OUGD404 - Studio Brief 2 - Poster Design

OUGD404

Studio Brief 2

Poster Design 

The specification for this poster is that it must fold down from A1 to A4

When folded the front facing A4 is rotated compared to the unfolded A1 Sheet. This is something I will have to consider when designing.

I have chosen to design a poster for the Natural History Museum.

I decided to create origami dinosaurs for the background of the poster to advertise the museums dinosaur exhibit.

I made 3 different dinosaurs 

I then started to consider composition.

I experimented  with landscape and portrait and different compositions but struggled to create a composition which included the A4 rectangle at the bottom right of the poster. I also struggled to create something visually appealing with the photos I had taken. To combat this I put my photos into illustrator and drew around them using the pen tool. This created a flat image of the origami.
I repeated the illustrations to create a pattern.

The design follows a simple horizontal grid with the dinosaurs walking in line. This design also works when it folds down to A4 as it just shows the pattern. The large Natural History Museum, which also has a white outline brings the design together and making the connection with the basic illustrations and the dinosaur exhibit clear.

I developed this by adding colour. 

The colour scheme comes from a collection of insects on display at the museum. The colours are vibrant and will draw the attention of passers by. I altered the fill of the box surrounding the logo, making it slightly paler for a greater contrast. The one colour design is simple but works well with this design as the poster is saturated with the simplified origami illustrations. In the bottom right corner, where the poster would fold down to A4, reads '65 million years in the making. Kensington Road, London'. This short phrases hints at the fact the poster is for the natural history museum without having to show the Natural History Museums logo. 

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 2 - Penguin Book Cover Designs

OUGD404

Studio Brief 2

Penguin Book Cover Design 

The 3 book designs follow the exact same format and typeface. They are also linked by colour scheme, with the title and authors name shown at the spine of the book in an alternating colour. I have collected these books together and purposely used the same design elements throughout to highlight the fact that they all tackle the subject of racism. They approach this subject in very different ways, for example the main arc in The Help is racism. In To Kill a Mockingbird racism in the segregation of blacks and whites in the court room and in the trial of Tom Robinson. In Two Caravans, the author shows racism towards Eastern European migrants in the UK. The books tackle the topic so differently I struggled to create a design based on the topic that was true to the feel of each individual book. This is why I chose to relate the books by design. The illustrations on each cover use the same style. They are hand drawn and mono colour. Each illustration relates to a scene or theme in each book. The hope is to draw new readers in but also relate to previous readers who would be interesting in reading the book again. 

The colour scheme is created for complimenting shades. The shades also work with the green of the Marber poster on the back. 

All designs follow the same grid system. They use the Marber grid. I have not challenged the grid as I think I have used typography and colour to make the design unique and very different to the original crime series which originally used this grid, therefore it did not need to be altered. The typeface used is Baskerville. I have used a small sized text as I think it makes the design more delicate which compliments the fine illustrations. I think the details are important in this design. I particularly think the white illustration on the spine of each cover and the illustration that continues on the inside sleeve of the book add to the design as a whole.

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 2 - Marber's Timeline Poster

OUGD404 

Studio Brief 2 

Marber's Timeline Poster

The time line shows important events in Marber's life.

1925 - Romek Marber is born in Poland

1939 - Marber is deported to the Bochnia ghetto during the outbreak of the second world war as he is Jewish and forced to do so by the Nazis

1942 - He is saved from transportation to the Belzec death camp by the actions of a sergeant Kurzbach, the commander of the forced-labour workshop in Bocaina.

1945 - Marber is liberated by US forces on 18th April

1946 - He moves to Britain where he is reunited with his brother and father

1950 - Marber begins his studies at St. Martians with a course in Commercial Arts

1953 - He attends the Royal College of Art

1960 - Marber designs covers for the Economist.

1961 - After working on covers for The Economist, Penguin’s Germano Facet commissions Marber to design two book covers for the author Simeon Potter. He later gave Marber the chance to work across the entire sequence of titles for Penguin Crime.

1964 - He becomes the first art director of the Observer magazine.

1966 - Marber continues working at the Observer as a design consultant

1989 - Romek Marber retires as a Professor Emeritus from Middlesex University

2010 - Marber publishes a book of his memoirs of his experiences during the second world war entitled No Return: Journeys in the Holocaust.


Design Decisions  

The black and green colour scheme to represent Marber's work for Penguin Crime, where all his designs use the distinctive black and green colour scheme. The design is formatted in portrait for a better flow as the timeline runs from top to bottom, the closer the date is to current times the closer it is to eye level. The typeface used for the copy is Baskerville. This type was chosen as it runs through the design of the book cover, but it also remains legible at long distances or small sizes due to its serifs. The bold typeface used for dates is Helvetica with negative line spacing and very condensed kerning. This draws the eye and creates a point of interest as the white space creates a contrast against the green. The illustrations in the background retain consistency throughout the book covers and the posters as they are the same illustrations used on the covers. 

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 2 - Thumbnails for Penguin Books

OUGD404

Studio Brief 2

Thumbnails for Penguin Book Covers 

Before I began drawing I decided on my three books. I wanted them to have an underlying theme as to link the covers together All three books look at racism with each book being set in different era’s. The books I chose where: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee, ‘The Help’ by Kathryn Stockett and ‘Two Caravans’ by Marina Lewycka.

How to Kill a Mocking bird is set in Alabama in the 1930’s (The Great Depression)

The Help is set in Jackson Mississippi in the 1960’s

Two Caravans is set in England in the 2000’s

I did some quick basic layouts with the Marber Grid as its base

The boxes show were information and images will be placed.

The book leave will also double as a poster documenting Romek Marber's life. Therefore I must consider how the design will work around this 

The poster would take the full space of this diagram.