Studio Brief 2 - Leeds Library Book Cover - Initial Ideas

I have struggled to come up with ideas to begin with as I think the existing cover is successful in communicating the content of the book and struggled to think of ways it could be improved. One thing that was brought up when discussing the cover in a group was that the colours look quite aggressive so I wanted to move away from the red and black. 

This is the first design I have come up with, I like it but I think it's too similar to the original cover and think I need to move away from the obvious.

I quite like this design, but like the design above I feel perhaps it is a little too similar to the original and a bit too obvious. It is also using three colours so if I was to take this design further I would have to alter the colour of the 
text. 

After looking at some of Josef Muller Brockmanns posters I wanted to try and design something on a diagonal grid, I don't really like this first design as I think the squares are a little close together and it looks a bit scattered. 

I developed this design slightly by making the squares more rectangular and spacing them further apart I much prefer this design to the previous one, but am still not completely happy with this one.

I wanted to design some covers without a visible grid as having a visible grid seems too obvious and I want to move away this. I like the simplicity of this design however I feel it is lacking something and needs more colour.

This design was inspired by one of Josef Muller Brockmanns posters, I like it but feel it is too similar to his poster. I do like the idea of overlapping the shapes and colours to create another colour. 

I like this design as it is simple and not too cluttered but has all the information included on the original book cover. I would like to develop this one further.

I am not too sure about this design, I feel maybe it is a little cluttered with all the square and would look better with more space around it. It also uses three colours so I would have to modify it so it met the requirements of the brief. 

This is probably my favourite design so far, I like the use of a diagonal grid and shapes as I feel it adds a lot more interest and feel it would attract more people to pick the book up and have a look. 

Studio Brief 2 - Leeds Library Book Cover - Research

I found these book covers on Book worship an online archive of book covers, I like the simplicity of these covers, as they manage to communicate the content of the book in a really simple and effective way. I like the effect that overlapping coloured circles gives on this first book cover, I am considering overlapping colours when screen printing my cover to create a third colour within my design. 

I love these book covers designed by Jessica Hiche for penguin, I love the bright bold colours and the detail in the lettering, they are very eyecatching and beautifully designed. 

I looked at Peter Mendelsund’s work as part of my research and I was inspired by how bright and colourful some of his work is. I usually stick to the same sort of colours within my designs and experimenting with colour is something I want to do more. All of his book covers that I have seen look really interesting and eye catching and would make you want to pick up the book. 

Studio Brief 2 - Leeds Library Book Cover - Research

For this brief we have to design and screen print an A4 two colour screen printed cover for the book we were given and also produce a full dust jacket for the book complete with blurb, publisher logos, ISBN numbers etc. 

As my book was written by Josef Muller Brockmann I decided to look through some of his work to get some inspiration for my book cover. 

I particularly like the posters that are laid out diagonally with the different shapes and may try to design something similar in this style for my cover to make it a bit more interesting. 

I found some images taken from a catalogue of his posters, including the production durings to go along with them, I found this really interesting and useful. 

OUGD406 - Study Task 3

After discussing the book cover in a group the words I was given in my feedback were.

- Modernist
- Industrial
- Aggressive
- Angry
- Mathematical
- Interesting
- Punchy
- Restricted

I thought about the words modernist, industrial and mathematical when designing the cover below using only type.

The comments I received about this cover design were 
- Swiss
- Minimal
- Bold
- Systematic
- Simple
- Tight
- Neat
- Open
- Grid
- Structured
- Slick
- Modernist
- Geometric
- Ordered
- Clean
- Negative space

OUGD406 - Study Task 2

For this task we had to analyse the cover of the book and whether it was appropriate for the content within the book.

As the cover designer wasn't named within the book, I believe it was Josef Muller-Brockmann who designed the cover himself. 

I think the cover of the book successfully communicates the content within the book. The grid used within the design is visible on the dust jacket, the cover without the dust jacket is the same design but without the grid visible. This helps to communicates that the purpose of the book is to inform the reader of ways of constructing the grid to and using it within their own designs to achieve order. 

The cover design reflects the modernist Swiss style, it is very clear and ordered with helvetica used for it's legibility and form following function. 

OUGD406 - Study Task 1

For this task we have been given a book to analyse.

My book is Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Visual Communication Manual for Graphic Designers, Typographers and Three Dimensional Designers by Josef Muller-Brockmann. 
I am familiar with this book from the typography module. 

Josef Muller-Brockmann was a Swiss graphic designer and teacher, he studied architecture, design and history of art. Other books he has written include, The Graphic Artist and His Design Problems, A History of Visual Communication and A History of Posters. 

The book was published by Verlag Niggli, a Swiss publisher specialising in architecture, design and typography books. They have published a number of other similar manuals including Graphic Design Manual Principles and Practice by Armin Hoffman, Typography: Formation and Transformation Introduction to typographic process by Willi Kunz and Drawing as Design Process by Peter Olpe. 

The book is classified as a typography book. It is clear from the title that it is a manual for graphic designers, typographers and three dimensional designers. I would say it is primarily aimed at students as it is very informative and written in a way that is easy to understand. The purpose of the book is to familiarise the reader with the essentials of the grid, ways of producing it and learning how to use it within their own practice. 

The design and layout and typography use within the book are definitely appropriate for the content. It is obviously a modernist book, as the grid is a tool used within modernist design and the book follows the rules of the international typographic style with a clear grid system throughout the book, use of helvetica and sans serif typefaces with form following function. 

Studio Brief 1 - Secret 7" Final Designs

I have chosen these as my final designs and mocked them up in photoshop. I chose these as my final designs as I think they work really well as vinyl covers and I think they fit the abstract nature of the song and fit the aesthetic of the video quite well as there are a lot of abstract coloured shapes and lines. These also recieved the best feedback. 

I have enjoyed this brief as it has allowed me to experiment in photoshop, I don’t often work in photoshop anymore so I feel that my photoshop skills have imrproved a lot during this brief. I would like to start working with more manual processes as this is something I tend to stay away from as I usually work digitally so I would like to experiment more in future with manual printing processes.