Today was an opportunity to gain feedback and gather my thoughts after a hectic, condensed week of poster designs for Cell Phone Symphony. I managed to get together 5 independent designs in the time allotted which included an original typeface and some physical manipulation in the form of cut up numbers. On the face of it I'm fairly happy with that amount of output, however due to the time frame I didn't explore most, if not all of the ideas as much as I would have liked and I don't feel all 5 are conceptually strong at all. This is due to the limited research I have done so far which was put off because of the fast pace of Monday and not properly picked up. I will continue to research and conceptualise over the weekend.
This was the refined version from the 10 random number based grid that I started on Monday. I completed the typography which I am happy with as its just about the right level of legible and yet very strictly grid based. The gradient is using tones of blue and violet which are colours synonymous with the lighting at the original 2001 concert, in a gradient style which is fairly on trend in modern poster design in a vaguely anti-graphic sense. However during the crit, it was not mentioned as one of my strongest designs. I feel this may be because it simply isn't impactful enough, it doesn't have enough going on. The poster is very 2D in nature and the limited colour pallet adds to this wanting for more elements. Also the information is quite clearly just placed on as an after thought. When taking into account the fact that circular grids are, from research, a fairly common way of interpreting the concert, I feel the idea should not be pursued in its current form. However I will not discard the typography as it may come in useful on subsequent posters.
This poster again was an adaptation from Mondays session. Using cut up numbers to create new abstract forms, gives a very interesting and organic aesthetic with the idea of transience between numbers conveyed. The red accenting gives each letter added depth that I was missing on the first poster and links to the red lighting from the original concert. It was agreed that is was one of my stronger ideas due to its three dimensional and organic nature. It was also picked up on that the typography matches the numbers well. However the information text again needs a bit more work to be creatively introduced. This was one of my more last minute adaptations from Monday but due to successful feedback and the undeniable potential for development I shall look to take it further. This could be purely compositional or with the addition of more numbers or shapes or even analogue manipulation in the for of photocopying. It was suggested that I continue one of my early ideas for this piece and make a typeface out of the cut up numbers, an idea I do wish to pursue.
With feedback being taken on board from Monday I removed the highlight options box that was unnecessarily included previously, freeing up space and allowing the poster to have a light, air feel. The ambience of the piece for this reason is perhaps slightly off as its almost too free and not energetic enough in appearance. Information was again a bit of a last minute addition although it was picked up that doing something with the info type is better than nothing at all. The colours also confused people a bit and didn't have the contextual backing behind them to be properly explained. Once again the project is also too 2D and could do with an additional dimension to prevent it from just merging into the background. For these reasons I won't be continuing with this design. However its use of modern digital imagery and therefor the juxtaposition that may create is something for me to bear in mind.
This poster sprung from the idea of having an interactive poster that could actually be played by the viewer like an Xylophone or other percussion instrument. As a playful interpretation of that idea and with the fact I wouldn't be able to make a playable 3D poster in 1 day, I created this. The poster features a dynamic appropriated shot of a xylophone player that I converted to grayscale. The reason for its desaturation is to create more of a contrast between him and the half-toned mobile phones that he is allegedly playing. The composition has a lovely shape to it that is symbolic of the radiation of sound from one point to another. There is certainly a playful energy to the imagery that conveys the spirit of the concert well. Unsurprisingly the crit group agreed it was one of the stronger designs and it was suggested I play more with the type, possibly using it as a repeated background or overlaid on top of the images. My next idea for development is to incorporate even more semi serious elements to further the aesthetic e.g. Golan Levin's face and other possible changes to tweak the balance and see how far I can go with the theme.
This idea of inverting the colours came from contemporary design research, specifically anti-graphics. It conveys the ambience of energy and electricity created within the concert. The type is then created via overlaying boxes of number dictating value onto Gill sans and creating a clipping mask. This ties in nicely with the theme of sound as it is designed to resemble old school sound wave displays on music equipment. I feel this idea could definitely go further but in its current capacity the intentions behind each element are not visually clear enough. The idea wasn't discussed much in the crit which suggests to me it just isn't eye catching enough. The vaguely jarring nature of the back and fore makes it too fragmented and the typography, which I intended to be the centrepiece looks incomplete and the distortion isn't apparent enough. or these reasons I don't think I will be taking the idea forward, however the grid system employed could be a useful consideration for future development to other posters.
Towards the end of the day we were encouraged to take our worst idea and abstract it in some way. I decided to use develop the xylophone idea, despite it not being my worst. This was due to the want to realise the suggested progression into an almost 'meme' type poster that was visually humorous. I did this my adding Golan Levin face over the top of the existing player, in a fairly obvious photoshop. The next and very much so anti-graphic adaptation was to use old school word art that was popular at the time of this concert in 2001. It made up a background that caused legibility of info to be practically impossible but certainly gave the desired aesthetic.
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