National geographic

In order to help my idea, i have a few annuals of national geographic at home. I needed to work out the structure of the book, and how i can get my idea to work within it, and it work in an appropriate manner. Although national geographic is about animals and nature it does look at the more obscure elements of nature and what scientists/doctors have done to discover things, which is why i think it will work perfectly for this brief. 

Going through the book allowed me to work out the grid, as well as decipher the fonts used. Which was quite tricky because they use an orray of different fonts as well as having their own 'natgeo' font which was designed for the covers.

Either way, this research will hopefully help me put together a believable mock up.

[font] 

Re-Evaluated ISTD BRIEF

ISTD - Vectoring

Its important to get the type right on within this project, as the vectors will be quite complicated, so i need a typeface that will be clean and balance out the type and image. I dont want either element to detract or override the other. The hierarchy has to be right, which is why i have chosen to look at serif fonts, this is so that it balances against the simple curves of the vectors. If i used a sans serif font there is a chance that it all blends together, whereas i want to the type to stand out but be balanced. 

I have chosen to look at a variety of different serif fonts, the ones that seem to work best are the fonts that symbolise working with data. I think its appropriate to use a font like this due to the fact i am working with facts and statistics. 

// COURIER - Courier with its monospaced type gives an even and clean definition to the text, which makes it neat and would therefore balance well against the complicated vectors. 

DIDOT - Didot has a clean form, whilst giving a classic and elegant feel, its clear definition will ensure peak readability and legibility at every size. 

Info Graphics

OBJECTIVE 

Collect information on a topic of interest and create an infographic poster demonstrating a time line of events. Using a 16-column grid, divided into months and years, I chose to illustrate the epic history of one of my all time
favorite bands—Radiohead.

ISTD - Content

After setting on the idea of the tree. I have tog et the content right so that i can use the tree design to map out appropriate details over time. I have decided to focus on NATURAL DISASTERS, this links nicely as it works with the tree design and makes the whole piece feel more organic, which i think is important. Visually it will help map out the details, and it will be more obvious to the viewer because i feel the info graphics could end up being quite complicated. So by having simple associable subject matter it means that the message will be clear to the viewer.

// I started by trying to map out some of the most disastrous natural disasters, working by body count and impact. I soon realised that this was actually a lot more complicated, as dates crossed over and the varying natural disasters led to inconsistant data. 

The above and below designs at the moment, are the designs i feel that have the most scope to play around with when it comes to handling this amount of data. I wanted to sketch them out just to give myself a better idea of how they would work. 

// After settling on the style of design i could keep it in mind when going through the research, just so that i had more of a focus when it came to collecting the right amount of data. 

I decided that it was key to have a large range of information, and collection of natural disasters so that it wouldn't become all about earthquakes for example. I went through each date and mapped out 100 natural disasters, altering in size of disaster, body count but having consistency through the dates. This is so that the whole thing could work together and still remain clear. 

// INITIAL MAPPING

After getting all the dates, i have written them out clearly in chronological order, so that it shows i ahve covered a wide scope of time and a healthy variation of natural disaster. 

I have now established my content, so this means i can now start developing the most appropriate ideas to encompass all the information. Although i have started with 100, im not sure its going to be the most appropriate way of showcasing the days, so i have decided to work with the 100 but if needs be i can scale down, to make it simpler. 

Moodboard

ISTD - Development

After selecting the tree idea i have been trying to develop ideas around this context. its a good stand point and i have been researching the trees:

THE WORLDS OLDEST   // Methuselah

THE WORLDS TALLEST // General Sherman

Its important to establish which one i want to run with, so i have been developing ideas around them both to try and get as much scope as i can. I think that the concept that works with the Tallest tree actually has a lot more scope for me to play around with and it gives me more areas to employ info graphics. I think that this concept can work really well to create strong info graphics, that will hopefully revolve around using engraving, or stamping on wood. The typographic element has to play a strong role, but i want there to be a balance between image and type with this project.

Info Graphics

Info Graphics

ISTD - IDeas

I have chosen to do the ISTD brief "It happened on this day". This brief was something that interested me last module but it thought it was too big to actually do something good for it. So now i have more time, i want to tackle this brief.

I started coming up with random ideas for the content of this piece. its important to try and get some solid content and something that im interested in otherwise the brief has no solid context. I really dont want to do a generic publication, its something that this brief falls quite nicely into doing and i don't feel that i want to do this.

however, i have been trying to do something that revolves around visual graphics such as info graphics or event promotion.

Going through these ideas the one that caught my attention the most was the idea around Trees. My basic concept at this stage is to use the trees or a tree to try and map out days in the years of its life that have had a dramatic affect on the world. This idea gives me scope to work with info graphics, which i've never done before, as well as work with finishing and process to produce it. 

ISTD BRIEF

ISTD - Happened on this day

I have been looking for my 5th brief, it needs to be a competition brief and i had a lot of fun with the ISTD brief last module, and i really liked the brief about 'it happened on this day'. I think its an interesting concept, although very open ended, and i would need to narrow it down straight away into something i find interesting and can relate to both branding and print production.