The Final Thing

My Work Progress

Heres What I have been doing to create my final product of two double page spreads of a magazine.

Sketches

Heres some of the ideas that I have for my layout designs.

Stefan Sagmeister (Research Task 1)

Stefan Sagmeister

Stefan Sagmeister is a designer who has been following his instinct and intuition to the fullest, having gained recognition for his unique and often provocative, visual explorations. It’s possibly his very personal and almost self-centric way to design that leads to his original approach.

A bit of history. When the Austrian born  designer moved to New York he made it his mission to work for the legendary designer Tibor Kalman at M&Co before starting his own studio in 1994. 
On May 31, 19 years after starting his NYC studio he once again surprised the crowds with renaming to Sagmeister & Walsh in a  trademark Sagmeister fashion (naked in the studio.)

Sagmeister earned Grammys for his iconic music 
packaging art (see his David Byrne CD covers). With his poster designs for the AIGA, as well as a slew of heralded personal projects. It’s safe to say that his status as a design superstar has been cemented.

Neville Brody (Research Task 1)

Neville Brody is perhaps the best known graphic designer of his generation. He studied graphic design at the London College of Printing and first made his way into the public eye through his record cover designs and his involvement in the British independent music scene in the early 1980s.

As the Art Director of Fetish he began experimenting with the beginnings of a new visual language that consisted of a mixture of visual and architectural 
elements. Later he was able to put these ideas into practice and to set new 
precedents through the innovative styling of The Face magazine (1981-1986).

Brody also won over much of the  public through his highly innovative ideas on incorporating and combining 
typefaces into design. Later on he took this a step further and began   designing his own typefaces, 
therefore opening the way for the advent of digital type design.


It was his work on magazines that firmly established his reputation as one of the world’s leading graphic designers. In
particular, his artistic contribution to The Face completely revolutionised the way in which designers and readers approach the medium. Though Brody rejected all commercialisation of his graphic style, his unique designs soon became much-imitated models for magazines, advertising and consumer-oriented graphics of the eighties.

Ideas and inspiration

These great examples of double page spreads are ones that i take inspiration from and will include aspects uaed here in my own work. 
Personally I am a great fan the use of white space, I feel that it gives a sense of 
simplicity and makes the page look more modern and proffesional. 
on the other hand, filling a page with an image and having text overlaying it also makes a great spread. 

The jayz page appeals to me, it has confronted the issue of the crease in the middle page which can prove hard to deal with if not taken into consideration during the design process. 

A more collage effect has me undecided on the layout that I will choose for my own double page spread. I like how it gives the page a more layered look to it, it instantly grabs the attention of the target audience.

Here are a few double page spread that caught my eye. All of them are different but unique in their own ways. 
The first one intituled “HARD TIMES” I especially like becasue of its rough cut “n” stick and the colours that are used are linked the to the topic of the article which is electronic music and dance scene.  
I plan to use these elements in my own work. 

The Second image with the yellow background also appeals greatly to me with the layered images, the use on white space imbetween the images gives it an organised mess look to it which is used throughout the rest of the article, the text int he title and subheadings overlaps the background. i like the face that it isn’t all within the normal set lines and borders, this piece has it’s own style.  

My Brief And Development Of Skills

This Project allows me to explore into another industry that I am very passionate about whic is the music industry. I feel that I am going to enjoy this project as I can interlink graphic design with music to create my final outcome. 

During this project I will able to use the new skills that I have learnt of the last few weeks of my college course. 

Here are some of the skills that I think I will be able to use and improve during the course of this project.

Development of skills


I have been practicing kerning and using sites such as type.method.ac (kern me) this site proved very helpful and gave me more of an understanding about kerning. 
During this project I plan to use kerning in all type that I use to make my work look more professional. 

During this project I plan to develop my skills using Adobe Illustrator. During the Digital Skills lessons that are given on my course I have been working hard on what we have practiced and will use and develop these skills I currently have and hopefully become more advanced in these areas. 

Adobe Indesign is a new program to me as my last place of study had very limited or no access at all to macs or programs such as these. What i have learnt so far with Indesign has stuck quite quickly and I am getting the hang of things now, still there is great room for improvement and during the course of this project I shall be using and improving these skills to create my work and develop my ideas. 

My Brief Analysis


My brief is an interesting and insipring one as it is a competition and also gives me a wide range of opportunities to explore. 
The Society of Publication Designers is dedicated to promoting and encouraging excellence in editorial design. Every year, SPD holds a professional competition to find the best editorial design out there. Now students have the chance to be a part of this world-class event!

The section that I have chosen is to Design a two-spread story for this magazine that is a biography or interview. I am Treating this as a interview and I have chosen one of my favourite music artists to base it on. The main focus will be on a man called Jamie Jones. 

In order to create this project with understanding I must first research design layouts for a interview style reports in magazines and newpapers, major influences will come from magazines such as MixMag and DJmagazine, both have great,attractive and modern layouts to their pages that appeal to the readers. 

Also research into other designers that have influence on writen interviews and biographys will help me to understand more about the task in hand. 

Editorial And Typgraphic Design

S.W.O.T Analysis


Strengths

-Good level of knowledge on the background of my chosen subject (DJing and Producing, i.e Music        Industry.) 
-Previous research on my choen artist is archived and will have important use in this project.
-Computer program knowledge improved. 
-Good understanding of the Design process from the first research to the final product. 

Weaknesses

-Photoshop knowledge is limited.
-Annotating skills are not great, I find that I am repeating myself and not really     looking into all the aspects that the work holds.
-Making the shift from paper to digital I can find hard or find that I can’t do what I wanted to do. 


Opportunities


-Working with music arstist and other     people in the music industry.
-Gain more understanding of professionally presenting work to a client.
-Attend Music events and speak to the people that help make them happens to get more research.
-Gain more contacts within the business.
-Work with some great inspiring people and collect imporant tips and tricks. 

Threats


-Due to personal problems I now dont have as much time I would like to complete the project.
-My Lack of knowledge in illustrator and indesign could hold me back in this project. 

My Final Outcome

This is the final picture that I handed in, I really like this image and I will use it in many places such and internet social networking site to front pages of portfolios. 

Editing my Photos From Photo Shoot

These are the screen grabs that I took whilst I was editing my self portrait that I had taken with a colleague that is also study at Newcastle college, Adams Summer (the photographer) is a second year student with much knowledge within the photography industry.

Examples of Self Branding logos.

These are some logos that I plan to base my Self branded logo on and I hope to create something similar or even better but with my own unique style and stamp! 

 lucas Kalina

 Joshua Bull

 Supernowa

 Michael Williams

Paula Maso 

Disclosure Portrait Shoot Imagery.

These images have been taken from the potraits of duo that are at the top of their game in the music industry and are worldwidely know at the age of only 19. I have choosen these images because I how they use almost a sketch affect over the top of their faces, they also use this affect in their videos and it have draw my attention and i may consider using something like this effect in my own portrait. 

Things that court my eye.

This is a selection of images that I have found that have interested me because of how they take explore the possibilities of portrait photography to new creative levels. The expressiveness that is included in these images makes them different and unique even though they come under the same category of photography.

This is a selection of images that I have taken interest in simply because of their creativity and how they give off strong messages but are so simply laid out.

Research Patrick Rochon

Patrick Rochon is an award winning photographer that specialises in Light Pianting with over 20 years of experience. First prize winner at the Nikon photo contest in Japan, Patrick has done Light Painting photography for various fashion and rock magazines, CD jackets, DVDs, posters, internet and other promotion materials. 

This a collaboration that patrick created with actress Karine Vanasse and with the help of makeup artist    

Anicko. This was the first time that patrick had worked with a professional actress.this was a inspiring shoot and influenced alot of his work to come. 

Skills I plan to develop.

Working with other people in different areas of the artistic industry and creating a great project and final piece.

The understanding of colour palletes and the use of them within my work. 

I have some understanding and basic skills on illustrator but I plan to develop these skills further during the course of this 
project. 
My skills on inDesign are always inproving and I and are better than what I can do in illustator but can still be improved.

My Brief

This brief has been given to me as part of my course and will help me to work with other colleagues to create a final pieice of work that will be presentable to a client or potential empolyee. 

This project will help me to understand and develop my skills with programs and 
efficiency within them.

To achieve this I will research and document ideas and tips of skills that I will find to show how they have helped me.
I will also research into the current trends and what design companies are looking for in potential employee’s.

I plan to evaluate myself to find what I can improve on and develop within the duration of this project and show it.  

S.W.O.T Analysis (LO1)

In this project I plan to explore the techniques and skills it takes to create a advertising logo and brand that will help me to sell myself. I will assess myslf and find out what I need to do to develop my digital skills and what it takes to understand the areas of technology that are being used within the grpahic design world today. 

Strengths.

- Knowledge of modern and current trends in the use of digital skills in graphic design.
- Intermediate knowledge of computer programs such as inDesign and illustrator.
- Good knowledge of processes used when starting a project and how to plan development processes though to the final outcome.
- Good knowledge of research and places to find good elements to help back up ideas.
- The understanding of what it takes to highlight/analysis personal elements

Weaknesses.

- Understanding what employers will be looking for in a potential employee.

- Idea development, knowing how much and what to include in and idea process.

-  Not having worked with a semi professional 

photogrpaher within a studio environment. 

- Skills within programs such as illustrator and inDesign need improving.

- Efficiency when creating and using design 

programs. 

- Not looking at my colleagues work to get 

inspriation and sharing ideas. 

Opportunities.

Communicating with a photogrpaher to get my ideas across to create a great final outcome.
Understanding what a photogrpaher needs to have from me before the shoot and make sure that they are on the same page as me, I feel it will be a great oportunity and will set me up for fututre work with other colleagues.

Threats.

- Time is always a threat with me as I need to
improve on my planning and time consumtion of work.
- Personal issues.
- Photography studio not being avalible for the time needed.
- Relying on the photogrpaher to be there on the day of thre shoot and with all the equiptment
needed. 

NCI410 Digital Skills Acquisition Graphics

This is the module guide that I have been given. 

Throughout this module you will have an opportunity to develop, explore and build upon industry standard software skills, allowing you to demonstrate the proficient and appropriate application of software through the use of collaborative processes to develop a creative product.

This module will help me improve my skills within design programs and get a basic understanding for them.

Research (LO5)

http://www.devolutiondesigns.co.uk

This is a site that I found very interesting and helped with understanding what logos are made up with, it shows some great designs and ideas. Some of the work that I have found here is really new and creative work that I can only hope to create something similar.

S.W.O.T Analysis

S.W.O.T Analysis  (LO1)

Strengths 

• Illustration
• Understanding the target audience 
• Knowledge of music logos designs
• Interests in music logos and music related art
• Previous work with music based logos

Weaknesses 

• No previous use of design software 
• Limited knowledge with design processes 
• No previous knowledge of working with client on a live brief
• Limited knowledge of time planning related with project work 
• Limited knowledge of transferring ideas from paper to digital
• little knowledge of how to present the final outcome 

Opportunities 

• Enter competitions and working on a live brief 
• Gain understanding of working with clients
• Learn the process taken when working on a big project
• Develop basic knowledge of digital skills 
• Understand the time plan 

Threats

• Not getting the final product done on time due to lack of knowledge and understanding 
• Final product not being up to standards due to not having the right skills

Considerations

Here are things that I have been given to take into consideration whilst planning and throughout this project.
• Research into music related brands and music related imagery.
• Research into brand competitors; establish the techniques they use to
successfully target consumers and use this to inform design work.
• Can use 2, 3 or full colour. However the logo must work in mono only you     will present both versions.
• Develop a range of creative routes before finalising design.
• Consideration into the target market 10-16.

First task of the module

Here is this first task of my first module.
Newcastle Music Hub is a new initiative that is aimed at students from school age to 16. The music hub will work in schools and local colleges to inspire students to get involved in music workshops short courses. It involves all aspects of music from singing, playing instruments, making records, dj’s etc.
Newcastle Music Hub needs a logo that will be easily recognizable and have some element that reflects music. 

What I think of my Brief

This First Module seems to be challenging for me as I have just moved from a foreign country where I was studying in an International school. The resources or access to computer software i.e general necessities to understand the basics of graphic were limited or non existent. Coming to this college I have been confronted with programs such as adobe inDesign and illustrator which I'm not going to lie are unheard of to me. It has quickly come to my attention that it is going to take a lot for me to get to the level of most of the other students on my course. I feel somewhat under skilled amongst many of the students that seem to have a much greater understand of the graphic design industry to me. I am positive do what I can to learn quickly and gain knowledge about some of the things that I'm going to be working on so that I don't feel left out or fall behind. 

My First Brief

My first Live Brief that have been given is Branding and Corporate Image. This module introduces all main areas of branding and corporate image. The first piece of visual communication is seen from a company is their corporate identity. A corporate identity is part of a company’s brand but branding covers so much more than corporate id/logo design. Branding covers every aspect of how a company looks visually as a whole. Branding is the backbone of every company’s visual appearance. 

Starting Out

This is my blog and I am currently studying FdA Graphic Design at Newcastle College. This blog is based on my experience and progression for duration of the first year of this course, I expect to learn many skills and techniques and meet many interesting people and really gain a wide view and understanding about the design industry. Enjoy.