Design Production for Digital//Top 10//More CBBC Idents.

Again, another look at a few examples of the CBBC 'bug' idents (series) now I have come to the stage of actively producing my ident designs and looking at distinctive devices that are used within broadcast idents.

For my proposed broadcasting channel, CBBC, I do have the slight disadvantage that no idents are made for separate television shows, as the BBC is commercial free (where part of the licence fee goes... a small part, I'm sure), so the idents are based purely on the entire channel alone- and not very specific as a result.

However, again, like in my research for Cartoon Network- sound effects and foley seem to play a really big part in these ident designs- something I perhaps should have considered earlier, despite being quite happy with the soundtrack I've chosen- definitely something to experiment with, or, at very least, write about in my module evaluation and feedback as something to have considered, and/or to try again with in the future.

Design Production for Digital//Top 10//Cartoon Network Idents.

Looking at more research examples of existing idents targeted at a child audience for inspiration in creating my own ident designs for my Design Production for Digital brief, 'Top 10... things you didn't know about penguins'. 

Cartoon Network are famed for their fun, playful idents and are a great source for looking at how a story is told through an ident- even at a very short time frame- something I particularly want to play up upon in my own designs- having a clear distinction from one another, yet visually and aesthetically reasonably consistent (in terms of colour scheme, character design, etc).

One thing I particularly noticed in these designs in the use of sound effects- really played upon to personify the 'C' and 'N' cube characters in the series of idents- something I would definitely have liked to experiment more with- perhaps even still time- might work in my title sequence?

See my Design Practice blog for more design developments and progress throughout the Design Production for Digital module.

Image//Pictorial Eye Charts.

Researching a few more examples of eye chart tests in preparation for the Scale/Frame/Format brief within the Image module.- a few different examples of standardised eye chart (type) tests as well as a couple of illustrative examples which have inspired my own layout and designs. Again- as stated on my Design Practice blog, I wanted to ensure that my own design was quite balanced, crisp, and minimal (focusing more on the patterns of the socks for a more elaborate design)- and have used the basic structure of the design directly above in terms of my row numbers, etc- with the chair eye test providing clear inspiration in terms of vector-based design and layout.

Image//Scale/Frame/Format//Chien- Yu Kuo.

A great link sent to me by friend and fellow BAGDer, Claudia for ideas and inspiration for the image module week-long project, 'Scale/Frame/Format'- love the tactile, hand- rendered approach to these illustrative repeat pattern designs- makes me wish I'd done my own hand-rendered work now! Definitely need to do more illustrative, hand-rendered work throughout the module- just need to create more balance between other Uni work at the moment to hopefully make time to improve and develop upon my work in this area.

Design Production for Digital//Top 10//After Effects Shake Effect.

For the start and end solid layer key frames in each of my four ident compositions (storyboards and developments of which can be found on my Design Practice blog) I wanted to learn how to create a shaking effect to make my text "bob" up and down- and I found this video on Youtube which proved really useful- and taught me about how to apply the wiggler effect and combing layers with null objects to also mask the effect over them. In my tests, I found that even on a minimal movement, smooth setting the effect was a little too rapid and sharp for what I had in mind- but a great tool nonetheless- and an effect to consider at a later stage for my title sequence.

Design Production for Digital//Top 10//More 4 Ident & Rebrand.

http://vimeo.com/35283903

Whilst looking for more examples of channel branding and idents, I came across the new ident and rebrand of the More4 channel and was really impressed by their new design, working alongside the 4Creative team.

"The More4 re-brand is centred around a bold flexible logo, created from multiple triangles that flip, fold, attract and repel each other into position. The re-brand extends to a whole new on-screen look, that includes five truly stunning new idents...

The series of idents 4Creative have produced feature real world installations, inspired by the new logo and the triangular shapes used to construct it.

Working in collaboration with pioneers in art installation design, Jason Bruges Studio, and students from Middlesex University, 400 moving flipper units were designed and built, based on the elements of the More4 logo.

The 400 mechanical units were transported from the studio to real environments, filmed at various locations including a windswept Dungeness beach, and a very damp Victoria Park, to create a family of unique live action idents that see the brand breaking out into the real world."

I really love the contemporary, geometric style of the idents- really crisp and modern- and a gorgeously bright selection of colours used in the flipper designs- which balance well with the bold gemoetric shapes for a formal, yet lively and memorable visual identity.

I'd really have loved to have worked with a logo/brand/channel like this in my own designs (as opposed to the rather ghastly CBBC logo...), though, of course, it wouldn't have been appropriate for my subject matter or audience- though definitely something to consider in the future for the potential of personal development work for my portfolio.

Image//Type as Image//Owen Gildersleeve.

http://www.owengildersleeve.com/index.html

As suggested by friend and fellow GD Image feedback friend, Steph, in yesterday's image feedback session, this morning I went on to look at the Illustrative and Typographic papercut design work of Owen Gildersleeve- a London-based YCN Agency represented designer, and was really delighted with what I found- with a beautifully hand-crafted series of design projects and outcomes with vibrant stocks and wonderfully illustrative typographic design which has got me feeling really inspired for my own personal freelance and design work- as well as the continued progress of my work throughout the image module.

The series of images below are from his papercraft and photographic set up for the Lactofree brand in which he demonstrates the "journey" for the "quest for dairy without the ouch".

Image//Scale/Frame/Format//One colour screenprint posters.

A quick spot of research looking at one colour plus stock screenprinted designs- producing a simple design outcome to the one that I hope to achieve with my own final outcome for this project- showcasing how simplicity can often be the best resolution for a crisp, minimal and simple (yet high impact) design.

Love the mixture of typefaces and illustrative vector imagery in this design- and the colour palette is perfect- high impact, bright and attention grabbing whilst still remaining simple and sophisticated.

Great cameo illustration and a clever concepts- this design reminds me perhaps of a proposal book sleeve for Roald Dahl's 'James & The Giant Peach' with the rich, burnt orange colour against the cream- love the simplicity and it's effectiveness of visual communication- definitely the sort of style I am hoping to achieve in my 

own design.

Again, bold, simple, but very creative use and juxtaposition of type within this design- cleverly formatted and structured- a great reminder to myself to be experimental with my designs and not too rigid when generating my design outcome ideas and resolution.

A great example of how even highly-detailed design can still be easily legible, communicative and understood. For my particular object subject matter, socks, I don't feel that it will be necessary more detail than your standard pictogram illustrative style, however, it's a good reminder not to be afraid to experiment with patterns to help add character and diversity into my designs.

Truly simple and minimal- but it's because of that reason that I really like this design- with so little flourish, the design speaks for itself and is instantly understood- this is the sort of design that I hope to achieve. Also love the red and white colours- a colour scheme that I have, myself been considering for my final design outcome.

Great, bold, contemporary turquoise colour with reversed-out type- perhaps I could try white on red, as well as red on white for my designs? I need to stock up on stock.

Great texture and unique colour palette used in this one colour screenprint design- perhaps not as visually communicative as it would be using black and water (representing oil and water), though certainly less obvious- and great use of uppercase type for high impact (however, this will not, of course, be appropriate for my illustrative design outcome).

Again- a great source of inspiration in terms of generating patterns- I love this fairisle print- esque design- I would love to make patterns like these, and, again, wonderfully rich colour used- looking quite festive- definitely a colour I will be experimenting with in the generation of my design outcome.

Image//Scale/Frame/Format//Types of sock.

Researching various different types of sock styles, lengths, patterns, colours, and shapes for the research of the image module brief 'Scale, Frame, Format' in which I will go on to create an eye chart- inspired design made up of various kinds of socks.

For my major concept (the development of which can be found on my Design Practice blog) I have decided to distinguish the lines of my chart from one another by looking at the various different styles of socks- the longest (over the knee, or whichever is appropriate) acting as the largest single letterform would do at the top of a traditional eye chart, with the shortest sock, the pop sock/trainer sock row at the bottom of the design. This inspiration will help me, not only in terms of distinguishing the longest-shortest length, but also the usual patterns and styles that can be found on each. Ideally, I would like to work with an odd number of rows, as I think this makes a design look less forced in terms of balance- for workload and visual communiciation of the design, looking at creating 5/7 rows of socks.

All images below are sourced from various Google Images links.

ANKLE SOCKS (5TH LONGEST, 5)

GENTLEMANS SOCK (3RD LONGEST, 3)

HOLD UPS (LONGEST, 1)

OVER THE KNEE (2ND LONGEST, 2)

POP SOCKS (4TH LONGEST, 4)

TOE SOCKS (decided not to include these- as, quite frankly, they are nightmarish)

TRAINER SOCKS (SHORTEST, 6)