Graphic Design - Level 6

When designing my website, I decided that I wanted to design to be minimal and not too overbearing so that it didn’t distract from the work. This decision was influenced by a consideration of form and function, and it prioritises function.   When I started uni, I thought David Carson was the best graphic designer ever, and when I read Massimo Vignelli’s cannon, I thought his modernist functional design principles were massively restrictive and too rigorous. Fast forwarding to now, I agree with them much more. One of the the things that really stuck with me from Vignelli’s Cannon was him saying that you only need 12 typefaces; to me this seemed crazy because I was enjoying playing around with all these decorative contemporary fonts. Ultimately taking all this into account, it seemed fitting to choose Helvetica Neue as a typeface for my self branding, because of the irony , but also because it shows my development and how much my approach to design has developed. Despite...

As I developed my website I made a few changes to refine the design and user experience- my name at the top did was animated to scroll horizontally but I changed this to be static so that it looked a bit more professional and so it was easier to click on it and go back to the home page. I changed the layout from having to columns on the homepage, to 1 so that the images were larger and the overall effect was bolder.   I gave coloured backgrounds to the pages for each project. The design was very minimal and monochromatic, this remained the same for the homepage, however adding colour to the project pages made them feel a bit more distinct and vibrant I added a mailto link on the contact page so that people can click on it and its easier to contact me.  

Rimowa -  It was really interesting for Commission to go through the presentation that they used to pitch for the Rimowa re-brand. Straight off the bat, one of the most interesting aspects was seeing the differences in their initial concepts, and the finished result, Chris addressed this by highlighting that when you’re pitching for a project and you win, that doesn’t mean that your designs will be applied as they are in the pitch, it means that you’ve won the opportunity to further work on it, and in Commission’s case, the project ended up developing in a few ways, a lot of this down to the CEO’s vision for the identity.   What also really struck me was how incredibly refined and thorough Commission’s presentation was, they created so many different aspects of collateral for the brand, and each was meticulously produced and photographed. They mentioned that they don’t normally do pitches, however this one they couldn’t refuse, and every member of the studio worked on the...

As the visual identity for Rimowa was developed, it was prepared into a presentation ready to pitch to the design studio who actually rebranded Rimowa 2 years ago - Commission.   Logo - The logo did not change after its developments in the initial ideas stage, this is because it is effective and appropriate.   Posters - Developing from the initial idea of suggesting the grooves of the suitcase on the poster, this set of posters does this, but in a sleeker and more mechanical way. The grooves run across the page at an angle, referencing the diagonal grid systems often found in bauhaus design, and they were outlined instead of filled in, in order to reduce the contrast on the page and to further communicate this idea of space.   Notebook - The design of the notebook was not changed, except for the addition of 2 metal pins at the top which would hold it together. These were added in because they evoke the aluminium of   the suitcases themselves, and therefo...

Logotype - Considering the luxury aesthetic this branding needed to convey, as well as the simplicity of modernist design, it was quickly decided that the logotype needed to be simple and modern. Despite this, it still needed to have something distinct and original about it; simply typesetting the name of the brand in an appropriate sans serif font may convey the right tone, however it doesn’t add to the overall identity. Having a distinct form or signifying aspect really creates more of a distinct brand. In Rimowa’s previous logo, one interesting aspect was the way the ‘W’ intersected and overlapped in the middle. This idea of utilising the intersecting W in more contemporary logotype was visualised in the font Anisette Bold (1). The W was also mirrored and utilised for the M which balanced out the logo effectively. This logotype was way too bold, so using a lighter weight was experimented with (2), and also applying rounded edges (3). These lines with rounded edges felt very evocati...

Poster - The main development stage of the poster design saw an experimentation with colour and the layout of the typography. From the initial red and blue design, an orange and blue design was made (1), orange and blue are complimentary colours so they matched a little better, and the orange was a bit less intense than the red. Next, the blue was toned down to a lavender hue and the orange was swapped out for a green (2) this colour combination was a bit less intense however the blue and green combination had quite a natural feel to it which didn’t match the tone of the exhibition. Finally, the lavender colour was paired with the orange (3) which ultimately gave the tone and, and the lavender contrasted the orange much less than the darker blue, giving a slightly more subdued composition. Although these 2 colours are very bright, when interjected with the grey, the design is not too overbearing. The final adjustments to the poster design were laying out the typography; with the title...