TITLE SEQUENCE: "Happy Graphic"

A Happy Graphic from Josh Juhasz on Vimeo.

This is the latest after effects tutorial that I did, the aim of the tutorial was to create an animated title of any words of phrases that you wanted. Combining the skills I had already learnt in the last tutorials of the position and opacity tools and the 3D tools that we learnt in this tutorial. 

Step 1: First we spent some time deciding what we wanted our title page to look like, I decided to use the words "A HAPPY GRAPHIC" I felt that I could do a lot with this phrase and animate the words in different ways to make it more interesting. 

Step 2: Once we had decided what to use it was time to start making it! I used a bold font on Adobe Illustrator and used two different colours Red and black to make the "Happy" word stand out from the rest of the phrase. 

Step 3: Once I had created the phrase on Illustrator I imported the phrase into After effects and started using different effects like the position tool and the rotation tool to start to make the text move and animate. I also tried out some options called the 3D options which allowed me to make the text look 3 dimensional. Axis options, bevel and emboss and drop shadow options were just some of the effects that were in these options. 

This tutorial was very helpful because it introduced me to a completely new set of skills in after effects. I will be using the 3D options in future because they are a clever way of bringing an animation to life by creating an atmosphere for text and objects! 

Modernity and Design lecture notes

Modernity and design: Part 2   : 27th April 2015

"The goal of communication is to "include in the audience some belief". 

Pop artists use appropriation as a focal theme in their work, they reproduced vinacular images to create their art pieces. The Marilyn monroe art piece by Andy Warhol is an example of this. It raises questions about originality and ownership of the actual piece of work. 

Andy Warhol, Orange disaster number 5 from 1963. Using repetition to convey a message of death through the art. Appealing to the readers emotions. This art piece uses repetition and sometimes repetition can lead the design to lose it's actual meaning. If a gruesome image was shown over and over again it wouldn't be as gruesome and as original. 

"VINTAGE" a nostalgic reference to something in the past. It's about someone emotional attachment to something that they think they can remember to a better time or place. 

Readymade taking something that already exists, changing it a little bit so it creates a different message. An example of this would be the recreation of the Mona Lisa by Marcel Duchamp in 1919, he uses the mona lisa and plays on the fact that it's a self portrait by adding a moustache and a beard. 

Sherrie Levine, FOUNTAIN (After Marcel duchamps: A.P.), 1991
Banksy, Show me the Monet, 2005
Paula Sher, Swatch, 1985
Banksy, Napalm, 2005
Daniel Eatock, Everything Heinz

Satire: a critique or attack, driven by desire to make a social commentary or to challenge the status quo. (Implies humour as it's weapon to do this) An example of this would be Banksy and his piece of artwork called "Napalm" 

Pastiche, it's a form of homage like a satire. it copies or mimics another works style in a comedy way it references the original without making a positive or negative point. An example would be Paula Sher's "Swatch"

Parody, or visual punning is a visual satire, the practice is copying the conventions style or 
appearance of a work. "Airplane"

CULTURE JAMMING, SHEPHARD FAIREY, OBEY POSTER

Adbuster campaigns: they describe their-selves as anti advertising. they spoof logo's and other designs to sabotage their message. They convert the image into meaning something else. 

Stephan Sameister, set the twightlight, 1996


What I learned from this Seminar:  In this seminar I learnt a lot about different types of advertising and modernity. Satire, Pastiche and Parody have all been talked through and I now know the meanings of all of them. I am happy that I have learnt more about advertising and how it can be flipped on it's head and led in a completely different direction. I also learned that often designers mimic past designs in an acknowledgment of their work or a critical analysis of how their work could be changed.

"I am the design":Manifesto

"I am the design" Manifesto. 

I am the design that would change your life, 

I am the design that people wish they created, 

I am the design that never breaks, 

I am the design that never runs out of batteries,

I am the design that people wait for all day, 

I am the design that saves and creates life, 

I am the design that is only getting bigger,

I am the design that other designs want to be,

I am the design that you can touch,

I am the design that works anywhere, 

I am the design that saves us from other designs,

I am the design that is old and new all at the same time,

I am the design that creates design, 

I am the design that makes you wonder,

I am the design you want for Christmas, 

I am the worlds best design, 

I am the design that shapes the world, 

I am the design that is underrated, 

I am the most important design there has ever been, 

I am the design that make life easier...

I am the design that makes life... 

I am the design that makes... 

I am the design... 

The idea of this exercise was to think more deeply about how we relate to design. We think how we can be likened to a design and how we ourselves are the design. This is a list of scenarios of how we are the designs of our generation. The main point of this exercise was to think how we are designs and how we could fit in to the ever changing world; the scenarios I created, focus on how we as designs could be implicated and changed. 

Photoshop tutorial: (ROTOSCOPING)

By using the brush tool and a colour of our choice we traced the dancer's movement to create our own character that moved and copied the actions of the dancer, we did this by using the timeline to move along the frames by using the next frame button, this gave us an accurate measurement of where and how the dancer was moving every second. The short time between frames was beneficial because it meant that our character was only moving slightly every frame, this made the video as a whole much smoother, the short frame times the better! This method was very laborious and was quite boring but the end result was worth it and the outcome looked smooth the transitions between frames were tight.

This was the timeline. (Window, Timeline) We created two new video layers one for the footage of the man dancing and one for the layer on which we would draw our character. This was a pretty simple process and a good skill to learn even though it was quite laborious I enjoyed using the timeline for the first time in Adobe Photoshop. 

After we made the gif animation we moved onto created a movie animation. We did this by importing some footage into photoshop after we created a new layer. The first thing we had to do was open the timeline in the window options, once we did this we could create a new video layer which sat on the top of our footage. On this layer we could draw whatever we wanted I decided to draw the man dancing as a stick figure and use the new frame button to redraw the stick figure on each frame to replicate the mans actions as he was dancing. This was a fairly short tutorial but one which I enjoyed and although I did not quite finish the whole video I feel as though I have gained a lot of experience in using frames in photoshop which before I never knew was possible!

Photoshop tutorial: Animated GIF (PHOTOSHOP TIMELINE)

Firstly, we set up our document. We created a custom document because of the unique height and width of the pixels, we used a 300 pixels width by a 100 pixel height. this gave us lots of room to be able to play with and left plenty of room for our animation to animate in. The resolution didn't matter as we were only creating a quick and simple gif. 

This is where we learn a bit more about the timeline option in photoshop. To start to create the animation we created 10 different video layers and create a different object on every layer, I chose to create circles because i felt that this was a quick and simple gif using geometric shapes and i was focused on learning how to create the gif rather than the final outcome. Once we had our layers we selected the create frame animation button; this sent all of our layers onto one single layer on the timeline. we then selected the drop down menu on the right hand side of the timeline and selected the make all layers button. This made the 10 separate layer we once had in the order we made them in. We could then go onto creating the actual animation. 

These are some stages of development of my animated GIF, first we had to set up the photoshop document. we created a work space of 300 pixels by 100 pixels this is the normal size of most animated gifs. Once we had it set up it was time to start.

Step 1: We went to Window and selected Timeline.
Step 2: We created ten different layers and I used a geometric shape on each layer.
Step 3: Select Create key frame animation button
Step 4: A single layer appears, go to the drop down menu on the right hand side and select the button which creates the layers separately so there are more than 1.
Step 5: Mess around with the timing by selecting all of the layers and clicking on the time at the bottom of one of the layers in this case we changed it to 0.1 frames per second.

I was very happy with this tutorial, I learned a new skill that I never new was possible on photoshop (Animation) I found that the process of creating an animated gif was quite simple and useful for future if I were to create website designs with gifs which feature on the design. This is definitely one to remember for the future and I enjoyed the tutorial in general, I felt that I learned a lot from
this tutorial.

Type Setting and Negative space analysis

This layout uses shapes with text to create this modernist layout which also uses the grid system. The font used is very strong and looks great next to the single column of text. It seems that the emphasis is placed a lot more on layouts than the information conveyed to me this information strikes me a post modern thinking but I feel that the design as a whole is very modern with beautifully set type with a great use of font styles to convey a message. 

The negative space is something that I also find professional about this layout, the negative space created next to the type with the strong title is great and keeps the page looking clean and crisp. Blank space like this is something that I want to create in my magazine because of the professionalism it creates and the space awareness is shows I have when designing my magazine.

"UCA FARNHAM" : Modernist layout analysis

I have chosen to analyse this double page layout mainly because of it's layout, the use of a full page as kind of a title page for the upcoming information is a very smart idea. This not only adds a page of interest and an opportunity to experiment with bold font and title layout but it also splits the magazine into sections which makes the magazine easier to understand and follow in general. 

There is another obvious colour theme of white, orange and green the colours work very well together and aren't too contrasting because of this the page looks relaxed and smooth with information on one page and a bigger title page on the other. However, I do not like the type setting on the right hand side. The reason behind this is I feel that the text is too wide and chunky which makes the text harder to read 4 vertical columns may have worked better against the strong title page which I feel would have made the layout look more professional. 

"BUILD" : Inspiration for my magazine

"BUILD", a graphic design company who's outcomes are mainly of a modern style. Their design style is very inspiring to me mainly because of the layout. A grid system is obviously used in all of their publications, posters and flyers this makes for a great modernist appearance which I love so much; along with the crisp type setting that they use makes for a great visually stimulating piece of design. Not a lot of text is used and the main focus is on the layout and the colour scheme, because of this we experience quite a minimalist style which I also find very inspiring. 

The colour scheme's they use are deliberately bold and powerful, the colour scheme is used to enhance a piece of design rather than just to stand out and be in your face this is an extension of the fact that they are a very modernist influenced company. I want to use these techniques in my magazine, I think that the bold colours are smart and next to either black or white the colours work well and give a more contemporary look. Bright and or primary colours are used with bolder darker colours for a great contrast which also works very well when put together. 

Their style and influence is very inspiring to me and they are definitely people that I want to inspire to be like, when creating my new visual language publication I will bare in mind their bold style and how they use strong colour to make certain things attend out on their covers. Their type setting is something that also inspires me, they use a lot of helvetica in their work because of their modernist appeal and style. 

"New intro" : SWERVE

This is only an 8 second video but I find it inspiring because of how the type is brought into the workspace, I researched SWERVE's animation videos to get idea for future animation and transitions of type. The type seems to fly in from the line that is in the middle of the workspace, this draws our eye to the middle of the page to the animation; the black background also works well with the white and red to give a bold and striking appearance which is quite modern in my view. This Modernist animation is very clean cut and professional and the use of font is very aesthetically pleasing. Separating the style with a line has separated the type and gave each bit it's own space. After effects has been used in the making of this video the transitions of the text and the timing is floors and along with the music which is very deliberately relatable to SWERVE the whole intro is very clean and professional and is a great example of someone advertising their Youtube channel well through a modernist styled animation. 

"Livi boss, T-shirt design" : SWERVE

 This is a T-shirt design for LIVI that swerve created, I would describe the design as being post modern/modern because of the lack of grid system used but the whole design is quite grounded and contemporary. i love the process swerve goes through and the fact that he starts out with a sketch on paper and ends up with a fully vectored design. The presentation of the design is also interesting and he uses and image of a t-shirt as a test for his design, he splits the page with a green to separate the blankness of the white. The colour scheme has worked well in the final presentation and the use of his design in the background has also worked well opacity has helped to create interest in the background. SWERVE starts with a sketch he created earlier on paper, he then imports it onto Illustrator and uses the pen tool to trace his design and tidy it up to create the text and different elements of his design until he ends up with a very successful looking t-shirt design for "Levis". The process he goes through is great from sketch to vector to final outcome all in one video. 

For future designs and ideas I am going to use this process of sketch to vector, this works very well not only for t-shirt design like this one but with any design created. SWERVE finishes by using a photograph of a T-shirt and his illustration together to create an actual visual of what the design would look like. 

"How to make a burger" : SWERVE

This is one of my favourite videos by SWERVE. He creates an illustration of a burger with the different elements of the burger all visible on the design. He uses the pen tool to create this entire design and some geometric shapes to create thing like the Tomatoes and the onions. He sets a guide for himself in the form of a dotted line running through the burger this helps him organise the different elements of the design so the illustration looks as professional as possible. 

I like this illustration not just for the style and the professional outcome but also for the creation process itself. SWERVE's videos take me through a journey of how he created the entire design we can see first hand how he made the different elements of the design and this to me is much more important that the actual outcome itself. His use of the pen tool is inspiring and is something I am going to try in future with a bigger illustration.

SWERVE uses the Pen tool to create the different ingredients that go into the burger, he uses shadows and highlights which he also creates using the pen tool to give his design some depth. His use of type setting and font next to his illustration works well and fits in well with the style of his illustration, the style of the illustration is very realistic but it still has some aspects of how it has been illustrated. the chalkboard text that he uses next to his burger creates a menu styles design as a whole which works well as a theme. I thin that this is a very successful illustration that uses type, font and illustration brought together to create a chalkboard styles menu design. 

"Fast Food" : SWERVE

SWERVE starts with a simple line drawing using the pen tool and then moves on to filling with layer upon layer of different colour and effects using Adobe illustrator he creates magnificent illustrations and meanings behind his work. Once he has his line drawing and some basic colour he starts adding features like shadows and highlights to give the illustration presence and an atmosphere. 

His use of font with the illustration is inspiring and his font resembles the illustration and matches the  style of this particular illustration. However it isn't just the quality of the illustration that I love; the making of the video is also great using after effects to import different music and mix it with the video of him creating the design. 

Geomanist font : SWERVE

Another video by SWERVE! This one is a short demonstration of a free downloadable font called GEOMANIST, I decided to use this font in my magazine because of it's bold appearance and range of different styles, the font overall is clear and professional and works well on most backgrounds. This seems like a good substitute of helvetica or could work well together on my magazine. When I watched the video and the type setting I instantly liked it; swerve advertises the font by using the font on that actual advert with I thought was clever. The effects were also of good standard and the eclipse that runs over the font and magnifies the font is a great effect and one I want to learn how to create in future. I went to the free download of the font in the link that is provided below the video. I used this font on my magazine because of it's clear and bold crisp look which ties in with my modernist style. 

As a substitution of Helvetica for a bold aesthetic this font will work well on my magazine as headers and subheaders on various pages. I am very happy that I have found this video it has helped me to find a font that I usually wouldn't have found. 

"How to make a seamless background" : SWERVE

This is a tutorial by swerve on how to make a pattern background. I will use this tutorial to create my own pattern which I will use in my magazine as a theme of my masthead. I like how he uses a combination of simple geometric shapes and the pen tool to create different elements of the background. This tutorial is very useful in learning how to make a background; swerve's videos are always interesting and easy to follow. His step by step guides are very handy in learning Adobe programmes and I will definitely use these in the future.