my reflective summative statement

My Reflection regarding the Evolution of my film poster design:
While reflecting on the development of my ideas for the comedy film poster, I read this funny, but thought provoking comment from the internet, regarding Eddie Murphy’s appearance and the recurring, similar, red font typeface in film posters featuring this actor in popular mainstream comedies. The resulting film posters have a striking similarity:

“The guy loves doing wacky shit in funny costumes above or below huge red font, thats the only explanation I can think of. I mean, one or two covers is one thing, but really? Every damn cover from the last 15 years needs to look the same? And while the art on the cover isn’t all identical, at least not like those first examples, every one of those looks the same. It’s always either a giant mug of Eddie Murphy, usually dressed up in cooky shit, or its him interacting with other ZAAANY characters in a family friendly way. And, I would like to point out, other than Bowfinger, every one of these is after his “good” period. It’s very obvious that Eddie Murphy’s decline in humor matched his DVD and VHS cover’s rise in the use of red font. 48 Hours? Nope, no red block letters. Coming to America? Nope. How about Beverly Hills Cop? Really? Thats not the same generic family-friendly font either? Wow.” (Anonymous blog)

The comments are thought provoking; in the way that the reader is encouraged to realize that the designers were deliberately trying to maintain the hype surrounding Eddie Murphy’s history of successful comedy, through repeating the upbeat image of Eddie Murphy’s portrait or mid-shot, and those of his funny supporting cast against blank backgrounds. The easily recognizable font and typescript – bright red, with or without the white outline or shadows (possibly Helvetica or Comic sans) can be seen in a similar context to the distinctive ‘M’ of McDonald’s which had proven popularity and success with the public. (See earlier blog on evolution of 2 typefaces) It is obviously important to the movie producers that their movie product is anticipated by the public as’ just as funny’, or, ‘more of the same.’

While I planned my final comedy film poster to be structured in much the same way as the Dr Dolittle posters above, so the movie going public would easily identify the comedy genre, the evolution of my movie posters has not been as straightforward or as repetitive as the Eddie Murphy, film poster history; I was interested in the aesthetic elements, such as the placement of a credible and easily identifiable New York street background- note the gradual change in street views during my poster evolution; I am very happy with the final background solution as it creates a deep sense of space, the view behind the characters is increasingly cinematic. To my mind, this is a great improvement on the simply constructed Eddie Murphy Doctor Dolittle posters.

All initial images for my poster seem to have been conceived with such a strong idea of the back story in mind, that I chose portraits of people with thoughtful, preoccupied, non-funny/non - happy faces. My first poster draft contained a figure with an interesting silhouette, because I wanted to define his stethoscope and doctor’s coat in a subtle way. Unfortunately, subtlety is not a characteristic of mainstream family humour, so I was disappointed with the outcome.

Although the draft for the second poster was directly related to the obvious characteristics of the Eddie Murphy posters, with the image of the happy bald ‘Dr’ (Dr Phil) laughing crazily, my poster appeared like a duplicate of these, with no hint of a unique back story. The final poster solution is more satisfactory in terms of the interconnectedness of the characters; although my profile portrait is serious, the faces of the woman and the man to the right and left, are smiling – implying that they don’t take my character seriously; the back story is hinted at, enticing potential audiences.

I am also satisfied with the final font choice and typeface; it is huge, bold and echoes the name of Doctor Dohuge, while still keeping the similar red tones of Eddie Murphy posters. I think the addition of the tag line ‘Size Matters’ in white, adds another comic dimension to the poster back story, and the white lettering for the actors’ names visually links the  tag line.

Unfortunately to conclude my reflection, I realise that I still need to pace myself with my working approach to design. It is adrenalin that drives me, to create, often at the last minute; I have not previously documented the evolution of the wallet, minute manila folder and prescription- style ticket which I created as part of the design brief, to celebrate the Doctor Dohuge theme. Although I am satisfied with the process of creating the template for the tiny manila folder, and the realistic prescription, with the hand written typeface, which I deliberately wrote in typical illegible, Doctor’s writing, I aim to improve my time management next year.

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Logo evolution

Evolution of two well-known logos/ logotypes; a discussion regarding the success or lack of success of each logo:

·         McDonalds

·         Ford

Mc Donald’s – A successful evolution

Initially, in 1948, the logo of Mc Donald’s was not immediately distinctive; composed of three different letter types – Mc Donald’s in an italic script,( with serif) above the word FAMOUS, in upper case, bold letters, (News Gothic). Underneath, the word BARBECUE (perhaps a Walbaum type). The double line between Mc Donald’s and BARBECUE, on either side of FAMOUS, served as an unsuccessful attempt to unite the three different fonts, which appear too ‘busy’ to the viewer’s eye and consequently, easy to forget.

The 1953 Mc Donald’s logo, is perhaps more successful in terms of its greater unification; lettering and image are united inside the circular frame. The cute cartoon figure relates to the delivery of the product, by use of speech bubble” I am Speedie”. Also, the different fonts are now limited to 2, which makes the overall effect less ‘busy’ to the viewer’s eye. Mc Donald’s is presented in mostly lower case, almost a childlike type of lettering in bright red, which links it to the red diagonal band with white outlined upper case font, stating the words: FROM COAST TO COAST. Unfortunately, this logo does not appear memorable either, as overall, it is still too busy and complex, the little cartoon may be cute, but he is bland and not unique as a personality.

The 1960 Mc Donald’s logo presented the beginning of the evolution of the more distinctive ‘M’ logo type that 21^st Century customers successfully associate with Mc Donald’s; The’ M’ is seen with a diagonal line through it, all in gold, outlined in red, and the red word Mc Donald’s is underneath, linked with the red outlined ‘M’ above. The letter spacing of the word   ‘Mc Donald’s’ is more tightly spaced here, this was a hallmark of commercial graphics in the 1960s and 70s. (The ‘Mc Donald’s’ name is more generously tracked in the later 1992 logo) It is also noted here that the ‘M’ does not yet have the simple all – in –one format that it has today – it is formed by 2 interconnecting upside down ‘u’ shapes. This format seems rather complex and is not as easily identifiable as the later ’M’ shape.

The 1968 Mc Donald’s ‘M’ is the same form that it is today, however the company still saw the need to include the Mc Donald’s wording with the ‘M’. Here the Mc Donald’s name horizontally crosses the Letter ‘M’.

Colour changes are apparent from the orange ‘M’ of 1968 to the distinctive yellow Mc Donald’s ‘M’ of 1975 and 1992 where the Mc Donald’s lettering changes from the black print of 1968 to white in 1978 and 1992. The change to white creates a higher contrast.

It is noted that the designers experimented with the use of the rectangular box format in 1975, 1992 and 2000, perhaps in an attempt to unify the logo within a frame, or by using the sense of strong red negative space contrasting against the letters.

It was not until 2006 that the ‘M’ was considered a substantial brand in itself – instantly associated with Mc Donald’s and successful in its simplicity.

I see the successful evolution of the Mc Donald’s logo as corresponding to the shift from complexity to simplicity in advertising, which has occurred over the past fifty years. One explanation for this is that due to the complexity of modern lifestyles and the visual overload of typefaces, which the average person encounters daily in an urban world, the simpler the logo the easier it is to recognise and remember.

The evolution of the Ford Logo – not so successful

The evolution of the Ford logo also documents the movement towards increasing simplicity, yet I feel these changes ultimately do not reflect the individuality or uniqueness of the Ford vehicle. The 1903 logo appeared as an art nouveau - influenced, genuine article that captured the artistic awareness of the period and emphasized the quality of the car.

Perhaps the logo changes in 1909 and 1912 help express the speed of the car as the linked hand written fonts flow fluidly, however the decision to include the lettering inside the compressed oval shape seems to ‘ground’ the car. Rather than associating the Ford brand with quality or speed, this logo brings to mind mass production; the quick easy stamping of a car meant for the general market.

My preference would be to keep the original logo, as it has an antique, old family, pioneering feel to it, rather like an old belt buckle or a fine old whiskey. Perhaps the artist can put forward a case to keep some designs the same as the original which customers associate with uniqueness, and something special.

Analysis and Comparison of design styles, visual codes (semiotics) and references to be found in my artwork (poster for a family comedy)

I am also providing a contextual analysis, stating whether it is successful in its implementation and delivery.

As much of my poster is still in the conceptual stages, I will be presenting this blog in a back – to - front format, discussing the poster’s context first: For my contextual analysis, I am referring to the genre of Family Comedy made popular by such actors as Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Steve Carrel, Vince Vaughn…who have been referred to as ‘The Frat Pack’. Some of their movies are produced by Adam Sandler’s ‘Happy Productions’.

Movies such as ‘Fifty First Dates’, ‘The Animal’, ‘Hot Chick’, ‘Step Brothers’,’ Meet the Fockers’ and ‘Zoolander’, fit the genre of Family Comedy because their main emphasis is on humour which is often  produced by exaggerating characteristics of real life; Adam Sandler is hilarious in ‘Hot Chick’ where he appears in a supporting role as a stoned character elaborating on the way he can store marijuana in a little container…he is so funny because he keeps obsessing over something which normally a person would only mention once ;Rob Schneider in ‘The Animal’ is often funny because he can look so vulnerable in weird situations, for example, when he is ‘taken over’ by a goat on heat, to the music of Marvin Gay, ‘let’s Get it On’; Schneider is also hilarious in the gender – swapping role in ‘Hot Chick’.

I have attempted to reference the genre of simple family humour with my movie poster design, showing a mid-shot / heads and shoulders photo, of my main characters’; Doctor DoHuge, who is a reversal of the character Doctor Doolittle, and one of his ‘patients’ who are centrally placed in the frame.  Here, I have been influenced by many of the movie posters which concentrate on personality close-ups of the well-known actors in the comedies. Doctor Do Huge, is actually a homeless man who takes on the persona of a Doctor because he        thinks that doctors are popular with women. I will probably frame the midshot above and below, with the typeface for the title of the movie and the actor’s names. At the moment, I am still debating whether to place the bolder font for the title, either diagonally or horizontally. I have noted that the smaller fonts giving lesser names and credits are sometimes created in narrower typeface so they can be fitted in the poster’s frame; I would like to avoid this as it is best to have the typefaces unified.

I will choose a brightly lit background – either plain white, or a warm colour such as yellow or red, to indicate the happy/ comedy genre. I am endeavouring to make the typeface consistent – either all black or just one colour, so it will be easy to read and will contrast well with the background. The images will not be complicated with symbols although the character of Doctor Do Huge may have a white coat and stethoscope, to indicate his Doctor status, and he may be swinging this stethoscope so that it tangles around his patient. To reinforce that it is a family comedy, both figures are laughing happily.

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wayfinding an investigation

Way Finding Investigation

Provide details of the location: 

• Outdoors
• Trees/Nature
• Playground
• Concrete
• Statues
• Quite exposed
• Big 

MYERS PARK

Design Elements 

 

REFLECTION

What is the intent of the signs: 

To represent a playground, to show that you're allowed to walk your dog ON A LEASH at this park, to clean up after your dog, to show there are public restrooms at this park for men/woman and the disabled. The last image represents that there is a no alcohol policy in this park.

Was the design approach successful:

The design approach for image one was successful as it shows to small figures (children) on a seesaw which clearly states that there is a playground at this park, However; there was actually no seesaw at this park. We think the right elements in this image were used because with line and shape the icon remains simple and easy for people to read. This one was pretty clear to us. The only improvement I would say is to take out the seesaw and have a slide instead so its not misleading and people wont get false hope and expect a seesaw when its not there.

Image two is highly successful because obviously we could tell the figure was a person walking their dog on a leash which is quite specific because it means your dog has to be on a leash and not just freely walking/running through the park. The elements are obvious and straight to the point; we could tell it was a dog.

Image three was somewhat unsuccessful as it was quite confusing to figure out, since the "poo" looks like a little fire, the dog apparently looks like a boot and the "hand" looks like someone doing an upside down superman. The elements in this image could be improved to clarify things more. No, not clear at all. This one however, has a lot of room for improvement, better/clearer dog - more realistic hand and maybe draw the dog poo like the apple emoji; at least people will know what it is.

The fourth image is highly successful due to being internationally
recognisable, like we all know this image means public toilets. Who doesn't? Alongside the men/woman icon, there is also a man in a wheelchair showing that there are also pubic bathrooms for the disabled here at Myers Park as well. Shape is well used in this image. Yes, very clear. No we don't think this one needs improvement.

The fifth image conveyed a successful because it is a bottle with a red slash through it, Meaning some indication that this drink is not allowed at this park. Common sense tells us this bottle means alcohol and the red slash through it means NOT ALLOWED. So the colour red in this image signifies alert, attention, emphasis, and not/not allowed. We think this could be improved by adding a small indication stating that the bottle means alcohol.

 

 

                    Good walkways, nice wide path for dogs, people and cycling.

 

                                  The playground - No seesaw in sight.

 

                                       One of the statues at the park.

 

 

The Rockwell Typeface
The Rockwell Typeface
The Rockwell typeface:

The Rockwell typeface is a typeface belonging to the classification slab serif or Egyptian, where the serifs are unbracketed and similar in weight to the horizontal strokes of the letters.

The typeface originated in the Monotype foundry’s in-house design studio in 1934. The project was supervised by Frank Hinman Pierpont.

Slab serifs are similar in form and in typographic voice to realist sans- serifs like Akzidenz Grotesk or Franklin Gothic. Rockwell is geometric, its upper and lower case o, more of a circle than an ellipse. A serif at the apex of uppercase A is distinct. The lowercase a is two- story, a little inconsistent for a geometrically drawn typeface.

Due to its  monoweighted stroke, Rockwell is used mainly for display instead of long bodies of text .Rockwell is based on an earlier, more condensed slab serif design called Litho Antique. The 1933 design for Monotype was supervised by Frank Hinman Pierpont.

The Guinness World Records used Rockwell in some of their early 1990s editions. Informational signage at Expo 86 made a lot of use of the Rockwell typeface. Docklands Light Railway also used a bold weight of this typeface in the late 1980s and early 90s. It is also used by the Poetry publisher Tall Lighthouse for all their books, as well as on their website:

The New York Times uses a similar typeface Stymie Extra Bold, for the headlines and some other typographical uses in its Sunday Magazine. The letterform of Stymie Extra Bold’s lower- case ‘t’ is highly geometric, whereas Rockwell’s Extra Bold has a rounded letterform.

Are some fonts more believable than others? An experiment by a documentary film maker Errol Morris suggests, after polling approximately 45,000 readers, he discovered that subjects were more likely to believe a statement when it was written in Baskerville, than when it was written in Computer Modern, Georgia, Helvetica, Trebuchet, or Comic Sans.

Although truth is not typeface dependent, a typeface can subtly influence us to believe that a sentence is true. Could it change an election result? Persuade us to buy a dinner set? Change some of our deepest beliefs? Actually we may be ‘at the mercy of typefaces in ways that we are only dimly beginning to realize. An effect – subtle, almost indiscernible, but irrefutably there’ (‘Mommy, Mommy, the typeface made me do it’) (CO. Design)

CO. Design suggests that ‘it’s time we get to know our fonts better. Baskerville, stentorian and sober minded Baskerville, is a grave – faced TV anchor reading the news. Comic Sans is our gossipy idiot cousin. Morris has zeroed in on something we all implicitly knew; Typefaces have personality’.

To continue this idea of a typeface having personality, I have noted on the site: www.meaningfultype.com/rockwell.html, that Rockwell typeface is praised for its friendliness and warmth, despite its straight and angular form: ‘Rockwell is a wonderful example of how some slab serifs have an inviting warmth even when they should feel cold and rigid…so, how is it possible that a typeface can feel scientific yet playful, retro yet contemporary and sharp yet warm? Welcome to the magic of Rockwell.’

This writer also notes that ‘Rockwell lives many lives and can thrive in many climates. Malibu Rum uses it and it feels beachy and relaxed. Rockwell is usually the coolest person at the party. It is strong and laid back, gets along with everyone and thrives in almost every situation it is placed in. In its essence, Rockwell rocks’.

Glossary:
Font: In metal type setting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface.
Glyph: In typography a glyph is an elemental symbol with an agreed set of symbols, intended to represent a readable character for the purposes of writing.
Type: A printed character or printed letters.
Serif: In typography a serif is a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol. A typeface without serifs is called sans serif, from the French sans, meaning ‘without’


Bibliography;
Wikipedia, the free Encyclopaedia
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wikiRockwell_(typeface)
Are Some Fonts More Believable than Others?|(typeface)
www.fastcodesign.com>CO.Design
www.meaningfultype.com/rockwell.html

      


Milton Glaser

Born 1929, Glaser is one of the most famous graphic designers in the US. Everyone has seen the   I love New York logo, yet Glaser is known for his work for Bob Dylan, DC comics and the Brooklyn Brewery – which are some of his logo masterpieces.
For this blog, I thought I would include some meaningful statements by Glaser, which I am finding relevant to my own graphic art awareness:


Glaser thoughtfully responds to a series of questions asked by Graeme Aymer, from COMPUTER ARTS| INTERVIEW, November 25, 2009:

Graeme Aymer: When you look back at your body of work, what are the pieces that stand out for you – is there anything that you particularly enjoyed?

Milton Glaser: Be clear on this; enjoyment has nothing to do with accomplishment or level of performance. Enjoying it is one thing, and I have to say that most of the things in my life I have enjoyed. But I also think, what is so significant about my life is that I have been able to sustain my interest over such a long period of time. I’ve never been bored with most of what I’ve done.

Graeme Aymer: What are you seeing – in terms of design – that’s exciting to you at the moment?

Milton Glaser: Of course, you have to speak to some degree about the context of the work that’s being done around you but you also have to transgress and invent your own vocabulary. So I can’t say that I’m overwhelmed by the work that’s going on at the moment – but I’ve seen too much of it. I’ve always thought that if you don’t understand visual history, you basically can’t invent very much that hasn’t already been done.


Graeme Aymer: Is there enough understanding of the past these days?

Milton Glaser: Well, the field itself is dominated by fashion and by the idea of selling stuff, so you have to be concerned with what’s currently being done, and the economy is based on the idea of change and new styles, and this year’s whatever. Unfortunately, that’s not the real basis for serious work. If you’re more serious about it, you have to be more concerned about durability and ideas that go beyond the moment, so I think the best designers around are always designers that have a kind of broader look and don’t change with the prevailing wind. If you find that all you’re doing is copying what is already being done, you’ll have no position in the field. You’ll have nothing to offer and, after 20 years of doing it, you’re nowhere.


Graeme Aymer: How do you see yourself – artist, graphic designer, illustrator? Does it matter?

Milton Glaser: It depends on what you mean by ‘matter’. Historically, it doesn’t matter. History makes a judgement of what you do and that’s quite independent of this week’s typeface. When I look at Toulouse – Lautrec, it doesn’t matter whether he was a poster designer or a painter; he was an artist working within a particular medium.

Graeme Aymer: What is your relationship with Digital Technology?

Milton Glaser: It’s a great medium for extending ideas. But you have to come to it with an existing sense of form, if you don’t have form and understanding of visual phenomenon and don’t understand how to draw, from my point of view, it’s a very mischievous instrument because it forces you into patterns that it imposes.


Incidentally, in teaching, I find a lot of students beginning to resent the computer as too powerful to use without thinking. They now describe it the same way; they say, ‘Before I start to do anything, I make notes and sketches and draw because otherwise the computer dominates everything I do’ I think that’s an interesting perception. I also think it’s true.

Glassers statements regarding the 21st century work place for graphic Artists, strike a receptive chord for me because they encompasses my chief concerns; How to stay true to my style yet be current and 'cutting edge' in the contemporary Art world; The importance of staying stimulated by the demands of Graphic Art; Not to be too worned about putting categories on Art- illustration, graphic cut, poster designer, logo designer... history makes the final judgement; Finally, Glaser's recognition of the computer as a tool to help the artist, it is not the creator... We do this with initial ideas/sketches.


Bibliography:

www.creativebloq.com/milton-glaser-making-design-history-11094202

Graeme Aymer COMPUTERARTS|INTERVIEW

Nov 25, 2009

Patrick Parmenter

Storm Thorgerson . 1944 – 2013

An English graphic designer, Thorgerson was best known for his work for rock artists; Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Al Stewart, Europe, Catherine Wheel, Bruce Dickinson, Dream Theatre, Anthrax, The Cranberries, The Mars Volta, Muse, The Allan Parsons Project, Biffy, Clyro and Rival Sons.

In 1968 Thorgerson founded the graphic art group Hipgnosis, with Aubrey Powell. Between them they designed many famous single and album covers. Peter Christopherson joined them for later commissions.

In 1983 Hipgnosis was dissolved and Thorgeson and Powell formed Greenback films and produced music videos.

In the early 90s Thorgerson inaugurated Storm Studios along with Peter Curzon, it was run as a loose group of freelancers.

Thorgerson’s most famous designs were those he designed for Pink Floyd; the design for ‘Dark side of the Moon’ has been called ‘one of the greatest album covers of all time’

Many of Storm Thorgerson’s designs are notable for their surrealistic elements; it is possible to compare his work with that of surrealists Man Ray, Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali; like Magritte, Thorgerson liked to use aspects of the landscape to echo shapes of figure’s heads or animals, he also wrapped figures in cloth, as Magritte used to , and made deliberate use of flame elements like Dali.

Thorgerson often places objects out of their traditional contexts, especially with vast spaces around them, to give them an unusual or unexpected orgesen tended to use photography as a graphic medium more often than the drawn or painted image: ‘I like photography because it is a reality medium unlike drawing which is unreal…I like to mess with reality …to bend reality. Some of my works beg the question of is it real or not?’

Thorgerson avoided using computerised graphics and crafted his eye - catching, often humorus images by using physical props, sometimes oversized human figures, sometimes naked, and such traditional photographic techniques as multiple exposures and colour manipulation. One iconic cover, for Pink Floyds’ ‘Wish you were here’ (1975) involved actually setting fire to a stuntman wearing a dress suit over asbestos, and another, for the band’s Animals (1977) featured London’s Battersea power station with a giant helium – filled pink pig floating overhead.  ( Melinda C Shepherd Encyclopedia Britannica)

In an article by CD Anderson published in Imagine Athena, People, Ideas, Culture: Storm Thorgerson, Master of the Surreal Image 10 June 2014, Anderson states:
‘Before the advent of music as a digitalised intangible, music was a very real, physical artefact, and one of its most dynamic elements, besides the music, naturally, were the visuals of the album artwork. While it still plays an important role in the marketing of music today, during the classic era of the gatefold vinyl album cover ( the 1960s through to the 1980s) album art was considered a significant movement in modern pop art development, and no graphic design group defined this more than the Hypgnosis group, led by photographer Storm Thorgerson.

Bibliography:
https://en.wikipedia Storm Thorgerson
www.brittannica.co//topic Storm Elvin Thorgerson
Melinda C Shepherd
imagineathena,com/ p9494/ Storm Thorgerson, Master of the Surreal Image.
C D Anderson 10 June 2014

A comparison of works by Storm Thorgerson and Man Ray
 

                                 


Le Violin d’Ingres by Man Ray           Without shoes Jan 2008          Storm Thorgerson


                                                 


















Torso 1936  Man Ray                                               Planet Anthem Storm Thorgerson

  Cover for Pink Floyd’s album cover      ‘Wish You Were Here’    Pink Floyd’s album coverAnimals