OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (Norwegian Wood) - Design Developments

Upon experimenting with type and image, it was decided to see how these would work on the book cover spread itself, favouring the two bird compositions. Exploring how the spine could be made interesting in order to help it potentially stand out on a typical bookshelf, one idea was to place another bird silhouette into the middle of this between the title and the author of the book. Not only would this give the spine an element to help it stand out, but it also ties the whole spread together nicely, linking with the design on the front cover. When the book is opened up, this would also create another scene in itself, as if a flock of birds flying together. It was also thought that the spine could feature a white strip in order to break it up slightly from the most prominent use of red, as well as, again, linking with the colour schemes of the design on the front colour. However, another variation tested this spine design without the white strip and manipulating the colours to match the white type cover variation, which could potentially make the birds look more together when all used on the same coloured background.

With the type on the above cover designs making better use of negative space by aligning the two words of the book's title, it was thought then that the author's name being centre aligned to match the word 'Norwegian' of the title made this alignment look off. Therefore this was manipulated so that everything was moved along slightly and the author's name was left aligned with the book's title as well as seemingly with the jar design.

Other variations explored placing the title of the book within an illustration of a ripped piece of paper, designed to the same pop-art aesthetic as the jar design, in order to represent the ripped piece of paper in which Naoko left her suicide note on which was thought could potentially enhance the concept of the design as representing Naoko's freedom from her illness after her death, whilst also potentially adding another dimension to the cover design that could perhaps make the use of white on the jar not so prominent. Within this, again, the use of the white strip on the spine was explored to see how this would work with the additional element.

One further idea was to explore how imagery could also be utilised on the back cover in order to tie the whole spread together in terms of its design. For this an illustration was produced of a hand holding a flag in representing the political aspect of the book. It was initially thought that type could feature within the flag, however due to the amount of information that is needed to be placed on the back cover, this would have meant the size of the type would have had to have been reduced quite dramatically which in turn would have compromised its effectiveness and legibility. For this reason, it was decided that the back cover would work better being more minimalistic in its design, due to this large amount of information needed and that the front cover design is probably strong enough in its design and concept to work effectively in its own right.

Continuing to think about the use of type, it was thought that in all the designs above, the type was too bold and, even though the title should also be something of importance, that this was overpowering the main design. For this reason, the type was manipulated further, scrapping the use of the note illustration and making the size of the type smaller. This was left-aligned, again, in order to make better use of the negative space, especially since now the type was smaller. It was thought these variations worked more effectively in meaning the design did not get too overcrowded and so allowing the design to stand out. It was found this also meant the type was not compromised in any way and the smaller size allowed this as well as the main design to both stand out in their own right.

OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (Norwegian Wood) - Image and Type Experiments (2)

Based on initial type and image experiments, due to the composition of the imagery in the way that the lid leans against the bottom of the jar it was thought that this left too much negative space at the top and so made it harder to position the type in an effective way that didn't look misaligned. For this reason, it was decided to develop further imagery which could fill this gap.

The idea was to use an image of a bird as if flying out of the open jar, something which was thought could potentially enhance the design's concept in representing Naoko's freedom from her illness after her death as well as a direct link to the song Norwegian Wood's lyrics in "this bird has flown". Some rough sketches were drawn out in response to this idea, exploring how the bird's form and how this could be positioned. These initially took the form of line drawings, which would then be refined and coloured digitally to produce a simple silhouette of a bird that would match the pop art style of the design and its limited colour palette.

The best illustrations were then picked out and digitally refined in order to produce this silhouette.

Initially variations using one bird were produced, placing this both in and out of the jar, however was felt that in both variations this still left too much odd negative space either on the background or within the jar, therefore it was decided to explore the use of two birds.

Using two birds, one in the jar and one outside the jar, was thought to work more effectively in utilising the odd negative space around the design. It was thought that this did not only enhance the initial concept, but the use of two birds also related to a key scene at the start of the book where Watanabe is remembering a time with Naoko and describes a the image of two birds leaping out of the forest, foreshadowing the end of the story.

Type surrounding this was also continued to be explored through colour and placement to show what works most effectively in the composition of the imagery, for instance, aligning the letters 'N' and 'W' in the two words of the title in order to fill more of the negative space produced by the imagery, making this placement look less out-of-place.

Other variations looked at combining both black and white text through overlaying and manipulating outline strokes to see whether these could better mimic the pop art aesthetic, however it was decided these did not work as effectively as the variations above.

In addition, it was also thought to explore how the use of type could be made stronger and more a part of the imagery. This was done in producing an illustration of a ripped piece of paper in the same pop art aesthetic as used throughout the rest of the design and placing the title of the book within this, using this to represent the torn paper Naoko left her suicide note on, whilst the bold nature of this also makes it look as if a piece of propaganda, representing the underlying political aspects of the story. 

However, perhaps this makes the design look too much like a comic book and a bit too gimmicky, potentially taking away from the seriousness of the themes present within the book?

OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (Norwegian Wood) - Image and Type Experiments

In order to think about the use of space and how type would fit around the developed imagery, it was decided to experiment with some initial compositions through placing type and image together. For these initial experiments, a bold san-serif typeface was utilised in order to match the bold characteristics of the pop art aesthetic. However, it was found that the type, even in the darkest black colour, did not work that effectively with the halftoned background and gave off an effect which was quite harsh to look at. It was decided to manipulate this halftone so that the dots appeared less and at a larger size in an attempt to overcome this problem, however if was found this still produced the same effect.

In order to try and overcome this problem, one idea was to reduce the shape and size of the white halftone to only feature around the imagery and instead place the type in a strip of colour which had already been layered underneath the halftone in order to make the type more legible. Another variation was to get rid of this halftone altogether and have the imagery sit on a solid red background, which was thought to help both the type and imagery stand out much more. A further composition experiment was to place the imagery within a frame, creating a scene of which the type then surrounds. This was thought to contain the imagery much like the concept of the jar itself to represent feelings of being trapped.

OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (Norwegian Wood) - Image Developments

One initial idea was based on a part of the story where each time Naoko requested her roommate Reiko to play 'Norwegian Wood' on guitar she had to place 100 yen into a glass jar. The idea was to place a forest setting within a sealed jar, literally putting the song into the jar itself, as well as signifying Naoko's bottled feelings and feelings of being alone or 'trapped' by her illness. Another variation of this idea was to visualise an open jar, symbolising Naoko's freedom from her illness after her death. It was decided that image wise, this concept was the strongest, therefore imagery began to be developed to work with this concept.

Initially, variations of jar illustrations were digitally drawn exploring what shape would work most interestingly and effectively. These began as very clean line drawings, however it decided to utilise the pop art style based on visual research into art of the 1960's when the book was set. The chosen illustration was then further developed, creating bolder, uneven lines to give it this pop art aesthetic.

After this initial line drawing was developed, colour was then explored in a variety of different ways in an attempt to make the inspiration behind this better communicated and further explore the pop art style. In these developments, for the background, it was decided to use a solid shade of red with a white halftone overlayed onto this, with these colours being used to represent the political aspect of the book in its links to the flag of the rising sun and its link back to the original book cover designs, as well as red being one of the main colours typically used in pop art due to its boldness. Halftone was then also explored overlayed onto the jar illustration in a variety of ways, for instance to give the jar a more 3-dimensional aspect in helping to represent its transparency and material as an object.

Upon choosing the design which I thought worked best, this was positioned again with the jar's lid since it was thought this then clearly communicated what the object is as well as giving the imagery a bit more dimension and another playful element that adds to the concept of Naoko's death representing her freedom from her illness, as well as becoming a direct link to her favourite song and title of the book 'Norwegian Wood'. Within this jar, then, further bits of imagery were played around with initially, placing the main scenery of the story, being a woodland, into the jar itself. These pieces of imagery were kept fairly minimalistic in both detail and colour in order to work effectively with the pop art style I was aiming to communicate.

In addition, variations were also explored whereby a red rising sun was placed into the jar behind the woodland imagery in order to directly represent the political aspect of the book through visualising the flag of the rising sun in a playful way. This was also thought to add a bit of mood to the imagery, setting the scene for the themes and moods present in the story.

OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (Norwegian Wood) - Visual Research and Further Ideas

As a form of inspiration, it was decided to research the types of design which were present during the 1960's, the time in which the book Norwegian Wood is set. One of these styles of art and design was Pop Art, an art movement which drew inspiration from sources in popular and commercial culture and aimed to present challenges to the traditions of fine art. Characteristics of work within this movement were found to include the use of bold blocks of colour, half-toned elements to create detail within this, and styles which could typically be associated with comic book art. Roy Lichtenstein's work was of particular inspiration within this.

It was considered that the use of this style could potentially create simplistic, bold imagery and type if utilised within the book cover design which would make the design stand out and give it a point of difference from other entries, as well as the style of design relating directly to the time in which the story is set, which would accurately convey parts of the narrative.

Pop Art, Roy Lichtenstein mood board.

Rough sketches were drawn out from this visual research, exploring how different elements of the story and initial ideas could be conveyed through this style of design. For instance, using a white halftone on the jar to give it the impression of transparency or dimension in its shine, creating a scene out of a mixture of objects related to the story in this pop art style to give it almost a surrealist element, and utilising human features, as a lot of Lichtenstein's work does, to potentially give the design a more personal element relating to the characters which could be stretched across the whole spread.

OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (Wonder) - Evaluation

Judging criteria:

- Have an imaginative concept.
- Be an original interpretation of the brief.
- Be competently executed with a strong use of typography.
- Appeal to the broadest possible audience for the book.
- Show a good understanding of the marketplace.
- Have a point of difference from other books it will be competing against in the market.
- Be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops.

Evaluation:

The final design shows an original interpretation of the brief and has a point of difference from the others it will be competing against in that it focuses on the broader, more important themes of the story, rather than the most obvious points which many other entries focused on, such as August's astronaut helmet and love of space. Through this, this final design also shows a good understanding of the marketplace and attempts to appeal to the broadest possible audience for the book in communicating it as an important children's book that focuses on ideas of friendships and kindness, as well as bullying within school, reflecting 'Wonder' as a book which school children can learn valuable lessons from. Due to this clear idea of setting and narrative communicated through the design, the target audience therefore may also show more engagement with the book since it is something they would most likely relate to with the design representing the social and cultural nature of school.

The final design also shows a strong use of typography in that the typeface reflects a child-like, handwritten style which works effectively with the concept of the final design. The use of type shows the title and additional information as if written by the characters themselves onto notes, representative of a part of the story in which the characters send each other notes through their lockers.

However, one improvement in terms of this to create a more interesting use of typography could have been to show the note as if posted part the way through the locker as done within the story, however it was considered that this may have distorted the type making it less bold and legible, which then may have also reduced engagement with the book.

Although the design mainly focuses on the most important, overarching themes of the story, other key elements within the story have also still been communicated in a more subtle way, using smaller illustrative elements to reflect these, an idea which was utilised in order to potentially cause more interest with the audience as to what they mean. These elements were designed as if doodles on notes and graffiti on lockers, again, to also represent the social and cultural nature of school. In addition, the blue colour scheme adds an effective, subtle element which ties the design back nicely to the original, existing book cover design.

OUGD603 - Creative Convos - Evaluation and Ethical Considerations

Evaluation:

In evaluating the final designs, it was considered that the material worked effectively in communicating the desired concept, particularly through the use of half-toned imagery and CMYK colour schemes, showing the more physical side to design such as through traditional screen-printing methods and the aesthetics associated with this.

However, within this, yellow and black as part of the CMYK colour scheme were not used. However, this was done for the reason that black looked too dull when used on its own and when used with other CMYK colours, this also reduced the brightness, whilst yellow appeared too harsh on the eyes and did not allow for much detail in the text and imagery to show through effectively. Despite this, it was felt that the idea of CMYK and print methods were still effectively communicated through the use of just cyan and magenta, which were much bolder in colour that allowed the designs to stand out much more and so cause more engagement, as well as being easier to alternate these colours by day in the schedule of the event. The use of only one colour in all designs and for all material also meant that these were both cost and time-effective in their production, in the screen-printing process especially.

One problem which did occur, however, was associated with the use of photographic imagery in the individual speaker posters. These were secondary sourced from the internet by one team member, and was soon realised on the day of one particular speaker that the image which was sourced was not in fact him but the partner he works with. This proved a lesson then to not attempt to source these images yourself in the future when you have no prior knowledge to the person themselves. Another challenge in terms of this was that it was hard to find images all of a good quality, and the right size and format, some even a challenge to find any at all, to fit the poster designs as well as the social media designs to make them both consistent. Many of these images therefore had to be manipulated to work around this problem.

In terms of the collaborative process itself, there were some communication issues, with members of the team not being made aware by other team members about changes they decided to initiate, which made the task of completing work to certain deadlines a lot harder. This showed how communication is key to any collaboration and in future should plan out time to factor in problems such as this without the risk of not having work completed by a specified deadline. However, overall, the team was good, with everyone pulling together and playing to their strengths, whilst the team size also allowed everyone to bounce ideas off each other and offer feedback throughout the development process.

Ethical Considerations:

As a part of the branding, personalised posters were made for each speaker featuring photographic imagery of themselves sourced by one of the team members. Thinking ethically, it could be considered by some that the use of photographic imagery without their consent is unethical, since they may not have wanted their image posted around the course area. In future we would gain the speaker's consent first, and if permitted, ask them to send in an image they have sourced themselves and are happy to share. However, despite this, none of the speakers vocalised any problems with this use when they came in to speak, and each gave a good reaction upon receiving a personalised one-off screen-print of their own individual poster.

OUGD603 - Creative Convos - Branding In Use

OUGD603 - Creative Convos - Design Production: Screen-printing

Working as a team member on the development and production of the Creative Convos branding, the concept behind this was to communicate the more physical side to design. The branding therefore used halftone imagery and CMYK colours in order to match the aesthetics of the traditional screen-printing process, alternating the use of cyan and magenta specifically in order to create a bold identity for the 2019 event. Since the concept behind this branding aimed to mimic the screen-printing process, it was decided to produce a limited series of screen-prints which could be given to each speaker as a thank you token for coming in to speak.