2 Day Brief: End of Year Show Identity - Design Development

On Wednesday evening feeling a little worried that all my projects were coming to an end and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do next I decided that I would try and submit a proposal for the Leeds College of Art end of year show identity, giving myself a little less than 48hrs to do it.

First thing thursday moring I had a brainstorming session and drew up some quick ideas.















One of my first ideas was to base the identity around a map of Leeds with an arrow pointing to the college with the words "fresh new talent on it" So I got a screen grab from google maps.



















And spent some time verctorising it. I think its quite a striking image (below) but when I started to work with it it didn't feel strong enough or gave quite the right image for an art college exhibition. Also even though I had spent quite a bit of time vectorising it, it was still quite sloppy when viewed close up. I think the quality of the vector work would have to be really good if I was going to base the whole identity around it and it was seen on a large scale etc.




































The poster above is OK, but I don't think it has quite the right image for an art college show, also I don't feel like there is a lot I could do with the idea; it only really works in one way.



















Above is another initial idea. I've abreviated all the courses to a few letters and assigned a different colour to each one. This is to represent the diversity within the college and represent each course equally on the poster. I like it aesthetically and I think it is starting to move in the right direction. But I wasn't happy enough to base the whole identity around it.



















I was going to use this 'seal' design as an overall idea for the identity. I didn't think it was strong enough for that but I really liked they way it looked and decided to carry it through and use it as an element in the rest of my designs.



















Above is again using the idea of representing all the courses in the show equally. I think it is continuing to move in the right direction but still isn't strong enough for a complete identity.



















I thought the diagonal lines and bright colours felt quite celebratory so at this point I introduced the slogan 'time to celebrate'. I think this gave the identity a hook and more of a direction to go in. I think this design works quite well and was tempted to go with it, however it is possibly too exuberant and not serious enough; the art college needs to come across as a respectable and authoritative institution.



















Above I introduced the suggestions of the 'banners' for the first time.



















Above, my first attempt at drawing out the banners, they didn't come out quite right.



















Here the overall layout is staring to take shape, I like how the banners work as a way of structuriong the information. I think the overall look is fun but respectatle.



















(above) experimenatation using lowercase.



















(above) I added an extra line to the banner so more information can be contained on it.



















Now the poster is starting to take shape, I added the colours I had been using at an earlier stage in development. I think they make the poster more interesting and eye catching.



















I wasn't sure wheather 'end of year show' needed to be more prominant so I tried putting that as the main title of the poster. With 'time to celebartae' in the 'seal'. (above)



















I also experioemted with a more simple version of the layout in red.

The banners concept is nice in that it is quite versatile and could work equally well in black and white or in colour and with recognisable elements that could work accross an identity.