VIDUSHA SEEWOO

Watch my journey as I shuffle through my artistic pursuits. -This blog includes my researches (and some of my personal work) as I pave my way through Communication Design.

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Mock - Up Book

The last creative session dealt with manual book making. Each of us had to bring in our collected photographs (printed in small formats) and we had to bind the double spreadsheets, resulting in minibooks

Here are some of the shots.

Theme :  My journey in the Underworld

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So, What is Good Design ?

Manifesto of Good Design   

In our last class we were shown Objectified ( A documentary film by Gary Hustwit), we covered areas about designers point of view about redesigning objects.

The movie portrayed our complex relationship with designed objects and the process involved behind each and every creative brief.It exposes designers who re -examine, re-evaluate and re - invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis and try to perfect the quality of life while simultaneously preserving mother nature at its best.

Following this documentary film and all the previous documentary series (From typeface design- Helvetic) to redesigning the planet )

, we were asked to summarise our point of view, our manifesto how can my 10 statement can be our mission statement for our future as a designer.

To start with, a manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes the author believes should be made. 

My manifesto

-   So, this is how I made mine and I believe each and every point must be considered in order for me to bloom as a professional and ethical Graphic Designer.

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Sustainable Design

Sustainable design (also referred to as ‘green design’, ‘eco-design’, or ‘design for environment’) is the art of designing physical objects, the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological

Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health and comfort of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimise waste, and create healthy, productive environments.Given that we have been witnessing the climatic changes, it has become more important than ever to respect mother nature and reduce the upcoming disasters awaiting us in the future.

Having watched the movie, The 11th hour, we get to see the cause of destruction which is committed by a global civilisation.The 19th century proved to be the rupture whereby the industrial Revolution was at its peak (During this time Nature was converted as a resource and this resource was seen as abundant.This revolution was biased as it led us to the downfall as the consequences of air pollutions led to climatic changes.

This is where sustainable design plays an important role!

It is not just about a visual/visible design that we get to flaunt to clients. I believe Sustainable design points to a structure/ internal intelligence.It is all about motive!

Reference: Creative Review

In this Article, Designer and Founder, Sophie Thomas questions the paper coffee cup and what can be made out of the late-decomposing papers.So till date, designers are trying to question the whole process so as to attain a pure and perfect environment.

Do we consider sustainability when designing? 

Honestly earlier designed artworks were only about aesthetics but now in my contemporary artworks, I try to incorporate eco-friendly elements. It is not just about the message but I definitely divert to recycled paper if given an alternative. I also believe in strong quotes to shake people's thoughts about the environment . 

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Advertising Ethics

About the Czech Dream movie

In May 2003 4,000 people gathered for the opening of a hypermarket outside Prague. They clambered off buses and hobbled in on crutches, lured by a slick marketing campaign and the promise of state-of-the-art goods at knock down prices. Only when the ribbon was cut did the truth become known. The Czech Dream hypermarket did not actually exist. Its corporate frontmen were a pair of hoaxers from the local film school.

Billed as "a film reality show", Vit Klusak and Filip Remunda's documentary shows how the scam was pulled, thanks to a student grant and the collaboration of willing parties in the advertising world. We peruse the teasing slogans ("Don't Come", "Don't Spend") and listen to the recording of a jingle positively dripping with sarcasm. "It will be a big bash," croons the angelic choir. "If you don't have the cash/ Get a loan and scream/ I want to fulfil my dream." Their work complete, Klusak and Remunda gain an instant notoriety and - one assumes - a valuable leg-up in their chosen profession.

Both results seem fully deserved. Undeniably, Czech Dream (the film and the concept) is an ingenious affair, cleverly satirising a nation that has become bamboozled by the snake-oil of western capitalism. That said, one steps away with a deep sympathy - even admiration - for its intended victims. The huddled masses who gather for the ceremony are not greedy idiots to be exposed and laughed at. They are the retired and the working poor, who have dragged themselves out in the hope of buying things they could never normally afford. Confronted with the phoney shopfront, they trudge back to the car park with the sanguine air of people who have been duped before and will probably be duped again. "I thought the era of lies was over," sighs one. "But it's not."

Thoughts on advertising? Role and Ethics

Advertising nowadays rules our mind and heart. They are to promote products and services to achieve their high sales and help them easy to touch the customers.If you take a simple example, google, the search engine, itself is an advertisement medium. But on the other hand, they overstate the truth and confuse the viewers, which can then lead to some trust issues about the advertised product or service.

Ethics means a set of moral principles which govern a person’s behaviour or how the activity is conducted. And advertising means a mode of communication between a seller and a buyer.

Thus ethics in advertising means a set of well defined principles which govern the ways of communication taking place between the seller and the buyer. Ethics is the most important feature of the advertising industry. Though there are many benefits of advertising but then there are some points which don’t match the ethical norms of advertising.

An ethical ad is the one which doesn’t lie, doesn’t make fake or false claims and is in the limit of decency.

Nowadays, ads are more exaggerated and a lot of puffing is used. It seems like the advertisers lack knowledge of ethical norms and principles. They just don’t understand and are unable to decide what is correct and what is wrong.

The main area of interest for advertisers is to increase their sales, gain more and more customers, and increase the demand for the product by presenting a well decorated, puffed and colorful ad. They claim that their product is the best, having unique qualities than the competitors, more cost effective, and more beneficial. But most of these ads are found to be false, misleading customers and unethical. The best example of these types of ads is the one which shows evening snacks for the kids, they use coloring and gluing to make the product look glossy and attractive to the consumers who are watching the ads on television and convince them to buy the product without giving a second thought.

Ethics in Advertising is directly related to the purpose of advertising and the nature of advertising. Sometimes exaggerating the ad becomes necessary to prove the benefit of the product. Thus, the purpose of advertising was only to inform women about the product quality. 

Ethics also depends on what we believe. If the advertisers make the ads on the belief that the customers will understand, persuade them to think, and then act on their ads, then this will lead to positive results and the ad may not be called unethical. But at the same time, if advertisers believe that they can fool their customers by showing any impractical things like just clicking fingers will make your home or office fully furnished or just buying a lottery ticket will make you a millionaire, then this is not going to work out for them and will be called as unethical.

Generally, big companies never lie as they have to prove their points to various ad regulating bodies. Truth is always said but not completely. Sometimes its better not to reveal the whole truth in the ad but at times truth has to be shown for betterment.

Pharmaceutical Advertising - they help creating awareness, but one catchy point here is that the advertisers show what the medicine can cure but never talk about the side effects of that same thing or the risks involved in intake of it.

Children - children are the major sellers of the ads and the product. They have the power to convince the buyers. But when advertisers are using children in their ad, they should remember not to show them alone doing there work on their own like brushing teeth, playing with toys, or infants holding their own milk bottles as everyone knows that no one will leave their kids unattended while doing all these activities. So showing parents also involved in all activities or things being advertised will be more logical.

Alcohol - till today, there hasn’t come any liquor ad which shows anyone drinking the original liquor. They use mineral water and sodas in their advertisements with their brand name. These types of ads are called surrogate ads. These type of ads are totally unethical when liquor ads are totally banned. Even if there are no advertisements for alcohol, people will continue drinking.

Cigarettes and Tobacco - these products should be never advertised as consumption of these things is directly and badly responsible for cancer and other severe health issues. These as are already banned in countries like India, Norway, Thailand, Finland and Singapore.

Ads for social causes - these types of ads are ethical and are accepted by the people. But ads like condoms and contraceptive pills should be limited, as these are sometimes unethical, and are more likely to loose morality and decency at places where there is no educational knowledge about all these products.

Looking at all these above-mentioned points, advertisers should start taking responsibility for self-regulating their ads by:

design self-regulatory codes in their companies including ethical norms, truth, decency, and legal points

keep tracking the activities and remove ads which don’t fulfil the codes.

Inform the consumers about the self-regulatory codes of the company

Pay attention to the complaints coming from consumers about the product ads.

Maintain transparency throughout the company and system.

When all the above points are implemented, they will result in:

making the company answerable for all its activities

will reduce the chances of getting pointed out by the critics or any regulatory body.

will help gain the trust of customers, make them trust the company and their products.

Advantages and disadvantages of Advertising 

Advertising on TV is a big source of income for the TV channels. If advertising didn`t create mass markets for products, we would have to pay a lot more for many goods. An important function of advertising is that it informs people. Advertisements introduce to us new products or remind us of the ones we already know about. However, advertisements are often fun to see, because they can be very entertaining. 

On the other hand, advertising absorbs millions of pounds each year, many companies don`t stop advertising and don`t reduce the price of their goods. Moreover, advertisements are persuasive and they are a form of brainwashing. 

Ambient media, Guerrilla marketing and Viral advertising campaigns?

Ambient advertising is about placing ads on unusual items or in unusual places you wouldn’t normally see an ad. An ambient ad doesn’t have to be placed outside. Ambient advertising can be found anywhere and everywhere! The key to a successful ambient media campaign is to choose the best media format available and combined with effective message. These kinds of ads often make someone think about a certain place or thing differently.I think this is what a contemporary world asks for nowadays.People are always experimenting and if it works, IT WORKS! Advertising has already reached its peak and promoting in a unique way really creates and catches attention.

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3D Creative workshop II

Create an easy to replicate stencil alphabet, be Banksy for the day! 

I tried to be Banksy for a day.Now I get to see how street art is hard LOL

Following the stencil printing, I got them scanned and tried to manipulate each print.

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3D creative lettering workshop

The Alphabet dates back to the Egyptian era and forms the basis of our language, through the years people have experimented and created a wealth of interesting and unique alphabets. This is a collection of some instant alphabets using everyday objects.

Using School Stationeries:

Spent some time in the kitchen and came up with this: LOVE

Then came up with these.I experimented different ways of using objects to create letters

The ‘I’ letter

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Product Packaging Design

The Genius of Design –

Objects of Desire tracks the explosion of wild creativity that happened during the ‘designer decades’ of the 80s and early 90s. By addressing wants rather than needs and allying themselves to the blatant consumerism of ‘retail culture’ designers emerged from the back rooms to claim a starring role in the shaping of modern life.

According to David Berman,

“Designers have enormous powers to influence how we see the world, and how we live our lives.” 

He thinks that we should constantly be aware of what we do, affects for whom we work, and how our work affectsothers.But whatever our good intentions may be, we cannot ignore the reality that deisgn is a business and has to live by the rules of business. It is another fat that those rules need to be rewritten.There is hope for more  awareness and responsibility, even in the world of commerce that we’d rather not belong to but cannot escape from.

What is the role of packaging?

According to the publication "Private Label Buyer," studies show that packaging of products can increase customer satisfaction, increase visibility and set one product apart from its competition. In essence, packaging plays a pivotal role in the branding process of the product, attracting customers and providing customers what they’re looking for when they take the product home.

1. Function

The true function of product packaging is to protect the product during shipment from the manufacturer to the store selling it. Packaging is also a form of protection as the product sits on store shelves waiting for consumers to come along and purchase it. In marketing and market development, packaging is the “dress” on the product, which can play a role in whether the product sells in a new market or to new customers.

2. Branding

Product packaging also plays a vital role in the branding process of the product. InvestorWords defines a brand as a symbol, wording or another type of mark that differentiates a product or business from its competition, and branding is an essential part of marketing for many products and companies. Some products carry different branding, depending on the market in which they are sold, especially in different countries.

3. Benefits

Packaging can help sell the product because it provides space for sharing information about the product, such as nutritional information, usage or directions. For example, some packaging contains marketing messaging on the front to attract customers to pick it up and look at the product. In essence, the packaging can help to paint a picture of how the product benefits the customer. When developing a product in a new market, it is important to conduct market research, such as focus groups, to determine what is appealing to the new market. For example, preferences of colours, pictures and labels on products can differ from one country to another or from one group of customers to another.

4. Features

Packaging also can share information on the features of the product. Size, measurements, uses and more printed on the packaging of a product can help customers decide if the product fits their needs. For example, if a customer is shopping for an under-the-sink garbage can, he needs to know the measurements of a product to make sure it will fit under his sink. A package box or label that details the height, width and depth of a garbage can on a store shelf can help the customer quickly determine if it fits under his sink--ultimately helping him make the decision about whether to buy it.

5. Identification

Packaging also can help customers identify the products or companies they are loyal to. For example, if a local restaurant decides it wants to sell its famous salad dressing in retail stores, the salad dressing packaging and label may carry the restaurant's logo, name and colour scheme. Using packaging that carries the same brand helps customers of the restaurant identify the brand when shopping at the local grocery store. Once consumers start buying the product, packaging helps them quickly identify the product when shopping. When introducing a product in a new market, packaging can help to garner the attention of a prospect. For example, vibrant colours may prompt a new customer to stop and look at the product because of the bright colours or because the design is one she has seen before.

Discuss the aesthetics, graphic information systems and ethics that are critical for packaging design today and for the future.

"Good design looks good, but good looking does not make good design." Prof. Michael Hardt (University of Lapland Rovaniemi, Finland) looks at the impact of unethical design on current global issues, and our growing recognition of the role designers play in this process.

There is an increasing number of New Designers looking for creative and innovative ethical design concepts. The design students of the University of Lapland added 25 new projects. The astonishing learning is that behind nearly every ethical project idea there are promising new business ideas. Advertisement and packaging of alcoholic products were also seen as very critical. But regarding the results of the Prohibition in the United States in the 20ies of last century, forbidding alcohol was not seen as an appropriate method. The solution for alcohol misuse problems is not NO alcohol but LESS alcohol. It could be so easy: Dosing devices (a used in pubs) and clear advices that the consumption of more than x-units per hour is not smart. The students concluded that ethics should be a must in the design education. The international designers organisations should develop a code of conduct for ethical behaviour and implement means to protect their members against attempts from clients to force the designer to create unethical designs.

Aesthetic Packaging

Good-looking packaging design – such as the curvy Coca-Cola bottles or the Altoids mints tins – significantly increases the likelihood that a consumer will choose the product even if it is more expensive and an unfamiliar brand, a USC study has found.

“Consumers appreciate and are willing to pay more for something that is new and different and visually pleasing to them,” said Martin Reimann, the study’s lead author and a USC doctoral candidate of psychology.

The implications of the power of aesthetic packaging could level the playing field for new products entering a competitive market and suggest that investing in beautiful packaging pays off, Reimann said.

Who do I consider to be a good packaging designer?

Let’s see what makes and breaks good packaging design.

1. Clarity and simplicity

Next time you go to a supermarket, pick a random shelf and browse through some products. Glance at each and ask yourself two very simple questions:

What’s this product for?

What’s the brand behind it?

So remember rule number one: be clear about the product, be clear about the brand.

2. Honesty

By depicting a product ten times better than it actually is, you’re misleading and ultimately disappointing the consumer, which only leads to poor sales performance and very bad brand image.

Consumers have nothing against simple, inexpensive products, as long as they know what they’re buying! Of course they expect “face lifting” to some degree but not to a point where product appears to be something entirely different.

As a designer, your task is to represent the product in the best way possible but keep in mind that consumers – you included – deserve to be treated right.

3. Authenticity

Originality, character and memorability are at the heart of great brands and of course, great packaging designs.

This packaging design from Colin Porter Bell is a great example of authentic and memorable packaging design.

Be bold, be different and look into other product categories for unexpected sources of inspiration – spirit label designs can be a great way to brainstorm ideas for that new chocolate packaging project.

4. Shelf impact

From a shopper’s point of view, a product is never seen alone and never in great detail. Because of the viewing distance from shelves and the fact that products are arranged in rows and columns, all we see are veritable patterns made of various products. It’s not until a certain pattern attracts our attention that we decide to take a closer look.

Shelf impact is something you need to test and explore in your designs. You can do this by imitating the placement of your design on an actual shelf and surround it by other products (for best results, use several rows and columns of each product). The more distinctive it looks, the better it sells.

5. Extensibility

A product packaging design concept should allow for an easy introduction of a new line extension (product variation) or a sub-brand.

Good packaging design allows for easy variations without loosing visual appeal.

To avoid this, you should always design product packaging with the future in mind. This means creating a visually systematic design which allows for easy changes of product visual or other information, so you get a fine looking family of products in the end.

6. Practicality

Practicality deals with the actual shape, size and functionality of the product container, not just the label or wrap. The more practical the product, the more sales it gets – when Heinz turned the ketchup bottle upside down, sales skyrocketed.

Turning things on their head helped Heinz sell more ketchup when ketchup industry was in growth crisis.

To wrap up...

Packaging design is a large and demanding design field always looking for designers who can deliver both product originality and sales performance. Packaging is the last message a consumer sees and a last chance to convince him to buy the product. Clarity, honesty, authenticity and other rules described above play an important rule in this process but are by no means the final word on the subject.

MAKING PACKAGING SUSTAINABLE

By definition, packaging encompasses every sector of the economy – everything needs packaging, from herbs and spices to nuclear reactors. As a result, it is a huge market, set to reach almost $1 trillion by 2020, up from $839 billion in 2015. There are five main segments – paper and board, rigid plastic, glass, flexible plastic, and cans.

All these materials are among the biggest sources of waste and recycled material, and sustainability is one of the key challenges for packaging companies. The sector is at the forefront of the fight to reduce waste, to lightweight products and to introduce a circular economy.

For some products, this is easy – everyone knows they can recycle cans, cardboard and bottles. However, when it comes to plastic packaging it can be a bewildering experience, not just trying to work out what type of plastic the packaging is, but also whether your local authority accepts it for processing. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, just 14 per cent of plastic packaging is recycled and at least eight million tonnes a year leaks into the ocean.

The newly heightened awareness of the problem of ocean plastic and the speed of recent developments in the fight against climate change, such as the signing of the Paris Agreement in the past few weeks, mean it is inevitable the industry will face growing pressure to make packaging more recyclable and degradable both by simplifying the materials involved and through innovations in design. Plastic, in particular, is likely to be in the spotlight, not just because of its impact on pollution because it is made from oil, a fossil fuel that contributes to climate change.

TECH INNOVATIONS

But at the same time, technological advances in digitisation, sensors and the internet of things are pushing in the opposite direction to make packaging more complex so products can be better tracked, secured and monitored.

“I think we’re at a tipping point: the intersection of e-commerce and sustainability,” said Marianne Rosner Klimchuk, associate chairwoman of the Fashion Institute of Technology, at the recent DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation. “This moment in time is that pivotal point in which sustainability and e-commerce are coming together [with] people looking to reduce use of materials and thinking about innovation in terms of e-commerce.”

Although the technology is too expensive to be widely adopted at the moment, many millennials expect 3D printing to transform the world of packaging in years to come. In the same way that many products will become increasingly bespoke, so will the packaging. Coca-Cola and Nutella have led the way in packaging with people’s names on, but in future individual designs may be possible as well and packaging may play an even more important role in marketing products as a result of augmented reality.

Ultimately, packaging will have to respond to the same challenges that retail as a whole has to face. In addition to megatrends such as the ageing population, changing household sizes and increasing urbanisation, packaging will increasingly have to tell a story to consumers who, thanks to the spread of social media, are ever more inquisitive and proprietorial about the products they buy. The packaging of the future will carry more information than ever before.

What is all this fuss about carbon footprint?

The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

What is Green Packaging and Why is it Better than Conventional Packaging for Humans and the Planet?

While green packaging, which is also known as sustainable packaging, are commonly known terms in use today, a significant number of people struggle with their meaning. Green packaging is the use of manufacturing methods and materials for packaging of goods that has low impact on the environment and energy consumption. In other words, sustainable packaging uses environmentally-sensitive methods, including energy efficiency, recyclable and biodegradable materials, down-gauging, reusability and much more.

The importance of green packaging to humans and our environment is incalculable. A great deal of energy is used in the production of traditional packaging such as plastics, corrugated boxes, plastic bags, and other packaging. Most often, the source of that energy is fossil fuels that add millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere per year while discarded conventional packaging ends up in landfills or oceans causing soil, water, and plant contamination.

By using sustainable packaging, manufacturers and consumers can eliminate these contaminants that destroy the atmosphere, soil and water of our planet. This can be done via use of lowering packaging content, creation of recyclable or biodegradable packaging, and use of alternative energy means such as wind, solar and biofuels in the production and transport of the packaging.

Plastics made from polyethylene are among the most widely used packaging today and among the greatest threat to our environment. Increasingly, manufacturers are utilizing recycled, recyclable and minimalist packaging wherever appropriate. Biodegradable plastics are also in use with mixes of plant-based plastics that replace some or most of the non-renewable petroleum or fossil-based resources used in conventional PET plastic (A type of plastic resin widely used in plastic bottles).

Today’s plastic bags from an increasing number of manufacturers are meeting the sustainable packaging threshold with use of Post-Consumer Recycled Polyethylene (PCR PE), which are plastics made from the consumer stream of waste such as bottles, caps and recycled plastic bags collected in commercial and residential recycling programs. Additives are used by some manufacturers to make the plastic bag biodegradable so that it breaks down over a shorter time when disposed of in a landfill.

When it comes to cardboard packaging, major manufacturers are creating corrugated cardboard from 100-percent postconsumer recycled fiber or virgin mixed with recycled fiber to create corrugated cardboard that is also completely recyclable and biodegradable. Many more are reducing or even eliminating the amount of corrugated cardboard they use in packaging, replacing it with foam blocks at corners and bands around the product. The foam is lighter than the corrugate and reduces shipping costs and damage that can occur during loading/unloading and transportation.

There is even sustainable packaging in the areas where molded packaging is used such as egg carton containers and consumer product packaging. The use of 100-percent recycled newspaper, which is mixed into a slurry with water, and vacuum-formed on screened molds creates molded fiber packaging that is resilient and strong enough to compete with most vacuum-formed plastic, expanded polystyrene (EPS), and corrugated designs. The used product has a high recyclability factor and significantly cuts the energy consumption needs in the production over conventional packaging.

This is really only a primer on green packaging and the materials and uses that make it sustainable packaging. As more Americans increase their understanding of the importance of sustainable packaging and more manufacturers increase their use, we can ensure a future with clean water, air, and soil for all.

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Creative Lettering - Typefaces

Design Project B Design Authorship

After Fridays creative type face workshop we were asked to do the following:

Create a poster with the typeface we created in the workshop showing at D&AD New Blood Festival 2017.

During the workshops, these were created!

From these crafted artworks, I was able to create my posters!

1.

2.

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Design Authorship

Exit through the gift shop (Banksy film):

The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work.

From that movie, I was able to conclude that everything is interrelated to each other. The whole idea of projecting your thoughts to the outside world and stirring your views and beliefs makes you an artist.Given that we live in a contemporary world where everybody wants recognition, people are not really conscious about judging their work and then projecting it.Everyone wants to take the short course!

TWO Designers who have strong ethics and a socially responsible approach to their design concept work.

1.Katharine Hamnett

Katharine Hamnett was born on 16 August, 1947.  An innovator from the start, she invented stonewashing, distressed and stretched denim, and caused a stir with her protest T-shirts. She also promoted the use of organic cotton and ethical manufacturing in the fashion industry.

Fashion-conscious consumers today want to be able to make responsible choices, and now more than ever they can do so. There’s an overwhelming desire for ethical fashion that doesn’t compromise on style; for shopping that can go hand-in-hand with making a statement of solidarity.

Making a statement with fashion is, of course, nothing new. We saw this in the ‘80s, when Katharine Hamnett turned environmental solidarity into a style choice with her signature slogan t-shirts.

2.Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager

Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager are self-taught fashion designers. They started up Junky Styling after they received lots of compliments for their deconstructed and restyled secondhand suits made to go out clubbing in during the 1990’s.

Their approach to dressmaking was initially borne out of a lack of money but it soon became a necessity for individuality and quality.

Education has enabled the sustainable movement to become more widely accepted and understood, and now many new brands think about sustainability before they even start designing.

Although no two items can ever be the same, as they are all handcrafted from deconstructed pre-loved garments, you can usually expect to see endless stunning variations made from pinstriped suits and men’s shirts in a Junky Styling collection. No transport necessary, the East-End design team just has to reach over and grab the discarded suits of the nearby city bankers to create a style that condenses all the codes of London fashion into something completely unique and always fun.

They want to show the world how brilliant recycled design can be! Their released book explains and illustrates the last decade of Junky Styling, the business and design development. It’s an honest account of the successes, mistakes, pitfalls and pleasure involved in running and growing your own unique fashion business.

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Creative Lettering- Posters

Following the work, we were asked to choose and experiment with a movie title.In my case, I chose VERTIGO as my title. After using effects such as salt and brush textures, I came up with a creative way of writing the ’vertigo’ word. As a task, we were asked to scan the artwork and then create a poster out of them.The final work can be seen below.

My interpretation of Vertigo: Death as both frightening and exciting.

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Creative Lettering

It all started with a session of creative lettering (Design Project B Design Authorship workshop). We were asked to create letters ( our initial preferably) using different mediums with ink. It was a full day workshop and we came out with these.

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Having watched the film Fahrenheit 9/11 in which President Bush is humiliated over his lack of ethics and social responsibility we were asked to research the subject Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). 

Which organisations/companies have a good CSR policy and why?

The Reputation Institute (RI), a reputation-management consulting firm based in Boston that launched in 1997, has annually gauged the way people feel about large companies, brands, countries and institutions.

RI tracks social responsibility reputations among companies by zeroing in on consumers’ perceptions of their governance, positive influence on society and treatment of employees.

For more info, please click here

For the third consecutive year, Google tops the list of companies seen as the most socially responsible. 

Unlike the majority of other corporations, Google does not release an annual report in PDF or other formats about the scope and range of its CSR initiatives. Instead, Google maintains a subsite Google Green that serves as the main source of information for a full range of CSR programs and initiatives.

Categories of CSR activities

Google CSR Performance

Figures are taken from Google Green

Apart from the range of programs and initiatives presented in the table above, Google is also engaged in regional programs in selected markets it operates. For example, in China Google has introduced Social Innovation Cup for College Students to solicit ideas to deal with social issues and to fund viable proposals, more than $3.6 million worth of online advertising has been provided for earthquake relief organisations free of charge along with other initiatives. Similar initiatives are regularly implemented in many other international markets where Google operates.

What do you consider to be your personal social responsibilities as a designer? 

Firstly being a fresh designer on the market, having environment-friendly design will make me stand out and earn respect as a starting business.However I believe this is not enough to be a socially responsible designer, so I went through articles which really defined the characteristics of social responsibilities and I think these are the steps I am bound to follow.

Since 1942 the Ad Council has been addressing critical social issues. Campaigns like “Rosie the Riveter,” “Smokey the Bear,” and “Crash Test Dummies” have delivered critical messages to the American public. A private, non-profit organisation, the Ad Council uses volunteer talent from the advertising and communications industries, the facilities of the media, and the resources of the business and non-profit communities.

Graphic designers like Tibor Kalman prodded fellow designers to take responsibility for their work as designer-citizens. Throughout his career, he urged designers to question the effects of their work and refuse to accept any client’s product at face value. Kalman inspired graphic designers to use their work to increase public awareness of a variety of social issues.

Across the globe as well as on an individual level, graphic designers are being challenged to create work that’s socially responsible. So, what is the responsibility of a designer when the design is impeccable but the client is tainted?

Being accountable to some moral standard is the key. A designer must be professional, culturally, and socially responsible for the impact his or her design has on the citizenry. Indeed, every good citizen must understand that his or her respective actions will have reactions. All individual acts, including the creation and manufacture of design for a client, exert an impact on others.

And even if large corporations are sometimes suspect, why should he or any designer refuse to work for Enron or any similar establishment? A designer cannot afford to hire investigators to compile dossiers about whether a business is savoury or not. Yet certain benchmarks must apply, such as knowing what, in fact, a company does and how it does it. And if a designer has any doubts, plenty of public records exist that provide for informed decisions. However, each designer must address this aspect of good citizenship as he or she sees fit.

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A peek @ Digital Media

In the fast-moving computer-generated world of animated, moving image and digital media design explore who are the pioneers? What are the current trends? What does the future hold, eg virtual and augmented reality?

1.     The pioneers

Having watched Onedotzero, Why Not and Kyle Cooper, I was motivated to find out about the starting point of digital media, I went through the book pioneers of digital and found out about Jaron Lanier, Danny Sullivan, Kyle MacDonald, Martha Lane Fox and Stephen Fry who were major stepping characters in the innovation of moving images.However, from the research follow-up, I came across famous figures such as  Kyle Cooper, Garson Yu, Karin Fong, Daniel Kleinman, David Carson and Stefan Sagmeister. 

Further to that, I was personally inspired by  Pablo Ferro. He’s a director, an editor, a producer, an animator, a special effects pioneer—a magician at communicating feeling. Well, Pablo Ferro has been stirring, haunting, compelling, entertaining and indeed scaring movie audiences for decades. He is the original magician.His title sequences that such as Dr. Stranglove, Men In Black, Good Will Hunting, Beetlejuice among others.

His use of typography and image. His sense of colour and style.His animation and editing technique. The way he presented himself and contributed to the design community? Ferro is so much more than an artist. And to label him a ‘graphic’ designer is an insult as he uses much more than mere graphics. 

Largely a self-taught artist, Ferro’s background in illustration, comics and advertising, combined with his hippy-dippy lifestyle and truly bizarre life experiences which gave him a unique vantage point from which to move into motion picture graphics. 

Kyle Cooper, whose opening sequences on movies like Spider Man, The Mummy and of course Se7en, which is considered a landmark of title design. But it is Pablo Ferro who I believe deserves closer study. It is Pablo Ferro these masters would turn to for inspiration and reference their work against.

The “retro” style so popular again in movie credits and title typography lately? Who do you think they’re emulating?

It is Pablo Ferro who introduced narrative and nonlinear dimensions in movie title design. And it was Pablo Ferro who inspired and paved the way for many title sequence, animation, motion graphics and graphic designers of today.

Movie titles are so much more than credits—they are the audience’s introduction and first impression. Title sequences take a variety of forms, from hauntingly beautiful to sublime, from ridiculous to hilarious, even shocking and hard to watch. Opening titles have become an important part of storytelling, no longer just credits to communicate title and actors’ names. 

I think it’s wonderful that the man whose artistry was behind so many amazing movie credits finally gets the credit he deserves. Now the world will better know the power of design and the legend of the man with the red scarf, Pablo Ferro.

2.     The trends

(a) .   Acer tactile exhibition

We now live in a contemporary era where every idea is explored and recreated and stylised to please either the creator or the viewer.

An exhibition of digital artwork exploring the theme of tactility and touch, to promote the launch of new Acer products.

Mother London had approached onedotzero to curate and produce an exhibition of digital and contemporary artwork that explored the theme of tactility and touch. The resulting series of interactive installations all responded to guests’ movement and touch in a variety of guises.

The 'Tactile' event saw Acer showcase its new range of Windows 8 touch-type products alongside bespoke interactive touch installations to an audience of press, PR and industry influencers at London's Science Museum.

This video shows you to what extent technology is fused with creativity so as to promote and enhance product overview.It triggers the senses of the viewer.

The following installations were showcased:

sonUmbra by Loop.pH - an intricate lacework of electroluminescent fibre that subtly responds to movement and sound levels in the surrounding environment.

puShy by Roberto Pugliese – an example of how to transform the tactile exploration of a physical object into a performative and collective sound-making activity.

Dune by Studio Roosegarde – an interactive landscape of light, which brightens according to the sounds and motion of people.

Oasis by Everyware – in this micro-world, virtual creatures are born, live and perish, responding to peoples' touch in various ways.

Nervous Structure by Cuppetelli+Mendoza – a projection mapped elastic structure that warps and sways with the user’s movement.

Engine 26 by Daniel Hirschmann - a collaborative tool that allows the combination of pattern, structure, colour, context and process to produce versioned artworks manipulated by a user’s movement.

Cloud Pink by Everyware – a touch sensitive fabric spilling colourful inks and sprays into the clouds above.

(b) .   channel 4 — turner prize

It involves a selection of promos for channel 4’s broadcast of the turner prize award ceremony, 2011 – 2015 by why not associates and Brian Harrington.

The trend in digital media consists of editing, 2D animation and compositing executed in house. direction and photography. It is to be noted that Typography has been enhanced and delivered in such a way that it complements the background to prove its point.

3.     whats NEXT?

So what does the future hold, eg virtual and augmented reality?

The future of media is quickly changing right before our very eyes. Digital is taking over the world, and the generational shift is in full effect as millennials and Generation X grow older and smartphones, computers, and tablets become the primary outlets for media consumption.

Advertisers are looking at using augmented reality as part of a marketing drive in order to attract new customers as well as retaining existing ones. This means developing an in-depth knowledge about their intended customers; who they are, what they need and why they need it. That knowledge leads to understanding their browsing habits and the triggers for buying. Consumers are increasingly open to augmenting their world with offers and information, even if Google Glass came too soon. 

The expense of pulling off an Augmented Reality campaign pales in comparison to traditional print or broadcast advertising and establishes a longer-lasting, deeper connection with your consumers via an emotional connection, which in the end turns to more repeat business and sales. Here are the real reasons to think hard about utilising an AR campaign.

Innovation: it’s always good to be first on the market. What AR is offering isn’t just a one-off ad campaign. This is a cutting edge approach by a destination marketing group, the first of its kind, to use augmented reality to change consumer’s perception. Whenever the industry catches on, nobody else will have been first, and whoever chose an AR advertising will be looked at as innovators.

Inexpensive: Print advertising in magazines tends to be significantly more expensive than online or digital ads. 

Emotional Connection: AR takes marketing strategies to a more immediate and sensory level with customers, allowing greater interactivity in the selling and buying process.  AR can create an emotional connection between what the buyer is searching for and what the product can offer. In short, it gives the product a personal feel when consumers can picture it in their own world.

Driving Sales:  In many ways, AR brings offline experiences to online sales by enhancing the experience and driving brand visibility. Imagine hundreds of people sharing photos of your product on their social media platforms every day!

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Typography Positioning Diagram

One of our typography activities involved making a positioning diagram based on 4 Typefaces namely :

SanSerif Rational

SanSerif Emotional

Serif Rational

Serif Emotional

ps> this is us working :D 

As seen below, paper cuttings were used to classify the required typeface. We got to learn a lot about the characteristics of typefaces.The difference between the serif and the san serif. Furthermore, we were able to differentiate between Rational Typefaces( which carry a formal and straightforward identity ) and Emotional Typefaces ( which projects a fusion of elegance and casual identity to it).

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Zaha Hadid Building

Sample Signs /Typefaces

Typeface used for a Zaha Hadid building : The serpentine Gallery

Typeface Chosen :

Geogrotesque is a semi modular with a subtle rounded finish typeface. All the characters are based in the same formal principle with its corresponding optical adjustments in order to adapt the system to an alphabet for texts. Although the type family has a geometric or “technological” construction, the rounded finish provides it a warm appearance, making the typefaces nicer and nearby. Geogrotesque has been conceived to be used as a display typeface in publications.

Sample signs for the building with selected typeface

I took two specific places of where I would place the designs in the Serpentine Gallery and my designs are as follows :

Bearing the sketches of Zaha Hadid in mind, I created the design theme based on space. Therefore the meeting room label is named as Collision .The Gender signs slightly defer from the common mainstream version and the whole composition is related to space terms and presented in a 3D environment.

Furthermore, the sign system will also include painted walls and floors .The colours will have a grey silverly effect and will enhance guidance throughout the building. It is very straight forward consisting of joined lines between characters to illuminate the pathway. There is practically no way of missing out the interaction from the building!

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Here East

Environmental Sign System by dn&co.

Having watched the documentary about the mesmerising architectural designs by Zaha Hadid we were asked to research on an environmental sign system (be it historical or contemporary).

Through my researches on Wayfinding Systems (wayfinding refers to means by which people are able to locate and navigate themselves on a particular platform), I was influenced by the contemporary signs implemented by Here East.

Here East is London’s home for making, located in the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. It is a unique campus which provide dedicated and versatile spaces for creative and digital companies. 

Here East includes shared workspaces and public areas to foster a tight community, alongside a shared yard with space for discussion and events, a landscaped canal side and artisan cafes, shops and restaurants.

CONCEPT INNOVATION

It combines unparalleled infrastructure with a unique environment to facilitate collaboration and the exchange of ideas. 

Here East’s brand identity, is based around custom typography—a revised version of Aktiv Grotesk and a co-production between dn&co, Colophon and Dalton Maag.

The interior wayfinding system is built around circuitry, finding a neat balance between functionality and play, and exterior signage takes the intersections, lines and nodes that make up the logo and gives these an impressive physicality, emphasised by black panels and illuminated edges.

Inside the building, large bright orange graphics

placed on the walls and floors guide visitors to different areas. The signage uses lines and symbols based on those found in electronic diagrams.

The emblem for a transistor is turned into an icon for the reception desk, while the zigzag resister symbol represents doors.

As in a circuit diagram, the symbols are connected by lines – forming a giant floor graphic that connects different elements of the building.

STRENGTHS

"Wayfinding is a functional necessity, but we saw an opportunity to create a memorable experience for the thousands of people who will interact with this environment," said dn&co creative director Patrick Eley.

The internal wayfinding accepts that a visitor may spend a little longer lingering in reception, allowing them a moment to engage and enjoy the iconography imbued with whimsical hidden meaning.

Visitors curious about the definition of each of the 20 symbols can pick up a postcard at reception as a guide.

Simple and clear design 

Strong references to identity

WEAKNESS

Simplicity in design may lead some visitors to confusion while navigating in the spacious complex.

The design goes with the saying: Either you get it or you don’t like it! ( There is no getting it and disliking it ;D )

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Typeface II : Century Gothic

Influences

Portraying a  spacious, modern version of a classic mid-century font, the Century Gothic design embodies the digital age with its light, round and sleek sans serif style, but still retains the graceful geometric look common to early 20th-century typefaces. (It was released by Monotype Imaging in 1991).  

It is strongly influenced by the font Futura, though with a higher x-height, and its design history also derives from two separate typefaces intended as Futura competitors.

Characteristics

- Century Gothic sustains the basic design of 20th Century. However its x-height is quite large, with ascenders that are very subtle and minute.

- The overall character of the typeface is influenced by the geometric style sans serif faces which were popular during the 1920s and 30s, and by the desire to give it widths compatible with ITC Avant Garde Gothic.

- One significant characteristic it hold, is its single story lowercase “a” and “g”. 

- The lowercase “i” and “j” have thick and rounded dots or titles.

Strengths

- It has been modified to ensure suitable output from modern digital systems. 

- Century Gothic is very practical for headlines and general display work and for small quantities of text, particularly in advertising. This sans serif font is clean and business-like. 

Century Gothic is found frequently in movie posters. It is also the main typeface for a few television stations, like The Ellen Degeneres Show and House.

- Century Gothic is eco-friendly.

A study by University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (UWGB) discovered the Century Gothic is the most “green” of the ten typefaces they analysed, and saves 30% ink from their previous default, Arial.

- It is supported by all major browsers on the web and is therefore considered a “safe” font to use for web design as it will translate well across multiple platforms 

Weaknesses

- There is a downside to Century Gothic, however; it’s wider than most fonts, so it takes up more room on the page. Depending on how much you need to use it in your print design, this could mean needing more paper than usual. 

- Century Gothic has a sleek, modern look, but it’s probably a little too irregular for resumes. Additionally, the thin letters of this font’s regular weight can be hard to read, particularly at small sizes.