Week 5.1 & 5.2

Week 5.1 and 5.2

11^th April,  15^th April

Maps, mapping and map making

The lecture today was about the principles of map making. I found it was helpful to see a variety of maps from really complex street maps to simple ones. Before this lecture I was struggling to link my map in with the rest of my brochure design, but seeing the examples helped to give me inspiration. I will need to do some more research on different map styles. I will also have to think about how to add the keys in to help pinpoint my destinations, and how landmarks in Wellington can help a viewer navigate my map.

The studio time today was another interim and one on ones with lectures. I found that the interim was not as helpful this time as the previous one due to the fact that people had not got much further along with their brochures, there was not a lot of new content to see.

I did however find that the one on one with my lectures this week was very helpful as I am at the stage of knowing my brochure backwards and it was really good to have fresh eyes look over it. I am now down to altering minor things on my brochure, making sure that all my spreads are working together, especially the text spreads. 

The lecture on printing options was really helpful regarding how to get the print job done correctly and efficiently.

Week 4.2 and Easter break

Week 4.2 and Easter break

24th March

Over the Easter break I started to look at the introduction to Wellington spread and the map showing my three destinations. Again the text on the introduction spread was really dense so I had to work with changing the point size, line length and what I wanted to highlight. Though this spread was easier to create as I used the activity and destination spreads as inspiration and this helped to make the flow between the spreads better. 

The map was a challenge as I was not 100% sure on the amount of information that was needed on the map. So I have decided for now to keep it simple allowing white space and to help reflect the rest of my brochure. 

Week 4.1

Week 4.1

21^st March

Over the last couple of days I have been working on combining my collages and the destination text to try and make them work as one. I really like the idea of my collages leading onto the text spread to allow the eye to easily flow from one to the other.  I also started to consider where the viewer’s eye would go first on each spread. I think due to the scale and colour of the collages the eye will travel there first and then the leading lines of the collage and the use of line above the title will help the eye to move back toward the text spread. This works well as the visual images that make up the collages help to give the viewer a quick understanding of the activity and destination, the text and the pictograms help to give the reader more detailed information.

The cross class interim was very helpful as it gave me a chance to see where I was at in relation to others, gave me new ideas on how I could lay out my text and how I could better link my activity spreads with my destination spreads.

Week 3.2

Week 3.2

17^th March

By this studio I had started to have a good look at example brochures/ booklets and how the type, paragraphs, hierarchy of information were placed to help make the composition and page layout effective and easily read by the viewer. I also looked at how the type, colour, movement, scale, image treatment and orientation made me feel when I was looking through different page layouts, to help see what I would want to portray in my brochure. After finding inspiration I started to work with the text we had been given in indesign. It was really hard to find a way to layout the activity text that would be easy for the viewer to read and follow. As my collages are clustered and there is a lot of white space and breathing space on my spreads, I wanted my text to reflect this and I found this challenging.

I kept working on my indesign spreads and had great feedback about how I could fit all the information onto a two-page spread. I started to look at the text size first, I brought this down a considerable amount which really helped with keeping my spreads open and help reflect my style through out all my spreads. I also considered line length, I had a three module grid so I liked the use of putting my information into columns to help break it up – though I had to be careful not to make it to short. I have also decided to work more with lines to create hierarchy rather than bold or bigger text as this tended to take up to much room on my spreads.

Week 3.1

Week 3.1

14^th March

Grids and composition

I thought that the lecture on grids and compositions was very helpful, as I have never really had to create my own grids and guides before.  It gave me a good understanding of a starting point for my brochure and the knowledge and ability to develop it further.

We were given a thumbnail grid to start exploring compositions that included the text provided, our collages and our own text. I thought the physical drawing of compositions was a helpful way to start thinking about the overall design of our brochures.

Over the week I had started to move from physical collage to creating my collages and imagery on Photoshop and illustrator. I felt this gave me a lot more freedom to create collages that started to work together, by altering the same ones over and over again rather than starting new. It also gave me the ability to look back at past collages I had created, and see what was working and what needed to be developed further. 

We also had a chance to walk around the studio to look at other peoples work and have a group discussion about what was working and what was not. After the group discussions I could see that my collages were still lacking the connection between the three destinations, overall the collage style was working but the individual visual material was not linking them together.

Week 2.2

Week 2.2

10^th March

Visual language, style and aesthetic

Over the last couple of days I have managed to visit all my destinations and collect visual material from all three. I have started to put together a visual matrix of images, tangible objects, patterns, textures, colours, signs and symbols, to help get a better understanding of my destinations and what links them together. I found that when I added words that describe the places and activities to the matrixes I managed to find an even deeper understanding and connection between the three destinations.

In preparation for class I have created three collages using a range of visual material that I have collected to represent my three destinations. I tried to create them with three different layers of information but I felt like I have not collected enough visual material to highlight three clear ones yet.  I will need to keep collecting material for each destination and looking at artist models for fresh inspiration.

In groups we were given a design book to look through and find designs that reflected the list of adjectives on the board. The book that we were given had a very good range of designs so we found it easy to find designs that reflected the adjectives. It was really interesting to see how different colours, textures, movement, scale and orientation on the pages affected the way we read or interpreted the design. How the use of a certain colour could change the feeling and meaning of the design, and how outside influences and prior knowledge can influence your interpretation of a design. It made me think about how important it is to know who your target audience is for the brochure, and how important it is to think about the colour, font and stylistic approaches you may use.