SUMMER TASK AND CRITIQUES

Over the summer before I started my BA Graphic Design course we were set a brief to produce and bring with us during the induction week as a point ti start our discussions and to keep us being creative over the long summer holidays.

The brief was to "Produce an alphabet that visually communicates YOU as an individual".

I found it quite hard to find an image or pattern or style of type that I thought best suited myself, and therefore came up with a range of mediocre designs I wasn't quite happy with.

Eventually I settled on a colourful, bold design that looked a bit like a lava lamp. I'm not actually a fan of lava lamps myself however, only because of the time they take to go into full bubblyness. Although I do like the range of bold colours they come in, and the pleasant way the goo blobs from the top to the bottom of the lava lamp deliciously.

Below are a few examples of my favourite letters

This is possibly my favourite letter in the alphabet. I like the way the blobs bend around the shape of the "O" like little fish. I also like how the shade of blue looks like rich water, and the blobs could be water droplets falling around the "O". 

Similarly to the "O" above, the blobs fit very well around the curved shape of this "S" I chose bigger blobs at the top and bottom of the letter to give it a strong frame and good weight.

Here I added smaller droplets next to the big blobs to give a better appearance of water, as I thought this is what it better resembles, also in lava lamps there isn't just a few big blobs, but additional smaller ones too.

I liked the simplicity of this letter, how just one blob is used effectively to make the shape of this letter, as it shows that complexity isn't always the best option.

I love the rich green colour on this letter, it looks kind of foresty, which I think reflects my love of the outdoors. I placed a little blob at the base of one of the feet on the "N" to act almost like a balancing weight, or a support kind of to the blobs above it. It allows for a slighter blob above it, as it creates a firm base.

I chose different colours for some of the letters to make it more colourful and to show how I don't like colour co-ordination, but for things to be mixed up and random. However I made the basic shape of the letters bold and regular to show how I like structure and organisation.

I presented this summer project to a small group within my course and they asked whether I had chosen certain letters to do certain colours, which I hadn't really, I just laid out all the letters and chose letters that I thought suited a certain colour, or so that no more than two of the same colour were together. They also commented how the use of bold colours worked well, as it made the blobs stand out against the grey base colour of each letter. I originally used pastel shades rather than bright shades, but decided this wasn't very bold, so changed to bolder shades. I feel this was a good decision that I made.

Overall I am quite pleased with the success of this summer project. However if I was to do it again I would experiment with different typefaces, to see how the blobs looked in a slimmer font, or one that was more elaborate.