Christmas Card Launch Workshop

We firstly looked at the first christmas card that was ever sent, which was in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole, which was designed and sold for a shilling. The service of delivery expanded so more and more christmas card were able to be sent, which made the christmas card more popular than it was than ever before. We then looked at an infographic that was created my the moon pig card service, which displays facts and figures about the history and the anatomy of the christmas card. Our generation would rather send a message through social media rather than a physical christmas card, however people that are more elderly like Grandparents would more likely send a physical card to say with the tradition of the Christmas Cards that people send to each other. We then looked at different designs that companies send, they said that they didn't want digital to be in one place but more across the whole social media platform to get the christmas card design and message across.

Another example that we looked at was the Christmas Card that was created by a company called the Nice Agency for critical mass, I found that this example was very different as it was a digital message. I thought that this was very interesting, as I could look into this design even further when it comes to design my own christmas card. This christmas card digital message was used to advertise the Critical Mass to new Clients. This advertisement was originally a still, however were it tells you to place your phone, the animation that they created would then appear on your mobile screen, which you will then be able to watch.

Our Christmas card has got to advertise to several different target audiences, which will be a very important factor to consider when designing our Christmas Cards. We were told that we needed to show our personality through the designs that we were going to be creating. We then looked at other christmas cards that were created by Graphic Illustrators, I found that some of these pieces were very creative, bright, bold and stood out to me well.

The Brief that we were given was: 

"The brief is about great but simple ideas. The festive season is saturated with traditional and contemporary imagery and sentiment. Your challenge is to develop an innovative approach to Christmas 2016 - communicate a compelling christmas vision to surprise, inspire and delight. Anticipate how audiences will view The School of Art & Design, be imaginative in generating a festive feel for the University of Huddersfield to unleash your collective creativity and make it memorable." 

What do we need to consider:

• Collaborate - Graphics Illustration, Photography, Animation and Art.
• Look from a personal point of view, what was your best christmas that you had or what do you think of when it comes to christmas time. 
• Brainstorm some of your ideas.
• Who's your audience? - What's the message?
• Develop some new ideas.
• Pitch it to others - what's the response?
• Evaluate and refine those ideas
• Revisit the brief and refine 
• Pitch to the Panel at 3pm (Tracy)

After this we looked at Mixed Media design, which I thought were very different to designs that we had seen before in this workshop. Would produce a gif for our christmas, don't be original be experimental and take your ideas further. The design that you create can either be still or it could be move me 3D be Illustrative, but we need to make sure that it stands out to people.

My Ideas

I had to consider what I associate with Christmas:

• Gingerbread
• Reindeers
• Snow/Snowflakes
• Travel
• Trees
• Food and Drink
• Baubles
• Tinsel
• Holly
• Family
• Pinecones
• Candycanes

The first idea I had was that you like to travel the world at Christmas time, to see all the different countries and cultures at Christmas and New Year. For this I was going to create an animation using the sleigh to go around the world that then leaves the words behind which appear and say "Travel the world this Christmas" once this has happened snowflakes will fall and cover the screen completely white and words would then appear and then say Happy Holidays. However feel that this wouldn't work. My next idea was to create a typography Christmas Card using a symbol and the words that you associate with Christmas. Below are my final designs that I created for this Christmas Card workshop.

Workshop Week- Typography Teacake Design

I am happy that I chose to attend this workshop, because I found it very fun and exciting. I think that this workshop was fun and exciting because it was something that I wouldn't have chosen first as I do sometime find typography quite hard, although I did find this workshop good and very fun. The first part that we did in this workshop was talking about the basics and what is include in typography, I found this very interesting because I was able to find out some interesting points that I have never heard about when looking at typography. Whilst looking at typography we were told to look at several different designers and an agency that do specialise in not just design but typography too. The first typographer that we were told to look at was:

Ewald Spieker 

Ewald Spieker was born on the 31st August 1950 in Amsterdam. He is a Typographer who is based in the Netherlands. Here is a piece of his work that he has created:

Reference- http://www.ewaldspieker.nl/website/img/1_home/youaretheone.jpg

This piece of work is called You Are The One, I like this piece of artwork that he has created because the build up of the letters allow the beginning of each word to stand out on top of the word that has been created. I think that this is a good idea because it shows the importance of each word that the name means to people. I think that the typeface that has been used for the design is very bold and easy to see, which means that the design will defiantly stand out well to the target audience, which I also think is very important when designing a typographic Poster. The colour scheme that has been used for the design is very basic but neutral, however I think that you could use a brighter colour to brighten up the Poster and attract the target audience to take more interest in the Poster design.

Josua Reichert

Josua Reichert was born in 1937 in Stuttgart, Germany. He is a German Typographer, Graphic Designer and an Author. Here is a piece of typography that he created:

Reference- https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3e/d5/f5/3ed5f56663f44995d1dcc164a8275278.jpg

I like this piece of artwork that Josua Reichert has created because it is very simple and basic because it has been created with simple shapes and has been produced with bright and bold block colour, which I found was interesting, as I thought that the colours will attract the target audience very easily. I think that this design is nice, however I wondered what the design would look like if text was added to the design, I think that this could added more detail to the design.

Hendrick Werkman

Hendrick Werkman was born on the 29th April 1882 in Leens and died in Allardsoog on the 10th April 1945. Hendrick Werkman was a Dutch Artist, Typographer and Graphic Designer. Here is a piece of his artwork that he has created:

Reference- https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6f/9a/94/6f9a94784d1668fc0215d777709decc1.jpg

This piece of artwork that Hendrick Werkman had created reminds me of the artwork style known as Bauhaus because of the bold and block colours and the way that the blocks and shapes have been positioned on the Poster design. I think that the colours of the design are very bright and bold, which I think are very attractive and well interest the target audience that this design is going to be aiming towards. I think that the layout of the design is very creative and professional and expresses a lot of structure that the design is a very strong piece of work.

Ken Garland

Ken Garland was born in 1929 in Southampton. He is a Graphic Designer, Photographer and Writer.
Here is a piece of his work that he has created:

Reference- http://uniteditions.com/resources/1779/student_inline%20image_optimised2.jpg

I like this design that Ken Garland has created because I think that the colours of the design is very bold and make the design stand out very well to the target audience that this design is aiming towards. I think that the colours that have been used for this design remind me of the art style Bauhaus because the main colours that are used within this style are Red and Black. I think that these colours stand out well, as they're very bold and bright. I think that the typeface that has been used for this design is very bold and stand outs well on the design. I think that it is important to choose a font style that is very bold and stands out to the target audience, so it will be easy for them to read and understand. I think that the positioning of the design is very creative and professional, which I may take inspiration from when designing my own work. 

Craig Ward

Craig Ward was born in August 1981 in Boston, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. Who is now based in New York, he is Author, Designer and Typographer. Here is a piece of his work that he has created, which I liked to look at:

Reference- http://www.blinkart.co.uk/files/artists/craig-ward/Craig_Ward_InkAndWater.jpg

I like this piece of artwork that he has created because it is very different to the other designers that I have looked at. I think that the artwork that has been created for the design is relevant to the words that Craig has used for his typographic design. I think that it is very important when designing your artwork because you always want to have a good connection with your design work. My favourite part about this design is the typeface that he has used for the typography because it is very bold, stands out well and is easy to read, even if the words as slightly blown for an effect. Another part that I like about this design is the colour of the words that has been used, which is the colour black because it is very bold and stands out on the paper that it is featured on. I think that in the future I am going to take inspiration from this design for my own design work. 

Lo Siento Studio

Lo Siento Studio is a Graphic Design Studio that specialises in Print, Typography, Packaging, Editorial, lettering and more. Here is a piece of their artwork that is very inspirational:

Reference- http://www.losiento.net/system/contents/19/images/big/contents_19.jpg?1330972602

I like this design because it is very different to the other designers work that I have looked at because this design has been created using a 4D design. I think that this design is very creative and different, I also think that this design is very professional because the design look like it has been thought about very well and has had a lot of time put into this design for it to be created. I think that I am going to take inspiration from this design when I create my design work because taking your time is the key to perfection when it comes to design work, however sometimes you don't have a lot of time but you still need to make sure your design isn't rushed so it can be professional and attractive to the target audience, that you will be aiming your designs towards. 

Within this work this workshop we were told that we weren't going to be using the computers within this workshop, however we would be using Pencils, Paper and other materials within the workshop. Our first task that we were given was to produce sketches that the would display the word, within this task we had to use our imagination come up with designs that would relate well to the word that we were designing. These words included Ballon, Sad, Bounce, however once we had completed this task we had to think about words of our own. Within this task we had to look at ways that the image and the words would connect in a particular way. 

The task that we were given was to think about how we could display a word in a typographic way. The word that I decided to work with was 'Space' I liked this word because you could look at the meaning of this word in several ways, which were the space between each letter, each word and the space between people. The other side to space was the universe and the planets, that are located in Space. Whilst we were having dinner I decided to pick up some art supplies that may come in useful to me when designing the typographic design, these supplies were glitter card, shiny card (gold and silver) and coloured paper and card. I started off by using the computer to print out my word that I wanted to create, I found it hard to think about how wanted to display the word within the design because I wanted to use the letter C, as ring like it was wrapped around a letter to display a planet. However I was told to place the C around the letter E, as it would look better and have a more understanding of what the word would look like. 

Once I had done this, I then found the perfect layout, which I thought was very professional and easy to understand, I then had to look at resizing the letter C because I had to make sure that this letter would fit around the letter E. I then decided to start my final design, which was to draw around the letters onto the silver card that I had bought early in the day, once I had drawn around the letters I then had to cut them out with a craft knife. However, I had to be very careful when cutting them out because the silver kept peeling away from the card, which made the letter very messy and unprofessional. I finally cut out my letter C using a craft knife from the blue glitter card to create an effect, which would make the letter C stand out well on the design. Once I had completed this I then placed the letters onto a black piece of paper to make the design stand out and look professional.

I then decided to create the word Space using a different material, which was paint. I decided to use paint because I thought it was very different and creative, the colours that I had used represented the galaxy. To be a little more creative, I decided to use a straw to blow the paint and create an effective design that the target audience would like. 

Overall I am glad that I attended this workshop because I was able to explore new skills and improve on my existing ones. I also found that this workshop was fun and very different.