OUGD406 - Studio Brief 3 - Study Task 1 - Tower Works Leeds

Once we had found out our groups for studio brief 3 we were set a day long study task to rebrand Tower Works Leeds to set us up for doing all the branding for the exhibition. As a group I feel we worked well together, we discussed the history and the purpose of the building and came up with a concept pretty quickly. When it came to designing we all started with thumbnail sketches of logo ideas based on our concept. Initially we were a bit indecisive to which designs we wanted to use but once we had decided we worked really quickly on producing our outcomes. 

INITIAL IDEAS.

We had lots of initial ideas, in fact I think we had too many as we couldn't decide on one idea. After looking at the history of the building we found that it used to make steel pins for carding which is a method of taking raw wool and combing it to realign the fibres to be parallel. We really liked this idea of straightening fibres out and going from a mess to organised fibres. We took this on board and Thea came up with the idea below, representing the 3 towers, going from overlapping fibres to parallel ones.

We also took the idea of the steel pins literally - using pins that could be part of a stationary set relating to the purpose of the building now and they could be pins used in textiles relating to the use of the building in the past. We tried with the letters inside of the pins and to represent the 3 towers as 3 pins. I really liked this idea because it had a really strong concept and link to the building. However we thought that perhaps the concept was too subtle - people wouldn't know what the building was about with this logo and it lacks the iconic nature of the architecture of the building.

LOGO DEVELOPMENT.
We went with Rhys' idea for our logo as we felt that it was the most contemporary out of all the designs that we had produced. He started with an initial sketch abstractly representing the shapes of the 3 towers and mocked it up digitally. (He mistook the tower works for temple works which is another place in Leeds).

We decided that the colours didn't go well at all and we felt that they came from nowhere. Also the font choice felt too industrial - even though it is an industrial building we wanted to make it more welcoming.

Next we changed the font to one that was similar to that on the archway into the site of Tower Works and came up with our final logo almost. It was just the colour choice that we had to decide on. I really liked the idea of mimicking the colours of the bricks but as you can see here it feels a bit too dull so in the end we went for a bright orange to push the contemporary vibes.

FINAL REBRAND.

Logo as a collaboration

Letterhead by Thea

Business card front and back by Megan

Website design by Jack

Flyer by Rhys

To let sign by me!

Our Presentation:

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 2 - Study Task 1 - Book Club

We were given a book that we had to analyse the content, publisher, author and editors of. 

My book:
Typographica
Poynor, R
Laurence King
2001
Library Class: 655.2

I was given Typographica by Rick Poynor which is all about the cult graphic magazine Typographica, designed and edited by Herbert Spencer. 

Interestingly, the book seems to have two different publishers for the US and England. In the US it is published by Princeton Architectural Press. Princeton Architectural press have published many other theory or autobiography books to do with graphic design such as "Jan Tschichold: A Life in Typography" and "Zero: Hans Schleger - A Life in Design". They also publish other aspects of design such as architecture, photography and digital culture.

In England it was published by Laurence King Publishing who also seem to specialise in creative books. They have a wide range of different topics that they publish from graphic design to religion. But I do wonder why they have used two publishers for this book as Laurence King also has publishers that deliver to the US. 

When getting the book from the library it was classified with Typography books and book design books. I would say that this book isn't really all about typography or book designs though. It is also about graphic design's history from the 1950s to present day, focusing on Herbert Spencer who edited and designed Typographica magazine as well as the evolution of the magazine from that influencial period. Typographica was started just as things were looking up after WW2, rations were being lifted and most of the damage had been fixed. It was a time of hope and this gave room for a new era which I believe Spencer showed in his work. He showed the world the international style, a style free from clutter or complication, one that is timeless and could be used forever.

It is written by Rick Poynor who was the founding editor of Eye magazine, an infamous magazine for graphic design. He now writes for many publications on design and the visual arts such as "Typography Now", "The Graphic Edge" and "Design without Boundaries". This book is a collection of sorts about all the themes and designs that were published in the Typographica magazine and why it was such a successful book in its day. I find it interesting that Poynor has gone from editing and designing cult magazines to writing about them. This would make the book easier to read for designers and it was written from a designers perspective. 

The purpose of this book is to inform and educate about the magazine so it is probably aimed at students or graphic design professionals. It reads very much like a history book so I imagine it would be used for either research purposes. Or it may even be used for inspiration due to the heavy use of imagery within the book. 

Blurb:
"Herbert Spencer's Typographica magazine fused new typography and graphic design, avant-garde art, printing history, accounts of the Modernist pioneers and environmental photography to create one of the most remarkable journals ever to emerge from British cultural publishing. Typographica was unusual not only for the consistency of its editorial vision but for its longevity - it was published in London in two series of sixteen issues each, from 1949 to 1967 - especially since the magazine made, and was expected to make, no profit for its gentlemanly owners. Rick Poynor presents a detailed examination of the magazine's development and also provides insightful analyses of both its editor and publisher/printer, Lund Humphries. Spreads and details of the magazine are engagingly reproduced and accompanied by discursive and informative captions."

After looking at all the information about the publishers and the author I wanted to know a bit more about the magazine that it is about. Typographica was the name of a journal of typography and visual arts founded and edited by Herbert Spencer from 1949 to 1967. Spencer was just 25 years old when the first Typographica was issued. Typographica was produced in two series: the "Old Series" and the "New Series". Each series was published in sixteen issues. The magazine covered everything from newspaper typography to hebrew typefaces. Herbert Spencer (The editor and designers) sought to analyse contemporary typography and to present, with commentary, typographic experiments of significance but his aims and chosen title give little indication of the subject spread of Typographica. Each issue combined a variation of images and letter-forms drawn from everyday commercial graphics, public signage and printed symbols, with articles devoted to abstract art, French book illustration and photography. The first series of 16 issues was characterised by debates around the basic principles of design, the tension between rational order and graphic freedom. The glossier second series, also of 16 issues, reflected the exuberance of the 1960s and came in a more luxurious format, with a greater variety of paper stocks, overlays and even separate booklets inserted into the text and sewn lightly into the binding.

Example: Typographica issue 5

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/january/typographica-5-penguins-on-the-march

Studio Brief 1 - Final Crit

When reviewing my final letters I generally received good feedback. I was told that all of my designs worked well and that they were all different interpretations of my word which showed I had worked hard. Below is my presentation board for my final ideas.

Initially I was stuck between which idea to choose, it was either number 6 which played on the idea of a work in progress or number 9 which was inspired by circuit boards. I was told that the latter worked more as a interpretation of the word progress but the pattern on number 6 was effective. 

In the end after getting more feedback from more of my peers I decided on number 9, the circuit board inspired design. It represents progress within technology, especially within computers. I also feel this is quite a good design as I have been passionate about computers since a young age and I always want the latest technology so it kind of represents me, too.