KtbDesignz

Newest animation.

I think I have decided on everything now which is great! Just adjusting timing to everything I have tried various timings - I feel this one might feel a tad to fast so I might try and push everything out by idk .2 seconds or something. I also want to attempt to smoothen the leaves a bit more.

My summative poster acts as a visual invitation to the Victoria Park Markets, focusing on its unique, tranquil yet lively atmosphere rather than a commercial rebranding. What captured my attention during my site visits was the striking cross over of historic architecture and organic nature - where tree roots weave through weathered polished concrete. To communicate this, my main phrase "From The Bricks Up" bridges the sites physical foundation with a community minded message that spaces are built and revitalized little by little, together.

Every design decision deliberately reflects this specific environmental experience. I anchored the layout using the iconic brick tower to provide instant site recognition, integrating frame by frame masked illustrations of growing plants to mirror how nature calmly intertwines with the market. For typography, I combined a solid, square, brick made display font, for the rest of the type Adobe Kis was the chosen type face, a chic serif typeface that speak to the sites rich history. This classic tone is supported bye the context of my subtext lines, "1905 originally built to power a city, Now redesigned to inspire our city" and "A new era begins, same classic sport," which establish an inviting, nostalgic yet fresh tone.

Answering everything - or just blabbing trying to figure out what it is

This poster is designed to bring people in to Victoria park markets and not exactly rebrand the place but just bring more ackowloedgment to it. I designed to focus on the atmosphere of the market. “From The Bricks Up” is my main phrase and it is conveying the message that this place is built from the bricks up (not really sure why to be honest would be good to figure out good reason that correlates with what I want) kinda of like little by little we build this place together and its for the community. The atmosphere is amazing and it is what will bring people to the space it just needs a bit more attention. The design elements I chose to employ to communicate this concept include the visual imagery of the Victoria park market brick tower which is what most people know it for bringing their attention and visual understanding of the posters about (Victoria park market) the visual aspect of nature bringing a sense of calmness and the atmosphere of how nature intertwines with the market and the aspect of type some made out of bricks (the bricks is made out of bricks) which falls into the visual side and gives more of an identity to the place. The typeface was chosen to represent both solid form (the bricks made out of square solid shapes bricks) and the chic and historic part of Victoria park with a serif typeface used on the rest of the writing which was ‘adobe kis’, the color palette was originally taken from a photo I took using adobe color but was edited slightly to give more contrast (the background green was made darker), the texture is quite matte allowing for a more simple identity which I actually chose as it worked better at allowing the type to be the main focus - I did try many different textured type posters but they al seemed to image focused or distracting which was not what I wanted, the motion was meant to be smooth and attractive not to fast or slow but just at a natural pace this was to communicate the natural pace of the atmosphere when you are inside just with the community its relaxing just being in the open area. Every key aspect and choice I made was to reflect the atmosphere of the market. Using imagery was a tough choice because the poster was meant to be type focused but I think it was a good choice in the end as I didn’t have too much and dint allow the focus to be on the imagery but still having it there allows people to make a visual lock with what the poster / where the poster is referring to. 

The cutting cost not corners motion poster definetly contributed to the idea of having organic fall as a motion , I think it defiantly matched with the idea of this place is Victoria park market is a very natural appealing place, it is big and open and covered in green and home to see very big pohutekawa, all the small subtexts are meant to be key information that are just must knows but there is also a small quote at the top that says “1905 originally built to power a city now redesigned to inspire our city - kinda going for a little cute slogan effect there - it was mainly to balance out the look of the poster because something seemed missing but the context of it is to show how its a new improved place and although it is the same place it is a fresh start - there is also “A new era begins same classic spot” emphasizing that this is a new fresh start but its the same place we have always known, this is made to sound inviting we aren’t changing what is we re changing what it can be.

Lawyers never lie was definitely my favourite one, probably the smoothest looking one that I did haha.

Nell May's "Attention! I'm Red" for Present Tense: Wahine To a Aotearoa demands recognition for female designers In a male-dominated field. The poster design for general public uses psychology and negative space - an urgent, passionate red commands attention while empty space provides balance. May uses contrast through a vibrant red and white color palette and a structured sans-serif and handwritten typography, blending legibility with personal connection. Avoiding a full rigid grid, the layout uses dynamic hierarchy to guide the eyes seamlessly. While my project does use some imagery, Mays strategic use of high--contrast offered great inspiration for captivating a audience with the message I want to send.

110 word count

Method 1 - Analogue Storyboarding

Sketching typographic layouts on paper served as a crucial spatial translation method. Visualizing "Brick by Brick" in physical sketches exposed the composition limits, which allowed me to recognize the problem and pivot to "From the Bricks Up" to better suit the canvas of the poster.

Method 2 - Peer Critique

Gathering feedback from a variety of people including non-designers shifted my focus towards the audience perception. When my initial brick animation felt too static other perspectives prompted me to introduce an organic bounce and also have simpler staggered entry timings for subtext to preserve the typographic hierarchy.

Method 3 - Animation Experimentation

Iterative testing in after effects allowed me to tell a story through movement. Frame by frame masking for growing the plants and a subtle background building slowly growing allowed motion to conceptually reinforce the main message without overcomplicating the visual layout.

I think this all makes sense and doesn't need that much change - I started writing this out by listing what my three main methods were and how exactly I used them and what I did - my original blab draft was this:

Starting with sketching - so after formative. I did explore the same poster for awhile until I switched to my new phrase which at first I thought would by “brick by brick” which is what I had started sketching out - I decided to sketch out the words brick by bricks made out of bricks which I had found that I really liked but translating it onto the computer. I decided to change the phrasing into “From The Bricks Up” as I thought it would look nicer and more balanced on the poster which I only thought because I had seen brick by brick sketched on paper and it just looked quite squished and not fitting for my poster size.

I had a lot of discussions with peers but mainly peers that didn’t actually do design, for my animation I wanted the bricks to fall from the “sky” so top of the poster and fall into place - after animating this which took a very long time to animate each individual brick I had discussed with others and found that it was to stiff I had gotte na suggestion to make the brick bounce which I thought was a great idea and followed through with it - I also had discussions with a lot of people about what to do with the rest of the type - I was very proud of the brick animation but a bit lost on what to do with sub text as I didn’t want to overcomplicate the whole poster so I needed something simpler. Which I settled for doing text coming in from the side and the small texts just appearing on screen in specific order. I tried to help keep the type hierarchy in with the animation by doing slightly different animations and timings with all the text.

My third method was experimenting in after affects. Obviously the bricks falling was my biggest experimentation to see how natural I could get it looking. But also using a mask to show the leaves slowly growing - I wasn’t sure that would look good but editing the mask little by little each frame allowed it to be positioned well and let the leaves grow at a nice pace. I also experimented with the background building growing it wasn’t something I wanted to take a big part of the post aka I dint really want it drawing that much attention but just a little thing in then background that you don’t notice as much because it just seems natural that its happening  - but also the building growing was meant to reflect the saying from the bricks up.

I chose to look at the poster Cutting Costs Not Corners by long design studio SPIN which did it for BBC - The audience of this was the general public, everyday people but more os digital viewers. The design conveys the message of the BBC identity being straight forwards, simple, and most importantly costs might be being cut but corners are not and their stories remain high quality. The motion in this graphic is a slice through the words half way in the middle of all the letter and the bottom half of the letters fall of the screen leaving the words chopped in half yet still legible which is very important as it signifies that there is a cut in what is happening, things are being cut but you can still understand and know what is going on. The animation is smooth and clean and something about the falling seems organic almost natural. The visuals go from left to right, top to bottom. Ensuring the audience follow the visual flow reading the whole main text and understanding the main message without needing to read the sub text. I like the way the letters fall kinda like feathers and I think the way it falls of screen is something that is very important and I want to take into consideration with my animation - how the speed and ease of an object coming on or off of the screen effects the whole emotion that is given to the audience when watching the movement. I also think having that almost natural feeling is very helpful to having the audience feel more comfortable with the poster and making them want to read what’s on the screen.

Okay so this is my first write up of my motion context annotation with my blabbing trying to answer all the questions - and now I will write a more summarized version that I can use for my explanatory document.

The first half of the semester allowed me to have a significant shift from an image heavy, painters eye approach to structurally disciplined layout. Learning the mechanics of grids, typography hierarchy, and font psychology revealed how type operates as a primary communicate tool. Initially, anxiety over my typographic skills made me reluctant to seek help. However, the formative critique became a turning point, reframing feedback as a generative, judgement-free tool. This shifted my approach from a rigid, linear process to an iterative one, giving me the confidence to confront my weakness, leverage my photography and visual imagery strengths, and embrace ongoing experimentation

Okay so reflection on this annotation - its kinda hard squishing everything into one little paragraph originally these were all of my points

In the first half of the semester I learnt multiple things including 

How important gridding is for visual layout

How to properly have type hierarchy 

How typefaces convey different feelings

How to convey a message through your typography (through context and typeface)

How visual imagery can sometimes over complicate visual posters

Originally I approached design with visual imagery and more of a painters eye with overlapping and making visual pleasing images however I had been given a big eye opener learning how to incorporate type into my designs. I have learned that I engage with my designs through color and attention grabbing things. I have developed in as a designer this semester through my method of exploration - I definetly explored more so in the second half of the semester then the first half the first half taught me skills that were very helpful but the second half taught me that I don’t need stick with just one idea and that it is important to go back to the beginning sometimes instead of staying on the same path the whole time. I adapted to the expectations of the paper by trying to put more focus on type which was hard for me as type is definetly a weakness and something I am learning through this degree, a strength I learnt that I have is photography and reflection on my own work I think. I think in the first half of the semester I did have a weakness of being too scared to ask for help because I was not proud of my work and a little lost but after formative I quickly got over that and feedback became enjoyable for me as it felt like a judgement free zone and I realized it only gets better once you fully accept the process.

Method 1 - Site Photography as Material Source

Revisiting primary site photography served as a grounding method when my concepts weren't going anywhere. Analyzing the textures of the Victoria park market buildings shifted my focus from abstract ideas to concrete visual anchors, establishing brick as a foundational design element that I wanted to use. Although I had to keep in mind this was mean't to be a type focused poster.

Method 2 - Structural Typographic Grids

Implementing structured grid systems transformed my layout process. Moving past intuitive placement to grid alignment instantly resolved visual issues and helped with typographic hierarchy issues, demonstrating how structural constraint actually creates an aesthetic balance.

Method 3 - Conceptual Reframing

When visual experimentation hit a wall due to a retrieve phrase ("Older than the walls"), I used conceptual reframing to pivot. Returning to the text-based brainstorming I had done earlier on in the semester I generated the phrase "From the Bricks Up" a phrase that reduced image dependency, made the type shine more and unlocked new potential for motion and animation.

So here is where we are at so far with our animation - got a little bit on everything which is great.

I am happy with the bricks which is good because that was the biggest part - I have done a lot of different simple movements with all the words trying to figure out what would be best. Right now how I view it is everything is just very fast like but it doesn't seem like it should be intentionally fast it looks a bit out of place and out of sync?

I did try doing masks with the leaves and the background drawing. I think it went pretty well with the leaves but might adjust it a tad. The background image though Im not too sure the idea was someone (my brother) had suggested to make the building build up like the bricks but I honestly thought that would be too much effort because then I would have to build many many layers again and I think I would need more time for that unfortunately and then also I did think it might be a tad to much on the screen so tried to imitate the idea with a mask. It looks kinda off though so don't know if I will keep that.

Okay so animation process - I have been working on these bricks for ages and finally think I got it down pat - still need to do the word THE

First started with just the normal falling from the sky but the fall was to long so it looked off then sped up each fall and it helped but looked weird so stiff at the end, tried to put ease ease on all of the animations hoping that would help? it didn't do what I thought it would so I added an extra position change onto each animation to make each brick bounce a bit which Idk if that really gives brick cause bricks are solid and don't bounce? but it does look better so I will continue to do so on THE.

I am trying to figure out how I want the white to be placed in - not too sure about it falling in from outside of screen as well because that doesn't make sense so I thought maybe doing a mask would help? just thinking about how many white bits there are and the time of it all ? lots to think about !!

Okay so I added some leaves to it - I like it personally I think it adds shape and depth to the poster however I drew the leaves on photoshop and moved it over to indexing - I thought I drew them in an A2 file but when I made them fit to this page the kinda look pixelated if you zoom in. I feel like that it not the look I really want for this so thinking I will probably have to fix the pixelation.

So I have added some imagery in background - not 100% sure if its best idea but I do think it kinda looks better then the background I had before - just wasn't sure if I can do this because I know it is mean't to be type focused.

Another version? So I tried to make the background more simple not to sure how I feel about it but it definetly brings more attention to the word.

I made the bricks bigger in return of some advice I got from David today in class where he had said it would look less busy and better if the bricks were bigger and their were less of them.

I also changed the typeface of the from and up so you can see the two different versions - I am not sure I think the serif typeface looks better (right side one) maybe just a little less full on ?

Um so I guess this is where I have come to - which one do I choose??

I think the brick one would be easier ti animate tbh not like actually EASIER but as in ideas.

I feel I am definetly more drawn to the older than the walls cause of the image behind it but idk how well the type actually sits on top of the image so im like ?? also the file got deleted on indexing so I have to remake it if I want to do that one :( not to hard though because I have everything I need with all the other posters just putting it together really.

I got some peer feedback saying I should explore a different typeface for my context text because it was to similar - hard to know which one to read (hierarchy not very good), look deeper into meaning of typeface for smaller type - what is it meant to represent ??

I made the text smaller + added some text at the top from older posters in attempt to make it more balanced - then tried to find a serif typeface and ended up using adobe KIS the typeface that I used in last poster exploration before this as it represented Victoria Park very.

Here is the poster before and after type adjustments

So going for more of a natural background? It really does look like a magazine cover and I can't get over that - every time I make a type layout it looks straight out of magazines.

So I kinda found a layout and idea and just trying to make it work. Made the background colors darker (suggestion from cathy) and kept adding more of my shadows but tried to darken them to feel similar to background like they were part of background image - defiantly going with a more plain background rather then image based its more like texture based which allows focus to go to type.

Changed some type to brick color and added white underneath - tried to do white outline for the text but it ended up to bulky and cartoony so instead I copied and paste the text and Mae one white and put it underneath to make it less clunky.