Final outcome n rationale

 Rationale 

- vivid colours to show colours are everywhere 

- using barcodes and colour codes to label models 

- distorted, and covered up skins

- handwritten words to create the streetwear aesthetics 

- tiny skins booklet with closeups of collected skins from Instagram 

--> you cannot recognise/ identify a person by only looking at their skin

--> skin =/= identity 

--> also to emphasis on a person having many different skin tones under different lightings 

*If time allows, I would like to print out a small booklet with only images of skins, alongside with the final outcome publication.

FINAL RATIONALE 

"A lookbook without" is a lookbook made for the clothing brand LARP6SARP3. Throughout the whole booklet, there is no skin shown in all images. Skins are being distorted and covered up so that audience can focus on the design of the product and to prove that skin is not something that is essential in clothing advertising. 

Vivid colour tints are applied to most images provokes the idea of seeing colours everywhere is so common that why do people think it matters when it applies to a person.

To introduce the models, barcodes are used to label them, this is to "productise" the people models in the images, reflecting the intention of brands using token representations as their models. 

The layout and the designs throughout the lookbook is going for a streetwear direction with overlays and handwritten words to match with the aesthetic of the brand. 

Link to final outcome 

https://www.flipsnack.com/ck282479/a-lookbook-without.html

Layout and manipulation

 I then tried out different layout methods and looked for the best looking one. The final decision is made under the consideration of whether or not the tee-shirt design is shown clearly. 

Also, I found out that streetwear magazines and lookbooks usually have a common element: hand-written / hand drawn words. and illustrations. Therefore I decided to add in some handwritten words too. However, I do not like how it looks using my normal handwriting, therefore, I wrote the words using my left hand and the result turned out really pleasing.

The long distance Photobooth photoshoot shows the idea of inclusion and that anyone form anywhere could participate in one project. Models are asked to pose whatever they like. 

As this is a lookbook without skins. I found ways to manipulate the images until the skins and faces are not shown in their original from and being distorted. I tried bitmapping, crossing out, and directly covering them up with another image or white blocks. They turned out looking fine and the aesthetic looks streetwear too. 

Collaging

I tried putting together different images, cut and pasted them and created some collages for the lookbook.  I found out thst only by cutting pasting will make the collages really boring as I am not really good at collaging. Therefore, in order to make the outcomes look less dull, I decided to write some quotes out by hand, scan them and overlay them onto the images. TH result turned out to look quite interesting. 

I also made a big one with all models in it and tried hiding their skin by covering them up using white blocks and red circles. 

Barcodes and skin colour codes are placed to name the models. This will be the introduction page of the models. 

Lookbook image tinting and hueing

 TINTING AND HUEING 

- one spread, one themed colour/ tint

why? 

-to make colours more obvious and significant 

-to remind audience that colours are everywhere and it is really normal to have different people with different skin colours, showing them the idea of "does skin colour really matter?"

before

after

Further development (lookbook)

 https://www.flipsnack.com/5BBC57FF8D6/initiallookbook.html

I started developing my lookbook and came up with a few new ideas. I am going to make the lookbook small and simple like a zine.

- A5

- use strong tints for all images to emphasise on colours, including as many colours as possible to translate the idea inclusion

- try collaging and playaround with black and white too 

- as I quite like the profile idea I made before, I am thinking of adding a little tweak in that to make it applicable in the lookbook. I might use the barcodes and the colour codes as a separator page for each model's pictures.

- I also would like to try collaging. I looked at inspos from pinterest and will definitely start collaging tomorrow. 

pinterest inpos:

apart from directly cropping away skins and faces, covering them up would also be a good idea to show variations in the publication, to make it less dull. 

--> directly covering up the 

--> drawing something onto images to cover up models' faces and skin

--> using words to cover up skins

--> replace words with barcodes? colour codes? 

--> I am thinking of using this method for the cover.

--> showing only the teeshirt design and the book title 

[LIVE BRIEF] Presentation choices

The design process is really slow as it is very challenging. There are a lot of questions popping out in my mind when drawing. 

Which rice should I use? Is this too complicated? Is this able to show the texture? 

How do I draw a loaf of bread? a toast maybe? Or a croissant? Would it be too western? What about a baguette? When drawing the bread, I realised a really big problem. My boss pointed out that it is very hard for students to visualise 3D graphics, graphics with dimensions. I paused and realised that most of my drawings are with dimensions. Even the loaf of bread has dimension in it and it would be really confusing for users to understand. 

When it comes to milk, I drew a normal cup with wavy lines in it to represent milk. However, why would they know it is actually milk? How do they distinguish between milk and water? Is a cup best to describe milk? What do we first think of when we see the word milk? A carton? or a bottle? 

This design process is far more complicated than I have expected. I didn't realise that all these simple things are t hat hard to draw out when it comes to people who can't see. What I draw can directly affect their sense of association and my design choices are very crucial as these are what they use to learn and build their cognitive thinking. 

[LIVE BRIEF] Drawing emojis

 Tried drawing out fruits and vegetables according to emojis. I realised there is not difference in sizes among all emojis, which means proportions are not shown. I have to adjust the proportion myself. Like the grapes and the watermelon, I will have to make the grapes smaller in order to translate the sizes in real life into these small drawings. 

I also came up with the idea of masking the real texture of fruits into the graphics to make the tactile more interesting to touch. But I am not sure if it is possible for UV printing to show all the small details.

I also started drawing vegetables and realised that cabbage is really hard to draw as there are a lot of textures. As well for the peas, I thought that only drawing tiny circles would be enough, but my boss told me to also draw the skin so that the students can know more about how peas actually look in real life. These small details are actually quite challenging for me. I realise the task is not as easy as I thought as I will have to put myself into the shoes of users to think of an execution of how to present the graphics. 

Essay feedback from Amber

 - do not start a paragraph with however and not to mention 

- bibliography

- do not name a paragraph rebuttal and counter argument 

- try to summarise body text in conclusion, from the research I have done on xxx, I found out xxx. 

PLAN 

TUE: Porridge task, cop practical development 

WEDS: bibliography, refine essay 

THURS: develop cop practical, sign up 603 tutorial(?) 

FRI : 603 class 

New idea (Profiles, Barbie Packaging box)

I got a new idea of naming our models by their skin tone codes. I used barcodes as a main visual element as I would like to "productise" our models. I named our 4 models into product #1-#4. These could be posted as Instagram posts as introduction profiles of our models. The aim is to create an ironic effect of how people are treating models of different skin colours like a product to be shown in their advertisements. 

developed versions 

I then got an idea of developing the concept into a barbie packaging box. As Barbie is considered to be a very "white" doll, I thought that it would be even more ironic if the idea is put into context of a barbie packaging design. I then drafted a packaging using the elements in the profile designs. I am still thinking if I should develop the idea as it will not look as professional as a final outcome because it is not feasible to make a 3d barbie version of our models. I do not think mockups are strong enough to present the idea too. Also, as seen, there is limited space in a barbie box, the barcodes cannot be emphasised in the packing design which made the concept less significant. 

20/11 One-hour task

 USPs:

JUST ADD HOT WATER 

And in one tiny minute they're ready! Instantly made, instantly lovely.

HIGH FIBRE

Only 10% of us eat enough fibre.

Our porridge is high in fibre made with 100% British wholegrain oats.

100% NATURAL

Using simple, healthy plant-based ingredients.

NO ADDED SUGAR Our porridge is naturally sweetened with dates which are packed full of nutrients and fibre.

DAIRY FREE

Yet still bursting with flavour, made with luscious creamy coconut milk.

GLUTEN FREE 

We use only gluten free oats as they are gentler on our tummies which is good for our gut health.

HOT OR COLD

Delicious hot or as chilled overnight oats.

Task 

• promote their single pots 
• Student audience 
• Bring together 2 of the USPs

DEVELOPEMENT

- I have chosen hot or cold as one of the usps to be promoted 

- I started off with two colour blocks to show hot and cold 

- I then made it into a gradient from a pinkish peach to a sky blue 

- the 100% logo was too big after mocking up into the website banner 

- made the logo smaller and the design turned out to look more cohesive 

DETIAL REFIEMENTS 

- As the brief is to promote 2 USPs I chose "hot or cold" and "100%natural". 

- I tried aligning the 100% natural in the lower centre, but the design looked dull ad boring 

- I tried converting it into a small logo with a handrawn oat and combined the / in the % with the oat drawing 

- Also found out that there are 3 Os in "hot or cold" 

- the O in the company's name is really eye catching to me, therefore I decided to add it into the design to make it more eye-catching and cohesive to the branding of the company 

[LIVE BRIEF] Food Pyramid practical research

Printing 

For previous designs, we use this machine to heaten up our special made paper to make black ink pop up, so that users can touch and feel the graphics. As for our food pyramid textbook, it has to look professional, therefore, UV printing would be used to product the final outcome. It is definitely more pricy, but the outcome would look more refined. 

Book binding 

We decide to use ring binding as it is the the most financially friendly option. We thought of only using the ring bound, without any cover wrapped over, however, we thought of the rings might cause inconvenience, we decided to add a book cover to protect the students from getting hurt by the rings, and prevent the rings from tangling things in students' school bags. 

Printing places hunting 

We looked at different hunting places introduced by other designers and looked for the best price. Also, for the suitable ring size.