What is Graphic Design?//1

Group Reasons for selecting chosen graphic design images

• Papercutting
• Lana Del Rey//musical inspiration
• Painting - influenced by Grandad
• Love of posters
• Wood laser-cutting
• Interest in packaging//unusual packaging
• Illustration
• Love of the sea
• Linocut//traditional printing
• Effective branding
• Rodchenko poster - Constructivism influence
• Use of characters
• Use of different//unusual materials
• Effective layout//composition
• Traditional media - watercolour
• Minimalist style
• Interest in infographics
• Use of colour
• Effective use of image
• Using type as image
• Digital media
• Experimental photography//photo manipulation
• Digital type
• Concept art
• Type and image in advertising campaign
• Animated films & digital prints
• Interesting publising//editorial
• Website design - smooth interface
• Clean, crisp aesthetics
• Line quality of illustration
• Witty elements - graphic design with a clear message

14 Graphic Design Criteria

• Creative use of type
• Visual quality
• Tone of voice (quirky//wit//humour)
• Attention to detail
• Simplicity//minimal design
• Meaning//messages
• Word play//use or choice of language
• Interaction//audience engagement
• Style or aesthetic quality
• Media & production
• Visual content
• Structure & layout
• Personal interest (content//style)
• Relationship between form & format

Creative Use of Type

Groundhog Day Poster by Moker Ontwerp

Movie poster based solely on typography - the repetition of the title 'Groundhog Day' echoes the plot of the film & also sticks in your head.

Sewn pink stripe alphabet by Nina Gregier

Abstract letterforms made with an interesting & unusual media.

Helvetiface

Use of type as image - developmental alphabet series with simple imagery which is clear and humourous.

Typographic Chess

"Hat-trick design's Jim Sutherland has created a typographic chess set based on characters from the Hoefler & Frere-Jones face Champion." Each letter corresponds to a piece - ie K for King, Kt for Knight etc. Complete package with instructions & design postcards as well - just an interesting concept.

"This piece is for a second book inspired by Stefan Sagmeister’s “Things I Have Learned in My Life” project where myself and 22 collaborators wrote three phrases or sentences and illustrated them typographically. I adapted a sentiment that Thomas Edison repeated several times through out his lifetime. I’ve done the first line in colourful, “inspiring” map pins and the second part in black, “boring drudgery’ map pins." - Dominique Falla 

Use of negative space//unusual media and creating a message which compositionally also works as an image.

Simplistic Design

"A poster series curated by Edit. Each designer was asked to represent a musical genre using one shape and one type (stating the genre)."

- Edits by Edit

Effectively portrays image & genre//communicates message in the most simplistic way possible.

Poster by Hyejung Bae showing the typewriter's contribution to the evolution of the QWERTY keyboard

I like the infographic nature of the poster but how simplistically the information has been displayed - all monochromatic and very ordered but still showing an evolution.

"Self-published simple typographic statement poster, printed using traditional woodblock techniques." - Anthony Burrill

The simple layout and design means the message is the focus; really emphasised and isn't detracted from by image or colour.

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (designed by Peter Saville, 1979)

Single image, lack of information - not even the band name//album title which was completely unheard of when it was released. Iconic.

Chanel advertising campaign, Spring 2009, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld

Chanel adverts are always completely simplistic, clean-cut and sophisiticated which I think echoes their clothes. Effective branding in a very subtle way.


Structure & Layout

Bridging the Gap poster series by Ross Gunter

 "An ongoing personal project, designed for a club night in London. Emphasis is placed on simplicity, with two core elements: a consistent layout, alongside a substantial eye-catching graphic." -Ross Gunter

They work well as a series as well as individually and present the information in a very ordered fashion which reminds me of a Government publication, in a Swiss style grid-based design. Different to most modern club night posters.

Festival Pomladi by VBG Design

"We found this old imagery of acoustic locator devices. What better concept to use for an experimental music festival crossed by #typography for an event lasting for a month every spring."

VBG Design created a whole branding - poster, leaflet, booklet & flyers all in this style. I like the limited but bright colour pallette and the composition//interaction of the text & images. Also a good combination of typography - there is a lot going on but it is still clear.

 Museum Paper by Museum Studio

"Museum Paper gives invited artists, photographers, designers and creatives from alternative artscenes space to show their work alongside short interviews. With a background as a fanzine, Museum Paper wants to combine it’s D.I.Y. ethics and aestethics with the high quality printing of the traditional art magazine."

The cover and inside layout is really crisp but also has variations - for example double page-spreads with no text, collections of images in a catalogue style or a single high quality image. 

Posters by Amy Rodchester for Newcastle Festival of Dance

I like these posters because they're both simplistic and complex. They have been made in an unusually 3D style and may seem crowded because of multiple images but by limited the colour scheme and having a subtle choice of type I think they are quite minimalist.

 Visual Dictionary by Studio Amaze

Simple, visual - I like the lack of written info and the monochrome images on the pink paper, combined with the black cover.

Tone of Voice

 Booksters by Mattias Sahlen

"As a retrogressive reaction to the technology development in the world today, I made these not-suitable-for-reading-on-the-bus booksters, where written words will remain written. They’ll not get digitialized and hidden away in some music-flipping-pod-slash-picture-showing-browsing-machine. Instead, I took it back to where it all began. With characters old school printed on old school pieces of paper. And posteralized the whole shebang." 

100x70 cm. Ironic in their impracticality and futility.

Because Studio

"The ink coverage on each poster amounts to 50% of the total surface area making each poster either half full or half empty depending on your inclination."

Straightforward & uncomplicated humour. The design directly causes the message//punchline.

A_B_ PEACE & TERROR ETC. THE COMPUTATIONAL AESTHETICS OF LOVE & HATE. 

From The Luxury of Protest by Peter Crnokrak. 
"A_B_ ... IS A GEOPOLITICAL SURVEY OF THE 192 MEMBER STATES OF THE UNITED NATIONS WITH REGARD TO THE QUANTITATIVE DEGREE TO WHICH EACH CONTRIBUTES TO PEACE AND TERROR IN THE WORLD. THE PROJECT IS A DUAL-SIDED POSTER WHERE THE A_ SIDE DISPLAYS MEASURES OF PEACE, WHILE THE B_ SIDE, MEASURES OF TERROR. 

THE FUNCTIONAL NATURE OF THE POSTER BECOMES POIGNANTLY RELEVANT WHEN ONE MAKES DETAILED COMPARISONS ACROSS NATIONS FOR THE VARIOUS MEASURES—MANY OF THE RESULTS ARE QUITE SURPRISING AND STAND IN CONTRAST TO PREVAILING NORMS OF COLLECTIVE NATIONAL PERCEPTION."

Very political message with a mass of quite complex information presented in an interactive, relevant & sophisticated way which retains the message whilst having a good design.

Stephen Wildish presents The Friday Project

"The Friday project is brought to you by WILDISH&CO a creative design studio. The Friday project aims to create something witty or pretty once a week."

I like the witty nature of the piece which uses pun to present an infographic which actually has no useful information on.

London 2012 - The Gifts of the Games

Poster//ad campaign & website by the Greater London Authority to advertise the benefits of the olympics & paralympics in the aftermath of the games. I like the fact the Games have not been forgotten just because they've finished & it reminds Londoners of the greatest event of the year & the lasting legacy which they will have. Also great, classic London photographs & nice simple yet playful design.

Personal Interest (Content & Style)

Music Posters by Swissted

"swissted is an ongoing project by graphic designer mike joyce, owner of stereotype design in new york city. drawing from his love of punk rock and swiss modernism, two movements that have (almost) nothing to do with one another, mike has redesigned vintage punk, hardcore, new wave, and indie rock show flyers into international typographic style posters. each design is set in lowercase berthold akzidenz-grotesk medium (not helvetica). every single one of these shows actually happened."

I love music graphics and these posters present unexpected gigs in a minimalist style similar to a Penguin book cover. Clean.

Music Notation using Cymatics by Daniel Reed

"I used cymatics as the inspiration and basis to form each square (note). I did this by using an amplifier and putting paper with salt ontop , I played each note on the piano and when the salt vibrated it moved the crystals and in some cases settled and formed patterns."

Minimalistic and explores the relationship between image & sound - I like the use & creation of a system which is well thought out & applicable in a real-world context.

Knights EP by Babe, Terror

Design & illustration by North Internet - vinyl designed as a piece of illustration as well as a working record. It features etchings & also plays from the inside out. I'd love to work in record design and to create a concept record which functions as a piece of design and not just music is really interesting.

Nigel Peake's latest self-published book, Bridges, XXXIV Crossings of the Thames collects a host of drawings all based upon bridges that span the Thames river.
Just a really simple publication, I like series and collections//documentations of similar images and also have an interest in architecture.

Time travel in popular films & TV by Information is Beautiful

I love the visualisation of mundane information into a beautiful & interesting piece of graphic design.