Friday 4 June 2010

Monday 24 May 2010

Design context layout rough



basic idea for the site is separate sections for communication, the home, power, the natural world and the city and predictions from each section backed up from research on the internet.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Section Seven


http://www.sectionseven.com/

Beautiful online flash portfolio. Folding booklike design is intuitive and interesting. Work is cleanly presented and the moving format adds novelty without being overbearing. The logo for the agency is sharp and is used well in context and becomes slightly interactive.

65 Excellent Flash Designs

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/10/30/65-excellent-flash-designs/

Excellent breakdown on the do's and dont's of flash based design; with a good link through to many inspirational flash websites.

Hesperian.org



Hesperian.org is a publisher of books for charities, including "Where there is no doctor" and Where women have no doctor; two of the key texts i am getting my infographic information from. These come with their own graphics which may or may not meet the final cut for the flipbook.

So you need a typeface..


"so you need a typeface" by Julian Hansen infographic. Solid infographic flowchart; reasonably humorous and easy to follow/ decent use of space; but could be made more interesting and draw you along to the different areas better.

Music And Piracy Infographics



Clean and themic infographics on the music industry and online piracy. The appropriate use of digital style type and the use of equaliser style bar charts gives the whole piece a overarching theme that works well. The use of colour is interesting and draws your eye to key points in the infographic. The breakdowns are easy to understand and note the trends. Structure of the whole piece works well and the information moves between each progressively and interestingly.

Thursday 29 April 2010

Nike Plus





The Nike+iPod Sports Kit is a device which measures and records the distance and pace of a walk or run. The Nike+iPod consists of a small accelerometer[1] attached to or embedded in a shoe, which communicates with either the Nike+ Sportband, a receiver plugged into an iPod nano, or directly with a 2nd or 3rd Generation iPod Touch or iPhone 3GS. If using the iPod or the iPhone 3GS, iTunes software can be used to view the walk or run history.

In addition to tracking personal workout statistics, the Nike+ integrates directly with the Nike website. Workout data can be automatically uploaded to the website during an iPod sync with iTunes or through another program via the website's public API. The uploaded information is mostly not personally-identifying, but does also contain some personal statistics such as weight (if configured). Workout data is stored in XML files on the iPod, which has led some web and applications programmers to offer alternatives to the official Nike reports.

Nike+ is a example of content lead advertising. It takes the brand of nike and adds something that improves peoples (in this case runners) lives. This makes them connect to the brand more strongly, and the better the connection, the more likely they will buy from that brand in the future. The design behind the Nike+ branding is simple; the world famous Nike symbol on red with a small + sign next to it. Its simple and to the point and easily recognisible.

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Simple Philosophy


http://jayve1.deviantart.com/art/Simple-Philosophy-161190851

Clear yet complicated design by Jayve. - Jerome van Eerden. I love how the whole image focuses in on the logo in the centre. The whole piece has a strong composition and uses colour well to draw focus to the centre of the artwork. Strong use of geometric shapes and layers has produced a magical image.

Mumps poster



Text based poster on mumps. Large type listing symptoms in a bold impact typeface draws your attention to the poster. The Protect yourself is in black and highlights well against the red of the rest of the poster. The "get the shot, not the mumps" tagline is also seperate and gives a solid point to the poster that can be read from far away. This poster would do the job; but it has very little in the way of clever impact; and relys entirely on being bold and in uppercase. The main text underneath is hard to read and some of the information there could of been brought to the front. The poster isnt in a standard size format.

Measles Vaccination Poster



NHS poster for measles. The red has a bit of a allusion to the look of measles, as well as the dotted pattern, but the overall finish is reasonably plain. It does get the message across; but mainly with the use of the Measles - dont let your child catch it tagline. The design of the poster overall doesnt "sell" the danger of measles and the need to be immunized.

If you knew about flu...



Advertising campaign by the NHS for flu. Slightly scary rendering of the flu virus; encouraging people to get the flu vaccination. The poster immediately sets a horror-like tone; it draws attention to the poster. The colouring of the poster in shades of blue keeps to the NHS style colours and keeps the poster simple and easy to understand and draws attention to the main information panel. It takes an approach of raising awareness in a slightly exaggerated way to get people to sit up and listen. It is a lot more memorable than a simple message of get a flu shot and i the images of the teethed flu viruses is one that sticks in your mind.

(red)




http://www.joinred.com/

product(red) is a big campaign against AIDS in africa. I think this campaign works really well. It takes the colour red and associates it with the red ribbon of aids and general AIDS campaigning. It has simple slogans with (red) inserted to create the words; simple yet to the point. It utilised the power of celebrity to drum up support. It works by various different companies (such as American Express, Apple Inc., Starbucks, Converse, Motorola, Gap, Emporio Armani, Hallmark, Microsoft, and Dell.) creating a product in the red range which is then sold and the proceeds go to a global AIDS fund.

The product(red) campaign is a type of cause marketing -

Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a "for profit" business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes used more broadly and generally to refer to any type of marketing effort for social and other charitable causes, including in-house marketing efforts by non-profit organizations. Cause marketing differs from corporate giving (philanthropy) as the latter generally involves a specific donation that is tax deductible, while cause marketing is a marketing relationship generally not based on a donation.

Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise





http://www.hivvaccineenterprise.org/
The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise (the Enterprise) is a unique alliance of independent organizations around the world dedicated to accelerating the development of a preventive HIV vaccine. The Enterprise will put forward a Scientific Strategic Plan for HIV vaccine research and development in 2010. Five working groups involving more than 100 scientists from around the world have been convened under the Enterprise to put forward recommendations for investment of finances and resources to further the field and the Enterprise's mission. These recommendations will inform the 2010 Scientific Strategic Plan.

This is the main force behind creating a HIV vaccination.

AIDS day/ribbon




The Red Ribbon Project was created by the New York-based Visual AIDS Artists Caucus in 1991.:
Remain anonymous as individuals and to credit the Visual AIDS Artists Caucus as a whole in the creation of the Red Ribbon Project, and not to list any individual as the “creator” of the Red Ribbon Project;
Keep the image copyright free, so that no individual or organization would profit from the use of the red ribbon;
The Red Ribbon should be used as a consciousness raising symbol, not as a commercial or trademark tool.
The artists who formed the Visual AIDS Artists Caucus wished to create a visual symbol to demonstrate compassion for people living with AIDS and their caregivers. Inspired by the yellow ribbons honoring American soldiers serving in the Gulf war, the color red was chosen for its, "connection to blood and the idea of passion -- not only anger, but love, like a valentine." First worn publicly[citation needed]by Jeremy Irons at the 1991 Tony Awards, the ribbon soon became renowned as an international symbol of AIDS awareness, becoming a politically correct fashion accessory on the lapels of celebrities. The Red Ribbon continues to be a powerful force in the fight to increase public awareness of HIV/AIDS and in the lobbying efforts to increase funding for AIDS services and research.


The red ribbon to raise AIDS awareness is a powerful symbol used the world over to show solidarity with victims of AIDS. Its instantly recognizable and has become closely associated with the disease. Posters that promote world AIDS day such as the one above often take the ribbon symbol and use it as part of the design; trading in on the reputation of the ribbon. It is a hard choice wether to utilise this symbol in the vaccination campaign, as it is normally used to show solidarity with people already suffering with the disease, while a vaccination only prevents AIDS, it doesnt cure it.

Swine Flu Campaign UK





The NHS swine flu campaign from 2009. The poster campaign consisted of various portraits of people sneezing, with the mucus going everywhere, highlighting the fact of how the flu virus could spread. It came with a tagline of Catch it, Bin it, Kill it. These campaigns kept a reasonably simple style with not a lot of flashiness but got the point over well. It kept a serious appropriate tone. This is something i need to consider for the AIDS vaccine posters, which are along the same line as public service announcements.

Si Scott





www.siscottstudio.com

Inticate and complex illustrative typography and illustration by Si Scott. The clear cut black and white really focuses the eye on the complexity of the illustration. Hand drawn and scanned.

Monday 26 April 2010

Dan Funderburgh




http://www.danfunderburgh.com/

Beautiful intricate designs and prints by Dan Funderburgh. Dan Funderburgh is a wallpaper designer and artist in Brookyn. Strongly rooted in the decorative arts. His designs have a very delicate complex quality to them. They have a slightly embossed look that adds to the intricate look and quality of the overall finish. The strong use of red on white gives a clear and stunning impact and really highlights the detail that has gone into the designs. The use of a turquoise backdrop contrasts nicely with the strong colors of the main piece. The designs i think would appeal to a older teenage girl audience as they have a fun fancy almost retro quality to them, while still maintaining a high level of polish.

SWAG - jewelry london



http://www.swaguk.co.uk/

Swag, a chain of jewelry stores in London, has a more playful take on company names. The SWAG logo still keeps to reasonably traditional grounds; namely name over a ----est 1974---- line; this style is reasonably uniform over all the different jewelry stores. All the companies want to give a sense that they have been around for a while and can be trusted; They also stick to solid branding with not very much playfulness within the logos; they are serious and austere. This means it doesnt distract from the pieces they are selling. The site itself has a similar feel to the tiffany's site. It uses subtle variations of purple and white. It has well photographed showcases on the latest lines and it is accessible and sells itself well.

Tiffany & Co.



http://uk.tiffany.com/

Tiffany and co. Has a simple uppercase serif typeface, with a sense of age, respectability and class behind it. It also has a slightly timeless feel. This reflects that expensive pieces could be passed through families. Tiffany & Co. is a strong brandname and their trade isnt located within the label; it has a more exclusive feel to it. The website is smart and minimalist; giving room for the jewelry to shine. The Jewelry is laid out artistically with strong composition; it feels like care has been taken in every part of the site to give a superior viewing experience. It doesnt just lay out everything haphazardly.

warren James - Jewelry


http://www.warrenjames.co.uk/

Warren James have a handwritten/calligraphic logo. It still uses the sans-serif "jewellers" in uppercase that the vast majority of jewellers seem to use. The flowing typeface looks almost like a signature. It has a certain sense of sophistication to it. I like the long L that underlines the warren as well as the striking straight line running underneath the whole logo. The mainpage to the site is a photographic composition of the bead and charm rage of warren james; and reflects a image of london and city living; with some glamour. I think the whole image is let down by the "the charm company" text around the london eye. It looks tacky and out of place with the glamourous nature of the rest of the scene. A lot of top quality photography with models is used in jewelry promotion. This is to provide aspirational "looks" to potential buyers. and show off the jewelry to its full potential.

Kabiri


http://www.kabiri.co.uk/

Kabiri logo uses a widely spaced all uppercase sans-serif logo. It has a strong modern feel to it with good balance on the letters. The site is smartly designed with slight gradients of grey into white; some some highlights in gold. The site aims for a modern yet sophisicated look and i feel it achieves this to a large extent. I could see this modern branding putting off some of the target audience for the sammy's brand as it isnt playful or fun enough. I think the aim is a slightly older stylish group, not a overly young one.

Chapelle Jewelry




http://www.chapelle.co.uk

Chapelle is a discount jewelry store with 24 locations in the UK. The logo and site are mainly green; but the green is a racing green; it has some sophistication to it, but it is handled poorly on the website, it clashes with the heavy red sale text; and has a bit of a Christmas feel to the whole site. The logo is a warped chapelle over jewelry. There is a slightly french feel to the name and the type; but the typeface for Chapelle seems to be warped to little reason and it doesnt add anything to the overall effect of the logo. The site is ulitarian at best. But it is accessible. It has a no-frills style approach and sells jewelry cheap; this could be an attraction to the younger audience. I feel a sense of fanciness and wonder would go down better with the audience im aiming at; selling the product as something special and getting across the idea that if you wear the jewelry you are special too.

Beaverbrooks



www.beaverbrooks.co.uk

Another high-street jeweler. Beaverbrooks has a reasonably thin, serif typeface for its logo; along with a ornate B within a circle. It uses the traditional logo setup of large name over -jewelers- which seems to be a common link between many of the top jewelry retailers. The site is a slightly ugly brown. It uses a pattern of the B Beaverbrooks logo but it is low resolution and doesn't look high quality. It has cutout box adverts similar to the other sites, but there is a decidedly more tacky quality to the website. It uses a purple or pink colour on a lot of its range adverts and information text. The circled B works reasonably well as a logo, as its small and simple yet quite recognisable and is applyable to nearly any range of product or promotional material on any colour.

F.Hinds


http://www.fhinds.co.uk/?source=aw

F.Hinds has a very similar logo style to H.Samuel; and a likeness to goldsmiths as well. These are all long running jewelry stores. This type of logo seems to be a traditional almost serif type that is common across the spectrum as showing a sense of trust and long running tradition within Jewelry stores. The name and design have a old, family run style to it . The site uses mainly white to showcase the jewelery against, with a muted red/purple for the detailing. Each company hasnt strayed far from the purple tones. The site again is very accessible and is based around getting people to see as many products easily as possible. The logo i would say is too stuffy for a younger audience who see jewelry as more fun than serious gift pieces and wedding related jewelry. This should be reflected in my rebranding of H.Samuel.

Goldsmiths Jewelry



http://www.goldsmiths.co.uk/

Goldsmiths have also gone for a purple style site. This time in black and purple with gold highlights. Again this reflects a sense of status and class with the jewelry. As Goldsmiths have a slightly more up-market aim as well; they want to avoid looking too tacky and want to put across a sense of class and sophistication that can be seen to rub over onto their product. All the sites i have visited so far have had compartmentalized adverts across the site and the mainpage that hope to draw your eye to a certain product. They are consistently trying to attract you to the jewelry. The woman on the main page sells a classy look and sets a tone for the whole site.

Claire's



http://www.claires.co.uk/

Claire's is another big chain that targets the same audience as this H.Samuel campaign. The Logo for Claire's is a simple sans serif. a little boring for something such as a jewelry company, but it is plain talking and approachable. It is a very well known name so there is less need to sell what the shop does as the name is synonymous with young jewelry already. The simple type could also be said to reflect the cheap nature of the store; a almost no frills approach to jewelry selling.
The logo and site use a deep purple as the predominate colour in the site. This is another slightly feminine hue; purple also has long conotations with richness and class. The site features a definite young model audience, with a lot of patterns and intricate pictures; this is something that attracts the target audience.

Accessorize




http://www.monsoon.co.uk/page/acchome
Accessorize is another company that aims for the same age group as this H.Samuel campaign. Their logo is slightly whimsical and fun while still keeping enough rigid structure to be serious. The crown over the I gives a subtle hint at being the king/queen of whatever they are selling. The sites heading bar uses a intrecate almost formal pattern in shades of black and grey that adds to the feminine feel to the site.
The leading image on the accessorize homepage is 2 teenage looking girls in a lot of accessories/jewelry looking reasonably glamourous/pop. This has allusions to celebrity style advertising imagery and its noticable that celebrity culture is a big influence on the target audience. There is also heavy use of hot pink in the imagery, a traditionally feminine colour.