This blog is dedicated to the overall journey that I went through to end up with a suitable identity for the Dressing the Screen: The Rise of Fashion Film event. 

Looking at this homepage, you straight away get a feel for their brand. Whilst simple it doesnt take away from the images which I guess is important. When it comes to creating my brand identity I think id want more of an impact whther that be a slekker colour scheme or a more adventuress typeface. The actual layout of the homepage for the fahion week is simple and maybe a little uninviting. More interaction would go a long way and using the framed corners feature is a big oppurtunity for that interactivity in my mind, with motion graphics?

The fact that the brand style is fairly simple, made up of basicaly colour, type and corner graphics, means that there posters could be hard to attract impact, this however isnt the case as they have cleverly took into account dimensions. The squarer format suits the corner graphics and brings attention to the full bleed image. Simple yet affective and that is something that I could look into when designing my brand identity.

Again what this branding lacks in creativity and engunity it more than makes up for in practicality. The re-occuring square is a work again with the catalogue, where you would normally see a longer a4/a3 dimension, these simply arnt afraid to stick to their guns and be different, after all fashion is about pushing the boundries.

Even the way it is bounded has a spark about it. Usually a catalogue is either soft or hard back yet the introduction of big/bold binder rings suggests change and impact. They have managed to push the boundries outside of the print design therefore not compromising the visuals themselves.

- That simplicity isnt always a bad way, and can still stand out through thinking beyond the digital design.

- Keeping dark tones allows for the impact of priomary colours?.

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This brand identity has nothing to do with fashion or the world of the arts, yet this stood out to me and I was (and still) am intregued by its visual beauty.

The brand is very simple when you break it down into what its made up of: typeface, colour scheme and one visual principle. Yet it is the visual principle that is so striking that it is all it needs. The impact of the two contrasting powders is genius and demands attention at every view, this is the goal surely for any brand and even though its to do with electricals there is much to be learned from analysing this well excuted concept.

The collision seen is made up through flat graphics and also photography/image manipulation which gives you texture and a three dimension feel. Without being overpowering it speaks for its self and in turn symbolises a catalyist reaction which appeals to almost every advertisable product on the market. This is truely thinking outside the box and has inspired me to think in terms of more fusion and chaos. The white background i feel works better as it is as if the powder will land on a black canvas however the reversed colour is only a minor moan at what is a near flawless design.

The identity doesnt just get lost in the one photograph, not only is it easily applied to pckaging and flat surfaces but also to the electronic design and function also. As you can see on the far right, the two shapes meeting is in use of the app and visual intructs all th ewhile maintaining its visual brand, sub-consciously the user it experience WorldPlay Zinc without been aware.

not only is the bow tie shape in use, but an array of cool lines and pointers, all different yet all the same priciple.

the use of two such strong colours bothes well for any text that needs to be applied. You can categories without over doing leading or weight, simply using a gold or turquoise ensures full impact on both white and black foundations.

What can I take away from analysing this brand?
- That I shouldnt be afraid to explore a third dimension approach in my own identity.

- Letting the one brilliant effect do all the work is key in creating a brand that doesnt try to hard.

- that one key peice of visual design needs to be applicable to an erray of media's and mediums.

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This is the main poster for this evernt. Whilst is mindly pleasing on the eye, it doesnt make me want to attend and i believe that comes from the flatness, in both imagery and type. I feel you can get away with one or the other but both for me doesnt cut it. I will have to try and avoid thi smistake as I need mine to have impact and visual stimulus.

Whilst this is the invite (and therefore needs consistancy) I feel it has the same problem. It does seem to have some branding that stands out in the three circles however putting them in a muted colour is a waste in my opinion. Maybe bringing those three circles to life could be what this identity needs? linking them to a symbolic jesture? However one thing I do like about these visuals is they dont seem forced in terms of layout. Whilst the black is prominant it works well with the lite image and also forms a seemless base for text. If i want mine to be the same ill need to figure out the logistics of the black and white images, the amount of text and the dimensions of the poster (as I may re-think poster dimensions due to the London Fashion Week research).

seeing a printed poster secures my feelings from when I saw it flat. I just feel some colour or movement is needed to ignite that creative visual that will get peoples attention.

Having a spread to do my self, I was intrested to see th layout this student has used. It has the redeeming principles of the circles yet for me still fails in terms of layout. there is no intrest in the way its put together. my eyes wouldnt want to even scan over these mondaine blocks of type.

For mine I need the structure to match the (hopefully) creativity of the brand identity that I will have created.

This research section is key in making me aware of previous attempts at a clean, elegant approach to the fashion/film scene. I hope to maybe pick up pointers and insperation from all aspects of relavant design, however I feel it will be just as crucial to take note of principles and visuals that I believe don't work. 

What can I take away from analysing this brand?
- That playing it safe will simply put my identity in amongst the crowd.

- Compared to the Worlplay Zinc branding, The step up in class apparent and I will need to not settle for an 'ok' concept, but rather push for an inspurational solution.

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This is a rough mindmap of intial possibilities that I jotted down after initially reading through the brief. I put this in as it is intresting to look back on the thoughts back then compared with your final project.

The idea behind these sketches were to come up with an overall principle to my identity.

This first one is to have a grual fade across full bleed images. I feel that if I have black and white images a level of consitancy will work its self out. The only problems I see with this the trouble when it comes to print, banding with gradients is a problem and done wrong can ruin the whole thing. The up side is that a foundation for type is always created.

On the left I'm thinking of a down to up direction of the gradient, where as on the right, the full bleed image will play host to a left to right gradiual sweep?

This idea is to create a geometric structure that plays host to images and text. I feel if each segment where visually diiferent, a visual balance would form and play host to an overall fashion event of elegance and solidarity.

The top sketch shows the rough outline for the catalogie. Im hoping that the equilibrium of the imagary will free up the center diamond for the title? The segment edges may feel a little seamed together so im thinking if I use a framed concept like I saw and analyised in the London Fashion Week research, it will make each segment pop.

If the front to the catalogue goes to plan, i'd like to carry on the theme inside. Im hoping a minimal amount of copy will allow for the geometric structure to stretch across at least one full page for impact. Above I have planned for three variantions that I think could be a possibility.

Thinking ahead, I thought it could be nice to use this identity throughout, like the film credits. The film stills would be perfect for the triangles/diamonds and the rest would open up for text?

My next vision for the identity has been done to death... the full bleed image with a querky rectangular banner across hosting the title, however what would set mine apart is the fact that this one will be reverable. The plan would be that no matter which way up you held it would read fine. I'd use the symetrical structure in my favour. In my mind it could work in either two ways...

 

- One full bleed image that is reflected (like ta couple provided by the british council) and the diagonal width banner that is on its side?

 

- Or a full width banner that would be in front of two images that would be faced down/up, giving the effect of an impossible upside down look upon the front cover.

To match the diagonal banner on the front, I thought a slant at the bottom of the images inside would work well. Instead of a full bleed more room will be created for prehaps a more creative text layout?

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This is a rough sketch just trying to get my juices flowing when it came to cming up with a typeface that looked different from the norm.

 

This had a big influence on the final result.

My standard type structure came from ITC Avant Garde, the letters on their own are elegant and easily legiblehowever there is a default feel that screams ease and meadiority. To get a typeface to have impact when its such a thin structure will take a few abstract principles, and thats what I have done to the three examples above. The 'D' takes the route of a 45 degree drag that carries through to the next letetr, this will be then incresed further when kerning is in place. The 'S' you see above didn't get used as the double up effect used in the middle (whilst looks ok at this size) looses clarity when smaller. Adding a little bit of intrege to the typeface is key and even if its adding another bar to the 'H' it makes all the difference.

This shows the finished structure in its most basic form, I feel some kind of effect will be needed to bring it out.

Trying to arrange the type into a nice structure was harder than expected. The wirey frame means its harder to get impact and so I added this header and footer to try and establish it, in my mind it doesnt quite work. I'll come back to the type element at a later date.

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In my early visions for this project I thought it could be intresting to bring in a swiis sort of style to the equation, the circular area would give Muller Brockmann vibes. It would be clean, stand out and be easy to stretch throughout a vast amount of medias.

I added the early stages of the type to the poster foundation, however it looked very weak and not enough of a statement. I even tried overlaying a coloured circle for visual impact however I think at this point I ma fighting a losing battle. The wirey structure of both the type and circle rings are not strong enough as an identity. When you consider this next to the WorldPlay Zinc identity that I previously researched, its laughable.

 

This was a triangular pattern that I thought could be an underlining feature throughout the identity, in the right environment I feel this could bolster the identity and help the cause?

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The time came to do something about the type, as I knew without a complete typeface and colour scheme there was no way I could built a foundation for an identity. I tried balck and gold as it has intrege, style, class and elegance which is what the brief wanted. The next step was bringing the type to life...

Olly moss has been an inspiration for me for a number of years, and when I saw his noir/noise style of visual effect it always made me curious on how to make it. I felt at this stage that it was maybe worth a shot bring this to my DTS type.

The first stage was to add noise to the slightly golden type. Too much noise would bring in an interference of RGB colours which defeats the purpose.

Once i had the noise I ned that shading would be key, but to complimant the shading the type would have to interlock to give the shadow effect.

As you can see above, using a layer mask to brush the bottom of the letters acts a s a legible foundation for the next row of letters.

This was my type as individual lines of text. Not effective apart but worked better when bought together.

Although the leading was still no close enough this screen grab gives a good idea. The problem I now faced came the fact that the structure of three lines was still to big as a representative of the brand. To combat this I moved around 'THE' to sit in as more of a visual action.

Shows the layer mask in effect without the black background.

Underlining 'THE' was the thing that was missing in my opinion, once it was added I found the visual a lot more established.

I tried a simple perspective excersise just give some third dimension effect to the title. Whilst intresting I doubt it will be practical to use across an erray of placement.

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Following on from early sketch, I decided to explore the geometric theme that could run as my identity. The first part was to get the basic structure to see how the balance worked out.

Once I had the placeholder shapes in place, I then added black & white images that I edited and converted to TIFF's. To fill the midle diamond I placed in my text. The ovrall feel felt a little disjointed and so I added the frame crosses on the joints in gold to tie it together a litte more. I feel another solution will have to be brought to the table.

Another way I tried doing a poster layout was to leave the bottom triangles in place to leaev di-cut effect in turn leaving pleanty of space above for type etc. I cant see this style working for an identity because I feel the visual impact just isn't there.

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The secondary line to DTS is The Rise of Fashion Film, which I will need to incorperate along with the title. Using the same techniques as the main title text (see below) I created a typographic style for the secondary type in a silver to contrast with the gold. I believe this could work as an individual brand however I'm not sure of the visual when paired witht he already unique typographic element.

As I suspected, the two different type statements together looked overkill, and so I tried my The Rise of Fashion Film on its own, I believe this worked well, especially with a moody background image to finish it off. It feels noir however it doesnt say Dressing the Screen and that is unacceptable.

Obviously both type styles cant work together and so I toned down the secondary type to place underneith the title. Whilst the distance is stilll to be determined, its definatly more along the right lines.

This is a poster concept that I thought could maybe work as a secondary brand however I straight away realised that too much branding would cause confusion. I think is is time to get rid of the secondary typography and focus more on the main title and getting a poster together.

From an early stage I always thought this image would make a nice poster visual. It has impact and is classy which is taylor made for a poster such as DRESSING THE SCREEN. Im still not 100% sure on the logistics so i'll move things around until a solution is found.

After several variants, I decided the way the head sits it would be perfect to interact with the title. The only practical way this could work however would be in the horizontal form. once I had a solid visual basis it was time to add the information. Getting the right balance of type was a pain however I feel by trying many different solutions, the final was fit for purpose.

Whilst trying to come up with a more general portrait poster I stumbled upon coming up with a key element to my final brand identity. The soft overlayed effect of cloth/fabric definatly adds another dimension to the visuals.

This shows the early construction of a poster layout idea that stemmed from general sketches. The idea originally was to create a corner for type that was created by a golden divider line.

In my first couple of attempts I tried to incorparate 3 sections, two for images and one for text. The montage section maybe too much for a poster as the viewer has to take it all in in those few passing moments. This is starting to look rather forced and that is something I need to avoid desprately.

As the three sections were a little too much, I felt using a full page image would act as not only a main feature but also the foundation for text. I could imagine this format as part of a set with a different feature image everytime, however as an individual it looks thame and rather week for what should be a strong identity.

I will try to find an alternate way to display images for my poster.

It was obvious that a change was needed in terms of the poster format. Here i tried to seamless;y create a full image that looked like the photography had taken into accont the type at the top, giving the illusion of a professional photoshoot especially for DTS. Once I had created a backdrop amongst the manakins I subtly added in the cloth texture that i discovered earlier.

To make sure I wasnt overlooking my previous montage concept, I tried with this new manakin visual however my initial concerns were correct it seemed. It just didnt fit.

I started to like the idea of this golden beem as a key visual in my overal brand, and as there was interactivity with the landscape poster (the models head and the title) I decided to maybe have the beem cutting through different parts of the manakins, giving the effect of depth. The above shot shows the beem before I added depth.

This shows the poster around the 2/3rds stage. as you can see it has the beem in and behind the manakins. This also shows the title tex,t all be it without the event information, which will be added later.

overall this visual is a lot more pleasing to me without trying too hard.

If these golden beems were going to play a part in my brand I would need to create a few different lengths and fades. To create them I used photoshop and saved them as PNG's so opacity was in play. I then added the noise to give that noir theme that runs throughout the rest of my identity.

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This shows the golden beems placed as the seem between the images. In my opinion it works a lot better than the crosses that were in plac earlier on in development. The effect of energy shooting throughout the brand has finally been achieved with this feature. I would like to maybe add to more minimal beems in the top left and bottom right corners to balance it out (without iver doing it).

To add a little texture to the black, I created a black line pattern which ended with it not working out too well due to the introduction of a moody background image.

A quite liked the textured idea and seen as fashion is about textures and colours I decided to implament that to the backcover. It adds intreuge to the back in my opinion and the bemms running throughout like lectricity, to me say elegance and energy. Again, im trying keep the same criteria throughout the brand to achieve an overall unique and consistant brand.

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I then added the beems to a simple invite that I created for the event. Using the same principles, I simply applied them to certain edges.

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After trying the welcome sign in the typeface I created earlier I quickly saw that it looked flat and boring (even with the fabric background)

So in a desperate attempt I tried re structuring the word and split it in two... this didn't help the cause.

I gathered my thoughts and decided not to over complicate the sinage. This was my solution, it does what it says on the tin and for a welcome sign tahts really alll that is needed.

Upon reflection I decided I really needed a banner that read 'Welcome' as the main title. This banner was my solution, the first attempt saw me use the geometric clash as seen on the catalogue front, however it became forced and so I opted for the simple fusion of the two images. It still has the diamond identity so there is no chance of an inconsistant brand. I imagine this out side the main entrance.

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The interia of the building in which this event would take place is crucial. So these mood boards would be scattered around just to set the tone. Although there is no text, the sheer presence of tgolden beems interacting with the subjects establishes the DTS brand and speaks a thousand words. I felt these could be nice touch and I hope to mock these up in my finals as an environmental appliance.

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When it came to doing the inside spreads I felt it had to stay true to the cover and the rest of the identity, however some freedom was needed, so I put in place a more centered 2 column grid with the Serif headings to be off-set to the left for visual intregue. I also feel it worked well as the diamond coming across is almost pushing it out. The dimaond image has impact due to its size and placement however it may be too square and not disruptive enough? after all this fashion event is about pushing the boundries and being abstract!

Expanded, the image has much more impact and feeds directly into the front cover layout. Seen as it relates to the front cover, the beems of gold act as sealent to the image, the subtle impact of gold finishes off the black and white image in my opinion.

To try the more extreme approach I put the diamond together to form a massive statement across the page. This leads to several problems like impeding the text. Whilst using a variation of imagery and plain diamonds could work, I feel its trying to hard and therefore consiquences in losing the elegance set-up by the Bodoni typeface and text structure.

The introduction page was left until I had established a spread, so not to cross visual wires. In the end I went for the simple, centered structure of the 2 column grid, however on its own it felt to empty and protencious and so I added the low opacity image of the woman in the smokey, flowing dress to add a subtle intrest of visual stimulation. Not too much tough, as I didnt want to take away from the information its self.

The second two page spread talks about a fashion designer and so I thought it only fitting that a picture of both him and his work would be acceptable. The previous spread had only one image so placement was a little more freeing, where as having two causes spacial problems if there both needing impact. I tried overhanging one and having the smaller image sitting more central, this resulted in no balance and no where for the heading to go.

Upon further shuffling of the components I found that the bigger image worked well spreading across both pages at the top. This then left much more room for the secondary image and the heading. The key was to make it different from the last page as repetition would spell disaster.

Im not sure lowering the opacity is wise either, although I'm trying to highlight the designer from his work, the inconsistancey is too much and directs attention away from the whole spread.

With a few tweaks I managed to keep both images the same opacity and visually intresting. The two now sit side-by-side, leaving room for the heading far right. The flow of the page is something im happy with and is my favourite out of the two double pages.

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The structure of the film credit page was difficult. Whilst in my early sketches I had a structure worked out, in reality it didn't come together as well as i'd have liked. Instead I tried a different layout.

The title for me needed to be in the DTS font, as it would be the main title in representing the film. To give it consistency I needed to do the same procedure as the main title type.

The type layout I used is fairly simple and arranged left. The imagery is a little more complex and so I thought it best to keep it simple.

 

A subtle use of the original ITC Avant Garde was a good foundation for the categories and also worked well with the Bodoni. Creating a serif/san-serif contrast.

This was the finished result.