End of Module Self Evaluation

Overall I am pleased with the work I have produced in response to this module. Firstly I would say my concepts/ideas for both projects have been both appropriate and engaging, especially so for studio brief 2, which has quite a fun interesting concept, and subsequently is exciting to look and read through. Having this confirmed through peer feedback was very encouraging. I am also proud of the visuals I have produced for both projects; I think they’re a testament to my progression and development as a designer over the past 2 years of uni, and considering branding as an area of design I am interested in, it was really engaging to do that for one of my projects - to create a visual identity and distinct aesthetic, and carry that through various produced touch-points. While on the subject of branding and creating this visual identity, as a point that I think I could have developed with this project, I would have liked to push this visual identity even further. I believe what I produced was definitely sufficient enough for the project, and to communicate the correct message, but I would have found it personally engaging to create more outputs and really try and make the visual identity as succinct and effective as possible. Perhaps this is something I will be able to do for a future project. 

I think another strong point of my project was the research. It was just really interesting to delve into Ai and Robotics as a topic that I knew very little about, increase my knowledge of it and ‘become an expert’. I think for any project, the research is successful when information and little facts can be extracted and applied conceptually and visually, which I believe I did well. I also did a lot of research into contemporary designers; this was really useful just to give my work context, to see what designers are doing in response to similar themes and to consider what elements of that can be used as inspiration. It gave me a platform to really assess and critique my work in comparison. 

If there was an area in which I could improve in, I think it would definitely be production. Its not the first time my production hasn’t been up to the standard that I would like, and I think what I need to remember is to just keep it simple and not bite off more than I can chew. My map is the main thing I could have produced better, with a lower gsm paper stock and slightly neater folding it could look very good, but time constraints and an incredibly busy print room meant I wasn’t able to do this. Despite this, some areas of production are very good on this project, and demonstrate that my attention to production quality has improved, these areas mainly being in studio brief 2. The publication, flyers and poster were all printed on appropriate paper stock and look good, but I think the extra little bits I produced like the business cards and the keyrings really push the production value further. 

Map Cover and Back

With the design of my map sorted, all I needed to design then was the front and back cover. Like the map, I thought the covers should be black and white, however the design approach didn’t have to be as abstract. I decided to simply use ‘directions’ as the name of the map and started using a gridded layout, referencing the formality and organised nature of a standard map, something which can also be seen in the use of a formal serifed font. I also thought it would be appropriate to put a key on the back with all the symbols on. 

In the same way that the map itself uses a traditional format but subverts the method of communication, I wanted to subvert these features such as a rigid grid and a key, with more expressive contemporary design, hence not adding in what the symbols actually mean, and adding in expressive shapes to the boxes of the grid. Interestingly enough, these expressive shapes were inspired by the decal of a Fiat Ducato Timberland Motorhome. There is one parked outside my house all the time, and the curved lines, though slightly tribal tattoo esque, have quite a map like geographical form, almost like the shape of a river on a map- hence why it snakes round different parts of the type and imagery. As a way of acknowledging the chaos and miscommunication of the map, I put the words ‘where in the hell?’ In one of the boxes of the map as a sort of self aware funny commentary. 

Design Development

I experimented with photocopying and screenshotting very zoomed in shots of this image of my symbols in sequence.

 Each image now contains parts of two symbols (in one case, just one) with 4 images making up each route/sequence now. 

I started experimenting with how the images might look in a publication, putting them together in double page spreads. I really like the way the images interact and this emphasis on form is highlighted by using simply black and white. Some images when placed together coincidentally fit together harmoniously and shapes and strokes seem to slot together like a messy jigsaw puzzle. For this reason, I decided to put all the images together in order of their routes, with 3 rows and 4 columns. The result was a really interesting expressive larger composition. I developed this more by putting some of the images on a black background and making them smaller - just to play around with the negative space and equalise the black white ratio of the composition. It was then that I realised this could be the final map, and actually, it could fold down like a traditional map, with a front and back cover. The idea of contrasting a traditional map format/product with this subverted abstract response to mapping seemed like it would be a really interesting idea. 

Steve Hockett - Research

Steve Hockett’s monochrome design style is expressive, chaotic and self aware. His aesthetic is very rough and ready and focuses on embracing imperfections. I instantly thought of his work when I started generating these more abstract black and white compositions out of my symbols. When I started thresholding some of these view finder zoomed in shots, they started coming out quite pixelated which I quite liked the aesthetic of, like Steve Hockett’s design work, it embraces the imperfections and highlights the process. Considering the production of my work, Hockett does a lot of publications and I think a simple publication with each page being one of these zoomed in shots could work nicely. I could put them in sequential order for the routes and I think it would really highlight the direction my work has taken - abstracting maps/symbols instead of prioritising communication and clarity. Hockett’s design work has inspired me to sort of embrace something slightly more chaotic and abstract. 

Symbol T-Shirt

Thinking about how the symbols could be displayed as a method of way finding, I thought about things that people always have on them - clothing. The first design shows the symbols as rows on the t-shirt, with the row on the chest being displayed upside down, so when you’re wearing it you can read it. The second design is slightly more abstract and shows a zoomed in shot of parts of two symbols together. While this would not be as useful as a directional tool, the abstract graphic quality is very interesting. 

Louise Borinski - Research

Louise Borinski is a Berlin based graphic designer. A lot of her design work uses symbols, often very abstract shape based and geometric compositions. I decided to research her work to maybe get a feel for how I can present my symbols. Firstly she has a risographed manifesto booklet called ‘Signs for Equality’ - each symbol represents a word or idea related to equality, they are presented very simply on individual pages with small descriptions underneath. I really like the design of this publication, however I think my symbols have to be in a set and presented in their full route as that’s sort of their purpose, despite this idea of abstraction, its still a route. I also really like her geometric posters, containing bright gradients, symbols and type, I could do a poster for each of my routes, however I feel as if a posters purpose is to communicate a message or advertise something, my symbols aren’t so much informative as they are functional. Ultimately I really like the way Louise presents these symbols in her work, however my symbols are so much more varied, there’s almost more sort of chaos going on then in her resolved symmetrical symbols, maybe I should embrace this and try and experiment more. 

Symbols - Layout Ideas

With a completed set of symbols, I started to think about how I would lay them out/present them. I did a few mockups, showing them in rows, or taking their own individual pages. I like the white page with the bigger symbols the most because they are close together and its interesting to see how the variety of forms worked and interacted together. 

I did some more experimental layouts, this first of which plays with this idea of all the symbols interacting, and completely sort of jumbles them up in a random order. There are some quite nice abstract elements however it does just look not structured enough. I thresholded the images and they pixelated slightly which I found to be quite a nice visual quality, abstracting the strokes of the symbols even more. Perhaps since I am looking at abstracting the visual communication of the map more, because it’s more of a personal interpretation, I could look at doing something like this. 

I thought about the times of day I do these routes and considered them in a circle like a clock - the colours in the background representing the time of day - morning. It’s an interesting composition, perhaps I could more closely consider a format which would be appropriate to relating the time of the day to the symbol routes. 

This composition follows a similar concept, this time representing night. It’s got quite an editorial feel, it almost looks like a front cover. I started considering what could go in the empty, perhaps a line drawing of the map route? While this may look good in a composition for each three, I want tom consider what I will actually produce more, could it be something used as a method of way finding, or just a platform to present these symbols visually?