Ideas
From the brain storming, it is apparent there is a lot that can symbolize Great Britain. The mind map shows the connection between Britishness and what it means in a real context. Things that are enlarged or bold would be ideal as representative drawings for Britishness.
British Qualities
This mind map shows how I’ve considered and researched, not only British concepts and symbols, but also the qualities. I have decided to take diversity as a focal point and the idea has expanded to include pride, which I will form in to a catchphrase or slogan of some sort.
Cross Hatching Idea
I begin my development by exploring different styles to draw my list of objects that symbolize Great Britain. The list is as follows:
Exploring different design styles, I did think cross hatching might be a brilliant idea for this project but it has not worked out the way I hoped. The idea was to create texture from drawing like this and then vectorising the designs so they can be scalable to any size, as oppose to bitmap. The idea became increasingly difficult and complex as you can see from my experimentation below.
The cross hatching just does not translate well into vector form and to do so would be incredibly difficult.
Weave Pattern Idea
The video shows how I have gone on to create a weave pattern that can be overlaid on the drawings I will produce.
It is illustrated here and it does look good but I found, when placed over a dark background or image, the line is hard make out. It is also too mechanical in it’s weave and I have chosen not to develop this further.
Pointillism Idea
The next idea I had arose from the research I conducted into words and images within Comic Books. The artist Roy Lichtenstein embraced the way printing in done with tiny dots that build up the image. This effect was also utilised it art movements prior to Pop Art. Pointillism was pioneered by Georges Surat and Paul Signac. Their approach was much more rigorous and scientific but this technique is something that I want to use in my work.
The way the leaf has been coloured with differing shades of brown dots causes the image to vibrate as the eye perceives both the dots and the white space around them, creating an illusion of shimming.
The catchphrase I’ve come up with will be:
We are Diverse
We are Proud
We are British
It is alliterative. The only concern I have is it may be too subjective and vague.
Stage One
Sketches
Moving on from objects, these are symbols for English rose and a unity knot. I thought they would enhance the message of a phrase such as ‘Unity in Diversity’. The aim here is to stress the multicultural wealth of Great Britain, suggestively.
The style of representation is hand-drawn, which communicates the idea roughly and so the words and images will be developed further digitally to refine their visual quality.
Vector Design
This shows how I have traced my drawings, converting them into a digital vector format. The colour of the rose is not literal but employs the same colours of the Union Jack. I want to use the Union Jack in my first design to see what it looks like and so this rose will complement the rest of the advertisement.
There are two options. Either a refined, carefully drawn, pointed knot or a circular, rough one.
Here is the same process but with the hand drawn type.
The type is once again moderated slightly and the final one that I use is in Red.
This is another sketch I have made to expand the number I can work from to achieve the best possible result. These words I hope to express a major quality of British ideology.
This shows the grid lines made to make for a neat Celtic knot design. I will use this one instead of the other design, which was initially meant to go with the hand written type.
Flag Design
The grid lines for designing my own flag. I didn’t want to simply copy an existing design as this would be plagiarism. Everything on my advert is 100% created by my hand.
It has all come together and the next step is to erase enough of the selected dot pattern to form the final flag texture.
The two components before the pattern is created.
Experiment one. I don’t use the flag below, but it shows that I have explored more than one design. In this particular example, the dots are larger and appear printed onto the flag. It is not incorporated into the final design. This means the shimmering illusory effect of smaller dots is lost. So I need to correct this.
Final Developments
Here, I’ve begun to paste in all of the elements. To achieve the text effect that reveals the flag underneath, the area is selected with the magic wand tool and erased to reveal it, which is the flag dot pattern. However this shows what it would look like without the dot pattern and just the basic flag.
You can see that it is too dark and the contrast is not high enough for the text to be easily read. The great thing about the dot pattern is that the contrast is higher and more readable due to the white space.
It is proved here. This is not quite the final design but it shows how I originally wanted to have a rough, sketchy, hand-drawn vector of the Celtic knot. I abandon this and go with the other design.
The best aspect to the design is how the main text is etched into the black layer, revealing the Union Jack behind. I think the union of these two layers connects both ideas of the flag and what that means with the text. Both re-enforce each other. This being the main focal point means it dominates the advert. The rest of the information cover the lower parts.
Of the symbols that have been included, there are 2 to keep inline with the simplicity of the advert. The rose signifies the colours of the flag and is symbolic of the British Isles.
Having four states – Wales, England Scotland and Northern Ireland – it was decided the Celtic knot would have four loops. It is dark grey to match the same colour as the right part of the advert. I wanted to include this symbol as the Celts are a big part of British history and it is a beautiful art style in its own right. The way celtic knots, like a circle, never end, symbolise unity, which is a key theme throughout the advertisement.
The proportion of the symbols and the saying ‘unity in diversity’ is a quarter of the adverts height. This has been made so that it is read secondary to the main text. The positions are purposely decided based on the alignment with all the information.
Target Audience
The people who will see this will be the general public so it needed to appeal to all kinds of sub-culture’s and the British people as a whole. The fact that this promotes diversity in Great Britain is key for the target audience. But perhaps it is too much of a pride statement and oppressive. What if some people don’t feel British, despite it being their home?
In many cases people will be passing the advertisement in streets and flicking through magazines. The advert is simple enough and clear so that a quick glance is enough to communicate the message. The fact that the main text is cut out of the black as negative space, revealing the Union Jack, which shows through, signals curiosity and may maintain the readers engagement.
Typography
It was very important the work was not all straight and rigid. That is one reason ‘unity in diversity’ is a vector of my own hand writing. I remember learning how hand drawn things feel more personal and human, looking at the Sainsbury’s ‘live well for less’ slogan. This acts with similar fashion, contrasting with the sans serif of the main text.
both these aforementioned texts are symmetrically opposite to that of the layout designs. The dark grey saying contrasts with the cut out negative of the main text.
The main text uses FF Tisa Sans Pro, from Adobe Typekit.
Layout
The composition comprises 7 elements, which makes this a very minimal advert. It is common to see this style of layout because it’s brevity aims to focus on the key parts of the information.
The elements are as follows:
- Union Jack pattern
- Dark grey column
- Rose symbol
- Celtic knot symbol
- Unity in Diversity Text
- Red Rectangle
- Sponsorship/Logos/Website
Technique
Hand drawn symbols have been made but the technique employed involves tracing the drawings in vector editing software to create a simple, scalable design.
The text ‘unity in diversity’ also uses this technique as well. This keeps a uniform consistent method of working that holistically comes together harmoniously.
Art Style
The colours of the Union Jack have used throughout the poster. This will communicate the subject and meaning quickly. The way I have implemented the flag is by turning it into dot pattern. This has been inspired by Roy Lichtenstein’s artwork. In the development you can see example with and without this dot pattern. You’ll notice that it creates a better contrast with dark grey layer. This means the negative space, which forms the text, stands out a lot better. This improves the readability.
Splitting the flag with a dark grey layer creates symmetry and provides a space for the visual attractive flag and the text. It gives the area two columns of different qualities that can be used to different effect benefiting the advert with diversity of texture and style.
Conclusion of Stage One
Overall, the entire piece meets the requirements of the brief adequately but it is image heavy. It appeals to the general public. It works as an advertisement for Great Britain, promoting the tourism industry.
There is the juxtaposition of text with the image of the Union Jack and other symbols. They integrate with each other to form a singular idea of diversity. I would say there needs to be more words that are associated with Britishness and feel I need to revise the direction my ideas have gone in.
The entire advert has been designed in vector format so that it is ready for large-scale print. All of the information is clear, readable and appropriate in what it aims to communicate. This is a really strong format as it is infinitely scalable.
It represents what it means to be British by ways of celebrating how diverse this country is, whether it be in culture or people, landscape or history. As well as all this, it showcases my skill, ability and imagination.
I think it would be a good idea to approach my advertising of Britishness from a different perspective. Something from my research in my Typographic Art section has inspired new ideas. These explore the integration of words into an image that they represent.
Stage Two
Stage two involves a change from a general promotional advert about Britishness to a specific advertisement for an exhibition at the M Shed. The exhibition will celebrate the British maritime history.
The reason for my change is that there is focus on a particular subject surrounding Britishness and this allows me to hone in on expressing the qualities and ideals surrounding the British Navy. This might include events, people, place, famous battle, symbols and so on.
I spent a few hours sketching the word ‘Britishness’ to get a feel for how to portray it. To begin with, the ‘h’ and ‘n’ was given a flick on the tail and perhaps it could be written in a fancy design. However, it appealed to me that the length of the word could benefit visually from a bolder, sans serif typeface. The one that developed is the one in blue. At the moment it is in capital letters and it needs some refinement.
You can see from the guidelines and care I’ve taken this is a greatly refined word design. The finished word is digitally enhanced with the colours of the Union Jack triggering connotations with the meaning of the word. I feel it works well here so I will leave it and use it a the headline element in my final Advert.
The sketches that ensued explored images that could take part in my design work. I opt to start drawing a galleon ship that will express the subject matter behind the exhibition. The other drawing are only relevant to Britishness and not to British Maritime History.
I tried to draw the ship using perspective but felt that a side on reveals more of the ship that can be manipulated. It will also be more immediately recognisable.
This is how the final drawing of my ship is looking before being uploaded or scanned into a computer. The waves suggest movement, which I like, as some on my previous sketches were too static.
Digital representation. This look was achieved by tracing over the sketch with the pen and pathfinder tool.
The next phase of the design process led me to explore words related to British Maritime history. I created the mind map on coggle to illustrate the words I came about whilst research people, place, saying, famous ships, captains, events and so on.
The Words
But how can I use these words? I considered putting them behind the ship drawing as a background pattern. It was also thought to overlay words but this was dismissed because it would look unbalanced.
Typefaces
Choosing a Typeface was relatively straightforward. The need for typeface to be bold, readable and clear enough so that I could turn the words I use into a negative space on the black ship. Here are some examples of typefaces I considered whilst scrolling through the sans serif choices on typekit.
The typeface I chose in the end is ‘Acumin Pro’ and I use the bold font throughout.
Exploring and thinking about how I could integrate words and images, I began to write the words in grey on my drawing and realised it might look good to ‘cut out’ the would, etching into the black design to reveal a pattern beneath.
I proceeded to design a quick geometric and triangular pattern that would represent the British flag, very different to the one I designed during the first stage. This meant that, when the words were cut out, they could still be read but with the colours of the Union Jack.
Now we can see how things are really starting to come together. The blue and red is lighter than normal to increase the contrast between the words and the black ship drawing.
The angular and irregularity of the triangles works brilliantly compared to the rigidity and plainness of the flag I previously design in stage one. It works well simulating a different kind of motion. It appears to twist and spin inward as the triangles get lighter toward to the centre. This echoes the motion that can be seen in the waves of the drawing.
The design work creating the headline title of the exhibition can now be integrated. A black background for the information section, explaining details about the exhibition is chosen to complement the black ship design. This connects the two and places both at the forefront of the viewers attention.
The only thing that was missing was something to fill the white area. It feels too flat and two-dimensional, which is something I want to avoid, considering I didn’t think it looked good in stage one.
So I took a photograph of the M Shed and pasted it into the design as shown below. At first, I felt it didn’t sit very well behind the design.
I found a solution to this problem by moving it forward and in front of the design work but then this just faded out the design and disconnected it from the information. So I took it back one so that the black ship layer sat in front but the triangles were behind. Lowering the opacity of the image revealed the coloured triangles and, consequentially, the words to form the advertisement for my final design.
The Final Design
Unit 41 