My Graphic Design Logos
I used the computer application ‘FIGMA’ and the tools within it to create the logos for each of the 26 words that we were given to create for this task. I chose the Instagram post for the size of each logo. I used a variety of shapes and stuck to a colour pallet of the colours pink, green and yellow. I wanted to keep my logos simple but bold and effective so that they can be easily understood by the viewer. I am happy with the final outcome.
Contextual Research
I watched the conference video by Matt Griffin. I found it interesting how Griffin finds personal work to be the most important thing in becoming a successful illustrator or graphic designer. Its intriguing that he describes his work area as a ‘playground’ as it is also a place of struggling ideas and problem solving with sketches that aren’t working. He experiments with lots of mediums and makes lots of different textures within his sketchbook. It is strange to see how these small tasks for Griffin leads to his successful drawings and illustrations. it is interesting how he uses books and storylines for inspiration to create illustrations that represent the character and environment such as ‘Pan’s Labyrinth.’ The technique of layering and building up the illustration with multiple layers on procreate and messing around with the tools is an eye opener that shows his final designs do not happen overnight. He has done illustrations for ‘Dune’ book by penguin and this is amazing as he said that was his dream goal in life. His advice for an illustrator is to play, be curious, wrestle and keep it going until you get the desired finish. This shows me to never just give up if an illustration is not perfect yet.
Steve Simpson
Simpson is an English illustrator and graphic designer is most well known for his hand lettering packaging and whimsical characters. He has a distinctive style that was inspired by the arts and crafts movement and 50’s advertising. His illustrations have appeared in lots of different areas such as whiskey bottles, cough bottles, board games, hot sauces and ceramic saucers. He has won 50 awards for packaging and design and spoken at many conferences and workshops across the world. He particularly enjoys old style letters and old school tattoo patterns. He uses the application ‘Affinity Designer’ on his iPad to create his designs and illustrations. He is inspired by the repeated patterns and tones by William Morris and David Klein’s 1950/60’s posters with typography and graphic shapes. He also admires Jim flora’s book illustrations. I find it interesting that he takes old folk art such as the day of the dead and Korean folk art and makes it his own. All of Simpson’s projects begin through sketchbooks which allows him to explore typography styles and experiment with ideas that he comes up with. Sometimes he has projects that are solely based on sketchbooks. He created Ed Sheeran’s tour poster and added in personal objects that belong to Ed within the final design. He also created designs for toys such as a pirate tea set. The biggest project that he has ever worked on was creating an illustration for 100 day of the dead sugar skulls and healthy candy packaging for Halloween.
I really love Simpsons illustrations as the old style drawing is intriguing and unique compared to a lot of other designers and illustrators nowadays who focus more on modern designs. I love the amount of detail he pays attention to particularly the level of patterns within the background of his packaging. I admire how he does this without overwhelming the packaging so that there is just thee right balance of elements for the viewer to take in.
Tara O’Brien
O’Brien is an Irish, Dublin based illustrator who creates illustrations for female empowerment, body positivity and racial diversity. Her work often portrays women of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities in support of political movements such as #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter and March for Choice. She often draws herself within her illustrations. She discovered feminism groups and spoke to many women using Tumblr which inspired her to illustrate the importance of representation in society and show that body size does not matter. She first began doing portrait commissions and started to explore lots of different styles. Once she found her style, she went on to make book illustrations with characters based on people who are hugely unrepresented in the media. O’Brien’s main aim is to challenge the usual rules within illustrations when creating a character’s body size which I really admire as there is not enough of this being done in society. Her work has featured in the TV show ‘Shrills’. I really love the variety of colour and body sizes as well as ethnicities that she has within her illustrations. Her work give me a nice feeling and I love how considerate she is as an illustrator to try and boost the confidence of women who may not feel good about themselves because of society’s expectations. I love how each of her characters appear beautiful and merge in with the beauty of flowers and nature. I love to see that this will hopefully be inspiring to other illustrators to represent all people, not just what the media portrays as the perfect body shape.