Busra Yildiz

For this project our brief was to design a smartphone app. To start off the project we had a launch with Theo and David which they explained different types of apps that exist and things to consider when creating an app. There are several elements that needs to be considered such as who’s the target audience, what are the implications etc. Designing an app which is not already in the world is very challenging as the era we live in everything is now an app. Momchill Filev and Denis Grosz of the Harvard Innovation Lab illustrated the radical dematerialisation of the office desk between 1980 to 2014. This is clear example as everything on the desk, the printed calendar, the radio, newspaper these all became an app. The cables disappeared all we have on our desk top is just the laptops everything else has become part of the laptop. This is a huge shift from materials to apps. In this sense, designing an app is challenging however to start off the project I’ve started to do a mind map which focused on what would I want to download and use, what makes an app stand out. 

I started off with doing a mind map which focuses on my personal interests. One of my first ideas was to focus on cultural elements such as tourists. My idea is a Tourist friendship app only focuses on tourists, they will be able to make friends with other tourists around the location they are in. As some people travel the world alone or with a partner, using an app to have a chat with other people can be very useful and I think it could work really good as an app. Thinking about the details, I think every one would have a profile where they write their interests, countries they visited and facts about themselves. The profiles will need to be verified to avoid any safety problems. By tourists I want to focus on just people who travel the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the apps I found which was mainly about tourist guides on App Store. I did some research whether my idea was already existing and I couldn’t find something similar. Most apps for tourists consist of travel guides focused on day trips, sightseeing or buying tickets for events in your location. I think the idea of tourists friendship could work if I add few more elements into it such as finding cheap bars and food restaurants.

Another app idea I had was focusing on make up and beauty. I thought about different make up apps that already exists. Mainly they are shopping apps or focused on photograph which are full of filters for instagram. For my design, I want to focus on different make up looks and beauty tips.More like Pinterest where the person gets to choose the category of the make up look or beauty hacks they want to see and the feed will be all focused on that. In a way it’s like social media for make up/beauty. I also thought about men as well where there are many men who enjoy doing make up and also beauty hacks such as skin routines, how to look after their beard etc. 

I also wanted to see if the idea of make up social media already exists so I did some research. The ones I could find where mainly focused on shopping and apps for filters or photo editing apps to enhance your make up. I think this shows that there isn’t an app focused on the make up and beauty looks which has more of social media feel to it. However, this idea is very complex as I would have to involve men and women as target audience.

Also, I thought about focusing on food. There are many apps focused on ordering such as Just eat. I wanted to focus on something niche such as just halal foods in your location or just vegetarian food in your area. By this way, if your a vegetarian you don’t have to go through Just eat or other big apps which is waste of time. With this app, it will be easy to find high end or takeaways which do vegetarian or halal foods. Also,  it will have features such as rating, reviews.

I found an app Halal Local which tells you all the halal food places in the area and also travel guide. Halal Gem is what my idea was which locates all the halal restaurants in the area so I will not be doing that.

I believe that with this project I was able to improve my practice, develop my skills and I felt very confident with the outcome I produced. I personally think that I designed variety of layouts and systems to broaden my ideas and keep developing at each stage to create the layout which has a strong visual. Started off with doing editorial research which really influenced my work and enabled to decide on the style I have in my mind. I had an idea in my head once I read the article but as I did more research on contemporary editorial layouts I started to have a clear image of what I want to create. I knew I wanted what the tone of the layouts would be. It wasn’t going to be light mood or very dark the article it self isn’t one or other as the reader you get to choose how to feel. I used distortion as the key to represent the article and I believe this was the best way. It was a style where I had so much freedom and I was able to create many abstract designs. My personal view of the article was focused on how would it feel not being able to remember anything, that feeling of emptiness and confusion. I think I had to be be careful with the language as it is a very sensitive topic. The article gives you information about the condition and also allows you to hear the experience from first hand. However, it doesn’t focus on the person very much, the author puts her experience into context but you can’t see how she is feeling, how this condition makes her feel which made it challenging to create imagery which would represent the idea. As you read the article other cases are being told and you start to drift from the woman which is the main focus.

Once I read the article, first thing that came to my mind was distorted images, typography. The idea of distortion did fit very well with the idea of not being able to remember anything about your life. There are many ways to use distortion and I didn’t know how I wanted to use it. I did some research on other editorials, looked at different distortions and started to figure out what I want to do. I think screen prints have been the biggest inspirations for my designs. They became the main focus and main element of my imagery which I didn’t expect. I think the imagery is very strong with the message it’s trying to give. The first page which has the main hierarchy with headlines and phrases but the imagery is also in your face. It catches your attention to read what the words are as there’s parts missing which focuses on the memory she can’t full remember’ I focused on the ‘bits and pieces’ which she uses in the article. To support the imagery in each page I chose to use a simple body copy layout and system to complete the page. I think if I used a layout which is over the top or used many elements in the page it would’ve looked too crowded. I chose to use the type size at 10pt and leading at 14 as the pages aren’t so text heavy so by this way it would make it easier for the reader and also look better on the page. I also think the type face is good as it’s not too playful or feminine which looks bold on the page and I think sans serif font was the suitable typeface for this layout style and theme.

I think each page has its own way of telling the article and I’m very happy with the outcome. This project has allowed to me explore different editorial layouts and develop my knowledge grid systems, detailing.

 

 

This is the final layout for the editorial brief. I think every element on each page works well together as a whole. I am really happy with the imagery, I had the style I want to focus on which was distortion without being too cliche. From my research on colour, I chose the colour orange which made the everything on the design to stand out. I wanted to keep the body copy layout very simple and comptemporary. The whole idea was to made the reader understand the article from my imagery. The imagery was my main focus through out the project. I personally think this layout really gives the sense of the article without being too much or in your face as I could’ve taken the distortion very far and created more abstract designs. The first 2 pages I think are very strong in design and imagery. The imagery is very abstract, it catches your eye the at first glance due to the colour and the missing parts which increases your attention. I think the font choice suits the style because it is not too playful or feminine. It fits the context with the masculine and bold style to catch your eye. The second double page spread, I tried variety of different layouts and I found it very challenging using the screen print which is very strong in the imagery but hard to adapt into the layout. After the feedbacks from David, I decided to keep it simple and use the original form rather than in a circle shape as it didn’t give the feeling I wanted to, cropped most parts of the print which got rid of the sense of distortion. At the end, I was really happy with the outcome. For the last pages, I was very confident with the imagery, I focused on more distortion using the parts of the article, emphasizing some words which are powerful in the article such as ‘regret’. I also, liked the blurred text which goes well with the concept of memory. I just wanted to stay away from cliche designs and create designs which give the right feeling of the article. I believe the article allows you to choose what you want to feel. It’s not very dark or very happy, you can see from her experience too which the author puts her situation into context but you can’t really see how she is feeling. I wanted to have a balance, I didn’t want it to be too abstract that you don’t focus on the article itself or too plain where you can’t image anything in your head as the main purpose of the imagery is to help you.  The layout of the body copy I thin is also very strong. I added a pullout phrase from the paragraph to engage the reader and keep them interested as blocks of text could look. I think overall each page works well together, there isn’t big blocks of text which catches your eye for the hierarchy which could be a point to improve, I focused on keeping the imagery as first focus I could have added other elements.

Variation 1

 

Above is one of the variations of many layouts I designed. I think the first double spread in very strong in visuals, the headline is bold which communicates clearly what the article is. As David also agreed, I think that design has the strong body copy layout and imagery compared to the other designs. There is a divide between the imagery and the body copy however, I think the background colour really ties it all together. The second page I was not sure whether to use the design with or without the phrase next to the black pattern print. I like the way orange overlaps to the other page which breaks the idea of everything fit into place, as the original idea was to use image horizontal to break the system but I believe it doesn’t fit in with the other pages it could look awkward. When you look as a whole it looks out of place in the design. I think the third page is also strong in body copy layout, obeying the columns and keeping everything clean. I used 6 columns and 6mm gutter which is the same in every design.

Variation 2

This is another design which I feel like it works the best, it has a strong visual hierarchy in each page focusing on imagery but body copy does have an effect in the page. I think each page stands out in it’s own way to create the sense of the article. The chance of background colours in the second double page spread do create a dynamic style, this also helps the pace of the editorial. Also, body copy is on the left side of the page compared to other pages which I think adds to pace, if it was all on the same layout style it could make readers lose interest.

 

Variation 3

I made some small changes in the design above, I realised that the block text on the third double page spread was too similar to the other pages. I added a phrase between the paragraph and line breaks to add some detail the paragraphs. By this way, the reader will be still intrigued in the article. In addition, I changed the position of the imagery and body copy , body copy is not on the left and imagery on the right which I think for this style it works well. As the feedback from David he suggested I should use the body copy on the left and I do think by this way it looks better, it’s easier to read the article and you focus on the body text then the imagery. As I was confident with the first 2 double page spreads, these variations only focus on the last double page spread to finish it off.

 

FINAL DETAILS/PAGE NUMBERS

Once I was sure on the final layout I had to add the page numbers to complete the layouts. For this detail, I just wanted to keep it very simple and clean so it doesn’t stand out too much on the page. I preferred to use the font I used for phrases callouts which was Geometri231 Hv BT which is bold and thick. I wanted to use this font so it completes the page and a different font could’ve looked weird on the page. I chose to use 9pt and a line to break the page even though I don’t want it to be too eye catchy it still needs to be recognised on the page. I had a look at some examples on other editorial designs, most are very playful and very big on page. I didn’t want to do that there’s a theme which page numbers should also fit into it. I chose to use ‘0’ next to each number I think it adds an effect to the page.

I chose to use page numbers on only right pages due because the first page has a imagery which covers the full page I thought it would ruin the imagery, as a I spoke to Ian he said not all pages need page numbers so I decided to only use them on right side of the page, the second double spread has the imagery on the right but I knew it would work as it’s black and orange heavy, if it was on the other it would have to be in white as the background is black. It works well for the last page as the background is orange and black type imagery. I think the design goes well with the simplicity of the layouts and the heavy imagery.

Grid systems

 

 

LAYOUT DEVELOPMENTS

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The layout designs above are my final ones which I started to design some on Indesign.They all work with the imagery I have and mostly focus on large imagery on left with body text on right. I’m planning to use 6 columns and 6mm as gutter.

The design above is one of the first layouts I designed which focuses on large imagery on left side which is positioned in the centre and body text on the right. I think this design worked well together as the colour scheme makes certain elements such as imagery, headlines stand out which helps the visual hierarchy. In this design there’s a merge between two pages, the first page focuses on perpetual and second page I only added present which creates the image as it’s one big page. I’m not sure on the position of the body text, they’re not lined equally which creates a messy look and harder to follow the text. I didn’t like this layout as much as the imagery isn’t strong visually as I want it to be. I think it looks a lot on the page so for this I won’t be using this design.

Another layout which in this one I really like the imagery. Personally, that’s what stands out the most to me and I wasn’t sure on how to position the headlines. So the first design on the left is what I made first, I got told it looks to heavy on page with mixture of orange and white colours. Also, I think the size of the headline should’ve been smaller as the page looks really busy with the big imagery on the left. So for this, I made a more simple and tidy version which only focuses on smaller point size and just used white as the colour. Second one works together much better than the other one. For the body text, I used them as 3 columns point size 10. I feel like I won’t be using them as they’re not visually strong as I want them to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other designs I think I was using very heavy imagery and black background wasn’t working out well. So I decided to try orange as background colour. I chose this imagery of letters missing from the ‘perpetual’ print as the main imagery on left. I positioned it so it fits the whole page, to have the main focus on the image. For the second page, the word present is positioned  the top left near the perpetual print in thick bold font which is Geometr231 Hv BT and is consistent in all designs. However, I used perpetual on the right side of the page vertically in a thinner san serif font. I don’t think it works together as headline. I used two blocks of text, and a callout in thicker font above a paragraph.  I think the body text looks messy and it needs to be aligned on the same line. The second version is more developed which I got rid of the perpetual on the second page and focused on ‘present’ increasing the size to fill more space on the page. Also, I positioned the body text near each other and a small callout which is bolder and bigger in size on the right to create stronger hierarchy. I used 6 columns in this design because I think this way, I can focus on body text. I don’t plan to have heavy paragraphs on each page. I tried 5 columns but the text had to be wider which filled up more space.

In this version, I changed the layout of the title to fit the whole page, I used the whole title on the right page rather than just using present. I think this layout looks  much better than the rest. I think the body text needs to be lined together as it doesn’t look right when one is below the other one. I’m very happy with the imagery on the left, some parts go off the page which looks good. I used the same font as before in all words, I think it needs to changes maybe ‘In a’ should be in a different font to have the ‘perpetual present’ as the main focus of the page.

This layout is I think looks the best compared to the other ones. I changed the position of few things which I didn’t like on the design before. Firstly, I increased the headline point size bigger and positioned them under each other. I think this way it creates a better hierarchy visually your eye focuses the headline. As detailing, the body copy is all justified line positioned in the centre of the page in two main blocks. I added a callout on top of the first body text to help the hierarchy and something to stand out before the body text. It’s in bigger point size with a bolder font which emphases the phrase from the article. This was when the reader reads the callout, it could make them more interested the article as I chose a phrase which people would find it interesting and make them want to read more.

This is the final design I like the most. I think the headline looks well together I used the full article name as I believe this would make it easier for reader to understand the article. The small paragraph in the gap under the headline is to fill the same as it would have looked empty. I think that works well as the hierarchy of each elements goes from headline to the small paragraph then to body text. The leading is 14, I think this is suitable as I don’t have much text on the page so if the leading was smaller then it would look all cramped. I think this page is a good start to the editorial, gives a sense of what the article is about, keeping the font and body copy layout simple and clean allowed the imagery to be the main focus. Body copy has line break which to give the reader a sense of pause and which I think this completes the layout.

 

SECOND DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS

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For the second double page spread I knew that I wanted to have a different colour to orange, to help the pace of the editorial. If it was the same colour which is very bright and bold it could get boring. So for this, I chose to use black as a background colour. This is because the imagery I want to use in this page is not from the designs in the other post which are edited on Photoshop. I just want to use the original screen print pattern. I think this one gives the feeling of the article the most with black on orange it’s very bold and catches your eye. This section of the article to me is the most darkest part  where you find other people with the same case as McKinnon. So for this, I want to create a dark tone, main focus on imagery with bold typography to give the sense of the article.

 

I started of using the print in different forms to see which way would work well for a editorial. My first idea was to use to print as a circle so it’s clearly seen in the page, as the original from would have to fit the whole page which is the similar to the first double page spread. I want to keep the pace dynamic. This first design was focused on imagery and playing around with how I could position certain things. I used a  phrase which is in bold white font on top of the imagery. I think this idea was worked better on paper than actually designed. I think the phrase is too big, it covers most of the print. I should’ve used a different font which isn’t as bold. I used the same style as imagery on left side and text on the right place.

 

Tutorial with Ian- 4.3.19

I had a tutorial with Ian which I showed him the first two double page spread. I had some positive feedback. I showed him all of the variations for the first double page spread. He suggested I should use the last design with orange imagery. He also suggested for the second page I should position the circle in the centre of the page with the body copy wrapped around the circle. I liked that idea because it would create a more dynamic layout than same style in every page. He also suggested for detailing I should have gutter between 5 or 6mm. The tutorial was very useful as I saw I needed to work on detailing and develop my second page. As the next step, I’m going to design the wrapped text around the circle to see what it looks like. Also, focus on detailing, changing gutter size to 6mm and leading to 14. 

DEVELOPING SECOND DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

I changed the layout of the body copy and wrapped it around the circle. I think it’s a good style to use as a layout because I’ve  used similar layouts for the body copy because I just like to keep it simple and clean. But, this layout makes it more dynamic, helps the pace it’s different from the other page making it interesting to look at and read from. The two callouts above the paragraphs has emphasised the body copy drawing attention to them. I think the size and position of them are good. I used Geometri231 Hv BT as the font which is san serif, bold , geometric font which goes really well with the other font I have used for the header. I want to show David my designs so I could get his feedback as well.

After talking to David, I showed him my layouts and he didn’t like the wrapped text around the circle. He also said he’s not sure about the print being a circle, he said I should just use the print as it is without cropping it. I think I like that idea as well as the wrapped text doesn’t fit in with the style of other pages.

I started off with placing the print so it covers both pages, I think this way it looks better as I don’t want to do the same style as the other pages. I also want to use the extra marks from the printing which adds an effect and I was thinking to use that line to place the phrase. I think the block of body text is too big, it doesn’t look right with the other pages I need to cut some parts. Also, the biggest challenge is the background. I don’t want to use white background as it doesn’t give the effect I want. If I use black on the left side for body text and keep the image on the right it could look better.  The phrase is slanted under the imagery with a  bold font. I personally don’t think it works well, it looks awkward on the page as it’s too big.

I’ve been playing around with the imagery placing it in different parts of the page in different forms and I came to conclusion that using the imagery fit into one whole page works the best. I believe by this way you can clearly see the division between imagery and body copy. I knew I had make some changes in the layout as it would look too similar the first page so I decided to use the image on right and body text on left with black background to make the body copy stand out. I think this is a simple layout but the tone of it is dark. I also used the phrase in orange next to the imagery to find a place for it. But I think it just doesn’t look right.

In this one, I made few small changes just to see how it would look. I flipped the imagery so it overlaps the first page and used the slanted phrase next to the imagery. I think The image being slanted and over lapping creates a playful sense where it’s not just fit into a page perfectly. I think this adds some feeling to the design which I like.

This is the final layout of the second double page spreads. I again went for the simple but clean body copy layout. Using Cresta Regular for all body copy I think this font is compliments the other fonts I’ve used for headlines and callouts. The line which overlaps the first page near the body text really does add an effect because it’s not perfect. It’s not made on Photoshop, it’s part of the print which looks like it’s made to be there. I added a line break in the first paragraph so it doesn’t look like blocks. I think as a whole this page works well together gives a good sense of the article, also I wanted these pages to be in a dark tone as I believe this part of the article is where author talks about other cases and you get the understand the McKinnons condition.

THIRD DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS

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For the third double page spread, I used this design of the word remember distorted as it goes on. I used that on the left side of the page. The background colour is orange which works well with the imagery and ties everything together for each page. I used the most amount of text on the last page. Used columns to fit  into 2 blocks in the centre of the page.The body copy in both designs are aligned left which creates a messy look, I added some breaks in them to not have it text heavy. Adding a phrase above the body copy to add some hierarchy to the page. I might add another phrase under the body copy. The gutter is too big in the first design and much better on the second one.

I wasn’t sure on the imagery I got told it wasn’t strong as other designs so I decided to use the imagery above of distorted article and blurred phrase. I think this imagery is very strong in the message it’s giving to the reader. There’s both distortion and blur which both work really well together. I placed the image in the centre of the page. The last page is mainly focused on body copy. I cleaned up the body copy by justifying all lines to create a clean look. There’s line breaks which helps the layout.

I also had this imagery which I also think is visually very strong. I’m not sure on which imagery to use both very similar but this imagery has more distortion and I believe gives the sense of the article the best. I want talk to David and get his feedback. Personally I think, this imagery suits the theme I went for and suits the tone of the article.

FEEDBACK FROM DAVID

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After speaking to David, he suggested that I should use the final design for the first double page spread which has the full article name. He said the layout of it looks stronger than any others which I agree. He also said he doesn’t like the wrapped text around the circle as he suggested I created new layouts using the prints as it’s original form. He said said I could change the pages around so it’s not the same as other pages. As this could improve the pace as it would feel like it’s the same thing on each page. Also, he suggested I should do some changes on the last page on the body copy layout adding phrases between the paragraphs breaks. Overall, his feedback was very positive, I know the areas I need to make changes and I think once I correct them I will be finished.

 

 

This week I started to edit my screen prints after scanning them to start developing imagery for my editorial designs. I had some prints just typography based and some has colour and patterns. I made some individual ones with just patterns as well for the editing part so I could work on them on Photoshop. To start off, I did some research on distorted typography to have some ideas. The designs below are from artists I found on Behance which focused on typography distortion. All 3 use different style and techniques to use distortion in typography.

 

 

 

 

EDITTING SCREENPRINTS

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This is one of edits I made  few days ago. This could work really well as imagery as a large image filling up the whole page. I layered up two images creating more distortion. I tried to play around with the brightness and contrast to enhance the image. Most of my designs they are focused on large image covering the full page either on right or left and body text on the other page. So this design would work really well but it is a lot on the page, it’s very catchy so I would need to keep the body text and type simple and clean.

 

The other imagery I worked on was these prints focusing on perpetual on bright orange background. For this imagery, I focused on missing letters, I got rid of parts of the word perpetual to create the meaning of as McKinnon in the article says she remembers bits and pieces of stuff that’s happened. So missing letters symbolise the memories she can’t remember. I think as imagery it’s strong in the visual language. The bright orange background makes the perpetual stand out and increases the attention. For this imagery, I was thinking of using it in the first double page spread, as a large image on left. I think that layout creates a strong visual hierarchy as the imagery is the main focus on the pages, the reader focuses on the image then starts to read the article. The imagery of missing parts of letters fits in with the first part of the article her talking about the memories she can’t remember. So imagery works well with the article and I think this would be the one I most likely will use.

 

This is another imagery I created using the screenprint on the right. I focused on distorting the print. I played around with the brightness and contrast enhancing the white as it wasn’t showing up on print as white ink is hard to print, it needs many layers to show up. White not showing up did work for my article and the style I’m going for. The imagery on left I layered up prints and deleted certain sections and increasing the brightness of white text. I think this looks really cool, deleting the white space in the print made the text to be clearly seen which is wrapped in the pattern creating a distorted effect. I really like this style. Also, I left the parts which didn’t print out properly so it doesn’t look all digital because I want the prints to be the main focus of the imagery.

These are other variations for imagery. The design on the left is more distorted version of the design earlier. I’m just playing around with liquify tool on Photoshop to create different style of distortions. The design on the right is mixture of two prints. I used sections of patters from other prints, blending them into the background to create more texture and detail which I think it looks good. These are all of the imagery designs I created using all of my screen prints. I started to design some other things still focusing on distortion and patterns. I think my prints turned out really good but using them in editorial designs were challenging, adapting them to layouts was hard as they’re very in your face, bold colours and pattern which makes the page look really busy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The designs above are more experimental works still focusing on distortion. With these designs I focused one word ‘remember’. The word is repeated several times in the article which links with the perpetual theme. I repeated the word several times then with liquify tool the distortion increases as it goes down. In the end, the word remember isn’t readable. The one on the right is very busy on page with patterns going across the words which creates more blur. I think the colour scheme is really strong, bright orange and black make each other stand out in every design. Every design I made is in your face, nothing is simple or clean looking.

 

 

I carried on experimenting with words as seen on the image on the far left. I still focused on the word ‘remember’, first two of them as still as in the same style, I used tools liquify and blur to make the word hard to read. I repeated them across the page which makes you follow the words. I used a thick bold font because even though it was going to be blurry I still wanted it to stand out and be the main focus on the page. I also used some patterns from my prints blended in the background to add detail and texture. The design in the middle is just more experimenting and playing around with liquify.  However, the design on the right is something new. I focused on the actual article and used the last section of the article to distort using liquify tool on Photoshop. I think I could take this idea on further which is why I’m going to experiment with it and maybe use some of the prints to layer up.

 

    

 

These two designs are more developed version of the first idea. I used the orange background from prints and created more distortion compared to the first design. The design on the left, when you look close into it some words are bolder  such as ‘grudge’ and ‘regret’. I made these words bigger as to me I wanted them to stand out as powerful words which could make the reader more interested when they look at the imagery. Some words are made to stand out more so it catches the readers eye. If they were all the same size I think it wouldn’t be as interesting. The positioned the paragraph in the centre of the page to help visual hierarchy so it is the main focus. Also, I used some elements from other designs such as the blurred ‘remember’ in the background . For the second design. I created a more distortion so the  article makes no sense. Some areas such as the word regret is dragged down a lot. I used the words remember repeated which I think it does look good. However, I think the weight of the font and style of the designs takes the focus from paragraph in the centre. It becomes the main focus which isn’t what I want. So for the next part, I want to do a version without any other words in the background.

 

This is the final design I like the most. I think the way the main focus of the imagery is the distorted paragraph in the centre. It creates interest to look closely into the distortions. It looks simple however it’s a lot when you add body text on the next page. When I’m thinking about the layouts I want to keep first page the busiest with bold imagery most likely will be the print imagery. The third last page could be kept more simple and clean compared to rest of the pages. I think the orange background makes the distortion stand out which makes it easier to see the small words in the paragraph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next step after screen printing was to do more research about editorial and layouts. Seeing different styles gives me a lot of inspiration about visual hierarchy and grid systems.  When I was in the studio David gave us some magazines which had interesting typography and editorials. I took photos of designs which I think looked interesting and similar to my style for inspiration.

The editorials above are from a magazine called ‘Typography’. The design on the left is the one that caught my eye first. I think the style is really good, the blend of patterns and typography works well together. The light yellow as background really makes distorted patterns stand out. Which then the white type randomly positioned around the page really catches your eye to figure out what it is. I really like the distorted patterns in the background as if it those patterns together mean something as they blend into each other as some points. It looks like there were a type but been distorted into patterns. Also, the typography work on the right is also really good. The way type starts to distort from the ends and loses the neat form creates sense of destruction. The way white type is placed on top of a dark black background resulted in contrast which enhanced the typography and created a strong visual impact on the design. The ‘g’ is also really interesting as it looks like it’s been layered several times but slightly off position to create a depth.

The editorials above are also I thought was interesting with the imagery, typography work and layouts. The double page spread on the left, I think it really works well as the imagery stands out on light background. The contrast on dark and light areas do create a created a strong impact on the visual image. The layout of texts do work well with the imagery. The headline is created with bold geometric type faces with large point size to fill in the space. The colour black is used to go with the imagery on the first page but white on the ‘profile’ to emphasis the word. This creates a strong visual hierarchy as your eye focuses on the ‘profile’ when you look at the page then you read the headline and move on to the body text. This makes it easy to follow the structure of the page and the reader to stay focused.

 

LAYOUT IDEAS

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These are my layouts ideas sketched on on paper. They were very vague but the outline of the layout is there which I just wanted to sketch them on paper. These layouts David said he liked the most and has the strong visuals. The ones on the bottom 4 is the ones I feel more confident and feel like they could work well digitally. The first one design is focused on pattern on the first page, which covers the whole page. The second page is where the body text will be placed in the centre of the page to keep the focus on the page. However, I also have designs which imagery fills both pages such as the third one. The distorted imagery covers double page spread from the middle and body text under neath and above. I think this could visually work well but it will be hard to balance the imagery which is crowded, too much going on with the body text around it.

 

These layouts are more focused on typography and the position of type on the double page spreads mainly focused on the cover. I have ideas about randomly placing the type around the page which looks really good I have seen many designers work with the same style. This creates a good hierarchy as the reader follows the type to understand what it is. Also, other designs focuses on ‘Perpetual Present’ positioned in a slant across the page. This could work well but the choice of  font is really important. It can cover too much space on the page creating a crowded page full of text. Most of the layouts are focused on filling both pages which I do like that style I think it creates a strong image as a whole, the reader can see everything as one whole image.

 

These layouts were mainly focused on photographs or illustrations as imagery which is why they’re very simple and clean in the theme. I focused on the white space and using photographs placed randomly on the page as collages or one large image positioned on the centre of the page. Also, body text was going to be placed next to the imagery to fit with the context and gives the reader chance to create a visual image when they’re reading the article. I think imagery is really important in this article.  The style of these layouts are different from the rest in the theme and tone. These layouts are cleaner focused on the context. I think I will go with the first and second set of layouts as I feel like they fit my theme the most. These layouts were mainly inspired by the magazine design as I saw on Behance called ‘Paradiso’. The subtle style of layout focusing on the typography and photographs worked really well together.

 

 

 

 

For imagery, I knew I wanted to do something with typography, manipulating type looks really interesting to me and I think it goes well with  the context of the article. From the editorial designs I had a look at and the other designer works on typography I knew I wanted to play with typography. I’m still not sure on imagery so I thought I’ll start off with something I’m interested in.  So, this week I had a screenprint workshop I thought it was the best thing to experiment with type and create some backgrounds using shapes.

I created two backgrounds and some typography for screen printing workshop. I’m not sure whether I will use these in the imagery but I think it’s really good to experiment.

The designs above are the ones I created for the screen print workshop. I had this idea from one of the editorial designs. I made these patterns using the liquify tool on Photoshop. The reason behind these pattern are to show the sense of blur, nothing is clear in her mind as she says in the article “I know bits and pieces of stuff that happened”. They were really easy to make and I think with layering on screen print they could look really interesting as backgrounds for the of the pages. This style of manipulation of patterns and typography is really what I’m interested in and want to create for this article. The tone is very dark because I think this is a very interesting article and should have a strong imagery to support it. I focused on key elements such as the audience which is people my age. So what kind of imagery would I want to see or would interest me to read this article. Also, focused what kind of feelings does this article evoke. The designs above are the first drafts, if the screenprints turn out good then I want create series of screenprints, layering them, scanning and playing around with them on Photoshop, Illustrator.  The designs had to be black and white for it be exposed on screen but when I screen print I will use warm colours to layer them up.

Also, I designed these two types focusing on the ‘Perpetual’. The design on the left is what I used to expose on the screen print. This is because I think this style really goes well with the style I want to design. I don’t want the designs to be clean, sophisticated because that’s not the theme of the article, portraying the article in an abstract way is the style I’m going for. Manipulated type looks really good on some of the editorial designs I have seen.

 

This is the distorted typography I designed for the screen printing session. I designed it on Photoshop using liquify tool to distort the neat type to create sense of destruction. Distorted patterns and typography I think suits the theme of my article due to nothing being clear and neat in a way. Once I print these I will be scanning them in to work on them to create even more distortion.

The printing process on Friday.

 

SCREEN PRINTS

These are the first set of screen print outcomes from Mondays session. I am really happy with how they turned out. First of all, I printed the background in orange so that it will dry and then I can layer it. Once the background was dry, I tried the typography on the orange background in black which turned out good as black stands out on a bright background colour. I think the way type goes over the rectangle creates this sense of no barrier, or no structure feeling. The second print is the one David liked the most. I used a background which didn’t have full solid colour as I like that effect of some areas being lighter it creates a hand made feeling. I layered up the black distorted pattern but slight off the rectangle so it doesn’t fit in perfectly. I think by this way, it looks really abstract, the feeling of distortion and things not being perfect. I will scan this in and then work on it on Photoshop. This design would work well on it’s on own as first page. I’m not sure whether I could add a text on top as it could look too much.

 

These are the second sets of prints using white and black ink for typography . I think these also look good in the sense of the rectangle is not perfect, the edges are lighter and some areas didn’t print properly. The white ink I used for the type didn’t work out the first time as it’s really like to layer up white ink. So, I had to go over it several times to build up the colour. I think the outcome was good, you could clearly read it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These prints I only used black and white ink. The print on the left is the one I like the most because you can’t clearly see the type, white ink didn’t print on black properly  but I think this really worked out well. This idea of type being not clear and you have to look closely into the print to figure out what it says could look good. I’m not sure on how to use these prints on layouts as they’re very bold, it will be challenging to layer them up with text because of the bold colours and thick patterns.

I had few other ideas before when I started to work on the project. Most of them focused on photography, I thought photography would be a good way to show the feelings of emptiness or photography are collections of memories. The ideas I had for photography was creating a collage of a face from different parts of peoples face. As this could mean, she doesn’t know what she looked like in the past, her memory is what people have told her. For this imagery, I would need young and older models to symbolise McKinnon. I think, this would work really well as an imagery for the part she talks about photography. In addition, another imagery idea was take photographs of women which then cut out the faces on photoshop which also symbolises she can’t put a face on herself. However, I decided t not go with them and focus on the theme I decided and style of imagery I’m making with screen prints.

 

Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (SDAM) refers to a lifelong inability to vividly recollect or re-experience personal past events from a first-person perspective.As I was researching about SDAM, I came cross another article about 3 middle aged men examined for SDAM, reading the article there was very similar key points as McKinnons case. After the examination the results showed that none of them had no history of amnesia, brain injuries or any other health issues which could cause deficiency in memory. In addition, the 3 men were highly educated people even 1 with a Phd. SDAM didn’t cause them issue in the there day to day to life and they were able to carry on with there occupational roles. Also, when their memory for pictures was tested, the EEG signals associated with conscious recollection in healthy adults were greatly reduced in the SDAM cases, even though their recognition of the pictures was normal. This suggested that the SDAM cases can learn, but without a normal recollective experience.Said lead author Dr. Daniela Palombo, currently a post-doctoral researcher at VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University School of Medicine: “The SDAM cases had very little access to autobiographical details from their remote past, including visualization of those experiences and their emotional state. We also found significant activation reductions in core regions known to play a role in autobiographical memory, which may provide some of the explanation for their inability to mentally project the self through time and their reduced visualization abilities, compared to the matched controls.”

 

 

 

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References:

https://reliawire.com/severely-deficient-autobiographical-memory/

http://sdamstudy.weebly.com/what-is-sdam.html

Influence of colour on Memory Performance

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Researching about SDAM in one of the articles I read that there are some colours which help to stimulate brain for memory. These colours are used in tests for people who have memory loss etc. I thought this could be an interesting topic to research and with the research I will decide what colour schemes I will have in my editorial designs. Colour is believed to be the most important visual experience to human beings. It functions as a powerful information channel to the human cognitive system and has been found to play a significant role in enhancing memory performance. Colour can be a very effective element in many areas such as learning and educational setting. In addition, colour is very important in marketing as a marketing study has found that colour can increase brand recognition by up to %80. An example for this is big fast food chains such as McDonalds, KFC. The colours used in the branding such as red and yellow is recognised by everyone around the world. It is a key element in influencing people’s attention.  According to White, coloured advertisements can attract people to read the advertisement up to 42% more often than the non-coloured advertisement. This shows the importance of colour in making the information or message more attractive to the public.

In addition, colours have an important link with memory. Colours can enhance the memory performance because it increases the level of attention and give rise to an emotional arouse. So the higher the level of attention the more likely the information will be remembered. In other words, when you highlight key facts in an article you are more likely to remember the highlighted information then the non highlighted section. Farley and Grant came out with a theory that some colours have a greater effect on attention. They did an experiment with coloured and non coloured presentations on memory performance. The results showed that coloured presentation in better attention. Especially warm colours types such as yellow, red and orange have been found to have a greater effect on attention compared to cool type of colours such as brown and grey. In my editorial design, using warm colours such as yellow or orange in imagery will increase the level of attention and keep the reader interested. In addition, warm colours have been used in Alzheimer tests to help the memory performance.

Wichmann, Sharpe, and Gegenfurtner , found a clear advantage of colour on visual memory. In their experiment, they tested the colour recognition of the participants on the 50 millisecond to one second duration. The participants reported 5% to 10% better performance on colours over black-and-white condition. In their second experiment, the same images were used but with the exposure duration of one second and in six different image contrasts; 5%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 70%, and 100%. These contrasts were applied in colour and black-and-white images. According to the authors, the images in the low contrast level were hardly visible and seen.

In my editorial designs, the use of warm colours will increase the level of attention but also keep them interested in the article. As my initial idea I was planning on sticking to simple high contrast colours such as black and white. However, looking at other editorial designs as doing some research on importance of colour I have come to a conclusion that the use of bright colour in imagery or typography makes the design stand out for the readers. Most of the editorial designs I liked, the designer used a bold bright colour in some parts of the design. Considering the context and the tone of the article I think I will keep to black and white as key colour but I want to use bright orange in imagery or as back ground in some pages. This will help the pace as the reader will not lose interest and would visually make it more interesting.

The use of colour in the editorial designs above I think are really good. Especially the second design which the context is about energy, orange is known to be uplifting colour. They used is as the back ground colour for text with a bold sophisticated type. I think it creates a strong visual hierarchy. As the ‘Cool hands from the get-go’ is positioned right in centre which is were your eye is drawn to and contrast between light yellow and dark orange makes everything stand out.  The design on the left is also really good, bright bold orange used as background for imagery is the main focus. It’s a large scale imagery positioned to fit the whole page. Looking at these two examples really gives me an idea on colour scheme and the how to create a strong visual hierarchy.

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References :

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3743993/

https://www.wired.com/2009/02/coloreffects/

https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/how-do-colors-influence-learning

https://www.behance.net/gallery/72626425/Klassik-Radio

https://www.behance.net/gallery/73869991/Paradiso-Issue-No-07