26 January 2012

Japanese Takeaway Inspiration


Designed by Yotam Bezalel Studio, Israel 


Designed by Holly Chong a senior undergrad Graphic Design major at SCAD, Atlanta

Both of these are really good examples of takeaway packaging designed for japanese cuisine. I really like the simplicity of the Sushi and Sake designs, which use minimal text, bold colours and a strong modern typeface. The takeaway bag is also a really clever idea, where the chopsticks attach to the bag. The bamboo holder is also a good design element, as it subtly references japanese style, without being cliche or tacky. The curved shapes of the plastic packaging also feel very modern and sleek, and I like the use of the text on it's side. 

The Kyoto express packaging is also a really good design, and instead of going for a very sleek and modern look, it incorporates elements of japanese nature and modern design to create some really unique branding. The use of images, overlaid with japanese text creates something very interesting, and the colours, although not associated with japanese culture as strongly as the colours of brands like Yo Sushi or Wagamama, connotes that the food will be fresh and beautifully presented. The actual designs of the packaging have very clean and modern lines, which balances the use of nature and prettiness in the photography. 

25 January 2012

Restaurant Identity Research



Designed by Jessica Hische

The branding of this restaurant is beautiful, and includes a lot of detail without being too cluttered. The use of text, neutral colour and illustration is incredibly stylish, and connotes the classiness of the restaurant. The branding is sophisticated and modern, whilst still retaining a nostalgic feel. Although I don't think this style will work for my restaurant, the elements of sophistication are useful to me, and Jessica Hische's work in general is inspiring. 



Grill'd Restaurant

The brand identity for Grill'd is one that I feel is very effective, as the design elements are quite unique and fun, and feel very different from most restaurants which are more formal. The line illustrations add humour and appeal to a broad audience, and make the atmosphere of the restaurant very relaxed, which I also feel the script type of the logo does as well. I love the menu design as well, which is unconventional as it feels hand drawn and does not use a grid layout, again conveying the relaxed style of the brand. 
The simple use of colours seems to be a theme for most restaurant I look at, and the browns and reds are really effective together. 






The Illegal burger branding is possibly my favourite ever. The feel of the design is a mixture of adult and child like, which is a humorous balance they seem to have perfected, with the evil burger illustrations. It doesn't look like it takes itself too seriously. The layout of the menu is really effective, and combines the illustrations and text in a really stylish and simple manner. I also love the typefaces, and the typographic elements of the menu in the speech bubble. This use of typography is something I want to explore in my designs. 

Lecture Notes - Media Specificty







23 January 2012

Restaurant Brand Identities



Yo Sushi - Probably the most well known Japanese restaurant in the UK, Yo Sushi's branding is bold, and colourful. I'd describe it's identity as quite vibrant and youthful, targeting a young, creative market interested in a unique food concept. The pink and orange colours work well with the typeface, and it resembles the imagery often found in modern Japan.




The Wagamama brand contrasts Yo Sushi's identity, and overall, the look is far more sophisticated, formal, and neutral. It is difficult to ascertain a very specific audience, instead, Wagamama appeals to everyone. Despite the logo being quite simple, the design still alludes to the origins of the cuisine via the red star, so it is much more subtle. 

For my own work, I would like it to fall somewhere in between the two styles I've looked at here. I want to include some formal and unfussy elements, whilst still maintaining an element of fun and light heartedness so that it appeals to my target market. 

21 January 2012

COP Essay - Fine Art vs Graphic Design

Fine art and graphic design are two creative fields with a long standing rivalry. The relationship between the two is complicated, due to their history, and their influence within a socio-cultural context. Both belong to the same industry, yet each have an awareness of their importance which aims to belittle the other's worth. But should either field be assigned more value?
Fine art and Graphic Design on paper, are polar opposites. Fine art serves no practical purpose, whilst Graphic Design is all about it. Fine art's foremost aim is to create something of beauty and personal meaning, and Graphic Design, whilst not lacking in aesthetics, is primarily concerned with communicating something successfully. Fine art is considered to be 'high art' - something belonging to the cultural elite whilst Graphic Design is generally considered as 'low or popular art' due to the fact that is distributed on a mass scale, and appreciated by a more 'common' audience.
Of course, these are the crudest descriptions, and in fact, it is far less black and white when you explore further into both fields. 
In fact, before industrialisation took place in the early nineteenth century, 'the names of certain graphic artists and illustrators… were well known to their audiences….but as steam powered mechanical means of reproduction brought images into widespread circulation, a cultural change took place.'(Drucker, McVarish, year, p.134) This seems to suggest that in the 1800's there was no such divide between fine art and graphic design, and as opposed to the anonymity of modern graphic design, they were actually celebrated in a similar manner to fine artists, and their work was as covetable as a painting or a sculpture. This also credits the creation of means of mass reproduction with the cultural divide that has evolved. So what is so wrong with a piece of work being a part of many as opposed to a limited edition? If a design is mass produced, it immediately loses a sense of it's creation, whereas with fine art, if you are viewing the original in a gallery , then the craft involved in it's creation is evident and, as Walter Benjamins states 'the presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity' (Benjamins, 2005. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, [online] Available at: Marxists/http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm [Accessed 19th January 2012]) 
Whilst there is usually only one production of a work of art, giving it an aura of being special and authentic, unless you possess the original of a piece of graphic design, it immediately loses a sense of it's original quality. 
It is also easy to shrug off the amount of work that has gone into something mass produced, particularly in a digital era, where the means to create a piece of graphic design are easily accessible to a wide audience. 
Another grey area in fine art and graphic design is the idea of their function or purpose, or lack thereof. 
Some say that fine art is based simply on aesthetics and nothing else, but Howard Risatti argues ' it seems to me that what the fine arts do, as a group, is"communicate"…but when I use the term communicate, I mean it in the general sense that something is transmitted from the object to the beholder; whether this something is as ineffable as a feeling…or as tangible as hard quantifiable information' (Rissatti, 2007, p.97 ) So, in this way, fine art and graphic design are being placed in a similar category. Fine art is not simply about making something pretty to look at -  with movements such as social realism, for example, serious issues were being addressed through the medium of painting, such as social and racial injustice. They are of invaluable significance because they are creating an awareness, and in doing so in a visual, figurative manner, it becomes more affecting. 
Does this form of communication then, become more important than what is communicated through graphic design? 
In many cases, what graphic design must communicate, through no fault of it's own, is everyday information necessary for us to function in life. Signage is the best example of necessary graphic design  - without it we would be lost. Just because it is not conveying something deep or historical should not belittle it, as something like a road sign is one of the most useful pieces of design somebody could come across. Graphic design is everywhere, so to deny it's importance is to say that you are capable of living without it, which is of course impossible and ridiculous.
Of course, when talking about matters concerning design, skill is, or should be, one of the greatest factors in discerning the quality and worth of something. And it is here where it becomes tricky to argue for either side more strongly, as both fields have produced both outstanding works, and also questionable works that lack quality. 
This is something that has Milton Glaser, the designer responsible for the iconic 'I Heart NY' and many other respected works in Graphics, addressed in an interview, when questioned about his views on the subject. 
'When does ‘high art’ meet ‘low art?’ At this encounter is everything above the line ‘art’ and everything below ‘non-art’? What shall we call the material below the line craft, applied art, commercial art, decoration? Who invented this question? Who is served by the distinction? Does it matter? The search for ‘high art’ is a theological issue… I have a modest proposal; why don’t we discard the word ‘art’ and replace it with the word ‘work?’ Those objects made with care and extraordinary talent we can call ‘great work’, those deserving special attention, but not breathtaking, we call ‘good work’. Honest, appropriately made objects without special distinction we name ‘work’ alone. And what remains deserves the title ‘bad work’. One simple fact encourages me in this proposal; we value a good rug, a beautiful book, or a good poster over any bad painting.' (Unspecified. (2005). Commercial Art Interview. Available: http://miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/mg_index.html. [Last accessed 21st Jan 2012.])
The skills needed for fine art are generally not acquired so much as inherent - particularly in British culture, as a school child, painting and drawing is taught from an early age, and it is often from there that people develop a love and a talent for art and design. 

Nicholas Middleton's work Protest, 2009, is a photorealist painting that demonstrates immense technical ability. The craft involved in depicting this scene so meticulously is an example of how great and valuable fine art can be. 
This is not to say that graphic design isn't a talent people are born with, but to become a successful designer, skills must be cultivated and built upon, and are often derived from having an 
interest and affinity with art. 
For example, something like the British Road Signage, created from 1957-1967 by designers Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert, takes incredible skill to create, and there are many elements to take into consideration. It must be readable from a distance and be able to be understood by both native and foreign travellers, so typography has to be employed correctly, universally recognisable symbols are required to be created, and an understanding of grids and layouts is required. The fundamental principles of both practices are the same, and so, as Milton Glaser says, it is unfair to discriminate against works of equal quality, simply because of their choice of format. 
To conclude, whilst both fields have contributed to and are significant to society, neither should be assigned a greater value, and instead, should be allowed to co-exist, dispensing of the ego, and focusing on developing and nurturing a rich culture of talented artists and designers.  

Bibliography
1.Drucker, J. and McVarish, E. (2009) Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide, New Jersey, Pearson Education Inc.
2.(Benjamins, 2005. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, [online] Available at: Marxists/http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm [Accessed 19th January 2012]) 
3.Howard Rissati (2007). A Theory of Craft: Function and Aesthetic Expression. America: The University of North Carolina Press. 97.
4.Unspecified. (2005). Commercial Art Interview. Available: http://miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/mg_index.html. [Last accessed 21st Jan 2012.])
Images taken from 
Unknown. (2006). Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert. Available: http://designmuseum.org/design/jock-kinneir-margaret-calvert. Last accessed 21st January 2012.
Ian Jackson. (2010). John Moores Painting Prize 2010 - Shortlist. Available: http://www.artinliverpool.com/?p=13316. Last accessed 21st January 2012.

19 January 2012

Graphic Design in the Public Domain




These are the examples I have found of interesting graphic design that is accessible to all in the public domain, I chose these because they are incredibly clever and innovative, and actually manage to catch the viewers attention, which can often be difficult because there is so much visual information out there to bombard the public.

16 January 2012

Japanese Food Imagery







It's all very organised, colourful and often quite cutesy and animated, which is something I will have to incorporate into my designs if I choose to continue with my japanese food subject. I love all the colours and how bold everything is, and I think their idea that the aesthetics of the food matter just as much as the taste fits in perfectly with this brief. 

13 January 2012

My Kind of Infographic

This Baking 911 info graph poster is one of the best examples I've found online of an info graphic based on food. Instead of statistics it's based on problems and solutions, but they have been categorised into possible problems that can be found in baking, which I think is more refreshing and useful than a load of statistics.

Food Infographic Research








Seeing as my theme is food based, I thought it would better to research into food info graphics to find inspiration for how to communicate my categories in a clear and interesting way.
Design wise, I feel like the ones that work best are 'Culinary Tools', 'Breakfast Breakdown' and 'Anatomy of a cupcake'. I feel like Anatomy of a cupcake is a unique idea, and presenting it as a photographic visual as opposed to something digital sets it apart and makes it more engaging, although I understand this would not be practical where statistics are involved.

11 January 2012

Lecture Notes - The History of Type







The 15th Century is a pivotal point in the history of type. Whilst many credit the beginning of moveable type with Johann Gutenberg and his creation of the Gutenberg Print Press, they are wrong to assume that he invented the printing press and metal type, as these technologies had been prevalent for several hundred years in China. What Gutenberg did do was make the technologies far more practical and useable.
He 'perfected a workable system of moveable type, developing an ingenious process employing a separate matrix, or mold, for each alphabet character, from which metal types could be hand-cast in great quantities. These types could then be assembled into a page of text, and imprinted to paper via special inks and a printing press of his own design. For the first time, a technical system of mass production was applied to publishing.'

From that point, different typefaces began to emerge and develop within different eras. The earliest were the humanist typefaces, created to emulate the handwriting of italian renaissance philosophers. It superceded black letter and gothic typefaces,which were more difficult to read, and modernised them. 
Characterisitcs included a inflection in the e, and notable examples include Jenson, Centaur, Kennerly and Jersey.


Old style fonts, first designed in the 1500's took their forms from the Venetian style, and signify a classic, renaissance and sophisticated style. Examples include Palatino, Perpetua and Goudy Old Style.  


Transitional typefaces began to emerge in the 17th/18th century, around the period of enlightenment, where science and mathematical practices became the norm, as opposed to the previous heavily religious culture. This meant that the typefaces being designed became much more logically crafted. 
Notable examples include the Romain Du Roi, a royal typeface designed by Phillip Grandjean. The typeface was formed on the principles of order. 
William Caslon is another typeface designer from the transitional period, whose designs were characterised by crisp, upright characters. 

Modern/Didone typefaces are attributed to Fiormin Didot, in 1784, but one of the most influential didone typefaces was created by Giambattista Bodoni, whose characterisitcs were high contrast, abrupt serifs and vertical axis, and is often associated with elegance and style, which is why it is one of the typefaces used on the front covers of Vogue magazine. 


Slab serif/Egyptian fonts were seen in the 1800s, and were a product of industrialisation. The forms are large and clunky in their design, and were created that way to grab a readers attention in a bustling and chaotic environment which began to appear in the industrial era. Fat Face and Clarendon are examples of typefaces inspired by the slab serif fonts, and one of the most widely recognised uses of the typeface is in Milton Glaser's I Heart New York, which employs a typewriter style of slab serif. 


Sans Serif typefaces began to appear since the 1800s, but were developed and seen more in the modernist era, due to its principles of design being linked with the anti decoration ideals of modernism. 
Akzidenz Grotesk is an early example of the sans serif typeface, whilst other examples such as Bayer and Gill Sans are also widely recognised. 


There have also been backlashes to these developments in type, such as the creation of serif type Times New Roman in 1932, which references older roman fonts, technically making it an example of post modernism , whilst the typefaces used in the Nazi propaganda used black letter type. 


One of the most famous and ubiquitous typefaces seen today is Helvetica, which was designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger. It's design is sharp, minimalist and slick, which is why it has been employed to communicate so many things, from transport signs to corporate brand identities.