make decisions that effect out lives. This I believe comes down to money, greed poisons peoples minds taking over their lives as more money means more power.

- Globalisation -


The image above I obtained from the BBC website which shows the globalisation and domination of rich countries across the world. The majority of Europe, Japan and the USA are high income which represent the superiority and power of world trade, these are the countries that keep the poorer countries at low income. This is because they use these countries for cheap labour and cheap raw materials which has a ripple effect on the rest of the world. As the local employers will be on a low income they will have less money to spend on sustaining and developing businesses, their local goods will be substituted by the larger companies thus driving their smaller companies out of business completely. This has a negative impact on their community as it will lose local jobs and create poverty. 

Although this also effects richer countries who also have poverty. Through importing raw commodities from the lower income countries this leaves less need for agriculture in the richer countries therefore our farms and local companies will go out of buisness too. 


- Oil - 


From my research I found many countries that are rich in oil and gas are homes to some of the poorest people. This is because the wealth stays in the hands of the politicians and industry insiders. Therefore the profits made from the oil and gas do not benefit the locals at all. As they are cheap labour their income will always be substantially low, leaving less money to help develop and sustain local buisnesses.

After visiting the BP website I was able to come across some stastistics to show the amount of oil the world has consumed in the past 20 years.

I highlighted the total consumption of oil for each continent since 1992. As a result of the growing population on earth it clearly shows the increase in oil consumption. Saudi Arabia being one of the main exports can make our world extremely fragile as if anything were to happen to its oil the effects could be catastrophic.


To support the opinion I claimed above about Saudi Arabia this is a book I read last summer which has an exhilarating plot that really hits close to home. It basically is a theoretic idea of what would happen to the world if the oil was cut off completely, the author uses his own research and facts to support his idea and how in a matter of days our civilisation would fall apart. 

The facts I found above about globalisation also relates to the book as it has a rippling effect on civilisation itself. Gone are the days where people would use their gardens to grow their own food farm their own animals. Very few people know how to purify their own water, make shelter or warmth. So as the world delves into the future of world trade of importing and exporting, the more we loose on the knowledge of basic human survival. 














- Research -



Above is a more recent example of Matthew Dents work. To celebrate 200 years since the birth of Charles Dickens, Matthew designed the two pound sterling featuring the well known titles of Dickens's  work which was released back in 2012. The design I believe is brilliant and unique to find such detail on a coin, not only does it celebrate the historical work of Charles Dickens but represents the power and culture of Britain and its existing for hundreds of years.



Matthew Dent is a British graphic designer from Wales. After researching him I found that his designs were selected for the reverse side of the seven coins of the pound sterling. The six coins above contain the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom across the reverse side of them with the one pound containing the full coat of arms. This I believe is a great example of practical graphic design. Its informative and useful yet still has an curious element if you did not know that the set of coins represent the United Kingdoms Royal coat of arms.



- Research - 





These frames and backing paper are by John Lewis. They contain mainly only type keeping it minimal and to the point, the text contains various quotes to influence the audience in buying the frame. This is a good style because its quite unique and eye catching as it is so minimal, also leaving the frame open to the imagination of the audience as they will not be influenced into what exactly they are putting into the frames themselves.






These three frames are good examples of a more artistic approach to backing paper. They look more hand rendered and interesting as they do not look like the generic backing paper you get on most frames. This is good because it could influence the consumer into buying the frame not just the put their own images in but keep it for the art that is already inside them.


- Research -


This is one of my most favourite designs for the backing paper. The use of the vintage looking illustrations entice the audience as it represents the feeling of 'home'. The detail of the illustrations make it look a lot more interesting and hand rendered making it have more of a personal atmosphere towards its target audience.




The two frames above I thought were good examples of backing paper for their frames. Both designs again have a vintage feel about them as they look screen printed and hand rendered. The first frame contains mainly imagery of what looks like old sentimental items that would of been some sort of value to someone. The second contains mainly type that looks like a newspaper, this again is quite a unique design for backing paper as you would not usually find this style in a frame enticing the audience again.







The three frames above contain mainly imagery which could all represent different memories. The first being a brightly coloured building which could represent travel//holidays etc, this would influence the audience in buying the frame as they themselves could put their own travels into the frames. The other two frames are close up of items what could be from a home in the country, the items to some people could be completely meaningless however I think it shows the detail in things we do not really take notice of. This could influence the audience into buying the frame as everyones eye in the world and photography is differrent therefore our frames show the world how we see it ourselves.



This is an example of the use of photography in a frame. The black and white image works well within the frame as it contains a lot of depth and detail that the clean minimal frame emphasises focusing the attention mainly on the photograph itself. This I believe works well and is something I am considering doing in my own experiments.





These examples of backing paper works really well within their frames. The high definition photographs strongly represent family and memories, one of the main things that people put into their frames. The photographs look professionally took which is cleverly done to suit the target audience, as the frames are expensive the audience would have be on a higher income who probably have their own expensive cameras or can afford their own family shoots.



- Researching existing posters -


I thought this was an excellent example of image based graphic design. There is no text whatsoever on the posters however the simplistic designs are still easily recognisable. The use of only two colours also contribute to the clean minimal design which I think makes a huge impact on the page. For my image based poster I would like to try vector based illustrations myself and see if it can communicate my message.



This is an example of an image and type based poster. Again I am really fond of the vector based illustration and think it makes an interesting eye catching impact on the page. The use of the three colours also keep it clean yet communicates the country its representing which I think works well. The typeface is also minimal yet bold but not drawing too much focus away from the poster itself which is a good element to use in my own poster.


This is a type based poster which I again thought was successful. It instantly draws attention because the message it is communicating is not clear at all making you look and work out what it says. Although it is very minimal I believe the impact it makes is very successful and something I would like to try in my own posters.



- Guerrilla Advertising -

I thought I would look into guerrilla marketing as I thought it was the most appropriate for my propaganda like posters. As my three posters are questioning newspaper companies I would have to create something that was creative, subtle yet still made an impact to capture the publics eye.







These examples of Guerrilla marketing I thought were most appropriate for my aims in my own posters. They capture interest by making subtle, curious yet high impact effect drawing instant focus on them which is what I want to explore in my own posters.



- Semiotic Analysis of a type -




Helvetica was typeface created back in 1957 by two Swiss designers named Max Meidinger and Eduard Hoffman. It is one of the most widely used san serif typefaces that exist today. The initial aim of the typeface was to be neutral and easy on the eye so that it could be used globally on a wide variety of signage. The fluent san serif type consists of the same weight throughout making it strong and legible.
            As Beatrice Warde once said “Type well used is invisible as type, just as the perfect talking voice is the unnoticed vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas.” This fits perfectly with Helvetica, as it is a worldwide type to the point the majority of our society will of seen the type yet not know its name or purpose. Although it was created in 1957 it still has very much use in todays society such as the New York subway signs, Panasonic, Evian water and even the American Airline logo. The American Airline logo is the only airline in the past 40 years that have not changed their identity, which shows the power and history of Helvetica itself as there is not need to improve.
          Herbert Bayer also once quoted “it is a fallacy to believe that styles can be created as easily and often as fashions change.” This also relates to Helvetica as it has many subtle styles that have been created to suit different purposes such Helvetica Neue; consisting of a large font family made up of regular, condensed, extended widths and outline.






 Semiotic Analysis

The Stone Roses album was released back in 1989 by Silvertone Records. The guitarist John Squire created the album cover titled ‘Bye Bye Badman’ that was heavily influenced by the artist Jackson Pollock who was most famous for his drip styled paintings. It also features the colours from the French flag and three lemons scattered across the cover.
             Both the iconic French flag and lemons signify a political movement and dominance within a society from the Paris riots back in 1968. It was a period of civil unrest within France where students protested and gathered the largest strike ever attempted that almost caused the collapse of their own president Charles De Gaulle’s. The government responded with aggression in the streets using tear gas on the protesters; ‘
Choke me smoke the air, in this citrus sucking sunshine’ is a lyrical reference from the song Bye Bye Badman featured on the album as the students used to carry around lemons to suck as they were an antidote for the effects of the tear gas.
             The Jackson Pollock inspired artwork also symbolizes the chaos and extremism from the riots and how the protesters made an impact on the French society. The green and black colours create a visually rebellious atmosphere as Ian Brown and John Squire were influenced by one of the documentaries entitled ‘Revolution Revisited’ which inspired them to write the lyrics for Bye Bye Badman; ‘
I'm throwing stones at you man, 
I want you black and blue and, I'm gonna make you bleed, gonna bring you down to your knees’. The signifiers I believe reflected The Stones Rose’s rebellious attitude within their own country with the rise of Margaret Thatcher; as Britain was recovering from a recession from the early 1980’s it maintained to have high unemployment rate making most working classes standard of living extremely low. The stones album gave the youth of their generation a sense of freewill and enjoyment in the hard economic state.
           The typeface used is a classic san serif bold font. The burned orange colour makes an impact and adds vibrancy to the cover that could be a connotation for hope and excitement within the album. The type as a whole could also reflect the impact The Stones Rose’s intentions were to have on the public, appealing to a wide selection of music lovers in society from rockers to ravers; merging psychedelic and dance grooves.








             




- Semiotic Analysis Session -

We were assigned into groups of  5/6 and were given an outline of the semiotic theory to analyse and give feedback to the rest of the class on what we read.

My Groups Analysis - 
  • The word myth derives from the greek mythos: 'Word', 'Speech', 'Tale of the Gods'.
  • Beginning stages of human culture myths functioned as genuine narrative theories of the world.
  • Culture code and media signifies boys colours - blue, girl colours - pink.
Group 1 pg 34 - 
  • Superman iconic hero, turns up in bad situation to save the day.
  • Heroic godlike figure brought up to date from ancient civilizations.
  • Culture code - Media uses santa as the heroic people pleaser.
Group 2 - 
  • Symbolise order of society
  • Icon - Map of France
  • Index - Sign to Paris - Direction etc.
  • Symbol - Flag of France
Group 3 - 
  • Instruction
  • Type represents code - Language is ultimate code



- Interim Crit Feedback - 

The crit I had went quite successful. My peers understood my research and were interested in the fact that the article itself could of completely been fabricated. I will now take my research further by looking into more depth on her the media and newspapers can fabricate and exaggerate stories to make money and almost brainwash the public. 

Aim: 

  • Communicate how the media fabricates and exaggerates stories to earn more money and brainwash public.



Target Audience:
  • Builders/Labourers
  • Young/Middle aged Male & Female
  • Elderly
  • Working Class

Facts on False Widows
  • No deaths ever documented in the UK
  • Been here since 1870
  • Non aggressive
  • Bites are as harmless as a wasp/bee sting, however some people react different to others.



- False Widow - 


Through doing further in depth research I have found a few very interesting facts about the False Widow spiders. Firstly to which I was very surprised about, I found that these so called aggressive deadly False Widows are actually harmless; they have been in the UK since 1870 yet there has been no reports of any deaths. They are however are Britain's most venomous spider however their bite can do as little harm as a wasp/bee sting.


The Independent also made similar remarks to the False Widow claims: 

"The spiders are non-aggressive and bite only in self-defence, such as when someone accidentally sits on them"

"The Natural History Museum's Insect Information Service usually hears of about 10 cases of spider bites each year, although this year there would appear to be more. They are still considerably less common than wasp or bee stings."


BBC News also made similar remarks:

"The Natural History Museum's Insect Information Service usually hears of about 10 cases of spider bites each year, although this year there would appear to be more. They are still considerably less common than wasp or bee stings."





- Research -

For this brief we were assigned a task to purchase a newspaper from Tuesday 22nd of October. I purchased the Daily Star as the front page story looked very intriguing. The article is mainly about a grandad called John Catlin who was bitten by the glorified false widow spider that has been spreading across the UK in the past few months.







After reading the article I found it very shocking and interesting. However I did notice that this man was bitten over a year ago yet it is only now his story has been published in newspapers, the images that are also used to represent the spiders differ from the front page and page 5 which is confusing, this makes me question if the newspaper is using a legitimate story. It also claimed that John was diagnosed with cellulitis: a severe skin infection, yet there is not actual evidence that it was caused by a false widow. After doing further research into Cellulitis I found that when it gets infected and goes septic thats exactly what happens to your leg which is shown in the picture. Again no actual evidence that the false widow was the cause to this.






- Research -

I was suggested Fontsmith to have a look at different typefaces which may be suitable to my current brief. From what I have gathered from Jake he likes structure, bold action movies and loud rock bands. After visiting this website I picked a few typefaces which were my favourite and most appropriate to the typeface I wanted to create myself.



I am a real fan of this typeface 'White Space'. Its very minimal, clean and well structured. It has harsh yet soft corners to the letterforms and the bowls on the h, t, and e are well curved and work really well. I also like the colour scheme as the deep red contrasts with the black background making a much more bolder impact.


This is a similar typeface to 'White Space' however it is more stretched out with a looser kerning. This also works really well as it is easily understandable and minimal.


This is another example from the Fontsmith website, another typeface that I'm really fond of. It still has structure and minimalistic elements to it however I like how much more relaxed it is with the slight curve on the E and Y. This would be more appropriate to manipulate for my typeface for Jake as he seems more of a relaxed easy going person which this typeface communicates well.





For this brief we were assigned a partner to create a typeface for a full alphabet including 6 extra glyphs based entirely on their personality. I began by asking my partner various questions to get a better understanding of what he liked and disliked.

- Research -





These three images are the questions that I asked my partner Jake. I then drew little doodles of the first thing that came to my mind for some of the answers, I can now research into more depth of his favourite music/movies etc and get more of an idea of the typeface I should be looking to design.

Fear - "Eaten by a shark"


Jakes biggest fear is to be eaten by a shark. I decided to briefly look on the internet at movies that are based on shark attacks and take note on the typeface and imagery used in the posters to communicate terror and fear. Open Water and Jaws both appear to have a ultra bold sans serif typeface for the heading, this creating a big impact on the page suggesting danger, this is supported on the Jaws poster as the typeface is blood red which signifies attack/danger/blood. Both posters also use imagery that emphasise the oceans depth and space making you think how terrifying it would be to be stuck out there completely alone.


Moves - Pulp Fiction, Inception, Watchmen




The typeface used on this poster is successful and to the point. The san serif typeface is minimalistic clean yet bold, this works extremely well for the movie because the storyline is in fact very complex and plays with your mind. The soft red also contributes towards the whole look of the poster as the imagery gives a sense of curiosity whilst the red typeface stands out and communicates danger.




This is another example of a poster used for Pulp Fiction which was another favourite movies by Jake. The typeface however is a serif this time with only small brackets on the letterforms giving a western dated look to the poster. As the film was set years ago the typeface supports the theme of the movie.



This is another example of one of jakes favourite movies 'Watchmen'. Another poster that has used a san serif ultra bold typeface, the tight kerning between each letter communicates strength and power which supports the superhero movie. The bright yellow also works well as it draws instant attention to the poster making a bold eye catching impact on the poster.


Actor to represent life movie - Andrew Garfield 



This is Andrew Garfield, born in Los Angeles however grew up in Surrey. He came to international attention back in 2010 with a supporting role in the drama The Social Network (below). In 2012 he took the main role of the spider man reboot 'The Amazing Spider-man' which was extremely successful.


This is example of The Social Network poster that was used to advertise the movie back in 2010. The typeface is a clean minimalistic san serif font which I think works well for the poster. It is easy to understand and makes a impact with the white typeface contrasting with the dark background.


This is an example of the The Amazing Spider Man poster that was released back in 2012. This again uses a san serif bold typeface, the style of the type I think communicates action and excitement which is what happens in the film so it works successfully.


Music - Rage Against Machine, The Offspring, Weezer, Alt J






These four albums are all the album covers of Jake's favourite bands. The first two covers both use a serif typeface which I think gives character and tradition to the band. The offspring formed in the mid 80's whilst Rage Against Machine formed in the early 90's which you can tell from the different styled album covers. Weezer however also formed in the early 90's yet have a different approach and style to their typeface, theirs is a soft minimalist sans serif font. Alt - J is a more modern band that formed in 2007, they have a very minimalistic thin san serif typeface which works well because the background is very busy and colourful. The triangle helps as it draws some of the attention away from the background giving more focus onto the typeface.



My flatmates went to see Mr Scruff at the weekend. They brought back this small flyer from the event which I thought was useful for my research as my partner Jake is a fan. I love the cute illustrations that Mr. Scruff has drawn himself as they reflect the funky music he produces. The hand drawn typeface also emphasises excitement and fun, this is something I have considered for my own typeface as I would like it to look structured yet easy going and relaxed. 




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