Graces Tee Design 2014
For the last year, I decided to design something of a different style from the previous years. While drawing up my mindmap, I thought of elements of grace and how colours can also bring out beauty and gracefulness with the softness of the pastels. I thought of elements like ribbons, heels, brushes and a fawn but the one that I’m most pleased with would be the make-up brushes and the softness of the brush itself and the colours from the powder seem to represent a change towards a part of life that would be richer in colour and presents more possibilities.
Mindmap
Next I worked on my thoughts and how I would want the style of the product to come about. I got my inspirations from a graphic design books that talkes about various famous graphic design pioneers and I was really inspired and influenced by some of their style and how it all linked to marketing and advertising. And since, the tshirt logo is something that I want the viewers to be able to remember at a short glance, I need the logo to be really attention seeking and the words must be visually paired with the graphics(drawings). Hence, i wrote out a page to organise my thoughts nad objectives for the design.
Organisation of thoughts and Objectives
As I mentioned earlier, my inspirations came from the graphic designer pioneers, people like Lucian Bernhard, Hans Rudi Erdt, Ludwig Hohlwein, Filippo Tommaso Marinett etc. Hence, for my artist references, I decided to anaylse some of their designs and see what points I can learn from them and what would be suitable for the Graces tee design. I felt that I was able to learn a lot of technical and reasonings behind the arrangements of the words and the graphins and what the design was trying to tell the viewers. The designs really had a dynamic effect on the viewers as they were direct and bold, conveying exactly what had been intended by the designer. Tonal values and textures also help a lot in the design, making it stand out more as they would look more 3-D and with the appropriate pairing of words with the graphics, one would easily associate the graphics to the word or the brand that it was marketing for. Through anaylsing the artists’ work, I also felt that I had learnt a lot about how graphic design came to be and how it changed throughout the years, and even how the Bauhaus was included in this rich history.
Artists’ Reference 1
Artists’ Reference 2
Firstly, I’ve decided to work on the logo that would be on the tshirt front, the smaller logo. I’ve picked make-up brushes as a main subject matter and tried out the different styles of presenting it and the orientation of the brush. I’ve also made some notations as to where I think each draft can be improved or whether it is suitable for the tshirt design or not. Then I worked on my draft designs for the front logo, onw which is inked and one which is dotted. The inked one allowed me to play with the positive and negative spaces and also the arrangements of the words. The dotted on on the other hand, is richer in tonal values and present a fresher idea unlike the over-used mathod of inking.
Sketch
Draft
Next, I started to work on the back design. I was deciding between using a more asian model or a more eurasian model but I’ve decided to go with the more asian one as Graces is held in Singapore and logically speaking, it would be more relatable to design using an asian model as the subject matter. I pointed out some similarities and differences between the two models and added a little of my thoughts on the right hand side. Then, i drew up two drafts which are both inked. The first one would show a more elegant and mature woman as compared to the second one, which looks more childish.
Selecting Models
Draft
Since, I’ve decided to use the ‘pointilism’ style for the logo, I wanted to make the logos simliar in style so that they complement each other. I thought I like the front logo design better as I thought that the different elements in the design really complemented each other well, even the drawings and the words; hence, it I thought that it really represented Graces as a whole. As fot the back design, I felt that it could be worked on more as it doesn’t really stand out yetand the style of the words are rather different from the design itself, however, I still thought that it was an improvement from breaking away from my usual inking style.
Front Logo Design
Back Logo Design
After this project, I felt that other than coming up with two designs that I’m quite satisfied with, I’ve also learnt another form of art, which is the graphics design and also a bit of its history, giving me more inspirations and techniques that I can venture into. I felt that it has also equipped me with another style of design and not just stick to the norm, but make my designs more unique and outstanding. However, I feel that I still have a long way to go and I would work harder towards improving my techniques and of course, the study of visual arts.
d'Art Voix 