Category Archives: Exercises

Exercise: If the face fits 1

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Exercise: If the face fits Graphic Design 1 pg: 94

This exercise comes in two parts, the first being to create a sample book of typefaces. Organising the typefaces into:

  • Serif for continuous text, and headings
  • San-serif for continuous text and headings
  • Script fonts
  • Decorative fonts
  • Fixed width, techno and pixel fonts

Identify which typefaces have bold, italic, black or light fonts.

Oblong sample book page

I took two approaches to this first part of the exercise. The first being to start to create a sample book and the second being to use software to organise the typefaces.

I decided to use the sample book as an opportunity to take the plunge and use InDesign. I have used other packages before like Publisher but a couple of earlier attempts to get to grips with InDesign were not entirely successful. I decided on a landscape format with a very simple design so the typeface could be easily identified and I could feature the different formats.

I learnt a number of things in setting up the sample book:

  • How to set up an apply master pages
  • How to set the document language
  • Turning off hyphenation
  • Fill and stroke
  • Adjusting typeface and characters
  • Locating and adding glyphs
  • Using past in place

I’m not convinced I produced the samples as efficiently as I could have but at least I’ve got started.

As an alternative I also signed up to MyFontBook, which allowed me to quickly identify and tag the typefaces on my computer. This is a great way to do the work of the sample book quickly but I’m glad I started with InDesign before I used this.

I can see how useful the sample books might have been in the past and can be helpful as a quick reference guide now; this feels like the start of an on-going process. I have only done two of each form of typeface in my sample book so far but have found the process very good for familiarising myself with InDesign and the typefaces on my computer. It was useful to see the different formats that typefaces come in (reglar, light, bold, italic etc.) and the different tone they can each evoke from fun and informal to serious and formal.

 

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Exercise: A typographic jigsaw puzzle

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Sentence created using a deconstructed typeface

Exercise: A typographic jigsaw (Graphic Design 1. pg 89)

Using the deconstructed typeface provided try to put the elements together to create the phrase:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Sentence created using a deconstructed typeface

Typeface jigsaw puzzle

As instructed I drew a baseline and a median line and then traced the various elements provided to see if I could construct the sentence. I also printed a larger version of the sentence to help me identify the shapes. This was fascinating in that it really highlighted the nuances of the typeface construction and was more difficult than I thought it would be. I used all but two of the pieces provided which I was pretty pleased with. There were a couple of points where I felt like I was looking for a shape I couldn’t find which was a bit confusing.

This was a very absorbing means of looking at the anatomy of a typeface and showed the importance of its construction. Things I might otherwise have taken for granted. In some ways it reminded me of doing calligraphy classes at school, not something I especially excelled at because it required an attention to detail I was not good at. I distinctly remember discussions about the pen strokes and creating particular bowl shapes.

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Exercise: Playing with words

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Exercise: Playing with words

Create a set of typographical representations that present both the suggested word and its meaning. Start by working on paper then move on to working digitally. (Graphic Design One: p. 83)

Scissors, scrapbook and words being cut up to show their meaning

Visual Words exercise

As suggested I started with scissors, glue and paper. I initially thought it would be quite hard to convey different meanings with a single typeface at the same point size, but once I got going the ideas seemed to flow. I think I ran out of steam towards the end and a couple of words defeated me but overall I was intrigued by how much could be done within the constraints of the exercise. It also served as a useful starting point for working digitally. The full set can be seen in the Playing with Words PDF.

I wasn’t sure if my digital skills were up to the task so I did a few sketches before I moved onto working in Illustrator and developed the ideas in terms of using different fonts and adding colour in some cases. I love words so this was a great exercise for me.

A range of words designed to look like their meaning

Visual Words

 

The exercise challenged and helped develop my Illustrator skills; while I was frustrated a couple of times in that I couldn’t get to exactly what I was aiming for, for the most part I was able to get close enough. The new Illustrator methods I learnt included:

  • Using pathfinder to join shapes
  • Using Object expand, creating a new layer and adding triangles with the pen tool. Then using object – divide – divide objects below – ungroup. By moving the individual elements I created shattered
  • Creating outlines and using Distort envelope – make with top envelope to morph text into shapes
  • Saving artboards as separate files

My family seemed to prefer squeeze and skimpy but I think my favourites are sodden, shattered and shy

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Exercise: Photomontage

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Green plastic bottles on an orange background with a fish in the middle

Whereas I had to drag myself through the Abstract Cities exercise, working on the photomontages was a complete joy and something I could happily carry on doing outside of the course. I decided the issue I would focus on is environmental sustainability. I had several ideas about how this might incorporate issues around food production/monocultures. Although it is hard to draw a montage I did sketch out some ideas to give me a starting point.

This helped me to assemble a number of stock images and some of my own photographs to create the photomontages themselves. I decided to work in Photoshop as for me it is the most efficient way to combine images and easily work with layers and masks. I created six photomontages, laid out in the order they were created:

  1. Just before midnight: three core elements with a textured background showing a parched earth
  2. Time running out: playing with the Just Before Midnight (JBM) approach and morphing the clock
  3. Wheat: A more structured design using the cycle of wheat production from growing annual wheat to supermarket shelves to waste and mould
  4. Three Fish: I had something else in mind but when I added the fish layer it came up this big and I liked the way it looked lying on the rubbish. So I added two more fish to resemble fish lying on ice in the fishmonger
  5. Down the plughole: working with the fish and rubbish theme and showing everything ultimately swirling down the plughole
  6. Plastic shoal: I had made an early sketch of fish swimming with bottles and this is the result

Just before Midnight started with the background. I then added the earth on the left, followed by the clock and the pumpkin. I finished by adjusting opacity and using some masking. It is designed to be read left to right.

Time running out (TRO) was created using a similar process with layers and masks and using the distort transformation tool.

Wheat used  a more formal grid structure. I wanted to try a different format and to create something that looked at the issue of monocultures and the growth of annual wheat varieties in particular. The background image is of a huge dust storm to which I added the photos of the wheat roots and the soil differences. I moved the images and changed opacities and added the wheat. I added the circles of supermarket shelves and finished with the mouldy bread to show the lifecycle of the process.

Three fish was very simple in process terms. I found the rubbish image and used that as the background. I was intending to weave the fish into the rubbish but when I added the first fish I decided to just copy them and overlay them on the rubbish. I left both at 100% opacity.

Down the Plughole used the same background as three fish and I integrated the fish into the rubbish. I thought I would just fade the bottom as a metaphor for bleaching coral but this looked quite top heavy and I wasn’t sure how how best to finish it. Thinking about pollution I decided to ad an oil slick. I completed DtP by working with opacity levels, masking, using the swirl filter and adding a plughole.

Plastic Shoal came directly from one of my early sketches. I knew I wanted to use green plastic bottles so decided on an orange background. I added the fish and made some adjustments because it wasn’t quite flat on. I then added the bottles in a fairly random order. I finished by creating more of a repeating pattern with the bottles.

I shared these images with other students at our recent monthly Thames Valley Group meeting and had some very helpful feedback. The two images that seemed to stand our most for the group were ‘Just before Midnight’ and ‘Plastic Shoal’ (PS). Some liked the image of JB4M but felt that the message wasn’t clear enough. Everyone felt that PS had the most graphic feel but one person thought the message was too strident/obvious. It seems the issue of message is a hard balance to get right. Someone said the images with the fish felt quite ‘pop art,’ which was appropriate for the subject in terms of reflecting on where consumerism has brought us.

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Exercise: Abstract Cities

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Four abstract arches to use for a city guide cover for Madrid

Create a series of ten abstract designs in which you balance blocks of subordinate, dominant and accent colours. These designs are going to be used as covers for ten cities. As part of the process explore your DTP packages further by creating the artwork in different software packages.

I think it’s fair to say that compared to previous exercises I have made a complete meal of this one! I made a fatal mistake at the beginning, which was to do the maths –  ten designs at four to five different iterations, that’s at least forty images! Oh, my that’s a lot of ideas and uploading. I think at this point I became a bit overwhelmed by the task and wasn’t sure how best to approach it. This triggered quite a lot of procrastination and longingly reading and re-reading the next exercise about Photomontage.

I collected the odd image and started thinking about how I was going to approach the exercise but the inspiration was slow in coming. Some of the cities I knew so had some initial connections and my own perception of colours and shapes. I did some wider research online to collect images of the different cities. This then prompted some initial sketches to start the process of thinking about composition, having decided I’d work on composition first and then work with colour.  I was reasonably happy with some of the ideas but not wildly excited by them.

Six thumbnail monochrome sketches for travel guides

Panorama based sketches

Unusually for me I also then looked at other student’s work for this exercise. I wouldn’t ordinarily do this as I have found in the past it can be a bit intimidating when I see the quality of other peoples work. I am also mindful that sometimes you can take on subliminal ideas that may then appear unintentionally in your own work raising concerns about originality. With those caveats in mind and being as stuck as I was I thought it might help. It was certainly useful in seeing how others had approached the exercise, and especially helpful in looking at how others had assembled their palettes and the use of Adobe Color. I also noticed some motifs and images were used by a number of students and that these were very similar to the images I had found.

The next step was some quick research on other travel guides. The ones that stood out for me were the Louise Vuitton and the Luxe guides. It was particularly the Luxe guides that caught my eye, I really liked the idea of taking a small detail to represent the bigger concept. My first sketches, and other student work seemed to be more panoramic in nature and I wanted to focus in more.

At this point I decided to refine the brief and think about them in terms of guides for art lovers in each city, which meant I could focus in on a particular theme. As I did the research this also helpfully showed that many of the arts buildings in these cities are quite iconic. Finally, I had a way in and something that interested me!

Abstract Cities – stage two

Having decided on the approach I wanted to take I set out some dedicated time to work on all ten cities together. I  worked on them in batches rather than city-by-city, in part to think about consistency but also to keep the energy going.

I created what I have called a mood board for each city in which I brought together arts, architecture and public art examples.

I put all the mood boards into Adobe Colour and used that to create a basic colour palette for each, based on their bright or custom themes. In some cases these were adapted further when I worked on the design. The Colour Palettes PDF shows the initial colour schemes.

I then started a new set of sketches to work on the compositions. These were developed in Illustrator.

Abstract Cities – Stage three

Madrid

Abstract designs for Madrid travel guide

Madrid

Based on contemporary art in the city I tried to do the exterior of the Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofia but I was struggling with Illustrator and it started looking too fragmented. The second idea was based on a piece of public art but wile I like the idea it felt too derivative. I finished by using an aspect of the exterior of the Matadero, which I think captured the wider iconic arches in other parts of Madrid as well as the Spanish colours.

Managua

Four designs for Managua city guide

Managua

I had thought I would use some of the city’s public art but after more online research I found that several of them had been demolished. In the end I went with the iconic trees (although these seem to have mixed appeal in Managua itself!).

After learning how to make swirls in Ai I used Adobe sketch and transferred the result to Ai. I was struggling to make the colours work and was painstakingly using the pen tool to map areas and apply colour. In the end I used the trace function and decided to use a thick stroke to paint the curls. I was going to tidy the edges but decided I quite liked them a bit sketchy.

Marrakech

Four designs for a Marrakech city guide cover

Marrakech

Based on the exterior of the Marrakech Museum for Photography and the Visual Arts. It was one of the earliest sketches and I was happy with the composition so concentrated on the colour combinations. I used variations from the colour palette, which were evocative of the city as a whole. In the last two versions I added the drop shadows under the windowsills but I didn’t feel they really added to the design. (I have just read the Museum has closed while it seeks a new location so would have to rework this for a guide now!).

Manhattan

Four designs for a Manhattan city guide cover

Manhattan

This design uses the iconic interior of the Guggenheim museum. As with others I started with too much detail so after the two early attempts I decided to simplify it and make it more abstract. I didn’t like the all caps typeface and tried to find something that was stylish and cultured.

Malmo

Four designs for a Malmo city guide

Malmo

These compositions are based on the exterior and interior of the Moderna Museet Malmo (MMM) and the Malmo Konsthall (MK). I kept the exterior ideas very simple and abstract. The all orange example is from the interior of the MMM and plays with some of the architectural features. The MK interior is very minimal reflecting the perspective in the gallery. The typeface is modern and simple.

Manchester

Four designs for a Manchester city guide

Manchester

These designs are based on the exterior of the People’s History Museum and as with the other designs they incorporate colours from across the city. I was reasonably happy with the composition so worked on various colour palettes. The first two didn’t feel well balanced and the interaction of colours wasn’t working. I decided to use white for the background, which lifted the colours and made it more dynamic.

Mumbai

Four designs for a Mumbai city guide cover

Mumbai

Initially, I thought I would use the exterior of the Bombay Arts Society but when I started working with the shapes it wasn’t coming together. Instead I used the interior staircase design that is very distinctive. Once I had got the basic layout I worked with different palettes until the final version, which I felt was the most harmonious. Again I chose a typeface that felt in keeping with the destination.

Marseille

Four designs for a Marseille city guide cover

Marseille

This started with the night view of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MuCEM)  but it looked too busy and fussy so I moved on to the aerial view and created something much simpler. The colours draw on the wider palette of the city and are not specific to the centre. I added some texture in the final version to evoke the amazing external structure of the building. I kept the typeface clear and modern.

Melbourne

Four designs for a Melbourne city guide cover

Melbourne

My initial ideas were to use the distinctive façade of the Australia Centre for Contemporary Art and while I liked these I thought perhaps they were a little too abstract. The second set of ideas take public art in Melbourne as their starting point. The colours are reasonably close to the original works but also encompass the sunshine, red earth, and blue skies.

Montreal

Four designs for a Montreal city guide cover

Montreal

This is the iconic façade of the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art. The original building only has one red window but this has been extended to three in the final version to reflect the presence and importance of the colour red in the city. The overall palette was kept relatively muted to reflect the city’s architecture.

Final selection

Having done the original sketches and then working up the designs in Ai I selected the final ten which I felt were probably the most successful. Some are more successful than others but I think there is some sense of them working together as a series.

 

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Exercise: Understanding Colour

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12 two tone coloured squares exploring the relationship between different colours

Draw two grids of squares, filling one with colours you like and others with colour you dislike. Then put the two groups side by side and ask the question, ‘which one looks better?’

Next try experimenting with placing colours together as Johannes Itten did. Try and find different combinations of colours to illustrate the list of ideas (Graphic Design One: Page 69.)

Given the almost infinite variety of colours I wasn’t quite sure how to start approaching this exercise. For the two grids I started by using Adobe Draw as it is really easy to add blocks of colour; working fairly randomly I selected colours and filled the grids.

I then remembered I had a set of Pantone based postcards so spread them out in different combinations and took photos. Although the course text suggests most people find they prefer the colours they don’t ordinarily like because of the colour dynamics I confess with the drawn set I still preferred the bright and gawdy versions! With the printed versions however I agree that the more muted colours look better in relationship to one another.

I then went on to use the Pantone cards for the colour combination exercise. I spread them out so I could see all the colours and created a grid of all the terms. The Postcards are not accurate Pantone samples so I knew there would be some colour variation when I moved onto digital versions but it felt like a more manageable way to attempt the exercise. I probably made a bit of a meal of the task but it got me to the end point I needed. I went through several steps:

  • As I worked through each word I made a note of the Pantone number
  • Using the Pantone website I looked up a Hex number for each colour
  • I set up two artboards in Illustrator and added the squares which are effectively three squares layered (there was probably a more effective way of doing this using outline but I wasn’t sure how to do it)
  • I started adding the colour initially a square at a time and then realised I could highlight the outer and inner square and fill them at the same time! (it all helps with my Illustrator learning)
  • As I went I made notes on my sheet about any changes I made

Given that I knew the Pantone postcards were not true colour representations I had expected to make some changes, and when I did these were mainly based on seeing the outcome of the two colours interacting. I also noticed that I have a tendency towards warmer, brighter colours and would seldom choose browns or greens. The colour squares can be downloaded here as a PDF.

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Exercise: Seeing the Light

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Twenty different designs using three elements- a block of yellow, a light bulb image, the words light bulb

Using only an image of a light bulb, the words ‘light bulb’ and a block of colour of your choice create different designs that explore visual dynamics. Think about your composition trying each element at different sizes and cropping your photo. Create as many different designs as you can. Edit these down to about 20 designs that you feel represent the breadth of different approaches you have explored.

I did this exercise over several months as I could easily sketch different thumbnails as I travelled and as ideas came to mind. To start with I used a tablet and created random compositions as ideas came to me, this was followed by drawing thumbnails in my sketchbook.

Finally, I tried to be more methodical using a grid that I initially used for sketching and then collaging. I realised as I was collaging that most of my previous compositions had been portrait so I then worked in landscape for the final ideas.

In total I developed 64 designs and by the end, although they were more neatly contained within the grid than my thumbnails, they felt like they were getting looser in terms of composition. I also played with the notion of what the ‘block’ of colour meant, cropping it for different shapes and using triangles instead of squares or rectangles. I was surprised about the number of designs that emerged and I could probably carry on developing them for the rest of the course! The challenge by the end was trying to make sure I wasn’t duplicating earlier versions.

Twenty different designs using three elements- a block of yellow, a light bulb image, the words light bulb

Twenty designs

The final 20 designs I have selected show the breadth from hand drawn to collage. Some are quite formally arranged while others are more abstract with more random relationships between the three elements. It showed me the value of sketching a wide range of ideas before committing to a final design. It also reinforced the influence of composition when using the same three elements – how the interrelationships between the elements could convey weight, movement, light and so on. In some compositions I noticed my eyes were making a relationship between the light bulb and the colour as if the light was being cast by the bulb. In others the relationship was more random.

This felt like a very valuable exercise and followed well from my research into more minimalist design approaches. Having the constraint of the three elements was really useful in helping explore composition and showing it still leaves plenty of scope for creativity.

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Exercise: Signs & Symbols

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Bootprints on a globe with the top of the planet fading away

Exercise (pg: Graphic Design One): Signs & Symbols

Choose one of the following:

  • Danger
  • Movement
  • Love
  • Here

How does existing visual language represent these concepts? Research different similes and metaphors that are in common use. Document them through drawings, collecting examples and mind maps. Now create an alternative symbol to represent at least one of the concepts.

Looking through my sketchbook I seem to have worked through this exercise fairly systematically. Although I confess there were times I took time out to draw some lightbulbs (for a later exercise!) just for the variation. I started with mindmaps, which gave me the opportunity to explore the concepts and my understanding of them. For each of the concepts I did some of my own sketches of the visuals that came to mind, this was followed with online research and became an iterative process between my sketching and other examples.

  • Initially, the concept that interested me least was ‘Love’ and my research confirmed that the most common symbol used is that of the heart with the colour red.
  • ‘Danger’ tends to be bold, and eye-catching again using red or yellow. This is clearly related to the need to act as a warning in most cases.
  • ‘Here’ is locational, and seems to be mostly associated with arrows, although colour schemes and typography are quite varied.
  • ‘Movement’ was the concept that surprised me most in terms of the direction it took. To start with I thought of it in terms of physical movement but the examples then highlighted its other meaning in terms of ‘a movement.’ Graphic design in relation to activism is an area I have become increasingly interested in (see my recent pins in the sidebar and my Socio Political Graphic Design Pinterest Board) so the connection with movement was a useful one.

The initial examples of physical movement I found focused on sequences of images. Having looked at Krasnopolski, when I was doing my sketches I decided to impose a constraint on myself of representing movement using as few lines as possible which is how the dancing figures emerged. Some of my squiggles reminded me of the Op Art movement so I researched Bridget Riley and others.

I then got confused about the brief in terms of whether an alternative symbol meant something completely different (i.e. love might be represented as a chest of drawers) or whether it was my own adaptation within the existing symbolism of the concept.

I decided this was about my adaptation or development of the symbolism and having looked at the Op Art work decided to attempt combining both ‘movement’ and ‘love’. I wanted to capture the notion of the heart beating but that there may be some distortion – love is not always easy or straightforward. Following some very sketchy drawings in Adobe Draw I moved on to Photoshop and tried out different filters.

This was followed by some work on symbols I might create for the sustainability ‘movement.’ They are intended to capture a sense of the negative impact of our movement across the planet and how it may be slowly disappearing.

My preferred results are:

The heart was created with the wind filter in Photoshop and I like that is distorted and jagged. I liked the way the red in the centre almost looks like an ECG wave form. I prefer the smaller footsteps on the globe I think they convey better the idea of the actions of humanity walking us into a very uncertain future.

In working on the exercise I was intrigued about the apparent universality of symbols and how they become socially and culturally embedded. I had the opportunity to try an activity with the OCA Thames Valley Group, a group of primarily photography students at different stages in their studies that meets monthly. I asked everyone to do a quick illustration of their response to the four concepts. It was fascinating to see the commonality and some of the differences. I particularly liked the notion of the Ying & Yang symbol for love. I am grateful to the group for permission to include their drawings in  my blog.

 

 

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Exercise: A visual diary

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Collection of sketchbooks and notebooks showing different pictures

Start a scrapbook, sketchbook or use a blog to document the visual world around you. Find examples of visual language that interest you, these could be taken from anywhere (art, film, photography, illustration, design, craft, cinema, hobbies etc. Reflect on what you have been collecting:

  • Are there dominant themes emerging?
  • What does your areas of interest tell you about your own visual language and cultural awareness?

Make notes in your learning log.

This is an exercise I have no problem in undertaking, I have been keeping visual diaries and inspiration for many years. They are on my walls, hanging from the ceiling, in books, folders, scrapbooks, and online.

My areas of interest very much reflect my work and my photography. They focus on concerns I am grappling with such as environmental issues, food production and consumption, and identity. As I have moved through GD1 I think they also pick up on popular culture, identifying and working with messages in art and design and being playful. It is no accident I have a Pinterest board labelled ‘magical.’

I have yet to find the best way to manage all the material I collect but probably the most comprehensive is my Pinterest boards, 51 boards and thousands of pins give me a huge amount of flexibility to collect ideas and inspiration from all fields and genres. My Learning Log now also includes a plugin for my most recent pins so the two are becoming more connected.

I have noticed in recent years I am often more interested in visuals that are clean, clear, stripped back and quite minimal. They don’t have to have an obvious message and I enjoy conceptual work but I do like work that is very crisp and spare.

Interestingly, in the last few months Pop art has also become more of an interest, although it is a movement I was reasonably aware of I had never really connected with it in the past. Having seen the Rauschenberg show and documentary and recently watching the BBC’s ‘Soup Cans and Superstars…’ I am increasingly intrigued by the aspects of activism and political commentary the movement in part contained.

In addition to my Pinterest boards I have also started a visual diary as part of my Learning Log and while this is taking a while to get the hang of, and populate, it is proving useful as a repository of some of the direct influences on my exercises and assignments.

In my photography and design work I am constantly reminded of the Anais Nin quote:

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

I am no longer cautious about seeking feedback, as that is the best way to get a sense of how others see things; I enjoy the fact that other readings of cultural artefacts are different and sometimes surprising. It helps me reflect on my visual awareness and cultural references, and reminds me to be mindful of the assumptions I may be making in my work.

 

 

Exercise: Point of Sale display

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Exercise (pg.52 Graphic Design One): Your local greengrocer has asked you to produce a point of sale display to go above the fruit and vegetables in their shop. They want the display to be seen from the street through the shop window to attract passing shoppers to increase trade.

You can use photographs, illustrations or a combination to develop two images – one of fruit and one of vegetables. The posters will be seen from a distance and mainly in people’s peripheral vision so the visuals need to be clear and dynamic. Ask others for feedback.

The brief

The elements I took from the brief are:

  • Attractive
  • Seen from a distance
  • A call to action
  • Clear and dynamic
  • Format is open

Researching and developing ideas

I have worked on this exercise over a number of weeks; collecting images, looking at POS displays in the shops and making thumbnail sketches. While this was helpful there was also a moment where the ideas felt almost limitless – from bowls of fruit, saucepans of steaming vegetables, to piles of individual fruit or fruit/veg shaped layouts.

I decided that I would go for backlit slices of fruit, as they are both colourful and intriguing, they show the structures of the fruit and vegetables in a way that I thought might be unfamiliar and would encourage curiosity. I wanted to try something that was less obvious. I also wanted an approach that could showcase some of the variety of what might be available to buy.

Visualising ideas

Lots of slicing later I took a range of photographs that I thought my work using a lightbox to provide even backlighting. Having worked on the visual approach I then focused on the text, this posed a new dilemma, as arguably the right visuals might be able to stand without any text. Given the brief I decided I would add some text but it needed to be simple, easily recognisable and work at a distance.

I worked on a range of approaches:

  • Alliteration – Fabulous fruit, Various vegetables, Virtuous vegetables, Feel Fabulous, Feeling Fruity! …
  • Health benefits – 5 a day – ‘Don’t forget your five a day,’ ‘Fruit five ways,’ ‘Have you had your 5 today?’
  • Puns – ‘Take your pick,’ ‘Pick me! ’ ‘Peas on Earth,’ etc. I liked the idea of some fruit/veg related jokes which might appeal to children and encourage them to want fruit/veg but I wasn’t sure they would be easily seen from outside the shop
  • Simple recipes – illustrations of some quick and easy recipes, like Grilled Pink Grapefruit with honey, or a quick green smoothie

In working through the different approaches I thought some were too complicated. I wanted the display to focus on a positive message about eating fruit and veg, reminding me of the various ‘I heart…’ slogans, which I then discovered was created by Milton Glaser for the ‘I love NY’ campaign. This kept it very simple and I decided to use it for the text although I thought I would leave out the ‘I’ and make it a more general statement.

I played with placement of the text and having got some feedback I decided I preferred the version with the slogan to the right hand side, with some white space around it. I created these versions in Photoshop because I could mock them up quickly. If I were to develop them further I would use Illustrator to create a smooth vector version.

At this point I thought I had finished, but then! I decided to try and go for a font close to Glaser’s original so found ‘Another Typewriter’, which I really liked with the visuals.

But then…! I looked again at some of my earlier sketches that were based on an idea to make the fruit/veg in the shape of hearts. I had sketched there being four types on a poster but when I placed the orange slice I decided to go for one – given that the poster needs to be seen from a distance. Some puppet warp later and I had two new versions which I felt worked better than the other posters.

I liked their simplicity and I felt they worked with the brief to attract buyers into the shop. Although I have kept the text to single words there is space to add logos or other information if needed.

Critique

I found the process of working and reworking my ideas to be invaluable. This helps keep me open to different ideas and not become too wedded to an initial idea or solution. It also reinforced for me the value of mocking up early ideas however crude.

In all honesty I was a little disappointed with the first posters, as they didn’t have quite the crispness or clarity I was looking for. Although I like the effect of the backlit fruit and veg I think in the end it was too busy and complicated (I also forgot to include the celery which has irritated me ever since!).

I did keep to the ‘love’ notion as it gave me the simplicity I thought the design needed and was easily seen at a distance. It is also in keeping with advice around enjoying fruit and veg, and encouraging more balanced diets.

The final design choice might be regarded as too simplistic but in looking at fruit & veg points of sales in local supermarkets there is a tendency towards pictures of the fruit/veg with very simple slogans. Few have logos or wider information.

 

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