Not finished concepts, just mocking up possibilities, a bit stuck on which direction to go down because all work well.
Although I had already completed a project surrounding this competition brief last semester, I wasn't entirely happy with the end results when the submission date drew near. Being the (often infuriatingly) perfectionist that I am, I decided to revisit and produce a new concept.
Design does not equal client work.
It’s hard to make purple work in a design. The things your teachers tell you in class are not gospel. You will get conflicting information. It means that both are wrong. Or both are true. This never stops. Most decisions are gray, and everything lives on a spectrum of correctness and suitability.
Look people in the eyes when you are talking or listening to them. The best teachers are the ones who treat their classrooms like a workplace, and the worst ones are the ones who treat their classroom like a classroom as we’ve come to expect it. Eat breakfast. Realize that you are learning a trade, so craft matters more than most say. Realize that design is also a liberal art. Quiet is always an option, even if everyone is yelling. Libraries are a good place. The books are free there, and it smells great.
If you can’t draw as well as someone, or use the software as well, or if you do not have as much money to buy supplies, or if you do not have access to the tools they have, beat them by being more thoughtful. Thoughtfulness is free and burns on time and empathy.
The best communicators are gift-givers.
Don’t become dependent on having other people pull it out of you while you’re in school. If you do, you’re hosed once you graduate. Keep two books on your nightstand at all times: one fiction, one non-fiction.
Buy lightly used. Patina is a pretty word, and a beautiful concept.
Develop a point of view. Think about what experiences you have that many others do not. Then, think of what experiences you have that almost everyone else has. Then, mix those two things and try to make someone cry or laugh or feel understood.
Design doesn’t have to sell. Although, that’s usually its job.
Think of every project as an opportunity to learn, but also an opportunity to teach. Univers is a great typeface and white usually works and grids are nice and usually necessary, but they’re not a style. Helvetica is nice too, but it won’t turn water to wine.
Take things away until you cry. Accept most things, and reject most of your initial ideas. Print it out, chop it up, put it back together. When you’re aimlessly pushing things around on a computer screen, print it out and push it around in real space. Change contexts when you’re stuck. Draw wrong-handed and upside down and backwards. Find a good seat outside.
Design is just a language, it’s not a message. If you say “retro” too much you will get hives and maybe die. Learn your design history. Know that design changes when technology changes, and its been that way since the 1400s. Adobe software never stops being frustrating. Learn to write, and not school-style writing. A text editor is a perfectly viable design tool. Graphic design has just as much to do with words as it does with pictures, and a lot of my favorite designers come to design from the world of words instead of the world of pictures.
If you meet a person who cares about the same obscure things you do, hold on to them for dear life. Sympathy is medicine.
Scissors are good, music is better, and mixed drinks with friends are best. Start brave and brash: you can always make things more conservative, but it’s hard to make things more radical. Edit yourself, but let someone else censor you. When you ride the bus, imagine that you are looking at everything from the point of view of someone else on the ride. If you walk, look up on the way there and down on the way back. Aesthetics are fleeting, the only things with longevity are ideas. Read Bringhurst and one of those novels they made you read in high school cover to cover every few years. (Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby.)
Stop trying to be cool: it is stifling.
Most important things happen at a table. Food, friends, discussion, ideas, work, peace talks, and war plans. It is okay to romanticize things a little bit every now and then: it gives you hope.
Everything is interesting to someone. That thing that you think is bad is probably just not for you. Be wary of minimalism as an aesthetic decision without cause. Simple is almost a dirty word now. Almost. Tools don’t matter very much, all you need is a sharp knife, but everyone has their own mise en place. If you need an analogy, use an animal. If you see a ladder in a piece of design or illustration, it means the deadline was short. Red, white, black, and gray always go together. Negative space. Size contrast. Directional contrast. Compositional foundations.
Success is generating an emotion. Failure is a million different things. Second-person writing is usually heavy-handed. All of this is too.
Seeking advice is addicting and can become a proxy for action. Giving it can also be addicting in a potentially pretentious, soul-rotting sort of way, and can replace experimenting because you think you know how things work. Be suspicious of lists, advice, and lists of advice.
Everyone is just making it up as they go along.
This about sums up everything I know.
http://blog.frankchimero.com/post/979706728/what-advice-would-you-give-to-a-graphic-design-student
"We succeed together."
I chose to visualise the theme through unconventional protagonists: ants. Despite their shortcomings as a species, they demonstrate extraordinary strength in teamwork – each individual helping the next harmoniously, striving toward achieving a common goal to benefit all. In this illustration, amongst the urban jungle, the ants are carrying various ‘currency leaves’ – representing that not only must we aim to support our own, domestic, community and economy, but also work together in order to succeed in a broader, international, sense. The aesthetic is stylised yet simplistic to retain focus on the message, whilst the colour palette is reminiscent of the brand identity of Lloyds TSB, both elements designed to propose a cohesive contribution toward a possible advertising campaign.
"We make it simple."
To visualise this theme, I chose to reference ‘connect the dot’ illustrations as they demonstrate image making in a very simplistic way – a method that could aid anyone, regardless of ability, in creating the desired pictorial outcome. Using a ‘pound sign’ as the structure in this piece, the metaphor is reiterated by visualising that Lloyds TSB make the topic of ‘money’ simple for its customers and clients. To elaborate further, the figure on the ladder has already begun to connect the dots, coaxing you to formulate the rest of the picture. The surrounding abstracted, formal environment acts as juxtaposition toward the seemingly infantile content within the ornate frame - reiterating that one need not be an accomplished artist to draw the picture, and likewise; one need not be skilled at numbers to bank with Lloyds TSB as they make the process simple for their clients and customers.
Posts
All Comments
