Exposition research and business cards

I have been rather terrible at doing anything in preparation for the degree show, but after a meeting with Lynn this week where she showed us how to load work onto our assigned computers at our degree show stands, I decided I do need to at least have a think about how I am going to present stuff, especially since it is graded.  At the moment I am afraid to say I only have the beginnings of ideas for business cards - all my focus has been on my dissertation and honours project and right now just want to get those two wrapped up as best as I can.

Thankfully, Simone and I discussed what I would put on business/handout cards and posters much earlier in the semester: little slogans which were aimed at busy, stressed people while advertising Mindcloud.  I believe I posted something much earlier in the semester which was a start on a poster, but I'll pop it here to save any curious readers some searching.  This will be the only taster on this blog on the posters unfortunately, because it is due in on Monday and any work I turned around for then on top of finishing my project would be a piece of rubbish! You will just have to keep you eyes peeled for the final product during my degree show instead.

Another area I felt it was useful to look at was the branding of meditation and spiritual people, since they often visually link to themes in meditation and mindfulness.  There weren't too many of these to go on but I collected a few where I thought the imagery and text styles may help.  Notable commercial examples are Gabby Bernstein's website (Fig 2) and Ruby Wax's Sane New World - both have been commercially very successful.  Interestingly, they both use blue, as it is the universal colour for calm and relaxation.  

Fig 2 Gabby Bernstein

Fig 3 Sane New World Ruby Wax

Along the way, I bookmarked some artists for this stage too, as their work was text based and evoked a mood I wanted to go for at the time.  The visuals of Mindcloud may have moved on from their style a little, but I think since the posters will be text-based, there is still something to take from them.

Fig 4 Jill de Haan

Fig 5 Jill de Haan

A lot of Jill de Haan's art is hand-drawn, which gives it a lovely personable quality which I hope to get a little bit of in my own work.  I don't have the time or the skill to hand-draw type, but it can be simulated digitally which I may well do.  I want my posters to feel like they are being spoken, rather than a stern message like the famous Gill Sans "Keep Calm" posters!  Loopy, whimsical type like de Haan's can give the feel of a conversation or friendly advice.

Lisa Collier's work is for a wellbeing event, which is relevant to the mindfulness theme.  I found the colour schemes interesting here, as in the last week I have been doing a lot of reading up on colour theory for my dissertation so was able to gauge what the intention was behind the colour scheme.  The blue is very relaxing and the grey is neutral, to convey a clear state of mind.  At this point, I don't see myself using grey as I feel it's quite a bland colour, but Collier has used a warm hue which means it does not feel cols next to the pale turquoise.  Collier's work also demonstrates how posters can be linked to business cards, which is something I plan to do.

Fig 6 Lisa Collier

Fig 7 Lisa Collier

Chris Piascik's work is punchy and vibrant, and uses type as the centrepiece in each bit of work.  I love the injection of personality; it's loud and exciting.   My posters will need to get people's attention, so perhaps the big lettering could work in my favour.

Fig 8 Chris Piascik

Fig 9 Chris Piascik

Fig 10 Chris Piascik

Fig 11 Chris Piascik

I thought the over-crowded presentation here was relevant to the theme of "over thinking" or an over crowded mind, which is one of the slogan ideas I have for my own posters.

Fig 12 Chris Piascik

The drop shadow emphasis here is really nice, and affords more contrast between the type and the background.

Each student's section can fit, at the largest, an A0 portrait poster.  Now I definitely don't want one giant poster, but it was a useful guide to the amount of space we would have.  At the moment, I have two layouts in mind, as shown below.  The one I will chose will probably depend on how the arrangement looks when I begin to put it together.

Fig 13 Degree show option 1

Fig 14 Degree show option 2

References

Fig 2: Bernstein, G.  2015. Spirit Junkie website. [online] Available at: http://gabbyb.tv
[Accessed 25th April 2015]

Fig 3: Siedlitz, S. 2015.  Sane New World [online] Available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sane-New-World-Taming-Mind/dp/1444755730
[Accessed 25th April 2015]

Fig 4: de Haan, J. 2014.  Fancy Quotes [online] Available at: http://jilldehaanart.prosite.com/9535/2150125/portfolio/fancy-quotes
[Accessed 25th April 2015]

Fig 5: de Haan, J. 2014.  Washingtonian Cover [online] Available at: http://jilldehaanart.prosite.com/9535/4184646/portfolio/washingtonian-cover-may-2014
[Accessed 25th April 2015]

Fig 6: Collier, L. 2014.  BE: Wellbeing branding [online] Available at:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/17107931/BE-Wellbeing
http://jilldehaanart.prosite.com/9535/4184646/portfolio/washingtonian-cover-may-2014
[Accessed 25th April 2015]

Fig 7: Collier, L. 2014.  BE: Wellbeing branding [online] Available at:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/17107931/BE-Wellbeing
http://jilldehaanart.prosite.com/9535/4184646/portfolio/washingtonian-cover-may-2014
[Accessed 25th April 2015]

Fig 8-12: Piascik, C. 2014.  Mixed illustrations.  [online] Available at:
http://chrispiascik.com
[Accessed 25th April 2015]