Wednesday 21 December 2011

Unit 1, Retail Graphics Project: Packaging research


One- The package is made from recycled paper and moulded pulp that has been shaped to fit perfectly around the shoes.
Two- Has a thick cardboard tray on the bottom to hold the product and a see-through plastic cover so the customer can easily see the product inside.
  Three- A plastic container that the shoes slide into from the top with a screw on lid.
 Four- The package is made up of a red cloth material bag and a cardboard box that slides into it.
Five- Is a very unique box that has two pull out draws on either side for the shoes to be kept in.

Saturday 10 December 2011

Unit 1, Retail Graphics Project: Final Logo


To create my final logo I used the hand drawn version which I scanned into illustrator and then lived traced it so I could edit and add colours to it etc. I chose to add the outline of a city into my logo along the top as my shop theme is based around urban culture. I made my logo based on a shape that bent inwards from the top and bottom to give it a more memorable and stylish design so it would stand out more. The main part of the logo is the shop name that I drew in the middle in big, bold and capital letters as it is the most important, along the bottom of the arch I decided to write what my shop would be selling so if people see the logo around they will know what kind of product it is for. I chose to fill the shop name in navy blue as it is uni-sex, versatile and a calm colour that could symbolize the colour of electricity or the colour of the night sky.

Monday 5 December 2011

Unit 1, Retail Graphics Project: Cross stitch experiment


To create my cross stitch experiment I used a used a page in Adobe Illustrator that was completely covered in crosses, pasted my logo in and sent it to the back. I then zoomed in and carefully selected all the crosses that were within the area of my logo and changed the colour of them. Next I deleted all the other black crosses on the page and made any adjustments needed to make my logo clearer.

Unit 1, Retail Graphics Project: Logo Developments


I picked out my favourite ideas from the previous illustrator logo experiments and my initial ideas to put together three new logos. For the bottom logo I used the city scape, the scribble effect and the lightening bolt shape from previous ideas. I chose to experiment with adding in the lightening bolts in place of the letter I as the name is electric city, also the scribble effect could be symbolizing the electric current running through the writing. For the other two logos I used the handmade one I had scanned in. The first one was kept mainly the same except for the colour that I added to the writing. For the second idea I also coloured in the writing and the windows to add a glowing effect from the city scape. I deleted the original writing and replaced it with the scribble effect writing and added the lightening bolts in place of the letter I, This would help represent the shop name and to give it a more complex design.

Unit 1,Retail Graphics Project: Fineliner Logo Development

This is my original/hand draw design I chose to be my final logo for my clothing and shoe shop.

Unit 1, Retail Graphics Project: Illustrator logo experiments

I used different tools, colours, shapes, fonts etc, to experiment with different ideas and to help give me inspiration for my final logo.


One- I used the line tool to create the lightening blot shape. I typed each letter separately, in the font Myriad Pro, so it was easier to adjust the positioning .
Two- I used the Calibri font for my shop name and changed the outline colour to grey to give it more of an effect. I then added an outline of a city I created using the line tool behind the text.
Three- I created a rectangle shape, added a gradient to the fill, so I could then place the text over the top and use the clipping mask tool. Next i used the same city outline from the previous logo, used the rotate tool, dragged the point of roation to the place i wanted, set the angle to 20 degrees and copied it around the point until it reached the original position.
Four- I used the same text from the first logo idea, grouped it and added effects-3D- extrude and bevel.
Five- I used the same city outline as in previous ideas, this time adding windows with the rectangle tool. I then added the shop name three times underneath in  different font styles; 1- american typwriter, 2- Jass LET plain: 1.0, 3-stencil.
Six- I typed out my shop name in font Tahoma, i changed the colour to navy blue and added; effect-stylize-scribble.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Unit 1, Retail Graphics Project: Logo analysis


Superdry Bag, T-shirt, Hoody, Logo

The Superdry clothes shop logo is a typographical design, the typeface used is bold and sans serif. The logo is used on the front of tops and hoodies, featured on clothes and shopping bags. The designer of the logo is unknown but the company was set up in 1985 and is Japanese. The main logo is all black, however there are lots of different colours and versions of it, the different colours are used to match the item of clothing. The logo features Japanese writing, therefore showing it is a Japanese company. It is a simple logo because it is just a piece of type, it is successful because it is easily recognized, can be used in many different colours and is stylish. The main target audience is young adults. This logo may influence my own design in a way that the logo can still be recognized not matter what colour.


The converse logo is a typo and graphic design, one of the fonts featured is bold, serif and in capitals and the other is in italics. There is a graphic of a big star in the middle of the logo, this may suggest that the product is star quality. The logo is added to the side of the footwear and on the shoe box packaging. Chuck Taylor introduced the all star shoe & logo in 1918 as he loved basketball and wanted to create a shoe it required. Though the converse company was originally started by Marquis Converse in 1908. The colours of the converse logo vary very slightly but the main logo is navy blue, red and black. It shows the name of the shoe designer and the brand name. It is a quite complex logo as it includes two different typefaces, a graphic image, circular shape and a patterned border. It is successful  because it is unique, stylish and memorable. The target audience is mainly young adults and children.

Hollister Jacket, Bag, Logo, Top

The Hollister logo is a typo and graphic design, one of the fonts is big, bold and sans serif, the other smaller text is regular serif. There is also a graphic of a seagull flying above the typeface, this may be because the style of the is beachy, casual or it may represent the free spirited Californian lifestyle. The Hollister bird is featured on all of the clothes where as the Hollister logo is only featured on some t-shirts and hoodies and on the sown in badge/label. The logo was designed by John Hollister in 1922 when the first shop was opened in southern California. The original logo is a red brown colour with the word 'california' in grey. The colours vary slightly to match the colour of the clothes its added to, the colours are most likely used because they are natural/calm colours which match the style/theme of the shop. The logo shows that it is a Californian company and may give the impression of a beachy style. It is a fairly simple logo as it features some typeface and a graphic, i think it is a successful design because it is bold, simple and memorable. The target audience of the logo is teenagers.

Timberland Boots, Shoe box, Logo, Bag

The Timberland logo is another typo and graphic logo designs, the one big font used is bold and serif. There is a graphic of a tree to the left of the word, this may be because the style of the shop is outdoors clothing and products or that it matches the name of the shop 'Timberland'. The graphic of the tree is featured of the side of the shoes, clothes and packaging. In 1973 the Swartz family changed the name of the shop from Abington shoe company to Timberland and at the same time creating the new logo. The original logo is all black in colour but varies to be orange/yellow on some products, the colours are most likely used because the are plain, natural and versatile which match the outdoors theme of the shop. The logo gives the impression of an outdoors and environmentally friendly product. It is a simple design which only includes the shop name and graphic, it is very successful because it is appropriate to the shop and it is memorable. The target audience of the logo is mainly men or people that love the outdoors.



Friday 11 November 2011

Unit 1, Retail Graphics Project: Moodboard

The shop I am designing is going to sell clothes and shoes for teenagers, boys and girls. The following images show ideas that ill use to help inspire my company logo, packaging, advertisement campaign and techniques and materials.


One- converse logo Two- Hollister logo Three- Abercrombie & Fitch logo Four- Superdry logo 
Five- Vans Logo Six-Timberland logo Seven- Lacoste logo Eight- Allsaints logo


One- H & M shopping bag Two- Vans shoe box Three- Abercrombie & Fitch shopping bag 
Four- Timberland shoe box/bag Five- Hollister shopping bag Six- JD shopping bag Seven- Converse shoe box


One- Hollister poster Two- Timberland shoes advertisement Three- H&M billboard advertisement Four- Nike Shoes poster Five- Superdry Clothes advertisement Six- Nike shoes billboard advertisement

Thursday 10 November 2011

Unit 1, Retail Graphics Project: Mindmap

We created a class Mindmap on the board to help give each other ideas for the types of shop, shop names, Packaging ideas and target audiences we could choose for our own shop.

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Final Poster

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Further Development

Once I had picked the idea i wanted to be my final piece i had to develop it further.


1. I wanted a retro style background so i chose to experiment using stripes of different colours and thicknesses. I decided to used the same colours as the colours of the space invaders characters.
2.Since my design is retro games/space invaders/pacman i decided to make a space related background.
3. I used the same idea as my initial poster background idea but copied the space invaders right across and doubled up each row to fill up the whole background.



Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Development


1. I researched more Si Scott images and decided i should spend a lot more time on adding detail and to focus on one point that the lines are drawn from to make it look like the swirls are growing out from the word.
2. I changed the the previous quote from 'power' to 'its never game over' as the style of writing reminded me of one you would see on a computer game. I also did some research on old games and added space invaders and pacman to my design.
3. I researched more Rob Ryan images and realised that his style of work is more literal so i decided to change the surrounding patterns to leaves and added the world in the centre.

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Heebok Lee

I used Adobe Illustrator to create words & phrases that relate to my theme in the style of Heebok Lee. I could add/change effects, size, transparency and use lots of other tools to give a sense of movement. 


I used charcoal to create words that relate to my posters theme in the style of Heebok Lee by rubbing/smudging them to get a sense of movement. I also added colour into two of the words to get an even better effect.

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: 3D Type


My space alphabet

I used various different metal, silver objects and lights to create the alphabet in a space theme.

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Food Fonts

These are my Ed Ruscha inspired food fonts.


To create the word 'sweet' I used Fruitellas which I shaped into each letter. For the word 'bread' i used flour to draw the letters in using my fingers.

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Si Scott

This is my Si Scott inspired piece of typography

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Initial Ideas

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Oscar Wilson- Calligram

This is my Oscar Wilson inspired calligram.


For my idea i got given a mug to draw which i then filled with words related to it. I then traced my work and scanned it into the computer. I used Adobe Illustrator to Live Trace my work so i could then edit the fill and line colours on the computer.

Unit 1, Typography Poster Project: Rob Ryan Stencil

How I made them: 
In the dark room i had to arrange my stencil onto a plain piece of photo paper underneath the enlarger before exposing it to light for 3 seconds.
Next I had to put my print into the developer for 1 minute, the stop bath for 1 minute, the fixer for 2 minutes then finally wash it in clean water and put it in the print dryer.