#viscom aub

It was interesting to imagine what the initial sketches and thought behind the layout of Grafik Magazine might have been. Seeing both single spread design and the overall layout of a whole magazine - how pages are laid out differently but how the spreads are still connected - will inspire my own book on cultural identity.

Some screenshots I took when editing the photos. 

This links to my magazine idea with the way Lush advertise and brand themselves. Some food for thought when exploring advertising and campaigns for the magazine.

So I have had the idea to create and brand a creative magazine. The magazine will be issued monthly and each month will target a different social issue, a percentage of the proceeds will be given to charities that work towards stopping the said issue. However the magazine content will not solely be about the issue but instead will be based around design/ lifestyle/ film/ music. I want the magazine to be really current and quirky and promote positive change in a more discreet way. For example the advertisements in the magazine will be for relevant companies. For example Lush who do not test on animals and promote a positive body image rather than unrealistic beauty standards. Each month the issue will have a spread about what social issue it is aiming to raise awareness of and combat. As well as lots of other cool and funky content.  Social Issues I am interested in covering - Animal rights - Human trafficking - Global Warming (due to AGRICULTURAL FARMING) 

3M  A link to a 3M video taking you through the process of their new visual identity. This involves some existing logo animation which is helpful to use to see what tone they are aiming to create with the new brand identity and how that translates into moving image.

Overall this has been my favourite unit. I have really enjoyed all aspects of image making and the day projects have been really helpful and relevant to my image making. I feel like if I had managed my time more efficiently I would have gained more from this unit. I have definitely realised the difference between digital and printed work and before this unit underestimated the difference between the two. Printing helped me to edit my pieces and gain feedback on how they looked and the message that they conveyed to the reader. I had a really great time at the pick me up london exhibition and would like to visit more exhibitions with uni. I try to keep up to date with exhibitions and visit london regularly but feel that the course finds exhibitions that are perfect for what I am interested in. It also was good to get out of the studio and gain influence from other aspects. Personally I would like to spend more time in the print rooms on the course creating work that can later be edited digitally however i realise this is something that I can do during the days we are not timetabled and will try to make sure I do this next year. I feel like I should have maybe engaged with tutors more often as the feedback was really helpful when I did and at points in this project I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. Again this is something that I can make an effort to change next year and as I progress through the course. I think I would be more productive on the course if I came into university every day as I tend to get distracted at home and am not very productive. I have learnt a lot especially in this unit and I think I have realised that practise and using design programs regularly and make an effort to get constant feedback with my work really helps me to grow as a designer. I plan to spend summer keeping up with these skills and developing personal projects to help inform my work next year as I think it is obvious that I need to commit a lot more to the course. I think I have been a bit lazy with this year and because university is so self motivated I have not achieved my potential. This is frustrating but im glad that I have realised this and I am now set on improving this.

Throughout this project I think one thing I could have worked on was time management. I left a lot to the last minute which was stressful and meant that I was unorganised. I was really happy with the final piece but think I was lacking in the preparatory and development work. This is something I do a lot and I definitely need to work on for next year. My imagery I feel reflects the message I was aiming to portray which was something I prioritised and am happy with as a result. Throughout this project I barely used my sketchbook which I think will reflect badly on me however I am a lot more comfortable using a computer to develop my designs. I tend to stay within my comfort zone and should try and push myself more in the future. I had a found it hard to maintain consistency with this project and I think in future a way to deal with this is to set myself goals and work to a timetable. I only had about two tutorials for this project and because of this am a little worried about how well received my final design will be. I feel like I was a bit lost when creating the imagery for this project and I spent a lot of time on imagery that wasn't used for the final layout. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to create imagery that sits well within a designed layout and compliments the type. Despite this I think that my image and type compliment each other and work well to represent the stone twins. I sacrificed space with my layout due to the middle page spread being one image with a pool quote. However I think this is vital to my design and works really well and because of that is worth the loss of space for type. I chose a grey colour for the text in order to make the main body type less harsh as it is quite overpowering in large blocks of text. The point size is 8.5 for the questions and 9 for the rest of the text and this looked suitable when printed. I have used courier due to its sort of quirkiness that provides a strong link to both the stone twins and the imagery for me. The title and pool quote type is representative of hand type which is interesting to look at and slightly unpredictable. All in all I am really happy with the final layouts and think that I found a way to subtly but effectively portray my message. I am glad I chose the stone twins as I really believe that design should be concept based and meaningful not just there to look good. This is something I find challenging as it is hard to always find reasons for every design decision made. I think I know that I have let myself down with the research and development side to my work but I am now focused on learning from this. I hope to spend my summer getting some real experience with a design company enabling me to start second year with a clear vision about where I want to take my work and a higher level of commitment.