Portfolio Box

Mirrors

Game Play

Codename Crapheap Challenge.

Possible title:
Remake, Re-use, ????

Brief outline:
A game of recycling and recreation. Use household waste/recyclables such as cardboard, wrappers, broken objects to create something in a team from a chosen theme. This is then judged.

Items need to play:
Theme cards
Junk
Tools - scissors, tape, glue, welding torch etc
Pen + Paper
Pre-warning/notice of the game being played so junk can be gathered.

Rules (subject to change):
First come, first serve on rubbish
Area limit
Time limit
No pre-made abjects i.e. no toy cars
No stealing
No hitting
No running in the halls
Hidden rubbish stashes (possible)

  

 

What is Graphic Design?

Over the Easter break we were set the task of answering the question “What is graphic design?”

I couldn’t quite think of how to depict or produce an artist piece to answer this question.

Instead of going home for Easter, I spent the “holiday”, if you would call it that, working on university assignments as well as freelance work for a client.

The definition of Graphic Design as explained on http://www.agda.com.au/about/what-is-graphic-design is:
Graphic Design is an interdisciplinary, problem-solving activity that combines visual sensitivity with skill and knowledge in areas of communications, technology an business. Graphic design practitioners specialise in the structure and organisation of visual information to aid communication and orientation. The graphic design process is a problem solving process, one that requires substantial creativity, innovation and technical expertise. An understanding of a client's product or service and goals, their competitors and the target audience is translated into a visual solution created from the manipulation, combination and utilisation of shape, colour, imagery, typography and space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeiZ6c6EBw

For me, I have discovered that the subject within a working environment is more about task juggling, and more precisely, finding time to allocate to various tasks set by clients. In my case, it is juggling uni work and client work. While it is important to prioritise uni work over other things, surely working for a client and establishing a good relation upon project completion is just, if not more important, as the universal aim for students getting into a job after university. Well, that’s all good, but it is easier said then done as these days, the competition for anyone within the arts is getting more and more greater, and the success upon getting a place with a business is more reliant on who you know, more than what you know.

If I was able to do the things within graphic design that inspire and motivate me the most,  as for example: doing my own design ideas and setting up my own online apparel store, I would. However, I have to work around tasks of higher priority, which need to be done, and so bringing my own ideas into life must be postponed. That is just the realities of life.

So this is my little rant about what I feel graphic design is. Don’t get me wrong, I love the subject and always have, but I wanted to express my own personal thoughts about what I feel graphic design is. Sorry for not painting a prettier picture.

Disaster Book

For this brief we were tasked with thinking up a disaster, not necessarily a catastrophic one such as the polar ice caps melting or a zombie apocalypse, instead it could be a daily disaster like dropping your toast butter-side down when you're already late for work.

After thinking of an appropriate disaster we had to make it into a small book constructed from a singular sheet of A4 folded down to make an A6 booklet.

It took me a while to think of a disaster that wasn't a typical kind, I wanted to do something that was unique and have a personal connection with.

While watching The Pirates of the Caribbean - The Dead Man's Chest I was captivated by the tragic love story between The goddess Calypso and sailor Davy Jones. I feel that this love story is the best love story, a mans love for the sea but unable to tame it, not exactly your typical "and they all lived happily ever after".

The disaster of this story, shortened down:

Long ago during Greek mythology and legends, the daughter of Atlas, Calypso ruled the seas and was both loved and feared by all men drawn to the sea.

A great, sea-fairing man by the name of Davy Jones fell deeply in love with the goddess who too returned her affection.

Calypso charged Davy Jones with the duty to command the Flying Dutchman, to guide souls of those who died at sea into the afterlife so that once every ten years he could come ashore and be with her, together for a single day.

After ten years of faithful servitude Jones returned from the underworld to be with his true love to find she was not there, for she, the sea, was fickle and untameable.

The betrayal committed by Calypso was too much for Davy Jones to bear and so he carved out his heart, locked it in a chest and hid it away from the world.

Enraged, betrayed, cruel and now heartless Davy Jones conspired with the Pirate Brethren, telling them how to imprison Calypso to single, mortal form, unable to rule the seas.

Jones returned to the seas, abandoning his task of ferrying souls and instead sought to rule the seas himself. This path would change the life or Davy Jones forever.

Page layout mock-up

 Test layout

Final

To make the book look authentic to it's subject matter I stained the paper with tea and crumpled it to give it an aged effect. I also Incorporated my own pen illustration on the the front cover of the book, regrettably the designs within are not my own but I manipulated them in Photoshop to blend them into the paper colour.

In the film Davy Jones cut's out his heart and locks it away in a chest, I made my own adaptation of this within the photos by instead of a real heart inside a chest the heart on the cover of the book is the heart of Davy Jones.

                       

Quote - Typographic - Design 2

Because my previous design involved imagery I had to to redesign a piece without any form of imagery whatsoever. I will say that typographic artwork is not my strongest of skills as I am not a huge fan of this type of art and don't really understand it.

First Design
Because John Locke was a highly influential philosopher who wrote about topics such as political philosophy, epistemology and education, which helped to found Western philosophy I made a typographic design resembling a philosophical equation. The font used is Chalkduster - Regular, giving the look of a professor/lecturer's chalk writing on a blackboard.

Second Design
My second design which I think looks more attractive is a piece which resembles an eye exam chart, involving all the characters of Locke's quote. The font used is Century Gothic - Bold.

Unique Business Cards

For this brief we were given the task of designing and producing business cards that related to our personality.

I chose to construct a cigarette pack but holding 20 or 10 individual business cards, each card would include an example of 1 of my works on the front while on the back would be my details.
This card holder would enable myself to take my cards with me and when it comes to handing out I could either offer a single card of the entire pack. I don't believe you have to be a smoker to appreciate the novelty behind this gesture idea.

I am a huge fan of vintage art work such as Art Deco and for my cigarette-like holder I wanted to adapt my own design to it but with some relation to a recognisable cigarette brand.

I chose to go with Lucky Strike as it dates back to 1871, introduced by a man named R.A. Patterson and is internationally recognisable brand design. I replaced all the cigarette related information/detail with my own adaptations such as graphic designer quotes, my own slogans. I redesigned the lucky Strike with my own logo but using the same colours so that it would share a similar relation.