HOW TO// Diamond Rings

Here are some basic mock-ups for ideas for this project, I like the idea of a hot dog book with a poster on one side. These are just some visual experiments contemplating a style we could use if we choose to...

DESIGN PRINCIPLES// Three

This morning I took 50 photos around the college to focusing on the word three. This resulted in images framing three objects or the letter or word. I also took photos of words with three letters. Here are my five favorite images;

Looking at these photos I can see that my recurring aesthetic principal is based around 'Symmetry' and 'Series'. The three objects that appear in each photo all have very similar properties, I think that's what drew me to them in the first place. This creates some form of series in the photos and also adds a dimension of symmetry, even if it is not always reflective.
For the book I should look at finding more 'series of similar threes' with similar aesthetic properties to this. I also noticed that many of the photos have very brown and pastel tones in them, this is quite warm colouring and reacts with the high illumination in every image in a sort of balancing act. I would ad heavy white text over the images here for a publication, really in your face graphics...

Mockups of idea with font called Franchise. In style of free PlayStation magazine...

PROVERBIALLY YOURS// Message and Delivery

 Here are the some photos I took of the final mailshot, including images of the mailshot itself, in comparison to the original posters and also the mailing list;

 The mailshot arrived in pretty good condition at first glance, the folds were still stuck down and only the top right corner was damaged by what looked like a roller of some kind, removing ink. I am happy with now visible the face is in the printed version as I thought it might have been lost once printed as many things seen on screen are. One of the concerns the people who performed the crit on this raised was how the mailshot would be sealed. I ended up sealing it along the horizontal cut by sticking them down with double sided sticky tape which I weakened by sticking it to my shirt first.

 This is the front of the mailshot after it arrived in the post. I liked the simple design, but had doubts about its simplicity at first, now its been through the post I can see with all the added markings and stamps that it was a good idea to keep it simple, the postal service probably needs some utilitarian design to work effectively. The mailshot was damaged more on this side, im guessing it got caught on a machine because the ends were not sealed up.

 The inside of the mailshot arrived in perfect condition so it was all legible. I really like in middle section of the design here. It is simple and easy to read with interesting facts and all, however the body copy text surrounding it has a few issues in my opinion. This was bought up in the crit, the reviewers said that the body copy runs tight to the edge of the page and this was a problem for them. I understand completely what they mean, it creates a minor unbalance between the text and the imagery and title, which is quite off-putting in some ways. Also if the leaflet is damaged in some way or the edges become frayed then the text could become unreadable here.

 Another problem I rad about on the crit sheet was the meaning of the leaflets wings, It was clear that they are not recognisable as scalpel blades to everybody. I asked a few other in the studio and about it was about 50/50 between those who understood the meaning and those who did not. I thought it would be a problem when I was designing so I added the text 'stainless steel scalpel' however this does not seem to have helped that much. I suppose this will be a problem I will take in to consideration for future briefs.

 The mailing list follows the same design style as both the mailshot and the posters, in a way it helps bridge the gap between the two. I have detailed who the recipients are two posts ago (Thurs 10th nov). The title uses the same font as on the mailshot but the scribble effect running down the right had side is the same as the scribble effect used on all of the posters. Finally on the bottom right hand corner the phrase 'under the knife' links the mailing list directly back to the mailshot. The mailing list is printed on the same plain white stock and colours as the mailshot itself. The mailing list was incredibly easy to design as I had already set down all of the clouts, fonts and styles needed to create it. To this end I like the final produce, it was a simple design and it fits with the mailshot well.

 One of the criticisms I expected (but didn't get) from the crit would have been the relationship between the Posters and the Mailshot. The major contrast between the two is obviously the colours used at first glance. Like I said in a previous post, I changed the colours to better suit the beauty industry firstly but also because the feedback from the halfway crit with Jo was that red and black would have been gruesome colours for a surgeon to use. On another note the layout style used in both mailshot and poster is fairly similar; both use simple heavy text running vertically down the page with the exact same message.

 Overall I think the mailing list has been a success. I like the final design aesthetically and in its hidden and clear theory and message. It has a few small issues like the format of the body copy and the meaning of the mailshot scalpels.

PROVERBIALLY YOURS// Message and Delivery (Layout for Print)

Here are the final designs on an A2 canvas as I prep them for print. I have made some final tweaks like deleting all the black guidelines. The two sides are set up for what I hope will be a perfectly matched double sided print. I used guidelines and then the reflection tool to mimic the process of flipping the stock during the print process.

Inside

Cover

I think the design has been quite successful so far. I love the subtle implication of pulling apart the face to reveal the inside, and the flanking surgical scalpels on the inside also. I would have loved to be able to perforate the front so the user would have to literally tear the face but printing options and limited time meant this was not a possibility in the end. I also realise that i did not retain the colour scheme from the posters. I changed this because red and black just didn't work in the context of cosmetic surgery. IT was too dark and powerful, reflecting blood and death in my mind and didn't follow the message I wanted to send, which was one of caution and not fear. In contrast the grey of the new colour scheme  represents the scalpel blade and also compliments the magenta colour nicely. The magenta is similar to the colour used in cosmetic brochures and glossy magazines to represent beauty, so I hope the readers of this mailshot make the link.

PROVERBIALLY YOURS// Message and Delivery (Mailing List)

Today I chose 5 profiles of people to add to the mailing list. 89% of cosmetic surgery patients are women so the mailing list, as well as the leaflet, is aimed at women.

Firstly I have chosen to send to a Cosmetic Dentistry. The aim is for the dentistry to display the leaflet to their patients, who may be considering other types of cosmetic surgery.

The second address is to a Cosmetic surgery in Leeds. Again the aim is to allow them to display the leaflet in a waiting room or as a handout etc. At first glance this may seem like a futile idea however the tone of the leaflet is not to say 'don't get plastic surgery' but to make sure the surgeon you are seeing is fully qualified and competent and to seek advice and so on. The mailing address is to a surgery operating out of a hospital and is one that has won awards for perfection and competence so I feel they could benefit from the message the leaflet could delivery to their patients.

The third address is to a flat of women's magazine subscribers. The aim of sending the mailshot here would hopefully encourage the flat to talk about the negative aspects of trying to achieve the looks they see in glossy magazines. I think this would be a more ethical option, as the pressure on young people to look as good as their celebrity idols is very high and this is proven to lead to anxiety followed in some cases by BDD  which is a primary cuase of people becoming addicted to plastic surgery. (According to research posted in context blog)

The fourth recipient would be to a demographic proven to have a high tendency to opting into cosmetic surgery. It is becoming fashionable for Affluent Women just over the age of 50 to opt into cosmetic surgery according to the daily mail, so this mailshot will go out to my mum.

The Fifth demographic I will send the mailshot to will be to students. Cosmetic surgery is less common in first years and is only really popular to young people once they leave uni and start making money. However, university is a point in life where people try to form some kind of individuality and personality, it is also a time when people can become self-conscious in a way which can lead to the same state of mind I described above (anxiety and BDD). I feel that raising awareness and talking about this early rather than later is a good thing.

The address will be printed in a clear font and colour on the reverse of the cover. This is to ensure the mailshot gets through the post efficiently.

PROVERBIALLY YOURS// Message and Delivery

Here is an update on the mailshot Brief:

Firstly I have darkened the grey to 30% K in the CYMK scale in Illustrator. I did this so that the body copy text was more readable. I also increased the thickness of the white boarder lines by 0.5 of a pixel so they become more visible.

I Have also been working on the Front cover of the pamphlet. I chose to use an image of a woman's face that will be cut diagonally when the user opens the fold. I found an image of my girlfriend I thought would be suitable. I applied various effects and layouts to the space I have restricted myself to  due to the cut of the stock.

Eventually I found a style I like that I Believe bridges the gap between the Poster series and this mailshot brief. I produced several variations of this:

Out of these I chose two to bring forward and work out the layout of them for print. This means that if I change my mind tomorrow before print I have a backup version. Here are the two that I chose as 'Finals' after applying the print layout to them:

Although they do not necessarily stand out as much as some of the other designs I wanted them to be equal to the Magenta/Grey balance that is seen inside the pamphlet. They also use the same font as the posters and a similar layout/ composition. Also the image takes a back-seat and the cover is dominated by text which is important because it allows the proverb to be clearly seen first!

PROVERBIALLY YOURS// MESSAGE AND DELIVERY

After working out the initial layout and carrying out some research into cosmetic surgery I imported my designs into Illustrator so I could start designing the inside of the leaflet. I decided to call it 'Under the Knife', effectively suggesting the reality that the prospective patients will have to acknowledge before committing to surgery.

At this point I have added text. The text is basically a short-hand version of the tips that BAAPS provide for people thinking about surgery. I also added 'under the knife' in Steelfish bold italic font on top of the red scribble from the Proverbially Yours posters.The problem I suffer here is that I do not think the colour range is suitable for possible surgery patients. They will not find the red and black visually appealing given the context. Also the scalpel blades do not look like blades yet.

Here I have taken the away the red and added a steely grey colour. The body copy has also been split in half to either side of the title text, this will allow for balance between text and image when the graphs are added. Although this is an improvement I do not think black is suitable any more, it is too contrasted against the grey to look pleasant.

Too fix this I took away the black text and body copy and made it white. This is much more gentle to the eye. However the body copy no longer stands out. To counter this I put it in a very bold modernist font; Motor Oil 37', which stands out normally but has no glyphs which I added using futura manually.

I added a solid magenta shadow to the title text. This draws it out to the front and will balance the text and images better once the graphs are added. I chose this magenta colour because it compliments the light grey which is soft and weak, by being bright and strong. In other words, eye catching.

I added the first of the six pie charts to the design. The top three charts document a percentage of cosmetic surgery patients who felt a certain way about the surgery in a past tense.

The bottom three charts are about the Cosmetic surgeons themselves. The information is based on raising awareness about the risks involved in surgery and the facts given reflect that.

Here the magenta takes on the role of representing the field of beauty, relating it to plastic surgery, as well as the points given above.

PROVERBIALLY YOURS// MESSAGE AND DELIVERY

These are some preliminary design sheets of the mailshot. I have experimented with the format and layout of the designs and will try and work out which one is best so I can start work on the computers next week.

Firstly the layout here sees the whole design in a portrait format leaving the text area in a landscape format. However here I could uses the inside of the scalpel as space for facts and graphs. Currently I am thinking that I will reserve the centre for the essential related facts like 'percentage of patients who regret having surgery' and then having more light-hearted facts around the outside to generate interest in the leaflet and to fill space. Although do i really need to fill all the space up? it could become to crowded...

It is more likely that I will chose to use this format, I think it would sit much easier in the hands of the viewer and that I could fit more information on the portrait centre. I was thinking that there should be a title on the inside of the mailshot. At the moment it could be 'every rose has its thorn' although I would prefer to have 'Under the Knife'. This is more fitting and is short and punchy. I could include the 'every rose' proverb elsewhere on the page or even on the front cover around the scalpels or something.

This diagram once again illustrates how the scalpels will open up and reveal the inside information. I need to work with this design because as of the crit on I have some new objectives to make the mailshot more effective for the audience:


OBJECTIVES AFTER FEEDBACK FROM CRIT:

- Make sure the scalpels are more recognisable, improve the shape.
- Change the plan to use red and black, these colours are too dark and murderous for a surgeon.
- Dont have scalpels on the outside of the mailshot, people will not open it.


- I plan on finding new colours to use. I will experiment with red and black. But could use hospital green?
- I could cut the corners off the scalpel shape to make it look more like a blade, add some text perhaps (stainless steel).
- Replace the scalpel design on the front with the face of a woman? Then the user will have to rip open the face in some sort of poetic way.

PROVERBIALLY YOURS// MESSAGE AND DELIVERY

For the new brief I am developing an informational letter to be sent out to prospective plastic surgery patients. The letter must conform to my original proverb 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' and should follow the posters in style and colour. I started the project by developing some small pictograms which are related to surgeons as professionals.

Fist Pictogram of a bike was a short test.

This preliminary design was reformed to create the pictograms.

First set of pictograms. Gas anesthetic, Syringe, Head-lamp, Operating theater lamp.

Second Set. Surgical Scalpel, Face mask, Knife table, A 'red cross' with incision--> Suggesting surgery can be dangerous but mostly beneficial.

This is a first plan for the envelope, The two scalpel knives frame the address box on the front. The stamp space overlaps the illustration but i don't think this is a problem because any number of stickers and stamps may be placed on the front of an envelope, I think it adds character.

This is a design for what the leaflet inside the envelope may look like. The two flaps will be shaped like scalpel blades for high impact on the viewer. Once Opened the viewer will see facts and stats about plastic surgery. I hope to deliver the facts in an open minded and informative way instead of slamming on about negatives. I want to send the message 'Plastic surgery is a good thing but think twice before altering your body'.

I hope to continue with this work today and find a suitable typeface, and layout for inside the leaflet. Tomorrow I plan to find a suitable stock, at the moment I pan to use a steely grey colour with the red and black text from the previous brief printed on the reverse so the scalpel faces are grey and the printed text appears on the white reverse once unfolded.