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Showing posts with label Brief 1: 2920 DP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brief 1: 2920 DP. Show all posts
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Product shots from boards
Didnt wait to spam a load of images I didnt use form the camera as I took well over 100 shots. Here are the selected few...
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2920 Evaluation
What started out as a straightforward brief with a subject I hold dear to my heart snowballed into a much larger problem, with regards to cost and production values. Initially it was going to be a brief that demonstrated to myself and others that I am capable of producing a professional looking project that I could be proud of. I wanted it to be the crown jewel of my third year, showing to others that gaming culture and being a nerd is cool and can produce really interesting work. I wanted to stick to the sort of feel the Elder Scrolls' universe has which is a sort of late 13th/16th century decor to it, but being able to push it in the direction I wanted it to be and how I wanted it to look.
It began as a publication brief, creating two perfect bound books that would work as a set, with a rough idea for accompanying deliverables to compliment the content within. This would have been a perfect time to develop and lay the foundations of some incredibly practical bookbinding skills, which I did not even engage with. I did do some mocks, but I realised pretty early on that I am not that talented when it comes to crafting or creating perfect publications. It was around then I decided to outsource the book, partly due to my skills, but mainly due to the high content nature of the brief coupled with the fact I had not produced a single piece of work I deemed worthy to show anyone, be it professional or peer. The research turned out to be very useful, I got to visit two establishments to talk to the binders and even got my girlfriend interested in the profession. So not all lose-lose really.
The content of the main publication for the brief was compiled from 12 separate volumes, and I spent far far too much time deliberating over what type I should use, being terribly unfamiliar with both the inner workings of indesign and the formalities of type/layout. The accompanying publication (Pocket Guide to the Empire) that I started yet never printed partially because of lack of funds, but also due to the project as a whole and the changing of the concept if I decided to keep it in. I laboured over the minor details of both the type and layout throughout even until the latest possible time I could submit the final artworks for the brief.
The ornate stamp detail on the front was subject to much internal debate over the style it was created; do I use my own interpretation of the visual approach the game favours, or do I go with an illustration I have developed and feel comfortable with? This sense of delusion coupled with the angst and confusion of trying to see my project from a potential customer's/audience's view tended to cause a large amount of dissonance with myself and the alter ego checking for "fanboy" mistakes. In the end though, I just went with the design and felt it worked fantastically. The feedback from my mocks were positive despite most people not understanding the context/content of the brief, though this didnt dissuade me from the outcome at all.
I feel that the only major positive from this brief were the additional deliverables that were inspired from the narrative in the book, mainly the Treaty and the Morag Tong deathnote. I very much enjoyed going into the printroom and building up relationships with the staff, gaining more confidence with my skills both practical and professional. After I had created the map on the digital printers and tried doing foiling correctly I got a real sense of achievement not felt when in digital print, which inspired me to research the possibilities of getting a job in the profession.
This aside, I felt as if overall I gained the most practical skills and development from this brief, I love screenprinting, figuring out registration for each print, mixing the ink and producing a whole range of products. The deliverables for the brief had a focus on traditional fonts, layout, type and logo design. The logo design element was a minor focus, yet put the proverbial icing on the cake for the range of printed products. The use of simplistic vectors when applied to a time period was a shaky move, but like I said, I wanted the old to clash with the new and I believe I have created a project that not only suits the audience, but has an element of me in it somewhere.
It began as a publication brief, creating two perfect bound books that would work as a set, with a rough idea for accompanying deliverables to compliment the content within. This would have been a perfect time to develop and lay the foundations of some incredibly practical bookbinding skills, which I did not even engage with. I did do some mocks, but I realised pretty early on that I am not that talented when it comes to crafting or creating perfect publications. It was around then I decided to outsource the book, partly due to my skills, but mainly due to the high content nature of the brief coupled with the fact I had not produced a single piece of work I deemed worthy to show anyone, be it professional or peer. The research turned out to be very useful, I got to visit two establishments to talk to the binders and even got my girlfriend interested in the profession. So not all lose-lose really.
The content of the main publication for the brief was compiled from 12 separate volumes, and I spent far far too much time deliberating over what type I should use, being terribly unfamiliar with both the inner workings of indesign and the formalities of type/layout. The accompanying publication (Pocket Guide to the Empire) that I started yet never printed partially because of lack of funds, but also due to the project as a whole and the changing of the concept if I decided to keep it in. I laboured over the minor details of both the type and layout throughout even until the latest possible time I could submit the final artworks for the brief.
The ornate stamp detail on the front was subject to much internal debate over the style it was created; do I use my own interpretation of the visual approach the game favours, or do I go with an illustration I have developed and feel comfortable with? This sense of delusion coupled with the angst and confusion of trying to see my project from a potential customer's/audience's view tended to cause a large amount of dissonance with myself and the alter ego checking for "fanboy" mistakes. In the end though, I just went with the design and felt it worked fantastically. The feedback from my mocks were positive despite most people not understanding the context/content of the brief, though this didnt dissuade me from the outcome at all.
I feel that the only major positive from this brief were the additional deliverables that were inspired from the narrative in the book, mainly the Treaty and the Morag Tong deathnote. I very much enjoyed going into the printroom and building up relationships with the staff, gaining more confidence with my skills both practical and professional. After I had created the map on the digital printers and tried doing foiling correctly I got a real sense of achievement not felt when in digital print, which inspired me to research the possibilities of getting a job in the profession.
This aside, I felt as if overall I gained the most practical skills and development from this brief, I love screenprinting, figuring out registration for each print, mixing the ink and producing a whole range of products. The deliverables for the brief had a focus on traditional fonts, layout, type and logo design. The logo design element was a minor focus, yet put the proverbial icing on the cake for the range of printed products. The use of simplistic vectors when applied to a time period was a shaky move, but like I said, I wanted the old to clash with the new and I believe I have created a project that not only suits the audience, but has an element of me in it somewhere.
Submission Boards
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Open publication - Free publishing
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Open publication - Free publishing
Open publication - Free publishing
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Rough Boards
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Open publication - Free publishing
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Open publication - Free publishing
Open publication - Free publishing
Monday, 14 May 2012
Ok, so as an extra deliverable as mentioned for this brief, I was going to have to produce some low-cost prints. Due to the content and nature of the book, I have created a treaty that was signed by both the Imperial Army and the Tribunal of Morrowind. This treaty was snatched by Merevar of the Morag Tong, which caused the war to erupt again due to the carelessness of the guild. This is one of the reasons why I have decided to create this. The type itself needed to be handwritten in denotation, yet retain readability/legibility, so I opted for a decorative type that can be read easily. The format I rushedly decided to be B4, as it just works. I managed to get the screens exposed today and have mixed the colours accordingly to match the pantones I have chosen. Cant wait to see this printed! Have decided to use the printmaking room's handmade stock, thus keeping with the olde worlde feel. The colour choices are reminiscent of the desaturated nature of inks used around the hyperreal timeline and relate to both the Imperial Army AKA the Red Diamond Army and Morrowind's Tribunal roots, which relate to the colour of the original race of peoples there, which was a sickly yellow.
I dont think I can cast the dagger as my blacksmith is not responding to my calls. Genuinely pissed off about that.
Friday, 11 May 2012
2920: Sent off to Print
Ok, so I started the day hoping I could get everything finalised and sent off before lunchtime, but as usual, there is always something to go wrong, especially in my undecisive mind.
I called both Spink & Thackray (Leeds) and Shore Books (Norfolk). Shore offered a 12 day turnaround (inc. postage etc) with a better selection of leathers, which are sourced from J. Hewit. Expensive, but I want my book to look awesome. I had already mentioned that I think the book should be a dark brown/red to compliment the time period's production restrictions as well as the foil blocking.
I also spent the better part of the morning trying to find suitable textures for the pages. This came about as I had feedback from Jack, Ando and Paul as I made the final adjustments to the book. Using colours I had already sourced from the map I did, I applied them to the text, bearing in mind that the content of the book is being printed on 100gsm coated white paper. I decided that instead of some sort of border, that a text wrap would suffice and using a portion of the cover illustration would be suitable.
I ended up choosing the darkest brown, as the texture choices that I whittled down from the original 51 had to match each other in terms of creases and ensure that the text colour did not clash or lose readability. The textures themselves had to have the opacity lowered to ensure that the final outcome did not look cheesy.
Finally, I finished off the spine and cover illustrations/double double checked all the documents and made sure they were ready to print.
I called both Spink & Thackray (Leeds) and Shore Books (Norfolk). Shore offered a 12 day turnaround (inc. postage etc) with a better selection of leathers, which are sourced from J. Hewit. Expensive, but I want my book to look awesome. I had already mentioned that I think the book should be a dark brown/red to compliment the time period's production restrictions as well as the foil blocking.
I also spent the better part of the morning trying to find suitable textures for the pages. This came about as I had feedback from Jack, Ando and Paul as I made the final adjustments to the book. Using colours I had already sourced from the map I did, I applied them to the text, bearing in mind that the content of the book is being printed on 100gsm coated white paper. I decided that instead of some sort of border, that a text wrap would suffice and using a portion of the cover illustration would be suitable.
I ended up choosing the darkest brown, as the texture choices that I whittled down from the original 51 had to match each other in terms of creases and ensure that the text colour did not clash or lose readability. The textures themselves had to have the opacity lowered to ensure that the final outcome did not look cheesy.
Finally, I finished off the spine and cover illustrations/double double checked all the documents and made sure they were ready to print.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Foiling laminator style
Ok, so it may be a cheap effect in terms of how foiling can be produced by laser printing black onto white paper then putting it through a laminate pocket fed via the machine. Then it come out all shiny. Magic. It was also a turning point for the brief, as I finally decided it was definitely a good idea to go along with it since it looks so damn good on page and would contribute well to the project. It would match the map, as well as giving the book a particularly professional look. When the book ages it would gain t hat fantastic grainy effect that I so desire!
Here are the foil results, sorry for the terrible photos.
Here are the foil results, sorry for the terrible photos.
NO FAFFING ABOUT.
So I fiddled with some minor issues to make the design clearer and more effective in terms of outcome.
CANT WAIT TO SEE THIS COME TO FRUITION!
Crit
All in all, a very helpful crit that allowed me to see what I could not, in terms of where to go and what to do with my briefs.
The responses to my questions were answered in a range of ways:
(NR - Nat and Rob, MR - Meryem and Robyn)
1. NR - look at advertising/context, how it would be promoted, through the website?
MR - "It's strong enough that anyone who should know, will know"
- This means that I have successfully reached a closing point for the brief in regards to overall design, but need to look into how the magazine would be promoted.
2. NR * see above
MR - perhaps some additional print material - stickers, posters etc
3. NR - Watch out for widows, has good size and style, but use discolouration for the background to keep it in with the "old world"feel
MR - Yes
4. General agreement, just develop a bit more.
5. NR - Could have posters or packaging instead
MR - Enough publications, just need something printed or boxed to tie it all together.
6. YES!
7. NR - Keep eyes same over all illustrations, type is great and variety of type works for the identity, but use specific colours.
MR - Awesome, just keep going with them
8. *see above
9. Great extension, keep going.
SUMMARY:
+ I need to have more annotation on my posts to inform and explain everything I have done up until this point
+ Despite loss of files, I need to post relevant info/development work to enhance marks and presentation
+ Why am I doing something?
+ Applying deigns to a range of products
+ Visually impressive.
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Started messing around with textures on the book content to ensure a more realistic and olde worlde sort of feel with the entire project. But making sure that it wasnt overdone due to the nature of the brief and because the paper that it will be printed on simply will not be of a high quality, but it is something I am willing to put up with due to the price of the book itself. I tried out various dark brown tones for the book text as I didnt want it to be purely black, as if I was lazily superimposing the text over the page with no real consideration for the textures applied. I also had a suggestion that I could texture the type/content material, but I did not want to lose even a single letter due to mis texturing an area or even having to go through 86 pages and get it perfect and varied on each page. Not that high on my priority list.
Textures I used in the book:
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REVIEW
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Bottom of the Bottle was put on a backburner for regrettable reasons, however, I have quickly found a style that has been appraised out of crit circles and a hand type solution that compliments the style I am going for. I just have alot of illustration work to do and development, although I am confident I will have alot done for this brief as I am wholly enjoying the project and wish I started it sooner.
I will be starting the preliminary mural this weekend.
Bottom of the Bottle was put on a backburner for regrettable reasons, however, I have quickly found a style that has been appraised out of crit circles and a hand type solution that compliments the style I am going for. I just have alot of illustration work to do and development, although I am confident I will have alot done for this brief as I am wholly enjoying the project and wish I started it sooner.
I will be starting the preliminary mural this weekend.
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The most annoying part of this brief was making sure I found a border/cover decor suitable for the brief and of a quality that I would be happy with before sending off to the printers to be bound and foiled. I just cant afford to make a mistake in regards to production values, this aside, the die cannot be changed once purchased. I will be sending off the final designs tomorrow to make sure that I have enough time to produce the book itself.
I will also be re-visiting Spink and Thackwray to double check leather stocks and for a final estimate. I have emailed about 10/13 binders in total and they seem to have the quickest turnaround and best value for money.
The dagger needs to be modelled in 3DS and my blacksmith is incredibly awful at being in contact, despite my numerous attempts at contact.
The map needs to be foiled and the trouble came from screenprinting where a woman was cleaning screens for 2 days. No joke, she had the largest screens available and no one else could really clean their screens for processing. That said, the power hose nozzle broke, but has now been replaced. The map will be done by tomorrow since I will be able to treat the screen today.
The most annoying part of this brief was making sure I found a border/cover decor suitable for the brief and of a quality that I would be happy with before sending off to the printers to be bound and foiled. I just cant afford to make a mistake in regards to production values, this aside, the die cannot be changed once purchased. I will be sending off the final designs tomorrow to make sure that I have enough time to produce the book itself.
I will also be re-visiting Spink and Thackwray to double check leather stocks and for a final estimate. I have emailed about 10/13 binders in total and they seem to have the quickest turnaround and best value for money.
The dagger needs to be modelled in 3DS and my blacksmith is incredibly awful at being in contact, despite my numerous attempts at contact.
The map needs to be foiled and the trouble came from screenprinting where a woman was cleaning screens for 2 days. No joke, she had the largest screens available and no one else could really clean their screens for processing. That said, the power hose nozzle broke, but has now been replaced. The map will be done by tomorrow since I will be able to treat the screen today.
Open publication - Free publishing
This is the brief I am least pleased with in terms of quality and the overall outcome, I think it is safe to say I enjoy reading about and learning about science rather than illustrating its ideas and concepts. I thought on a limited basis of how to approach it and as a result, it is obvious that it is lacking as a significant brief. I do however have plans to produce a replica Times newspaper that echoes the many articles and stories published recently on the role of science in our society, how it is often disregarded despite the irrefutable logic and reasoning behind the practice. This will then be followed by the magazine supplement demonstrating the importance and nature of science. More or less finished, I will just be focusing on the paper for the time being and have print slots all next week.
This is the brief I am least pleased with in terms of quality and the overall outcome, I think it is safe to say I enjoy reading about and learning about science rather than illustrating its ideas and concepts. I thought on a limited basis of how to approach it and as a result, it is obvious that it is lacking as a significant brief. I do however have plans to produce a replica Times newspaper that echoes the many articles and stories published recently on the role of science in our society, how it is often disregarded despite the irrefutable logic and reasoning behind the practice. This will then be followed by the magazine supplement demonstrating the importance and nature of science. More or less finished, I will just be focusing on the paper for the time being and have print slots all next week.
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Code is the most complete and the brief I am currently most pleased about. The content took me ages to source and refine and edit and re-edit and re-re-edit. I do however, think it would be wish and entirely beneficial to the content and concept to propose a website that demonstrates how to redeem the online voucher code for the Virtual Geographic feature. I think my only concern is taking decent photos and finishing my new copy of quest which I received yesterday in the post.
OVERALL
General delays due to unforeseen circumstances or what is known in the insurance biz as an "act of god". Which can be easily rectified by producing and finishing off all the relevant components for the briefs.
My own self-doubt and over cautiousness in regards to my design work has halted visible work for which I am fully aware of. Once again this can easily be rectified by re-timetabling my weeks and making sure I stay on track for hand in.
Code is the most complete and the brief I am currently most pleased about. The content took me ages to source and refine and edit and re-edit and re-re-edit. I do however, think it would be wish and entirely beneficial to the content and concept to propose a website that demonstrates how to redeem the online voucher code for the Virtual Geographic feature. I think my only concern is taking decent photos and finishing my new copy of quest which I received yesterday in the post.
OVERALL
General delays due to unforeseen circumstances or what is known in the insurance biz as an "act of god". Which can be easily rectified by producing and finishing off all the relevant components for the briefs.
My own self-doubt and over cautiousness in regards to my design work has halted visible work for which I am fully aware of. Once again this can easily be rectified by re-timetabling my weeks and making sure I stay on track for hand in.
Bawda
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Bawders and decor
I really like the simplistic visuals I created, I can scale down a load of the larger items and start to get a feel for how the composition of the stamp will look. Creating digital illustrations makes it miles easier for me to apply to various products and what not.
Bookbinders and bookrum
Well this has turned out to be a bigger headache than expected, ok first here is a rundown of the companies who have replied and their prices/quotes services outlined:
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Monday, 7 May 2012
Dagger Progress
Ok, so I basically need to hurry up with this dagger I need to complete the 2920 brief, tried out some from my previous post full of sketches and started to come up with a more definitive structure for the form of the dagger.
I based it loosely on Morrowind's Morag Tong assassin's guild, overseen by the daedric prince, Mephala. AKA Spinner, webspinner, spider etc. So I decided that I would put a spider on the hilt, although I am unsure about the seal due to the covetous nature of the guild, however I am overlooking this due to the fact I want something REALLY cool to be part of the set and thus increase its exclusivity.
So this is what I have so far.
I started messing around with the size of the dagger itself, not wanting to exceed A4 format due to the dagger being able to be concealed, which alot of eagle eyed gamer trolls will pick up on. So I managed to round the handle dimensions to: 90mm x 30mm with 30mm losing 12mm.
I based it loosely on Morrowind's Morag Tong assassin's guild, overseen by the daedric prince, Mephala. AKA Spinner, webspinner, spider etc. So I decided that I would put a spider on the hilt, although I am unsure about the seal due to the covetous nature of the guild, however I am overlooking this due to the fact I want something REALLY cool to be part of the set and thus increase its exclusivity.
So this is what I have so far.
I started messing around with the size of the dagger itself, not wanting to exceed A4 format due to the dagger being able to be concealed, which alot of eagle eyed gamer trolls will pick up on. So I managed to round the handle dimensions to: 90mm x 30mm with 30mm losing 12mm.
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Bookbinding Prices/estimates
I emailed about 5 companies to get quotes on bookbinding and for Jenny's lookbook. So far I have not heard back from many but that is to be expected due to the nature of bank holidays.
I did receive an email today from one of the more prestigious bookmakers in the country, which is reassuring, but I doubt the price will be. I was tempted to mock this up, but it Just would not do ut any justice at all.
Anyway I got an email back from Andy saying that I could just pop in to see materials and have a word with him about exactly what it is I want doing.... I was going to use Spink and Thackwray due to the quick turnaround and location of their facilities, although they are limited in what they can produce as opposed to other more bespoke institutions. I will just have to play the waiting game for this brief I think.
I did receive an email today from one of the more prestigious bookmakers in the country, which is reassuring, but I doubt the price will be. I was tempted to mock this up, but it Just would not do ut any justice at all.
Anyway I got an email back from Andy saying that I could just pop in to see materials and have a word with him about exactly what it is I want doing.... I was going to use Spink and Thackwray due to the quick turnaround and location of their facilities, although they are limited in what they can produce as opposed to other more bespoke institutions. I will just have to play the waiting game for this brief I think.
Borders and B5
Open publication - Free publishing
Starting to come to a decision as to what sort of decoration would be needed for the front cover of the book including splashpage deco that will be foil blocked.
Personally I think I would prefer the border design to have an entirely hand drawn feel to it, with only minor corrections made digitally, to keep it in visual check with the map and the rest of the brief. I will be vectoring it but that will be purely because I want it to be able to scale up and work across a range of products in the brief.
Starting to come to a decision as to what sort of decoration would be needed for the front cover of the book including splashpage deco that will be foil blocked.
Personally I think I would prefer the border design to have an entirely hand drawn feel to it, with only minor corrections made digitally, to keep it in visual check with the map and the rest of the brief. I will be vectoring it but that will be purely because I want it to be able to scale up and work across a range of products in the brief.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
2920: Update
Right, now I have done more than enough for this brief until I can get in and foil on Tuesday to see how the final final map will look like since the colours are waaay off since I checked on them drying yesterday. I have however, got my updated map development, and a whole host of fantastical layout and type work for you to feast your eyes on.
Open publication - Free publishing
This is the 2920 content, must say that it is looking like a more resolved set of body copy, managed to get a decent enough document setting looking semi traditional and in decor. The borders I think I will lose, I need something semi-decorative that would double up as a divider of some sort for each separate chapter.
I know I said I was not going to produce the Pocket Guide, but I think I can produce it, possibly...
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Map Update
Open publication - Free publishing - More design
Basically, I wanted to get to a stage where I could easily test some pieces for the map, such as foiling the compass and possibly the border in gold, reflecting the Imperials prominence and wealth. I had a word with Andy in printmaking and he said that their textile printer is heavily booked up and I may not get a chance to get on it... worrying, but I have been put on the emergency contact list should anyone drop out. I hope so.
The tweaks were to ensure that the type did not look cluttered and had a consistent application throughout and set about moving bits and bobs around. I filled in and patched up areas where the text was not legible due to the pattern for each country respectively.
I also switched round the patterns for Morrowind and Summerset Isles, as Brian pointed out the borderline separating the countries was not clear enough and didnt look very good anyway. After tediously making my way through the entire map, I decided that I should establish some sort of hierarchy regarding the seas, islands, towns and country's names. So I have kept the same font family, but have used small caps for the countries, regular for the seas and italics for the towns.
I think it reads much better now, as well as starting to look like an actual map. The compass will be foiled tomorrow and should look shit hot. Hopefully.
Basically, I wanted to get to a stage where I could easily test some pieces for the map, such as foiling the compass and possibly the border in gold, reflecting the Imperials prominence and wealth. I had a word with Andy in printmaking and he said that their textile printer is heavily booked up and I may not get a chance to get on it... worrying, but I have been put on the emergency contact list should anyone drop out. I hope so.
The tweaks were to ensure that the type did not look cluttered and had a consistent application throughout and set about moving bits and bobs around. I filled in and patched up areas where the text was not legible due to the pattern for each country respectively.
I also switched round the patterns for Morrowind and Summerset Isles, as Brian pointed out the borderline separating the countries was not clear enough and didnt look very good anyway. After tediously making my way through the entire map, I decided that I should establish some sort of hierarchy regarding the seas, islands, towns and country's names. So I have kept the same font family, but have used small caps for the countries, regular for the seas and italics for the towns.
I think it reads much better now, as well as starting to look like an actual map. The compass will be foiled tomorrow and should look shit hot. Hopefully.
I also got an email from Spink and Thackwray regarding my visit to their studio to see how they make their books as well as discuss the options available for the production of my books. The last pieces of the puzzle are the dagger and the presentation case, the latter will be resolved before deadline. I just need to pull my weight to get everything else done on time first.
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