Task: To create a zine. Your zine should consider a visual language and tone of voice that is appropriate to you and your practice.
Inspiration:
I was particularly drawn to this piece of work on Turrell’s website as I really like the method of collage of the black and white image with elements of colour and bold type. I used this visual language as a starting point for my zine.
It’s great to be back in the studio and to be surrounded by creativite people with great ideas! I was working on my first page of the zine, which I decided would be my name in a grid shape and I looked over and saw a classmate designing a keyhole on the first page of her zine, and I was very inspired by this as she thought outside of what a traditional zine would look like and decided to put her own spin on it. I was thinking how I could do something similar to her idea but not replicate it and I thought of an open and closed door. This became the structure for my zine as it is included elements of a house and the door on the back cover is the door of the house.
I chose to choose an accent colour of blue throughout the zine as blue is the colour I most often wear and therefore which my friends associate with me. I also like the simplicity and effectiveness of using a minimal colour palette in design as it encourages more playfulness in other aspects of the design.
On the first double page spread I have included some work from Unit 3 of 1st year where I researched William Morris and created some kinetic type inspired by his words and design. I drew his living room and thought it would be fitting to include here. Illustration is one thing that I enjoyed doing last year throughout the projects.
Over lunch I was thinking about what I could fill my last blank pages with and thought that I could include other things in a house: stairs and a window.
The words on the stairs read ‘creativity and hard work’ which amongst having the right connections and luck, are the most important must-haves for being a good graphic designer. For me, I have to remember that having a creative mind isn’t enough to make it in the industry. Hard work and long hours and improving.
In Class Feedback: While having a conversation in class Ansel told me that the design was a bit rigid. This makes sense as I have just started developing this style inspired in part by Swiss modernism amongst other things. I am in the process of developing my visual language and tone of work so this task was helpful to explore these themes.
He also suggested that I could create a floor plan out of type so that the person would have to literally read the room.
On the back of this feedback and also after having printed out my zine and made it up I added to and tweaked my design.
I illustrated the window, rather than having it very rigid, and then experimented by using the outline and solid window to create a pattern, which I placed behind the larger window.
On this page I decided to play with perspective and encorporate portrait and pattern.
I wanted to ensure that similar visual elements were present on each page so that there would be continuity and to reduce the rigidity. I added the illustrative element onto the pages with the stairs to tie in the bold black and white graphic type with the softer illustration on the previous page.