As part of this brief we had to use out research themes and explore information graphics through one of the following outcomes:
- Product and Publication
- Product and Packaging
- Product and Distribution
I've decided to take the Product and Distribution path with this brief, so I made the following spider diagram to explore some ideas.
I find the idea of using a stamp, which would come with a booklet, similar to what you would receive in a welcome package, if you were to join a stamp collecting club. I went onto research some creative ways I can create the stamp rather than using one of Wright's sketches, renderings or a photograph of a complete building, in the present day.
Based on some of the stamp collecting booklets in my design context post, I decided to replicate the design for my stamps. Above you can see some mock-up sketches of booklets, some being a double spread and some being a triple, I also sketched a quadruple spread. (Separate Research Post)
I felt that the double spread was too small to house the appropriate amount of information which I would like to convey, and that the quadruple would be too excessive. So i've decided to settle for the triple page booklet.
I drew up another quick design sheet on how I could lay the stamps out, with the text. I've designed it to accomodate 6 stamps, however, this may be subject to change. I designed it to be neat and readable, whilst being aesthetically pleasing.
I then began works on the stamps, you can see on the product research page, I've decided to imitate the style of DeviantART user shoelesspeakcock who is a geometric vector artist, based in the United Kingdom. I've used lines and shapes, tracing over an image of Wright's drawings or a photograph, from one of his schematics books.
You can see how it was done in the image above. I tried to seperate the colours based on different materials, natural vs fabricated, textures and their angle in relation to the sun (how shaded they were) I continued the process for 5 other of Wright's works: Sea Cliff, Trinity Chapel, The New Theater, Lake Thahoe Summer Colony and Play Resort and Sports Club.
Once I had completed all 6 of the geometric-vector tracings, I begun work on the stamp. To create the perforated edges, i had to use a set of advanced processes, which I've never done before.
First I added a new layer, and created a shape which filled the page. It's worth noting that the page is A3 size, in height, but had the dimensions of the stamp. I then added a stroke around the shape and styled it like you can see above.
I want to subtract them from the shape, so I had to transform the stroke into an outline. I opened the 'Flatten Transparency Window, and made sure the 'Convert All Strokes to Outlines' box was ticked, and I then pressed Ok. This now means the strokes are treated a shape objects.
I then wanted to cut stroke-shape from the shape below, to do this, I found the Pathfinder window, and switched the shape mode from normal to subtract. This subtracted the stroke from the edges, and created the perforated edge look, as you can see below.
I then changed the inside colour to a charcoal grey, this contrasts nicely with the colours used on the stamp designs, and the edges, bringing them out, using the contrast of hue, saturation and tone.
Similar to the style of Shoelesspeakcock, I added the Queen Elizibeth silhouette-like image in the top right hand corner of the stamp. In the top right hand corner, I've added the name of the building and the date it was constructed. I used the colour picker to draw out colours from the image, and use them in the text, for the sake of continuity. I also added the 1st in the bottom right, I noticed that in most stamps used, regular stamps with a numeral, rather than a digit. I used white for the Queen's head and the '1st', as it's using the limited 3-colour-scheme. Below you can see all six finished stamps, click to enlarge.
Friday, the 18th of January, I was involved in a crit, where I was recommended to use some of Wright's schematics in the layouts, for the booklet as guides for the text and images. This seemed like a great idea which I really wanted to explore, but looking at some of the schematics, they're extremely complex, which hundreds of lines, unfortunately, this would not be practical for this project. However, I will keep this idea in mind for future projects.
Above, are two more designs I've sketched up for the booklet, these ones are evolved versions of the sheet featured at the top of the post, using the three-page-layout system. I've also added a page in, on which I plan to incude information about Frank Lloyd Wright. On which I've included a silhouette, the outline of Frank Lloyd Wright. With this, it almost relates to the Queen's head on the stamp, and rather than adding an image or drawing of Wright, I think using, essentially a geometrical vector shape, links to the illustrations on the stamps.
Also, in the lower layouts, you can see I've added bars running across the top and bottom of the page, this breaks up the page, the design above it, without the bars looks very full, so adding them, and not overlaying them with text makes the page look much more minimal, with a more modernist appeal to it. And after all Frank Lloyd Wright was a modernist Architect!
I've decided to produce six booklets, the reason being that the centre page, in booklets, contains information on one of the stamps, and the building it represents. So, to accomodate all the images, there must be six booklets. I then went to create the booklet on Adobe InDesign.
You can see that I stuck closely to the lower layout on my design sheet. I used the blue, from the stamps, for the bars, and I've used the orange on the F.L.W Silhouette. I happy with how the design turned out to look. I think using the design with the bars was the best way to go with the booklet, it doesn't overwhelm you with text, I think it looks appealing and manageable.
Above you can see the printed versions of the designs. You can definitely tell that I'm working with a limited colour set, and i think it's effective. I think there is a good balance between visuals and copy, you're not overwhelmed with images, or with copy.
Here you can see all the products which will be distributed. Six booklets, with their accompanying stamp. I also noticed that the Orange works quite well with the blue, they're contrasting, but because they're both fairly neutral colours in terms of saturation and brightness, they don't contrast too much.
A close up of the stamps, sadly these weren't done in digital print, unlike the booklets, but they still look okay. To create the perforated texture you get when you hold stamps I used a scalpel, stabbing it into the circles created by the edges, this teamed with the printer paper gave the effect of perforated stamps.
I'm extremely happy with the quality these printed out, in the digital print room. I managed to print the double-sided, using the PDF export techniques which I learnt in a Photoshop, being able to combine the files in Adobe Acrobat Pro, reducing the file size, whilst maintaining the quality for print.
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