Self Expression Poster

Self Expression Poster

by Al Holt (4565)

Concept

Poster Concept

By Al Holt (4565)

With a slogan such as “Me Designer” I wish to take a more broad approach to deliver a visual representation of myself. What I have put together on my mood board will lead to the eventual construction of my poster, all the characters and ideologies have been an inspiration for me at one point or another, therefore I intend to give a sort of dark stylisation to my creation. On top of that I also hope to give off a gritty, dirty persona to the poster, or at least one that will inflict those feelings in the viewer. Christopher Hitchens once said in an interview, “If you can write, you can talk”, I intend to base my poster around this ideology. Where does design come into play? Well in terms of design, the construction of language uses the principles of design as much as any image. I intend to follow Gestalt Law as I construct my poster, implementing factors such as “closure” and “similarity” for maximum effect. Now this idea is still raw, but by combining typography and facial structure I hope to compose a gritty and descriptive image, think the poster for Pink Floyd's “The Wall”*. The poster hopefully be composed of text (original), although at this point this is highly theoretical as I do not know whether it will be able to convey the grotesque. 

Pink Floyd "The Wall"

http://s.ecrater.com/stores/233341/4ed024c5ae60e_233341n.jpg

Mood board

Mood Board for Poster

What drives my Ideas.

Poster Idea/Mindmap

Idea & Mind map

The Idea








The Mind Map

Works of Stefan Stagmeister

Works of Stefan Stagmeister

Written by Al Holt

As I was looking at the works of Stefan Sagmeister, I noticed that for the most part they all share similar elements (or at least design principles). Stagmeister's use of the Gestalt law of proximity is very apparent throughout his creations. The three selected works of his that I uploaded are some examples of his designs.

“Gun Punctuation” definitely grabbed my attention the most and I would gladly say that this is my favourite of his works. It is a very bold and solid image, yet it is composed of many smaller figures. As well as having all these shapes fitting together very flush, they also appear to have a gritty texture, giving the image a further industrial appeal.

“Studio: SGP” is what I can only assume is an album cover. It is not the most extravagant of works, however it does have its own appeal.The use of symmetry and perspective (font) make this work stand out, rather than being bland and flat it has a certain pop to it.

“Abstract” is an example is Stagmeister's interactive work. Again, this is a very symmetrical piece, yet in this example it is very fulfilling. The use of colour brings it more contrast from its surroundings. The design on the back of the cover also works as an instruction manual, but it's precision is very appealing, thus making it an artwork in itself. These instructions (as simple as they are) seem like a heavily thought out mathematical equation, a robotic mindset.  

Composition Examples

Composition Examples

By Al Holt (4565)

Postcard Design (with Colour)

Postcard Design (with Colour)

by Al Holt (4565)

Postcard Design

Postcard Design

Al Holt (4565)

 For my postcard design, I for the time being made it quite simple. Applying the rules of closure and continuation throughout the series, more so as seen in the coloured versions. The mercury based postcard using the letters 'Hg', uses raification to build the letter 'H'. The theme I chose too go with is quite literal, employing the use of 'elements' from the periodic table as design elements. All four elements are from four separate groups, yet all these element fall into a group of some form of 
metal;




Sodium (Na) – Alkali Metals

Mercury (Hg) – Transition Metal

Tin (Sn) – Basic/Post-transition                                                        Metal

Tellurium (Te) – Semi/Metalloid

The colouring of the postcards is based on the tints the selected blocks on most common periodic tables have. The overall lighting will be set to tints (light) rather than shades.

Postcards Mindmap

Colour Theory Part Two (Examples)

Colour Theory Part Two (Examples)

In this blog post I will be showing some examples of colour theory; primary, secondary, tertiary, analogues and complementary.

Primary

Firstly, as much as I despise the character “Superman”, I must admit that he is the perfect embodiment of primary colours. Providing the example of the film poster for Superman Returns, his outfit consists of red, yellow and blue set at full saturation.

 

Secondary

The image of secondary colours is another superhero, “The Incredible Hulk”. Even though I tried to search for a movie poster that included all three colours (purple, orange, green), it seemed next to impossible. The Hulk comic books however were a prime example that related to this colour theory.

Tertiary

In my third example I show the use of tertiary colours in the film poster “Smokin' Aces”, this poster uses the colours; azure, light orange, violet, rose, and a darkened chartreuse. The colours are almost entirely evenly spread out, much like the odds of the characters in the films premise.

 

Analogues

Example four features a fan made poster for the film “Bronson”, a bio-pic of the British convict Charles Bronson. The colours in this image do line up, however they may be a tad too dark for the regular colour wheel, yet the principle is there. The colours range from very dark orange (brown?) to very light/faded orange. 

Complementary

The final image uses complementary colours. The image is of Eric Bana portraying the famed Australian criminal Chopper Read in the film “Chopper”. The film had many colourfully tinted shots, this one in particular shows the juxtaposition of the lighting at the bar in the background.  

Colour Theory Part One

Colour Theory Part One

Al Holt (4565)

Principles of Gestalt Law

Principles of Gestalt Law

by Al Holt (4565)

Font Design Poster and Overview

Font Design Poster and Overview

By Al Holt (4565)

                                                         

                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                       

Works of M.C Escher

Works of M.C Escher

Written by Al Holt (4565)

                                                                                                                       

The first artwork of the drawing hands uses the principle of continuation as it works over itself in a circular motion. I found this work to also contain a principle that once upon time I came across in a work of Friedrich Nietzsche (either “Beyond Good and Evil” or “Thus spoke Zarathustra”) called “Causa Sui”, translated as “Cause of itself”. This principle was given as an example of describing a self creating god, however it can be implied here as this piece shows an artwork in perpetual   motion.

                                                                                                                                    

The second image of black and white swans flying about uses the principle of proximity, due to the tight knit grouping of the birds, this bevy of swans is seen and one formation per shade (white and black), thus we differentiate between them by shade rather than shape, even though there is but one group. Another principle used here is “Similarity”, the flight paths of the two groups creates a lemniscate form, the infinity symbol. We see the symbol instantly as the shading of the swans lets us break them apart into two groups. The shading in this case could to some extent be considered as by-product of the principle “figure and ground”, yet not in its entirety, as the shading works as a break away between the swans rather than the background itself.                                      

Image references:
http://www.bocamuseum.org/clientuploads/Podcasts1/29_Drawing%20Hands%20by%20Escher.jpg
http://uploads4.wikiart.org/images/m-c-escher/swans.jpg

Task 2_Al_4565

Al Holt (4565)

Task 2: Font Selection

My primary font, which will most likely be called “87' Goalie” or “87' Goal Keeper” is drawn over the shape of a parallelogram. To give it more...zazz, I sliced the top right hand corner and thus made it have a racy appearance. The sliced corner and overall shape will stay consistent throughout the whole alphabet. Due to the slant and sporty and yet solid look I named the font after an infamous ice hockey goal keeper “Ron Hextall”. The number 87 is a reference to Hextall's most notable year, receiving the awards and trophy's such as the Vezina Trophy, NHL All-Rookie Team and Bobby Clarke Trophy.

Of the remaining fonts, the first one is clearly built to the shape of a rectangle. It is meant to have a more futuristic style to it, with a thinner blocky build. The left stem consistently has the thicker structure, and the cross bar is at all times incomplete. I had a thought of exchanging the letter M to a more of a rectangular trident rather than following the usual triangular shape.

The final font is drawn to the shape of a circle. It continuously has a high cross bar and maintains a regular thickness. The lower case letters are still set around a circle, yet have their top taken off to be the correct height. The issue with this font is that apart from the lower case, it's hardly original. I feel as though I would be copying other peoples work if were to complete the circular font.

Task1_Al_4565

Al Holt (4565)

Task 1

                                                         Like:                                         

 The reason for liking the first font “Press style serif” is due to its solidity and slightly worn out effect, it looks strong and professional. The font really does give the impression of belonging to the press of mid 20^th Century.

I included “Gulag” because of its raw and industrial appearance. One could imagine seeing this font on an abandoned factory or mill. It is far from beautiful, but it is a very solid font. The only issue is that it looks slightly stretched out.

“Uncle Typewriter” was probably the messiest of all the fonts in the typewriter category. The ink stains and large imprinted outlines of the letters give this font character, it is experienced, it has been around for a good while, and gives the impression it will be around for a bit longer.

 Dislike:                                                                                              
 “D3 Digitalism” is the first of the disliked fonts. Constructed from dashes, it can hardly be called dashing, annoying if anything. This font is difficult to read, and belongs in an 80's low budget action movie.

Of all annoying features, “For the love of hate” has one that jumps to the front of the line. The lower case “g, a, e” look as though they were constructed from lemon outlines, and the rest of the letters are

just too plain.

I very much dislike any form of 'bubble writing' and “Eve–Isabelle” grew a bit beyond that. Combining soft turns and ends, with the occasional sharp cut off's.