OUGD603: Extended Practice - Brief 1: Subliminal Messaging Exhibition, Branding

One of the aims I set for myself at the star of my final year on the degree programme in regards to my design work was to put more of a emphasis on experimentation and refer back to working with mixed medias which is something I enjoy and believe have neglected over the past two years.

Therefore in order to create the branding for the proposed exhibition which will feature in the book I will design and produce I experimented as much as possible with the aim of creating something truly striking.

I began with a basic aesthetic for the branding, I personally associate subliminal messaging with the idea of sinister mind control and the the aesthetic of the "Big Brother Is Watching You" posters from George Orwell's 1984. Therefore I chose a simplistic, sans serif font with an exaggerated x-height in order to emulate this.

I used this as a starting point in order to play around and manipulate the type.

Using a technique which I had initially discovered in the first year of the course but never actually tried I used a photocopier in order to create some deconstructed type which I believe fits the aesthetic of the subject of the exhibition. At first the type may not be legible but on a second look the message is clear similarly to subliminal messaging.

Really interesting effect derived from the photocopier technique, this could create quite an eye-catching book cover design.

I am really pleased with the outcomes I achieved from using this technique, by simply moving the type whilst it is being photocopied I am able to achieve bespoke pieces of type. Creating something unique is imperative not only for my exhibition but any piece of branding so it will be instantly recognised by the audience.

I was also particularly inspired by the aesthetic of DR.ME who had visited our studio earlier in the year, specifically how they manipulate imagery by cutting it up and rearranging it to produce unique pieces of design.

I also experimented by dissecting the type using a ruler and scalpel, creating scores in particular directions the aim was when the type was pieced back together and scanned into Adobe Illustrator I would have a piece of type which would appear shattered like a pane of glass.

Once I had finished experimenting, I was able to scan the designs into Illustrator. In order to make them ready for use in Indesign I used the 'Image Trace' tool to create digital versions.

Although it is possible I could of created these hand-rendered techniques solely using Illustrator I believe using the techniques originally gives an authenticity to the design.