Week Six: Rationale

Not our cup of tea: Vote yes to flag change. 

This project responds to the themes of ihi and wihi, the complementary terms associated with emotional and psychological behaviour, where I have explored the use of rhetorical approaches to conceptually interpret and communicate the societal issue of The New Zealand flag change. The  stance that I have taken on this issue is for flag change, where the underlying concept that I am depicting through my two posters is the need for individuality and independence to be shown in our flag. 

  
The persuasive and rhetorical techniques that I have included convey a theme of individuality and independence, where the idea that New Zealand is too attached to Britain, and we have now had enough, is portrayed within the posters. These techniques contribute to an overall concept that our current flag and its ties to Britain, is not our cup of tea. 

Within these persuasive and rhetorical techniques lie the concepts of pathos, logos and ethos, where pathos appeals to the emotions, logos refers to logical conclusions and ethos can be seen as the source of the message, where trust and credibility come into play. I have taken these concepts into consideration when designing my two posters, where for pathos I have capitalised on the emotion of national pride and patriotism. For logos I have looked at conveying a sense of logic in the visuals, where they are predominantly British to emphasise that there is a need for change in order to make the flag our own and 'New Zealand.' Finally, for ethos, I have used imagery that is easily recognisable to create a sense of trust through this concept of familiarity. 

It is through visual language that I have achieved my concept, with the use of rhetoric devices to persuade the viewer to take my stance. For my first poster I have predominantly utilised homage, using the style of the Sex Pistols God save the queen album cover in a manner that gives a nod to the original. However, I have put a twist on the original image, using be technique of subversion to manipulate the original design to better suit my concept. This included the addition of the arm with a cup of tea and the replacement of the old text with 'not our cup of tea.' Further colour changes were further made, where this also emphasis's the juxtaposition between the style, which is very punk rock, and the subject matter, which is rather delicate and dainty. For my second poster, I have used metonymy, where the red background gives an automatic feeling of urgency, with reference to stop signs. Furthermore, I have ever so subtly used the technique of satire, where the use of a very British saying to communicate the an idea that is negative toward them is very ironic. The position of the tea stain higher than the teapot is a further use of irony, where a stain would usually sit underneath, however I have positioned it above, as if to communicate an uprise or change in dominance. 

To further my visual language I looked to fundamental design principles, where for poster 1 I predominantly used contrast to portray the idea of irony, with the queen having connotations with delicacy and decadency and the punk rock style being much more rebellious, this was done to bring emphasis to the idea that New Zealand can not be represented by Britain, and the queen, but rather, it is an exaggeration of rebellion, where we need to create our own representation of ourselves. This is justified through the use of colour to provide visual clues, where the greeny yellow background represents this idea of 'yuck' or 'gross' tea, further emphasising 'not our cup of tea.' The white and light pink are used to convey this delicate perception of the queen and tea parties, where the contrasting black strokes over top bring a sense of dominance over it. In poster 2 I used balance and scale to create a hierarchy, creating visual clues as to what visual messages had dominance over others. 

In terms of the application of the grid, I utilised it in a way that would structure each element of the poster in a balanced manner, where the composition was simple and refined, in order for the images to be the focal point, where, this way, they could be easily read and interpreted. Furthermore, I looked into the use of the golden triangle for the second poster.  My typographic approach reflected both the style, for poster one, and the subject matter, for poster two. In both posters I had a very crafted typography element that was suited to the overall essence of each poster, followed by very simple and refined sub headings. I wanted to create a hierarchy in the typography, where it was obvious that the crafted typography, where I created newspaper cut out text for poster one and a coffee stain text for poster two, was the prominent message, and the simple sans-serif font was the sub-text that justified or explained the main message. 

Throughout this design process I have learnt that critique and feedback are a very effective way to further your project, an aspect of deigning that can not go a miss, where often it is useful to get another pair of eyes to analyse and interpret your work, to see things you have missed, or even question your motives.  These processes will inform my approach in future projects by providing me with an idea of what is needed to gain the most helpful and constructive critique, as I believe critique and feedback has been the most substantial way for me to develop my project and make it the best it can be. 

Week Five: Critique Continued

Overnight I created some new concepts based on the feedback that I had gained from Tulia, where I took what she said into consideration and applied it to some new concepts, that didn't stray too far from my original, because I did like the overall look in the originals. Below is what I came up with. 

I then took all these concepts to Matt to gain some further feedback and again a fresh eye other than my own. I explained what Tulia said, and Matt agreed, there was too much trying to be said in my previous poster's. I also came to the realisation that in the first concept (labelled 1) of these ones is just the same, repeating myself but without the cups, so I ditched this and moved on. The feedback led me to the 4th concept (labelled 2), where I just need to experiment a little more with composition and style. Where I also need to bring in some additional text as a call to action, because I have the main text, some sub-text/tagline and now I need more of an explanation that tells the view what to do. 

Furthermore, I became confused about what to do with my second poster now, where I couldn't quite do the 'our cup of tea' vs 'not our cup of tea' anymore. It then became clear to me that all I needed to do is do the 'not our cup of tea' in two ways. Again, I was over complicating it. So I looked back at a few of my old concepts and found this one. 

Which kid of resembles God save the queen from the Sex Pistols..

So I decided I would take these two concepts, mash them together, and this would be my second poster concept. 

Week Five: Critique and Feedback from Intrim

Today during class I gained some feedback from Tulia, where she said that my poster is trying to say too many things, that all mean the same. The concept has been over complicated and needs to be brought back and simplified. So back to the drawing board, where I need to take my current poster and alter it slightly so it is simpler and straight forward with its argument. This process advanced me in my project by getting an outside eye that is both well trained and fresh to look at my work to see whether or not it is communicating my argument well. Sometimes you can become to engrossed in your work to see that its over done, where you know what everything means, but others won't. This is a prime example of that, and now that I have got this feedback I can strip my poster back and make the message clear.  

Week Four: Analysing latest two poster concepts

Below I analysed my two most developed and successful poster designs of late, to see where the faults lay and to see if my argument was communicated well enough. I followed the questions below:

• What does each element within your composition bring? What does it represent? > literal, symbolic, metaphoric.

• What does the combination of elements say?

• How does the arrangement of the elements affect meaning?

• What tone / atmosphere is emerging? Is this appropriate for your message?

• Look at the Fundamental Design Principles > which are you using? How can they be used more effectively?

• What hierarchies are you utilising? > dark/light, bold/sketchy, detailed/simple. large/small, foreground/background. Contrast provides interest.

Each element in this poster represents the idea of independence and the need to express our individuality as a country in our flag. The symbolism of the cup is a play on the idea that tea parties and tea is a British thing. In addition to this, I have brought in the use of the kiwifruit as a symbol of something 'New Zealand'. It also works in with the sub-text 'put some kiwi in our flag'.

In combination, the elements say that we are over the influence that the British have over us as a country, where we need to become independent and have our own voice, show whats really 'us' as a country. This is shown in they way its taking something that is a British concept and making it something our own, enforcing that this is 'our cup of tea'. The elements are arranged with a hierarchy, where the main text, which presents the main idea takes up majority of the page, with the image of the tea cup as the secondary element that justifies/backs up/explains the text, followed by additional elements that also give justification/explanation to the concept.  The atmosphere is very bright and vibrant, and very fresh looking, which is appropriate for the message, where the green has connotations with New Zealand's clean green reputation. Furthermore, it gives the impression of 'go'. In terms of Fundamental Design Principles, I have used Rhythm, Balance and scale. Rhythm is shown in the way the elements are arranged all in a circular rhythm. Balance is shown in the way each element is arranged, where I wanted to achieve a look that was evenly spaced in comparison to each other. Scale is used in creating hierarchy of the elements. The hierarchies I have used are predominantly light, where dark is used sparingly to add dramatic effect and shadowing. I have used more of bold look with the visual elements, with the text being more of a sketchy look. The overall look of the poster is very simple, with little bits of detail in areas, but its not overly detailed. Large and small elements complement each other, where the cup has little kiwifruit segments next to it, adding more interest and reinforcing the symbol of kiwifruit tastefully.The background and foreground compliment each other effectively too with the use of similar colours.  

Each element in this poster represents the idea of independence and the need to express our individuality as a country in our flag. The symbolism of the cup is a play on the idea that tea parties and tea is a British thing. In addition to this, I have created the cup out of bangers and mash to exaggerate the idea that the British have too much input in our current flag.  In combination, the elements say that we are over the influence that the British have over us as a country, where we need to become independent and have our own voice, show whats really 'us' as a country.  They are saying that 'its not our cup pf tea' and we need to make our own mark. he elements are arranged with a hierarchy, where the main text, which presents the main idea takes up majority of the page, with the image of the tea cup as the secondary element that justifies/backs up/explains the text, followed by additional elements that also give justification/explanation to the concept.  The atmosphere is very bright and vibrant, where the red is a very British colour so that plays one part and then the red also has connotations with 'stop' which is a good way of saying no to the current flag. In terms of Fundamental Design Principles, I have used Rhythm, Balance and scale, much the same as the other poster. The hierarchies are the same too. The overall look of the poster is very simple, with little bits of detail in areas, but its not overly detailed. Large and small elements complement each other, where the cup has peas next to it, adding more interest and reinforcing the symbol of bangers and mash tastefully.The background and foreground compliment each other effectively too with the use of similar colours.  

This process was effective as it got me thinking about what the poster is actually saying to the audience through its visual elements. This advanced me in my project by enabling me to analyse my work critically and see what I need to improve or change in order to be able to answer the questions better. 

Week Four: Continued Development

From my previous cut and paste concepts, I then rendered the one's that I thought had the best potential digitally, where I looked at perspective, cropping and grids to see what worked and what didn't, experimenting with different techniques to develop and refine my concept. 

I found that these designs were very basic and do not portray the flag concept very well, therefore, after also gaining feedback from the teachers, I moved on, and begun to refine and stylise the concept better.

I found that the background colour was very old-fashioned almost custard looking, which has too many connotations with past and this is not what I am going for, I want to create a clean modern poster that captures attention and reiterates that arguing a concept that is a present/current issue. For this reason, I changed the background colour to a much more vibrant green.  The solution to the fact that the flag concept was not conveyed well enough in the poster designs above was creating a flag image into the kiwifruit, which I then experimented with in Adobe Photoshop. 

I found that this expressed the flag issue much better, where visually it was much more interesting and effective having the New Zealand flag chopped into and made out of the kiwifruit. The look of it is much more polished and fresh looking compared to the previous too. From here I looked at incorporating my own Adobe Illustrator font, that I created to look like tea stain letters. The simple univers type used in the original designs lacked impact and was very boring, however, the font i made was much more effective and works well with what its communicating. 

  

I combined the two, simply, to see how well they worked together, where I then incorporated some additional text to further justify my argument. 

From here I then looked into creating more of a polished and refined look for my text, thus I re-worked it to fit into a tea stain ring, this made it look much more complete and whole. 

I then combined the two, to create the poster below, where I experimented with different ways of incorporating some additional text. 

The poster I found to look the most refined and finished is the green one. From here, now that I had discovered the style and look that I thought was most effective, I got started on creating the other poster, where I would just follow the same process as above.

Firstly, creating my teacup from bangers and mash...

Then creating the tea stain text...

And then combining it all together....

 

Whilst doing this one I found that having the outer edge corners a little bit darker and fading in looked quite effective too, so i applies that style to both of my posters.

                

I looked into changing the font of the secondary text, where I looked at numerous options. 

From these experiments I found that the Futura Condensed looked most effective. 

After looking through my previous blog post on colour, I decided to look further into the meaning of the colours I was using, where I found that the green was effective to represent New Zealand as a clean green country, as well as symbolising 'go' through green, as in the poster is pro New Zealand and pro new flag. However, the orange doesn't quite have the same effect, so I thought of developing this and trying the background as red...

I found that this related to Britain more than the orange, and it symbolises 'stop' as in the poster is saying stop to the flag we have now, which is currently too British. Therefore I changed it to red..

From here, I need to look at a way of incorporating some additional text into the 'not our cup of tea' poster, as well as incorporating the flag into the bangers and mash tea cup somehow, either through gravy or through cutting into the mash. 

First, I looked at creating the 'cut into' look that I had previously done in the kiwifruit poster. So I created a 3D union jack in Sketch-up, in order to see where the shadows and pieces of it are. 

From here I implemented it into Photoshop, where I begun to create layer masks out of the mash potato in the shapes created in Sketch-up, to make it appear as though it has been cut into.. 

However, I found that this did not look as effective as the kiwifruit concept did, so I thought I would look at an alternative way of bringing in the union jack. So, I looked into creating the union jack out of gravy, where I used the pen tool and added effects like bevels and shadowing. 

I found that this looked the most effective so I went with it, applying it to the current poster. I then added some additional text.

. 

Week Four: Development of concepts

Today in class I looked at taking the thumbnails I had previously made and rendering them digitally, but then Matt mentioned the whole idea of getting sucked into the computer, so I decided to try an alternative technique and instead do a bit of cut and paste. So I printed a whole lot of picture to do with my topic and instead started to create some posters with a cut and paste, collage effect to them. 

Concept 1

Concept 2

Concept 3 and 4

I then took these concepts that I had created and applied the De Bono hats to them, this was to ensure that I wasn't over analysing them and so I could stick to a critique system whilst choosing the strongest concept (s).  

     

                              

Concept 1: 

The objective in this concept is shown well, where it easily shows that we do not want the queen, we want independence (white hat), however there needs to be a tagline or an aspect that shows that it about the flag. This is the problem (black hat). It draws on the emotion of 'hanging the queen by her toes' which some people might see as good, and others bad (red hat). In terms of creativity (green hat) creating the queens dress out of the cup of tea is effective and smart. It could be developed easily to become more compelling and show my argument better too (yellow hat). Lastly, the concept does combine most of the hats too (blue hat).

Concept 2:

The objective in this concept is shown quite well, where again we can see that the queen, who symbolises Britain, as not our cup of tea (White hat), however, again the flag needs to be brought in too (black hat).  The same sort of thing again with the emotions of this one, where you either love or hate the queen and what she stands for in this poster (red hat). This lack a bit of creativity, where I haven't done much other than make the queen drink tea and paster words over her face (green hat). In terms of development I could continue will the whole idea that the queen drinking tea, and its not our cup of tea, but I think that other concepts have more potential (yellow hat). Lastly, this concept lacks in some hats (blue hat).

Concept 3 & 4 

The objective of this series is to show what is and what isn't our cup of tea, where something known for being kiwi is what we want and something known for being British is not what we want (white hat). Again, the fact that I am for flag change needs to be exemplified in the concept more (black hat). This concept draws on the feelings of patriotism and wanting to express our new Zealand-ness/ Kiwiana which will ring true to a lot of New Zealanders which is good (red hat). The concept is creatively constructed through creating the coffee cups out of the foods that symbolise the two nations, where it is simple, yet has a lot of meaning (green hat). These two have a lot of potential in the actual concept, where tying in the flag could be easily done too (yellow hat). All the hats are easily conveyed in this concept and I reckon this has the most potential so move on with. 

From this process I have made the decision to move on with concept 3&4, where I will now digitally render, develop and refine. 

Week Three: Typography

Below I have looked at some existing posters that have used typography effectively. This process allowed me to draw some inspiration from them, as I am not sure as to how I will display my text on my poster. 

Notes: The typography used in these two examples shows the type creating the object that it is expressing, where from far away it looks like an object, its not until you are close that you realise it is words, it is at this point that the viewer is intrigued to make out what it says. This is an effective way of incorporating subject matter and type, where the subject matter almost plays a secondary role in this, where normally its the other way around.

Notes: The typography used in this poster can be seen as a use of subversion, where the 'a' has had additional parts added to it to make it look like a teapot, which relates it to the subject matter and content of the poster. This is effective in making the text least boring and static, instead it gives movement and visual interest to it.

Notes: The typography used in this poster is very rhythmic, where it shows movement in link with the subject matter, looking as though it is rippling in the water. This type is effective as it gives emphasis/reference to the subject matter, making it seem strategised rather than just plonked on the page. 

Notes: This typography is placed to look at though it is part of the shadow, where through this, we can say that it is secondary information to the subject matter, which in this case is the iceblock. From this, we look at the iceblock first, and then we read the writing. The perspective and angle add further interest to this too, where the type is angles downward on a angle like a shadow. 

Notes: These two posters create their typography out of the subject matter, where nutella have made it look as though they have spread on the words with nutella, and the other poster had stuck on tape. These are effective ways in using the text as the subject matter, making the typography much more than just words, but rather makes it the subject matter itself. Its through type like this that you can get away with having it larger than the subject matter or even as the complete subject of the poster. I could look into using this type of type in my poster, using tea stain as the letters or something like that.  

Notes: Here is another example of subversion, where the artist has placed a picture in the position and shape of where the letter would normally form, to create more drama and make the viewer look twice to make it out. This is an effective way of showing a metaphor or just getting the viewer to look beyond the letter and rather what the artist is trying to convey by putting this letter and this image together.  Effective use of 'read between the lines' sort of thing, where again the type becomes the focal point of the poster. 

                                                 

Notes:  The use of typography in this poster again becomes the shape of its subject, but also relies on the fact that we can figure out the letters easily enough for them to be half chopped off. This can be seen as effectively utilising the fact that the viewer can easily distinguish the letters of the alphabet, so if you were to chop half of the letter off for the sake of interesting design, it would not hinder the way the word is read. Sometimes we forget that humans have this ability to recognise things that have been altered, so this poster is an effective example of adapting letters/words to create more interest to them without making them too unreadable. 

Notes: This poster is a good example of mixing it up with type, where we normally are inclined to read right to left, we would expect the type to be on the right side of the cup and be aligned left. However this designer has done it the opposite way, as if to say expect the unexpected. This makes the viewer question the choices much more as look for reasons why they have gone against the norm. It could also just be so that the viewer reads the text first before they see the subject matter. Because from first glance, when you read 'I will drink you under the table' automatically you think of alcohol, so it becomes more humorous when you then see the cup of tea.

Notes: This image shows how once again typography can be incorporated into the subject matter, where instead of placing boring univers text next to the cup, the designer has instead placed it within the foam of the coffee, which is much more visually interesting. 

From here I then looked at one of the idioms I used in my chosen poster concept 'not our cup of tea' where I looked at the exact meaning around it and how it could be said and presented in various ways. 

Not one's cup of tea

1. Not one's choice or preference. (Used to describe an activity you do not enjoy. Can sound somewhat affected.

2. If something is not your cup of tea, you don't like it very much.

In order to change the context, but keep the same idea I have looked at other ways to say the idiom too.

-This is our cup of tea

-Your cup of tea

-My cup of tea

-You're like the regretted sip of milk, that went sour weeks ago

Furthermore, I have researched types of Fonts, where I looked  into what effect they have, what they represent to see what ones would be suitable for my poster design. 

First off is Serif vs Sans Serif 

Where the choice between the two could easily go both ways for the concept that I am conveying because serif conveys quite a British, european, traditional look and the sans-serif conveys a modern take, which can represent a change, new. So in some respect they both work, so it will come down to what is most aesthetically pleasing I believe. 

It may be a matter of what weight I choose to communicate the 'voice' or emotion in my poster.

Below are the groups of fonts that are basic and clear to read, best for a persuasive poster where I want to have the message clearly read, rather than going for a distractive decorative font:

Geometric Sans-Serifs are those faces that are based on strict geometric forms. The individual letter forms of a Geometric Sans often have strokes that are all the same width and frequently evidence a kind of “less is more” minimalism in their design.

Examples of Geometric/Realist/Grotesk Sans: Helvetica, Univers, Futura, Avant Garde, Akzidenz Grotesk, Franklin Gothic, Gotham.

These are Sans faces that are derived from handwriting — as clean and modern as some of them may look, they still retain something inescapably human at their root. Humanist Sans manage to have it both ways: modern yet human, clear yet empathetic.

Examples of Humanist Sans: Gill Sans, Frutiger, Myriad, Optima, Verdana.

Also referred to as ‘Venetian’, these are our oldest typefaces, the result of centuries of incremental development of our calligraphic forms. Old Style faces at their best are classic, traditional and readable.

Examples of Old Style: Jenson, Bembo, Palatino, and — especially — Garamond.

An outgrowth of Enlightenment thinking, Transitional (mid 18th Century) and Modern (late 18th century, not to be confused with mid 20th century modernism) typefaces emerged as type designers experimented with making their letterforms more geometric, sharp and virtuosic than the unassuming faces of the Old Style period. In carving Modernist punches, type designers indulged in a kind of virtuosic demonstration of contrasting thick and thin strokes. At their best, transitional and modern faces seem strong, stylish, dynamic. 

Examples of transitional typefaces: Times New Roman, Baskerville.

Examples of Modern serifs: Bodoni, Didot.

lab Serifs are an outlier in the sense that they convey very specific — and yet often quite contradictory — associations: sometimes the thinker, sometimes the tough guy; sometimes the bully, sometimes the nerd; sometimes the urban sophisticate, sometimes the cowboy. Slab Serifs are hard to generalize about as a group, but their distinctive blocky serifs function something like a pair of horn-rimmed glasses: they add a distinctive wrinkle to anything, but can easily become overly conspicuous in the wrong surroundings. They can convey a sense of authority, in the case of heavy versions like Rockwell, but they can also be quite friendly, as in the recent favourite Archer. 

Examples of Slab Serifs: Clarendon, Rockwell, Courier, Lubalin Graph, Archer.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/12/what-font-should-i-use-five-principles-for-choosing-and-using-typefaces/

I also played around with my own typographic concepts:

From theses concepts that I liked, I then moved into Adobe Illustrator to see if I could create a font that would portray the look of tea.