For Studio Brief 1 I decided that the live brief I wanted to do was the Penguin Random House Competition. The reason why I decided to go with this brief is that I've really enjoyed editorial/book illustration in past projects. Therefor this seemed like a good opportunity for me to practice in an area that I could see my practice headed. Due to the short timescale of this brief I had to get the ball rolling really quickly. Initially my aims where to find as much out about the book, author and subject as I could in a short space of time. I did not have the time to read the book and so gaining an understanding of it from online research, reviews and articles on similar subjects was really useful. Spending as much time in my sketchbook as I could was useful in the initial idea generation. It was during tutorial meetings/crits where I was able to see what other people thought of my ideas and in turn which ones should be taken forward. Through taking my ideas on to edit digitally, I was able to gain an even wider understanding of Illustrator. Using a Wacom pad for the first time to aid the efficiency of my drawing was really eye opening and something I’ll be sure to make use of again in future.
I feel really proud of the final design I produced for this brief.
I paid a lot of attention to the flow of the design across the spread and
wanted to ensure that the space was utilised appropriately. Exploring shape and
colour in a simple yet very considered way took time and patience but resulted
in a smoothly flowing finished piece. One aspect of the design that I think may
have benefited from some more attention is the application of the motifs. It somehow
managed to go straight over my head that the two motifs I had gone with where
the ones used on the original cover; the mask and hat. There is a sense of
unoriginality that I worry is present in my cover idea, however it is extremely
different visually to the original design and so that hopefully doesn’t
infringe on its impact. I will definitely take more caution in future when
applying motifs in order to create a design that speaks with a voice of its
own.
However, I do think
that the overall design is strong and independent of the original cover through
its use of colour, type and shape. The use of the grid of circles to
communicate ‘The Establishments’ structure and deterioration of structure is slightly
abstracted but, in a way that people should hopefully be capable of
interpreting. I think next time it would be useful for me to commit to more
tutorials/peer meetings at later stages in the project to ensure a constant
communication is able to influence the development of my ideas.
