Inspire

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Unit 14 Use of Colour

Explore the use of Colour in a creative environment

Colour theory takes on a variety of definitions, concepts and design applications. Although, there are three basic areas of colour theory that are logical as well as being useful these are the colour wheel, colour harmony, and the context of how we use colours.

The colour wheel is based on the primary colours red, yellow & blue and was first developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666 the colour wheel can also have as many colour gradients as you want on it.

colours affect us in countless ways, mentally, physically, consciously and subconsciously. Good colour choices are important in design and a bad colour combination can have a negative effect.

The colour circle can be divided into warm and cool colours. it is a general rule in design to not use an excessive combination of warm and cool as it can confuse the audience. it can make design too busy and over powering.

warm colours reflect passion, happiness, enthusiasm and energy, cool colours reflect a sense of calm or professionalism.

complementary colours are the colours which are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel. these colours are mainly used on the web as designers can use the contrast to their advantage. they can choose a dominant colour and use them as background and a highlight colour.

Analogue colours are those which are on either side of any colour, these are more often used for nature and are harmonious colours. these colours match well and can be used to create comfortable and pleasing designs.

overall colour is a powerful design element and can be used effectively. cooridnating colour between elements is a good way to create unity.

some good links to colour schemes are colourschemedesigner.com and kuler.adobe.com

Understanding the meaning of colour as well as the cultural use of different colours and how colours interact with one an other is important in the print and media design industries. They must be able to convey the right tone, message, and also to evoke the expected response to the designers task at that time with in the media they are working. Colours are non-verbal communication; they are used to create a physical and emotional reaction with the target audience.

Many cultures have different meanings for colours so whilst designing you need to look at the target audience and the target culture to make sure you don’t use colours that will offend. EG the colour red:

• China: Good luck, celebration, summoning

• Cherokees: Success, triumph

• India: Purity

• South Africa: Colour of mourning

• Russia: Bolsheviks and Communism

• Eastern: Worn by brides

• Western: Excitement, danger, love, passion, stop, Christmas (with green)

there is a wide variety of difference between the meaning of the colour red so if you were making a poster for a company in south Africa you would try and keep away from using the colour red unless it was the company logo.

The way that designers distinguish there work with colours is that they will use the certain combinations to produce a feeling and theme for the work they are doing like if it is a winter piece they would either use cool colours to show the season or warm colours to make people feel happy and be drawn towards something. Also they will use different colours and styles of colours like in pop art they use primary and secondary colours as they are the bolder colours compared to pastel colours used by more traditional artist or designers.

Many logos are developed using colour. colour is the most important thing for some logos as it conveys the meaning and feelings needed to relate to the logo and the target audience.

multicoloured logos represent larger scale companies, blue logos connote social media which is engaging and connotes communication. blue also gives an impression of importance and seriousness. blues can also show dominance and be bold eg. fox news.

red logos draw attention and are used to accent and focus attention e.g CNN they are also bold and eye catching. red can also be used to connote information.

orange is a playful, active, childlike colour and so is often used on logos such as nickelodeon. it is a communicative colour and can be portrayed as inspiring.

yellow logos show information and warning for example IMDB and Yell.com use yellows and is memorable.

greys and silvers connote a sleek, refined and classic look. it is a perfect neutral colour. it is also used on big well known companies to show superiority such as apple.

Artists who are known for their use of bold colours are peter grundy and noma bar. both artists use bold blocked colours with no outlines to make the purpose stand out more. noma uses a limited pallet he subtlety and precisely manipulates shape and form where familiar symbols and pictograms evolve to form new meaning. Colour is very important in conveying these meanings.
peter grundys use of colour is vital to his designs as they are bright and bold and show each meaning. the audience would not be able to tell what the meaning is without the use of colour and the well known connotations.

Designers also have to be aware of the colour blind when designing. Color blindness may be described as total or partial. Total color blindness is much less common than partial color blindness.There are two major types of color blindness: those who have difficulty distinguishing between red and green, and who have difficulty distinguishing between blue and yellow.

Total color blindness
Partial color blindness

Red–green

Dichromacy (protanopia and deuteranopia)
Anomalous trichromacy (protanomaly and deuteranomaly)

Blue–yellow
Dichromacy (tritanopia)
Anomalous trichromacy (tritanomaly

normal Rainbow seen by a person with full colour sight

seen by a person with deuteranopia

seen by a person with protanopia

seen by a person with tritanopia

Designers will have to be careful of using such colours schemes which could look too busy or aggressive to a colour blind person.

Designers also have to be aware of print colours and how they look different on different screen resolutions to how they print out.
Some printers have software which chooses the hues it thinks is best and therefore the design does not stay true to what is on the screen.

Prints change colour and density as they dry so sometimes a wait time is needed before assessing work.
LCD and flat screen generic models can have poor resolution so colours can look different or dull.
some software has settings which can control the colours. especially Photoshop and using the colour management settings.
Screens emit light and paper reflects light, These very different processes can never produce identical results.

My Colour tests

these are the swatch palettes from adobe illustrator they show the colours needed for different projects. these all have to be taken into consideration when designing.

overall i think that colours from the same spectrum work well better than those from opposite sides. using brighter and bolder colours from opposite sides of the wheel could make designing harder with all the considerations of the audience.colour is one of the most important elements of design and it should be used as a tool well.

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Unit 11 Design Industry

Design Industry

The Design Industry is very important and greatly affects the visual world. It communicates, helps digest information and influences everyday decisions.

The design industry does a variety of things and is a vibrant, varied and dynamic creative sector. There are many different areas within the design industry, and covers everything including Brand Design, interior design,packaging design, product design, furniture design, Fashion and textiles and Copywriting to Graphic Design. These many areas enable a range of related job roles such as management, account handling, teaching, researching and public relations.

The Brand design sector brings together all processes and information from an organisation. This could be house style of colour, logos, fonts or even images. This creates a distinct identity and gives a personality to an organisation.this enables it to communicate with its target audience to promote a product, person or service.

The Design Industry is mostly in the south east of England and is in high demand in London.

The way that it links into other businesses is that with out design or design departments companies wouldn’t be able to reach their customers or future clients. Also all the areas of design link in together as a lot of them are needed to prepare new technology so that designers can work on their products and designs. Designers now need to be multi skilled and able to work across many different disciplines. The customer now requires a package rather than going to many different places for each part of design.

As technology develops the design industry thrives. All different systems can evolve together and converge to deliver text, audio and video. This helps designers in many different areas to communicate ideas and advertise through social networking sites. It also means designers have to cater their designs for the new platforms. It also enables designers a wide range of research and design materials.

Globalisation impacts the design industry by creating a larger niche which will be more flexible and accessible to many different sectors of design and cultures. This means more and more designs are produced on mass and will decrease in quality. This will isolate independent design companies and decrease their work load but also create a new niche as people always want something different and unique. A Disadvantage of globalisation is that many designs will not stay loyal to the cultures and places they came from. For example the Swedish design at ikea is no longer Swedish design its just design. As ikea is made available everywhere it looses its cultural identity.

Job Roles-

The Design Industry has many different job roles but all of which are hard to get into. At the moment a lot of young people are studying design and finding no way into the job they envisaged.

Graphic designers are from all walks of life and there is fierce competition for roles in the industry.

Roles may vary from company to company some require higher skills than others.

Creative designers are highly creative jobs where the focus is more on be able to generate highly developed concepts than the attention to detail. These jobs are mostly within agencies.

Artworker jobs are mainly within a studio and concentrate on detail, layouts and being able to turn ideas into a creative format. Speed and accuracy are essential for artworker jobs.

Creative artworkers are common in medium agencies and focus on individuals creating designs using a blend of different skills. Speed and an eye for detail can open up a career pathway and become head of design.

Illustrators provide designs for a range of design sectors such as games designs, medical illustrations, and general illustration. most illustrators are freelance or work for major agencies.

Photo retouching jobs require a high skill level and are mainly within agencies or re pro graphics companies.specialist companies such as catalogue production carry out a high volume of re touching.

web designers and developers tend to be freelance and creative individuals with skills such as database design and programming language.

Getting into the design industry can be a hard prospect for younger generation who have just come out of education. most employers now focus on workplace experience rather than qualifications. this leaves only a few entry opportunities such as internships, apprentices, volunteering and taking on junior roles.
an internship is a form of training given on the job. they can be paid or unpaid work depending on the company and level of position. Businesses are taking on more unpaid interns as a way to ensure free labour for desperate graduates. The law however states that any intern who meets the criteria for being a worker should be entitled to national minimum wage.
An internship may not give the benefits of paid work but will increase desirability on completion as more experience is gained.

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Unit 7 - Working In A Team

Reflection on Working as Part of A Team

As I work within a small team the work is filtered through to me and I pick up some of the jobs. I make sure these get completed quickly and at a high standard. The standard and turnaround time of my work reflects back on my mentor in the team. All work that I complete is to help my mentor and give support. This creates a good and effective working relationship. There are shared targets and aims between us both and these are easier to stick to.

Being open to different jobs helps as I get more work and showing the different skills I can put into use. I also bounce ideas back and forth between my mentor when designing a new publication and working with the new branding guidelines.

Regular one to one meetings with my mentor make sure we are on top of all the jobs to be done and when to be done by. This helps to keep on top of jobs and prioritise the time to spend on each job.

Working closely as part of a small team offers opportunities to develop new skills and learn new tips. The software used is very vast and people use it in different ways so learning new shortcuts and tips is useful to bounce between each other. This establishes a reciprocal relationship between colleagues if someone is struggling with a task and members of the team will help and support

The disadvantage to working as part of a small team is that sometimes creative ideas can get mixed up and opinions do not always work well together. To over come this it is important to be open to all ideas and opinions and be tolerant to other design ideas.

Other disadvantages are unequal participation, limited creativity, and a longer design process. I have found also not working to a set brief can sometimes be confusing as work is passed onto me the communication I get about each job is a brief email outlining what the job is. I often have to ask more questions to get all the information needed for the design process. Communication can also become twisted or misread. So therefore it is important to communicate within the team as much as possible, through discussions and emails. This benefits everybody.

My behaviour and performance within the office effects the other colleagues as I work quietly and am not disruptive. I do all jobs quickly and always help out with the other colleague’s tasks. Being Friendly and accommodating also helps to keep team moral and keep up good working relationships.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

Design Supply Chain

Design Supply chain

The design supply chain starts off with the customer who passes on the project using a design brief. This will contain all information on size, subject, purpose, images etc. the designer then works through the brief and keeps a contact with the customer for confirmation on different stages. the designer will then ask for a finalization of the project from the customer before sending the final piece to the printers.

the printers will be in contact with paper manufacturers and ink suppliers. this will be an on going communication.

The printers will then deliver the product back to the designers and this is then forwarded onto the customer.

the supply chain of design can vary depending on size of business and services offered. the designers may have their own in house printer and so will not need to outsource a print company and may have to be in contact with suppliers themselves.

a supply chain is crucial to a business as it ensures all parts of design are completed and keep to a company procedure.

Thursday, 31 May 2012

unit 3 Generating Ideas

Generating Ideas

When researching and developing new ideas the Internet is a very helpful tool. Using Google to type in one word and coming up with relevant words can help. Like an automatic brainstorm but in list form.

Looking in magazines and books for inspiration and ideas gives a base to develop new ideas from.

Looking at existing projects and work to get ideas for new designs. Could look at existing work that has been made or by rival companies or outside companies that do the same work.

Surveys and feedback questionnaires can also be used to get information that can be used to then generate ideas from.

Blogs and scrapbooks, both traditional and digital can hold ideas and inspiration, which can be used to generate new ideas from. Magazine and newspaper clippings, typography and colour swatches.

http://www.life123.com/home-garden/interior-decorating/decorating-tips/keeping-a-design-scrapbook.shtml

Thursday, 19 April 2012

Unit 3 copyright

Copyright, moral rights and intellectual property rights

Intellectual property law is made up of many elements of legal protection and a business might be concerned with any number of them. Intellectual Property (IP) results from the expression of and idea. so IP might be a brand, an invention, a design, a song or another intellectual creation. IP can be owned, bought and sold.

The four main types of IP rights are patents, trade marks, designs and copyright but there are many other ways to protect your IP.

Patents- patents protect what makes things work- like what makes a wheel turn or the chemical formula of your favourite fizzy drink.

Trade marks- trademarks are signs such as words and logos that distinguish goods and services in the marketplace.

Designs- designs protect the appearance of a product/logo, from the shape of an aeroplane to a fashion item.

Copyright- copyright is an automatic right which applies when the work is fixed, that is written or recorded in some way.

Graphic design for a book, for example, would qualify for copyright, whilst the graphic elements of product packaging such as the colours, lines or contours might qualify for a registered design right.

Copyright is a legal concept giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time. Copyright automatically resides with the creator unless assigned to someone else.

When designing you have to be careful when including branding and logo work etc as things may be copyrighted. Some stock photos are also copyrighted and you need to fill out a form to be granted usage of the image.

Copyright can be applied to graphics, computer code, software, and architectural plans, surface decoration applied to manufactured articles, text, manuals, drawings and other documentation, as well as the artistic aspects of product packaging.

Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works. They include the right of credit, the right to have a work published anonymously and the right to the integrity of the work. Even if an artist has assigned his or her copyright rights to a work to a third party, he or she still maintains the moral rights to the work.

These things can affect the design process as it limits which artwork you use and weather you have permission to work with it. You could not create a published document that would be seen by many people illegally using somebody else design, logo, branding etc.

IP should be used when you have a new idea, you search for existing patents and can use a free database to check if the idea already exists or if there is existing technology to help develop your own ideas.

You then have to go through the development phase of licensing and partners.

You then go through the pre market entry stage of IP protection. If your developing a technology it may be difficult to copy the process and formulation. So using a trade secret may give you the protection you need.

You can also file for a patent, which would protect technology from competitors.

If it is a design or artistic creation then you would have to register your design as it is unique and stands out from competitors. Original creative and artistic works are automatically covered by copyright.

If your starting a business, your business name, website, promotional items can be trademarked and also come under copyright law.

If you are manufacturing your product by sub contractor you will need to be protected by a non-disclosure agreement so products cant be copied.

IP rights- there are various ways of resolving IP disputes or enforcing IP rights.

IP infringement usually takes place when a person who is not the owner uses any of the exclusive right without permission from the owner.

IP crime is where people illegally use other peoples trademarks. Piracy is when copyright material is used illegally.

During my job I work with stock images, when sources these images I always have to be careful of the permissions and what each image is classed as and how it should be used. Copying colour schemes and fonts can also be a problem as this may be done inadvertently and may represent other company or styles that can be classed as copyright.

Impacts on the industry

ethical- when in keeping with ethical design it is important to use the correct materials as outlined by the client. E.g water based inks, recycled paper, natural products.

sale – the sale of goods act comes into practice in the form of a contract so client and designer know exactly what is expected of them. It also helps to deal with complaints, refunds and returns. when you sell something to a customer you have an agreement or contract with them. A customer has legal rights if the goods they purchased do not conform to contract (are faulty).

employment- All staff must be properly and fully employed to work with clients in the design industry. Employees and employers must stick to a contract until it ends. It is a good idea to have a HR specialist or employment lawyer no matter how big or small the company.

health and safety- when working in the design industry its important to know the rules between studio and computer suites. Knowing what to do in case of an emergency, where the fire exits and assembly points are and who the first aider is. It is also important to know how to fill in risk assessments, recording accidents and legal responsibilities.

I have previously made a health and safety poster outlining the rules to be taken in a mac suite.