Final Project

28th October-18th November 2019 (week 10-13)
Daryl Pung Xi Ern (0333743)
Advanced Typography Final Project

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INSTRUCTIONS

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FINAL PROJECT 

Week 10

During this week we were given the time to think about our final project's topic. At first I was thinking about redesigning Chinese New Year greetings cards since they're usually quite bland and don't reflect Chinese designs at all, but Mr Vinod said that the idea is too common. I then decided to redesign the Zoo Negara logo and also make a typeface to create a poster. 

Here's my proposal:

After I did my proposal, I started on my sketch. I used my drawing tablet to draw since I found it a lot easier.

Fig. 1.1 Sketches

Fig. 1.2 Refined version of the first sketch

After listening to Mr Vinod's feedback I fixed the aspects that needed to fixed and I finalized it in illustrator. He told me that I only need to make the capital letters.

Fig. 1.3 Typeface process on illustrator

Fig. 1.4 Finalized typeface

Once I finished the typeface, I worked on the redesign of the Zoo Negara logo. I was looking at a few examples from other zoos for inspiration.

Fig. 1.5 Logo Inspiration 1

Fig. 1.6 Logo Inspiration 2

Fig. 1.7 Logo Inspiration 3

I then got the idea to create animal silhouettes to interact with the word "Zoo".

Fig. 1.8 Making animal silhouettes in illustrator 

 After looking at my inspirations, I realised that one thing they all have in common is that their words are all very bold. So, I created a bold design of the word "zoo" with the animals in each letter. I also created a tiger head as it is one of the most infamous animals that Malaysia is known for.

Fig. 1.9 Finalized Logo

For my first poster draft, I thought of having a visual that looked like the logo and the typeface. I used the pen tool in illustrator to create an abstract illustration of a tiger sitting down.

Fig. 1.10 Zoo Negara poster 1st draft

Mr Vinod then advised me to put my logo and typeface on an image instead of a vector illustration to create more contrast. I also decided to change my headline to"Get closer to wildlife".

Here are my other drafts:

Fig. 1.11 Zoo Negara poster 2nd draft

Fig. 1.12 Zoo Negara poster 3rd draft

Fig. 1.13 Zoo Negara poster 4th draft (landscape)

Fig. 1.14 Zoo Negara poster 5th draft (portrait)

1.15 Zoo Negara Poster Design 1

1.16 Zoo Negara Poster Design 2

1.17 Zoo Negara Poster Design 3

Mr Vinod told me to work on the first design. He advised me to have one dominant color and to also make my words bigger, since that's the main focus of the poster.

1.18 Zoo Negara yellow layout

1.19 Zoo Negara green layout

1.20 Zoo Negara dark blue layout

1.21 Zoo Negara red layout

1.22 Zoo Negara teal layout

After I showed him 4 different designs and colors, he told me to use the color (teal)of the 5th poster on all of them.

1.23 Final Zoo Negara Poster 1

1.24 Final Zoo Negara Poster 2

1.25 Final Zoo Negara Poster 3

1.24 Final Zoo Negara Poster 4

1.25 Final Zoo Negara Poster 5

1.23 Final Zoo Negara Advertisement mock up 

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FEEDBACK

Week 10
Mr Vinod's comment on facebook regarding my initial idea to make Chinese New Year cards: A lot of students have done it before. Try thinking of something better

After I told Mr Vinod that I would redesign Zoo Negara's logo, he suggested that I should also create a typeface that looks like a tiger and combine the two to create a poster.

Week 11
I showed Mr Vinod the design of my refined sketch of the typeface and he said that it's starting to look more like a tiger. However, I should fix the letter 'E' and also make the tail of 'Q' longer.

Week 12
Mr Vinod said that my logo was good, however, he then mentioned on facebook that "Use your logo and typeface on an image, not another vector illustration.You need contrast against the logo you have."

Week 13
Mr Vinod told me to make my words bigger and to have one dominant color. Additionally, he also said to keep the colors of the poster the same as the one with the horn bill.

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REFLECTION

Experience 
Week 10
It wasn't easy trying to find a typographic problem to fix, and a lot of the ideas I thought of seemed to be too common. Especially remaking cards.

Week 11
It was a little hard to draw the silhouettes of the animals with a pen tool since I'm much more used to the brush tool in photoshop, but I slowly got the hang of it.

Week 12
I wasn't sure why but I had a really hard time trying to come up with layouts for the poster. A lot of my drafts just didn't sit right with me.

Week 13
I realised that I was placing my focus on the wrong aspect. Instead of prioritizing my typeface I made, I kept thinking of how I could make the images of animals more captivating.

Observations
Week 10
After looking at the Zoo Negara logo, I realised just how many mistakes there were. I don't think I would've noticed it if it weren't for typography class.

Week 11
I've learned how to maintain consistency in my typeface, even if the stripes are random in each letter, but it still has a distinct design.

Week 12
I tried to experiment with different styles for the poster, from something ominous to a more minimalist design. Exploring with these styles made me more aware of color and layout.
Week 13
By enlarging the words twice the size that it originally was, it created a much more impacting effect. Also by positioning the animals below the word gave it a much more mysterious and suspenseful connotations to the words.

Findings
Week 10
I've discovered more shortcut keys in illustrator that was beneficial to me.

Week 11
A lot of zoo logos have the main word 'zoo' in large, bold letters, while they have the city/country underneath it in thinner letters.

Week 12
Posters come in a lot of different sizes, so I tried a portrait and landscape layout to see how else I could place the elements. It was quite interesting to see how I could change the placing of the elements and the size of the canvas while still maintaining the same "look".

Week 13
Mr Vinod taught me a quick and easy way to automatically change the colors of an image into a single color: by using the duotone option in Photoshop. I feel like that knowledge helped me save a lot of time.

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FURTHER READING
Article 1: https://piktochart.com/blog/how-to-make-a-poster/
How To Make An Eye-Catching and Effective Poster

I read an article called "How to make an eye-catching and effective poster" by Kimberly Mak. One thing that stood out to me in particular is the importance of headlines. In the article she mentioned that it's a pivotal factor in capturing the audience's attention. While the design of the poster is equally important, but the main message and how you deliver it is what enhances the elements around it.

Article 2: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michellegreenwald/2014/07/10/secrets-of-7-of-the-most-effective-ad-campaigns/#282d6f1320c2
Secrets Of 7 Of The Most Effective Ad Campaigns 

I read an article called "Secrets Of 7 Of The Most Effective Ad Campaigns" by Michelle Greenwald. The author of the article showed a lot of examples of ads having minimal designs, but were still effective in capturing the audience's attention.

The Nike ad stood out to me the most because the main focus on the ad is the man, who doesn't look particularly fit or like the average muscled models you see in most sports advertisements, but the words above the man basically tells the audience that no matter your shape or size everyone is capable to achieving greatness if they really push themselves to do it. It got me thinking if I could somehow incorporate this kind of advertising into my posters.