Graphic Design - iPhone Apps

I've been using 'Notes' on my iPhone a lot recentley to jot down any ideas or thoughts I have about my projects. The process has been very useful as I don't have the best memory and don't always have my sketchbook with me.

It got me thinking about other apps that could be beneficial to my course and future career in Graphic Design. Below are my top 5 apps for designers:

1. Omnifocus

Omnifocus allows you to organise your work and is particularly useful if you have several projects on the go. It reminds you when a deadline is approaching and lets you tick off the work as your finish it.

2. Sketches

Sketches can be used along side 'Notes' if I have an idea but not sure how to express it in words, I can simply just sketch it out with my finger.

3. What the Font

What the font is a brilliant app I found recently that allows you to scan a piece of design such as a poster or web banner and then detects what font has been used.

4. Dexigner

Dexigner delivers the latest design news, events, exhibitions, conferences and design competitions. It lets you keep track of what is happening in the world of design today.

5. Adobe - Tutorials

Adobe have created several apps that consist of tutorial videos on their creative suite. I downloaded the Flash app a few weeks ago when I was creating my web banner. The menu is very useful as it allows you to select specific areas of Flash that may be troubling you and lets you watch those videos.

Road to nowhere - a celebration of 'Road Movie'

I decided to look into the three film genres in more detail and found particular interest in the Road Movie option;

'A road movie is a film genre in which the film's plot focuses around a road trip. A kind of bildungsroman, a story in which the hero changes, grows or improves over the course of the story.'

Wikipedia

I thought there could be several different ways of expressing this idea of a journey and growth visually.

Concept 1 - light/movement

An obvious place to start my research is 'traveling' and 'movement'. I travel down to Leicester most weekends and brainstorm my ideas while driving. I've often tried to take reference of things I have seen while driving to add to my 'Professional Studies' module. Only last weekend I made a note of the movement of the shadows caused by my headlights when maneuvering.

Concept 2 - life is a journey

When I first read the brief I had an idea of an impact image lead poster. I thought using the audience as the 'star' in the film. By showing a weathered face that suggested the subject had been on a journey themselves. Although this idea doesn't really fit the target audience of the poster,18-28 year olds, but I still think it could be worth pursuing. 

Possibly by having two images overlapping, like a hologram. At first glance the figure may appear young but then as the audience moves the picture changes and the figure ages.

Graphic Projects - The Brief

Today we received the brief for our new module, 'Graphic Projects'. The aim is to produce an A2 poster design to advertise an event.

The Event - A new film festival created by the UK Film Council and Sponsored by FilmFour is designed to attract and celebrate filmmakers working on independent productions and offer them a platform to screen their work.

We are required to select a genre from the list below;

• Road to nowhere - a celebration of the Road Movie
• Cinema from the edge - a celebration of Art House Cinema
• Noir - a celebration of Film Noir

The Audience - The UK Film Council and FilmFour's primary aim is to develop the audience of the independent films. To attract a young and sustainable audience. 18-28 year olds who perhaps already have an interest in film, fashion, music, trends etc

Film Club - Neo Noir

A few weeks ago we were told that the movies we are going to be watching from now on in Film Club will relate to our next module, Graphic Projects.

Today we watched Sin City, a Neo-Noir based on Frank Miller's graphic novel series. I actually have one of the novels on my bookshelf. I really like how the director (Robert Rodriguez), and Miller himself used the novels as the films storyboard.

There are several scenes that match very closely to the origional. A similar approach was used in the making of Watchmen (2009). An adaption of a graphic novel created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Before the movie started, our tutor again spoke about the idea of film neo-noire and implied that the theme will heavily influence our Graphic Projects work. I can't wait now to get the brief and get going.

A Career Case Study on Peter Saville

Below is a copy of my notes and the slides used in the presentation. I tried to show a general overview of Saville's work, while focussing on what inspires him and his influences. One of main reasons for choosing Saville was his theories on design; why create, who for and what is its purpose?

I felt the choice of designer applied really well to the brief as we had to investigate a designer who could influence our career direction. Some of the ideas Saville talked about in various interviews really affected me and made me think about my own designs and my own design education.

Some of the interviews I found very interesting can be seen here;

Peter Saville Q&A: What inspires you?

They are taken from the D&AD President's Lecture - 12 March 2009