Look at:
image as type; branding; putting things in to context; moving image; adding or removing from surfaces; 3d; collage; photography; drawing...
Brief
Our first brief is to create editorial images to accompany three articles we have been given from the guardian newspaper. The images must refer to the article directly and fit into the space given, although they don't have to be in just a square box. Use different media to create varied images, there are no media restrictions. There are ideas for imagery within the texts, but don't just go with the obvious response, go beyond this, be clever and subtle, think visually.
Rationale
Brief: What is the problem you intend to solve?
To create editorial images for the guardian, which relate to the subject of the article and are appropriate to the tone.
Who needs to know?
The guardian readers. I need to find out what the average reader is like to create images that will appeal to them.
What do they need to know?
They need to know what the article will be about, by quickly glancing at the image, to decide whether or not they will continue to read on.
Why do they need to know?
You take notice of the image first as it has hierarchy, whereas the text takes a long time to read, and the read might not have time to read every article.
What will they respond to?
The image should be interesting and relevant so that it draws the reader in and they take notice of the article rather than ignoring it.
What research is required?
Primary - Find out what guardian readers are like, by talking to them and seeing what style of image they want or expect.
Secondary - Find out what kinds of images are used in the guardian already.
Initial Ideas
I started by reading the articles and deciding what kind of tone I thought they were written in, so I could decide on image ideas accordingly.
1. Doctor doctor - serious tone, factual, for a more mature audience
- Old person doing sit ups
- Happy cold/germ with googley eyes
- Photo of person walkings feet
- Photo of young person with cold
- Timeline info graphics pieces of the years made up with cold and flu tablets
2. Relationship maths - jokey, sill, unimportant, mimicking Facebook and those whose life revolve around it
- Facebook person symbol with love hearts - collage
- Info graphics piece on the number of friends a couple has
- Facebook maths equation illustration featuring the logos
- The Facebook f logo in a love heart
3. This article will change your life - about the human confusion with numbers, lots of information and visual ideas, not too serious but not jokey either
- Illustration of one tv and hundreds of lattes
- A £20 note with £10 written on it, and vice versa, to show people don't understand money
- A photograph of a question mark made out of money
- A comic style illustration of money talking to each other
- Type piece featuring millions of numbers
Research
With the time limit on this brief, I won't be doing the kind of extensive research I would normally do with a brief, but I did ask a guardian reader what they would expect, and look at a copy of the guardian to answer the proposed research questions I set in my rationale.
Answer: The images are mainly photographs, but there are also line drawing, cartoons, illustrations, info graphics etc... The images are content specific so it depends on what the article is about. As a reader you see the graphics first, and the style of the image makes you recognise the style of the article, and to get an idea of what it is about, so you can decide whether it is something you want to read, and can lead to continue reading that particular column. The type of image may relate to the person who has written the article.
Initial Drawings
Here are some drawings, featuring some of my initial ideas that I liked the best, to help me get an idea of which idea I should continue with, rather than just rushing on with the first idea I had.
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Favourite Ideas
Based on my drawing experiments, the ideas that I have chosen to take forward are:
1. Doctor doctor - Info graphics piece made with photography of pills
2. Relationship maths - Paper cut out collage featuring Facebook icons to make a maths equation
3. This article will change your life - Illustration of £20 notes with £10 written on it, and vice versa.
Development of Ideas
1. Doctor doctor - I have changed this piece to a paper cut, after doing my research on this column of the guardian and finding out that this type of image is regularly used. This timeline is quite simple, and if I had had the time I would have liked to make it more detailed, but when placed in context, I think it does work.
[hand made paper cut scanned in and text and background added in photoshop]
2. Relationship Maths - Here are the symbols from Facebook I have used:
(also used the female no profile picture image)
[Using photoshop, I then created the other elements to fit in with the colour scheme, and turned the Facebook logo into a heart to turn this into a maths equation]
3. This column will change your life - This is my original drawing for my idea of showing how people are confused by money. I did think about doing it as an illustration on illustrator, or by manipulating a photograph, but it is impossible to open money in adobe software as they think you are creating fake money! So, to also save time, I have used my initial drawings, which I think look far better now that I have added accurate colours to them. I think the use of colour makes it totally obvious what the notes are supposed to be, and makes my idea clear, where without colour, people may not have understood so easily.
[Hand drawn image - live traced on illustrator - colour added on photoshop with graphics tablet - text removed to make it more subtle]
