Graphics Typography Evaluation with final piece

I was asked to create an A3 typographic piece that was based around a song that inspired generations. The piece must not have any imagery and must have graphic presented lyrics. I decided to respond by collecting images on Pinterest, i collected images of typographic artwork. I then researched songs that changed generations, I ended up going with 'smoke on the water' by Deep purple.

My idea developed by sketching out different typeface systems. I ended up going with the random system as a starting point. I fist sketched out a few random systems and then moved my experimentation on to Illustrator. My experimentation guided me by testing out different starting points, like in corners or in the centre of the page. It also helped me to change colours and chose sizes of my fonts. It took a while to get use to using Illustrator because I'm not great when it comes to using computers.

For the first piece that i developed, the formal elements I used were tone, line and texture. I used tone by making my fonts bold or thin, I made my fonts bold by stretching my words. The bold fonts give the piece a nice flow. Line was formed by writing text in a straight line, or placing words in certain places to form lines. Lastly I used texture by choosing certain fonts that had cracks or rigid corners. I think this makes the piece complete. It gives it character.

For my second piece, the formal elements I used were colour, shape, pattern, tone and texture. I used colour by making certain words have colours that reflected the word. For example I made the word "fire" red and the word 'sky' blue. Making the words have colour gives the piece character. I used shape by repeating a curved half circle around my piece. By doing that it gives my piece a nice flow, it looks like a design, not something that just covers the page. Tone was used by the font of some texts that have dark corners, or light tones. Texture was done by text having smooth or rough edges. Like certain fonts that i used.

For my third piece, the formal elements I used were, colour, line, shape and pattern. I used colour by having a black background and putting white text over the top, so that it would stand out. I like the composition of the text over the background because it looks professional. I created lines by repeating the same sentence going around in lines in a square shape, i think this gives the piece a nice look and flow. Shape was formed by the lines building up a square shape and pattern was done by the repetition of the same text.

For my fourth piece, the formal elements i used were, colour, line, shape and pattern. I used colour by having a black background and putting red text over the top, so that it would stand out. I really like the red on the black background, it reflects the song really well as this song is abut a fire. I created lines by repeating the same sentence going around in lines in a square shape. The lined get smaller as going inwards, which gives it a 3d effect. Shape was formed by the lines building up a square shape and pattern was done by the repetition of the same text. This is my final piece, i chose this to be my final piece because i love the red on the dark background and where i have used red text, it reflects the song really well because it's about a fire. I also chose this as my final because i just love the 3d effect.

For my fifth piece, the formal elements that i used were colour, tone, pattern and texture. I used colour by having a white background and placing black text over the top. I love the way lack and white just compliment each other. Tone was created by having certain texts that were darker or lighter than another, (certain fonts). Texture was done by having smooth and rough fonts. I created pattern by repeating the same words.

I used Illustrator on all of my work and used the font tool for every piece. I used the pen tool to draw lines and curves, i then used the type on a line tool to put text on the line. I feel like I was successful in the end, at first i felt like giving up, but i finally came to my senses and did it. I overcame wanting to give up. If money and time wasn't an issue, I would make my work better by including imagery and more colours.

Craig Ward  and Robert Bringhurst inspired me the most because their work consists of character and colour. Even though if you were to compare my final piece and their work together it wouldn't look the same at all. I like the way they used composition of fonts and colours that reflect the meaning of the words. I feel like my work meets the brief just about because i have covered most of what i have had to do.

Craig Ward was the most inspirational Artist towards my work. His work inspired me because his work was full with character the most. Even though his work is simple, it just gets to the point and doesn't overwhelm. I like that in work. I think what inspired me the most about his work was that his work was different and made you feel warmth. I loved the fact that his work made me feel something and made me think about the meaning of his work and if their was maybe a story behind it.


Health and safety notes:

• Sit up straight when using computer.

• Look away from the screen every now and then, so that your eyes don't strain.

• Have no food or drink by the computer.

• Get up and move around, so that your body doesn't ache.

Nikki Black

Other than looking at Gillian Wearing i had a little look at Nikki Black. I know that Nikki's images aren't people holding signs, but her work consists of text. Nikki's work is more gothic and dark compared to Gillian's work.

Nikki's work inspired me because his backgrounds are mostly black or white and are taken in the studio.

 I like this image because the background has white and black in it, but it's not distracting at all. I love the contrast of it. I think the spotty tone draws the eyes in to the text on the girls tops. The dark shaded tone in the right hand corner also draws the viewers eye in to the centre of the image.

This image inspired me more because as i want my text to stand out. This image has a model and text, but the text stands out more than the model. The text is bold and has a use of colour. The colours compliment each other and they don't clash at all.

Editing photos

I opened up my images in Bridge and selected the image i wanted to image. It would automatically go in to Photoshop. I saved the image as a different name so that it wouldn't edit the original one. Then i went in new adjustment layer and selected 'black and white'. I then played around with the colours. I like this effect because the background has became a darker tone and the sign is clear. Which is what i really wanted to be clear the most. I also really like the shade effect on the face, it draws your eye downwards to the sign.

I used the same effect for each image, but i changed different colours. I love all of the images below, because they all have a film strip effect.

For the last two bottom images, i used a different effect. I selected new adjustment layer and clicked on 'colour balanced'. I like the one use of colour because it gives a warm feeling and you can still read the sign.

Comparing the black and white images to the ones in colour. I think the ones in colours are much more better. They give off more character and they have one simple tone to them. The colours aren't overwhelming or distracting. The colours compliment each other. On the other hand the images in colour are great, but they make the viewer more interested in the colour. I think the colours are to bright. I like the retro look to them though.

Health and safety:

Sit up straight when using computer.
Look away from the screen every now and then, so that your eyes don't strain.
Have no food or drink by the computer.
Get up and move around, so that your body doesn't ache.

Inspired by Gillian Wearing

For my photography assignment i looked at some photographers and i came across Gilliam Wearing. I think she is a good person to look at because i wanted to get people holding signs with song lyrics on. Even though she doesn't do song lyrics, she was a perfect Artist to look at.  Also i looked at David Bailey because he does portrait photos. I like his work because it has attitude and gets you thinking about the characteristics. David has a use of eye contact, which is perfect because it draws you in and that's always good in photography.  

These images by Wearing inspired me. I like the eye contact and the clear signs, i would do it in a different way though. I would respond by having maybe a black background, so that the signs would be clear. I also like the way that wearing uses normal everyday people, the signs get you thinking that there's more to that person. I like the fact that the image is sending a message and that they have meaning to them.

 I took this photo with a plain black background to see if it would have a good effect. I love it so much, it has a warm feeling coming off of it and it's clear and nice. "I got soul but I'm not a soldier"from a killers song. I chose this lyric line because it just gets to the point. It expresses that not everybody needs to be a soldier to have soul. It has heart and character.

'It's all in the attitude' isn't actually from a song, this way just a tester to see if the image would work in the studio and it did. It looks great, well i think so. I think the lighting draws the eye in to the writing and then to her eyes. I like the fact that a little part of her face is in shade.

Typography

Health and safety:

Sit up straight when using computer.
Look away from the screen every now and then, so that your eyes don't strain.
Have no food or drink by the computer.
Get up and move around, so that your body doesn't ache. 

I started off by finding a starting point. I decided to go in a corner. I got inspired by looking at the random system. I liked the composition of it, so i wanted to experiment with it. I thought that as it's my first tester i should go with a white background and have black bold and thin text.  Comparing this to the piece underneath (the extended version) you can see that i stuck to the starting point, i think that it's a nice place to start for the random system because it's a easy flowing place. Formal elements that i used were 'line' because there are sentences, 'colour' because of the black fonts and plain background, 'composition' because i placed the words and lines in a certain way. 

 I took my song 'smoke on the water' by Deep purple and used illustrator to create a Typography piece. I typed out the lyrics from beginning to end (the image above isn't the finished piece), i used the text box tool and the pen, i selected type on a path to write my lyrics on them. I like the layout. but there isn't really a flow with it. The text looks like it's just came out of nowhere, like it's splattered all over the place. I like the white background with bold and thin text over the top of it. As black and white works nicely together. Comparing this image to the image below, i would say that the other image has a flow to it, it's created shapes, which the text creates. I like randomness of the typography in the photo above, because it's  different and just bizarre.

Like my other Typography pieces, i produced this in Illustrator. I used the pen tool and type on a path tool to create curved lines, which i adore. I like the colour palette that i used because all of the colours compliment each other. Comparing this piece to the pieces above, i would say that this defiantly has a flow to it. It doesn't look like someones has just thrown random words all over the place. I highlighted certain words that mean a lot in the song, i tried to use colours that expressed the word, i wanted to give them some character, e.g for the word 'fire' i used red. I really like the repetition in this piece, i think it looks nice. I like this piece also because it's not overwhelming.

Just like the other pieces i once again created this in Illustrator, but i formed this in a different way. I made my background black by making a square shape and filled it with black. I then drew out a smaller square in the centre of the image. After that i selected 'type on a path' tool, i then typed 'smoke on the water, fire in the sky'. I kept repeating this until it filled the whole outline of the square. When that was done i made my text white, so that you could see it. I copy and pasted the same square of text, i make it over lap and smaller on the other square. I then kept repeating this, i faded it's colour while doing so. Comparing this piece to the other two pieces, i think this is the strongest piece out of them all, because it's full of character and it has a 3d effect. It's simple, but really effective (it's a simple thing to do, therefore it makes it really strong when it comes down to effectiveness). The black and white is perfect together. There;s a nice flow and feel to it.

Like every piece above, this was produced on Illustrator. This grew by copying and pasting the same main words, e.g 'lose', 'fire in the sky'. This gave it a more of a explosion effect, which goes with the song. As the song is about a fire, the melting words like 'water'  really give the text character. I think this is a good, piece but it does look a little lost, then again where it looks kinda lost, that fits in really well with the song, because everything went everywhere when the fire started. Everyone that day was lots and all over the place.

 Continuing from the other typography piece, i started to build up my design by copying and pasting smaller samples of the pieces above it's self. As slowly going down, i changed the tone by making it lighter. By doing so it gives it a 3D cube effect. I like the 3d effect, i think it looks very cool. By using just 'smoke on the water fire in the sky' it makes it easy to understand and it's the main part of the song. I think if i were to just use all the lyrics the piece would still look good, but it would be confusing and overwhelming.

This piece is the same as the above and was produced in Illustrator like the other pieces. I changed the colour to red, as this song is about a fire, i thought this would be a perfect colour. I wanted to see if changing the tones of red would still give it a good effect. I didn't want the colour to fade to much, i wanted to see if light and dark in random places would look good. I think this make the work stronger because it gives it more character and you can actually see the smaller parts in the centre. Even though the colour isn't completely going down in colour, it still feels like the text is drawing you downwards.