Thursday, 7 April 2011

Go Compare!

My Men's Poster originally looked as it does here (left). However, after some assessor comments and my client having a look over my work, it was decided that despite the colours being bright and primary, that there was too much blue. I decided to have another look at some official building site signs, of which I found one (below), which included the use of a red colour alongside the point around which the red circle with the diagonal line was used.  


Sunday, 13 March 2011

You'll Get A Fat Lip!


Before I could class my Women's poster as being 'finished', I decided that there was a few small changes to be made. The poster was always intended to be simple, with very little text, however, I felt that the poster did no give enough information. To rectify this, I added a small paragraph to the bottom left of the poster, with a pithy statistic, just to reinforce the nature of the product.

Another issue was that of the amount of fonts. Each of the pink cirlces above represent a section of text, and in my poster I had a different font for each of these.   I felth that this was too much variation and that the lack of consitency was almost off-putting. Therefore I changed all fonts except the 'title' (condoms essential wear) to the same font.

The final issue I felt I had was that the model's face looked almost as if something was missing. It took me a while to realise, however, I found that the lips had become too similar to the colour of the skin within the black and white transformation, meaning the model had, again, the sense that something was missing.
I decided that I would change the colour of the lips, so that the model looked almost as though she had a dark lipstick on in the actual photoshoot. Initially, this colouring had a harsh outline, looking as though I had poorly drawn the colour on:

As you can see this looks un-professional and I was not happy with this. I also decided that I would try to make the lips have a greater emphasis, therefore I would increase their size and colour with greater detail.
Using the smudge tool, I managed to colour the lips with far greater acuracy, whilst increasing the size of the lips to create that sense of prominence, without their size becoming distracting from the main image thanks to the 'blurry' quality.

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

DANGER! You are now entering a Mock-Up Zone.

The men's poster is a lot simpler than that of the women's, requiring almost no photography and very little editing, whilst still having the desired effect. Below is the Mock-Up I created, which is basically the final version, however, the condom image is not my own, and the NHS logo 'blue' colour is slightly too dark.

















Within the poster there is an image of a condom package, which would have to be my own photo, however, to save time, I simply cut the condom from my women's poster photo shoot and used that. Also, with the change in my logo I had to rectify the current logo which meant that I needed to reposition the logo elsewhere.

The NHS logo is not as dark a shade of blue as most people (my self included) would expect. After researching the NHS website, I found the exact shade and colour I would have to have. This differs slightly from my idea that the main blue rectangles within the poster would link to the NHS logo, however, that is the official colour, and changing the 'No Condom' (etc) box colours to the NHS blue, would create a weaker, less contrasted and less noticable poster.

Another issue with the mock up, is that there is no definition to the edge of the poster. When on Photoshop, the edge of the poster is clearly shown by the size of the canvas, however, when the image is placed on a white background, its outline is lost and the poster looses some of the layout quality. To rectify this, I have used an idea which I had originally used on my men's leaflet front cover, which involves a simple
yet definitive black border to the image.

Monday, 7 March 2011

Compare the Leaflet. Shimples.

My Women's Leaflet needs to be such that it remains a distinctly classy image, being similar to something which would be found in vogue, or other such 'glossy' magazines. I have kept the format simple, leaving the black on white colouring, and the sophisticated yet simple font. I have opted for the headline/ title "the obscurity of promiscuity" as it isn't obvious. My article is in fact a 'true to life' story, however, I did not simply want something such as; "Chlamydia Terror" or "bastard ex infected me". The article isn't even simply about contracting an STI, it's also about how this made the individual feel, her alienation from her peers and how she was depicted from this.






















From the image above, there were some alterations which I needed to make. The first, most obvious was that the text on the second page, was in fact only in one column,  instead of three as I had planned. Also, the text for the title, along with the title and introductory pieces were in fact poorly arranged and the fonts were not the best. I have now changed these along with adding a slight red colour to the; "Samantha's Story" header, this has created a more professional product.

In terms of the colour of the page, was initially going to be white, with the text being black, however, I decided to rotate this, to see if there was a greater effect. I found that with the white text and the black background, the overall  feel of the piece had a greater class and professional feel. The image I used also appeared to 'sit' better with the black background.


The layouts pictured here are both lacking in the main image which I would be including, I needed to create a realistic image, of a girl who is sad, and longing to rid herself of this alienation and promiscuous name and get her life on track. I was planning on attempting to create this image in a studio, against a back drop with professional lighting, however, I realised that this would look too professional for the feel I was trying to create and would distract from this story being 'true to life'. To create the image I wanted, I had my model in their comfort zone of their own home, just sat on a couch. This made them feel that they were part of the true to life story as they were somewhere in which it could actually happen. I then proceeded to read my article and asked her to show the mood of the story through facial and body expressions. I had many photos, however, they seemed to have almost an 'over composed' feel, looking like someone trying to act rather than feeling the emotion. I said I was not happy and we would have to try again, which seemed to almost annoy my model, and she moved into the pose we see in the image. I immediately saw the opportunity to take my real life shot, and with no lighting equipment, and the room becoming dark from the naturally fading outside light, however, there was just enough coming through the window, out of which the model was looking, to highlight the front of the models face and hands beautifully, whilst highlighting her hair and outline brilliantly. 



The image was lucky in that my reactions were quick enough to capture the exact natural pose whilst keeping the image in focus. I had already set up the camera to have a low F-Stop, which has assisted me in keeping the background dark and out of focus, and we see the model in a colourful yet de-saturated light, with a distinct lack of make-up and a glazed look to her face, this sums up the story perfectly. Also the positioning of the model's hands perfectly encaptures the idea that someone would want to hide themselves away with the alienation and promiscuous name they have developed through their STI ordeal. Once again I was lucky in that the camera focussed on the hands moreso than the face and eyes of the model, which creates almost a blurred 'teary' effect as we try to look at the model's face. This instills the idea that this person is sad, almost crying into their hands.
To contrast this image, as the character managed to rectify her life and contacted the College Nurse Team, I contemplated using an image that would perhaps have a more positive colouring and facial expression, however, I wanted to reminisce the original image, with the hands the model not looking at the camera. From the photos I took, there were only two which I though could possibly be used (in a small size) within this contrasting section of the article. 
1.
2.


Despite me wanting to create some 'happier' images, the above photographs still retain almost the sadness from the first image. Image number one has the hand entirely covering the eyes and therefore we feel that the model is hiding even more than in the earlier image, therefore this one is out of the question. The second however, has almost a happier more playful feel, showing consciousness at the same time. The colouring is a lot warmer, and with some editing and slight cropping, this image could be the smaller happpier image I needed. Primarily (colouring aside), the main reason this image is 'happier' than the earlier image is that the model is actually laughing (in real life), despite keeping the make-up and hair the same, to show again the natural feel, however, with the character feeling comfortable with themselves in this image.





Tuesday, 1 March 2011

In The Beginning There Were Plans

This week I am creating my photo shoot plans, which consist of lighting arrangments and model positioning, along with call sheets for my models.

Monday, 14 February 2011

'Keep It Classy'

My images used a condom package which was blue, this was all I had to hand at the time. My flat plans had included the image of a red packaging, however, I decided that this would possibly add almost a 'seedy' element to the poster, along with the camera angle looking up at the model, perhaps insinuating a more sexual connotation.
Therefore, in my photoshoot, I decided to take my photographs merely in a more standard 'portrait' format, along with deciding to change the colour of my condom to one that was somehow represented either in the colours used within the poster, or merely an element of the model's appearance.

I decided that the condom's colour should be reminiscient of the model's eyes, which I left in colour along with the condom, whilst the rest of the image being black and white.

Colour Is The Spice Of Life

My initial photos were of a good quality, all in focus, with sharp detail, however, my poster requires a black and white image, showing a contrast between the shadows, with the light and darkness providing an ominousity with an almost inviting look.

Initially I converted the image into black and white using Photoshop:


























After converting, I needed to enhance the contrast, to do  this I used the 'burn' tool very lightly and in specific places, to highlight certain elements of the image, which may not withold enough detail. For example, the contrast between the model's fingers and her left chest/ shoulder was not enough to easily tell where one or the other started. Therefore, I used the burn tool to create this contrast, by darkening the fingers slightly. Also, I slightly rotated the image so that the head was not at the slight angle which it is in the original photo.

























As my posters would be printed at A0 size, I realised that they may become less detailed as they were stretched, to help combat this I used the 'Un Sharp Mask' to help enhance and sharpen the detail, especially in the eyes, fingers and hairline.

Logo No-Go

Whilst beginning to create my final poster for the female (poster) section of the campaign, I found that the logo which the target audience had selected from my initial designs was too contrastual to the theme of the poster itself, with the colours and the general 'business' contradicting the pithy and classy poster.

I have decided to create a new logo, using a more simple format, with less colours, confusion and an easier to read text. Also, I have decided to separate the 'QE' and 'College Nurse' logos instead of corporating them into a single logo. This will help define the college nurses whilst showing that 'QE' is a part of this initiative.



Taking this into consideration, I have designed various new logos which I am testing against my poster, along with the NHS logo to see which seems to suit the campaign best.



 From the above logos, I have selected three which I find to be the most suitable for the campaign. These are the following:



To attempt to discern which of the logos are more suited to my poster and the campaign, I have used each one on the poster to compare them side by side.

Having assigned each logo to my poster, I concluded that the 'Blue Circle' logo would be the best one for both my poster and my campaign's branding needs. However, I would need to make a slight alteration to the logo by filling the space around the lettering, yet within the circle with a simple white fill. This improves the look of the logo greatly when applied to the poster, as the colour onto which it is positioned is not visible.

Friday, 11 February 2011

Has Anyone Seen My Contacts?

I took the photos for my female poster today, using the studio set-up (shown below). The pictures were based around my newly changed flat plan idea, with a simple portrait of the model, holding a condom in an inconspicuous way. The pictures were against a black back ground, which allows for a high contrast when I convert the images to black and white. To light the image I used three softboxes, one aiming from the top left corner of the model, to lighten the left hand side of the face, whilst one from the lower right which was at a lower brightness to highlight the right of the face just enough so that the details can be made out, whilst leaving some shadowing to create the more artistic effect. There was a third soft-box which was simply lighting the background, merely to help contrast between the model and the background.

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

Spread 'em Wide

Continuing along the lines of high end fashion and perfume ads, I have looked at spreads from magazines such as 'Vogue', and I have decided to base my Female Double Page Spread around this:


This spread has one entire page dedicated to an image, which i feel is a good design for the dermograhpic who read such magazines. The text is in quite a small font, which remains sophisticated, whilst the first letter of the article is in an extremely large font. This draws the eye in to read the rest of the article.

Aim, Then Shoot.

This is the layout I shall be using in my shoot. The soft-box will provide a soft lighting to the right hand side of the model's face, creating enough light to show the model's face in an artistic light, yet allowing shadowing to occur to create a sense that you want to see more.

The light to the bottom right will be set to a low power, and its purpose is to simply highlihgt the left hand side of the face just enough so that you can make-out the outline of the face.

Can't Beat a Good Booking

Having booked my photo-shoot for Wednesday 9th Feb, I will have all my necessary photographs available to begin the creation of my female poster and leaflet.

The male side of things is far simpler, as there is no photography required, other than for the interior of the leaflet. The photographs needed for this are a location shoot and will be done on Saturday 12th February.

Until this point, I am creating the layouts for my double-page spread. Onto which I will simply add the text for the article and the images, meaning that other than editing and manipulation of photographs, there is very little else to do.

I'll Call You.

Having booked my Photo-Shoot, I created the call sheet for my model. This will assist me in making sure that the model arrives at the correct time, with the correct hair/ make-up etc.

Monday, 7 February 2011

Metaphorically Speaking, Of Course.

I changed my idea slightly after pitching my idea to the Client, who deemed my initial Female Poster to not have enough symbolism or metaphorical enough, in light of my idea being based around perfume adverts which are suitably artistic.

Therefore, I changed my idea, from the obvious to the more descrete.

I changed from showing and obvious image, with bright colours, to an image which has a greater sophistication and class.