APP Words: Feedback - Plain vs. Busy

[4]

I managed to some feedback when I presented my designs - the plain vs the "busy" design - but only two of them from an online source, the other pieces of feedback were verbal yet they all said the same thing; they much preferred the plain version because there was too much going on in the other design.

Images:

Feedback:

My next step is to then carry on with this 'plain' version and start putting everything together on the computer. I might even take a break for a bit to see what other ideas I can think of!

APP Words: Further Development

With my rough composition now done I can focus on sketching what would be the final design. This means that once I have done this sketch I could then annotate areas of improvement before moving on to drawing everything up on either Illustrator or Photoshop, or by my Inkling.

I'm still undecided on whether or not to just draw the "Never give in and never give up" design on it's own with the Twinings label hanging what would be the edge of the travel mug. Simplicity is always best, but I'm not too sure if it'll be eye-catching enough for my target market. To try and help me out I shall draw this design up on Illustrator/Photoshop/via Inkling anyway with the tea leaves pattern in the background, and place it alongside my other design. For now it's a bit too early to decide on anything just yet.

APP Words: Chosen Ideas Development - Putting Them Together

With my chosen ideas picked I can now focus on assembling them all together to figure out what kind of composition they'll have on the travel mug. I'm hoping that my banner design will be the centrepiece with little doodles floating around it.

I took each of my photos and placed them onto a Photoshop document before arranging and rearranging them. I didn't know my dimensions of the travel mug at this time so just produced a rectangular document. I used a grid to help me out in terms of alignment.

Something was really bugging me about this method, and I got so fed up that I abandoned the idea of doing it all up on computer. Besides, I wanted to change my banner idea (as I used a photo of the older version) and I find it more comfortable arranging them on the table in front of me. [8]

Plus, when I decided to try out composition again, I was able to figure out my dimensions and draw up a template for my travel mug. This made it a lot easier to see what the design would actually look like.

APP Words: Template Prototype

[8] [9]

With my ideas slowly coming together I thought that it's time that I created a prototype for the travel mug design so that I wouldn't panic and leave it at the last minute. My previous projects have taught me that it wasn't only the design that was important, but the way it's presented, so I want to make sure that I can be as accurate as possible for this travel mug.

Luckily I had purchased a ceramic travel mug a couple of weeks ago to act as a mock up for my design. I had looked up at mug templates but I didn't really find an actual template I could use. Some sites provided a service where I could upload my own design, and I tried that out but it only allowed a small square space for my design.

The best thing to do was then make up my own, so I took out a tape measure and jotted down its dimensions. I then drew up my first template, cut it out, and wrapped it around the mug.

APP Words: Feedback

[1] [3] [4]

I have decided to do a series of small posts on the feedback I've gathered from my target audience and other graphic design students to help me with my design process.

Taking their feedback into account is very important as a design because I want my design to be as successful as can be with my target audience. I would also need to consider adapting my design to suit their requirements if needed.

Here I told them that I was going to produce a unisex design for students (17-21 year olds) and that it would be displayed on the front of the travel mug.

Image:

Feedback:

APP Words: Banner Idea Development

[8]

After picking some chosen designs I decided to take my banner idea a step further to try out some different styles for the banner and for the type. This is because I had gathered some feedback from my classmates and from my sister - who would fall in my target market - and they said they really liked my calligraphic writing, so I wanted to incorporate that into my banner design. 

The first thing I did was try out drawing the banner differently, and I took inspiration from both infographic posters and chalk lettering banners for this. As you can see, I spent a lot of time thinking whether or not to try a straight banner rather than a swirling one as it'll be easier to draw up on the computer. 

I then focused on placing the type within the banners and have the ampersand in the middle to connect the two sentences together. This was when I realised that maybe the straight box wasn't good for this layout because the ampersand was very smooth and curvy, so the straight box heavily contrasted. I also wanted the banner to reflect the fluidity of tea, and so went with the curvy one in the end. [8]

APP Words: Tea Inspiration

After creating my tea mind map (which you can see below but if not, it's also displayed in my last post) I realised that I haven't been inspired by tea that much for this project, and this is quite worrying. To try and overcome this I've created a new board on my Pinterest, "tea". This board would be made up of everything related to tea so that it'll be easier for me to come up with little doodles related to it.

Tea Mind Map

Tea Mood Board @ Pinterest

Conclusion:
This will now make it easier for me to refer back to existing images for inspiration when it comes to drawing anything to do with tea.
The reason I want to draw, say, teacups and teapots is because I want to create more of a connection between my design and Twinings. I have already explored into doing little illustrations but I tend to create mood boards when I'm lost for ideas (and when I'm panicking about my work). 

APP Words: Letterpress Posters

[3] [5] [7]

I'm getting a bit worried that I haven't been able to experiment with different styles as I wanted to, and I realised that it's because I'm starting to hit a brick wall in terms of inspiration. To help "cure" this I went onto as many websites I could and started to collect lots of images of letterpress posters. This is because during my research on the Industrial Revolution in my previous year I pointed out that people were very interested in an assortment of decorative type, most notably "3D" type, Egyptian and Fat Faces. 

My collection is all on my pinterest board, Typography, but I've included some images below on the ones that I find most inspirational.

Inspirational Posters

http://letterology.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/verso-of-carte-de-visite.html

I'm hoping to feature a quote in some sort of banner, and I've mentioned in a post that I would like to try out different banners styles. This poster is a perfect example of type on a banner so I'm giving it a special mention so that I could always refer back to it if I'm stuck.

However I find that each sentence is broken up and I find myself pausing after reading each banner. If it had just been one banner with different twists and turns then the writing would've flowed a lot better. I shall take note of this when I develop my design!
The breaks created could, on the other hand, make it easier for the viewer to read the advertisement. If this poster was indeed on display during the Industrial Revolution most of the public were unable to read very well and so this makes it more readable for them.

APP Words: Small Re-Evaluation

[5] [8]

I've seemed to have hit a brick wall with this project, and after flicking through my research I realised that I haven't gathered enough inspiration hence why I seem to be lacking in ideas. My deadline is approaching so I'm getting a bit stressed at the short time I have left.

To try and overcome this I'm going to produce another to-do list, highlighting each point that I need to undertake to ensure that I have as much inspiration as I need under my belt. This might include looking at more illustrators and how hand-letterers combine that with lettering, as even though I do love Steve Simpson's work I think that I need to look at a wider range.

My to-do list therefore includes:

• Analysing inspirational pieces in greater detail - literally pick up and anything that would help me to understand the connotations a bit more 
• Finish off my inspirational letterpress pieces post
• Bring all of the highlighted doodles made and bring it up on Photoshop to start connecting them, producing a design that I could develop further
• Gather more inspiration to add to my Pinterest board 
• Do more doodles
• Figure out the dimensions of my travel mug and see how I'm going to assemble my design
• Look at colour schemes 

I've started by creating a mind map with all words connected to Tea and Twinings, to see what I could possibly sketch and include within my design. As mentioned in my post on existing product designs, most mugs have a pattern and aren't very much focused on typography, and that illustration is one of their main aspects. This means that I might have to reduce the amount of quotes on my design and just focus on one really decorative one, possibly surrounding it with little relevant doodles or single word. That had been my plan from the start, although now I think I might reduce the word amount even further. 

Now I can move onto doing some illustrations, as I had made a little section on some of the ideas produced from this mind map. I think that I shall do this before any of the bullet points made above, or when I'm feeling inspired.

This project is a merry-go-round!

[n] Learning Outcome

APP Words: To-Do List

[5]

I can't believe I haven't uploaded a picture about this earlier! I guess that's why I'm feeling a bit muddled at the moment...

Here's my to-do list for this project. Like my APP Home, I've created a little list of all of the things I need to do to ensure that I create a successful product, and I have separated it into different sections: one for research, experimentation, design and screenshots/evaluation. This list will probably keep on growing as I go through my project but for now this is just a basic outline. If I do add anything to the list I shall just update this post.

Using this list as reference I then write down in my diary what I will be working on everyday, just so that it doesn't pile up and leave me doing everything at the very end.

Conclusion:

This to-do list should hopefully keep me on track throughout the rest of this project! I would continuously be referring back to it and going over some of the parts I've already done to ensure I've done as much as I could to help me with this project.

[n] Learning Outcome

APP Words: Inspiration at Work

[4]

I noticed that my sketches were becoming a bit redundant and that I was running out of ideas, so while it was really quiet at work I took the chance to do some new sketches, drawing inspiration from the patterns of some of the clothes there. Even though these patterns are completely unrelated to this project and doesn't feature any typography it didn't really matter because I find that it's nice to gather inspiration from almost anything, and it was a breather from what I had been looking at the past couple of weeks. 

Inspiration (please excuse the quality of the photos!)

All patterns etc belong to Long Tall Sally

Nevertheless I did repeat one or two previous sketches, but I took them further by drawing them in different styles. For example I developed the ideas of sketching some buntings to dangle from the rim of the travel mug, as I drew each letter of the quote with different patterns. 

APP Words: Developing Sketches - Chosen Ideas

I'm at that point where I could start highlighting aspects that I find could be developed further and incorporated into the final design, so I went through the whole of my sketch pad and put little gold stars next to each sketch that I liked. 

I would like this idea to be the centrepiece of my design, and I could imagine it being right at the "front" of the travel mug. I want to experiment with more type styles though as I feel I haven't really explored into different typefaces and how they are usually displayed on banners. 

APP Words: Youtube Tutorials & Videos 3

While I was looking for inspiration I came across a page where they’ve listed some videos and time lapses of people doing hand lettering: http://www.fromupnorth.com/the-beautiful-art-of-hand-lettering-747/

Think I'm done with inspiration for today! Time to get sketching...

APP Words: Developing Sketches 2

I really liked the look of the banner, and after having a look at some of the motivational quotes I had collected previously I just roughly sketched out the words and ampersand that I wanted to draw on it. I left this for a while and continued to experiment with different hand-lettering styles, playing around with a set of micron pens I had purchased.

Unveiling Wonderland

For our APPs (Advanced Professional Practice) we had the choice of whether to create our own design brief or follow one of the competition briefs listed by our lecturers. The Serco Prize hosted by both the Association of Illustrators and Serco really caught my eye; it involved portraying a London story or stories in a single narrative.

 

I delved into London folklore as I had a keen interest in fantasy and fairy tales. I wanted to create an amalgamation of both well-known and lesser known narratives, and the ones that really stood out to me were Sherlock Holmes, Dick Whittingham, William I and Sons, Spring-heeled Jack and Witch Well. 

 

Even though I was unable to fully complete my illustration in time for the Serco Prize deadline, I continued with it and produced a poster design to submit as my university project. I initially had produced a different A3 version which you can see here, but after following the feedback from my lecturers and classmates who had all agreed that they preferred the Double Royal poster version. I thus adapted my A3 poster design to reflect this one so that it would mirror the Serco Prize's existing poster designs. 

Illustration

Poster Design

APP Words: Existing Mug Designs

[3] [5] 

I took a picture of my sister’s travel mug because that’s what inspired me to carry out this project. She uses travel mugs so often that she actually bought two of them so that I could always have one ready whenever she needed it. I’m going to take her opinion into consideration despite being a year younger than my target market, although I’ll make sure that’s she’s the only exception.

I’ve compiled a mood board of mug designs, and I decided to do it on Photoshop rather than on Pinterest, as they are my friend’s photos (or those that they weren’t able to take photos of, so just searched on Google instead). I looked at mug designs because most of my friends didn’t own travel mugs as they just used the paper ones provided by coffee shops that they threw away after they’ve finished their drink.

Looking at these photos I can tell that illustration is a consistent factor in all of these designs. This might mean that I would have to put more of an emphasis on illustration if that’s what makes my target market buy these products. My friend Jess had the most interesting mug… It was just full of type, and reminded me of an infographic piece.

APP Words: YouTube Tutorials & Videos 2

I actually find watching YouTube videos most inspiring, especially if it's a time lapse where the artist or typographer show their progress from start to finish. I shall leave inspirational videos here so that I could always refer back to them in case I needed that inspirational boost.

Even though the title says that it's YouTube videos, I've included some videos I found on vimeo as well.

Chrome letters – Calligraphy/Lettering from jackson alves on Vimeo.

APP Home (AOI): Converting Double Royal to A3

After much thought I decided to try taking the poster composition used for the Double Royal poster onto A3. Even though I have tried doing this before and highlighted that the type was extremely small, I still would like to print it out to see if it actually looks better on paper than on screen. 

I opened up the two documents - the A3 and Double Royal version - and first copied and pasted the illustration onto A3. I then copied and pasted the text from the Double Royal version onto the document. Once it was on the document I shifted everything into place and then adjusted all of the text.

The text pt. size wasn't actually as small as I had thought before, so I decided to carry on with this design and saved it. I opened up Photoshop so that I could add the logos for the final touch. I took reference from my Double Royal poster design as it was just another version of it. 

APP Words: Chalk Lettering

[3] [4] [5] [7]

On the way to an exhibition in London I stumbled upon a series of chalk lettering outside a pub, and when I looked closer I realised that they weren't actually done with chalk but some sort of paint. Nevertheless it had that chalk appearance and I really liked the type styles so I took photos of them anyway.
I've been interested in this type of lettering since I had a look at Matthew Tapia's work on Pinterest, as I really like the way they lay each element out and it has that 'traditional' appearance. 

Unfortunately I do not know the letterer behind these 'posters' so if anyone knows who did them, please let me know so I can credit them!

APP Words: Developing Sketches

To make things easier and keep to the flow of this blog I shall be doing separate posts every time I do my sketches so that I can see my progress and how that relates to my research. It'll also help me to pin point the areas I need to brush up on so I could get it done as quickly as possible to ensure I have more time to develop my final sketch. [8]

I spent the whole day yesterday at uni drawing lots of doodles and sketches and flicking through my typography album on Pinterest for inspiration, and I annotated my sketches where I was inspired by someone's work. This was quite a relaxing way of sketching for me because I didn't have to go off and analyse an inspirational piece and then sketch, but just sketch, write down the source of inspiration so I can go back to it after I was done. This meant that I could just focus solely on my ideas and get me 'in the mood' for doodling.

I've taken some of my previous doodles to develop here, especially those that I think I might carry across to my final sketch although I'm not too certain just yet what I'll include.

Conclusion:

I really like this method of sketching ideas because I was able to continuously generate them without getting bogged down by the thought of not analysing inspirational works just yet, because I could always do that at a later stage as I had written their names in the annotations. 

I think I might continue to do this in later sketches and then create a big post at the end of all of the images I drew references from, making note of them in my sketchpad or create a mood board on Pinterest. As you can tell in my sketches above I've made some progress in hand-lettering, especially when it comes to how each letter sits and is arranged. I've definitely leaned more on sans-serif styles and 'chunky' writing. 

My next step is to look back at my motivational quotes to help me come up with some quotes of my own (if I do choose to go with my own quote). If not I shall just pick a handful of the most inspirational ones that fit within my design.  

[n] Learning Outcome

APP Words: Doodles 2

I was inspired to do some more doodles after I flicked through my Pinterest board and stumble upon the work by. I wanted to develop some of my previous doodles, especially where I had done the words "good morning beautiful," "anything can happen" and "you can do it" because I think that those are really motivational and full of positive thoughts. 

Works in Progress

After some thought I realised that maybe "good morning beautiful" might not be adequate for a unisex design, because it might appear to be too feminine. I then moved onto writing out the words "good morning sweet" as I want it to tie in with sugar cubes, but even then... Well, not everyone drinks tea in the mornings, and I want my design to be used throughout the day.

Anything Can Happen

This led me on to the development of "anything can happen", and I've taken pictures to show my process. I was inspired by a video on YouTube and Sean Wes' work where they had written out a phrase then worked from the middle outwards. I first drew out my banner, wrote my quote, figured out where the middle of each word was, and then moved on from there. 

APP Words: Logo, Font and Lettering Bible by Leslie Cabarga

[4] [5] [7]

I had recently purchased this book after having a friend refer it to me while I was still deciding whether or not to do this project. I have to say that it is jam-packed with lots of useful information, although I was just a bit overwhelmed by this because there's just so much writing in it.

The first section covers the history and basics of typography before moving on to drafting type, so I quickly skimmed this so that I could reach the section I was really interested in; the things that I needed to take into account when drafting type.

I took photos of these pages, and there's quite a lot of them! Please excuse the glare on some of the pages, it's my table lamp.

APP Words: Analysing Typefaces - Hand Lettering Exercise

[4] [5] [7] [9]

After watching some YouTube videos and looking at Sean Wes’ work I realized that I need to go back to basics with typography and start analysing different type styles, mainly focusing on how each letter sits on the baseline as well as the other lines (mean line and cap height). This will make it easier for me to draw letterforms accurately even though I want that ‘personal’ appearance to show that it has been hand drawn.  This means that I wouldn’t stress over tiny details and shall allow for mistakes to show.

I printed out three styles: serif, sans serif and brush script. I want to be able to work with all of these types because I’m not too sure what kind of styles I’m headed for right now. I then drew the lines across them and made a lot of annotations to make it easier for me to remember their characteristics. 

I started to run out of ink! Whoops!

APP Words: Hand Lettering Experimentation 2

[9] 

During one of my lectures I sketched out some quick letterforms and tried out Blackletter with a variety of pens; I used the biro pen, the pilot pen and brush pen that my lecturer provided. It was nice to play around with different nib sizes to achieve different outcomes and even though it was relatively tricky to get to grips with it was a really fun exercise.

Two of my classmates decided to join me and we produced an A3 sheet of random letters and words with these pens and brushes. We tried Blackletter, Script and Sans Serif to see which styles worked best with these pens. I wasn’t very experienced with Blackletter so my tries weren’t perfect but there’s a first time for everything!

I moved onto doing the two-pencil trick where I cello taped two pencils together and wrote normally, then shaded in the letters with biro pen. This created a really interesting effect and I would like to use this in my initial designs. This is because it has that really ‘fun’ as well as a slightly calligraphic appearance because of the contrasting thick and thin strokes. 

APP Words: Motivational Quotes

[4]

The motivational or inspirational quote will be one of the key aspects in the design, and even though I've decided that I'll do several snippets of this I want to figure out what makes a quote motivational. This involved me looking through websites and highlighting the quotes I find really inspirational whether they had to do with sport or just everyday life.

This will help me to figure out what quotes to include in my piece and stop them from being 'boring' and sound the same. I shall be collecting typographic posters that feature motivational quotes at the same time and will analyse some of the most inspirational ones. 

Collection of Quotes

"You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream." C.S. Lewis

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." Thomas A. Edison

"Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward." Victor Kiam

"If you can dream it, you can do it." Walt Disney

"Never, never, never give up." Winston Churchill

"Work hard in silence, let success be your noise." Frank Ocean

"If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough." Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." Jack London

"Never give in and never give up." Hubert H. Humphrey 

"All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them." Walt Disney

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Lao Tzu

"It always seems impossible until it's done." Nelson Mandela

"Believe you can and you're halfway there." Theodore Roosevelt

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." Milton Berle

"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost. The old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring. Renewed shall be the blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be the King." John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

(Sources: Brainy Quote; Main Quotes; Brainy Quote [Inspirational])

What makes these quotes inspirational/motivational? From what I can see from this collection, they all have a similar goal; to tell the person they're talking to never to give up and make opportunities. If I was to write my own quote I would try and aim for a similar thing like I did in my previous sketches e.g. "you can do it" and "everything will be okay".

Typographic Posters

I placed all those pieces featuring quotes in the same typography folder so that everything is kept in one place. To see more of the posters I've collected, please click here.

I'm actually going to just use one post for my analysis of typographic posters, so to see my analysis please click here.


Conclusion:
I shall be picking out several of these chosen quotes to use on my design, as I'm hoping to use at least one of them and then create several little snippets of my own. This is because I wouldn't want to overwhelm my design by lots of famous quotes.

[n] Learning Outcome

APP Words: YouTube Tutorials & Videos

[3] [4] [5] [8]

I am not very experienced in hand lettering so one of the first things I did other than gather inspiration was watch some videos on YouTube. It’s surprising how many good tutorials and ‘speed paints’ there are on YouTube, and I could spend forever just watching all of the videos.

Below are some of my favourite videos and those that I find most relevant for this project. I concentrated on mainly the layout of the type and how to draw/paint/sketch different type styles such as cursive, Blackletter and sans serif. 

How to Layout Hand Lettering Tutorial

Here 'Redhead Cobweb Crafts' covers the basic principals of typography where she takes the Times New Roman typeface and mimics it, looking at where the x-height, cap-height and baseline are. Then she shows how to shade in the thick strokes as well as drawing serifs. 

In the second part of her video she shows how to layout a phrase by circling 'major words' which will help decide which words would be emphasised. What's interesting about this was that when she wrote out the words she works from the middle, out, so that each letter would be placed at an equal distance (so that the last couple of letters wouldn't be squashed to fit on the line). She briefly talks about how to do other typestyles and how to shade letters. 

Intro to Hand Lettering

Unlike the previous video, Maureen Wilson (Made by Marzipan) talks about what kind of materials to use such as the ideal paper and ink/pen choice. She also stresses the importance of analysing existing typefaces to see how thick and thin the strokes are, where they sit on the lines, how 'curvy' they are, before moving onto drawing the letters. 

She mentions how we shouldn't worry if the letters aren't perfect, because "minor flaws can add charm and interest to the piece." This was quite a relief to hear as I had been worrying about drawing my letters perfectly! 

Another aspect that separates this video from the previous one is that she briefly talks about the connotations of the type style and that, for example, for words like 'love' how it's nicer to use script. She also says the layout of the type could reflect the quote. 

APP Words: Doodles

I watched a video interview on Steve Simpson and this really inspired me to go back to my childhood hobby; doodling. I just loved drawing doodles in the margins of my school book, and the way that Simpson has assembled his illustrations made it appear like he was bunching up a group of doodles. He creates such perfect compositions, and his cartoon characters just shows that illustration doesn't mean that everything has to be extremely perfect in terms of anatomy, but cartoons are acceptable as well! This was really inspiring for me because I am a bit of a perfectionist and got bogged down by the thought of having to draw 'perfect' characters... Now I can simply draw cute and funny little cartoons. 

This is the video in question:

It's just so inspiring! Especially when they show his little sketches, which he also does in his portfolio so that we could see how he managed to put the illustration together. 

After watching this video I decided to do some quick doodles in my sketchpad of almost anything related to this project. I tried out using different coloured pencils but it seems that they didn't really show up on the page as well as I thought, hence why it's difficult to see them in these photos. 

APP Words: Twinings

[1] [3] [5]

As Twinings will be my "client" for this project I carried out some background information on the company, including what kind of teas they sell. I'm hoping for my travel mug to be aimed at coffee as well but because Twinings specialise in tea I might have to skip this idea.

Background Information

Twinings is a British-based tea company where a man named Thomas Twining wanted to produce a drink to topple coffee from the top spot as the nation's favourite beverage. The company was birthed 300 years ago – 1706 – and even now tea is a definite passion of theirs. They haven't sold any range of coffees (from what I can see of their product range) which shows that they have been true to Thomas Twining in promoting tea, even to this day and age.

“So far, ten generations of the Twining family have been there to watch it all happen, from the creation of our famous English Breakfast blend to supplying tea to the Red Cross for food parcels during the war. In fact, Stephen Twining still works for his family's company, helping to make sure Thomas's promise is never broken.”
(Quote source: History of Twinings)

List of Types of Tea

When I went onto their tea section I was overwhelmed by the different types of tea they sell; they sell so many flavours! Here is a list of the types of tea they provide:

Limited Edition Early Grey's

Black Tea

Decaffeinated Tea

Everyday Tea

Floral Tea

Green Tea

Redbush Tea

White Tea

Organic Tea

Flavoured Black Teas - International

Classic Earl Grey

Afternoon Tea: 

English Breakfast Tea

Assam Tea

Fruit and Herbal Teas

Simple Fruit Infusion Tea

Herbal Benefits Tea Blends

Black Loose Tea

White Loose Tea

Green Loose Tea

Oolong Loose Tea

Darjeeling Loose Tea

Flowers, Herbals and Fruit Loose Tea

Lady Grey

Yellow Loose Tea

You get the gist of it... They do do a wide range of teas, but from this list I can see that there are some main sections: Green, Black, Earl Grey, Herbal and Floral. Hopefully my design can cover most of these sections but I might have to do some variations in design just in case... But it would be more cost effective if I just produced one design. If I did two, Twinings would have to produce twice as many products and if one sells more than the other than the other would just be a waste.

APP Words: Hand Lettering Experiments

I haven’t dabbled in typography that much during my studies, and so I decided to carry out a few ‘experimentations’ before delving into research so that I could see what stage I’m at and what I could improve on. My focus will mainly be on the illustrations but as this is going beneath the ‘Words’ theme I would have to pay attention to the typography.

The brief doesn’t specifically state that I should do hand lettering but I thought that hand lettering has that organic and personal connotations as it’s done by hand (much like a watercolour painting could appear more ‘personal’ to the painter than a vectored image). Plus I think it would be a good idea to try something different and not be constrained by existing typefaces.

In my first experimentation I concentrated on the layout of the words rather than their form, because composition is the key if I’m going to do a motivational quote. I was inspired to do this after looking at Sean McCabe’s work and he also recommends laying out the words before stylising them. After picking out the ideal layout I then ventured into type style.

I moved on and then looked at doing just one sentence in a series of random styles. I did this while waiting for my lecture to start so it was quite spontaneous and I didn’t have any material to reference from. The sans serif looked like a cartoon and the italic script looked a lot softer and girly (which wouldn’t be good for a unisex design). However if I did want to produce something like Steve Simpson’s or Linzie Hunter’s work this could work as a standalone or group of words. 

APP Words: Typography Inspiration

[1] [3] [4] [5] [7]

Typography is one of the main focus of this travel mug design, so I shall first do some research on inspirational typographers and perhaps hand-lettering artists. I shall possibly include an overlap of typography and illustration in this post to make things easier, but I might do a separate post on illustration on its own.

I had built up on this post throughout my project, so these inspirational typographers were ones that I found over the duration of the whole research and experimentation process. I might create a new post later on if I find anyone near to the end of the project.

Moodboard

Now that I know the brief of one of my APP, I’m going to continue to look for inspiration on hand lettering as I still don’t really know much about it. Here is my first mood board from the “possible ideas” post:

I want to look mainly at typography and their form, but I’ll also include those with illustration in it (or I’ll never find it again!) Now that I have Pinterest I find it easier to gather inspiration because I wouldn’t have to create a mood board in Photoshop and link everything, as Pinterest links the images back to their original sources. 

Image sources: Matt Hunsberger http://www.saysomethingposters.com/2011/12/21/it-doesnt-matter-how-slow-you-go-as-long-as-you-dont-stop/; Oh So Beautiful Paper http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/09/calligraphy-inspiration-hardink-calligraphy/; Oh So Beautiful Paper http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/09/well-said-type-31/; Fabian De Lange http://www.behance.net/gallery/London-Show-us-your-type/9552693; Printerette Press http://www.printerettepress.com/; Madison Park Group http://madisonparkgroup.com/ (Photo credits from Oh So Beautiful Paper); Kate Forrester (2) http://www.kateforrester.co.uk/; Joan Quiros http://www.behance.net/JoanQuiros; Steph Baxter http://www.behance.net/stephsayshello; Shauna Lynn http://www.shaunaparmesan.com/; Svetlana Lomakina http://www.behance.net/lomakina; Jill De Haan http://www.behance.net/jilldehaanart; Mary Kate McDevitt http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MaryKateMcDevitt; Jessica Hische http://jessicahische.is/awesome;       Aoirostudio http://creattica.com/typography/the-grid-inspired-by-tron-legacy/49235; Christopher Fowler http://christopherfowler.deviantart.com/; Jamie Smith http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiesmithdesign/; Craig Ward http://www.behance.net/wordsarepictures; Adolfo Correa http://www.behance.net/kultsi; Sam Bevington http://thebevlak.com/      

To view more of my inspirations you can look at my ‘Typography’ collection here. I have collected as many inspirational pieces I can so not all of them would relate to this project.

APP Words: Design Brief Analysis

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As the proposal is the main brief (with the APP brief as the background/overall brief) I shall have to analyse it to ensure that I hit all of the right spots so that I could produce a successful product. The learning outcomes for the APP has already been done, so click here to see it.  

To make things easier I shall copy and paste the whole brief again to analyse.

"Background Information

Tea and coffee seem to be rising in popularity; it isn’t unusual to see a person stumbling into work or class with a mug of coffee or tea in hand to wake them up. It is also an easy way to relax with friends after a hard day of work. We often look upon inspirational quotes to boost our motivation to get us through the week long of reports or essays we have in our workplace and yet they can even go to the lengths of providing us with the courage to pursue our life long dreams.

Twinings is a British-based company that specialises in tea, and due to their interest in the environment they would like to have a travel mug that would appeal to students. Their aim is to help students cut down from continuously buying paper cups and save money by using their own tea bags. The student could always have a part of home with them in their travel mug, even when they’re far away from it.

The Brief
You are to design the outer design of a travel mug using inspirational words integrating illustration where possible. To reach a wider audience you may design an appropriate unisex design, as the company (Twinings) that would be supplying this product could maximise the potential to sell. You should associate this project with the idea of “Words” theme that is outlined in the learning outcomes."

Background Information

As stated above, my "client" (I say "client" because this is a made-up university brief) is Twinings which is a British-based company specialising in tea. The fact that they're interested in environmental factors would mean I would probably have to create a design that's environmentally friendly but then again my design would be for a ceramic travel mug which will be used more than once. This would give me more freedom, nevertheless I would still like to look into environmental issues.

Recycling is still very expensive and actually uses a lot more energy and this might be the reason why it's ideal to use a ceramic travel mug because it won't use as much energy... I would need to do some more research to confirm this though.

Breaking Down the Brief

I will highlight the part of the brief that mentions 'inspirational quotes' as that seems to be one of the most important factors. I need to do something light and amusing to brighten up a student's day, so this might mean that I'll have to use bright and bold colours or intentional puns. To make it easier for me to break this down I shall list all of the main aspects as bullet points.

• The "client" - Twinings

Need to look at their company information - logo, design, environmental factors, existing mug designs or even travel mug designs.

• Inspirational quotes

Could be really long or even short quotes. The longer quotes could cover the whole of the mug and could be the main focal point. I would therefore need to look for inspirational quotes or find out what makes words inspiring, because I could simply do something like, "Good morning sweetie! You can do it!"

• Target marker - Students - Unisex

I am part of this target market so I would need to find designs that I would find appealing as well as asking my fellow colleagues and friends who are also students or around that age group. I need to produce something for men and women, so I should avoid fully 'feminine' and 'masculine' designs. 

• Travel Mug Design

I need to have a look at travel mug dimensions, possibly purchasing one of the ideal size so that I could measure it up. I would also need to look at existing designs to see what's in fashion and on trend because I want my design to appeal to the target market. This emphasises the thought of having them take pictures of their own mugs so that I know what designs they have already purchased. I shall also look at Twinings mug designs and see if they do travel mugs. 

• Illustration

It mentions that I could mix up the typography with illustration, and this is ideal for me because I love illustration. I've already listed some typographers and illustrators in my proposal so I will be having a look at their work to see how they do it. 

Conclusion:

By breaking up the brief into simple, short bullet points I'll be able to draw up a successful design more easily because I if I ever needed to refresh my mind on what needs to be done I could just flick back to this post and quickly read through everything.

I've noticed that I've got quite a short deadline to work with so I shall have to make sure that I only do relevant research so that I can dedicate my time to experimentation, unlike my last APP where I seemed to have run out of time for this. 

[n] Learning Outcome