Career map

This ABC of graphic design careers was created for the Professional Practice module and was designed in the style of Uppercase Magazine's editorial layout.

Professional practice - interview with a designer

This article was created for the Professional Practice module - an interview with a designer.

Type and layout assignment 2 - grids

Poster 2 research - grids

I wanted to use imagery to convey the idea of a graphic design grid, but without being too literal.  I had the idea that I could use the words National Grid (a play on the electricity distribution system of the UK) over a map of the country. I wanted to include a reference to one of the forerunners of the graphic design grid, Wim Crouwel, so I chose to use his typeface, New Alphabet.

 

Some inspiration I chose to use was this image:

Another gridded image I like is below.  I would like to incorporate the feel of this piece in my design.

Something I found on Pinterest which is similar to what I want to do.

Wim Crouwel's new alphabet harks back to one of the founders of the modern grid and is the typeface that I want to use for my design.

I researched which colours to use to represent the 4 countries of the UK, and looked at their official flags. Scotland was dark blue, England red, and wales was red on green, so I chose green.  Northern Ireland doesn't have it's own flag, but flies the Union Jack, so I chose white to represent it.

Week 1

Swiss Design

Wim Crouwel's work was discussed in the class, and after reading the class notes about him, I decided to investigate Swiss Design further.  Swiss Design has so many aspects that appeal to me.  The mathematics and controlled order of grids, and simplistic minimalist sans serif typefaces.  Crouwel's New Alphabet is fascinating in its design, although limited in its application. 

I read Grid Systems by Hans Muller-Brockman.  It is very useful for helping to understand the intricacies and possibilities of how applying different types of grid can aid design.  Some of the methods for developing a grid seem really complicated, but the principles are easy to follow.  I definitely want to apply his grid format to work I create.

I watched the film Helvetica, a documentary about the history of the typeface.  What I found most interesting was the attitude of Wim Crouwel, when he said that when you write the word dog, it doesn't need to bark, meaning the typeface doesn't need to be expressive, that is what words are for. Massimo Vignelli stated that he only uses 3 typefaces! I love the simplicity of the film poster, but I prefer Helvetica in lower case.  To me the upper case characters look ungainly.