Insert My Less Paranoid Message Here

My 'remix' of the counter-terrorism poster, see Design Context.

Brief 2

Crit Feedback

To-Do List

Another Idea in the Equation...

Another idea to think about... Now I really am stuck. I do really like this idea, it has the balance of one of the first idea on the previous blog post, and the clearness and clarity of the second one.

I have less than 24 hours to pick one.

Print slot: 2pm.

Mini Informal Crit

As I am coming up to both my Brief 1 and Manchester Book Fair deadline, I need to select my final pieces. I am not comfortable with the quality or content for my book for Manchester, so I will be submitting one of my Mexico prints.

Jonathan Finch and Steph Bourne both preferred:

Although Steph felt, the opacity should be adjusted so it is more opaque.

Naomi Farrar and Rob Green both preferred this one:

I am torn between the two, after a chat with Rosalind I became even more torn, with the first one, the type is even and so in terms of the image it works well, but with the second one I quite like how the word Smile stands out but in terms of hierarchy I see Smile then the rest of the text which isn't what is intended. Kim Sandford and Hazel Gage also liked the top idea better, I have decided to pick the first one.

After looking through the earlier designs for the skulls Rob commented that I shouldn't let the skulls go to waste, maybe I could use one as a tag to go with the poster?

Hotdog Fold

For the Manchester book fair brief I am undecided whether to sell a print or create some books, originally the books would contain all the skulls I designed. But as I look at them, they annoy me now, and I don't feel as happy with them.
What I did really like was the flower pattern I created for the Mexico brief so I thought about developing some more based on the existing flowers and colours in it, to keep it uniform.

I then created a test hotdog fold book so I could see if it was going to work:

They look great together... however I am not sure this will work. I feel more confident creating a print which requires no hand crafting - although I would love to create a set of books.

Unless... I created a set of notebooks, using this cover.

Typographic Eyes

Just an idea I started drawing:

Computer version:

Using the words To Death With A to form an eye using the warp tool on illustrator.

The A looks quite odd here, it may look better on the same line as with, to give it a more rounded smoother edge.

This actually looks really weird, and slightly, I know simple designs can work well, but this is too plain.

This looks much better, and works better as a shape for an eye-socket.

I have used the repetition of 'Smile' to represent teeth. I think it looks quite effective along with the eyes, as both have two lines of text.

I am not sure if the 'Smile' works better in this one. It is easier to read, and gets the point across.

Just another idea - I will definitely be sticking with the full line of text 'To death...'. Here I have adjusted the opacity, I have put it up to 90% as a peer suggested it may look better.

Adding type

Adding text:

Ideas

I quite like the idea of the skull being semi transparent - just need to see if it will work with type.

I am not sure if the fully opaque skull is a bit too bright - maybe another colour would work better?
Colour Experiments:

Looking at these, I think the application of colour takes away the fact it's a skull - in my opinion anyway. To me the shape just appears to be a coloured blob, but in white it is more clear that the shape is in fact a skull. If I place the final text on it may become visually more effective.

I do like the idea of just the white stroke, however to apply a text layer on top of this would make it difficult to see.

By applying a semi transparent layer with the stroke, this still looks effective, and I would be able to apply text without worrying about legibility. This is the same as the previous idea but this time I have added the stroke.

Re-reading the brief

Its coming up to my last few days before I send my work off to Mexico! Very exciting. Just need to re-read the 8 or so page brief and double check a few things.
In the envelope:
- DVD/ CD containing the JPEGs of my final poster.
(Poster must be RGB, a minimum of 200 dpi and less than 25mb and named byrne_gemma.jpg)
- Registry sheet - filled in and signed
- Brief copy - with every page signed
- Photocopy of my identification
- Both authorisation forms filled in.

Wow.

Note to self: Information from John!
Airmail 3-7 working days £4.25 up to 2 kilos
AirSure 2-6 working days from £5.98
International signed for 3-7 working days £4.95 plus post weight

60cm x 90 cm

Rather a strange set of dimensions, 60cm x 90cm. This means a bit of altering for my pattern.

With the above pattern there is some strange 'bald' patch on the left above the middle...

Before clipping mask.

Final pattern.

Type

I really want to include the title 'To death with a smile' to my work, it is appropriate to show what this is about - a positive representation of death, more of a celebration of life. I like the idea of warping the type into a smile - which will go in place of the skulls mouth.

The two lines of text don't seem to work best for the mouth shape... Do I write 'To death with a...' or 'To death with a smile' - is this too obvious?