OUGD405 - Typogateaux : The Contest

 For our final brief before christmas we had to create a letter form or word out of cake. The cake would then be submitted, tried and scored by the principle. There was to be one winner from the entires.

We were allowed to work in teams ti split the work evenly. I chose to work in a team with Laura and Harrison. To start off we made a design sheet of all our ideas. When we were brainstorming we came up with some rather radical ideas like the leaning tower of type. We soon found that when it came down to bringing our ideas to life it was not as simple as we thought.

Harrison had the idea to create 'Helveticake', we really liked the play on words and after a few failed attempts at other ideas chose the simple but interesting 'Helveticake'.

We followed a simple sponge recipe but made a few adjustments such as adding black food colouring to make the cake look like it had been typed out on a computer.

Our ingredients

Our first attempt at one of our ideas went terribly wrong as the cake did not cook in the centre. We were very upset with this because we felt it was a strong idea. 

After failed attempts we filled a tray with blackened cake mix and left it to cook. This was the outcome.

Our first idea was to cover the cake in black icing so to make each letter sturdy. We tried this out but found it was still flimsy and wouldn't stand up properly.

The way we overcame this was to bake another slab of black cake and cover it with raspberry jam. We then stuck the two slabs together like a victoria sponge.

On the computer we layer out the word 'Helveticake' to find out which point size would work the best. We ended up working with 250pt. 

After printing the letters out as templates we got to work cutting them out of the cake. 

This was a very hard job but Harrison and Laura pulled it off beautifully.

Our finished product laid out on the table at college.

Unfortunately we did not win but we enjoyed the process very much and will return next year.

OUGD405 - How To.. App Development

As we did not have enough time to make an app like we had hoped, I decided to map out a design on illustrator in order to show some development into the brief. I chose to keep it very simple and two 2 colours; black and blue. Though my groups final product had an orange background I felt that it would be too overpowering for an app. Keeping the background white was a also a tricky decision as it could maybe look tacky on screen.

I chose to produce only 4 pages just to get a general idea of what it would look like aesthetically. I love simplistic design as I think it is easier to navigate and clearer to read. I kept the font to Helvetica so that it could be used globally. I drew very simple illustrations on Illustrator and so that students can have a reference point. Overall I am quite happy with my design and I think it could be successful as an app.

OUGD405 - Adobe Photoshop Brief

The shape I have to base my designs on is Cross. An idea I have had is to photograph wires which are crossed as it is a popular phrase and is outside of the box rather than obvious.

I took some photos in preparation for my Photoshop workshop but wanted to take some more on a better camera. I took a camera out from the Photography department and went around college once again trying to find crosses which were both literal and not. 

My favourite images are the wires and the tree branches. I think I would like to experiment with both of these ideas by creating a range of different post card designs.

Development..

During my research I came across some interesting designs which featured the shape overlaying another image. I have recreated this in my own way by adding a layer of block black colour and cutting a cross from the centre. I also turned the opacity down so that the image would show through.

Again I have used this method but made the opacity stronger so the photo is harder to see. This would ensure that the main focus is the shape.

Having the black layer at full opacity ensures this further.

I have used 2 other images of wires overlaying each other, I added both images to a page then played around with the opacity of both to achieve an overlaid effect. I added my black cross layer but I think it makes the image too complicated. 

Turning the opacity of the black layer up and I still have the same problem. 

I merged three images together, using two in their original state and deleting the tree in the other to leave an outline. I really like this idea and think I will use it as the front of my post card. I had the idea to leave the reverse blank but I think that if I want my work to look professional it will need to have a reverse. 

Ideas for the reverse side of my post cards

I don't know whether this idea is too literal but I am still experimenting. 

Idea #1 for the postcard

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idea #2 

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idea #3

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idea #4

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adding spots of colour into my postcard did not work as well as I had hoped. 

I think this simple white outline looks very effective and does not take any of the focus off the image.

I also think the same for this black outline. I do prefer this but I think it merges more with the image below which is taking the effect of the tree branches away.

Trying out this idea with colour.

CMYK experiments

Though I think colour helps my design to stand out I think that the simple black or white background works the best. 

Ideas for final postcards

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