Brief 1: Crit

The crit was useful, we layer our ideas out on a table and wrote three questions that we wanted answering, mine were:

1. Do you think I should brand it?
2. Do you think I should use high impact type, or hand rendered? 
3. What photography shall I use? 

Some of the comments I got back were:

• very strong research I like the idea of experimental photography
• hand drawn type fits with the personal feel
• high impact type type would look nice however the hand drawn urban outfitters text that you have created is dreamy, work with that and manipulate it into various images
• the scumpled up images work best
• vintage photos, look into montages
• really dislike the clean cut images of the couple, I think they torn up and creased images work best. I love the torn up one, use people having fun and messing round rather than buildings
• as much as I like your hand rendered type I am struggling to imagine it over your images, experiment further
• i think it is important to brand this, it will give you more of a direction
• i like the idea of ripped images, maybe use sections of four different images, that when over layer they work as a whole photo
• the disordered crumpled images are interesting and fun, this relates to the mood you want to go for and something you would want in your frame
• i think you should subtle type as the photos are high impact enough
• i think the photos or Prague are brilliant
• definitely brand- so far it has aided your designs well and gives you a clear target market to aim for
• i really love the hand drawn type (especially on the urban outfitters design thats a visual fucking treat!) I urge you to go with that
• i love the crumpled up and torn idea very nice photo and very nice texture- but i just love the Prague photos, very nice texture
• i think your ideas are illustrative as they are o hand rendered would compliment them
• look at fashion photography and collage

The feedback was great, and really useful to see what people think so far and which has the highest impact. From reading this feedback I have already been thinking of how to solve this. The crumpled up photos defiantly had the highest impact and people loved the hand drawn type as it feels more personal. Also from this crit I have now decided to brand it for Urban Outfitters, even tho I think their backing photos work best as it is I feel as they need to incorporate photography because after all it is a photo frame. 

Photoshop Tutorial

Today I had my first photoshop tutorial and I found out some interesting things that I didn't previously know. Firstly we looked into colour, and tonal ranges. 

We looked into the artist Chuck Close an American painter did photo realistic drawings but then become disabled and was confined to a wheel chair so he then started painting in colour using tone. 

In the image above on the right is an image go the painting up close, the paintings are made up as squares in a grid which makes it have a pixilated feel. The blobs of colours in different tones builds up the image, and when you stand back from these huge paintings you can see the face, and aprestiate the time that has gone into them. 

Image resolution  

Image resolution is the detail an image holds. The term applies to raster digital images, film images, and other types of images. Higher resolution means more image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. 

Image pixels 

The image itself is composed of pixels in a series of rows and columns. The size of each pixel depends on the size the image is displayed. A smaller image size will have larger pixels and a larger image size will have smaller pixels.

Most important part of photoshop is image size, you have to always know what size image you are working with, this is important for when you come to print it. To do this select image then image size. 

RGB Color Mode

RGB is the color scheme that is associated with electronic displays, such as CRT, LCD monitors, digital cameras and scanners. It is an additive type of color mode, that combines the primary colors, red, green and blue, in various degrees to create a variety of different colors. When all three of the colors are combined and displayed to their full extent, the result is a pure white. When all three colors are combined to the lowest degree, or value, the result is black. Software such as photo editing programs use the RGB color mode because it offers the widest range of colors.

CMYK Color Mode

Printers print color onto paper using the CMYK color mode only. This is a four color mode that utilizes the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black in various amounts to create all of the necessary colors when printing images. It is a subtractive process, which means that each additional unique color means more light is removed, or absorbed, to create colors. When the first three colors are added together, the result is not pure black, but rather a very dark brown. The K color, or black, is used to completely remove light from the printed picture, which is why the eye perceives the color as black.

Colour Gamut

We learnt about levels and curves, but the most interesting and useful thing I found out is on the colour picker and when choosing colours the exclamation mark indicates that the colour witll not actually print that colour, and the one below is web colours. 

Brief 1- David Hockney, Tim Walker, Diane Arbus & Ansel Adams

David Hockney 

David Hockney is an important contributor to the Pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century.

I think using David Hockney's Joiners idea would work quite well in a photo frame backing, I think this would portray all the different types of photos you could put in them. I think if i was going to try this out I would do it in black and white so it would suit all frame types, I would do it for a shop like M&S or House of Fraser and rebrand their backings. 

Tim Walker

Timothy "Tim" Walker is a British fashion photographer. Tim Walker has worked for Vogue. Staging and romantic motifs characterise his style. Walker also makes film/video works. 

I love Tim Walkers photography, his photo shoots are so outrageous and he has great use of props to go with the theme, these were taken for a fashion summer shoot. I think they would work well in a shop as they are advertising there shop clothes as well as looking good in the frame. 

Diane Arbus 

Diane Arbus was an American photographer and writer noted for black-and-white square photographs of "deviant and marginal people or of people whose normality seems ugly or surreal"

Arbus has some great portraits that are simple but realistic, taken with film cameras so they have an aged vintage feel to them, I think these sort of pictures would suit Laura Ashelys photo frames.   

Ansel Adams   

Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist. His black-and-white landscape photographs of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park, have been widely reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books.

Adams is my favourite nature and landscape photographer, again done with film, these images have great contrast and composition. I think these would suit Next's brand and photo frames, especially the rose image. 

Brief 1- Primary Research

Next 

I took a trip to next and looked at the photo frames in person, this was a good thing to do, I have have realised that they have the same house style though out, and that the pattern or photo matches the frame. The tones of the photo's complement the frame well. 

House of Fraser 

Here is a display of photo frames in House of Fraser, they are all different sizes but use the same backing, they were really dull, boring and un inspiring, just telling you the size and make. The boringness of the back paper seems to put me off the frame. 

 Some more dull backings of photo frames that don't match the frame at all, but I can sort of under stand from a companies point of view that it would be a lot of effort to design a backing for each photo frame, just for ease and to keep the company brand recognisable they just put a dull one in. The colours are dull, but I think this is a good thing as if they were overally bright they would draw the attention away front the frame. 

Marks and Spencers 

A backing paper I found in Marks and Spencer's, I wasn't quite sure what to think off it, I don't quite understand why a picture of vases is relevant, the colour works well and it is a good photo, I'm just not sure why vases are relevant. I do like the text layout tho, centring it and using the logo and two other fonts, but they all compliment each other well. 

Marks and Spencer's use the same simple, boring house style which I don't think is effective at all. It's informative and clear and doesn't draw your eye away from the frame, but I just think it just needs something more, maybe more colour, an illustration or an image. 

Urban Outfitters 

Urban Outfitters definitely had the best backing frames, they tick all the boxes. They suit the target audience well, they match the frame that they are in and display all the relevant information. They are all very eye catching and I feel this makes you want to buy the frames more, they are bright and colourful but it doesn't draw your eye away from the actual frame because they compliment it. The only down side to these is that there isn't any use of photography even though it is a photo frame. 

Brief 1- Channel 4

As an example of where number and image combine I have decided to look at channel 4's adverts. I think this is an excellent example that everyone must of seen while watching channel 4, these adverts always intrigue me, they are so cleverly made. I like how in the advert you start by just seeming a landscape and then slowly it merges into a four, then people recognise it as channel 4. The music works well with this advert as well, it is instantly recognisable. 

While searching for the images above I came across these that I found interesting. These might be an idea I can use for this brief, I think they work well, they are eye catching and show different people and personalities. 

Brief 1- Online Research- Photoshop Frame

Our brief is to re-design the backing paper of photo frames in shops, using both illustrator for vector based images and photoshop for any images, but the final result needs to be done in photoshop. I need three designs which work across three different frame sizes. I need to consider how to engage the buyer.  I need to consider what actually needs to be communicated to the buyer such as: 

• the size of the frame
• the weight of the frame
• where is the frame from (what shop)
• target audience

Maybe not all these things need to be communicated but the main thing I need to get across is the size of the frame. I have had a look online and here are some I find interesting and think they work well 

Here is one I found from Cath Kidson which isn't informative at all, however I do like how they have used the same pattern through out and blends well, it is a clean and simple design. 

These two are from Next, I think this fits the target audience well as I think more mature women would buy them to add family portraits. The colour is what I think works particularly well with these, the colour and the musk tones in the rose image reflects the frame nicely. Also, these frames are informative in a good way, telling the buyer the right amount of information. I like the fonts chosen, they are bold but not over powering. 

A couple of illustrative designs from Urban Outfitters, these designs suit the shop well as they are quite quirky, I also like how they are individual to the actual photo frame. 

Here are a selection from paperchase that I like the backing papers of. They all match the frame well, the top three have a hand written feel, this suits the frame well also the store, as their logo is handwritten. I have noticed that they haven't used any colour, I think this is a good thing as I think if they did use colour it would draw the attention away from the actual frame which the customer is buying. I really like the font used in the bottom one and the geometric pattern, it is subtle, clean and effective. 

Tomorrow I am going to do some primary research and go into stores take photos and evaluate the effectiveness of the backing papers. I have learnt so far is that the backing papers match the feel of the shop, I think this will be key when designing, as all shops have their own individual branding. 

Screen Printing Induction

Today I had a screen printing induction, this is something I am particularly interested in, and I will hopefully use a lot in the future. 

We learnt the techniques, the health and safety of it and the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which is: 

• Respirators
• Gloves
• Aprons
• Lab coats
• Goggles
• Safety glasses
• Ear defenders
• Overshoes

Screen printing seems like a much more complex thing to do than I originally thought, and it seems to be a longer process as well. 

As a group we chose two colours that would work together, we went for yellow and black, I think they work well as a colour combination. I love the way the colours have blended on top of each other, something that it hard to achieve digitally. The hand rendered feel is something I love, hopefully I can perfect this technique in the future.  

Animation- A Brief History Lecture

There was a lot to take in in todays lecture, there is so much in the history of animation that it was difficult to fit it in one lecture  here are some of my notes and the bits I found interesting. I have also watched to vintage animations as i found these interesting. 

Animation is derived from the latin word anymore, meaning- To give life to

Animation create a series of images to create an illusion to fool your brain. 

A persistence of vision. 

Humans have illustrated stories and events for thousands of years on bowls, vases and walls ect. 

The Magic Lantern- Christian Huygens

The Thaumatrope- John Herschel

The thaumatrope is a very simple thing an image on both sides of a piece of paper and when you spin it the image appears to move. I have done this in a previous project back at school and it is a really successful technique. 

The Phenakistoscope 

You look through the Phenakistoscope at a mirror and you see what appears to be a moving image but in fact is stills.

The Zoetrope

I also made one of these while at school with photographs. Its stills and when you spin it it appears to be an moving image. 

The flip book 

Another simple process of stills being flipped in a book to appear to be a moving image. 

The Praxinoscope 

A development of the zoetrope, with the use of mirrors and light. 

Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art of movement that are drawn. 

Walt Disney

First came about in 1929, with Steam boat animation and The skeleton dance (1929) which could of been classed to be the first music video as the music was made fist and then the animation was created from there. 

In 1937, Walt Disney made Snow white, where 1000 people worked on it and was so expensive that he had to re mortgage his house. 

Walt Disney as an animator and entrepreneur, Disney was particularly noted as a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, for whom Disney himself provided the original voice.

1966 Walt disney died of lung cancer. 

In 1991, Disney brought out Beauty and the Beast, they lived in france for 6 months to get a feel for the atmosphere and lighting. By doing this the lighting is just perfect in the film, he has captured france well. 

In 1984 Pixar came about with Luxo jr. 

Luxo Jr. is a 1986 American computer-animated short film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The two-minute short film revolves around one larger and one smaller desk lamp. The larger lamp looks on while the smaller, "younger" lamp plays exuberantly with a ball but doesn't pick up the knack of correct handling. "Luxo Jr." was Pixar's first animation after Ed Catmull and John Lasseter left Industrial Light and Magic's computer division. It is the source of the small hopping desk lamp included in Pixar's corporate logo.

1995 John Lasseter- Toy Story 

One of my all time favourite films, a film where toys come alive when humans aren't around. The animation has developed quite a bit from 1995 to the recent third one, you can defiantly see the difference. 

In the exact same year Aardman came out, a british stop motion company, the first film being A Close Shave in 1995. 

Wallace and gromit being a pair of clay characters, moved individually and photos being taken every milli second. This is a very slow process as I have tried it out myself, but when you see the end result it is very effective. 

2013- Dumb ways to die 

This was shown as the most recent animation. A piece of advertising from metro, advertising to be safe around trains. This piece of advertising uses humour to engage the audience, with cute characters.