Jemma Barnes: February 2011

Thursday 24 February 2011

Different Fonts for Personal Branding

I found a great website that has allowed me to experiment with different fonts for my personal branding. All the fonts are completely random as I wanted to try different ones. I am still undecided if I want to use my full name or just J Barnes. I am going have a look at some fonts look with just my abrivetaed name as I think they may suit a business card better.

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Week 5

In todays class I informed everyone that I had booked out the studio for their profile pictures next week. Class members are to meet in the Lab and will go down in groups of 4 or 5 to have their pictures done. We are going to look at different ways to make the pictures look different rather than a standard portrait picture. Arnas suggested something called '3' in which you take 3 pictures of one person at slightly different angles and when put together the images appears to be moving. Another suggestion from the other group was to continue with the 3D theme by making everyone wear 3D glasses. I have gathered some pictures to help inspire some creative ideas.

This is just a standard picture that has been pixelated and changed to black and white.

I like this image because it incorporates a prop like we can using the 3D glasses.

This image shows a prop like what we can use, instead of sunglasses we can use 3D glasses.

This image is a standard black and white print.

The image on the left shows the original picture, I like how it has been changed to look like a drawing.

Friday 18 February 2011

Logo Design

I have experimented with some logo designs using a free online website tool. The designs are not final just to help me generate some ideas experimenting with different colours, fonts and layouts.

Palette of Colour

I am doing some research into different colours I can use for my CV,Blog and Business card. The colours have to complement each other and be pleasing on the eye. As we all know that when we see certain colours we immediately associate them with objects, feelings and emotions.

I have first looked at the primary colours - red, yellow and blue
The secondary colours are - green, orange and purple
and tertiary colours - Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green

Yellow - This colour is bright and vibrant, it is an uplifting feel good colour that immediately grabs your attention. Yellow has connotations of the sun, happiness, daffodils. As this is a very bright colour its tones can be quite harsh to look at all the time.

Red - is an intense colour. It connotates feelings and emotions of love and warmth. It can be very bold when placed against dark colours.

Blue - This colour is associated with planet earth. It portrays the blue seas and sky. The colour blue can come in many different shades, varying the look and feel. This colour can also have positive conotations of calming and relaxing feelings.

Orange - This is a bright colour like yellow. Maybe not so intense as yellow but the brightness brings happiness positive connotations.

Green - This colour is associated with envy and jealousy. Like blue it also portrays calmness and relaxation. The green colour can be related to the environment as its the same colour as grass, trees and plants.

Purple - Is a colour associated with nature, as it is commonly found in plants and flowers.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Sjguest Exhibition

A friend of mine sent me some pictures of an exhibion of her work. The exhibition took place in Earls Court and was for 100% design. Sarah says her work combines varied imagery in explosive compositions. Her designs attempt to evoke memories within the viewer and encourage creative thought. I found the pictures useful as they highlight good composition and lighting something that we will have to encorporate into our own exhibition.

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Week 4

In today's class we presented our exhibition concepts to the rest of the group. I enjoyed seeing the ideas of the other group and the different concepts that they had come up with. Unfortunately our idea did not win and the group I voted for did not win either!

After this the whole class split into three groups for the exhibition. I chose to be in the website team. I chose this team because I have an interest in web design and thought it would be an interesting part to work on. The jobs for our team include:

Website hierarchy and design
Collation of electronic copy of personal work from each student
Student dialogue
Personal photograph of each student
Group selection of final concept

Sunday 13 February 2011

Personal Branding Research

I have started researching ideas for my personal branding for my CV, business card and blog identitiy. I have collected some business cards from friends and family to get some ideas of different layouts and format styles. Each business card is different however these are all of the same size.

The Apple card I like because it is plain and simple and straigh to the point. The text is clear and easy to read and is not overloaded with irrelevant information. The Apple logo is large and placed in the centre of the card,which immediately shows brand identity. The amount of text is kept to a minium, with the persons name, job role, shop address, telephone number and website. I think there is a sufficient amount of information on the card to know how to contact the person. The text colour is grey, which is clear and easy to read. The name of shop is in bold, situated directly under the Apple logo.

The next business card I have is a Doctors. The card layout of the text is landscape. The card has noticeably more text on it than the Apple one. The Doctors name and job title is situated at the top. Below this is a list of clinics and hospitals where he works. The telephone numbers are also present with his email address. His secetray name and telephone number is aslo present on the card. All the text on the card appears relevant and has been positioned to maximise information given. The colour scheme is grey and white which is a good contrast as it stands out. The text also varies as some is written in bold. I think this card is a good example of how to get the most from a business card as he has used most of the card leaving very little white space.

The first few busines cards I looked at were card and average size. This next business card I found online. I really like this one because it is different, minimaloistic and innovative. The card has hardly any text apart from a name and email address, but in this persons case this may be all they need to have on it. The main focus on the card is the image of the blocks. I like how the writing has been placed on the wooden block so it looks engraved. I have never seen a business card like this before and like how it differs from just plain text.

I have found some intersting business cards online that do not all conform to you average card. They show innovative designs highlighting how creative you can be.

I have also started looking at some CVs for research to get an idea of different layouts and formats. There are so many different styles and formats to use that I had not of even thought of. You really can be as creative as you want too.

Research has really helped me to generate some ideas. I am now going to experiment with different layout designs, maybe just sketch a few out and see which ones I like the look of.

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Floor Planning

Today we visited the Marconi building where we will hold the exhibition. We have quite a large floor space and it is very spacious and open. I noticed there is a lot of natural light coming through the windows to work with. The space we have is from one of the pillars to the next, and the rest of the space is reserved for the other class. I also took a picture of the ceiling lighting so we can incorporate this into our ideas.

Week 3: Final Idea of Concept

In todays class we dicded as a group the final idea that we would present to the rest of the class. We decided to use the theme of chocoloate using Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as our concept. The reason for this is it portrays a feel good emotion, one that everyone can enjoy. This concept is fun and exciting and allows us to use our imaginations when desinging the exhibition. We felt as a group the idea targets both genders and all ages groups. We can use props such as chocolate fountains, chocolate and sweets to offer our guests, candy canes. The main colour will be brown as this portrays the chocolate, but also bright colours such as red, yellow, green, orange to show the different sweets.

Friday 4 February 2011

Titanic Exhibition

I went to see a concert yesterday at the O2 arena and whilst I was there I noticed they had an exhibition. The exhibition is based on the Titanic and it showcases more than 300 artefacts retrieved from its debris field. I took some images from outside of the exhibition of the large graphical postsers they had showing the advertising. I also managed to get some pictures of the artefacts. The exhibition used props relating to the on going theme of the titanic, such as wooden cargo boxes and rubber rings. The people working at the exhibition wore black trousers and polo neck t-shirts with a logo in white stating the Titanic exhibition.

The images below are the entrance of the exhibition. As you can see there is a big poster advertising it and also a plasma TV showing clips from inside the exhibition.

The two images below are the front and back of the advertising flyer for the exhibition.

Wednesday 2 February 2011

An Interesting Read

A friend of mine has leant me her book. Its full of qwirky business card ideas looking at how different companies come up with their ideas and reasons for there designs. This book has really helped me to gather more ideas and think outside the box. My next step is going to be having ago at designing.