Animal Farm - Second Silhouette Design and Critique

This is the initial design for the illustrated silhouette design, it was made by drawing out the design then scanning it in and heightening the contrast. This meant that the design seemed bolder and every detail could stand out from the page. This included dust from the scanner, which actually worked well to give the background a 'worn' textured effect.

It was suggested in the crit that there should be a spike of colour in the design, perhaps in the title, on the sleeves or even the spine. This could be red, to connote themes of fascism; however I have already talked about how this is already quite a used and tired colour scheme for the themes of this book. It could have hints of yellow instead, to suggest there is a light shining on the piece to create the shadow.

Another idea was to make the type handwritten with ink - similar to a Wind in the Willows cover I'd looked at - this would make the design far more consistent and stylised. Someone suggested that this could be done in spray paint to build on the idea that the flecked textured looks like a wall. One thing I need to be careful with when scanning is that the mistakes on the page (e.g. old pencil marks) become clearer, especially when the contrast was heightened.

Animal Farm - Critique of Initial Design

After getting feedback it was suggested that I refine the photography with experimenting and better equipment. It was also suggest that the design works well to convey less obvious themes of the book.

It was even suggested that the initial stylised sketches worked well and that they could perhaps be developed further as a style on their own. People particularly liked the idea of having hands in front of a light to create a pig silhouette - this is something I might develop as an illustration. Alternatively this could be played around with using photography, lighting and shadow work.

Photography Experimentation and Initial Cover Design

I began by doing photography experiments in the style of the offset posters - however the lighting wasn't good and the camera quality was also poor. Despite this, I decided to make a mock up of the design in order to test the layout before I got better quality photographs.

For the mock up the colours were heightened and the only addition to the design was an illustration of a horse placed on the glue bottle. There was some editing of the 'animal farm' type layout as part of the spec was to use type as a big aspect of the design. Often designs have been chosen in the past for their successful use of typography. The quick edit attempted underneath was less successful, the editing to the type felt random and out of place. It was better to go with something with equal kerning and more simplicity.

 

 

Animal Farm - Initial Sketches/development

I initially wanted to develop the idea of having knacker glue as the focus of this piece as it showed a more unique approach to the story and conveys one of its most sinister aspects. I began sketching the designs, considering approaches, angles and how the bottle should look. I considered that photographing a bottle of glue might be more impact and unique - none of the animal farm covers I looked at used photography.

 

Not only did I want to use photography but I also wanted to use a distorted, bright and clinical approach to this. I was particularly inspired by the 2017 offset posters, which used bright colours and strange imagery to convey their point well. I thought this style would work particularly well for Animal Farm as it moves away from the traditional - just as the book had to break through traditional ideals and went through a big struggle to get published. The cover should move away from the red, white and black illustrations of angry pigs.

I also remembered seeing one of the previous covers for the penguin random house competition which used photography successfully. This was by Holly Knowles for the Adrian Mole design. I liked the way it used miniature versions and models to convey a distorted reality. I wanted to use models myself to convey glue in the initial designs.

Animal Farm - Previous cover designs

After looking at several previous covers for Animal Farm it struck me that they all used red, black and white in reference to the Russian revolution and fascism. This made me realise that may of the entrants would use similar colours and it would be important to diverge from this approach. Again all of them seemed to be illustrative approaches involving pigs - another style I wanted to go against.

Animal Farm - Initial Ideas

Initial Concepts/Ideas:

• Using a cover focusing on knacker glue and how Butch the horse is taken for this.
• Using the windmill of the farm and turning into a symbol that follows a fascist aesthetic. 
• A pig's hoof holding a pen.
• Two hands making the shadow of a pig to mirror the point Orwell is making about people behaving like animals.
• Pigs head collaged with torn human eyes - Dada style.
• Very illustrative black and white interpretations of the animals.
• There could be a big type focus with just a quote on the cover to appeal more to the contemporary audience - "All animals are equal but some are more equal than others."

Animal Farm - Research

Plot:

• Old major refers to the humans as the enemies, "beasts of England".
• When major dies, two younger pigs Snowball and Napoleon resume command.
• They drive the farmer Mr Jones from the farm.
• Pigs elevate themselves.
• Farmer retaliate but are ambushed, Snowball's popularity soars.
• Napoleon and Snowball compete, Napoleon has his dogs chase Snowball away.
• Napoleon begins to purge the farm, killing those he thinks are consorting with Snowball.
• Napoleon adopts the life of a man.
• Boxer the horse is wounded and is taken away by a knacker, under the guise of a veterinary surgeon. -This funds the pigs some whiskey.
• The humans and pigs are no longer distinguishable. 

Quotes:

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

“Four legs good, two legs bad.”

“He would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies.”

'Writing Animal Farm was to portray the Russian (or Bolshevik) Revolution of 1917 as one that resulted in a government more oppressive, totalitarian, and deadly than the one it overthrew. Many of the characters and events of Orwell's novel parallel those of the Russian Revolution: In short, Manor Farm is a model of Russia, and old Major, Snowball, and Napoleon represent the dominant figures of the Russian Revolution.' - https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/animal-farm/critical-essays/the-russian-revolution

Animal Farm - Penguin Random House Brief

Brief: 'We are looking for a cover design which will reflect the book’s status as one of the great modern political allegories of our time, as relevant today as it was when it was first published over 50 years ago.  It is rich with ideas, characters, allegory, political and moral philosophy – read it and decide for yourself how best to showcase the content of this remarkable novel through your cover design and bring it to a new generation of readers.'

'We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.'

The winning design will need to:

• have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
• be competently executed with strong use of typography
• appeal to a contemporary readership
• show a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

Personal Spec:

• the design needs to offer a new take on the already highly regarded and established book
• the design should be brighter and more attractive than the reds/whites/blacks used in the pre-exisiting covers
• the design should be unique, but also fit well with the contemporary book section
• the typography needs to be well considered

The 27 Club - A Very Short Brief

This design was a quick response to the 27 Club brief to depict an artist who died at 27. I chose Robert Johnson who had a particularly interesting music style and history.

Rationale: Most of Johnson's life was shrouded in mystery and there is a particular legend about him that suggests he gained his musical talents by making a bargain with the devil (hence the devil ears.) Son House, a famed blues musician and a contemporary of Johnson, claimed that he was always a terrible guitarist - until he disappeared for a few weeks in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Legend has it that Johnson took his guitar to the crossroads of Highways 49 and 61, where he made a deal with the devil, who retuned his guitar in exchange for his soul. The sinister design is to reflect this mysterious, darker side to his life, it is even speculated that he died by poisoning.

To make it I painted a rough portrait of Johnson and then inverted it, this meant it looked far darker and supernatural. The devil horns were added to accentuate this point, with the flat red contrasting well with the smudges of the painting. However, the eyes were illustrated over, is inverted it meant the pupils seemed insanely small - which seemed too much.

The exhibition was wonderful to be a part of and seeing other designer's work was incredibly inspiring.

A Brief History Of Time - A Very Short Brief

'We are looking for a cover design that breaks boundaries in the way that the book did when it was published 30 years ago, in 1988. It should not look like a textbook you read at school! This is a revolutionary science book with popular appeal. If you can get your hands on a copy of the book in order to get a sense of the narrative and concepts this will only help to inspire your design. The cover should feel timeless, confident and appeal to a whole new generation of readers.'

For a short submission I decided to develop a cover for A Brief History of Time using a very modern, sci-fi style of cover, which was fairly spontaneous. I wanted to experiment with something that would appeal to an audience interested in comics and space and present the novel as bold and fantastical.  The two black circles are to reference black holes and their fluctuation in size. Each strip and segment of text has been aligned to link together with every other aspect of the design.

After a small crit it was suggesting that using the S of HISTORY for the beginning of Stephen Halking's name was an interesting idea, but wasn't immediately apparent upon looking at the design. It almost appears like 'tephen Halking'. So the S was rotated which worked much better and added something interesting to the side title. The small black circle was also moved further from the centre as feedback suggested the circle felt too close to being central and just felt 'off' in the original design.

Norwich Beer Fest Logo - Final Design and Evaluation

This design has been produced using bright yellow to convey Norwich's colourful, cheery nature. The dragons have been made black and white to stand out against the the colours of the background. This is also a style that hasn't been used much in previous entries. In a crit it was suggested that the circular shape resembles a sigil, this works to connote the towns history and the style of the competition. The fact that the dragon has three heads it means a more 'innovative' approach has been taken - which is something the brief specified. Whilst it takes a new approach, it is not too 'outlandish' or 'experimental' which the typical beer festival goer wouldn't appreciate.

There has been some suggestion that the black colour used in the design is too similar to the navy - however if printed the two colours would seem more separate. Although using B&W for the dragon's is unique, it has also been suggested that perhaps the dragon's also should have been more colourful. Would this have created an overwhelming design though?

Finally, it was also suggested that the typeface was too classic in comparison to the modern style of the design. Especially as the design itself uses a lot of intricate detail, this could become too crowded when placed next to a thin, serif typeface. However, I think it is important to consider the classic style of the past and the history of the beer festival and St Andrews Hall (the place it is being held). The design can't be entirely modernised which is why I decided to take the serif typeface forward. It is important to consider though that the design has used a lot of thin line work, which in hindsight, may make it difficult to print on a smaller scale. Despite this, I felt it was necessary to breathe life into the design.

 

Norwich Beer Fest Logo - Three Headed Dragon Colour Development

Whilst drawing out the three headed dragon, I took more care with the details, making sure the heads were more symmetrical and adding lines to give the illusion of texture in the piece. The brief suggests only 4 colours should be used, so no gradients. I also incorporated a more detailed background which makes the design seem brighter and more interesting.

Colour wise I tried out a 'pink and purple' as this seemed like a new approach to the colours already used in the past, however the typical beer drinker may not respond to this so well. I then tried out the Norwich football colours 'yellow and green', although people would probably enjoy this (with the correlation of football players and beer drinkers) the colour's already have a brand identity and it would have too many pre-concieved connotations.

  

Despite the fact that the 'yellow and green' wasn't taken forward, I still think the yellow worked well as a background - it conveyed the idea of the sun rising behind the city. This was taken forward with a purple colour, however I found these two tones weren't bright enough to stand out.

 

In the end I decided to use a bright yellow and a navy blue, these were bold, bright and appeared like the dawn of a new day and conveyed a fresh design for the 41st year. The typeface used is called 'Imperial BT Roman', which connotes the town's rich history and works well juxtaposed to the more modern design. 

Norwich Beer Fest Logo - Castle Dragon Development

I then began doing some developed sketches of the dragon perching on the castle. I trialed the dragon with a cheerful expression and with a scary expression. The cheery one is the one I developed further as I thought it appeared more appealing.

 

However once the designs were digitalised I thought they seemed too flat, the dragons were unrealistic (as much as dragons can be realistic). The yellow was used as an example colour as very few of the previous winners have used yellow and I thought this would appear more unique. Although the aesthetic isn't good - perhaps there's insn't enough detail and the negative space highlights the basic design. To improve this I needed to to develop another of my sketches, with extra care in the detail.

Norwich Beer Fest Logo - Developmental Sketches

I first began by making a brainstorm of different things the dragons could be doing/different forms of dragon/types of inspiration. This lead me to develop several initial sketches.



The first sketch was in reference to the snap dragon that Norwich is famous for. This logo seemed too comical though - it needed to be something well shaped that would represent the festival as 'exciting' and 'mature'. The second is also an interesting design, however there is no focal point or factor which makes it particularly original. The design needs to have a new approach to make it stand out against all the previous winners and the current entries.

One of my ideas was to include Norwich Castle in the background, in order to give the design some context. I noticed that a few of the previous designs were encapsulated in circles which I thought looked really effective on the glasses. I decided to develop the castle design in a circle and eventually the three headed dragon.

Norwich Beer Fest Logo - Pinterest Research

In order to familiarise myself with the form of the dragon I did some quick research on Pinterest, pinning dragon illustrations that had good examples of form. These helped me to understand the general face structure and way wings attach to the bodies. 

Some were had a 'goofy' aesthetic which I felt didn't stand out as well against the more scary dragons. However, previously successful beer fest entries have been very goofy dragons, so it was important to experiment with both styles.

Norwich Beer Fest logo - City Research

Some of the most distinctive parts of Norwich are the Castle Museum, the Cathedral and the Market. These could be visually represented in designs, either by their outlines or even their full shape with the dragon interacting with them. Although it is still important that the focus be beer and not separate aspects of Norwich culture.

 
Norwich is also famous for a particular dragon called Snap, which could be visited as a concept. 'The Norwich dragon, known affectionately as 'Snap', is preserved in a remarkable collection at Norwich Castle Museum. A long-established civic ceremonial which persisted, in a modified form, until early this century included the snapdragon as the herald of the grand annual Guild Dav procession held at the inauguration of the new Mayor. The cavorting dragon was an obvious source of amusement and entertainment for the crowds watching the procession but in earlier times it had a religious significance as part of a pageant performed by the Guild and Fraternity of St. George of Norwich. Three snapdragons survive more or less complete, one of which is the last of the civic Snaps, the others being later copies.' - http://www.dragonglow.co.uk/snap.htm

 

Norwich Beer Fest Logo - Research

The website for the beer festival is simple and practical, with the colours of Norwich football team - yellow and green. This should be something that needs to be carried forward in the logo design, nothing flashy or eccentric, just something classic that all of the beer festival regulars will appreciate.

The glasses for the festival share a similar style every year, with a 2D cartoon dragon being the focus. None of these are very serious or realistic dragons, so the design should be similarly playful. Often the dragon is shown to be fairly 'evil' or 'cunning', this is something that should be experimented with.

These are some of the designs from past years that my Dad has collected. Some are older than other's and the style has developed to be brighter and bolder over the years. After talking to several people that attend Norwich Beer festival it was suggested that the best two designs were the ones front and right. These are striking, with a good use of colour and form, their simplicity adds to the success.

This was the 40th Beer Festival design so it will be important to create something that differs from this considerably, as they aren't likely to want a similar design for the second year running. Despite this the design is effective, it has bold use of color, references Norwich by the city outline and has a legible, clear text.

Norwich Beer Fest Logo - Brief

The Norwich beer festival competition was launched by CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). They have been doing this annually and this logo would be for the 41st Norwich Beer Festival which will take place at St Andrews and Blackfriars Halls between October 22 and 27. The deadline is 9pm on Monday, February 19.

Organisers are looking for innovative designs depicting a dragon. The design can also potentially involve the beer, year, which beer festival it is and perhaps a reference to Norwich.

Ian Stamp, the Norwich and Norfolk branch chairman, said “We are hoping to receive lots of entries, although they must include a dragon in some form, the entrants can choose a setting or background of their choice. We always look forward to seeing the selection of talented entrants. The logo of the winner will be depicted on the festival glass, programme, and other merchandise”.

A maximum of five colours (four is preferable) can be used, including any black or white parts of the design. This suggests the design needs to be fairly minimal to be successful.

Personal Spec:

• To create a minimalist design, involving 4 colours.
• To connote Norwich somehow in the design 
• To make the design up 7cm x 5.5cm
• Have Room for text, the year and the title.
• The design needs to target the middle aged demographic.
• Needs to be cheerful and 'cool' but still maintain a contemporary aesthetic.

 

Studio Brief 2 - Peer Interview Notes

For part of my research I conducted research with students I know who read a lot, this allowed me to have some insight into how reading can become attractive to other students.

Emily Frewin

Madeleine Syrett

Studio Brief 2 - Book Shop Aesthetics

As a form of research I began photographing the book shops I went in, to explore their aesthetic and to analyse what draws people into them.

The first I looked in was an independent bookshop found in London called 'South Kensington Books', this was fairly small but it was packed with books which gave it a 'homely' vibe. It also had extensive displays of books and book related gifts and cards which made the place seem friendly.

There were many people wandering the shop yet they all seemed older than students, and the younger people that were there were treating it more as an attraction (I know we were). It was almost like an independent shop of this caliber was seen as a rarity. The idea of being 'bookish' and hanging around in bookshops can be cool, but I know myself that that doesn't necessarily induce reading. Perhaps students need to be shown in some kind of format how the actual contents of books can be incredibly important and exciting.

The second bookshop I went to was the Waterstones in London Piccadilly, this was far bigger and had many different sections of books and areas. It even had two cafes and a bar on the top floor - this is something that definitely encourages people to go in a buy books.