Tag Archives: Graphic Design

My Name Is – Gallery

FINAL POST FOR PROJECT 1

CMYK & RBG Color Test in Adobe Illustrator:

Here’s a side to side comparison between two of the saving options. The colour difference is actually very subtle but it is extremely noticeable, especially the reduction in vibrancy and saturation on the bottom image. (The top one has the most accurate colour)

My Finalfinalfinalone.pdf HAHAHA

Presentation day. I’m lowkey sorry it had to be this shot. This was the bestest one I’ve got.

FINAL SUBMISSION X PROJECT 01

Done and dusted.

My Name Is – Final Four

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Hi everyone!

Welcome to my final post of this assignment. It will consist a set of 4 design, that carries an overarching theme. The name of the following series is called:

Circle of Life featuring, The Organic Symmetry

As mentioned in my previous post, some keywords I have in mind while designing my layout consist of:

I wanted my design to look like a set of 4, curated with the intention of delivering a consistent message. An idea that they are produced in the hands of the same designer. Ensuring consistency means careful attention throughout the conceptualization and design phase of your site. I have grouped all these occupations under the theme of “Nature“.

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Design 01 of 04

The Scuba Diver

The nature of this occupation is usually done out of leisure, especially over the holiday. Some of the key sightings any diver will notice are Fishes and Corals. Aside from these elements, every diver is equipped with an oxygen tank and a flipper good for paddling underwater. These are what stood out for me, particularly for this job.

When I was a lot younger, I have always dreamt of what lived beneath the ocean. Was there a whole new world out there for me to venture? Would it be more exciting to live under the surface of water instead of the land? All these were questions that bugged me the most, and I would imagine having mermaids as friends, and swimming with them in cute bikinis hahaha. That would be perfect, isn’t it? A world as surreal as this.

Hence, I thought, why not do the occupation of a diver? And that was how the other 3 nature related jobs came into my mind.

In this very first concept, I designed with a clear intention of having a foreground, middle ground and background. I thought this would provide more depth and perspective to the layout, hence I layered images by images so that it would avoid turning out flat-looking. Also, the colour blue seems like the perfect visual representation of ocean, yes. But I challenged myself to be less literal and went with the colour pink that hints no oceanic vibe. Okay apart from that, bubbles were added, so that the typography pops, making it looks more 3-dimensional.

Additionally, I adore the painterly style, as a result, I decided to incorporate this element into my final layout. I processed and re-done some of these images in Photoshop, to achieve the harmony among all the elements. With that, all components of this piece will tie in together.

Design 02 of 04

Bird Whisperer

Dimension. As mentioned in the rationale above, I was seeking for depth from the viewpoint of my audience. To ensure consistency, I maintained the painterly technique and employed this edit on my second layout – The Bird Whisperer.

Staying in the Nature theme, the bird whisperer is someone who is in love with birds, and have the sheer ability to tame any forms of difficult birds that existed. Well, in my case, I am always the victim of bird’s shit. They like pooping on me. Not sure if I am a poop whisperer or what, but I guess bird sounds a lot nicer huh? I created a complimentary watercolour technique background that contained within the circle. I feel like it helps to carry the typography, and makes it stands out more.

The colour scheme I had in mind for this is an analogous combination. I wanted the layout to give off a serene and light atmosphere, bringing my viewer one step closer to nature. Apart from that, the chosen blue is of a soft hue, which falls under the pastel family.

Design 03 of 04

Fruit Harvester

My uncle owns a fruit/vegetable farm located in Lim Chu Kang area. Since young, I would often hitch a ride over and learn some planting from him. This is mainly one of the primary reason why I chose Fruit Harvester. I tweaked it a little since I will also be doing a florist, and to avoid overlapping of elements, I narrowed it down to fruits category instead.

The typography is supposed to give off the feeling of an eruption from a fruit. I stuck with the analogous colour scheme for this as well, so as to portray colour harmony and maintain visual consistency. The wooden tree bark texture behind the main typography acts as a filler to hold up the weight of the text, hence strengthening it’s visual weight, ensuring that it still stands out amongst all the colourful fruits.

It was a challenge for me as well, because it seems like the fruits are way too vibrant and that it might overshadow my main typography. I struggled with finding the right colour combination for the font and the background. Decisions… Decisions… Eventually, I chose to go with pale yellow, coral orange and some neutral browns to help even out everything.

Design 04 of 04

The Florist

Leaf, Flowers, Spray, and Scissors are what I associate with a Florist. The overall colour falls with green being the primary and most striking shade, and a few accent colours here and there to give the visual a lift.

For the leafy typography, I masked out the leaf layer by layer. To give it more depth, as though the leaf is really growing out from the font itself, I gave the letters an additional shading so it looked less flat. Flower textures are also added to give it a more artsy look (its opacity level is 20%) (can you see it?)

Maintaining the overall pastel and painterly technique, I altered and added Photoshop filters to these vector images so they look consistent when placed together. Lastly, one of the unchanging element that you may have noticed by now will be the directional geometric line art that occurs in every background. I like how it gives off energy and it’s subtleness. Even though the line is super fine, it helped in filling up the empty space, giving these layouts an illusion of a fuller look.

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Overall, this concludes the first project of the semester! Yay! Thanks for reading!

Ciaos

My Name Is – Process Part 2

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Hi there!

I have compiled a series of my progress shots below. Mainly on how I ideate and put my entire design together. (with reference to some of my artists’ inspiration from the first post)

The most time-consuming bit would have to be the conceptualisation of layouts. To have a definite direction that I want to work towards, and it has to be achievable. (with me at an amateurish level) It took me quite a while before I eventually set my heart on a layout. Some of the keywords I have in mind are:

And with these keywords in mind, I manage to come up with something! These are my progressions all summed up in a collage.

FRUIT HARVESTER

SCUBA DIVER

BIRD WHISPERER

FLORIST/BOTANIST

My Name Is – Process Part 1

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These are some the occupations that I found to be interesting:

Amusement Park Facilitator, Chef, Shopaholic, Undertaker, Supermarket cashier, Fruit Seller, Donut Seller, Animal Farm Owner, AND A DISNEY PRINCESS.

After much rationalisation, I have shortlisted these 4 “professions”, all categorised under the theme of “Nature“. By that, I am referring to jobs that are often associated/accomplished in the wilderness or it has connotations of greens and earthy vibes to it. Will explain more about the rationale behind my concept in the subsequent post to come! Let’s get down to planning.

Color scheme: Pastel is the colour that I am going for. Soft, gentle, desaturated, milky is how you would describe this family of colours. This is also the first time I employ pastel hues into my design work. Have always thought that pastels are too mild, thus making them recede into the background. For this project, the 4 series of mixed media design works will be based on this following concept.

1- Scuba Diver/Marine Biologist

Under this panel of job, we can expect to see some marine creatures/bubbles/seawater/sporting gears. For this concept, I will be playing with a serif font. In a professional setting, serif fonts are most often used in formal designs. (newspaper, print, book etc) However, I would like to test out the limitations of the font, pushing the boundaries further.

2 – Bird Whisperer

Birds, lots of birds, all decked in painterly style (watercolour). For this series, blue will be the dominating colour, with some use of yellow to create the analogous colour scheme. Have tested out several fonts to go with my initial, but turns out, the serif font is best suited for this layout. Will be exploring other font families in the remaining two designs!

3 – Fruit Harvester

Fruits, tools, are what make up of the final composition. In this colour palette, we will be using a daffodil yellow to balance out the pastel theme that surrounds this whole concept. I imagine myself using a variety of earthy toned fruits to compliment the idea of a down to earth harvester. In contrast to the font choice used in the above two layouts, I will be employing a cursive (decorative font) typeface this time around. This is to ensure that explorations of typography are evident, especially in this project!

4 – Botanist/Florist

Greens, leafs, florals, tools are what is present in the layout. Pastel green will be the main colour choice. Watercolor style remains consistent, and the typography used will be a Sans Serif font. This font carries a minimal outlook since it does not comes with the stroke at the end of every alphabet.

Part 2 of my Process/Gallery will be up in a bit!

Stay tuned. Ciaos!

Project EGO: Outcome

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Hi! Welcome to my final project of the sem – EGO.

For the upcoming panels, the chosen medium is Illustrative Digital-Collage, and the theme is Pop Art, with the improvisation of Painterly Technique that I employed in my design. In my opinion, I prefer processed images in comparison to realistic images as they lacked a touch of customisation.

Inspired by the famous Andy Warhol pop art culture, I decided to reference his work and work out a concept that bears similar feel as to his art style.

To kickstart everything, let’s bring on the 4 equations!

PANEL 1: Analogous

This group of colors is soothing to the eyes and pleasing to look at! They sit side by side on the color wheel.

Rationale: In this scenario, it illustrates my love for chilli and how I absolutely cannot do without it in my daily meals. I am not even exaggerating. I would put a few spoonful of chilli padi into my soup, all the time okay. Since there is this pop art concept going on, all of the selected images will have to look like it comes straight out from an illustration/comic book so it ties in together seamlessly. Color plays a huge part in this as well. Instead of the typical loud colors that illustrators generally employ, I decided to go for muted tones – the dusty effect.

PANEL 2: Tetrad — a combination of four colors

A scheme that includes one primary and two complementary colors

Rationale: Fast Food restaurants are usually my go-to place when I am unsure of what to have for dinner. Mainly because its quick, convenient and it opens for 24 hours (Macs). This sequence represents my enthusiasm and love for burgers, especially when I am on an empty stomach. Similarly, the colors are all muted and the layers are texturized.

PANEL 3: Complimentary Colors

Opposite colors on the color wheel.

Rationale: Being the only child at home, I often find myself shut away in my room. At times, when I feel like I needed a listening ear, or at the very least, any form of comfort, I seek nature. Nature is my remedy, it takes away my trouble as I immerse the environment – so carefree and light. Most important, time slows down. Any form of urgency, deadlines seem to melt away as I fully surrender to comfort and control to my thoughts. How I wish nature was easily accessible, like having it right in front of my doorstep. In the current era, forested areas are limited and no longer as easily accessible as it used to.

PANEL 4: Complimentary Colors

Using blue and muted orange (dull brown) to create a tranquil impression

Rationale: I am almost always on my phone, whether if its social media or what’s app. I feel like I grew so overly reliant on my phone that I constantly find the need to keep up with what’s happening online. Hence, whenever my (problematic) phone gets buggy or malfunctions, a part of me dies. Like… What am I going to do now??? How can I avoid people whom I do not wish to strike a conversation with?? (I always pretend to be busy on my phone HAHA) This explains why I created this sequence.

3 Characteristic you’d notice:

Muted colours
Canvas texture overlay
Constant stroke outline on each of the images

Building a Systematic and Consistent Pattern:

All the First panel: Very minimal elements, reduced down to a single vectored image and a color fill background. The main idea is to be straightforward as possible. The first panel will be the simplest among the 3 panels. (so as to balance everything out visually)

All the Second panel: This panel depicts scenarios/locations. It should look the most complex among the 3 panels. On top of that, a filtered illustration of myself will also appear recurringly across the equation.

All the Third panel: To balance out the visual weight for each of the equation, my last panel features yet another minimal approach so that there is ample amount of space to support the design. In this last concluding panel to the equation, I decided to inject some humour into this space. By adding an illustration of myself, it provides a more personal touch. (I feel. hehe) In the initial phase, my panels weren’t consistent. After my second consultation with Mimi, she encouraged that it is better if my panels have a uniform style across all given equations. I thought it made sense. (this is how I eventually settled with the design)

DECISION-MAKING:

Some consideration in terms of suitability of the frame. In order for a smoother flow, I checked to ensure that my design scheme is consistent throughout all the equations. As for the panels below, I actually prefer the top set better. However, in terms of keeping the theme in check, the second set works a lot better. So that it shall be!

Bettering my concept to suit the theme: initially, the consistency of my panels was not quite right. the first design also appeared to be a little cliche. One of my classmates suggested illustrating a burger as though I am wearing it. Thought that was super cool and went ahead with the execution.

How the photographs are processed: From realistic to painterly (gif)

My (very unorganized) working file:

Presentation Day! (The actual color of the artwork will be recorded on this OSS post! )

Oh and I swear Andy is my hamburger soulmate 🙂

If you have come this far, I’d like to thank you for reading!!!

Will catch you soon! Ciaos.

Project EGO: Layout Development

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Hello Errrabadi. It’s week 13!!

This post will feature a series of failed attempts, of wasted nights and aching neck. The very first concept I had in mind revolves around the use of geometric illustrations and bold colours against my design.

Turned out pretty bad because I found myself stuck in the development of my panels. It kinda looked like this >

The colour scheme I had in mind was: Blue Yellow Red (Primary colours).

The second attempt I had was a Vintage/Retro Pinup themed (with surrealistic aspect). I wanted an illustrative style across all of my panels and because of that, it got really hard for me to source for suitable images that fits my theme. I spent hours searching for just the right image that compliments the style of my concept, but halfway through, I found myself losing the momentum. So I decided to put this on the KIV-list!

Monochromatic

Triadic

(…Still contemplating…)

These are my panels so far. As you can tell, I am not satisfied with what I have so far. Hence I went on to do more research and I came across a reallllyyy interesting idea but the execution was seemingly difficult. I shall document it down anyway. The theme for this fully revolves around the use of Pantone Strips to create elements.

Like so: (that’s a hamburger btw)

The colour schemes are analogous & monochromatic.

Since the Ego project focuses on colours, I thought this would be an interesting take. However, as I progressed on, the elements that are possible for creation appears to be really limited. For example, the Pantone strips are very geometric in shape. This means that the element that I want to re-create should be in angular shape as well otherwise the design wouldn’t quite compliment. As much as I adore this concept, I had to be aware of the existing limitations and the amount of time I have on hands. Furthermore, it feels like I have to restrict my creativity just to work this concept 🙁 So this is a no go either.

With that in mind, I decided to restart my canvas and plan for a more feasible concept.

This leads me to my final set of designs! The Illustrative Photo-Collage.

Will talk more about it in my next post – The Final Outcome. Stay tuned!!!

Ciaossss

Forrest Gump: Silkscreen Process & Finalisation

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Hello, World!

Today, I had my very first silkscreen attempt! Was good (only after multiple tries haha). The coating of the blue layer was most challenging in my opinion as it is the very fundamental of the process – THE MAKE OR BREAK

The final design I picked for my tote bag is…

*drum roll please*

My classmates call it The Fishies! Following next will be my final 4 concepts –

*CLICK*

My Thought Process:

Since all these quotes are extracted from one movie itself, I wanted these panels to have an overarching theme that ties in seamlessly together. That means by looking at it from afar, one can easily identify the style that is injected into all the designs and that it would be obvious that it comes from the same designer(like a series). By using lines in the background, it helps them to identify with the other panels. Lines help to direct the eyes and provide visual flow for the viewers, aiding in the communication of my design piece.

Apart from that, I adore woodcut textures. Hence, I painstakingly searched for images that are visually “similar” in texture and style so that they would compliment one another when placed together. This would ensure that none of the elements stick out like a sore thumb when viewing them in whole. This is one of the most challenging problems faced throughout the project execution since there is a pool of image options out there, it would be difficult to settle on one that can give the aesthetic a push.

Contrast & Depth is one thing that I took notice of too. I have to vary between thin and thick strokes, light and dark fill (shadows & highlights). Too much of blacks tones can make your design sink, appearing visually heavy and hard to digest. Too many whites would look as though it lacked dimensions, hence appearing flat. Balancing the contrast of the threshold can be challenging at times, but it all worked out eventually.