OUGD406 STUDIO BRIEF 1 - DIGITAL EXPERIMENTATIONS

After producing the thumbnail sketches for the track Digital Witness, I took some of the designs I thought worked best and produced them digitally, as this is how they would be produced.

Colour Scheme
To create my colour scheme I simply uploaded some of the screenshots from the Digital Witness music video onto Illustrator and used the Eyedropper tool to select colours from the stills, and used these colours for my work. I sometimes changed the tone or the opacity to create a slightly different shade of that colour, but otherwise they were the same.
This is my colour scheme:

As you can see there is a whole range of colours, however there is a large amount of greens and blues, as these were the predominant colours in the stills. The brown and yellow shades were also taken from the stills, and I was surprised at how dark the shade of the yellow room was, as I was expecting it to be quite bright. The two lighter yellows have been taken from the darker shades, but only made lighter, and one has the opacity turned down to make it less obstructive. The pink shades also weren't taken from the stills, but I chose them to suit the colour you would expect a brain to be, as I used these for that design. Although these pink colours haven't been taken directly from the stills, I feel that they fit quite well in with the other swatches, except perhaps the lightest pink as it is quite bright. All of the colours look quite murky, which could perhaps suggest that although life appears bright in the bigger picture, when you look closely it actually isn't.

First design idea, nicknamed 'bug'.

This is the screenshot from the video that has inspired this design idea, with yellow domed roof on the right, with the pillars supporting it. You can see the lamppost kind of structures to the left, which could be lampposts or perhaps security cameras. I liked the range of shapes in this still, and thought it would create an interesting composition.

Initially I tried to create an image that was similar to the domed roof building from the video, with the same yellow roof and similar coloured pillars. However the light colours made the image not very strong, little bit wishy washy, which thinking about it is in fitting with the theme of the video, however I wanted a stronger image to stand out more.

I tried changing the pillars to a darker colour, and I think now the yellow dome looks out of place, this also needs to be a darker shade, as otherwise the colours contrast too much.

I really like the colour combinations in this design, as the darker domed part compliments the blue shades more effectively, as although the colour itself may be lighter, the shade is darker somehow. The different coloured circles on the pillars also work really well, as the pillars aren't too dark, the lighter circles fit in better with the domed part being a more similar shade, however the main stem being darker adds the darker shade that this design needs. 

I experimented with having darker circles on the pillars, to perhaps create a more unified appearance, although I think that the design needs the addition of the lighter colours to make it appear more balanced.

I tried to create a lighter overall appearance, as I really liked the lighter shade of blue on the pillars, and I wanted to include yellow in my designs in some way to represent the yellow from the domed roof in the video. I do quite like the colours in this experimentation, as they compliment one another, however again I think it needs something to be bolder and stand out a bit more to give it more presence. 

I changed the stems to be the same shade blue as the domed roof, but I don't like this at all, it looks forced and unbalanced, with only a little bit yellow and the rest blue.

This is more of a silhouette design as I thought this could make it appear more even and balanced, but I think that this just gives it less detail and makes it more simple when it doesn't need to be.

To make it appear more bold I tried using darker colours, as I thought that this would be a simple way of making it more bold. However I don't really like the darker shade of blue for the roof, it looks too murky, and I wanted to give a brighter appearance.

I thought the green would try and make this design a little brighter, yet the darker shade would still make this a strong design. This did not work however as the green has too many brown pigments in it it looks a little dull.

I tried to achieve the same bright but dark and bold appearance with this purple , and I think that this design works a lot better, as although the purple is a dark colour it is also bright, so I think it works effectively. 

Second design idea.
This idea was also inspired by the lampposts from the previous photograph above

This design is again based on the lamppost objects from the video, taking some colours from the colour swatches from the video. I placed them at different heights to show the beat of the music, and to make it more interesting. The stems of the posts were a little thin however, you couldn't really notice them much.

I made the stems of a heavier weight, however I still think they need to be heavier, to have more impact.

This is the weight that I ended up using, as the stems are heavy enough that they look like they can actually stand up, rather than blowing over in the wind. The heavier weight stems also create a bolder overall image.

Here I made the lampposts all the same height, similar to the 'bug' design. I quite like how arranged it appears, although the colour does look a bit plain, being all one colour, in comparison to the previous design.

I changed the circles to a lighter shade of blue to create a more interesting design, which I feel is achieved, although it doesn't have as much impact as the colour design, being only two colours,

I changed the circles to the same colours as from the multicoloured design, but keeping the stems blue to maintain some kind of uniform colour. I think this looks a little peculiar though with the stems just blue rather than matching the colour of the circles, perhaps if the stems were of a similar shade of blue to the circle, but even so I think that they would look better being the same colour as the circles.

I changed the stems to the same colour as the circles, and this definitely works a lot better and creates a more unified and vibrant design. I also moved the lampposts so that they were higher up the page, as I felt there was too much white space at the top of the design. 

I created an eye shape because in the lyrics St. Vincent mentions something about not sleeping, so I thought an open eye would represent not sleeping. I placed the lampposts inside the eye in place of the pupil, to create a pattern within the eye, making it more interesting.

I thought the previous design look a bit cramped, with the lampposts looking a little too big for the space within the eye. I then centred the eye within the page and made it a lot larger, which makes the design look a lot more powerful an image.

Third design idea.
I created a cityscape silhouette, based on the industrial setting of the music video. The cityscape I created though contained more skyscraper type buildings rather than industrial factories or trading estates that are shown in the music video. I chose to show skyscrapers instead of these industrial buildings because I thought skyscrapers would be easier to recognise as a silhouette, and would look more like a city or more concrete than random shaped buildings.

This is my cityscape design, where again I used colours form my colour swatches, although chose these colours as I thought they looked more accurately like what an actual scene would look like. I don't lie the white background though, because of the darkness of the buildings I feel these scene looks like it should be during dusk perhaps, and the white background looks out of place.

I tried a blue background, and this creates a much better, more complete design, although I think the sky colour is a little too close a shade to the buildings, the buildings don't stand out at much as they could do.

I changed the sky to a lighter blue to look more light day sky, and this works a lot better, and the buildings now stand out. Now though, the lampposts on top of the buildings acting as antennae blend into the sky, and I think they need to be bolder, as these lampposts make the design look less like a random skyline.

I changed the buildings to a similar but darker shade of blue to the sky, and the same for the antennae, and I think this design looks a lot more put together now, and the colours all compliment one another.

I changed some of the antennae o white, to make them stand out a little bit more, as I found int he past that combining darker blue with a lighter blue or white has created much more interesting imagery, and this has been proven again int his design. The white antennae makes the design less simplistic, and also distinguishes between different buildings.

Fourth design idea.
This design idea was taken from the lyric "gnashing teeth" at the start of the video, as I thought this would create quite strong imagery.

I started off by creating my teeth shapes. Initially I tried drawing it using the pen tool just from mind, but then this didn't turn out too well (top left shape), so I found a photograph of teeth on the Internet and used a graphics tablet to draw round the photograph of the teeth using the paintbrush tool on Illustrator. This created much better shapes of teeth, as I had more control over the shape using the graphics tablet than the trackpad on my Mac. I created several different shapes of teeth all based on the same image, so that it didn't look like I'd just copied one tooth shape over and over. 

I initially tried spacing my teeth out evenly across the page, which I think makes them look like they're flying across the design a little bit, or just floating in mid air. I used a white background as I thought this would help to emphasise the bright colours of the teeth, which I feel it does but I do think it looks a little bit empty.

I tried using purple for the background to fill up some of the blank space. I had to change the colour of the teeth so that the purple ones didn't disappear though. I don't like this colour combination as the purple is too similar in shade to most other teeth, so that they are kind of blend together.

Next I tried a dark blue background, which I think works better than the purple background, however one shade of blue doesn't stand out at all, and I feel it is important that all the teeth stand out. 

Next I tried a light blue background which I really like, and feel all the teeth stand out very nicely on it, with most the teeth being darker shades than the background colour. The only issue with this design is that I wouldn't be able to have light blue teeth, which is a shame as this colour worked really nicely on the teeth.

I then tried another shade of dark blue, more of a green shade, to try and use the light blue teeth in my design, however this shade background is too similar to some of the teeth colours that the teeth don't stand out as well as they could do.

I tried a grey background this time, but again the teeth just don't stand out due to the shades being too similar.

I went back to the light blue background as this is the one I felt worked the best, and changed the light blue teeth to different colours. I am pleased with this design and think it is very effective and also bold. 

This is a still from the film "Wanted" with Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy which inspired my next design to do with teeth.

The teeth are placed in the same position as if they were in your mouth, only much more spaced apart and in different shapes and angles as well, however you can still see the distinct teeth shape. I used the same colours as for the previous teeth design as I felt these colours worked very effectively together. The white space around the teeth allow the colours to stand out.

I tried a black background as I thought this would make the design a little more sinister, however this changed the way you see the colours of the teeth, making them look a lot lighter than they actually are.

I was a bit puzzled with the colour combinations for this design so showed my ideas to a peer, and they suggested having the teeth all one colour with a darker background to look like an x-ray perhaps. This is my initial response to this suggestion. I chose lighter blue teeth as I thought this would still keep some colour from my colour scheme, and I thought the blue shades were the most appealing colour shades from the swatches I made. I also chose a black background as I wanted the blue to stand out as much as possible.

I tried a lighter blue background as I thought black was a little too harsh, and there is also no black shown in the music video, it is mainly colour. Also black is a very harsh colour to use, and I felt it looked a bit too aggressive. This use of the lighter shade of blue though is a little too similar to the shade of blue on the teeth, sot he teeth don't stand out as well.

I made the teeth white instead so that they stood out a lot better against the background, and this works really effectively, they almost appear lit up they are that bright.

I wanted to try a lighter coloured background, as the majority of the video uses lighter colours, I wanted to reflect this in my designs. I really quite like this design and although the background is a lot lighter than previous colours I've used, the teeth still stand out nicely on the page.

This is another layout I tried with the teeth idea, whereby I placed the teeth in a much more formal line, also making them the same height as well so they look more organised. I quite like this layout, as it is a lot more organised than a lot of my teeth designs, which reflects the organised nature of the music video, everyone following set rules and following order. The light blue gives a refreshing feel to this design, however I think the teeth could stand out a little better with a different colour or a darker shade.

I tried a darker  purple, although I think the purple is a little too muddy for this design,

This green shade just makes me think of grass, and doesn't reflect the teeth shapes at all.

This brown shade again too muddy and doesn't match the teeth design.

This blue shade is a little better, although I feel a brighter shade would work more effectively, but the dark shade definitely helps the teeth stand out more.

This is a brighter shade of blue, a greener shade as well, but I think it's a little too grey.

I tried a bright green for the background, and although the teeth stand out well, the bright shade of the background takes away the bright shade of the teeth.

Fifth design idea.

This idea I decided to use the imagery of St. Vincent, as she is the main feature in the music video and really interesting to look at. I placed her in a bed using an image of her with her eyes open to highlight her sleeplessness.

I used a photograph of St. Vincent and image traced her deleting the background to leave just her head. I don't like how this image has turned out, it is too detailed even though if I decrease the amount of colours then I won't get the green of the dress I wanted to include. I also think she looks too much like the photograph, as I was hoping the image tracing would make her look more posterised rather than just complicated. 

I produced my own vector image of St. Vincent, using the same photograph as a starting point, and I am much more pleased with the appearance of this image, although her eyes look a little odd on her face, they're a bit small for her face. I think to make this design look more interesting, I should make her facial features look less realistic, more of a cartoon style, so that it looks less serious.

This is my initial attempt at making St. Vincent look more of a cartoon style. I gave her round dark eyes and a straight line for her mouth. This makes her look like she is a robot with dead eyes, and angry as well, which I think is due to the combination of the dark eyes and angry, arched eyebrows.

I made here eyes look like normal eyes, with pupils as well to make her look more realistic, however now she just looks menacing as she stares you down. I also gave her two little dots for nostrils as well, to make her face look complete, and I think this works nicely as a nose design. It is simple yet effect and easy to understand what it is. 

I removed the outlines from the eyes as I thought this was what was making the eyes look menacing, and once I have removed these outlines she looks a little less scary, however I think the eyebrows still look a little menacing being arched, and this matched with the straight line mouth still creates the menacing look.

I changed the mouth to a little "o" to make ti look a little more friendly, however she now just looks scared, a little like the "scream" face.

I tried changing the mouth to a darker colour, to make it look less scary and just like a mouth, however this doesn't work, it still looks like the scream face.

I elongated the mouth into an oval, but this looks even more like the scream face, as the scream face has an elongated mouth.

I gave St. Vincent straight lines for eyebrows and a curved line mouth in an attempt to make her look less aggressive. I think this definitely works a lot better, especially the curved line for the mouth, although the straight lines for eyebrows do make her look a little bit too soft, I still want her to look a little bit stern.

I changed one straight line eyebrow to the original curved eyebrow, so she looks as if she is raising one eyebrow. This makes her look a little bit comical but also makes her look serious at the same time, which is the effect I was aiming for.

I changed the mouth to a darker colour to make it look more realistic, and I think this completes the look of St. Vincent. I think I have achieved a suitably stern appearance, but not one that makes her look as if she is taring you down, by changing the appearance of her facial features.

I then placed her in a bed, using colours taken from the music video, so that she almost blends into the background. I gave the bed rounded edges so that it reflects a real bed, not too angular with sharp edges. I thought that this would also make this whole design appear less sharp and aggressive. I decided to use blue as the colour of the bed as I thought this would compliment the grey and green colour of St. Vincent, and also not make this whole scene look too dark.

I added a light blue background to make the design appear finished, although I think this background colour is a little too dark compared to the colour of the bed, the colours are too similar, and I think they need to be distinguished as two separate aspects more clearly.

I made the background a lighter colour to make the bed stand out a lot better, which I feel has been achieved. The way St. Vincent is lying in the bed makes it look as if the bed is standing up against a wall, as St. Vincent looks more as if she is standing up rather than lying down due to the positioning of her hair, how it doesn't get squashed against the pillow. I lined teeth up against the top of the design to make the design look a little more interesting, however I think it looks a little like white lace curtains you often find in bedrooms, but with a darker twist with it being teeth rather than a nice pattern.

Sixth design idea.
This design idea is based on the same never sleeping idea that a few of my previous ideas have been based around, only this time I have used the same eye theme as I used in the lamppost idea, only expanding on it, replacing the pupil with a brain, to suggest constantly thinking, your brain never being asleep.

To create my brain, I started by just trying the draw the parts of the brain from memory (left side), however this didn't turn out quite as I was expecting, it looks a lot more disjointed and not as rounded as I wanted it to be. I found a photograph of a brain off the internet which you can see to the right, and using a graphics tablet I drew the parts of the brain using the paintbrush tool and an oval brush. This created much rounder parts of the brain so it looked a lot more squidgy.

I drew the rest of the brain using the same method as stated above, using a circle for a guide to ensure my brain is even.

I removed the circle from around the brain to see what it would look like without it, and I think it still looks bold, however I don't think it stands out quite as much as with the outline, the outline just holds everything together better.

I filled in one half of the brain a pink colour in a similar shade to what I'd expect cartoon brains would be in. I have only done half of the brain at this stage, however I quite like how only half of the brain has been coloured in, it shows contrasting personalities, like half of the brain is alive and the other half is dead.

I removed the border from around the pupil, and the brain looks a lot bolder without the border when it is in colour than when it is just black and white. I should perhaps consider no border for my full colour designs.

The brain is in full colour without the border around it, and I am really pleased with the design as I think the contrast between the pink brain and the white eye creates a very bold image.

To create more variation in colour I made some parts of the brain a darker shade of pink. This creates a more interesting design with the use of extra colours, and makes it look more accurately like a brain rather than a basic cartoon.

I used an even darker colour within the brain, to make it even more interesting and varied in colour, as the brain is definitely not all just one colour. I like the added extra darker shade of pink in the design, as it just adds to the design, making it less simple, creating a bolder design.

I added a light blue background, again taken from the colour swatch. The duck egg blue background compliments the pink of the brain, as pink being contrasting colours. The blue also makes this design look less girlish, as if I chose a pink background as well as the pink brain it wouldn't appeal to men as much stereotypically than if it was a mixture of different colours.

I tried a grey background to make the pink of the brain even bolder so that that was the most prominent aspect of the page. I think this works quite nicely, and definitely emphasises the brain.

I experimented with the half colour half black and white brain that I tried in previous designs, and I do think it creates an interesting image, however I feel like the black and white side is a little to plain, and creates too much white space in the eye that is unnecessary.

Seventh design idea.
This design idea is a similar concept to the brain eye idea, only this time I have replaced the brain with a lightbulb, to create connotations of always being switched on and wired up.

This is my initial lightbulb design, where I used the shape of the circular pupil to ensure it was the right size, and wasn't too wide for the eye. The weighting on the lightbulb though is a little too heavy, especially on the curls as you can't see the detail.

This is the design without the circular pupil as a guide. I think the lightbulb still manages to look like the pupil of an eye, even though it is a different shape, as the round glass part reflects the circular pupil in shape.

I lessened the weight of the curls, and now you can clearly see the detail. This also reflects the curls characteristics in real life as well, as on an actual lightbulb the wire that makes the curls in very thin.

I changed the background colour to yellow as I thought this created a warm appearance, one that is friendly as well, as light is always associated with safety. The yellow background also reflects the light being given off from the lightbulb itself when it is switched on.

I made the lightbulb yellow itself, as I wanted it to look as if it was lit up, switched on, as this reflects my idea of us constantly being wired up and switched on. If the lightbulb was off, then this would make it appear as if we have ideas, but are dead. Because I produced the lightbulb the same shade as the previous designs background, I had to create a lighter yellow background as otherwise there would be no variation in colour, and the lightbulb itself is never the same colour as the wall it is shining on. I also think this helps distinguish between the two aspects. 

I created a variant on the lightbulb, to show that there was a source for the light, it doesn't just appear. I think this also helps to highlight the curls and their importance in this design. In this design I also changed the rings at the bottom to have a grey fill on them, as this is the colour an actual lightbulb would be, as the bottom of the lightbulb is generally always made out of silver metal.

I inverted the gradient, so that the darker colour was on the centre of the lightbulb, as I thought this would show that the strongest light source was in the centre, and light got less bright as it travelled outwards, although I am not sure this is the best way of showing this, as depending what type of lightbulb it is, light can get either more yellow or more white the further away from the source you get. 

I am rather pleased with these digital experimentations I have undertaken as I feel I have explored a range of ideas in a variety of colour combinations and different layouts, exploring every option.
I think that the designs which work the most effectively are the teeth designs as the brain and lightbulb eye designs, as I think these all convey a strong message, and are produced using powerful yet simple imagery, which doesn't make the track extremely obvious like the St. Vincent design does. I will present some of my favourite designs in the interim critique and see what my peers think of my designs, which ones they think are the most effective and why, before I start developing these designs further.