Waterstones gift wrap

Gift wrap

The design below was created in Illustrator to be used to create gift wrap. This will be used by staff in store to wrap books in exchange for presentation of the gift tag and mailer. The colours were chosen from those used in the mailers/tags. All the graphics in the design below are taken from the gift tags. Some (spoon, whisk) were copied and rotated to make a flower.

Waterstones Project

Scratch and sniff gift tag and mailer

I have completed my designs for mailers and gift tags, shown below. The mailer is folded in half vertically, to contain the gift tag (front and back shown). The scratch and sniff panel is contained on the largest icon on the front of the gift tag, and the aroma relates to a recipe typical of the author. The photo texture on the gift tag infers the author's style of cookery.

They will be circulated in magazines, and sent to potential customers. In addition, they will be hung from a Christmas tree in the store window display, and a larger tree outside the store will have them displayed as decorations, so people can remove them to use. They can be exchanged for £1 discount from the author's book, and free gift wrapping.

I still have to create the gift wrap, and do a mock up of the Christmas tree, with additional decorations relating to Waterstones.

Finally, I moved the address and stamp to the back, and changed the brown (chocolate) which looks a bit dull, to purple, which still infers luxury and links to chocolate with Cadbury's.

Downton Abbey infographic

Informal infographic

Initially my idea was to focus on the scandals of Downtown throughout the series. However, there were just too many to include, so then I focused on just those concerning the family who lived above stairs. Even those were too numerous! I eventually chose to focus on the loves of the three Downtown daughters, Lady Mary, Lady Edith and Lady Sybil.

I wanted to make it interesting to people who hadn't followed the whole series, or to those like myself that had watched every episode but forgotten lots of the detail.

The infographic is sized for iPhone 5 and above, at 640px wide, as this kind of trivia is most often viewed on mobile devices while passing the time.

I researched colours used in the 1920s in interiors, and found the following image, along with the typefaces and glyphs (Nouvelle Vague Black,  Diehl Deco, Gill Sans and Nouveau Rocco Deco - glyphs).

The colours and imagery will reflect the era (from 1912-1925), embracing the Art Nouveau, but also the stately home feeling, but also incorporating a lot of typography and modern language. I used photographs as a useful reminder of the characters over the last 6 years.

All my information came from here: http://downtonabbey.wikia.com/wiki/Downton_Abbey_%28programme%29

My finished infographic:

House style

It is important to consider the audience when creating designs, and be able to appeal to a broad demographic, or a smaller-subset of your target audience, but still adhere to your house style. For instance, at Christmas, the following audiences need to be considered: families, religious people, children, secular audiences, those without children, etc. Different imagery and styles can be used to infer thoughts of food, gifts, religion, parties, homeless, elderly, etc. The style and colours of an image can infer expensive, friendly, trashy, loud, stylish, etc.

Below are screen shots of pages from my Waterstones book showing how I created 4 posters and an invitation.

Infographics - when not to use pie charts

Pie charts

Pie charts can make data really difficult to interpret, particularly when 2 sets of data need to be compared, when shown as a 3D pie, or when too many figures need to be shown.

This image below is a good example of when not to use pie charts. It needs a key, and is difficult to compare the data from both years.

http://io9.com/these-charts-will-make-you-want-to-throw-your-televisio-1741802688 (article) and original source http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/diversity-directors-tv-amc-fx-hbo-netflix-showtime-1201633122/

The data relates to the number of programs produced by each TV network over 2 years, and whether they were male or female, white or non-white.

Style and tone

Questions to answer before designing:

1 - What is the information trying to show? (factual)

Highlight the vast differences between men and women, white and non-white directors for the US TV networks.

2 - What is it trying to say? (emotive)

That these differences are wrong, there should be much more of a balance. It is trying to make people agree with the author's point of view and make them feel angry or appalled.

3 - Is there a hook?

I decided to use the heading "Racial and gender inequality in US TV networks". Words highlighting the emotive subject of gender and race will automatically draw attention.

4 - How else can you visualise the data?

I wanted to make the actual figures virtually unnecessary, and make it easier to compare the figures at a glance.

Choosing colours to represent white and non-white people is quite emotive in itself. I didn't want to choose white and black, as not everyone who is non-white is black. I thought about using grey for non-white, however this could infer that non-white people are grey/dull in personality, which I wanted to avoid. I therefore decided to use shades of grey for both categories. I wanted the inequality of both sex and ethnicity to be the defining feature of the infographic, so used flat bright colours with lots of contrast.

The typeface choice was easy - Helvetica. I selected this ubiquitous font as it did not want anything to distract from the shocking data.

I wanted to represent the data with icons, so created them in Illustrator with shape, shape builder and pathfinder.

I created the first set of icons with the height being mathematically proportional to the figures, by creating the icons and changing the height in pixels to the number of directors. When all were created, I then selected them all and scaled them to size as one, thus maintaining their proportions. 

When I began creating the next section, the absolute numbers were smaller. I could have used percentages, but that would have distorted the figures, making the small networks appears as it they had the same numbers of directors as the smaller ones, which I wanted to avoid. I therefore decided to represent the directors with an icon per director.

For the final section, I used area so used the square root of the number of directors, creating blocks for each one, before scaling them all together, to retain proportionality.

Final complete infographic is shown below.

Infographic design

I chose to design an infographic called sourcing sustainable fish. I researched the sort of information that is readily available online regarding this subject so I could decided which aspects to include.

I found links to various useful websites:

http://www.kensingtonfinefish.co.uk/guide-to-sustainable-fishing/

The Marine Stewardship Council
https://www.msc.org/cook-eat-enjoy/fish-to-eat

Infographic with relevant information on from Sainsbury's http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/media/784088/our_future_with_fish_infographic.jpg

Which supermarkets are best at supplying sustainable seafood: http://www.mcsuk.org/what_we_do/Fishing+for+our+future/Supermarket+survey/Supermarket+Seafood+Survey+-+full+story

Pocket Good Fish Guide http://www.mcsuk.org/downloads/fisheries/PocketGoodFishGuide_2015_high.pdf

Sales revenue of sustainable fish in the UK 2003-2013: http://www.statista.com/statistics/282514/sales-revenue-of-sustainable-fish-in-the-united-kingdom-uk-since-2003/

However, against the major driver of health, there are several reasons cited for not eating fish. Most commonly mentioned is price, with 33 per cent of UK adults in our survey saying that ‘concern over the rising price of fish’ had encouraged them to eat less fish in the past year, and 46 per cent saying that cost is a barrier to eating fish in general. Other significant barriers to eating fish are lack of recipe knowledge (34 per cent), lack of availability of fresh fish in local shops (28 per cent), lack of time to prepare from scratch (28 per cent), ‘not liking the smell it makes’ (24 per cent)1 and difficulties planning ahead for meals (17 per cent). - See more at: http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/1488/uk-fish-consumption-trends-and-predictions/#sthash.YVIYT8GJ.dpuf

However, against the major driver of health, there are several reasons cited for not eating fish. Most commonly mentioned is price, with 33 per cent of UK adults in our survey saying that ‘concern over the rising price of fish’ had encouraged them to eat less fish in the past year, and 46 per cent saying that cost is a barrier to eating fish in general. Other significant barriers to eating fish are lack of recipe knowledge (34 per cent), lack of availability of fresh fish in local shops (28 per cent), lack of time to prepare from scratch (28 per cent), ‘not liking the smell it makes’ (24 per cent)1 and difficulties planning ahead for meals (17 per cent). - See more at: http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/1488/uk-fish-consumption-trends-and-predictions/#sthash.YVIYT8GJ.dpuf

Statistics to use - factors impacting the amount of fish people eat (use for IG), and projected increase in fish consumption.
http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/1488/uk-fish-consumption-trends-and-predictions/


I decided the areas I wanted to include in my infographic would be:
Fish in danger and alternatives
Best supermarkets for selling sustainable fish
Increase in sales of sustainable fish
What stops people eating fish

Infographics styles

We were asked to consider how we would format 4 styles of infographic.
1 What to do when you wreck your car
2 The science of sleep
3 The internet of things
4 Sourcing sustainable fish

For each infographic, you need to consider the audience, the format, the purpose, any existing house style, tone of voice, colours, grid, image style, hierarchy, typography and colours. My artboards, below, were created in Illustrator and show colour swatches, typefaces for 3 levels of hierarchy, and the style of imagery to be used in a mini style guide format.

Waterstones Bag for Life

I experimented with a couple of ideas for the illustrations for my bag for life. These are just rough concepts:

This illustration for my bag was quickly created in Illustrator with the blob brush and shape tools. The black panel would be fixed with velcro to the bag and could be written on with a wipeable white chalk pen.

The image below is a quick watercolour sketch in line and wash on NOT watercolour paper. It would be used in the same way as the Illustrator sketch above.

In the image above, I hand drew some type with a white gel pen. I quite like the effect on this sketch, and think I will explore this technique further. The white hand writing on the blackboard is not part of the design, and the background has printed too dark.

Minimalism

Minimalism in graphic design can be defined as using the simplest design, with the least number of elements required to communicate a message. Simple tools, simple message.

We started by listing all the positive imagery that McDonalds conjures up:

Golden Arches

Ronald McDonald

McFlurry

Milkshake

Red and yellow

Happy Meal

I'm lovin' it

Etc

We then pared this list down to the items which were exclusively McDonalds, and would be instantly recognizable. Perhaps only the yellow McDonalds M, Ronald McDonald and I'm lovin' it. However when two of these elements are combinded, McDonalds would certainly be signified, for instance, combining a milkshake with a straw and the colours red and yellow. This means somethings to a very wide audience, and in the case of McDonalds, to most of the world. This is so, because the McDonalds products are entrenched in our cultural mythology. 

Sometimes, words alone can be enough. It's all about the audience.

Research

We looked at film posters and book covers created in the minimalist style. 

Memoirs of a Geisha is so successful because it relies really on just one element, the red lips.

http://nelos.deviantart.com/art/Minimalist-Movie-Poster-Memories-of-a-Geisha-286229348

I really like this Titanic poster for its simplicity. The placement of the liner in front of the negative space of the iceberg works very effectively. Their relatively small size on the poster infers how small humans are when nature decides to strike. Titanic in large type represents the enormity of the event.

https://francescoturla.wordpress.com/category/minimal-movie-poster-collection/

My work

I chose to design posters for the TV series Outlander as it has some imagery in it which, when paired, would signify Outlander to those who has seen the series, or viewed trailers. 

I listed the obvious images from the series:

Tartan

The stones

Medicine

200 lashes - scarred back

Scotland

The Laird's deformed legs

I decided that combining a quote from the series, together with tartan and another graphic element would work well.

I created the tartan by making a pattern from the swatch on a tartan manufacturer's website:
http://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/outlander-products/outlander-tartans/.This is combined with a simplistic representation of the standing stones which are constantly referenced in the series.

I think this poster works well, as the words and tartan represent a Scottish origin, and the standing stones would be recognised by a fan of the series. The type was placed in short lines in large type as a reflection of the simple statement that the words represent. The sentiment is firm and non-debatable.

I don't think this poster works as well. The red was meant to represent blood on Jamie's back after being inflicted with 200 lashes. I don't think it works though. I spent some time trying to improve it, and swapped the tartan for a skin coloured background but didn't feel this worked either.

The above poster is my final design, and one which, when I sketched the thumbnails, I thought would be the least successful. However, I actually think it works the best. Anyone who has seen the series would recognise the Laird's legs, inflicted with Toulouse Lautrec syndrome. The tartan legs, cut off at the top of the page look like he is walking menacingly across a darkened room, and the writing in red communicates a sinister feel. I wrote in a small point size as the words are spoken softly, but menacingly. The black negative space is another element that makes this poster work well. It adds to the drama.

The typeface chosen for all the posters was a celtic one, which I thought trod the line between stylistic aesthetics and legibility well. The words are obviously Scottish so the tartan could be overkill, except patten has the immediacy that words do not.

Infographics for entertainment

Great British Bake Off

We were asked to produce an entertainment based infographic for The Great British Bake Off. After brainstorming the statistics available to include, I decided on:

Age, gender, occupation, average viewing figures and subsequent book deals.

I sourced my research as follows:

Age, gender and occupation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_British_Bake_Off#Series_6_.282015.29
accessed on 09/10/15

Average viewing figures:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/08/the-great-british-bake-off-final-nadiya-jamir-hussain-gbbo (the Wiki ones were different)
accessed on 09/10/15

Book deals:
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CFAQFjAGahUKEwiW8ei6tLXIAhVBiw0KHWo6Ca4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lovefood.com%2Fguide%2Fchefs%2F17807%2Fgreat-british-bake-off-winners-where-are-they-now&usg=AFQjCNG6xVchC-0ZpIcU3ZZM7HXDP--tZw&sig2=pxXylYpkJNmKQiJ-kSMqgw
accessed on 09/10/15

I looked at other infographics about Bake Off, and particularly like this one:

The colours are very inkeeping with the series, and the imagery used fits well (bunting, tent, cakes!). It is not overloaded with information and contains factual information such as viewing figures, and more light-hearted stats like number of cup cakes.

Source:
http://infographicjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/The-Great-British-Bake-Off-Infographic1.jpg accessed on 09/10/15

Considerations when creating an infographic are:
Audience
Format - screen, print, landscape, scolling?
Tone of voice
Colours
Grid
Image style - type, format
Charts, graphs
Hierarchy
Typography

We started out by drawing some roughs and thumbnails and getting feedback from our peers:

I compiled by figures into an Excel spreadsheet, and used it work working out average ages (I could have just used a calculator...). I then looked at the type of imagery I wanted to include.

The feedback I got from the group was:

Consider using a story book theme with a fairy tale script in a drop cap, keep it simple, use pastel colours.













I created all elements of the design in Illustrator, including the graph and cupcakes.

When scaling the cupcakes part of the infographic, I sized them in mm according to their viewing figures in millions, e.g. 12.3mm = 12.3 million. Then, providing they are all scaled together, their sizes are all mathematically proportional.

My final design is for A3 print. The idea was to represent the contestants' journey from prior to the series, to what happened beyond it. The cream line is the path, supposed to mimic butter cream icing piping. The outside pattern was created to look like a polka dot table cloth. I chose to put the elements inside a carrier bag, a mixing bowl, an Aga and a cake, designed to infer the journey of the cake, mimicking that of the contestant. The colours are ice-cream shades which I felt were appropriate for this informal infographic. I chose an informal hand drawn typeface for the titles, and Helvetica Neue for the rest. I think they complement each other well. Helvetica Neue works well at small sizes due to its large x-height.

In hindsight, I don't think the age graph fits very well with the rest of the design as a bar graph is too formal. A pie chart would have worked better - one for women's age ranges and one for men's.

Class feedback was as follows:
Make the path element more obvious by perhaps a reflected s-curve
Show numbers with proportions, professions could have been shown like this

Making sense of data for infographics

Basic techniques

We were tasked with extracting some figures from data.gov.uk and making sense of it visually.

I copied figures from the Dept for Education spend over the last 4 years, added them up in Excel, divided by 1,000,000 and then showed them based on how much it would cost one UK resident (divide by 65 million), over the last 4 years. The idea was to relate the data to something more meaningful. Initially I thought I might illustrate the costs in terms of where you could go on holiday with the same amount of money, but the costs of holidays seemed too variable. I decided to scale the £ sign in line with the amount as this makes an instant impact, allowing you to compare years easily. I have referenced the data source, and included graphics to enable the reader to view more detailed information.

The years on my graphs are shown in reverse order, so this should have been changed.

Following group feedback in class, I made the following changes to my infographic:

Using pictograms/calligrams

Change for Life

We were asked to re-work a poster from the Change for Life campaign, using their logo and with either a pictograms or calligrams. The body copy needs to be the same, but the colours and typeface can be changed.

I chose to create a poster to replace this one:

Change for Life - Don't let drink sneak up on you poster

My poster is below. I am not happy with the layout, but I like the pictograms. I think it would be improved by using the correct display font, which I could not find. I needed more time to work on it!

Online courses

Skillshare courses

Over the summer I subscribed to Skillshare who have a many useful courses for surface pattern design, amoungst other subjects. Skillshare courses are purchased via a monthly fee so I subcribed when they had a special offer on in August and September. I completed the following courses:

Introduction to surface pattern design: creating and mixing patterns (Jenna Fry)
Introduction to surface pattern design: learn AI: create patterns (Bonnie Christine)
Surface pattern design 2: design a collection (Bonnie Christine)
Design and bind your own creative portfolio (Bonnie Christine)
Pattern design 1: creating inspiring repeats (Elizabeth Olwen)
Pattern design 2: a creative look at a full collection (Elizabeth Olwen)

These courses consist of up to 20 modules, with lots of video content and are taught by lecturers (Jenna Fry), and established surface pattern designers.

Scarf samples

I have received back my sample designs printed on three different fabrics, at different saturation levels. Despite assurances from the printing company (BeFabBeCreative), and the fact that they use reactive dyes, none of the designs showed through totally on the other side of the fabric, and are therefore not suitable for scarves. I'm going to try another company.  I have also learned that some designs are going to need to be enlarged quite a bit to look effective, and some colour combinations don't work successfully when printed onto fabric.

Skillshare course - Intro to surface pattern design

I have spent a few days following the Skillshare course, Intro to Surface Pattern Design: Adobe Illustrator: Create Patterns.  It takes you through all the tools you need to produce patterns from scans, photos, drawing, etc, and how to use the various tools in a lot of depth. It also helped me with my Wacom tablet, and finally getting to grips with the Pen tool.

There is over 3 hours of videos to watch, created by Bonnie Christine, who is a successful surface pattern designer. Some of the information was the same as another Skillshare course I did previously - Intro to Surface Pattern Design: Creating and Mixing Patterns, but it was still really useful as a recap.

I created many patterns, 2 are shown below. Again, they are not finished pieces, I just used them to practice the techniques being taught.

Pattern collection lookbook

After working through online tutorials and e-courses on surface pattern design, I have created a lookbook which features 4 designs in 3 different colourways. I will be ordering samples printed on cotton lawn, cotton habotai and silk habotai.

Patterns with photos

Photoshop patterns

I have been experimenting with making patterns from photos and scans. This one is of Pussy Willow, reflected, rotated, and merged with various layer blends. I really like the fact that you can still make out what it is, but the image looks totally different and the colours blend in a really interesting way.

The pattern tile:

The pattern:

The original scan: