LITTLE WHITE LIES - Ideas...

I've decided on going with the Little White Lies cover brief.

There is a helpful interview on D&AD's website with a senior designer from The Church of London (the creative agency who produce Little White Lies)

Here's the link to the video.... Church Of london Interview

Keypoints I have taken from watching this:

• UNIQUE


• BESPOKE


• ILLUSTARTED COVER


• EXCITING


• EXPERIMENTAL


• HONEST


• PASSIONATE


• CONCEPTUAL RESPONSE


• MUSIC / POP CULTURE / HISTORICAL-SOCIAL BACKGROUND


• RESPONSES BASED ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE FILM - NOT JUST A BEAUTIFUL STILL IMAGE FROM THE FILM


• QUALITY


• DESIGN LITERATE FILM GEEKS


• CLARITY/TONE/EXECUTION


• GREAT CONCEPT


• BEAUTIFUL TO LOOK AT

This interview was very helpful, covering all questions I wanted answers for.

From my research into LWL's previous covers and the above interview I have come to the conclusion that its important to try and get some kind of subliminal message within the illustration somewhere. Not too many of the previous covers have this, although they all definitely purvey the look and feel of the films they are illustrating... The designer said that they will be looking for a great concept that is beautiful to look at. So CONCEPT IDEAS....

One of my ideas is to have a portrait of Ryan Gosling driving in the car from behind, with his reflection shown in the wing mirror as the 'mask' (his kind of alter-ego in the film) I think this could work well... If executed properly and not to obvious, it would be a subtle reflection that on first glance you wouldn't notice. I thought of this idea when analysing the previous Drive cover for Little White Lies, wanting there to be a hidden message in the artwork, thinking maybe it was the reflection in the sunglasses, but to my disappointment there wasn't....

Something like a shot like this, with the mask in the mirror...

The mask...

I also was thinking about the music in the film (after all Little White lies isn't just about film, it includes a lot of commentary about the music and art too, as the designer states in the interview) The main featured song in the film has the lyrics "a real human being, and a real hero" - These lyrics, along with the iconic Scorpion jacket just shout SUPERHERO to me... I think there could be an interesting concept here... Im visualising him as a superhero, maybe from behind... Showing off the 'superhero jacket'

Here's the song...


And the iconic jacket...

LITTLE WHITE LIES - RESEARCH

I buy this magazine regularly and love it so this brief stood out to me...The covers are always amazing, always by a different illustrator and in completely different style so its very free to design...

KEYWORDS FROM THE BRIEF:

• LITTLE WHITE LIES


• THE CHURCH OF LONDON


• COVER


• ILLUSTRATION


• MAIN CHARACTER


• FILMS OF 2011


• PORTRAIT


• DRIVE


• BLACK SWAN


• SUPER 8


• THE TREE OF LIFE


• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY


• VISUAL SETTING


• CULTURAL BACKGROUND


• KEY VISUAL IMAGES FROM FILM


• ANY MEDIUM


• TITLE OF FILM - OWN TYPOGRAPHIC STYLE


• OLD TYPEFACE OR HAND LETTERING


• ADVENTUROUS FILM FANS


• INDEPENDENT MOVIE MAGAZINE


• CUTTING EDGE WRITING


• MUSIC


• ART


• POLITICS


• POP CULTURE


• BOLD


• BEAUTIFUL


• UNIQUE


• MAGAZINE ON A MISSION

The brief gives you a choice of their 5 top films of 2011 to pick from, they include;

• Drive


• Black Swan


• The Tree Of Life


• Super 8


• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I have seen all of these films! First choice would be Drive, second The Tree Of Life. I think that it would be important to get some kind of subliminal message into the illustration without being to over the top. I would want to watch the 2 films again to try and think of something that could work well with a portrait. The Tree Of Life definitely has MILLIONS of concept ideas for that! Although it could be very tricky to bring out in a portrait.

As you can see from the images below, every cover is completely unique, there is no consistency from cover to cover/film to film. This is what I love about this brief...

Firstly I need to research previous Little White Lies covers and see the different styles and if I can pick out any messages within the illustrations...

Black Swan has already been done... A beautiful delicate illustration of Nataile Portman as the main character 'The Black Swan' Delicately drawn with falling feathers around her face the LARGE TEXT sitting over the image gives it the dark, striking feel it needs...

The below cover is for the Pedro Almodovar film Volver. I love this cover, the blood dripping from her eye brings in the dark side of the film. I think it could have had more impact without any other colour on the page though... Although the film is full of tremendous colour itself so maybe not. I like the text being part of the actual portrait rather than sitting on top or the background, using it in that warped style also enhances the huge body of her dark hair....

This is England cover... A brilliant illustration of the main character Sean. This differs from the others by showing some background imagery, although the focus is all on the portrait...I love the text in the label maker/punk sort of style, perfect with the graffiti background...

The Road issue below fits with the film perfectly.... Bleak! The illustration really brings out the characters detailed emotions. Leaving the background this misty, bleak paint leaves all focus on the portrait... It kind of makes me want to peel of the Little White Lies title and reveal the whole thing.

The Control cover takes a dark approach to the film. The film itself is shot in black and white so an obvious choice to produce the illustration in black and white, although even if this film was in colour it would make sense to produce such a deep, dark film without colour.

The Darjeeling Limited issue below is pretty much just a portrait, it doesn't seem to have a hidden message or anything but the viewer can get the look and feel of the film from the lovely turquoise blue background (a key colour in the film) Also the bindi on Owen Wilson's face brings out the hippy type vibe of 'finding himself' I really like the silkscreen type style of the face itself...

The below cover for The Marie Antoinette issue really brings out the style of the film with the over the top illustration style and colour. The airbrushed cheeks, bright pink lips, turquoise blue and hair and bright hair accessories against the dark black background work really well and lets the viewer picture the exaggerated style of the film. The handwritten, swirly type reminds me of elements within the film - for example ornate, gold, detailed furniture. I like the fact that they have included other text other than just the film title, I would want to do this if I choose this brief...

The attack the block cover stands out from the rest... Its almost a comic book style which I think is a good idea. I find this illustration doesn't give out the right impression on the film though, it seems very dark and almost like a gangster film or something, but it's meant to be a tongue and cheek comedy...

The shame issue... I love this cover, I have recently seen the film and can piece them together perfectly... The character is very messed up and broken, this illustration seems like he has been put back together like a puzzle. The type is news paper cuttings which again gives the feel of the illustration being stuck back together. I think I prefer the covers to only show the portrait and no background, especially when there seems to be a message within the portrait itself...

The education cover is done in pop art style, very sixties, the film is set in the 60s so works very well... The first cover I've seen with an actual image from the film in it. A powerful still from the film could work very well if it's edited right... The handrawn typography fits in with the title and story 'the education' classic handwritten schoolgirl type...

There's already been a Drive issue! Lovely illustration, but I've studied this for a while and cant find anything hiding in there! It would have been a good idea to put something in the reflection in the sunglasses.... Which I am now thinking I could do for my cover if I decide to go with this... The type is my favourite element in this cover... A very clever idea having it on a lit sign on the side of the road... Very American, fits perfectly with the feel of the film... Although I do love the script type used for actually advertising the film, it is iconic of the film and would've been nice to re-create it... a cool cover for a cool film...

Studying a handful of Little White covers in more detail has really helped me with ideas for overall style and type choices... Seeing the completely different variety has also made me feel quite free with what I could produce.

MINISTRY OF SOUND - RESEARCH

I've decided on picking a few different briefs and researching the brands and ideas further before making a decision. The first brief that stuck out for me was the Ministry of Sound A2 poster brief. I design clubnight posters for my job, although for very different genre's and audiences. I think it will help me to create varied posters without feeling worried about it not being 'on-brand'. I would like to try poster and type design out for quite an open brief and being able to be more creative and free with my designs... KEYWORDS FROM THE BRIEF:

• A2 POSTERS
• LANDSCAPE/PORTRAIT
• OUTDOORS
• 3 MONTH
• ICONIC
• SATURDAY SESSIONS
• LONDON
• IDEA BASED ON CLUB OR MUSIC
• LITERAL OR ABSTRACT
• TYPE
• DATES
• DJS
• BRAND
• MOVING VEHICLES
• IMPACT
• AUTHORITY
• EPIC
• GLOBAL
• EXPERIENCE
• CLUBBERS
• DANCE MUSIC
• 18-30
• HIGHLIGHT OF MONTH
• ELECTRONIC MUSIC SOUL
• 21 THIS YEAR
• BEST SOUND SYSTEM
• FRIENDLY DOWN-TO-EARTH VIBE
• PERFECT NIGHT OUT
• LOSE YOURSELF
• UNLIKE ANYWHERE ELSE

Firstly, looking at their website design:

At first glance I hated it and thought I do not want to create a poster that fits in with this!

Its very 'clubby' as in it reminds me a flyers for 90s UK garage nights! Very dark but with a rainbow of bright colours on the navigation and dividing lines of the page. I like the box like structure especially when advertising many events with different designed posters...

Secondly I thought I should look at previous posters designed for the same event 'Saturday Sessions'...

I'm quite surprised by the below design... It wasn't what I was expecting having just looked at their website, it doesn't seem as though posters have to fit in with the branding to much (ie colour)

For a brief that seems to be all about the typography and legibility it seems strange that their logo is so hard to read! Especially from a 'moving vehicle'. However the design of the poster does fit in with the 'Saturday' logo, very 1980s. I like the fact that there is a lot of blank space on the page, I think advertising a series of clubnights on one poster wouldn't work at all if there was too much going on in the background.. I think the layout of the text really works well sitting centered underneath one another, although white on a pale grey is very hard to read, again quite strange considering they are concerned about the legibility...

The poster below is their most recent advertising Saturday Sessions. I think the 'hard to read' Saturday Sessions logo is quite iconic in itself so it works having it a lot smaller on the page, unlike the using it for centrepoint in the poster above. I like the patterns around the top of the poster, it recreates a sort of digital mirror ball, this is a good subtle reference to the club. Also the globe type graphics replicate the inside of the Ministry logo, although I'm not to keen on them all over the page! Colour and type wise it fits in with the branding of their website very well, a very digital, techno feel.

My favourite is the design below. I think Ministry has such an iconic logo and that it should be used to its advantage, the viewer will recognize the logo immediately and if interested will study it further to see what it is advertising. Although I am assuming this wasn't designed for outside or to be viewed from moving vehicles as it would be very hard to make out the text below.

The below images are of other Ministry of Sound artwork, nothing to do with Saturday Sessions but definitely worth researching...

I love the poster below and for a Typography based brief I think this is a winner to look at. The colours fit beautifully together. With just simple colours and text its very legible, apart from the 'Ministry' word which is distorted with the logo, this doesn't matter of course as the logo lets the viewer know what it is for anyway. I think its important to highlight certain parts of the text, in this case the DJ names. I like the idea of just having 3 colours so the eye is focused on what the poster is advertising....

'Yuk' is all I can say about the below poster! It looks like its advertising a young teens make up brand rather than a premium London clubnight! What a mess...

I like the below poster, again the key seems to be simple simple simple. Big bold text, minimal colour scheme but with a big impact....

The Briefs...

AVIVA
The Challenge: In these straightened times, make saving ‘front of mind’. Dispel the impression of savers as dull, miserly, unadventurous people. Inspire people to play the long game, even if it means cutting down on spending in the short term. MAKE SAVING A MUST CREATE ANYTHING - FILM / POSTERS / WHOLE CAMPAIGN... Very corporate website... Although comical television advertising....
COUTTS
The Brief: Design an installation that reflects the exceptional nature of Coutts and their unique heritage in a contemporary and engaging way. A copy will be installed in every one of its 43 branches worldwide. The piece could be interactive or static, 3 dimensional or flat, but should fully engage the viewer and immediately convey a sense of unmistakable, but perhaps surprising ‘Couttsness’ INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION - A PHYSICAL OBJECT? COULD BE ANYTHING THAT WILL FIT INTO THEIR BRANCHES WORLDWIDE Very sharp, clean, crisp website. Posh, wealthy... They call themselves a 'wealth management' rather than a bank! MAKE YOUR MARK
The Challenge: Is there one employer that you’ve always wanted to work with, but never known how to grab their attention? One idea that you’ve always wanted to make a reality, but have never had the chance to? This is your opportunity to pick your own client, target audience, and medium, pass you by. We’re asking you to come up with an idea or method to present yourself that puts you on the map. It may challenge the very foundations of creativity as we know it, or simply demonstrate exceptional craft, skill and passion. Either way, we’re looking for entries - in any medium - that get you noticed. GET NOTICED. PICK A COMPANY AND THINK ABOUT SOMETHING PERSONAL TO THEM. MAKE A STATEMENT. NEW WAY OF COMMUNICATING.

HP The Challenge: In our digital age of media and artistic production, technology and creativity are increasingly becoming interlinked. The workplace of today is not a fixed point; we have the tools and technology to choose to create on the move or in a dedicated place. Technology is a brilliant enabler of ideas as well as a means of production. HP knows the importance of unleashing and accelerating creativity, with the HP Workstation they provide a computational powerhouse of possibility for you to interact and create with. Your challenge is to make a work of moving image that describes the idea of a station where creative work is made and produced. It can be based on reality and the way you work or it could be a conceptual visualisation. The idea that you generate can be free of restriction and appear how you want it. Be bold, inventive and original. Consider your own process and your relationship with technology – avoid clichés and use your own distinctive voice and creativity in motion to deliver an engaging piece of work. There are no boundaries beyond your own expression. VIDEO. STOP MOTION. CREATING. ART. An HP 2011 advertisement... Very memorable, comical and engaging.
LITTLE WHITE LIES
The Brief: Create an original cover illustration for Little White Lies magazine, depicting the main character of one of our five favourite films of 2011. DRIVE BLACK SWAN TREE OF LIFE TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY SUPER 8 I buy this magazine, every cover is unique and always by different illustrators, it really varies from cover to cover. Below is a 2011 cover on Black Swan... MINISTRY OF SOUND
Brief: We require you to produce a set of three typographically-focused A2 outdoor posters (landscape or portrait) that act as a three month advertising campaign for Ministry of Sound’s iconic London event ‘Saturday Sessions’. The posters should communicate a clear conceptual theme or idea based around the club or the music, however, this can be as literal or as abstract as you like. Some guidance is given on content, logos and colour, but type choice and size is entirely down to you. Remember that these posters need to communicate the dates, the DJs and brand very clearly and concisely so typography should strike a balance between expression, experimentation and legibility. These posters are normally seen in outdoor sites and often viewed from a moving vehicle so impact is key. 3 POSTERS 3 MONTHS SATURDAY SESSIONS MOVING VECHILES IMPACT OUTDOORS I really like this brief, my job is to create posters for clubnights so its pretty perfect for me. I like the idea of the poster below, especially for a poster that is going to be displayed outdoors. The idea of taking something that would be seen in the streets everyday and adapting it to fit the clubnight could be interesting... Visually though it seems a little bland. SPOTIFY
The Brief: We need a digital creative idea that will get people to be more interactive with Spotify on Facebook. We want to get people to use music in their social conversations. We want to remind them that they can discover more about their friends through their music tastes, and discover even more music that they might enjoy. With the new music dashboard feature you can discover artists and tracks that are trending with your friends. It’s the thrill of looking through a friend’s music collection and finding a track that blows your mind. I don't think Spotify works on Facebook at all, I know I don't use it and don't pay attention when it pops up on Facebook. Who cares what one of your 'friends' has been listening too... You can share playlists on Spotify itself so whats the need in bringing Facebook into it? This is the challenge, a hard one... A simple idea could go far with this one.

MICROSOFT
The Brief: Create a forward thinking multi screen experience that can make a significant impact to the users personal or professional life. Look at stretching, testing and pushing the boundaries of multi-screen interactivity and how this fits into the users life. Consider Augmented Reality, but most importantly, let your imagination run wild. MULTI SCREEN IPAD DESKTOP LAPTOP SMARTPHONE This is one to think about, especially the fact that they are only interested in seeing a concept, so you can be ambitious with this, only making sure its possible to create...

D & A D

Our new brief is to enter the famous D & AD student competition. We can choose from a range of briefs for real clients. Sue has selected the briefs she would prefer we picked, in the brief below...

Assessment Rationale / Aims:

The Design and Art Directive (D&AD), http://www.dandad.org/awards/student is a registered educational charity
that aims to represent ‘the global creative, design and advertising communities’, by encouraging growth and
development in these areas. It has been running since 1962 and is recognised the world over in terms of its activities
and affiliations. Part of these activities includes an annual student competition, which has become the industry
benchmark for identifying excellence within the next generation of design talent. The purpose of the D&AD Global
Student Awards is to highlight the best emerging talent within design, advertising and communications courses
around the world and promote it to the creative industries globally. Appearing in the D&AD Student Annual or winning
a D&AD Student Yellow Pencil is widely regarded as one of the best ways to kick-start your career within the creative
industries.
This module aims to give students experience of working to an industry set brief of their choice. Students must make
appropriate selections, both in their choice of brief and in their response to that brief, and then complete the work
submitting what is required on the brief.

As part of this module students will also have a series of lectures/seminars about industry, copyright, contracts and
portfolio development.

Learning Outcomes for the Assessment:

(For generic course outcomes please refer to student handbook: (L9-L11/L13-L16)

By the end of this assignment students will be required to demonstrate that they have acquired:

•

An increased awareness of career paths within the design industry;

•

A greater ability to identify and make professional contact with employers;

•

An increased awareness of professional practitioners;

•

An ability to present themselves and their work professionally;

•

An appreciation of the importance of transferable skills in relation to future career choice;

The Brief (general description of the course work requirements)

A digital copy of all the briefs can be downloaded at: http://www.dandad.org/awards/student/2012 You must choose
one of the following briefs set for the D&AD Global Student Awards. Bare in mind your strong points, your experience
and, which projects might be appropriate for your personal learning and development.

Open Brief – Aviva

Installation

Make Your Mark

Moving Image

Illustration

Digital Design

Digital Advertising

Typographic

You will also be required to make notes from all the visiting industry professionals, identifying different industries and
ways in which you might approach future employment possibilities. What are the requirements and how can you sell
yourself? How can you use communication technologies to improve your chances? You will also need to evaluate
your portfolio and, using screen grabs, demonstrate how you might change this in preparation for the show and for
gaining employment.

Reading List (these are useful but by no means comprehensive)

http://www.dandad.org/awards/student/2012

http://www.suebamforddesign.co.uk/ba_port/index.html

http://www.sussexinternships.co.uk/

Method of Assessment

What you must produce:

The Learning Outcomes will be met by submission of the following items and will be graded using the specific
criteria listed below:

• Research blog demonstrating appropriate theoretical and visual research
• Workbook containing idea development, notes from visiting lecturers, case studies about designers and
portfolio development. You should also include ideas about how you might integrate your portfolio with twitter
and / or blogs or other ways to get your work known/noticed.
• Digital work required for chosen D&AD brief

All work must be labelled correctly for submission

Learning Outcomes/Marking criteria (To pass all learning outcomes must be met)

To pass the assignment you will:

1. An increased awareness of career paths within the design industry;

To achieve a grade higher than 59% students will need to write up notes from visiting lecturers identifying

various career paths and skills required

To achieve a grade higher than 69% students will need to write up notes from visiting lecturers identifying
various career paths and skills required and identify where they see themselves fitting into industry and
where they have skills gaps.

2. A greater ability to identify and make professional contact with employers;

To achieve a grade higher than 59% students will need to identify ways to approach communication with
professionals; how can modern technologies assist this?

To achieve a grade higher than 69% students will need to identify ways to approach communication with
professionals; how can modern technologies assist this? Students will have a plan for portfolio and other
communication technology integration, such as twitter and blog.

3. An increased awareness of professional practitioners;

To achieve a grade higher than 59% students will need to problem solve and produce designs of a high
standard that demonstrate an awareness and consideration of appropriate design issues, relevant to their
chosen design brief and present their work in a professional manner.

To achieve a grade higher than 69% students will need to problem solve and produce designs of an
outstanding level that demonstrate an awareness and consideration of appropriate design issues, relevant
to their chosen design brief and present their work in a highly professional manner.

4. An ability to present themselves and their work professionally;

To achieve a grade higher than 59% students will need to prepare their design solutions to a high
standard and also show evidence of thorough research and development.

To achieve a grade higher than 69% students will need to prepare their design solutions to an outstanding
standard and also show evidence of thorough research and development.

6. An appreciation of the importance of transferable skills in relation to future career choice;

To achieve a grade higher than 59% students will need to demonstrate to a high standard the use of a
wide range of transferable skills such as, planning, researching, idea development, writing, analyzing,
communication and various technical skills.

To achieve a grade higher than 69% students will need to demonstrate an outstanding use of a wide
range of transferable skills such as, planning, researching, idea development, writing, analyzing,
communication and various technical skills.

Practice & Assignments

In lesson 1 we started to learn the basic of drawing and colour with Processing.

I've uploaded some of my practice sketches to Open Processing, please see below...

This example the circle follows and stay with mouse movement, when the mouse is pressed the circle turns black, when unpressed it goes white again...

We made Alien type characters. I have added a random colour on the eyes and he takes off from the bottom of the screen... Although doesn't seem to come back!

Our first assignment was to create a character who's eye react to the mouse in some way. In my sketch I have added movement of the eyes with the mouse and when the mouse is pressed the eyes blink...

I found the first week confusing but after practising the simple exercises I began to understand the basics, although it was quite tedious, going back and forth back and forth. Also after seeing what can be achieved with Processing in my research I didn't find it too rewarding.

Unfortunately I missed the whole second week due to having bad tonsilitus. This was a big problem as I was finding the code hard to understand to begin with, missing a huge chunk of the middle of Sebs lessons didn't help at all.

On my return as I had missed so much I tried to catch up by using the Processing book. Going over the same as we learnt in the first week and trying to figure out the code the others learnt last week by myself. I struggled with this! Below are some examples of some of my sketches...

Some clickable buttons (an assignment from week 2)

The buttons move randomly and when clicked change colour...

Practising movement, colour and shapes...

Practising with scale, shape, colour and movement...

Particles and arrays...

For our final assignment we had to create a basic game. I have created a very basic pong game with a hit and miss scoring system. Having missed so much of Seb's teaching I really struggled with this... Its not great but it kind of works!

I tried to get a game over function but couldn't figure it out at all. I think I have managed the basics but that is where it ends with me and processing!
Although Processing isn't for me I'm still glad I have tried it and have a basic understanding of how it all works for future projects if needed.

Processing cont...

I've been scouring the Open Processing website where Seb will be leaving us our assignments and examples. There are some great examples from other peoples work. You can also view the source code to try and make sense of a bit more...

The below piece really grabbed my attention, its something different, I haven't come across much imagery used in Processing yet. I think this works well although it would have been amazing if the eyes binked! If that is even possible...

The above example reminds me of Brushes for ipad. As you move the mouse it leaves a really lovely textured brushstroke affect. I like the feature of changing the colour (by pressing 'c')