Not long left....

It's really hit home this week how little time we have left of this year. Only two weeks to the last deadline of the first year!

Having mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I wasn't looking forward to the CD artwork design, I'm pleased to say that it was an erroneous prediction. I've actually really enjoyed the process of developing the emotions and thoughts I put down in my original mind maps and mood boards, and conceptualising them to create a piece of design. What's more, I'm really happy with the design that I have come up with. For those of you who don't know, I've gone down the route of the 'Headphones' idea from my last post. I'll post up a 'final proposal' of the Digipak® Inner and Outer in the next few days if all goes to plan.

The CD body, at the moment, is non-existent. This is something that, probably unwisely, I've been side-lining. I just haven't had any instantaneous ideas to jot down, and I've been concentrating on other things up until now. However, the latter half of this week is going to have to be focused on the ideas and development process for this. My production schedule tells me I need to complete this before the beginning of next week, so I can move on to the magazine advert and my evaluation, and I do feel confident I will be able to achieve this.

This week also brought around the task of creating a Preflight Document to accompany the CD artwork. Having no clue where to start with this, I spent a bit of time researching into the process of preflighting last week. It's become clear that this can be a really useful exercise when in the final stages of producing work for print. It's not just a process for printers, but can be useful for designers too. In the long run, spending a bit of time checking through things can save time for both professions.

Having a seminar group based almost exclusively on feedback today proved to be a useful exercise. A few things were raised which can improve my work, and even the most minor of things are so important. After all, design is in the details (thanks to Steve for that article).

On Tuesday morning we had a discussion about the progression onto the 2nd year of the course. This was another occasion that it really hits you how fast time's moving on, and how much we're progressing. It really got me thinking about how far I've come in a relatively short amount of time. But I'll leave this for the year's evaluation in a couple of weeks... I don't want to use up all my material! The fact is though, I'm really looking forward to progressing further and moving on with my studies.

Digipak® Outer

Here are 3 ideas for the Digipak® Outer that I've decided to digitise in order to give you a better basis to give feedback on. I'm going to give a bit of a blurb for each so you can understand the thought processes behind each.

Binary
This is the first idea I digitised. Essentially, it is based on the digital aspects of the music. I've used binary code to spell out 'Beatsystem' and '2297' repeatedly on the cover, with the artist and album names placed within this in bold. I feel this idea isn't particularly strong, and is somewhat clichéd. Probably my least favourite.

Headphones
This idea is based on a concept I had whilst listening the the CD for the first time. It gave me a sense of frustration and discomfort, so I really wanted to personify this somehow. By taking a stock image and giving it an abstract feel, I'm happy with the way I've managed to do this. Some people say it's a bit scary, and would therefore discourage people from buying the album, but I disagree. The best way to sell a product is to attract attention, and this, in my opinion, would do this.

Invade
This concept came from the title of the first track on the CD, 'Invade Areas Where Nothing's Definite'. Again, I've gone with an abstract feel with this design. I've used Adobe Illustrator to create both the military vehicles and the sign. The strongest point of this design is the contrast used, but overall, I'm not sure about it. I like the concept, I'm just not sure I've made it work. It just seems a bit empty.

Obviously, feedback would be brilliant.

Style Guided.

This week has been an example of one of the more enjoyable weeks of the course. I'm enjoying the current assignment, and feel that I'm progressing well with it. During self study last week, I managed to complete the initial draft of the Corporate Style Guide. Feedback welcome and needed, of course. This included the completion of the stationery (letterhead, business cards and envelope) which can be seen as part of the Style Guide. I'm pleased with the designs, and feel they meet the P.A.R.C. principles well.

Last week I mentioned my apprehension about moving on to the artwork for the CD. I've now moved on, and feel pleased with the initial ideas I've come up with. I'm starting with the Digipak® Outer, as I feel this is probably the more important aspect of the cover, and will probably provide further inspiration for the Digipak® Inner and CD Body once I've settled on a theme. I think, for me, this process of development is probably the more appropriate.

I'm in the process of digitising a few of my ideas and will upload for feedback later on the week, possibly on Thursday. Feel free to check back.

In the creation of one of my ideas, I decided to splash out and join iStockPhoto, which is a royalty-free stock photography site. The images aren't too expensive, and good quality. Definitely worth it to get what you're looking for from a design and if you can't find any free images. I'd recommend it.

Working with print brings new issues up when working. Having done a small bit of print work for a friend recently, I've had a small bit of experience. Things like bleed are so simple yet so important to the final product. The fact is, though, that I still feel nervous when it comes to preparing things for print. There's a plethora of issues to take into account, and in short, it's difficult to get things perfect. I guess experience is what's required to improve, as well as improving knowledge of the subject.

During the seminar group today, we discussed the progress of the 'A1 - SketchBlog' assignment. I have mixed feelings towards my own progress. I feel nervous in some ways, but at the same time I feel confident. I feel as though my abilities regarding the aspects covered in A1 have improved massively over the year, and have been presented effectively in the development work so far in the A7 assignment. However, I don't feel that some of this work has been consistent throughout the year, and has been somewhat absent at times, particularly some of the ideas generation methods. Granted, this does show that I've developed, but I can't help feeling that the times where A1 has been a bit neglected may let me down.

Moving on from Logos...(!)

Over the past week, I have felt a sense of relief, in that I feel I've got quite a bit done and I feel as though I have got back on track with the assignment. I was beginning to struggle with the logo design a bit, and it seemed as though I'd never get that done before the deadline. This was without thinking about the rest of the assignment. However, I managed to get the logo complete, and I'm very happy with the result. I've changed the colour from my last post, as it was pointed out that the yellow was a bit bright for the music, and the earthy brown didn't really reflect the nature of the music either. Here is my final design:

Having completed the logo design, I've been able to get on with the corporate style guide aspect of the assignment. I've been enjoying this, and feel as though I've completed the work so far to a good standard. Next in line is to begin the design of the letterhead, business card and envelope to complete the corporate identity elements of the assignment.

To be honest, I'm not looking forward to moving onto developing the CD artwork over the next couple of weeks. This comes back to the whole Artist vs. Designer argument. I think of myself as a designer, and looking around at CD artwork a lot of it does seem much more 'art' orientated than 'design' orientated. I feel as though my creativity (or lack of) may restrict my final product. Then again, I've not really started to develop any of my original concepts yet, so this may not end up being the case.

I was really appreciative last week of the amount of feedback that happened on the Journals. I think this was the first time that it has been as effective as it can be. It was good to see posts added later in the week being commented on as well, with the help of a few emails. Feedback is a key skill to develop - both giving and receiving it - and so it was really good to see it being used as it was last week.

More...

Further development below. These three are a set, and it would give the company the choice between the colour logo, or one of the two black and white ones, depending on the use.

Logo idea

I've worked hard all day today; I even forgot to have lunch. Here is the fruit of my labour:

I'm happy with the result. I've used my standby symbol idea to represent the electronic aspect of the music, but I've turned it on it's head to show the unconventional nature of the artists. I've then added another 3/4 circle to reflect the nature of the name 'emit'- almost as though the vertical line is an antenna and the circles are the signals emitting from it. I've enclosed the whole thing in a round-edged rectangle, which I think aids the eye in knowing where the logo begins... without this it looks as though the word 'emit' is just there underneath the graphic.

Anyway, feedback is, as always, very much appreciated.

And Yet More Logos...

The end of this college week and, to be honest, I'm feeling totally knakered. I've found it quite draining this week for some reason, and I'm feeling the need for a rest from the 'Emit' logo designs. However, I feel as though I need to get the logo done before I can move onto getting the corporate style guide/corporate stationery underway. Hopefully I'll be able to complete it later in the week prior to moving on with the assignment. I'm feeling the pressure for this assignment, it's a lot of work to do. On a brighter note, I've looked into a couple of corporate style guides this week, both in the lecture and in my own time, and I'm really looking forward to getting to grips with it.

Having spent the majority of the week working with my logo ideas, at the moment, I'm thinking the final 'Emit' logo will be based on this idea:

The original concept was using an on/off button to represent an 'E' and reflect the electronic nature of the music. After a bit of feedback, I'm going to experiment with rotating it and using it as an 'i' instead in the word 'Emit', with the circle representing the idea of something 'emitting'. However, I'm still open to feedback for my other ideas, which can be found in pdf format here. I'd really appreciate the feedback, as we didn't manage to get very far during our seminar group this week, for various reasons.

On Monday we were lucky enough to have another visit from somebody working in the industry; another former student Mark Feather. Again it was a good insight into how the industry functions, and it proved to be very different from last week; an example of the depth and variation found in the industry. Mark's work at Empire Direct seemed very varied, ranging from image manipulation tasks to more complex tasks involving the companies e-commerce system (although I get the impression he doesn't want to delve any further into this!).

So, this week I'm hoping to settle on a logo, and begin to define a number of aspects of the corporate identity. I think sorting the style guide first, at least roughly, will be more benificial than doing the stationery and working backwards.

Developed logos...

These are the logo designs I have developed for the 'Emit' ambient music record label. They are all hand-drawn and scanned in, so please excuse any messy-ness. Feel free to comment, thanks.

The Art of Logos

The return to college this week has been, in some ways, a shock to the system. This is mostly due to my absolutely disgraceful sleep pattern over Easter, so I ended up being a bit tired on Monday morning. However, I'm glad to be back. I'm getting to a point where a lack of things (and work!) to do is a bit annoying.

The focus this week has been clearly on logos. It's been really useful for me. I've not done much logo design in the past - just a couple of mess arounds for bands I've been in - so looking at some of the fundamental elements of logo design has enabled me to develop my understanding of how logos function effectively. I also feel that I'm now in a better position to get on with the logo design for 'Emit'.

It did, however become clear during the first lecture we had on Monday that many of the logo examples I had collected over Easter are very much 'high tech' logos, using a lot of 3D effects, tints, and metallic effects. I therefore need to make a point of collecting some other logos which do not employ there effects.

Examples of 'High Tech' Logos

So far my initial logo designs are coming along OK, I'm happy with a few, unhappy with a few, and a lot are average. I'll scan some in later on tonight and upload them so you can let me know what you think!

EDIT: here they are...




Having decided to go for the optional larger assignment, I'm feeling that there's going to be a lot of work to do over the next seven weeks or so. I'm really looking forward to it though, as I feel that the developing a corporate identity should be quite interesting, and will be a good experience for the future.

On Monday afternoon, we were joined by Jonny Haynes, a former student who now works at Technophobia. This was another opportunity presented to us to gain information on how the web design business works in practice. I really wish I'd asked some questions that I didn't, but I felt a bit annoyed after my driving test, and found myself in the wrong frame of mind. Hopefully, the next time this kind of opportunity comes up, I'll be in a better situation and won't waste the time given.