The layout of a book varies hugely dependent on the genre, creative educational books rely heavily on pictures to give the reader a good example of what the finished product/craft should look like. Four two-page spreads from Hooked on Learning’s Books For this section of the assignment, I chose to create 4 two-page spreads for a book. The book is an informative guide teaching 18-30 year olds how to crochet and includes patterns for creating soft toys. Forming an interesting layout was a priority however, the layout had to be easy to follow due to the audience being crochet beginners. Before designing the two-page spreads I created a master compositional grid to ensure that each set of pages were cohesive and followed the same layout (please see above). For the master compositional grid, I chose to complete the designs on two 200 x 200mm pages because this size perfectly suits the crochet genre, as it allows the reader to fold the book in half and have a 200 x 200mm page on their lap whilst they crochet. Once the page size was determined, I introduced guidelines that allowed for a clear page structure, this included a margin around the edge of each page, page numbers in the bottom right corner of each page and a clear place for the page title, subheading and body text. On each two-page spread I envisioned the right page being an image of the final product that the pattern is teaching, this will allow the reader to easily locate the pattern they are searching for as well as knowing what their final work should look like. On the left page I chose for a three-column approach, the first two columns being the crochet pattern and the third having circular images with text wrapping around them explaining the contents of the image. I choose to have circular images because of the rounded/soft edge nature of the branding for ‘Hooked on Learning’, in addition when looking at the top of a ball of yarn they are circular. Between each heading, paragraph, and column there is a 5mm gap ensuring that the layout is clear. The use of the illustrations allowed for the composition to be stimulating whilst also flowing nicely for the learning crocheters. Once I had created three sets of two-page spreads that followed the layout of the master compositional grid, I had the idea of creating a contents page that didn’t completely match the master compositional grid layout but still corresponded with it. Rather than designing a traditional contents page with no imagery, I thought it would be easier for the target audience and more interesting if they could find the page based on an image of a crocheted soft toy, therefore included the circular images with the wrap around text. I kept the structure of three circular images per column with the crochet stitch illustration as a divider. However, on the left page thought it would be appropriate to include the company logo with a small paragraph about the book and then move straight onto the images of what would be included. References Whilst I crocheted the contents of the imagery the patterns were written as follows (patterns not mentioned were developed by myself): Bee – Hooked by Robin Duckling, Monkey, Bunny – Kristina Turner of Tiny Curl Sloth – essiebirdies Turtle – Yan Schenkel
Author: pepper2023
Traditional or Online Conceptual Editorial Masthead (Logo) Design
A company’s logo should be the most recognisable aspect of a brand, Erjansola et al. (2021) describe a logo as a “brand-management tool used in a carefully planned process to create brand equity, customer commitment and competitive distinctiveness.” To create a logo that catches the eye of the company’s target audience it is important to incorporate the company’s key characteristics. Hooked on Learning’s Conceptual Logos To create the conceptual logo for ‘Hooked on Learning’ (a company that’s aim is to teach 18-30 year olds how to crochet) I searched for a cursive typeface, with the aim of it having the appearance of yarn however, I struggled to find one that was appropriate. Consequently, I physically laid out yarn to display the words ‘Hooked on Learning’ (please see below), I then took photographs, uploaded them to Adobe Illustrator and traced over them. Guidelines were used on Adobe Illustrator to ensure there was a baseline and a consistent x-height, cap height and point size. Once complete, the next step was to add a couple of 3D effects to the string like cursive writing, this is when the font took shape and looked like yarn used to crochet. Now that I had incorporated the crochet aspect of the company through the yarn, I planned on including an icon that would represent the learning/teaching side of the company. I considered how I learnt to crochet, which was through using my eyes to look at books and videos, I adapted the ‘oo’ in ‘Hooked’ to look like eyes, specifically the safety eyes often used when crocheting soft toys. For the typography within the logo I chose pink, but wanted to create a background to ensure that the logo would be clearly visible when on a white background, for this blue seemed the perfect choice. With this logo being for a crochet company rather than having a rectangular shape with angular, sharp corners it was more appropriate to round the corners of the blue rectangle and additionally add a 3D effect to link it to the yarn like typography. After the primary logo was complete, it was time to create the full set of logos for the typographical graphic standards. Each of the logos were created with a specific use in mind; The primary logo is a colourful emblem logo, this should be the first choice if spacing permits. For corporate use, I created a black and white version because this design is still identifiable with the brand but is more formal and appropriate for business use. For the correct use of these logos, they should always be kept to the specific ratio when scaled. At times when this ratio does not fit the wordmark logo may be used and for social media purposes the letter mark logo would work best. References Erjansola, A. M., Lipponen, J., Vehkalathi, K., Aula, H., M. & Pirttila-Backman, A., M. (2021) From the brand logo to brand associations and the corporate identity: visual and identity-based logo associations in a university merger. Springer Link, 28(1), 241-253.
Typographical Graphic Standards
Typographical standards ensure that all content created for a company is distinctive and in keeping with the brand’s identity. To create a strong brand identity specific colours, typography, logos, and illustrations are introduced, these elements are what helps the customer differentiate this brand from the rest. Hooked on Learning’s Typographical Standards The task was to create typographical graphic standards for a company that’s purpose is to teach crochet to 18-30 year olds, I firstly had to decide on a company name. To do this I wrote a list of words that were linked to the purpose – teaching and the subject – crochet, I then combined the two and landed on ‘Hooked on Learning’. Once the name was decided it was time to choose a colour palette, due to the audience being 18-30 my immediate thought was to incorporate bright, vibrant colours that drew the reader’s attention. For inspiration, I looked through images that I had taken over the years of items that I have crocheted and quickly noticed that most images were taken against a purple, blue or yellow background, leading to the chosen colour pallet. I wanted to introduce a fourth colour that was coherent, I created an illustration of crochet stitches using the chosen colours and used this to test the fourth colour (please see below). Pink complemented the others favourably and so the colour palette was established. Ward et al. (2020) states that colour “is more challenging to develop as a unique brand identifier due to high levels of competitive sharing.” However, due to the research I had carried out on crochet books and crochet companies I felt positive about the colour palette chosen. The next step was to create the logos to be include in the typographical standards, the creation of these logos and the correct usage is discussed in detail within the post Traditional or Online Conceptual Editorial Masthead (Logo) Design. Typography was the next decision to make, keeping in mind that the editorial pieces I was going to design were books, the chosen font needed to be appropriate for a book cover but also, a supporting font that would be suitable for the contents of a book was required. Initially I used Adobe Illustrator to view ‘Hooked on Learning’ in a variety of typefaces. It quickly became clear that a bubbly, rounded, bold, sans serif typeface fitted this brand’s identity. Ziclets stood out as the perfect typeface for this fun, vibrant and friendly company, as it clearly communicated these characteristics, by looking at the book titles the reader will know what vibe to expect. The accompanying typeface to be used for subheadings and body text was HP Simplified Jpan, it is also sans serif and has rounded ends but is easier to read in a smaller size. The idea for the character illustrations derived from the logo, they connect to the googly eyes in ‘Hooked’ and they add to the distinctive brand identity. The arrow illustrations are to allow key points and next steps within the books to be clearly indicated to the readers learning to crochet. The crochet stitch illustration allowed for the typographical standards pages to be divided into clear and concise sections. Other aspects that I would introduce in future typographical standards would be to include the correct spacing, imagery of branded products and the correct usage of imagery within the books. References Ward, E., Yang, S., Romaniuk, J. & Beal, V. (2020) Building a unique brand identity: measuring the relative ownership potential of brand identity element types. Springer Link, 27(1), 393–407.
Self-Promotional Image Poster
In this blog post I will be discussing two self-promotional image posters created using Adobe Illustrator. The approach to these designs was to promote myself through exploring feelings and ideas that I think are vital for a solid future, and to do this I created illustrations and used images that I have taken. First Self-Promotional Poster The design for the self-promotional poster incorporates multiple ideas that I am passionate about and would like to embody in future designs. The poster includes friends, family, live music, Christmas and Hull. As part of the festive period, every year I go to a music concert in Hull with my friends and family. The idea of the poster is to be a promotional poster for Hull, which is something I would be interested in continuing with, advertising why Hull is a great place to visit. When looking through photographs I had taken at concerts, this one stood out for this design of a snow globe due to the confetti representing the snow in the globe. Second Self-Promotional Poster I aspire to be a primary school teacher, so for the second self-promotional poster I decided to create a design that would include topics that I believe are vital to teach the younger generation. The building represents a school, and each room contains a ‘pillar of education’. The first pillar shows that children should always feel welcome to ask questions. The second is yin yang, this was to represent the lesson of harmony. The next is learning about mental health and what steps to take when dealing with a traumatic event that happens in their life or someone around them. The fourth is friendship, knowing how you should be treated and caring for others. The final symbol represents caring for the environment. These are all subjects that primary schools may be approaching however, I feel that more time needs to be spent teaching these points to help the future generation.
Adobe Photoshop Self Portrait
In this blog post I will be reviewing how two self portraits created using Adobe Photoshop display my personal goals in graphic design. First Self Portrait For the first Adobe Photoshop self portrait I have created a checkboard and put myself in each box, using a photograph taken by a friend. The reason for choosing this image is due to the happy memory of where I was when it was taken, I was supporting my friend at her graduation fashion show. Friendship is very important to me and helping others with their work is a skill that I have been commended on throughout my career. I adapted each image of myself to have a different effect, be that colour, grain, or warp, but left the middle image untouched. This work represents my colourful and fun personality but is also a visual representation of the multiple creative ideas I have running through my mind at once. Second Self Portrait Crozier and Greenhalgh (1988) suggest that “contemporary self-portraits should reflect self-presentational concerns, that the spectator will expect to glean certain information about the self from them.” In this Adobe Photoshop self portrait I am trying to convey the message to the spectator that I am a happy, creative individual that loves being in nature. The chosen image was taken on a recent holiday to Cornwall, to inform the viewer of my love of nature I decided to use an image of a canvas painting that I created using acrylic paints for my background. This was painted when spending an afternoon with my Grandpop, meaning that both images used within this self portrait were again taken at times when happy memories were being created. Through my designs this is something I am passionate to share with others, to bring happiness to others through work I have created is a dream. References Crozier, W. R. & Greenhalgh, P. (1988) Self-portraits as presentations of self. The MIT Press, 21(1), 29-33.
Adobe Illustrator Self Portrait
In this blog post I will talk about two contrasting self portraits that I created using Adobe Illustrator. First Self Portrait For the first self portrait I have used Adobe Illustrator to create a simple replication of myself, it is based off a photo that was taken at a Thai restaurant my boyfriend and I visited before seeing my favourite band, music and food are two of the things that I enjoy in life most. Through the illustration I have tried to capture my happiness. The colourful lights in the background represent my joy in this moment, they also assist in showing my fun, bright and light-hearted personality. Through creating this self portrait, I have realised that throughout my future in design I would like to bring others joy and relief from the stresses of the world. Although it is important to spread word about important worldwide issues, when looking at other creatives designs playfulness and fun is what I am drawn to most. For the second Adobe Illustrator self-portrait I created an abstract piece, I focused on the features of my face that stand out to me the most when looking in the mirror. The large ovals around my eyes represent my tired dark circles, the patches represent the shadows and highlights of lighting due to my face shape and the mouth is wonky to replicate my wonky mouth when smiling. These stand out to me as flaws however through this design they have become fun, colourful and are the key to this design being interesting. Gogol (2019) makes the point that it is common for artists to create self-portraits throughout the ageing process. The background has a psychedelic feel which represents both my sometimes-chaotic brain and one of my top played music genres, psychedelic rock. In the future, I want to continue using bright colours and would like to create designs that connect to music. References Gogol, M. (2019) Aging displayed in self-portraits of artists. Innovation in Aging, 3, 180.
Typographical Name Logo
In this blog post I will be discussing two typographical name logos I designed using Adobe Illustrator, each logo says something about me. First Logo The sans serif font selected for the above typographical name logo is ‘Ziclets Medium’, which is a heavy weight uppercase font that is rounded, bubbly and fun. The kerning for the font was adapted to be closer together and the colours were changed to be bright and bold. By choosing this font the personality traits being communicated are friendly, colourful, energetic, fun, and enthusiastic; the curvy strokes used for this font perfectly represents these. Knight and Glaser (2012) describe the meaning of visual language as text and imagery creating a meaning through its visual appearance. Throughout my life I have been described as a sweet person which is why I was drawn to this font, through its visual appearance viewers are able to understand this meaning. Second Logo For the second typographical logo I chose the font ‘8 heavy’ because of its 60’s style, I then manipulated the font to make it wavy and 3D, which made it look like the liquid in a lava lamp to again bring in the 60’s feel. When deciding the theme of this typographical logo I wrote down words that describe me and the things I care or worry about, among this list were the following words caring, loving, thoughtful, environmentally conscious, and political climate. I then drew connections from caring, thoughtful, and loving to the summer of love which is a famous social gathering that occurred in 1967. The 60’s was also a time with a myriad of political issues and revolutionary movements against the government in many countries. I feel strongly about the current issues with the political climate and wanted to draw from the 60’s to represent this. To bring in the environmentally conscious aspect I chose for the typography to be green. Being environmentally conscious has been a concern of mine throughout my life and to be able to spread a message about the importance of environmental issues through my future designs is important to me. References Knight, C. & Glaser, J. (2012) When typography speaks louder than words. Smashing Magazine, April 2012.
Colour
The use of colour is important within design, it both draws the eye of the target audience and assists the audience in processing information. This blog post will be exploring the use of colour by discussing why a good example of colour used on a crochet book cover works and what makes a poor example bad, it will then adapt the poor example to be improved. Good example Wool and the gang’s book raffia crochet is a great example of minimalistic colour use. The tones of the colours used on the book cover would stand out to a young target audience and offer thoughts of a summery, warm climate. There is a neutral background with only white and beige being used, giving a very natural, environmental vibe to the design. The contrasting colour is orange to match the physical orange that has fallen out of the crocheted bag, even though this is a bright colour, orange still compliments the neutral tones. Whilst there are only two main colours on the book cover, it pops and would stand out on the shelf. Colour can convey meanings, affect emotions, and impact purchases of products. When first looking at an item or individual people make opinions and decisions quickly. ChangDa and Bhaumik (2023:1) state that “A product’s or person’s evaluation is based only on colours between 62 and 90% of the time. Thus, a colour is used to distinguish your goods from those of competitors as well as to alter the emotions and moods of specific customers”. The orange title of the book is placed on the white wall meaning that the title is easily readable, due to it being positive text. In a study by Hall and Hanna (2007:1), they found that “colours with greater contrast ratio generally lead to greater readability” and that “ratings of aesthetic quality were significantly related to intention to purchase.” This confirms that the colours chosen for a book cover directly affects a person’s intention of purchasing a book. This must be considered when starting the design process. Poor example The crochet book is a bad example of the use of colour because it is lifeless. The shades of the colours used on the original version of the crochet book are not complimentary of each other. The salmon pink that is used down the left side and for some of the text is picked from the imagery of the yarn, however, there is the potential to use any colour due to the vast amount of yarn colours available, a different colour would be a better choice. All text on the original is light colour on a dark background, which is harder to read but the subheading has worse readability due to there not being a great contrast in colours and as discussed earlier this does have an impact on readability. On the revised version the colours are still toned down but have a greater contrast which is more aesthetically pleasing. The chosen colours are opposite each other on the colour wheel, meaning that they are complementary colours. When redesigning the decision was made to have the rusty orange as the text colour on top of the light blue, to ensure the text is easily readable. Overall, the redesign is more striking, and this would hopefully lead to greater sales. References ChangDa, H. & Bhaumik, A. (2023) Colour psychology’s impact on marketing, advertising, and promotion. International Journal of Management and Human Science, 7(1), 12-18. DK (2020) The crochet book. London: DK. Hall, R. H. & Hanna, P. (2007) The impact of web page text-background colour combinations on readability, retention, aesthetics and behavioural intention. Behaviour and Information Technology, 23(3), 183-195. Wool and the Gang (2019) Raffia crochet. Exeter: David & Charles.
Composition
Composition refers to the layout of a design, it is an important element in creating an interesting and dynamic piece of work. Composition is a vital aspect of design when ensuring the audience’s eye is drawn to the message of the work. According to Kadry (2017:1) composition “should establish a visual hierarchy that directs the viewer’s eyes through a deliberate visual sequence”. This blog post will look at a good and poor example of how composition is used in the design of crochet book covers and analyse an improved redesign of the poor example. Good example The composition of the Modern Crochet Style book cover tells a story. The title of the book stands out immediately due to it being bold, black font on top of a light-coloured background, in addition to this the fact that the title is central is another reason that the reader’s eyes are drawn to it. The crochet items are displayed in a way that shows the movement of the crochet process, the scarf on the right side leads the reader from the main heading up the page to the sub-heading. The author’s name is placed directly on top of the body of the person crocheting which possibly is ‘Lindsey Newns’ herself. Through the composition guideline created from the modern crochet style book cover (please see left) you can see the crocheted items in colours and the negative space of the book cover in white. There is white space around both headings, shown in black and the scarf, shown in grey, looks like a pathway for your eyes to follow. Landa (2021) makes the point that composition affects the amount of time a person will spend looking at a design, and through the regularity or irregularity of negative space in a design, a rhythm is established when the eyes are looking over a design. Poor example When looking at the book Christmas Crochet the design looks overcrowded and overworked. There is no reason for the crocheted items to be where they are on the page. Whilst Lindsay Newns’ book cover (good example) contains multiple crocheted products, they were composed cleanly and coherently, on the poor example, the crocheted items appear to have been cut and pasted into random spaces with no thought as to why. The designer has included an image of crochet as part of the background, plus some block colours, plus a white background with grey dots, demonstrating that too many ideas have been combined into one. On the revised version of the Christmas Crochet book cover, the heading is central to ensure that the reader’s eyes are drawn to this first. The viewer’s eyes should then look at the Christmas trees which are on a contrasting background colour of pink. The majority of the crocheted items were removed on the revised design, this was due to a lot of them being included in the main image of the Christmas tree and to simplify the composition. The three Christmas trees are placed in a ‘V’ shape, often in crochet patterns the instructions are to work into the ‘V’, meaning the decision was made to replicate a crochet stitch. This redesign was difficult due to the poor example being very clustered and the images used were of poor quality, however, the composition of the redesign does stand out in comparison to the original. References Kadry, A. (2017) The role of composition in advertising design. Journal of Applied Arts & Science, 1-20. Landa, R. (2021) Advertising by design: generating and designing creative ideas across media. New Jersey: Wiley. Newns, L. (2021) Modern crochet style. Barnsley: White Owl. Toonen, A. (2016) Christmas crochet. City published N/A: Publisher N/A.
Conceptual Design
Conceptual design describes the concept that one design can have multiple meanings. When used in the design of book covers conceptual designs can offer the audience an understanding of various topics that can be expected within its pages. This blog post will analyse conceptual design within the category of crochet/knitting books by finding a good example of conceptual design and an example containing no conceptual design, then providing an updated version that includes conceptual design. Good example The Power of Knitting written by economist Loretta Napoleoni is a book about the powerful effect knitting can have on empowering people, healing people, and bringing people together in our disjointed world. At first glance, the book cover shows a blue ball of yarn with a hand holding knitting needles in front, however upon closer inspection the illustration is a map of the world with yarn wrapped around it, meaning the reader must infer that metaphorically the world and yarn are both represented in this image. The subtitle of the book is ‘stitching together our lives in a fractured world’, having the yarn wrapping around the world gives a visual representation of yarn physically holding the ‘fractured world’ together. This is an excellent example of conceptual design; the image of the yarn/world has a dual purpose which connects to the meaning of the book title and ultimately the contents of the book. In addition to the conceptual meaning of the illustration of the world, the hand in front of the world is in a fist, which has throughout history been a symbol of power and protest (The Economist, 2020). This book is trying to convey a message about how powerful knitting has been throughout history and is backing this point up by incorporating one of the most recognisable symbols of power. In the illustration the powerful fist is being formed to hold knitting needles like a weapon, this could have an additional meaning of people using knitting as a weapon of peace. Above all, this book cover will give the audience an appreciation of the metaphors created through the multiple meanings of the illustration because they are understandable. Mulken et al. (2014) state that “comprehension is a necessary prerequisite because otherwise the strategy may backfire”. Conceptual designs must be clear to understand because if not they will have less of an impact. Poor example There are no examples of conceptual design on the original book cover for ‘a little course in crochet’. The cover has images of scissors, crochet hooks, yarn and more, meaning the reader can understand what will be included in the book. However, the overall design is quite lifeless and does not pop. Introducing a conceptual design into this book cover would introduce a new layer of appreciation to the audience and hopefully make them spend more time looking at the cover, leading to a purchase of the book. However, introducing a conceptual design that is not too simple is also important as this can also affect the impact of the design, much like an overly ambitious conceptual design can do. For the revised version the text has included two conceptual design ideas. The first example shows the letter ‘o’ in the word ‘course’ has been replaced by the crocheted flower from the original book cover. The second example is that the stem of the letter ‘t’ in the word ‘crochet’ is a crochet hook with a sewing needle as the cross stroke on the ‘t’. It is important when replacing letters for conceptual design that you ensure the word is still readable, which in this design they are. These introductions of conceptual design in the revised version possibly are too simple; however, they do show an understanding of the idea behind conceptual design. References DK (2014) A little course in crochet. London: DK. Mulken, M. V., Hooft, A. V. & Nederstigt, U. (2014) Finding the tipping point: visual metaphor and conceptual complexity in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 43(4), 318-332. Napoleoni, L. (2020) The power of knitting. New York: Penguin Random House USA. The Economist (2020) A brief history of protest symbols, from cockades to raised fists. The Economist, Internet edition. 17 June. Available online: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2414023991?accountid=11528&parentSessionId=6LoPGjz0h5YW%2FeFvogTkUSi94MYIfk%2FqccEujC44Woo%3D&pq-origsite=summon [Accessed 26/10/2023].