Kate Moross

Kate Moross is one of my favourite typographers, her work has a really lively and modern feel, and her style is quite similar to mine in that it is quite abstract and there is a lot going on. I really like the piece above, created as an advert for a health and beauty firm, I like the way that she has used negative space to create a stroke around the words that create her picture, and also the way that she has used a black background where most people who make calligram's would use a white or coloured background, this contrasts with the white outline, creating a precise image.

This typography in this piece I think is really interesting, I like it because all of the different layers of colour make it quite diverse. Also I really like the way that the outline around the outside of the image isn't a perfect square but is instead an abstract shape.

This is the piece by Kate Moross that I think is most relevant to this project, because the way that she's used the things that scare people to make up the letters is quite subtle, for example the way she used the tentacle to make the letters s and u in issue as one joined up letter, rather than maybe using two separate objects for each letter. I also like the way that parts of the image are 3D and other parts are 2D

Joshua Scott

Joshua Scott is a typographer who I briefly stumbled across during my last project, while I was researching Vladimir Koncar, he uses the same style and technique but often on a larger scale using small objects. The piece above called Toy Alphabet is really interesting, I like the way that the small objects creates a really cool texture on the letters. Also the way that he outlines the first three letters, is because that is the way that you learn the alphabet as a child, and the use of very bold, the vibrant colours of the toys are really fascinating and beautiful, and the overlapping of the toys has led to high contrast. It would be really interesting to use different assorted objects to create an alphabet of my own, since my last alphabet was good but could've used some improvement, but was also really enjoyable to create.

David Carson

In this post I am concentrating on the work of David Carson, and extremely talented contemporary illustrator and typographer, who has done a huge amount for the graphic art community, his work in the grunge scene is legendary, and he is one of the most famous graphic designers of all time. The piece above is a prime example of his work, it uses a black and white theme, and really fascinating textures in the typography, and contrasting levels.

 I think the piece above is really interesting, I like the way that it takes a while to read and understand it,  and the chaos of it really triggers your mind to try to understand it, it would be interesting to experiment with word placements, and separating words into different layouts. I think that this piece is really important to the current project because it is almost like a code and is quite subtle. Also the font that he uses almost reminds me of a typewriter, and the background texture looks like the kind of paper they would use in the 1920s.

David Carson continues to impress me with almost every piece of his that I find, I love the complex shapes around the letters of his name. I really like the way that the white in the image is not actually quite white, its a creme, and the way that the drips fall upwards almost suggest a reverse of what is normal, and the way that the line between the black and the white is faded is really brilliant.

This is one of the covers of the magazine Raygun, designed by David Carson. I really like the typography of the title, and the irregularities in the title are really punk and interesting. The title Inspired me to create the 'damned' title for my own magazine, I really like the way that the typography on the left side of the page is some of my favourite bands, and I love the styling of the photography, its so grunge its brilliant.

Magazine Project Evaluation

1. Write an explanation of your brief - what did you have to do? How did you come up with the ideas for this project? 

The brief for my magazine project was to create a culture magazine that would be printed and presented as a professional outcome. To come up with the ideas for my project, I experimented with different layouts and decided which layouts would be best for my magazine, having taken inspiration from the magazines I have read and enjoyed reading.

2. Write about the creative 'journey' of the project - how did the project and ideas evolve from start to finish through experimentation and research?

At the beginning of the project I had quite limited ideas about what style or aspect of culture I should focus on. Because of this I created a culture mind map for my magazine, covering music, fashion, travel and food, and I tried to bring out ideas that would help me develop my project to a professionally styled magazine. I decided that I should stick to one of my main interests which is music, more specifically punk music. From this point I decided to not only focus on punk music but also integrate aspects of punk culture from different time periods/areas. Still struggling with inspiration for this topic I created a MoodBoard about punk, the images for which I sourced from Google images. At this point all of my creative juices were flowing, and I felt inspired to create an attractive, professional image, and started developing my ideas for each aspect of the magazine; for example the title, the front page image and so on.

3. Who inspired your final outcomes? - You MUST talk about who has inspired your work - include images and links where possible. 

My final outcomes where inspired by many different sources. I used inspiration from underground punk 'zines' for the layout and general black and white theme of my magazine. I also used inspiration from Oscar Wilson for my Front page image, from his work on calligrams for london tourism and images, and I used a lot of the inspiration

4. What do you think you have done well? What has worked? Are you happy with your final outcomes?

5. What do you think you could have improved in your final outcome? - you need to talk about something, nobody is perfect!

6. Conclusion - overall how did you find the project? Would you like to use any of the skills or techniques in the future?

Magazine Front Page image

For the front page of my magazine I needed an original image. I considered who my target audience would be, and I decided that the majority of people who would be reading my magazine would be boys that are interested in punk culture, punk music and punk girls, because of this I decided to mix all of these ideas together, and I planned to photograph an attractive punk girl, wearing punk fashion clothing,  and use the image for the front cover. However, while I was touching up the image, I realised that it would look better if it was more artistic, integrating my previous work (inspired by Oscar Wilson) and turning my photo into a calligram using photoshop. While creating the image, I realised I really liked the Contrast between the diverse colours of the photograph, and the bold, blocky colours of the typography and I decided to leave gaps in the typography to leave some texture in the image. I then added the same background texture as will be in the magazine.

'Unedited Photo'

'Edit Part 1'

'Edit Part 2'

'Edit Part 3'

'Edit Part 4'

'Fin'

This is the finished piece, the way that it will look on the cover of my magazine, except without the magazine title, and any featured articles.

Layout Analysis

Matthew Midgley

 Matthew Midgley is a contemporary artist who works with mixed media. This piece, called Swedish Meatballs & Gravy I find really interesting, as the contrast between the lettuce and the chips and the lindon berries, really brightens up the top half of the image. He used a fineliner to create a stroke around the illustration, and watercolours to add in the colours.

This image of the converse all star trainer has some really interesting textures. I really like the denim-esque texture of the canvas, and the texture of the laces is also quite subtle but adds a lot to the image. I find his use of fine liners to create a really precise stroke really interesting. His illustrations, in contrast to the explosive, expressive work of Georgina Luck, is generally quite neat and precise