Superdry Advert

This is the superdry advert I have designed. All of the photographs were taken by me of my clothes. I wanted to capture all the interesing textures, colours and designs superdry have to offer.

Photo-manipulation DPS

For my DPS on Photo Manipulation I experimented with creating my own grids and settled on using a 4x4 grid as this gave me enough versatility to use horizontal and vertical orientated images.

The first block of text was copied from http://www.litconline.com/arts-and-artists/the-art-of-photo-manipulation/ and the rest of the text I wrote myself.

Photo-manipulation Title

The first thing that came to mind when I thought of photo manipulation was Photoshop so I wanted to create a Photoshop themed title for my DPS. I considered using bounding boxes, icons such as clonestamp etc. and then I realised that Photoshop's icon itself would be recognisable enough.

Photoshop CS5

So I started to create my own version.

By using the original logo as a reference for design and colour it was relatively easy to emulate the style. 

The front panel uses a dark blue gradient

The side panel uses a darker blue gradient

The back panel is a solid light blue

The font used in the original is called Adobe Clean but it is limited for use by the Adobe Corporation only so I used a very similar font called Myriad Pro Semibold. The text uses a light blue gradient and a slight vertical bevel and emboss.

Here is my final logo with a slight drop shadow like the original.

Zine DPS

Zine DPS Content

I used some information about zines from http://www.undergroundpress.org/faq/, the information I used takes up the majority the first page, I have also edited it slightly to be more appropriate. The second page I wrote myself using the knowledge I gained through research. I found some images to match the text http://900bats.com/2010/how-to-make-a-zine/, http://wemakezines.ning.com/photo/my-stall-at-footprint-zine?context=latest, http://www.brightonzinefest.co.uk/communities/5/004/006/764/245/images/4527863483.jpg, http://www.yearofscience2009.org/about/WaterBears.jpg. I also used coffee stain rings to decorate the DPS as they provide colour and are appropriate as many people would drink coffee whilst reading zines and possibly use them as coasters! http://www.conamericas.com/images/Coffee%20Photo_Cup%20Stain_Leave%20your%20mark_Drink%20our%20coffee%20(2).jpg

Title: What are Zines?

I chose the title "What are zine?" as it is very obvious and to the point. Before creating my DPS I first felt it important to create an eye catching, artistic title. As zines are photocopied I wanted to give the title a photocopied effect, first I chose a font which looks similar to that of what is used in zines and draft printed it to get a texture, scanned it in and increased the black levels to restore contrast lost in printing.

Looking at it I thought the texture was too subtle and I didn't feel it was creative or reflective enough of zines.

I researched zines some more and it occurred to me that most people hand draw using fine liners.

I traced the text wit a fine liner and filled it in in a diagonal fashion.

I much prefer the second result and feel like it represents zines much better.

Grid system

To choose a suitable grid system I first read up on how they are used by downloading the PDF's provided on blackboard and by looking at the recommended websites. I chose a grid provided on http://www.thegridsystem.org it is a 6x6 cell A4 grid. I believe it looks very versatile and will provide enough placement to be creative.

Zines

Knowing nothing about zines myself I needed to research them in order to produce a DPS. I started with the internet using reputable sources I found out a lot of useful information. I also went to Manchester's Northern Quarter to find some zines in order to understand their purpose and content, I went to the book shop Magma where I found one zine, they had more zines in earlier during the week but all had been taken. The zine I found was called Artical and is produced by a team in Sheffield and distributes 4000 copies nationwide. In the zine I read many though provoking, entertaining and interesting articals; I felt the style of writing to be informal and honest which is very refreshing to the edited and monitored articals in popular magaines.

Photo-manipulation

I've always appreciated photo-manipulation as an art form, as it incorporates photography and graphic design a very high skill level is required to produce even a decent result. I've selected a few examples of what I consider to be amazing artworks below, these are the sort of example I want to show in my double page spread.

http://media.smashingmagazine.com/cdn_noupe/img/photomanip-26.jpg

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/mio-gps/113621

http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/Perrier_Boite_4x3.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs40/f/2009/034/5/8/5853c18300d63c3d4ea4f356a1c59e03.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs48/f/2009/222/6/c/global_warming_PSA___time_by_pepey.jpg

Superdry

I tend to wear Superdry on a daily basis as it it one of my favourite brands. Although their prices are quite high the quality of their clothes is very high (apart from the most recent t-shirt I bought which has aged more than my oldest one!) The brand itself is british but combines American style fashion with Japanese text, people often believe it is a Japanese brand. The brand started in 2003 and became well known after David Beckham was spotted wearing their clothes. The popularity of Superdry has increased dramatically in the past couple of years (I've noticed far more people wearing it than even one year ago). The styles they offer do not vary much, they provide a lot of colours though. But mainly the choice behind Superdry is the quality and fashionability.

Double Page Spreads and Advert

I am going to produce two double page spreads: one about Zines and one about photomanipulation. I am also creating an advert for Superdry.

Final Illustration

I used various parts of different photos I took and applied them to selections of the illustration to give it colour and texture.

Digital Illustration

I digitally traced my pencil illustration using illustrator so the lines would be more refined and so it could be edited.

Pencil Illustration

I liked the idea of illustrations that look like they're coming out of the page so I decided to try and draw a few sketches of mediacityuk coming out of a tv screen. Using photos from my visit as a reference I came up with tthis illustration.

My visit to MediaCityUK

UK Illustrator: Mike Harrison

Mike Harrison is a 25 year old freelance graphic designer and illustrator. He has 7 years of experience in the graphic design industry. I really like this illustration of his called "Blackhole", i really like the contrast of the white horse and detailed line art against the black background, i also really like the subtle inclusion of blue colour. I like the perspective and how it makes it look almost as if it is coming out of the page

KittoZutto

KittoZutto is an art and design boutique comprising of Yana & Jun.

They combine fine art illustration with digital imaging, and the highly-detailed results are often best seen in large formats.

There isn't much information about them on the internet but I was drawn to this image because I really like the glow of the wheat, the contrast of the birds on the black background and the interesting wooden texture of the background.

Alberto Cerriteño

Alberto Cerriteño is a Mexican illustrator & designer. He is strongly inspired by urban vinyl toys, alternative cartoons, and the pop surrealism movement.

 I like his use of strong textures, rich colours and the use of basic shapes to create characters. 

MediaCityUK: Facts and Figures

MediaCityUK will be connected to one of the most advanced communications networks in the world, they are installing more than 20 million metres of fibre optic data cable (enough to stretch from Salford to Sydney, Australia). The network will be able to handle speeds of up to 10 gigabits a second..


There will be two brand new 22 storey residential towers: TheHeart and NumberOne. Both the towers overlook the plaza and are adjacent to the BBC. Residents will benefit from transport links such as: a tram terminal, a new link road to the M602 and around 300 cycle bays across MediaCityUK.


The University of Salford has already committed to an on-site presence at MediaCityUK, and will occupy a new research and technology facility from 2011.  An estimated 1,500 students will be based on the campus.


MediaCityUK aspire to have the highest environmental and energy saving ratings. The are the first development to become a BREEAM approved sustainable community.


MediaCityUK will be served by a trigeneration power plant, which will help minimise CO2 emissions by centralising heating and cooling equipment. This process will also utilise water from the Manchester Ship Canal, before returning it cleaner than before

MediaCityUK

This is an overhead plan of what is to be expected to be built at MediaCityUK by 2011 (Phase 1).
As you can see from the key in the plan MediaCityUK is aiming to be a fully functional city providing services for all aspects of life such as appartements, university, jobs, hotels etc.
I feel that is is important to communicate that it will be an actual "City" in the illustration as I believe many people are only aware that it will house a new site for the BBC.

Three Cool Brands

The Skype logo is illustrative of the word sky, using a sky blue colour and a cloud like shape. The gloss effect of the logo looks very contemporary as it is quite subtle and is broken down by the flat white of the text “skype”. The trademark abbreviation “TM” is very well incorporated into the logo further enhancing the overall aesthetics of the logo.

The ghd logo is very unique as it is a type logo that consists only of circles. The orange colour (specifically: Pantone 144) is instantly recognisable, especially when contrasted with black (such as when the logo is printed on the straighteners). Although I think the design it is now quite dated the brand identity is still very fashionable due to their glamorous advertisement campaigns.

Topshop’s logo consists of a full uppercase, lightweight sans-serif font in black (and inversely white on a black background). The logo is very passive as there is very little design element to it; but this is very important and works to the company’s advantage: as Topshop is a fashion store it is very important for their logo to be passive so it consistently fits in with current fashion trends thus allowing them to keep the same logo indefinitely allowing them to create a stable brand identity and build brand loyalty with old and new consumers.