Type experimentation 2

Going back to my original notes on where my first ideas started to come about, I had realised that I spoke about emphasizing the letter ‘M’ of the meander text. With this knowledge I thought that I might as well go back to that idea and have a go.

Finally, I came to this outcome, which I am extremely happy about. I love the composition of the type, I think that it is very etiquette and has a simple sight pathway to read. The colours are still representing the brand identity, which was one of my main aims to keep.

I decided to do ‘THE’, ‘The’ and ‘being’ all a light colour as I felt that they didn’t have much importance out of the text as a whole which is why they have been given a light shade of green. The ‘M’ I believed deserved its own colour as that showed that the main name of the exhibition had a more hierarchy. ‘EANDER’ and ‘of’ are the same colours because they were used to slowly tone the light and dark colour together, making them all sink in with one another. Finally, I did ‘EXHIBITION’ dark brown instead of black because I felt black would be too harsh and that the brown would link in with the green more giving it a more natural approach. This worked out well because this way you can see the simplicity of the national trust logo clearly within the bowl of the ‘O.’

After creating my type, I began thinking about how I could best merge this into a poster. I looked into textures to use as a backdrop behind the silhouette of a maze and as soon as I placed this one down immediately I had an idea. I thought that it would be interesting to see the photos of the maze as a backdrop or even some images from The Lost Gardens of Heligan. Also to make sure that my logo had some involvement on the page as well.

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Meander Poster Development 2

Above are a few posters I constructed together, some have been designed like a maze and others designed with an image. I used a photo that is actually from the lost gardens of Heligan. The involvement of the environment creates a very fresh, organic and natural outlook for the maze, making it look more wild and adventurous. Although the photo looked good with the logo and type, I felt that it had nothing to do with the maze and more to do with the location itself. Which is why I went more towards the maze designs.

Below are the strongest outcomes that were selected from my group feedbacks. I was told that the composition, colouring and detail was good, but to maybe be more experimental with type and the way certain elements of the posters have been positioned. Basically to be more daring.

 

 

Type Experimentation

 

Above are some examples of inspirational towards my development of making my own typeface. I chose these typefaces because of how the geometric shapes enhance the words.

 

This is my very own type design outcome of The Meander Exhibition. I chose to stick with the signature colours as it represents both the national trust and the exhibition. I  constructed this in illustrator, which was very useful as it gave me a chance to get some practice within the software. I chose to work with a sans serif typeface, as I thought it would be easier for me to place the shapes around the edging. However, I should of stuck with my chosen typeface which is Optima, so that it showed a continuous development throughout.

Here I tried working with one of my signature colours as the background, as I felt it needed something to draw an audience group in. I really like how the different shades of green and yellow have complimented each other and how the simplicity of the shapes have emphasized the type in a well constructed way. The feedback I got back from this outcome was to get rid of the 2017, keep the background white and to also take the apostrophes off the art of being lost. Below are the improvements that I got told to do.

Meander poster development

National Trust Posters

Above are some examples I found that gave me inspiration for how I could connect my exhibition to the National Trust. I found that most National trust posters have been designed with imagery and their distinctive typeface. The colours used for the National trust are always bold and organic, which gives it a very welcoming approach. Having knowledge of this has made me want to work more with imagery and to have a go at designing my own typeface.

These are my first initial poster ideas, which I used to show in my tutorial. I wanted them to be completely different, so that whichever one was the strongest I could elaborate on. The one on the left, I took inspiration from the idea of how a maze looks from a bird’s eye view. I feel like the one on the left reminds me of a book cover, very traditional yet simplistic. For the one on the right, I thought it would be interesting to work with imagery and to have a go at working with one of the styles that I had previously researched.

Tutorial Feedback

When I showed my outcomes to the group I was told to have a go at changing the title, to something such as the Meander invitation. Below are a few outcomes I tried such as

The Meander Exhibtion 

The Meander Invitation

The Meander Project

The Meander Adventure

The Meander Journey

Although I tried working with these titles, I still felt like The Meander Exhibition was more effective. It just seemed to look well positioned on a page and I found that it had a better ring to it when talking about it. I was also told to work with the poster on the left, as that had more of a connection to The Meander Exhibition.

One important piece of feedback, I was given was to make sure that I had a nice balance of being able to represent my exhibition rather than the national trust.

Final logo

Finally I have constructed my finished logo for The Meander Exhibition. My development up to this finished piece was a long process, as I had to be very critical on the colour, spacing between the lines and making sure the composition is perfect. I chose to use these colours because of how well they linked into the national trust and it makes the logo look more organic. The shape has continued to stay as a circle as that portrays a softer approach. Finally I wanted to make sure that there were two openings on either side of the logo to show a path of an entrance and exit. Giving this logo a sense of a journey or direction.

Once I was happy with my logo I had to figure out how I was going to place the type. Above I experimented with how the text could sit near the logo and explored how the typeface would look. For the type I had a vision of it branching off from the typeface that is used for the National trust. However when I research the National Trust typeface it had been designed specifically for that brand identity, which was designed by Paul Barnes.

Although I couldn’t find this typeface style, I moved on to hunt for a similar typeface. Which is when I then came across Optima, which is the typeface that has been shown below.

I finally came to this outcome which has been placed below. With this I plan to use for my posters, banners, animation and main identity signature.

 

Research On Exhibition Layouts

For my audience I want them to have a completely interactive experience with my exhibition. ‘The Art Of Being Lost’ is about the experience of emotions you go through when you are put in a situation of isolation and being lost. The maze itself that I’ll design will be the art of my exhibition. Below are some examples around the world that have interactive exhibitions with in their museums.

 

Indoor & Outdoor Mazes

Here are some in and outdoors experiences for people to interact with. For an indoor exhibition I thought it would be interesting for an indoor mirror maze to be placed in the Design Museum.  Creating the illusion of a mirror maze, creates the effect of what it could be like if you were stranded in a forest of dessert. Seeing every thing to be the same but trying to find a clue to which path would be the right one to take. The pro of doing it indoors means you don’t have to worry about what the weather outcomes.  Also means there would be less maintence. Con is that it wouldn’t be very organic and I want it to have that outdoor experience of being lost in the world.

For an outdoor experience I thought about putting it in a National trust gardens, where it is a very family oritentated place to be. In Cornwall there is a national trust called The Lost Gardens Of Heligan, this would be the perfect place for my outdoor experience exhibition. It is also good because the titles would have a good key link and also the gardens are filled with so much art.

Nigel Peak

Nigel Peak is an artist I was told to research into, he seems to have a good understanding for colour and mark makings. I love how is work seems to be very organic and shows a good sense of playfulness. I believe I was told to look in to his work because it shows me inspiration to try being more playful and stepping out of my common boundaries. Looking into his work has given me inspiration of how I could design my posters and my way finding path.