Done! I used digital printing for my cards as I wanted a clean yet effective finish to work alongside with the aesthetic of the designs. The stock chosen was a 120 gsm card which had texture adding more depth to the designs. The off white colour of the card contrasts with the brightly coloured designs making them stand out and create more of an impact.
The cards then took six hours to cut out individually.
After the cards were cut out I arranged them into separate piles ready to sell. By this point I was pleased with the outcomes as there was concerns whether the designs would be too minimal with not enough design to them. However as a set it there is a consistent theme throughout which works to my advantage as it could influence customers to buy more than just one. I made sure there was no text on the cards to continue with the minimal theme and trying not to reference any religious holidays, this was to ensure that the audience for my cards would be broader.
Today I met the musicians from Leeds College of Music who are in a band called We Built a Mountain. I got an exclusive sneak at their upcoming music which made me more excited to work for them. The music is more of an indie/pop genre which have instrumentals that have a Foals kind of sound yet the vocal are more jazz which benefits the band as there isn't a band that sound quite like them.
I asked them numerous questions to ensure I have a good idea of exactly what they want. As they are planning on gigging around Leeds I suggested different merchandise and promotional material which would benefit them getting exposure to the public.
Notes from meeting:
- Logo: Triangle/minimal
- Track Artwork: Title - Transform
- Flyers: Gigs (need updating regularly)
- Facebook banner
- Digital artwork
Ideas/requests:
- Imagery/illustrations - potentially collage
- Colourful but not cheesy
- Minimal
- Positive colours: Pastels, brights
- Sky Colours: Sunrise, sunset
Needs a consistent theme
I took my sketches and developed them digitally. After a lot of trial and error I finally created some illustrated designs that I was happy about and felt they were up to a good quality standard. As one of my ideas for influencing my target audience to do something together with their families, I kept the designs with a minimal black outline which will then be coloured or painted by the customer. However after printing some mock ups of these designs on plain white paper and watercolour paper I fear that it looks too simple and does not express my skills as a designer. I then decided to try and colour in the illustration myself to see what different effects I could get with shading and try make it more exciting and engaging.
From my research I found the colours for christmas are mainly red, green and blue. I filled in the illustrations with these colours adding a shading with a darker tone which brought more depth and detail into the design yet kept it simple. I then wanted to explore with the other designs I had created and see what other effects I could get with the shading.
After a lot of hours trying to get the shading right on the illustrations I am very happy with the outcome. I feel the two shades of colour help keep it minimal and consistent throughout the designs yet brings it to life giving it more depth. I decided to add a warm yellow colour to represent gold which also works to my advantage as next to the other designs it keeps that christmas consistency without making it look out of place.
I then explored into other colours that signify christmas in today's society. Purple, teal and silver are colours that are more modern than the traditional red, green and blue. This could work to my advantage as it brings traditional and modern colours together but separately there is still a consistent theme throughout that represents christmas.
I applied this colour theme throughout my other illustrations which I think works well. However I need to rectify how and what colours would work well next to each other as I'm not sure whether the modern colours work with the traditional colours, although if they worked separately across different media they would keep a consistent theme.
Another idea I tried quickly to see if it was successful was illustrating faces on some of the designs to add a bit of excitement and humour. This is something I would like to explore more as it could work to my advantage for my target audience.
For the christmas brief I started to sketch different ideas I had for the advent calendar and cards. I wanted to get a broad range of ideas to take digitally where I could develop them further. The first two images are advent calendar ideas, as I wanted to take more of a narrative approach for the audience to engage more with the product, the designs feature elements from christmas and snowy landscapes. Unfortunately a lot of the stalls in Leeds were fully booked when it came round for us to try and get a stall in the public. This meant that my advent calendar would no longer be a good idea as the date we planned on getting a stall at the university instead was already in december. I then decided to develop my christmas cards further.
What do I want to communicate?
- Christmas is a time for families and friends to come together.
- Bring back family traditions of togetherness and spending time together in different ways.
- Create something engaging and effective towards my target audience that will influence them to do something with one another.
- Happiness can be found in something more handmade and sentimental rather than something purchased from a store.
Who am I communicating too?
- Children & parents (families)
- 4+ (I want to create a series of things that will be interactive and fun for all ages)
How will I communicate this?
- Advent calendar - scratch away? story telling?
- Christmas cards - DIY cards that will involve families colouring/painting them themselves.
- Baking/craft instructions - Something families can decorate their house or bake for their friends.
Christmas Themes:
- Santa
- Baubles
- Christmas tree
- Icicles
- Holly
- Polar Bear
- Sleigh
- Reindeer
- Ice Skating
- Hot chocolate
- Scarves/hats/gloves/coats/boots
- Santa's sleigh
Ideas:
- Scratch away advent calendar with a story or task for the audience to find out each day.
- Connect the dot advent calendar which then presents a larger image at the end for the audience to colour in themselves.
- Christmas cards that have been designed but left without colour for the audience to paint or fill in themselves.
Christmas cards that have been laser cut with a design leaving the background on the next page free to be painted or coloured in.
- Baking instructions on traditional recipes.
- Crafting instructions for the audience to create something to give to a friend or decorate their house with.
- Lasercut stensils/decorations
- Wrapping paper
Behance:
Avnish Panesar
This is an example of a Christmas Advent calendar that has been designed by Avnish Panesar. The simplicity and limitations of colour work to the design's advantage as it keeps the theme consistent yet exciting. Each day featuring different illustrations which reference various themes of christmas that are easily recognisable to all ages. This is something I have taken into consideration towards my own ideas as my target audience is children and parents so my aim is to design something understandable yet engaging and fun at the same time.
Sam Wyatt
These are examples of Sam Wyatt's interactive advent calendar. It's a Shape Christmas' is a project from Made By Shape, were a selection of creatives are given a shape to illustrate or animate based on the theme of christmas. Each design is then revealed day-by-day, throughout December, as part of an interactive advent Calendar, were users can download and donate to their favourite designs, with all donations going to the Wood Street Mission. I thought it was a exciting idea for an interactive advent calender as the majority of households now hold either a computer/Ipad or other devices so it would be easily accessible. However, I would prefer to create something physical for my target audience to interact with more and be able to decorate their homes with. The simplicity and choice of illustration style however is something I would like to take inspiration on as it holds a tradition nostalgic view on christmas yet brings a modern element to it.
Ateliar 004
This design is simplistic yet effective. The minimalistic design works to the advantage of the audience as they get to remove a number/circle every day in december which later reveals a bigger design of a christmas tree made entirely of dots. The choice of blue works to the designs advantage as it signifies dark winter nights, it contrasts with the white papered background which could represent snow, this communicates the designs message of christmas which is something I am wanting to represent in my own ideas. However I do not think something this minimal would be as effective on my target audience.
Julian Sergej Alexander B & Daniel Zöls
'As a christmas present we developed an Advent-Calendar with unique and shareable content for our clients, colleagues and friends. You simply had to Print the QRlender and pin it to your workspace. Everytime you'll come to work there's a surprise waiting for you.'
This advent calendar works over both digital and print platforms. It has the element of surprise as the audience can interact with the calendar everyday by scanning the barcode. The use of gold and black within the design simply signifies christmas in an effective way, the black representing dark winter nights and the gold which could be referenced from the religious story of the three wise men venturing to see Jesus Christ when he was born. It could also signify christmas as a time of feasting and gift giving, gold being a luxurious colour represents this well. The concept of the audience interacting by scanning the barcode is something that would engage and excite my target audience, however I want to stick to just print for this brief as the given timescale would not be appropriate to try using different platforms.
Bayley Design
Another example of an advent calendar I found on Behance. There are some elements that work well for the design the use of triangles and the colour green to represent a christmas tree however I do not feel the tone of green against the white background works and makes the design look less christmassy and more mechanical and unfriendly. The typography throughout the flaps are also inconsistent which I do not think works and makes the calendar look more amateur, however the use of the flaps to reveal a message behind is something I am considering in my own ideas.
Burning questions
Norman Mailer
Task:
We all know the expression "you've got to speculate to accumulate".
Regardless of whether you intend on starting your own creative studio, joining a small studio or working for one of the design behemoths we want you to understand the importance of sending out mailers to people that you want to work for, work with or just be friends.
By the end of today we want to see a piece of work that you feel sums up your creative practice, this could be a beautiful bit of hand drawn typography, a collage that makes us question your sanity, a psychedelic drawing, a mind bending painting or something indescribable.
After today, we want you to take your creation a step further and turn it into a mailer, make something that you'll want us to keep, make it unusual, make it brilliant, maybe the piece you'll make will end up being a screen printed cassette tape cover that you'll make a bit of music for us to listen to? Who knows?!
We want you to post us the mailers to our studio by Monday 26th of October so that'll mean you should have it in the post for friday before, heres the studio address:
DR.ME
Studio 104
Islington Mill
James Street
Salford
M3 7HB
Ideas:
Collage, psychedelic drawing, mind bending painting or something indescribable
- Organised chaos
- Always listen to music when working
- CD cover
- Record sleeve
- Favour drawing
- Illustration
- Fascination with different British subcultures
- Mixture of images and illustrations
Deadline: Monday 26th October
What is Christmas?
Here I have investigated into what Christmas actually is, where it originated from and the traditions that are still ongoing or have been lost over the decades. As my brief is to de-commercialise Christmas and encourage people to come together for quality time and keep up old traditions I thought this was a good direction to start off my research. As the main focus at Christmas is Santa Claus, Christmas trees and gift giving I have found from various sources of other traditions that used to be important and appreciated back when people could not afford to be so extravagant at gift giving.
Web research:
Source: http://wuwm.com/post/5-christmas-traditions-centuries-old-origins#stream/0
Christmas greenery:
Source: http://www.lifeway.com/Article/Christmas-traditions-rooted-in-ancient-culture
Christmas festivities often include the hanging of the greens. Christmas trees, mistletoe, holly, and poinsettias grace homes, businesses, and churches.
Many traditions involving greenery originated in Druid, Celt, Norse, and Roman civilizations, which celebrated the winter solstice around December 21. Because the colour green represented eternal life, plants that remained green throughout the year played an important role in these celebrations.
The Romans celebrated the solstice with a mid-winter holiday called the Saturnalia, honouring the Roman god Saturn. They lit candles in their homes, spent time with friends and family, decorated their homes with wreaths and garlands, exchanged gifts, and feasted.
As pagan cultures converted to Christianity, they continued many of their traditional winter solstice activities. Because the use of greenery had pagan origins, early church leaders often objected to its use. However, the traditions were so deeply ingrained that the customs continued - but from a Christian frame of reference.
My analysis: After researching Christmas it is clear that the colour green has always been represented through different religions and cultures as a symbol for eternal life and strength/togetherness. This will be something I will use in my own work as in modern day society the colours red and green are still dominant throughout any christmas related piece of design. However I would like to find a different shade or tone of green which would represent the evolving times of christmas but still try to keep the traditional nostalgic colours that would hit both young and old target audiences.
Christmas Cards:
Source: http://www.lifeway.com/Article/Christmas-traditions-rooted-in-ancient-culture
The custom of sending Christmas cards probably began with the English "schoolpieces" or "Christmas pieces," simple pen-and-ink designs on sheets of writing paper. The first formal card was designed by an Englishman, J.C. Horsley, in 1843. It was lithographed on stiff, dark cardboard and depicted in color a party of grownups and children with glasses raised in a toast over the words "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you."
Americans relied on expensive imported Christmas cards until 1874, when Boston lithographer Louis Prang offered a selection of cards featuring reproductions of contemporary paintings with printed sentiments on the reverse side. Within 10 years, Prang's print shop was producing more than five million cards each year.
My Analysis: Having never researched into old christmas cards before this was very interesting to find. It was designed by an Englishman in 1843 called J.C Horsley. The visuals are of what looks like a family at a gathering all sharing a drink and enjoying one another's company. The other illustrations left and right to the centre image look like they're sharing food and giving gifts, more christmas traditions. As the livelihood will have been much lower than todays society, Christmas will have been more on togetherness and having a good time with your family, not just giving gifts. The card represents what christmas should be like, this is something I am keeping in mind when it comes to the outcome for my brief.
Source: http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/uk.shtml
Christmas Brief: How can we de-commercialise Christmas?
Research
- History of Christmas - cultural and religious references.
- Existing artists
- Target audience
- Parents
- Elderly
- Children
- Tone of voice
- Informal
- Christmas games
- Crafts and baking
- Old traditions.
To start off my research I've tried working out which direction to take to ensure I answer the brief correctly and appropriately. Looking at different cultural and religious traditions will ensure I have a good understanding of the different ways the UK celebrate christmas no matter what background. As christmas is a holiday that almost everyone celebrates I need to know what traditions are still ongoing and what have been lost over the decades. Existing artists that design christmas related items will also be useful as it will inspire me and show how artists are responding to christmas, sometimes it can enter the dangerous zone of looking very cheap and amateur.
The target audience for this brief will be mainly parents and children. As christmas is a time for families to come together and celebrate I've found this is the target audience I want to be aiming at. Creating something that is both engaging and interactive will be suitable to my brief as it will influence families young and old to spend quality time together which is what the brief should be communicating.
I need to research into old traditions that may have been lost in the past decades and consider bringing some of those traditions back to communicate my brief and influence families to spend time together. Years ago when times were a lot harder the focus on christmas was not just gift giving but spending time with loved ones, eating well and celebrating another year. Now it seems the focus of christmas is to consume and spend on each other but in an excessive way which looses some of the traditions on whole purpose of christmas entirely.
10 Briefs
I chose this brief I thought it would be a good opportunity to make a project that will be relevant to upcoming events such as christmas. The brief itself is something I am passionate to communicate as I believe christmas is a time for family, traditions and togetherness but now all I see on social media is how much money people are spending on one and another. It will require skills for both print and digital which is something that will be challenging but engaging. Its still very early but I would like to plan a stall at university or the Corn Exchange in Leeds city centre where myself and other peers could sell their christmas themed designs.
This brief was inspired from a brief that came out last year where it was asked from students and creatives to design something to make people more aware of the dangers of privatising the NHS. This is something I want to investigate further and understand the true positives and negatives from the NHS and private healthcare. Primary research will be essential in this brief so I am considering where to start researching and if it will be necessary to contact someone from the NHS and try get a first hand understanding from an employee. This will touch upon my illustration and advertising side as the outcome will be something that reaches out across various platforms and to different age groups.
I chose Secret 7 as each year I have thoroughly enjoyed entering the competition. As I have a passion for music this would be a good opportunity to design a sleeve for a selected artist and visualise their song through different media. My plan is to enter more than one design for different artists so I can build a substantial amount of research and outcomes to build my portfolio. The outcome can be sent digitally or through the post already printed which is something I am considering as I've always sent a design digitally.
"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."
- Alan Watts.
Who am I?
- Values, morals, views
- Print, digital
- Communities
My values
- Believe in moral and ethical working standards
- Love print but want to expand to digital
- Music inspires and influences my designs
- Inspirational people motivate me
Interests
- Movies
- Gaming
- Music
- Novels
- Gigs/festivals
Beliefs
- Print will always be important in the ever expanding digital world
- Equality between genders
- Make mistakes; learn from them
What mainly influenced my design was the quote by Alan Watts. Its something I often refer to whenever I feel overwhelmed or lost with different situations. As university was such a huge change, living in a city was a huge change, and trying to adjust to the course and living independently I did struggle with adapting and often felt overwhelmed by everything. This quote reflects my way of thinking from the past two years, I interporate it as when change happens its best to try and adapt as best as possible to the situation, absorb yourself with it and the outcome will be more beneficial to yourself.
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