Week Six 21.04.16

Rationale

I chose to promote eateries, which offer vegan meals in Wellington central, as the unique aspect of Wellington for my brochure. The three venues I used were atmospherically very different and suited three different occasions, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I used literal illustrations along with abstract lines and colour to communicate the unique vibe of each place. Seize café is clean and modern. Midnight Espresso is energetic and chaotic. Dragonfly is relaxing and sophisticated. I chose to use a delicate, handmade visual style to help communicate the natural and environmentally conscious agenda of veganism.

  

Week Six 18.04.16

For homework over the weekend and during class today I continued to tweak my layout looking at visual hierarchy and how the eye moves around the page.

By making my Seize composition bigger the spread looks more balanced, and the eye flows from the title through the text, then to the image more seamlessly. 

Week Five 14.04.16

Today in class I worked on organising my type so that there is enough white space around it. This helped the spreads with a lot of text be more legible. This hardest spread to do was the Food and Drink page, because there is a lot of text and lists. Jason suggested that I hang my text off one point, I think this works well because it gives breathing space at the top of the page which helps with readability.

Week Five 11.04.16

Over the study break I worked on trying to soften my designs and giving them the handmade feel that I like so much. I started by doing more drawing of objects and textures to use. I made new compositions giving myself the boundary of having a meal as the anchor point. By giving myself this boundary it was much easier for me to make my compositions more cohesive. I focused on keeping the enough white space on each spread, to feel modern and fresh while combining strips of colour and textural illustrations to add in an organic, handmade feel.

During class we had one on one feedback, going forward from here I am going to continue to adjust my type layout to make it as legible as possible, and start looking at giving myself typographic rules to make each speed more cohesive. 

Week Four 24.03.16

In todays class I went back to the drawing board, because I wasn't designing in the style that I liked, or that is appropriate for my theme of vegan food. I want my design to look more illustrated and hand generated, which I think links in well with the natural, healthy and organic feel that my theme has.

I have illustrated some food to anchor my compositions. I chose to use a delicate and imperfect style, using watercolour and pencil to reflect the imperfections of nature and handmade things. 

Week Four 21.03.16

For homework over the weekend I continued to experiment by creating  spreads combining my type and collages.

 In class we had our interim critique, I found it incredibly helpful to have to opportunity to look at others work from outside our class, to help me generate ideas, and to see how others interpreted the brief. After talking to Jason and Phoebe, I realised I need to have an anchor moving forward in my collages to help me construct my composition more easily. I have also gone back to my design precedence to help me develop my ideas, as I have been giving up on ideas before I have given them a real chance.

Week Three 17.03.16

For individual study I started to combine by imagery and text together thinking about how I can make both work together cohesively as a spread.

In class we had one on one discussions with our lecturers to talk about what is and isn't working. 

After talking to Jason I have decided to stick with a landscape format for my spread and really focus on how I can guide the eye across the page. I need think about incorporating more layers of information into my compositions to communicate the essence and uniqueness of each location. 

Week Three 14.03.16

For independent study over the weekend I looked at visual styles that I like and began to pick
out what I like about the designs.

From doing this I determined that I like dominant text and graphic shapes and lines, but I still like there to be a delicate, handmade illustrative quality to the design. 

I also continued to work on my compositions, I am struggling to determine how to convey layers of information through my subject matter. After talking to Phoebe in class today, she had a different perspective when looking at my photos and helped me pull out literal layers of information from my locations, this will help me construct the ambiance of each location, I still need to keep experimenting but I feel like I have a clearer idea of what I need to do. 

In class we looked at the actual layout of our brochures and typographic hierarchy and readability. I spent today in class drawing thumbnails of possible compositions following a grid to structure my text. This was helpful so that we can keep structure to our compositions. I particularly found it helpful because for me having more of an idea of how the spreads need to look will help me compose my compositions. 

Week Two 10.03.16

For individual study I continued making imagery for my three locations and compiled it all together, this was helpful to figure out what imagery I was missing.

I also began to trial some collages, using the imagery I have. 

In class we started looking at visual styles, this was help to understand how visual styles can create a mood, and communicate information implicitly. 

Week Two 07.03.16

Today in class we all brought some work of designers we like to help guide the style we are going for.
My favourite images I found were,

I love the layout of this fringe festival Brochure, by Inject design. 

I like how illustrator Mile Donovan used could combined with photographs and graphics. 

We then moved on to do some drawing exercises in class using different techniques to explore line, shape and tone. This was particularly helpful for me to explore different textures and shapes within my chosen destinations in a range of styles. Below are some of the shapes and texture that I created in this exercise. 

  

Week One 03/03/16

Today in class we chose our favourite Idea and had time to refine it. I have chosen to go with places to get vegan food in Wellington, it has to be a place that you can get a full meal, not just an entree or salad.

For homework I compiled a list of possible places, Aunty Menas, Adulis, Midnight Espresso, Dragonfly, Ancestral and Seize.  I was having some trouble choosing because I wanted there to be a clear point of difference between the places. I was considering location, provenence and general vibe or ambience. After discussing my Idea with Phoebe she suggested I do breakfast, lunch and dinner, I like this idea because I can clearly categorise my choices this way. I also think this would be very helpful for any vegans visiting Wellington.

For independent study over the weekend I visiting my three locations and made a list of words that reflected the appearance and feel of the place and took photos.

Breakfast- Seize Cafe, Lambton quay 

                                                 Lunch- Midnight Espresso, Cuba Street.

Dinner - Dragonfly, Courtney Place 

Week One 29.02.16

Today in class we were introduced to our brief and were given time in class to brainstorm in groups a wide range of possible themes for our project.

We have to design a brochure that promotes three thematically linked recreational destinations or activities in the greater wellington region. They could include food & drink, recreation & sport, or arts & culture. I found it really helpful having time to brainstorm in groups, as we fed off each others ideas.

For independent study I chose my favourite idea for each category and explores them through a matrix to help me come up with more layers of visual meaning in the destination or activity.