Module evaluation

When undertaking this module, I completed a large range of research into graphic design and typography, the keep part of my research that influence most of my essay and practical was the primary interview i undertook with professional designs from leeds. Without this research i would not have come to the conclusion i did. 

When creating my practical exploration pieces i found that production was a lot quicker as it was informed from my already existing research for my dissertation and to complete the practical i just extenuated my research a little further. My practical pieces were successful as the process of feedback and designing were lead by one another, without the feedback i received my final design my have been very different. My designer were appropriate as the typography was the fundamental part of the design and without the type the design would not be as successful. This was important as it made the link between my practical and my dissertation. When it came to printing my poster designs it was important that they looked like professional piece of film art, as that was my intended audience, and because of this i made sure that a small white boarder was left around that images as a small frame, and that they were printed on a glossy paper.
Overall this project has made me reflect on how i use certain aspects of design, but also think about things i didn't even realise i was doing automatically. I have learnt to importance of first hand primary research and the influence it can have on my projects. 

Synergy statement

The topic of my dissertation was successes of graphic design, the question I answered was 'Is typography essential or fundamental to the success of graphic design?' My conclusion for this was that "typography is not the only form of communication within graphic design it is mostly fundamental to its success when used appropriately. The only exception for the fundamental use of typography is in logos that use semiotics to convey typography without the actual use of type." For the dissertation I researched different aspects that are used in graphic design such as typography and its use of, Illustration, symbols, Semiotics, Colour, shape, layout and Grids and my research found that when used correctly they make for a successful design. This was backed up by the primary research from interviews by professionals, as they were selective with what they used in a design and made use it was appropriate. What lead me to my conclusion were that all the design they mentioned used typography, but it was not as essential to the design as other aspects, but because it was a common theme I found it to be fundamental to the designs communication. 
From this conclusion I decided to look at how typography is used in film posters as I wanted to see how type can communicate more than a title but also something about the film and become the key fundamental part of the posters communication not the eye catching images. From looking at a range of film posters and different styles I found that most film posters have interesting and appropriate typography that communicates the films topic/theme, but the image seemed to over power the typography leaving it some what redundant. This made me think about how I could make a film poster that was still as engaging but with the use of typography as its fundamental source of communication. With further research I decided that Swiss style would help create a balance between typography and image without the image being the main focus. From my poster designs I took the  current typography from existing film posters and designed an swiss style poster around the typography. The typography from other posters was my starting point and was something that I didn't change as I wanted to show that it would still communicate just as much without a lot of imagery. This links to my dissertation as I wanted to show that typography when used correctly and appropriately can be the key to a designs success. 

Practical final designs

Below are my final poster designs 

Practicals intended audience

The intended audience for my designs are film viewers, and art lovers as these are not official posters just representations of how type can work as the main focus and communication of film posters. This would mean that they are for art pieces to be put in anyones home for anyone of any age. 

Images to analyse in dissertation

Triboro were asked by Nike to create an advertising campaign for Nike products to be launched in New York City, the designs concept was simple but effective as they cleverly removed parts of the typography in the classic Nike logo to change it to say NYC. This then created an iconic look that was transferred to many different platforms such as taking out stitching on already made Nike cap, advertising within sport events and many art murals across the city. The design doesn’t change its iconic look too much, as it’s still the same typeface, still the same logo but it has been edited to read something different, that’s why it is successful because it not only represents the brand, it represents the Nike brand within the city of NYC. Although changing the typography altered the logo, the iconic Nike tick symbol was still easily recognisable with the brands iconic tick along side the new typography. The Nikes logo is recognisable as it has been used for many years but not only that it is successful because of its simplicity in design. Its simple design allows for it to be used on any product at any size, in any colour, this helps to create an overall simple yet effective brand recognition.     

The second piece of design chosen was a poster from Josef Muller Brockmann, the design is poster for a festival in Zurich 1959, this poster is purely typographic and it was created in a classic Swiss design style. The Swiss design movement first emerged in the 1920’s but was really developed in Switzerland during the 1950’s, the movement trademark styles incorporated geometric layouts that used grids, sans-serif typefaces and the use of shapes instead of images. The poster utilises all the key aspects of Swiss design to create a simple yet effective and legible piece of communication. A clear use of a 5 column grid was used to layout and align the supporting information with the festivals new spanning cross all five columns to create emphasis and show its importance, the columns made the layout successful as a type hierarchy was created within the us layout of type in the grids columns. A use of two typefaces were successful as it helps emphasise the posters type hierarchy and made the posters information more efficient to read, and the use of only san-serif types was in keeping with the overall Swiss Aesthetic design of the poster. 

The third piece of design chosen was a piece by Paula Scher, the piece of design is the Atlantic Theater Company brand identity. Paula was asked to create a design that would “Raise its institutional profile and stand out in the city’s crowded arts landscape.”  To start with Paula Scher created a typography logo were the a’s counter in the name ‘Atlantic theater company’ were blocked out creating a shape similar to that of a spotlight, this was appropriate as a spotlight is a key feature in any theater production. The whole Identity is then based around the shape taken from the spotlight shapes A in the typographic logo and used across the theaters branding used on letter heads and other official documents, and is used to be the base shape for promotional materials linking all present and future promotional materials together, creating a recognisable and successful branding identify.