What Is Graphic Design? Part 3

This is a type driven piece by David Carson, I really like how the overprint of type makes it appear quite messy and chaotic but the use of negative space for legibility is very clean. This is a great and highly appropriate way of displaying to graphic designer's such an important rule when designing. The kerning of the word legibility varies between letters which again is quite appropriate as legibility is about how characters can be distinguished from one another. I have analysed this piece further down in another blog.

I like to collect beer mats for some reason, I don't usually do anything with them, but this is a type driven design in comparison to my others which are usually type and image together. This is targeted at beer drinkers, or to people who maybe haven't tried Carling, and the aim is to focus on the taste of the beer, as some of the beer adverts look at the lifestyle and 'good times' associated with drinking. The scale of the design is small, but this is made up by the mass production of the product, I think beer mats can be quite a successful way of promotion, as they are always in pubs and people generally do look at them, they can be quite interactive too, as people play games with them or collect them. And some people do use them for their purpose, a mat for beer!

This piece is designed by Craig Ward, a typographer and illustrator for Bucks New University, the phrase is completely true, I tend to find myself saying, "That looks awful" as I see flyers for nightclubs or adverts in magazines, more than I say, "That is a fine piece of design!" When I find good type it's usually in a Grafik Magazine, or in student work. The content of the piece matches the form it is printed in really well, the plain red bold text really advances over the top of the 3D white type lurking in the background. It is quite interactive as when my friend and I looked at it, it sent us off on a conversation about 'crap type' the streets are covered in. Again, this is another piece that reaches out to Graphic Designers' and not some Joe Bloggs walking down the street, this makes it even more special to those who can really identify with it.

This is another piece by Craig Ward, after the first piece I saw (above) I decided to have a look at his website, this is a great way of creating type and reinforces the title of his website, Words are pictures. It could not portray hot in a more successful, innovative way. This was done for the Hot 100 in Maxim magazine, which straight away shows the target audience is for the readers of Maxim, a men's magazine with plenty of women, clothes, cars and gadgets. This type although not stated on the website, would probably be for print in the Maxim magazine.

Tom Ford is renowned for his seductive imagery in his adverts, which has lead to one of his ads for eyewear being banned in Italy. I picked this card up in Harvey Nichols, and is based on type and image, the focus is the lips wearing the new private blend lip colour, the colour of the lipstick, and poise of the lips makes it a powerful photograph, and as quoted,

'There is no more dramatic accessory than a perfect lip. It is the focus of the face and it has the power to define a woman's whole look'

- Tom Ford

I think something that adds to the seductiveness of the advert is the male at the side of the woman's face which gives the image sex appeal. The audience are sophisticated people, and this shows in the advert, as it is a classy design. The type used is the font used for the Tom Ford brand, and is just there to advertise the designer and the name of the lipstick collection. The postcard is small but I think it would be equally as effective on a much larger scale, as it is really powerful.

These are by Craig Ward again, (my new favourite typographer!), I think they are a great way of showing the football teams, as it could have been the football's team badge used to represent the team, but Ward has used the chants from that specific team. I am not really sure of what Fantasy League is but I saw a post on a forum about this set of adverts that seems to sum up the intended concept, The idea here is that in Fantasy Football, you may not always go with your team if you really want to win. I'm not sure of how Fantasy Football works (or any Fantasy League for that matter), but that's the idea behind this. This is even supported by the copy at the bottom "Loyalties tested at fantasyleague.com."This is quite true as there are references to opposing teams, written in smaller type within the football chants. The type is done in a Sagmeister style, and is effective, but the effectiveness is increased by the text being on broad men, as when I think of football fans, I think of broad kind of hooligan types, which is pretty stereotypical but that's what I think of, as I just think of the film, Football Factory and Green Street as West Ham is what the film is about. The audience is to football fans, and Fantasy League fans.

This was on a postcard I picked up a while ago advertising a Photography exhibition, the image used really portrays the exhibition title, 'Capture The Moment', as you can't ask a dog to pose like this, it really is one of those moments that's either captured or it isn't. And for that reason the name is incredibly appropriate, the work featured is by Bradford College students and the concept behind this is capturing images that people can relate to, such as flowers in bloom. The audience can be absolutely any body, but mainly those interested in Photography and the arts, but with the title it is a pretty open audience.

The fact that the money raised goes to charity opens that audience even more as it's going to Marie Curie Cancer trust which most people have encountered cancer whether it's themselves, family or friends.

This is a Benetton ad from 1991 and is largely image based, except for the logo. This caused mass controversy, and many complaints were sent in. To me, when I first saw this image I was quite shocked as it just appears to be incredibly racist, as the blonde curly haired child is depicted as an angel smiling sweetly, and the other child is depicted as a devil with quite a sinister look, but knowing the history and ideas of Benetton, this is to show the injustice of the world, and to be thought provoking. Although it is just an image, it is rather interactive as it begins to make you think.

This was nominated for the Brit Insurance Graphic Design Award in 2009, by Delfanne/ Artwise. It was created for British Airways lounges at Terminal 5 in London, Heathrow Airport. I am a massive fan of lighting and electric blue, so this is absolutely perfect to me. It is a wall of lights and in the middle is the time in GMT and to the left is the time for places west of London, and to the right are places on the east of London. But the locations displayed are not the usual cities for World Time, they are to places with associated with excitement and interest. The title is highly appropriate, 'All the Time in the World'. The wall is 22m long, and although it has quite an impact in the photo, I am sure it is nothing compared with being there in front of the display.


This is a post card I picked up in York in a liquid deli called Demijohn in York, it caught my eye as it has a really summery feel about it, especially the way the light shines on the whiskys in the demijohns and the blurred trees in the background. I love the logo for the place, it is really free and the style of the illustration matches that of the type. It is quite a pricy shop compared with your usual alcohol prices, but you are paying for the quality and sophistication of it all, which suggests the audience may be a little more sophisticated. The function of the postcard is to illustrate the uniqueness, and on the reverse is a brief summary of what you can expect to purchase, and addresses for their three shops. There is also the web address from which you can purchase their products online.

These Mini adverts are from Malaysia released in September 2009, and I like the way it visually shows the fun side to the Mini with its ability to handle great around corners making it a fun ride. Again, lights have been used so I was instantly drawn into it, and against the black the image is very eye catching.


This is an exhibition identity created by M/M (Paris) for the Tate Britain which is a show that looks at the death of post modernism. This was nominated for the Brit Insurance Graphic Design award this year, the central piece is the title of the exhibition, Alter Modern, and due to the mirror reflection and the different typefaces and colours in the background, it makes the audience concentrate harder on this challenging visual. As much as it is interesting visually, it takes quite a lot of effort to depict what it says. The type in the background has been taken from a variety of fonts designed by M/M Paris over a period of time. Due to the visual complexity of the piece, I feel it is aimed at people interested in Art and Design.

This is the front cover for the Leeds Summer Ball leaflet, due to the image being scanned in, you cannot tell the type is shiny gold foil, which really suits the summery colour scheme, which is really effective. The choice of photo and the colour of it is really appropriate, it shows a group of students having fun and the position of the sun and the lens flare on the camera really portrays summer and a good time. There is also a larger scale poster, with this image on which works great too, but the small leaflet printed on a sturdy, smooth stock is handy to put in a bag and really just a nice keepsake. The audience, Leeds students, can interact with the piece by flicking through it and reading information on the acts performing, prices and travel etc. There is also the website printed on front, which has more information on.

This is a Replay jeans advert for We Are Replay collection, it is quite different from a lot of the other Replay images, that highlights the phrase sex sells, and often focusses on topless men and women so they are only wearing the jeans, and often the image is cropped, so not all of the jeans can be seen, whereas here, you see the full garment and the couple are looking quite chilled and relaxed, whereas usually the images of couples can be quite raunchy. These adverts are aimed at people who like to spend money on jeans, and they are really good quality.

This was another piece nominated for the Brit Insurance Graphic Design Awards 2010. This is a book of the blog, It's Nice That, something I heard about a few weeks ago. The blog has been running longer than the book, but this is lets the audience interact with the work being displayed away from the computer. The cover is incredibly simplistic and uses 2 bright colours to create a bright and eye catching cover, and uses only text. The book can be bought from the Merrion Centre. I have seen images from inside the book, and it looks like they are a good series to buy.

This is taken from the It's Nice That blog, these are absolutely great, titled That's What She Said by Lucien Smith. It is a really clever use of an ambigram, and is entirely appropriate for the product. The audience is the people going to that person's house, and they can be aware of if they are wanted company or not, it's quite funny and would probably make a good gift. I think this would only be suitable on door mat/ small scale, as it may be less legible at a larger size.

This is Back Catalogue by Storm Thorgerson, it is a collection of Pink floyd's album covers printed on the back of 6 women for 1996, so literally it is a 'back' catalogue, which is incredibly appropriate. I have seen a poster of this on a large scale and it is still just as effective. As this was created in 1996, this is a day before Photoshop manipulation was around, so it has to be appreciated that someone handpainted each of these ladies. The way the women are sat, makes the image very relaxed and it looks like they are just having a chat by the side of the pool, so it looks quite natural. The audience of this would have to be Pink Floyd fans, as some people may not recognise the images, the first one I noticed was Dark Side Of The Moon, 3rd from the left, which happens to be one of my favourite albums, ever.

This lettering was created for Channel 4's Three Minute Wonder Show and was designed by Alex Trochut. I love the use of film to create the letterforms, as it is a TV programme, so the visual is completely appropriate to the message being portrayed. I am not sure it is entirely appropriate to the programme which was a short series of 3 minute films based on a man named Karl who would reflect on given topics such as global warming and travel.

This is another design by Alex Trochut, this has a similar text style to the previous piece. This does suit the title well in a literal form, that the lines are smoothed and rounded, and the colour has a shiny gold effect. The audience here is the fans of Rolling Stones, and to typographers as well, as it is really quite an interesting design. The colours work well on the black, and makes the 'shiny' areas stand out well. The interaction with this product is mainly getting the vinyl out of the casing, I am not sure what else is inside of interest.

I am really unsure about this ad, it has an Alice in Wonderland feel to it, and is quite girly but at the same time there is something slightly sinister to it, which could be the black Hello Kitty, and the crazy hair style, Hello Kitty is usually quite bright white and cute looking. The aim of this is to promote a collection of a collaboration with Hello Kitty and Mac Cosmetics, and it is a slightly strange audience, as Hello Kitty is associated with young children, and Mac is a higher class of make-up. This type of ad is likely to be seen in a magazine, or in a shop.

I found this on the Creative Review blog which is a poster designed for the Tate Liverpool's Picasso: Peace and Freedom, it is purely type and the bright red against white makes it very striking and quite powerful. The font used in this was created for the piece and is titled Picasso '68, which will be used across the whole of the exhibition identity. The Picasso: Peace and Freedom logo is used across a set of merchandise too such as notebooks and bags, due to the simplicity, the idea should work at any scale, and still be clear.

This is the work of a third year, Phil Armson, on the Graphics course at LCA, I found it on the Grafik blog and thought it looked great, I really like the way the image of the vampire is laid over the top of the text, I am not sure but it looks like it could be a screen print. The way different type has been used reminds me of the piece I looked at earlier by M/M (Paris), as they used a variety of fonts, but with this, there has been some uniformity kept as the colour is the same, and there are 'drips' of blood on some of the letters to give it that vampish feel. I think the relationship between the type and image is really strong, as I don't think they would be as strong on their own. I am unsure of the purpose and audience, but i still think it's a strong piece.

This is a lovely creation by Stina Persson who is known for her gorgeous water-colour paintings. The innovative advert matches the innovative perfume being advertised, the phrase used, Replay Your Fragrance is really quite true, a splash of water can reactivate the smell of the perfume and you can replay it later on. This really does represent the idea of the Replay brand. It's genius! The music seems to fit well too, quite a light hearted tune, which matches to that light quality from the water colour. The target audience is quite a broad one, probably for 18-30 range, male and female. Below is the advert created for print:

The print advert for this is great too, and I like how the drips from the image feed into the type, I love the choice of colours, which are the same ones used in the animation. I like the relationship between the watercolours, and adding water to paint something beautiful and the physical act of the audience adding water to the perfume to create something fragrant. This would work great at any scale from a small postcard, to a large poster.

I absolutely love this little animation, my Dad sent me it on Facebook and I watched it over and over again, who would have thought some biro drawings could be turned into an entertaining brief history lesson. The function of the piece is to entertain and inform, and the audience can be absolutely anybody. The interaction between the piece to the audience, is for them to watch and listen.



This is one of a series of poster proposals for the Olympics 2012 by Alan Clarke, and they won best in show at the D&AD New Blood Exhibition. The idea behind the posters is to portray movement in an extremely simple way, but it is still slightly abstract. This poster definitely portrays tennis, with the green, and the tennis ball, appearing to move signified by overlapping circles and decreasing opacity, yet at the same time creating the form of an arrow. The image on its own would depict tennis, but the type is just travel information about the Olympics, so this may apply to whoever is attending, and wanting to know which station to be at for that particular sport. The bright colours work well together and would be eye catching enough for anyone who may be a little lost. As this is just a proposal I imagine they could be small scale posters up the side of the escalators that people look at entering and exiting, and as large scale posters on the side of the actual tube on the platform.

These are two more from the Transport for London Olympic Games series, again, just simple shapes overlaid on top of each other, with a decrease in opacity, so simple, but it works great. Appropriate colour choices have again been made, the orange background to represent the track, and white is probably the best choice of colour to be used with it, for the sailing poster, a slightly darker blue has been used for the sea, and a lighter blue for the sky, with white triangles to represent the sail.