Yesterday the first year graphics students and staff visited Blackpool to capture some of the unique typography that adorns the town’s facades. This post is the first of many that will document the results of what was observed and captured on the day.
The graphic design first years have recently completed their fourth creative brief roughly halfway through their first semester here at Preston. The latest task was to produce a creative fold in response to a given client in the context of an event or notification of some sort. An awards ceremony, a party or an office move were all potential examples.
Whilst there is plenty of room for crafting, re-crafting and crafting some more; staff were all pleased with the variety of responses and also the appropriateness of the idea in relation to the given client. Also pleasing was the evident consideration given to copywriting and how that interplayed with the fold, or reveal mechanism.
The below examples are shown based on their idea, fold and mechanism. But to reiterate, all will need varying degrees of further applied craft and design.
Here we feature some posters created by Year 1 Illustration students. They were each briefed with a band name from upcoming gigs at The Ferret, and asked to design a new poster for them. A range of drawing, techniques and wit on display. Enjoy.
Click the below students to see their presentations created for the first crit of their industry brief module. Bear in mind pertinent research, insights and reference; as well as initial thoughts, ideas and design directions.
The above extract is from Sarah Gregory’s current placement review as she nears the end of her 2 month stint at Glorious Creative, click here to read the full blog post.
The first years have recently finished their one week image brief, and some of the better solutions are shown below. Overall this has been the least well received of the three briefs. As the projects come thick and fast, and each new one requires slightly more input than the last, the intervening days between the briefing and the workshop offer a chance for students to get ahead.
Each student was given a pair of words which they explored through the process of juxtaposing interesting and pertinent images. Not all students managed three pairs, or even two or one of a good standard. The above is a good example though. Note the balance of crops, the interplay between contrasting images where appropriate, and simply the choice of good quality photography.
This is not an easy brief, and tutors were agreed that a large proportion of the cohort had not cracked it, yet. Most of the ideas were valid, but unfortunately image selection (and cropping) was not supporting the idea…thus leaving the viewer unmoved.
It was noticeable that a lot of solutions were the direct result of Google images and consequently suffered.
Some of the images presented were not shown as three pairs, but rather six individual crops which made any idea even harder to decipher.
As ever, staff look forward to seeing how these juxtapositions develop for final assessment.
Part 4 of our series on studio skills looks at the seemingly simple art of folding. The first instalment looks at techniques whilst the second video looks at folded examples from Andy’s archive. Both resources will be invaluable for both the 3D and packaging projects.
Upon further inspection of the cutting room floor, we did in fact find the first instalment of Ted & Andy’s Graphic Adventure inspired and starring to Swann & Morton scalpel handle and the 10A blade. Watch and observe, and using the advice within you shall avoid the pitfalls of scalpel and ruler.
Another from the recent archive. The featured PDF is the final year work of Harriet, who graduated in 2017 and is currently working at Pentagram in London.
In no particular order, this portfolio demonstrates brevity (both in visuals and copywriting), ideas and craft all presented with a clear narrative. It provides a fantastic yardstick for any final year design student.
Here we feature some of the solutions to the latest year 1 creative thinking briefs - typographic interpretation.
Each student was given three words to explore and express typographically in black & white.
A section of the studio critique wall
This task was all about understanding the meaning and nuance behind the given words. Then it was about how to represent and interpret the word in a simple yet creative way.
Students spent a day tracing and sketching their ideas from type samples.
They were encouraged to really look at typefaces and letterforms as shapes.
Restraint and simplicity were also encouraged in their solutions.
Also they were asked to take the format and page size into consideration. Exploring scale and positioning in their layouts and compositions.
In summary, this exercise appeared at first glance to be quite easy to gain a satisfactory solution…but much harder to get a truly outstanding one. Tutors stressed the importance of tracing from type to have an idea before going to a computer in order to render it.
It was noticeable that a lot of solutions had been rendered on the computer in the intervening period before the crit and in most cases had, in some way, suffered because of this treatment. Some solutions had begun to rely on Photoshop tricks which was a sideways step and in some cases a backward step.
That said, overall the staff thought everyone had a good solid direction, in some cases more than one direction. The advice given to each solution and the overarching points that came up in the crit session has given everyone food for thought.
Staff look forward to seeing how each solution develops over the semester prior to folder hand in at Christmas.
The Disciples Of Design are a global collective of design academics, practitioners, artists and students. We have one common thread – University of Lancashire in Preston, UK; and one common aim – the creation of an ever evolving visual hub for the sharing of ideas and thoughts.
