Live Brief: Twinkle

Foundation

During my foundation our graphics class was informed about a live project to create a printed leaflet for “Twinkle” a live musical performance held at the Lighthouse in Poole. Along with a few others I put my name forward to participate. My role in the group was to produce a design for the title of the event to be used on the leaflets. The performance was based around the mythical world of Greek Gods and their legends. Using imagery surrounding this I incorporated elements from the theme to make the text visually link with the Show.

Initial Sketches
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Outline created from my favorite idea using the pen tool.

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Initial adjustments, lining up characters and smoothing paths.

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Developing the characters “NKLE”

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Adjusting the overall character weights. Keeping the overall consistency even. 

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Final Illustrator “Twinkle” Design

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Final Logo on the finished Leaflet

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Finished production “Twinkle” Leaflet.

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© Copyright Todd Sayer 2011

Screen Printing

Foundation

During my art foundation we had the opportunity to partake in a one day workshop on screen printing. At the time I was very focused on the current project we were working on, and as this was only a one day workshop that did not link with the project. I found myself a little unorganised as to what artwork I could produce or use to print with. Like most things I do I like them to have a purpose, however I had left it a little late (the the small hours of the night before) to produce something with meaning. Luckily I had recently read an article on Jeremy Pettis in WUW magazine issue C, which showcased his type designs where he had taken the name of an animal and incorporated its characteristics into its typographic design. This inspired me to create something more simple based around the physical appearance of the animal rather than its characteristics (this was also because the artwork needed for screen printing needed to be a solid black).  Below are just a few pictures showing my development and workflow.

Warning: the first few images were very rough and just a starting point! I felt it necessary to illustrate how I reached my final design.

Rough Initial Sketch

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Digital Outline created in illustrator using the pen tool.

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Developing the Form

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Experimentation

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This is the version of the fox I had on the morning of the one day workshop, which I then developed further just before heading to the workshop. Not quite sure what I was thinking with this one, must have been quite late!

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Final Illustrator File

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Final Screen Print

I am really happy with the final outcome. Especially as I was not expecting to be able to produce anything I was happy within so little time. Screen printing was great fun and produces a great effect giving the artwork more texture.

© Copyright Todd Sayer 2011

Gothic Horror

University Project

Our second project was based on typography, in which we had to design a 4 page magazine layout for a selected article solely using typography. Out of 3 possible articles I chose Gothic Horror by Steven Heller (originally published in issue 62 of Eye magazine) as i found it the most engaging and interesting to work with. Within my design I decided to create a more traditional design using simple serif black type on an of white natural paper with a slight texture. To add a more sinister tone to the design I manipulated Fraktur what was classed as the pre eminent nazi typeface in order to make it more dramatic and  more intence. I also incorporated notions blood through the use of red within the callouts.

Development

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Final Design

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Type Specs (Click image to enlarge)

© Copyright Todd Sayer 2011

8 Faces

Inspiration

8 Faces is a new magazine based solely around typography, which immediately grabbed my attention as I love typography. So I had high expectations for it,  it did not disappoint printed on heavy uncoated stock with a foil-blocked cover it really gives an exceptional user experience that cannot be experienced through its digital counterpart. I particularly like the question they ask all designers “If you could use just 8 typefaces for the rest of your life, which would you choose?”. A typeface says a lot more that the characters and words they portray, so this is a very intriguing question to be put forward.

The first issue which is the one shown below was on a limited run of 1000. Unfortunately I became aware of this magazine late on the day of release in which it sold out in two hours! However I later found out that Elliot Jay Stocks the creator had issued a special edition run of 50 for media temple (mt) who then held a competition open to all to showcase your best typographic work. Luckily I won on the second day out of 4, also shown below is the note they sent along with a t-shirt and the magazine.

Through The Letter Box

University Project

To start of my degree course the first project was to design something that could be posted expressing our opinion on a recent political article. I chose an article from the financial times on Lord Hutton’s recent pensions report. My opinion is that it is basically seems like a joke as it seems so unfair.

© Copyright Todd Sayer 2011