SOME PROJECTS
THE BRIEF
I had to make the following, on the subject of 'Land Grabbing'
Two A3 Posters
Merchandise Product
Social Media (Instagram) Campaign with 9 Posts
DESCRIPTION:
In the deliverables made, it shows two hands. One is holding a depiction of a piece of land. The other is depicted as haven grabbed some of the land that is in the first hand. On the piece of land, there are depictions of families living on that land, in order to convey that the land is being inhabited by humans. By the hand grabbing some of the land, this conveys that not only the environment is being destroyed, but also people's lives and livelihoods. The products shown below are a social commentary on land grabbing (a form of resource extraction). The word 'sacred' is used to convey to the viewer that the land being taken is sacred land. I made it ambiguous so that it could be any land that is being grabbed. For example, the Amazon Rainforest in South America is sacred land, as well as other places in the 'Global South' ('developing countries')
“Protest art spotlights issues that need attention, using basic rules of design and carefully chosen words to elicit both shock and empathy.”
PREVIOUS
PROTEST DESIGN
I was interested in making a protest design piece on something that I actually went to and helped out with, The Grenfell Fire. I think that this is a great example of how those in positions of power tend to do nothing where the working class ethnic minorities are concerned. The fact that this fire could have been avoidable if the necessary systems had been in place (that the tenants had asked for anyway)
I added 2 simple strong words to this piece, ‘never forget’ as this is often something that those in power tend to act as though they do.
Also the fact that we are supposed to have progressed as a society in all these different ways, yet this tragic event happened a few years ago in 2017.
I tried out different variations of writing the text as I wanted that to be the piece that stood out the most. I played with the colouring to try and see which would be the most effective, I chose this one as from feedback I received this was the most effective
This is my Protest Design inspired by Kate Moross.
Although my piece may at first seem to be more focused on the vector image, its all about the message behind the words, which this image represents, accentuated by the lyrics written below, as well as the colour symbolism in the character herself.
I made use of typography in several ways in this piece. Firstly the type of letters are inspired by Kate Moross, in the way that they use lettering and make use of spacing and position.
Secondly the play on the ‘I’m free’ part in terms of the ‘I’ being a literal human ‘eye’ which is somewhat creepy as it has a camera lens within it.
This is in a way a direct visual to the lyrics at the bottom of the screen that encapsulate the visual vector, [...]under some kind of microscope[...] I am trying to connect and link to.
POSTER VARIATIONS &
MOCK UPS
This is the first design that I made for the Protest Design project. The concept is to have a ‘land’ that is being ‘grabbed’ by a hand attempting to ‘grab’ some of the land.
I received some feedback on this design, it wasn’t clear enough what it was communicating. This is mostly due to the ‘land’ depiction as it appeared more like mountains. It also didn’t appear as though it was a hand grabbing, it just seemed as though it were resting. I played with this design a little in terms of the hand and made it seem as though the hand was holding the ‘land’. For the merchandise I was thinking of having the piece of clothing with one design on the front and the other on the back.
Although I received the feedback about this type of land design. I wanted to play around and see if it could work as a poster. I added the ‘futura’ font as I wanted to play with the type to make it similar to the Barbara Kruger style as her posters tend to effectively convey her message and I feel that this is the combination of the imagery and the type she uses which is ‘futura’.
The 'futura' font is often used in minimalist designs as a display or paragraph font. It is also seen in many notable and historic projects and so I thought it would make sense to use it with this poster as this is a historic event that keeps taking place and has done so for years.
FEEDBACK RECEIVED
The stars are quite confusing and distract from the overall message. The land being this type is better but the hand is missing something. The little ‘black people’ and the houses could appear stereotypical and they are all the same. It is obvious that they are running, but from what? The houses should be more suitable for the environment. It doesn’t seem very minimalist.
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I think that this poster is the most effective in terms of the colouring.
In order to help with the minimalist aesthetic, I wanted to make the background the lavender as it is quite a calm colour. I made the writing black so that it would stand out more, and the last rectangle the ‘spearmint green’ as I think that the colour schemes of green and light purple are opposite colours and so would go well together. The low saturation of the Lavender with the higher saturation of the ‘spearmint green’ would make sense together. The mixture of adding the black writing on top of the Lavender helps to make the writing pop as the contrast is within the colours. Similarly with the ‘spearmint green’ and the black writing. With the black beneath the green rectangle being shown as a shadow effect.
The posters in slide 26 aren’t as effective in my opinion as there isn’t as much contrast displayed.
These posters are more ‘artistic’ and less minimalistic.
I wanted to play with the colouring and typography of the posters to try and achieve different results in terms of the ways in which I can convey my message.
My teacher: I prefer the previous posters as they are more concise, to the point and convey the message better. The spacing of the ‘sacred’ could be arranged better so that the words somehow intertwine with the tree in a clearer manner, play with it. The sizing of the hands could be slightly smaller. The whole poster seems more cluttered compared with the previous posters.
My classmate: These posters seem more joyous, so perhaps could be portraying the wrong mood in that you may not necessarily want that mood to be conveyed. Perhaps due to the brighter colouring, as the bottom posters appears slightly more calmer.
MERCHANDISE VARIATIONS &
MOCK UPS
As I am targeting my merchandise at Generation Z, I wanted to make the merchandise, clothing or something that can be worn. I asked Generation Zs and they said that they would prefer to wear something they believed in. They said that they would prefer something that is wearable rather than having a mug or badge.
For these 3 hoodie designs I wanted to play around with the writing. From the feedback that I received I have decided to continue with text, as this is something that a generation Z is more likely to wear. I would prefer text myself as a Gen Z
These are the first merchandise designs for the first design ideas. I like the writing one as it has more of a simple look as it doesn’t have any graphics accompanying it. The second one in line is kind of nice to look at.
However I don’t think that it effectively conveys my message. The third one isn’t very pleasing to look at, the words are too close to the graphic.
After speaking to my classmates, I decided that it would make more sense if I made a mask as opposed to a piece of clothing, due to it being covid-19.
I wanted to play with the lettering, colour and styles
I asked around on Instagram and Snapchat (being the social medias that are most frequented by Generation Zs).
People liked the vector, but it was more the Millennials who liked the vector styles, more than the text styles. All of the Generation Zs that I asked agreed that the vector was nice, but they preferred the text styles.
INSTAGRAM GRID VARIATIONS &
MOCK UPS
For the grid of 9 Instagram post. I am thinking of instead of having a direct pattern like my previous one opposite. To instead have more of a subtle pattern where some elements are consistent, like the font (futura) colour scheme (spearmint green, corals, cantaloupe orange and lavenders as well as use of contrasting colours, perhaps darker versions of these colours or black and white). Although the subject is hard hitting. Millennials prefer Instagrams that tell a story, so perhaps I would add a quote from one of the victims of land grabbing, possibly a child in order to gain pathos.
Instead of my Instagram grid just being a replica of the merchandise and posters. I will make it it’s own thing, whilst making use of what I have already done so that it isn’t completely brand new. It will be more of a pattern spread out as opposed to being individual posts.
These are some experiments that I did using Adobe Spark to assemble.
I wanted to play around with the font of the ‘sacred’ as well as the composition of the whole design.
Out of all of these, I prefer the top left green background with the orange strip. I feel that this is most like a poster type that I have seen in ‘activist’ spaces or something I would expect to see. In terms of it being an Instagram post I don’t think its as strong.
This is the first trial of writing the word ‘sacred’. I used the font ‘avant garde gothic'.
I used the same ‘avant garde gothic’ font.
I also used the colours that Millennials and Generation Z are said to prefer
I used the same font and colours of the previous ‘sacred’. I decided to space out the last row more. For my Instagram as I am thinking of having it spaced between the 3 different posts
These are type experiments using the grid similar to the one used in Instagram. I wanted to play around with the colouring of both the grid background and the wording.
For it to be able to be displayed bigger I wanted to break up the wording. Not only would it be able to be displayed bigger, but also instead of fitting it on one page (risking it seeming cluttered) it adds to the minimalist aesthetic by having it spread out between the grids.
The orange writing on the green is a slight clash, although they are complementary colours as green is located opposite red on the colour wheel. The particular saturation of the orange as well as the amount, clashes with the green background.
The white background has quite a minimalist feel to it. However the black I think represents the opposite of what I want it to.
The grid that has only stroke with no fill, doesn’t really give the feel of minimalism I wanted, gives a slight party vibe, and so implying that the subject and brand isn’t very serious. I think I am going to go with the white background or writing on coloured grid.
I don't really like how the coloured versions are coming out. So I will go back to experimenting with contrast. Perhaps pastel colours and bold or black and white and pastel colours.
Feedback:
I have decided to revisit the font for the Instagram as the Millennials and Generation Zs that I asked verbally said that they preferred the bold font.
I used the font ‘futura’ which I used on the poster. But I made it bold and capital and changed the tracking to 10. I decided to change the style of font as I wanted it to attract a viewer to scroll down further on the Instagram. From the feedback that I received, this has worked, as both the Millennials and Generation Zs have said that they prefer this font and style to the one on the right hand side which is avant garde gothic.
I am thinking that the vector could be an almost replica of what is happening in the poster for the middle row. Whilst the bottom row would be the photo of before and after, then in the middle could be a quote that would link it all together.In the middle could then be a white square or Lavender square. In terms of graphic design, it is always good when there is a place on/in the design that has nothing on it. Especially if there is much going on in the page itself. Although I won’t be having very much going on, when I add the photos and vector it might fill up the page a little. So the Millennials and even some Generation Z may find it helpful to have a little empty space.
Another idea is to have the land being whole, then have a quote (or the empty space) and then to have the ‘grabbed’ land on the next grid. This would be providing the before and after as well as telling a story that would be tied together with the quote that could be in between the two land posts.
For the timeframe that I have, I think that I will choose this type of composition. This is more similar to ‘cerebralism’ in terms of the layout.
Similarly to previously (slide 27) I used a photo from ‘unsplashed’, added clouds for the sky (blue skies tend to connote happiness) and altered the colouring of the grass.
I think that there is a risk that this scene might end up looking fake, so I asked some people on Instagram. I decided to alter the colouring of the grass to make it a higher saturation of green, however I think I made the saturation too high, resulting in the grass still looking quite unrealistic.
WHAT I DID & FEEDBACK
WHAT I DID & WHY
Downloading photos of ‘African Land’ from ‘unsplashed’ I then went onto Photoshop and began playing with the saturation and ‘curves’ (which alter the darkness and lightness of an image)
I wanted the image to have a ‘magical’ almost feel to it (hence the pink/lavender with high saturation grass) because, when one thinks of ‘sacred’ they think untouched, and this colour gives the forest scene a slightly fantastical feel.
WHAT I DID & FEEDBACK
I increased the saturation of the land and faded the sky more. I wanted it to be more orangey/reddish as this
This scene seems slightly more hellish and more deserted and desolate. One gets a feeling of despair as the camera focuses on the one withered tree. Also as the tree is tilting slightly to the left, gives the scene a feeling of movement.
These are some mock ups of my Instagram grid of 9. I played with the type and layout of the posts. I think that the combination of type and vector is more effective than just the combination of type and photography.
The combination of using photography, might have been more effective if I had used more emotive photos, or been able to take my own.
(some)FEEDBACK & FINAL DESIGNS
FINAL POSTERS
These are my chosen posters for this project.
These posters received the most praise in that they were the most appealing to the target audience (Millennials) and they were said to be the most eye catching.
For the first one, the use of the black rectangle underneath the green one works quite effectively, serving as a shadow. The black text on top of the green provides a great contrast. Also accentuating it’s thumbnail presence.
FINAL MERCHANDISE FEEDBACK
FINAL MERCHANDISE
I have chosen these masks as they have proven to be the most popular amongst Generation Z (my target audience for merchandise).
It was between these two, as some liked the mis-alignment with the text, whilst others preferred the ‘simple look’ of having just the word ‘sacred’.
FINAL INSTAGRAM GRID
This is my final Instagram grid of 9. I used the app ‘preview’ to display how it would look on Instagram without posting it.
If I had more time, I would work more on developing the typography.
I would try and incorporate quotes and other writings, to make the posts more emotive and appealing to the Caregivers in terms of the psychographics of my target audience.