Time to br&.

I thought it was about time to brand myself as a designer, creator and blogger. As you know by now this is The Ugly Unicorn, so no messing about. Here is my logo:

I wanted something type based and simple. Easy to read big and small and can be applied to many different things, it's my logo, my signature, potential business card, a stamp, anything. Afterall, I'm not just the name my parents gave me.

itap Lecture Disruption in Advertising

How many adverts have you seen in the last week? Last day? Last hour? It’s relentless. In today’s society we have endless varieties of products to buy, which is good. Except these products and services need advertising, which is bad. Sometimes.
Nowadays, to create an advert that stands out, you have to be disruptive. Being disruptive doesn’t mean being destructive and controversial, it’s not a negative thing, it’s all about being creative.
It’s about not playing it safe and creating something dynamic to replace something static. Disruption is the art of asking better questions. We have to do things that we think we can’t do, take the early Apple adverts which manages to sell the product without actually showing it. Really, it’s advertising the brand, saying how you need to think differently and this is what we help you do, and how did they do this? Show some of the greats who have thought differently and became successful because of this. The series of adverts include people such as Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King and Ghandi, amongst other greats. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jULUGHJCCj4
 
Disruption equals success.

This is all well and good in theory, but to be able to this within an advertising agency, you have to have an extremely good relationship between the client and the agency. Not everyone will want to be so risky. It’s not always possible to be disruptive with a product that is extremely boring or normal. This way of tackling an advert isn’t a get out clause, it has to be used very selectively.

Another example of Disruption is the way in which Nike decided to advertise their new football boots. The idea was the ad to be viral, to be passed around from email to social network, for people to talk about it. It showed Ronaldinho being filmed on a small handy cam at what appears to be a training session. He tries on these new boots and does an array of impressive and almost impossible tricks, obviously suggesting these shoes have something to do with it. It’s the debate whether these tricks are real or computerised which gets the people talking and passing around the video, in turn advertising Nike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHWqUEXyDJ4
It worked the same with the ‘Wassup’ Bud advert. This showed a group of friends passing the slogan around whilst on the telephone with each other, and it definitely worked, there wasn’t a day that went by during a year at primary school where we didn’t great eachother with ‘Wassup’. It still even pops out sometimes still.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W16qzZ7J5YQ

Viral advertising used to be the way to be disruptive, however I think it’s getting abit old now. Is the new thing augmented reality? Either way, the disruption will inevitably be copied and become the norm, what do we do then?

Be desruptive, think different, be creative.

Data Visualisation

In last weeks Tuesday sesh, we were asked to gather some data and visually express it in an interesting way. I decided to collect the average number of mugs of tea drank per day by 25 women.

I went through all the obvious ways such as mugs, sugar cubes, milk, spoons of sugar yet wanted to keep it topical so (with a little help from Jonathan, I will admit) came up with trying to use a mugstain in some way.

Like a clock face, the circle of the ring represents the number of mugs of tea drank per day (see key), and the size of the tea blobs is the number of women who drink that number of mugs. I.e 9 women drank 0 cups a day, whereas 4 women drink 3 cups a day.

Viral ad: Typhonol Glue

One of the Tuesday Morning briefs we got was to think of and create a viral ad for the ficticious glue company Typhonol and have it ready by friday.

Here is the link to the post on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQUwWg2415U

Enjoy!

Design Canons: Smile Logo pt 2.

So after doing the tutorial on using the 3D Bevel and Extrude tool in Illustrator I had ago doing it myself.

This is for the Smile toy company Logo which I wanted to be represented by childrens toy blocks.

I think it's a pretty fair attempt, the only thing I will go back and work on it how to make the one on top of the others look a little more real!

Design Canons: Smile Logo pt 1.

Well as you can probably tell from my blog I've been abit slow on the uptake uploading/actually doing the projects set in the Tuesday morning sessions.

I'm usually pretty tidy with my time keeping, I just don't know what happened! However with still 7 weeks to go until the end of term, 1 or 2 a week of the projects I'm dawdling behind with will get me up to pace.

 

I'm currently working on my 'Smile' childrens toy company logo and needed to know how to create a 3d shape in illustrator to help me with my idea (which you won't see until it's done). I thought I'd update you with what I created in this tutorial and my finished logo should be uploaded soon!

Enjoy.

itap Lecture 15/03/2011

Semiotics in Graphics

Semiotics is the study of the difference between illusion and reality.

Simpler terms, it is the theory of signs.

There are 3 main types of sign, but more about them later and more about what their relation to Graphics is now. Through understanding a sign both visually and culturally in context, it helps us better apply them and the theory to our work to make it more efficient in  visually communicating. Signs are things that point towards a meaning and come in many different forms. A sign can be a gesture, drawings, speech, noises, slogans, clothes, facial expressions, body language, food, marketing; almost anything can be a sign. Signs can be universal, culturally dependant and learnt.

Back to the three main types: Iconic

An Iconic sign is something that looks like the thing it is trying to represent.

Some good examples of these are fire exit signs, roundabout signs and maps.

Personally I think these, especially the above examples can be semi universal, say, international. I have been in other countries where their fire exit and roundabout signs are the same, I’m sure we can all agree that the map of the world is universal. Everybody knows what it is, it looks like what it is representing, the countries of the world.

But Iconic signs aren’t all universal, such as this:
    

                                                                                 X

 

Im sure you’ve all got something in your mind which you think this represents, but what if someone else is thinking something different?

This could be a kiss at the end of a text, it could be the toxic sign on a label, it could be where the treasures hidden, it could be a marks mans point, you get the picture.

The whole point of this bit is that we locate the meaning of a sign by recognising the other signs around it. It has to be in context.

If you saw the X at the bottom of a text message, you would understand that it is a kiss. Another example is flowers.

  

This bunch of flowers could mean anything? But add it into context and you have an array of meanings.

 

These flowers are celebratory, you can see it is at a wedding by the white dress, you feel happy about this.

These flowers could be in sympathy for a lost loved one, you recognised that by the black funeral car.

Onomatopoeia's can also be seen as Iconic signs. These are the words that sound like the noise that they are describing.

Indexical sign

This is a sign which is caused by something. Slightly trickier to get your head around but the best example for this is medical symptoms. A cough, a fever, a sickly feeling are all signs that point towards a certain illness. Other examples of this are smoke, smoke is an indication of fire. A tail, a tail is an indication of a dog.

Symbols

Symbols don’t have a signifier. They don’t necessarily point towards the meaning and/or have any direct relation to it. We have to learn these meanings which needs to be accepted within the culture for it to actually be a symbol.

Take this:

It again also relies on context. In a country this could be the symbol for the fruit isle down the supermarket.

However put it on a laptop and put it in most western countries, you recognise this as an Apple Macintosh  without being told. This is an established company in most Western countries and this logo is accepted by society nowadays as representing the Apple company.

itap Lecture 01/03/2011 Ethics in Graphics

This weeks itap lecture was all about ethics within graphic design . I did an A level in Psychology and it all came flooding back to me, particularly the bit about there’s never a right or wrong answer when talking about ethics. But what is ethics? Ethics is about morality, what is right and wrong within society? Here in lies the problem. There is no universal rules for right or wrong. These social norms and rules differ throughout the hundreds of countries, societies and religions of the world.

But how do ethics come into graphics? Anything you say or do, anything you create will probably strike a nerve with someone whilst at the same time inspiring someone else. Everyone’s personal beliefs depend on a lot of things, where they grew up, the views of their friends, the views of their families, their religion, the school they went to. Graphic design is a way of visually communicating something to someone, and in the way this lecture was talking about, advertising. The purpose of a poster, an advert, a billboard is to inform and invite someone to act upon a suggestion. Now depending on this persons beliefs, they may choose to accept this invitation, or decline it. This is the important point, the person we are addressing has a choice. If they decide this doesn’t agree with their principles, they may decline, if it doesn’t, they may accept. Although as designers, we have an obligation to take ethics into account, and most designers will act in an amoral position, if we want to make something a bit sketchy or controversial, what’s wrong with that? The audience can always decline if they wish.

Some designers stick by their views by declining work. For example, Sarah Coleman has declined jobs from a cigarette company and fast food chain McDonalds because she didn’t agree with the product or ethics of the business. Some designers won’t even let the audience make up their mind by just refusing point blank not to design for them.

An example of a campaign that brings morality and ethics into question is something that Bal touched on in the lecture which was interesting. Joining the Army. Some people agree with the Army, some people don’t. The latter may argue that they are recruiting people to fight and kill, which in most societies, not just our own, is seen as immoral. However the former half will see it as defending the country, their honour, and their beliefs. However, surely if you are going to agree with second statement, people in this society should understand the intentions and actions of terrorists. I’m guessing if you went and asked Army personell they would not.

Another potentially touchy subject could be Plastic Surgery. So a young woman wants to get a boob job. Now then, if she was brought up in an atheist household with free spirited parents, I’m sure this girls outlook on this would be along the lines of ‘It’s my body, the technologies there, why shouldn’t I improve what I deem not good enough?’. However, what if this young woman had a strict Catholic upbringing with traditional parents, perhaps her outlook would be something more like ‘this is the body God gave me, I am happy with his decision, beauty is only skin deep’. As you can see it’s all about different countries thousands of miles away from each other, people in the same society, but different sectors can have vastly different views and opinion.

Personally I would like to think that I would be able to stand by my views and do something as honourable as Sarah Coleman. However. As a new designer, work may be hard to come by, Graphic Design for me isn’t about the money but I’ll have bills to pay, my mouth to feed so I may have to take some jobs that I might not agree with ethically, but aren’t we supposed to be amoral?
And isn’t someone else just going to do it anyway?

itap Lecture 22/02/2011 Bill Bernbach & Helmut Krone

This weeks lecture as on one of the most fascinating greats of the advertising world, Bill Bernbach. During the 1950’s, Bill Bernbach along with a few others managed to revolutionise the advertising world. They took American advertising from below top, to below bottom. Quite a feat, but more on that later.

He was one of the founders of DDB who are most famous for their Levi’s adverts. During this time he also managed to revolutionise the way that advertising agency’s were run. Beforehand, it was unheard of for a creative director and a copywriter to work together, however Bernbach saw this as something that could produce amazing work and to this day now, you won’t find a creative director without a copywriter and vise-versa. The team is now an industry standard.

It was with Helmut Krone during the 60’s that Bernbach created one of the most famous print campaigns ever. The Volks Wagon Beetle. This campaign really revolutionised advertising, but before this, you have to realise what they were trying to do, and why it is such a feat not just creatively. First of the Beetle was designed by Hitler and a lot of the target audience as well as Bernbach were Jewish. How on earth are you supposed to sell a Nazi car to a Jew? Secondly, the way in which all other cars were being sold was with this vision of the perfect American life, which frankly, during America in the 60’s, didn’t exist. People just wanted to buy into that idea. How could they change their minds? Honesty and a little bit of humour.

 

Bernbach and Krone, like many advertising moguls take their inspiration from Fine Art, and as you can see from looking below and the examples coming, he took inspiration from artist of the time Mark Rothko.

One way that Bernbach and Krone revolutionised advertising was the use of white space. Such as above (top left), good adverts then were seen to be the ones with lots of detail and really quite busy. They really were genious’, when this campaign was released, there was nothing like around at the time.

All the car ads before the VW Beetle were for the big burly muscle cars and tried to sell the ‘life style’. The Beetle ads were just honest.

 

And a little bit funny.

More importantly about the above image, how many times do you see a poster successfully advertising a car without actually showing it?

And again, finally, honesty.

15/02/2011 Design Canons workshop

This week we were joined by Nathan Monk of SMILE who gave a talk about designing for digital. We got a mini brief to work on over the next week which was was simply to ‘help and independent coffee shop chain to go digital.’

We had to specify this criteria, come up with a strategy and then create some taster 

visuals.

Criteria

Our group specified that it was a shop that sold packets of speciality coffee’s from all around the world (not a cafe). The company, who we collectively named ‘The Coffee Emporos’ want to reach out to more people and create an online shop that is easy to navigate and not overloaded with with information.

Strategy

To create a website which allows the user to browse for new speciality coffee by Country and Region via an interactive globe on the home page.

To boost sales and create new customers there will also be a ‘find my taste’ option where you answer a variety of questions about what certain aspects of coffee you normally like (ie strong, weak, rich, flavoured, spiced) and the website will suggest a new coffee for you.

Here is a hyper map of the initial website.

So far we have met back in our groups and discussed the name, the general look and feel we want The Coffee Emporos to take on when we create our visuals which we will discuss and post early next week.

Itap 15/02/2011 So-Me

This weeks Itap was a visual documentation of Art Director So-Me’s life and work.

I’m going to talk about So-Me in regards to Creative Strategies and idea generation which relates to the project I’m on at the minute. Coming back from Tuesday’s session I was hyped, excited and inspired. So-Me has a very distinct personal style and this is why people want him. A lot of his stuff is hand rendered, especially the type and a lot of the images. It really brought home to me how important it was to create and find your own working style, not only to create recognition and familiarity but if you have a style you work in, it becomes so much easier to create ideas. You concentrate more on what will work with your style, instead of having a million different options running around in your head.

So-Me plays on his own style a lot and the way in which he gets his ideas seems to make the process extremely quick and efficient for him. Like a DJ who mash’s up other people’s work, his own work, samples and borrows from everywhere, So-Me does this in a visual way. As he knows people want his style, he just needs to come up with the base idea. A lot of what he does is samples and takes pieces of past and modern day culture and just adapts it.

For example with this Uffie branding that So-Me created, you look at it and can tell by the way it was executed it is So-Me but you can’t ignore the massive nod to pop art and the way that he has borrowed that and adapted it to the artist he is branding

Another flat piece of So-Me is the Justice cross. This particular one with the yellow hue, go back a few years to this T-Rex piece and the sampling and inspiration he took is just screaming you in the face.

He also re-samples a lot of his own work. He created this sleeve for the Ed Banger Records Vol. 2 and if you look at the cd sleeve for the Kanye West video he art directed, it’s just another version. It’s importing to note that he isn’t copying these pieces of himself and other people, he’s just adapting them and mixing them up, just like you would with a recipe, he’s paying homage more than anything.

I’d also recommend you take another look at the Justice D.A.N.C.E video and just take in all the visual references you get from The Buggles, Beethoven, Snow White, Disney and I think I even spotted a slight reference to QOTSA aswell.

During class one of the ways we discussed about creating ideas was this one of adaptation and sampling and it’s so refreshing to see it done so well and in such an inspiring way!

itap Lecture 07/12/2010

Integrated Theory & Practice - How adding text to an image can change the meaning and context & how adding text to an image can influence people emotions

During this itap lecture we were discussing what influence text can have on people’s perception of an image. We were given 2 principles to talk about, however as I believe they are very closely linked I will talk about both principles together.

When we all see a single image on it’s own, the way in which we perceive it will be determined by our own past experiences and life. Out of its original context it could mean anything and without any text to guide us, our emotions related to the image are controlled by these past experiences and life. The house below for example, it could remind us of anything in the world. It may remind you of your family home as a child, depending on how you were raised, it may fill you with happiness and jollity, or it could remind you of sadness and bad experiences. You may start to imagine another little girl or boy living their and wonder what their upbringing is like. It may remind you of the house you rented at university and prompt you to get back in touch in with your friends, it may fill you with joy and perhaps relief, knowing all those exams and assessments are in the past! The image may even remind of the first house you raided when you first joined the police force. This may conjure up those feelings of nerves mixed with excitement you felt in the pit of your stomach.

Take this image below, what does it mean to you? We could add many different types of text to change the context and meaning of this.  ‘Summer 96’’ would change this picture to mean somewhere someone spent their summer of 1996, filling you with joy and the thought of sunshine. ‘For Sale’ implys that now it’s a piece of land up for sale, perhaps making you inquisitive and imagining what could be. However this image is actually from a collection of photographs of crime scenes. Putting the name of the deceased and a date will change this into a murder scene, different emotions will fill you.

 Once you know what the image is from and you know the context, you can look at the image and know what it is about.  You can use this to your advantage or disadvantage, some images are only powerful once you know what the context is.

Bibliogprahy of photgraphs (top-bottom)

Image 1: Paul O'Donnel presentation

Image 2: http://historicbuildingsct.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/ebenezer-avery-house.jpg  

itap Lecture 23/11/2010

Integrated theory and practice - Ideation Fluency & Managing a Creative Environment

The first idea I am going to talk about is that of Ideation Fluency. This basically refers to the way in which ideas are created. More specifically easily produced ideas that fulfil the requirements asked. To get ideational fluency, we need to work with the right tools and practices. The three main of which are:

Classification:

Organising the ideas. You organise them by recognising both obvious and hidden common denominators, breaching your usual boundaries and generating diverse connections and letting these influence your work.

Brain storming:

This where you have a set subject to base your idea around and gives you an opportunity for spontaneous, impulsive thinking allowing you to create ideas fast and plentiful.

Mind Mapping:

I have to admit, before this lecture I associated brain storming and mind mapping as the same thing, as this later explains, I incorporated links and channels on my brainstorms.  Mind mapping (as I was told) is a way to create ideas the allow you to organise the thought processes as a network, by encouraging association between different thoughts. Below are some examples of mind mapping and I can see how effective it cold possibly be. During any forthcoming projects I will be sure to use this technique as I really do believe it will help.

 

 

A new potential way that I always find useful (if it is applicable/realistic to what the subject is,) is to put yourself in the context, the surroundings of your subject. So you’re doing a project that you want to be influenced by the beach, you’re not going to get the best results just sitting in your work space looking through your holiday snaps. The best way would be to visit a beach and encapsulate yourself, sketch, collect, take pictures, note smells, sounds and conversations that you come across. Take everything you have back to work space and work with it, as soon as you can, whilst everything is fresh in your mind! (If you’ve not thought of anything whilst there!)

The second principle I am going to talk about is Managing a Creative Environment. Yes, a creative needs to have a, well, creative and inspirational mind, however you can be heavily influenced by your immediate surroundings. Your work space. For me, if I’m doing a stint of work, and I did it before typing this up, I have to have a clean desk. If I’ve not got a tidy desk and room I can’t think straight, it’s all cluttered. A tidy desk is a tidy mind! A good workplace can assist the production of creative ideas, their development and their implementation. Some people may like it messy, some tidy, mines normally some form of organised mess if not tidy!

For example take this workspace, my Mother would probably say this is still messy. However you can see that everything has its place and it organised into papers, inks, crayons etc. I think as long as you know where everything is and can find what you need in an instant, that is a workplace which can assist.

 

 Broadening from your immediate environment, make use of resources, their there for you to use! Most of us on this course are living in Birmingham or the surrounding areas. Birmingham is England’s second city, explore! The galleries, museums, cultural events and resources in this city are immense, too many to mention, if you’re having a creative block. Don’t just sit at your computer looking at blogs, go out and see some work for real, look at it from different angles, touch it, hold it (only if you’re allowed!) and get a real feel for the work. This will clear your block and allow those creative juices to flow, in your appropriate workspace of course.

Bibliography of images - (top-bottom)

Image 1: http://www.mindtools.com/media/Diagrams/mindmap.jpg

Image 2: http://live-the-solution.com/wp-content/uploads/globalwarmingrecent.jpg

Image 3: http://arcticboy.arcticboy.com/view2.php?q=Pictures%20Of%20Mind%20Maps&url=http://pkab.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/retriement.jpg

Image 4: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/163/410457969_165885c25f.jpg