Visual Communications Design Critique #2

This entry will on the 2nd logo/advertisement/brochure that I will be critiquing on. This time, I will talk about a logo's design and whether or not if it's a good logo.

Very obvious to people, it is the ingenious Starbucks Coffee logo. Starbuck's official logo is always changing, but the design centres around a mermaid-like female. This may be the concept of the company, since mermaids are mythical creatures, they may want to promote their coffee to be very dreamy and nice. This logo is a combination logo as it contains both words and images that represents the brand. In terms of colour, they have stuck with 3 colours which is a good thing as we have learnt in design and principals that a logo should not have more than three colours as it might be too distracting. On top of that, their colours are very neutral with colours using black, white and dark green, which is good because it is not too glaring but the colour combination very well put together, giving a very relaxed feel, which is what the café aims to be. 

Whether or not this is a good logo, we have to base it off whether it is Simple, Versatile, Memorable, Timeless, and Appropriate. 

The logo is simple as it mainly has one distinct image and the word 'Starbucks Coffee' around it, allowing consumers to know what it is. Versatility wise, the logo is often seen with and without the word, so in a sense the logo is versatile. It is memorable as the logo is seen on the cups of every drink, and also, very few brands has such an image as their logo, and also it has been their logo for a very long time, hence, I think it is memorable. Because of how quirky it is, it has became a signature logo and does not go out of style, hence, it is timeless and classic. Whether or not it is appropriate is subjective. This is because when you think of coffee, the last thing a person would think of is mermaid or fishes. Rival coffee bean & tea leaf, their logo is what it is, a coffee bean and a tea leaf, which is appropriate for them as it would make sense. As a result, I would say that it's logo isn't very appropriate. As if a person who is a total stranger to the logo sees it without the text, he/she would not understand what it is about and might perhaps assume that it is a logo of something related to the sea such as a boating equipment brand. 

As a whole, it fulfilled 4 out of the 5 criteria of an effective logo, so it is safe to say that it is quite an effective logo. However, they should not change it as it has become a signature logo for them and is perhaps what makes them special and different from other rival companies. 

Typography wise, I think that it was not as important as the logo itself, hence I think the choice of font and size is extremely normal, however I think instead of making the font black, they chose white so as to balance out the colour distribution and also is a better pop of colour in contrast to the dark green, and dark on dark is not good, as this may result in not being able to read it clearly. On top of that, I think it is white so that consumers know that the text is also a part of the entire logo. The spaces between each letter is not very big, I think if they want to, they can spread it out a little bit, however, currently, it looks fine. 

Visual Communications Design Critique #1

This entry is on one of the five advertisement/brochure/logo which we have to critique. The first one I will be doing is on is a print ad, on chocolate by Cadbury.

Released in 2011, this ad is about their dreamy chocolate truffle. The main part of this whole ad is firstly the chocolate bar itself in the middle which takes up the most space, which I believe is to inject into consumers that it is the main subject, and not the words or the crystals that is is surrounded with. The top is written with the words 'Move Over Naomi, there's a new diva in town'. Naomi meaning to top supermodel Naomi Campbell. This might not be effective to people whom are not savvy with the fashion industry and not understand the print ad, and this would make the ad quite obsolete.

The main concept of this ad is mainly based on relaxation and royalty. This is seen clearly in the entire ad, with its main theme of purple, which is commonly associated with royalty, and this is due to the past, where purple dyes are difficult to achieve and is expensive and are most often worn by the wealthy people. I digress. Another part which supports my inference on it's royal concept, is that the chocolate is laying on a bed of crystals, which gives the image of being very expensive. the royal concept is mainly portrayed by pictures and images, whereas the relaxing feel comes from both the colour and text fonts. The colour is soothing compared to loud colours like red, orange or yellow.

 In terms of typography, they are using does not have sharp edges, are slanted and have font size changes throughout a sentence, as seen on the top. This three factors are not seen in formal work, as it commands for consistency, not seen in this ad. Another concept is based on supermodel Naomi Campbell, whom is often deemed as a diva, yielding great presence and stature and is amazing, and the sentence 'Move over Naomi, there's a new diva in town', hinting audience that this chocolate is amazing and demands for presence and stature. 

The design principles basically uses the theme purple, and unlike most advertisements, usually, texts are a lot smaller than the actually image which is the product, we realise that the top text is in terms of length, about the same. This is because to fully understand the ad, one must read it first, so that they see why the chocolate bar is in a bed of crystals, as a diva would only expect the best. And the image, usually in the middle, is placed slightly towards the right, and the text on the left, I think this is to create balance and also to ensure it is not too cramped and too distracting and if it is, consumers would see it too over the top, and messy and not want to read and view it. Even though it uses a purple theme, we can see a gradation of purple, with a whitish tint nearer to the actual chocolate bar, I think this is to create an illusion that it is glowing in radiance.

Overall, this ad is interesting as it is slightly different from other advertisements, especially it's chocolate ad counterparts. However, whether or not the ad is useful is arbitrary, reason being one must understand the Naomi Campbell reference to fully understand the message of the ad. Hence, this ad is more likely targeted to teenagers who are more likely to be into fashion, as well as young adults who has the tendency to be interested in the fashion industry. So whether or not it serves the mass audience is questionable. However, Campbell herself was very offended by the ad and wanted to boycott it, expressing that she's very disappointed Cadbury. hence Cadbury may lose consumers who are fans on Campbell. However the stir caused, may gain them publicity, and attract more people to take a look at it. As there's no such thing as bad publicity. 

Visual Communication Lesson 13

In the 13th edition on Visual Communication lesson, we focused mainly on our actual brochure design and printing, and also consultation to refine further our brochure so that it'll look better and deliver what the client wants. When we entered the class, we were to print our brochure on a A3 paper in black and white to see how it looks like on the final print. I think this was a great opportunity to see where our errors are and we can rectify it if we have to. And through this exercise, I think it benefitted me a lot as I found out the various issues and problems and has since corrected it, so it wouldn't affect the final piece of work. In this session, we are also taught to cut out the actual brochure and pasting it together. Firstly, we would need the 3 essential items, namely a pen-knife, cutting board & Metal ruler. It is important to use a metal ruler because if we use a plastic one, the pen-knife may cut through the plastic and cut us. We were taught not to cut all the way through so that we still have the guideline so the whole thing can look more polished. After cutting, we are to stick both sides together. To do that, we have to use a type of adhesive spray. I think this is a great tool as using normal glue is very unprofessional and also the sides may loosen and become flimsy. But the spray was good as it covers all area. The only challenge i met in this activity was accuracy because we cutting wasn't very good. And the pasting as I felt like my 2 pieces of paper didn't aline properly. But after that, we were to fold the brochure. After we were done, I found out my mistakes and done the correcting work so the brochure would come out correctly.

After that it was the consultation. During consultation, I was told the problems I had in my brochure and that I had to rectify it. Hopefully, the corrections that I have done is sensible and does not affect the brochure as a whole.

Visual Communication Lesson 12

In the 12th post & lesson of visual communication, we focused on continuing the designing of our brochure and also ask any questions and clarify anything we don't understand. It was a great chance for me that session to get the input of not only my lecturer but my classmates on how my design is as a whole and also make it look better as a whole. After the first half of the session, we were given a break. After the break, it was consultation.

During consultation, I showed my lecturer the design that I had for both sides of the brochure. Through this week's of consultation, I learnt a few things. Firstly, I understood how sizing of the picture that I've gotten from stock images is important so that a picture looks like what it is and not distorted. For instance, a picture of a globe should look like a circle and not oval-ish, so that is doesn't look like a weird thing or balloon. Another thing I was told to refine was the photographs given by the client. The photos were too long, and I raised the question on if I resize it it'll look very small. However, I learnt that this problem can be curbed by using photoshop, which we learnt previously to crop the photo so that we can still use the photo without affecting the size too much. This allowed me to learn based on a problem basis, which I think is very helpful.

Also, I realized the importance of font colour and exactly what font it is and how it affects the brochure overall as a whole. I will go bak and refine the work and see how it comes out.

Visual Communication Lesson 11

In the 11th Edition of Visual Communication lessons, we learnt more about using the Adobe software, InDesign. It is great for creating brochures. But before that started, we learnt a few things. Firstly, we learnt about the 8 factors that makes a good brochure. They are

-Attention seeking cover

-Strong branding

-Strong images and graphics

-Call to action 

-Valuable input

-Compelling contant

-Unique Selling point

-What the client wants

The above 8 are important and as much if not all of them should be found in a brochure, so as for a consumer or a person who reads it can identify the product, and more importantly, want to actually buy it. 

Other than that, we also learnt exactly what is a corporate brochure and the difference it had from a usual sales brochure. A corporate brochure's main aim tell you about the company and sells product INDIRECTLY.  It is mainly an overview of products and company. Its focus lean towards telling about the company and its product rather than advertising and selling. Within a corporate brochure, unlike the average sales/marketing brochure, should include

-Company history

-Attracting investors

-Awards

-Business performance

-Social Outreach

-Products and service

-Call for action (Address and contact info)

After that, we were split into 2 different groups and are required to research on two different things. Our group was given the tasks of finding different stock image sites that requires payment, and those that don't. This is important as when creating the brochure, we are not allowed to use google image's photographs as they could have been copyrighted, and the legal and systematic way of obtaining photos is to either get permission of get it from stock image websites. We found out that those sites that require payment like gettyimages can charge a person to thousands of dollars per photo. And the free ones like inmagine. However, the challenge is that one may not find the desired photograph, and that could be a problem and the only way to rectify is to try other free stock images sites.

After that, we moved on to how to use InDesign, and today's task was to do a brochure for Expedia, the tourism and travel website. It wasn't easy, as like all other softwares, thanks to my clumsy hands. But we learnt the relation of Photoshop and InDesign, and how they can work hand in hand to create interesting thing. Like how if we want the text of the word, but not the background colour, we just have to use the magic wand tool, and shirt key to highlight any parts missed. The tool is also good to single out photographs. One thing I always forget is to inverse it, however, I learnt my lesson this time. It was quite confusing at first, but thanks to my lecturer and friends, I managed, somehow to get it done. At this point, I still need some help here and there. But overall, I think it's ok. The only problem I face is forgetting the dimensions. After hours, this is my end product.

Another problem I had is to colour the text for 'Family Friendly'. However, that's just my own careless mistake.

After that, we had consultation for our corporate brochure, and design. I had certain issues, as it is too repetitive and boring. So I have to try to improvise in the actual InDesign. So that was today. 

Visual Communication Lesson 10

In the 10th lesson of Visual Communication, we tried new things with photoshop, and also managed to start using a new software called InDesign. This is one of the toughest week yet since I meet A LOT OF problems with photoshop. For some reason, it wasn't cooperating with me this lesson!

Firstly, we learnt how to merge photographs and we have to merge a beach and a girl. Firstly, we had to roughly trace her face and hair using the lasso tool. next we have to put it in the beach picture. We have to adjust the edges so it looked more natural, and also the edge to come out a little bit more, so we can blend it to the beach picture. However, the picture of the girl had hair not totally straight. We have to go back, and once again trace the parts of the hair that we didn't include. After that, we copy that to the beach picture, and I was super happy with how it came out.

Next, we learnt how to make a picture look like those nice ones in postcards. First, we cover the whole picture with white, and using solid colour. And then use rasterise so that we can paint over it. After 'painting' it, we can have some parts, the border white, the main the actual picture. Next, we added text. We had to use the rectangle marquee tool and then type in the word 'Heaven and Earth' Next, we had to colour the white parts I mentioned just now. I changed to a blue. It is at this point I faced problem, as I couldn't colour it. Mr Victor helped me. Supposedly, we are suppose to add texture, and most people managed to do it, but I couldn't. The end result was less then satisfaction to be honest.

The next part was to put it in a brochure format. Honestly, I still don't understand how it works because I was having a lot of issues with the photoshop. But this is roughly how it should look like.

Lines and columns to show the panels of the brochure. The words are too small and I just think it looked terrible.

Overall, I think this week's lesson was abit too rushed and I am still very confused about alot of things, especially InDesign, which at this point I have not idea how to work it. Hopefully in the next lesson, we can learn about it again, and I'll try my best to listen and understand! 

Visual Communication Lesson 9

So, on the 9th lesson of Visual Communication, we continued on in Photoshop. In this lesson, we focused abit more on enhancement of pictures and editing by adding different elements to it. We are introduced to a new tool, the magnetic lasso tool. This gives a more precise tracing of an object, much better than us manually, trying to trace an object, because it is near impossible to trace an object without any gaps at all. The magnetic tool helps is trace along the line automatically. One of the things we had to do is to add elements into a photo/picture. We have to add in a ladybug, polar bear & Birds to the picture. For the polar bear, to make it so that it doesn't look so out of place, we had to make it seem as if its feet are in the water. We had to first crop is and adjust the clarity and exposure, and carefully put it back so it doesn't look amputated. This gave us the opportunity to use the magnetic lasso tool, which I personally like because it is must easier than having to do it using the lasso tool, which requires us to trace it exactly, and it is not easy. This is the end result.

Personally, for a beginner, I think it's not too bad. 

Next, we learnt how to make a old photograph look brand new. We use the hue/saturation tool and also curves tool. This is basically a practice for us to revise the tools we learnt last week. This is a great trick if we have photos we like but overtime has became old and has a annoying yellow-ish or orange/red sheen over it, we can just use photoshop and correct it, and reprint it, and it'll look good as new. I am quite amazed at it to be honest. Because I thought once it's old and yellow-ish/orange/redish, there's really nothing much you can do.

Honestly, the difference is quite amazing. 

Back to element adding, out next activity is to add a few elements and change the colour/tone. The original picture was a fish bowl with a gold fish, we had to make the water slightly blue instead of it's clear water colour and also add in other elements into the picture, I added another fish and water plant. Initially, To change the colour we had to use the lasso tool, again with the magnetic tool. But before that, we have to crop the goldfish out.  I was panicking and when I changed the colour of the water the area selected just changed colour and it looked like a patch of opaque colour there. But after trying, I realised I didn't adjust the opacity and exposure, however once I have done that, everything else went smoothly. This is the end result.

As you can see, it is definitely not well done. The water opacity was adjusted so that it still looked natural and not as if the fishes were swimming in the ocean water. 

Another assignment was to created a 'Polaroid'. Initially I thought it would be a chore as it didn't seem easy. But it turned out this is one of the easiest of the day. Firstly, we have to choose a background. And I chose stripes with polka dots. Then we have to use the rectangular Marquee tool, and crop out a rectangle and colour it white. Next we have to select a photo and resize it so that it is smaller then the rectangle. Next we fit is nicely in, and using the text tool, we have to caption it. The end result, looks like this. 

Not bad in my opinion.

Our homework was to have a background photo and add elements into it. The background I chose was a classroom. And guess what I added in?

Visual Communication Lesson 8

After 7 weeks of Lessons, technically 4 for me, since I wasn't here for VC for the first 3 weeks due to the fact that I was transferred to NYP, finally we're done with the first CA using Illustrator Software. And now that that's over, we're moving on to another software which I just Super love. PHOTOSHOP. Hopefully by the end of the entire thing, I can make myself super good looking on photos.  

So firstly, we learnt how to make certain edits and changes on our faces. To make a photo fit snuggly into the screen, it's important to change the dimensions of our photos. Also, this can help to make sure the outcome will look natural. We have to adjust the Hue & saturation of our photos, to a colour that counters the photo problem, if it's too yellow we have to put in purple-ish or darker tone to balance. We also can adjust the curves, brightness and contrast of the photo, so if a photo is too dark because it's backlit or things like that, we can rectify the problem by adjusting that. If we wanted to change the colour of our hair, we have to use the lasso tool, it is something like highlighting, where the circled or selected area will be affect. If we want to, we have to trace the shape of our hair and then change it accordingly. After that if our photos become blur after editing, we can slightly make it better by using the sharpen tool. However, if we use too much, it will look fake and obvious that it is edited. 

Another tool that I personally like is the patch tool. How it works is that if you click on a specific area, it will try to change it to blend into its surroundings which is great for people with blemishes in a photo. It can erase issues like pimples, or anything on the face you are unhappy with for instance dark eye circle or eyebags. We can change the size of our eyes also, using the lasso tool to trace your eye shape and then adjust with the tool.

Before and after, Before on top, After on bottom. Took this in the lecture hall with the MacBook photobooth. Made the picture brighter, took away some blemish with the patch tool, and also the contrast.

After experimenting with these tools on our own photographs. We moved on to actual tasks to do more animated editing. We have to merge the mascot for the football/soccer competition, into a road. These are the individual photos.

We have to edit the mascot out without the background and place it in the driving pavement photo of SP. Also we need to use the patch tool to take away an element inside. After trying, though not easy, and not very well done, this is the result.

 Added shadows on it's feet & Took away the painting instructions as well.

Next, we're suppose to mould some guy's hair to David Beckham's face

I'm not going to even talk about it, because its so badly done

Finally, we're suppose to merge the Courtesy Lion & No smoking sign and changing his shirt colour. These are the 3 separate images.

FINAL RESULT

Happy with it, because it looks the most real! 

Visual Communication Lesson 7

In the 7th Week of Visual Communication class, we learnt more about the different tools on the Illustrator software before we go on to do our first VC CA. In this lesson, we jumped straight into the software.  Firstly, we have to recreate the Captain America icon/logo. Initially I was going to give up because it looks so difficult. But in the end I did it.

This is the original image.

Firstly, we have to use the Eclipse tool and create the circle.To make sure it's a nice round circle, we have to press on the shift key. After creating each circle, we have to use the eyedropper tool to fill in the colour. After we are done with the circles, we to to create the star. This was slightly challenging for me and the star by default in the star tool has curved edges. And the picture calls for straight lined star. After we're done with measuring the star size, we have to use another tool and make sure the star is straight. 

After we're done with the icon, we have to fill in the words 'Captain America The Mighty Super Hero'

To do that, we have to use the text tool, specifically 'Type on a path tool'. This allowed the text wanted to be typed to follow the path of the shape. However, after typing the text, one circle of colour will be gone. To curb this problem, we were taught to always have a duplicate of the colour and put it back in after we're done with the text. To make the colours proper, in terms of positioning, and to make sure it doesn't cover the typed text, we have to send it either back or forward, subject to which one we're doing. I did this twice and this is the end-result.

My work on the right. Even thought there were some parts that was not similar, I am satisfied and happy with my end product. Given the fact that I have bad chemistry and luck with computer editing softwares. 

The next activity/assignment is a bit more focused of text. This helps us for our CA if we rely on already existing fonts and want to use it for our logo and help us change it so that we don't just copy it. Firstly, we went on to a website to download free fonts. The font we downloaded was called 'Lobster'

So we had to modify it using tools such as Direct/Group selection tool and etc. Here is the end results!

If you don't know, the letter 'V' & 'L' were modified.

As homework, we have to do a modification of our own names. This is my end result.

Definitely not well done whatsoever. However, I did not know how to use the tool properly.

(Name above is a pseudonym)  

Visual Communication Lesson 6

In Week 6 of Visual Communications Class, we learn more about tracing, and also layering. Initially, I was super duper confused, as I'm a dummy for things with the computer, and didn't really see the purpose of it. However, once the lecturer explained to us how it will make alot of things easier, such as not accidentally moving a shape that was done, or even worse, to delete the entire thing and having to redo. Hence, having layers and locking them is extremely important. I also learnt that we should not have too many layers, as that will increase the file size. So we should keep layers to an adequate amount.

First of all, we are required to do tracing, and this sharpen out tracing skills of not just simple shapes, but edges and interesting patterns as well. The first in-class practice/assignment was to duplicate the Singapore National Games Mascot. Initially, I did it wrongly by not tracing it from start to end, resulted in problem when using the eyedropper tool. (I'll discuss about that in a while). As a result, I had to delete everything and re-trace it. I think it's a good thing for me as I can practice once more and trace it with more details. The general shape of the mascot was simple. The only part I believe was a bit of a challenge was it's facial details and features such as blush, eyes, pupils & etc. It was difficult as firstly, the features are very small, so it made it hard to trace. When we want to zoom it, it gets blurry and pixelated.

Once we are done with the tracing, we have to fill in the colours. Since we're doing duplicates, one good thing is that we can use the eyedropper tool and click on the exact colours. After the tutorial session, this is my end result.

The left one is the original one, and the right side is mine. Obviously, mine is cuter. I think I have to improve on the details as I personally think that some parts are not traced nicely. After the lesson,we are given homework. The assignment is to trace and fill for another 2 images. The first being a Hello Kitty, and the second, a penguin. So here is my results. Original will be on the left side.

HELLO KITTY IMAGE

I think generally, it looks similar, however, I think that certain parts are not drawn as nice as I hoped it would be. However, in a nutshell, I am satisfied with the outcome.

PENGUIN IMAGE

Personally, I think out of all 3 images and tracing, this is the one I am most satisfied and happy with. Reason being in terms of how similar it is, I think it's almost identical. And is most polished. I think this is so because it is easier juxtapose to the Hello Kitty one, and it doesn't fave fanciful accessories. 

Visual Communication Lesson 5

In this lesson, we learnt many essentials about mascots and logo.

We've learnt that logo is not just a brand, but a design that represent one's company or organisation. To design an effective logo, it must under stand and follow 5 simple principles. They are namely Simplicity, Memorability , Timeless, Versatility, Appropriateness.

Simplicity is important as companies want their consumers to remember their brand and logo, and if there is too much going on, it would be difficult for the customers to do that. Having a simple design also ensures their message are sent straight to the point.

Memorability. For a company to be well-known, it needs to be established, and to do that, a logo is the easiest way to go. For it to be successful,  it requires people to know such brand exist. And with a creative logo, it can be easily achieved. For example, a consumer may want to buy certain product from a certain shop, but don't know the name. If they remember the design of their logo, it is easy for them to find it.

If a product or company wants to be remembered, they need to have a timeless logo design. There is a few simple reasons as to why. The first being if they do not do that, with fashion, time and style changing, their logo may look too old and groggy and out of style. And as a result, what happens is that they have to redesign a logo. And this begins a butterfly effect where people have to forget the old logo and try to adapt to the new one. When a logo changes, it's difficult for people to just change their mind of how the logo looks like. Over time, with increased number of times where logos are redesigned, consumers may feel irritated and eventually stop buying products from that particular store.

Versatility. Versatility is another pivotal principle of an effective logo design as a logo needs to be versatile to attract different types of consumers.

Lastly, appropriateness is important as well as a logo has to be design so that it can attract it's target audience; for instance, if a company is selling children products, its design should be children orientated with cartoons and cute fonts so that they would be attracted to buy the products. However such concept is not relevant if the company sells toothpaste. Hence, a need of appropriateness is essential in logo designing.

We learnt that there are mainly 3 types of logo. They are namely Iconic/Symbolic, Logotype/Wordmark & Combination logo.

In an Iconic/Symbolic logo, they should be recognisable and is extremely memorable. We also understood that there shouldn't be too many colours in a logo, and it will be costly when printing, as there are more colour ink to print. Hence, a logo should not have more than 3 colours.

Example of Iconic Logos:

Apple Inc

Nike

Starbucks

In a Logotype/Wordmark logo, there should be a unique font type and not a conventional one. In this type of logo, there will be no picture at all, but instead, the written word form of the brand. However, it has to be legible and ease of recognition. It's advantage is that people might remember it as it is just the brand name as well as the logo.

 Also we understood that if a font is thick, it gives off the message of strength & power. Eg: Dell, Forever21

Script font give a message of formality e.g: FedEx, Topshop

Slanted fonts gives a sense of motion/movement eg. Ray-ban, H&M

Last but not least, combination logos. In combination logos, it is essentially the mixture of Iconic and Logotype logos, whereby the logo has a icon or symbol, however, also bears the company name. Concise text can complement an icon or symbol, providing a form of supplementary clarity. These logos and be either integrated of a stand-alone. It means that the logo can be incorporated in the brand name or have it side by side.

Examples of Combination Logos are : McDonalds, Domino's Pizza, AT&T, Pringles

After learning about logos, we learnt a little bit about mascots. By definition, a mascot is a representative figure, a symbol and a communication tool for a products. It personifies their values, communicate effectively and help them form a brand.

Some famous mascots:

Singapore Courtesy Campaign Mascot

London Olympics 2012 Mascot

China Olympics 2008 Mascots

In a good mascot, there should be 5 important qualities.

1. Connection to the message the company wants to portray

2. Background Story

3. Appeal

4. Style for target audience

5. Props and Accessories

After that, we got to practice using the software illustrator. This time we're given more templates to practice on. The below are what i've done.