Final Book

Final Way Finding Sign System

Studio Build Talk

Earlier today we received an interesting talk from Graphic Design Studio Build, specifically the main founder, Michael C. Place. He spoke about how he first got interested in graphic Design and his journey from then to present. He started off doing technical drawings, interested in architecture, however he was interested in music, specifically Iron Maiden and the designs and type used on their albums and vinyls really interested him. He also shared with us his interest into Letraset, which I found really interesting. He shared with us many names of designers we should look up and who have inspired him, including, Neville Brody, Rod Clarke, Vaughn Oliver, Trevor Jackson and Ian Anderson. Michael is a firm believer in bringing in your own interests in to influence your design work, he also believes that you don't necessarily have to be the best graphic designer you just need to be passionate about what you love and have interests, as this is what creates better design work in the long run. He previously did work experience with The Designer's Republic in Sheffield, before moving down to London. He is also a passionate about young designers setting up away from London specifically in the North, he believes that London is not necessarily the place to be and Places such as Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield are becoming much more productive and heavy within the design industry and are much better creative places to live. Michael believes that Graphic Design is an extremley hard job to keep up with and work within the industry, however the work you produce and feedback you get makes it all extremley rewarding.

Development 2 - Cut Out Faces Test Piece

Below was the second design mock up, where 3D faces were built up using layered paper, this idea came about due to the nature of talking and speaking clocks initially being introduced to the visually impaired therefore they could hear the time. Therefore I developed my first idea of a timeline and simplified it to just the simplified geometric shapes of the faces, and built these up with layers of paper to produce a 3D embossed effect, which will be able to be felt and touched.

  

Then to further develop this concept and idea, I borrowed a braille typewriter and typed out the names of each person who had been the voice of the clock, then stuck these next to the faces, therefore visually impaired people could feel the faces and braille at the same time to try and visualise what the voice they were listening to belonged to. 

 However this piece didn't fit the brief, as it needed to be a printed document therefore I developed on this idea and began to photocopy them however this didn't show up the braille or shapes that made up the faces very well. Therefore scanning them and image tracing them on illustrator worked very well and produced some very interesting textures and images.

Development 1 - Interim Crit Response

Here is a piece I created as a response to my interim crit, I have created a timeline of the people who have been the voices, wth a piece of interesting information about the speaking clock itself on each page. I have then placed my mono prints behind to create a more interesting textures and colours and also to conceptually show the times changing from when the clock was first introduced to now. 

  However to be critical of this piece, the images used and the production of the piece doesn't really take into consideration the research I have undertook and it doesn't visually represent the information very well, it needed to have a more engaging aspect to it, so it could be visually and sensory stimulating, as the speaking clock is always about hearing and listening. I also wanted to concentrate more on the aspect of the talking clock being used by the visually impaired, therefore the publication needed to be able to show the information in a way that could be touched or felt, for example embossing the names or faces, or using perforated paper to produce some sort of braille. This idea was then discarded and developed on in a more 3D -  hands on approach. 

Object Proposal

The idea behind the design was to produce a limited edition publication, which marks the 80th anniversary of the BT Speaking Clock. It will include vector illustrations of each person who has been the voice of the speaking clock, both permanent and temporary. The concept behind the design is based on the need for talking clocks to the visually impaired, therefore braille and textured paper will be explored. The project will reference both ascii and line art, producing abstract images. It will become a collector’s edition and will therefore need to produce nostalgia and keep a sense of uniqueness to the design that won’t be produced or found anywhere else. It will also be produced using analogue techniques to keep a personal touch.

Monoprinting Workshop

In a recent mono printing workshop, I used new found skills to create prints which could be used within my object publication. I decided to show the contrast between new time and old time, relating to the history of time keeping and the many different types of clocks and ways of recording time are out there. I have placed a digital seven segment display against an abstract sand timer, and over layed colours and overlapped images to experiment with the mono printing process. I will experiment with placing these mono prints into my publication for an aesthetic background and interesting textures.