Initial Design Development: Mobile

I've been sketching in my sketchbook trying to work out the direction I want to take my design. I understood I needed to apply a similar design style to which I used in my iBook (as they've got to match and be seamless between each other) but my issue is that since then I've 'moved on' from that design and when I go back to look at it I can identify a ton of things that could be improved with it! What I decided to do, then, was go back and look at the original graphic I created (from which all other graphics were inspired and created from) and have a look at how I could take elements from it.

- Ribbon wrapped around an element (in this case it's a volcano)

- Red against the sea green background

- Shape of the volcano (I like its uneven, loosly cartoon style)

I decided to take these elements and try and incorporate them into one design (initially for mobile). I had a look on Pinterest from some inspiration of ribbons. I wanted to see the different styles, see if there were any conventions with their use and just generally have a look how they're used. I found this particularly useful image (below) and used it to inspire my sketches. You'll see in my initial designs below how they have played a part.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/341710690449661469/

I took three potential designs that I felt were most successful and started to develop them more in illustrator.

Option 1

On paper this looked pretty good...on screen, not so much. A lot of the issues I'm having is the restrictions on my actual ability to design. For me it's sort of like drawing - I know what's in my head but it's the execution of the idea that isn't quite as good as what's in my head. Whilst I'm getting much more advanced on Illustrator and my ability to execute my ideas is improving, I don't feel that this design really works the way it is. It looks a little odd with how sharply the sides of the 'Volcano' drop off and I don't think I'd be able to include much of the stuff coming out the volcano due to the shape of it. If I make the shape any wider then the illusion of the ribbon wrapped around it won't be there, and if I make the peak of the volcano any lower it will ruin it's shape. 

Option 2

I do quite like this one, especially how uneven the ribbons wrapped around it are. I like how it allows the edge of the volcano to gradually move off of the page down to the corners, but it doesn't really allow me space for a logo. I am interested in making the logo quite a prominent feature, and this doesn't allow that. The colours are good, but the lack of red doesn't really relate to my iBook as much as I'd like it too.

Option 3

Out of all my designs, this is my favourite. I love the shape of the logo and the text within it, and I think the colours work well together. I'd like to rethink the colour of the text within the logo though, as it's the same as the red background at the moment. This design has allowed me to think about the possibility of having the red background stretch down and down and to have content 'attached' to it all the way down.

For a bit of fun, and also to have a look into the proportioning of elements within my design against a mobile device, I mocked up this design onto an iPhone. This also allowed me see what elements of my design may be cut off by things out of my control (e.g. on an iPhone, the search bar at the top protrudes into the screen, as well as the back/forward/navigation buttons on the bottom. The actual size of the viewing screen is significantly trimmed compared to the size of an iPhone screen)

Initial Ideas & Wireframing

To get an idea of how I am going to layout my iBook and how it may look on an iPad, a made a few wireframes. These were more for me to experiment further and gain more understanding on the layouts that I could pursue within the dimensions of the iPad.

Here I pursued one of my initial drawings from my sketchbook. It's a basic layout, with room for 4 images (one that's a lot skinnier and longer) as well as 3 rows of text below the smaller rectangular images. Then with an arrow to click to the next page. I'm going to have to look into the navigation of iBooks and whether or not that arrow is actually necessary, as my experience and analysis of them so far has been that it's not, and you just swipe. 

I then experimented with how an image would be viewed. If an image is clicked, much like on a lot of websites, it will appear bigger with a dim background to highlight it. Then with an X to close. I also like the idea of being able to click anywhere around the image (just not on it) to close it. Again, I need to start looking further into the restrictions of the program I am using.

Developing Understanding & Initial Ideas

In order for me to come up with more ideas and understand the task further, I broke down the brief some more;
- 30 edits - (30 cuts), must be dynamic, will be fast paced
- 15-20 seconds - an intro and end screen is optional, but is in addition to the 20 seconds.
- A 'journey' - travelling, accomplishing a task, emotionally
- Storyboarding - need a variety of shots to build 30 edits
- Sound - sound effects, no soundtrack, royalty free

I then started to think about the types of journey that I could have, under the category of an "everyday action". These included Food (ordering food, baking, being at a restaurant), actual physical journeys (to college, work, going on a run, going home), Cleaning (tidying, against the clock, getting it perfect) and Getting Ready (e.g. doing hair/makeup).
When I thought about how I could produce these ideas, I started to see a problem with some of them. I felt that the ideas that involved ordering food, baking, making tea, applying make up etc would confine me to the one spot. For example, the ordering of food would literally involve someone on the phone talking, and applying make up would restrict my variety of shots to of someones face and close ups of each piece of make up. I didn't like how this would restrict me, and felt it would probably result in a film that wasn't very interesting because the subject wasn't in the first place.

Then, when I looked further into shooting an actual, physical journey, I realised it would do the opposite of restricting me. There are so many important "checkpoints" to cover on say, a journey to work or college, that I'd end up having just a few shots for each. I felt it would spread the story and shots out too thin, and wouldn't allow room for me to experiment with more interesting shots - they'd just be the standard, basic shots required to just portray a sense of the story.

This is what is now drawing towards the "cleaning" category, because it will allow me to work within one room and explore that room with a variety of shots. I may think of another type of story that I could contain within a room, but I'm now going to start storyboarding/doodling a few ideas for shots and brainstorming some shots I could use in each of these categories to see if I could make any of them work.

Further Logo Development

I was becoming really stuck for the design of my logo. The initial idea I had sounded quite good in my mind, but when I drew it out it didn't really work - the shapes weren't working together, and I hadn't properly thought about where all of the relevant text was going to go or how I'd incorporate other aspects of the design.

Also, I knew that it wasn't actually necessary for me to have a "logo" - I could just write the title of the book - but I still loved the idea of having a gang stamp/logo across a newspaper article, as if it had been defaced. In this way I can actually make a point out of the title and use it to strengthen a message. 

I went back to the "drawing board". 

Firstly, I drew some initial sketches with my graphics tablet onto Illustrator. I like doing this, as I can work with the design straight away and quickly experiment with colours. These are my initial drawings. 

Once I had sketched these, I was drawn towards numbers 2 and 3, so started to experiment and develop them properly. Here are some screenshots documenting how I experimented and came to the final logo design. 

1                                                      2

With the first design on the left, I wasn't happy with how uneven the words on either side of the knife were - how the word "outsiders" is so much longer than "the" and how in order to position "s.e hinton" centrally, it meant the H of 'hinton" lined up with the edge of the knife. I think it looks awkward. Also, I didn't like the size of no. 2. I spreads out too much, and is too unlike a stamp. With "the outsiders" spread onto 2 lines compared to just 1 for the author name, it again looks awkward and does nothing to lead your eye or cause any interest. 

3

I preferred this to the previous 2. The text works better along the length of the blade.

4

The positioning of the text is better in this one. It's stacked widest to smallest, and this pattern is continued to the bottom of the knife. It still doesn't resembled a stamp. Stamps are usually solid shapes - squares, circles or triangles. This is where I started to steer towards that.

5                                                        6

First experiments with circles. I liked both - especially the sharp edges of the circle. They match the slight uneven-ness of the knife. For this I used the "roughen" tool in illustrator. No.5 is supposed to represent a blood pool, but I didn't think this worked as strong as I'd have liked it to. 

7                                               8 

Bringing in text. I chose this font as I thought it matched the rugged/uneven-ness of circle and knife, and tried positioning it within the circle. My main problem was trying to make it look even, but still readable. I used a previous idea of putting the text within the knife to "fill the gap", but then I thought it took too much away from the knife, and, specifically No.7, you couldn't tell as easily it was a knife. I decided to remove the author name, and see if I could fit in later, or elsewhere in my book cover design. 

Flipping the knife upside seemed to work stronger. It comes across as more aggressive and dangerous.

9

Changing the font strengthened the design. Its similar to an actually stamp. The boldness and all caps meant it was very easy to read, and I thought that what was restricting me from creating an even logo was the very uneven, slightly random font. Also, tilting the knife seemed to give off more of "edgy" "dangerous" vibe. As if it's sliced across the circle, kind of as if it's being used. 

10

This is the current final logo. I'm not totally sold on the positioning of the authors name. "S.E" is very short word compared to "Hinton" but it made most sense to me to put them either side of the blade as if they have been cut through.

My colour choices are based on what red connotes - danger, blood etc - and what I want to be read first. The red is the brightest colour on the page, as I am keeping everything else on the cover rather muted, so the viewers eye shall naturally be drawn to the knife. I decided to keep the book title in plain dark grey/black as it's positioning through the middle of the knife and through the sides of the circle means it is easily seen.

The black is not a pure black. It has a slight hint of white in it, to very slightly tone it down. The same goes for the red. This will help me create a vintage/retro feel on my cover, which is an idea I am definitely sticking to and considering when designing. 

Initial Designs

I've been experimenting on Illustrator creating some initial designs for my book cover. These give me a basis to work from, and from these I'm getting more of an idea on what does/what does not work with my design.

Fencing
The first element I started to design was the fence that will spread across the entire book - it will wrap around both the front and back cover.

To design it I used a bitmap image of a real fence. I of course know what these sorts of fences look like...but I needed to try and work out how each piece of the fence overlapped one-another to get a realistic looking fence. 

At this point I don't have a concrete decision on what's going to be behind the fence. So I've been experimenting with putting different colours behind it to see what works/doesn't work. Due to the colour of the fencing - 2 different shades of grey - I'm going to have to consider carefully what I put behind. Whilst I can always change the colour of the fencing, I don't want it to look too unrealistic. Some colours clash heavily with the grey - especially since the pattern of the fence is quite prominent and covers such a large part of the page. 

Ripped Newspaper

Next up was the ripped newspaper. This was quite difficult, as trying to create a "natural" looking rip for the paper kept ending up looking rather unnatural - either not random/too random tears etc. I ended up using a tool called the "wrinkle" tool, which produced a randomised 'wrinkle' in each line and is easily controlled and changeable too. 

After I created the shape of the paper, I decided to try and experiment with the texture of it. A plain, block of colour did not realistic, and through my research I noted how a lot of retro designs rely heavily on good, well chosen textures. I used the "grain" effect with a "speckle" to create a very light texture, and made the colour an off-white. 

I added a small white stroke to the 'paper', as well as a drop shadow. I then added some holes and some 'hooks' where the paper will be attached to the fencing. Below is an example of how that works across the entire book cover, with a dark blue background.