As part of my Responsive Module, I have to take part in Competitions and Live Briefs. I came across this one for Tigerprint, a design competition site which has a new competition every month.
The Brief was to produce a set of up to 5 Christmas Cards based on the theme of Icons. They were to include some kind of pattern or texture and could be digitally or hand made. They need to be 500x500 pixel jpeg at 72dpi but it needs to work at 300dpi as well. The winner will receive £200 and a possible placement with their design may be even being are for M&S.
To start with, I did a quick brainstorm of Christmas Icons and the things I associate with the Festive Time. From this, I came up with possible avenues to explore as ideas which I drew thumbnail sketches of.
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| Design Development |
One idea was to do an illustrative series of cards based on the Traditional Christmas Dinner with Turkey, Sprouts and Pudding. Whilst this was quite a funny and different take on the idea of a Christmas Icon, I had to think of the audience and say to myself, 'Would you really buy a Christmas card with a picture of Brussels Sprouts on?'
Another idea was to do the story of the Nativity in a series of Icons but it was felt that this had been done before, making it an uninteresting idea within a market which is saturated by this type of imagery. Despite these issues, what I did like about both ideas was the fact that they were traditional and instantly recognisable as Christmas themes.
Despite this, my main concept came to me as I was shopping for Christmas Cards for my family. I'm a fan of typographic cards as I find that they are simple and the lack of imagery makes them a bit less tacky. The trouble was that there wasn't very many typographic Christmas cards for me to select. Also, at the time of this dilemma, the store was playing Christmas Carols, Hymns and Songs which is where my source of inspiration comes from, particularly as Carols are not the type of things that people would think of instantly as an Icon for Christmas therefore I decided to produce a series of 5 Type-based Christmas cards based on Traditional Christmas Carols.
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| Initial Development |
The fonts I felt which were great for this brief were Vintage One and Lighthouse as they give a more textured visual based on the handwritten elements as well as giving a juxtaposition against each other. The icons at the top and bottom are used to illustrate the theme of the carol, giving it a bit more visual stimulation and orientating the user. However the box seems quite lop-sided and mis-matched so I think I might change the layout of the container. The dots give to the patterns of the brief, adding to the vintage, traditional quality that I was aiming for whilst adding rather than taking away from the overall design.
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| Colour Experimentation |
I experimented with colour in order to see what it would look like but it just cheapened the overall design and seemed unconsidered. I want to put some colour onto my design but I feel like I should try and condense it down a little.
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| Experimentation |
Unfortunately, I have had to change my fonts as I found that they were only for Personal Use so I have selected 2 new fonts, Cast Iron and Lobster 1.4 which goes with the similar theme of the reasons why I had chosen the original typefaces. I experimented with my design, looking into trying out different line thicknesses within my fonts and colouring the background patterns for extra depth. I have decided to go for a red and green theme to go with the holly element of the card.
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| Deck the Halls Card |
I put a border around the square design giving it a solid definition, making it appear more festive and fulfilled. I settled on having a traditionally Christmassy dark, rich red as the colour as the light RGB Red just cheapened the overall look and make it appear tacky. I added a thickness in definition to the typeface as well making it appear more legible and distinguished.
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| Jingle Bells Card |
The icon at the top is a reindeer and sleigh which contextualises the words to the carol. I added a line pattern and circle outline to try and make it a little different from the previous. I went for a light blue shade to highlight the cold, snowy feel that goes along with the carol itself. I decided to try and follow the same design as the previous card in some aspects, having red and green text but this didn't go at all. I change the font to a darker blue/grey shade which went better and I swapped the fonts from Mesquite Std Medium to a Rosewood Std and Lobster so that it came across as much wider and larger for the audience to read as well as work with the layout of the design.
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| 'Away In A Manger' Development |
I tried approaching this card using a different shape and using a different font than the previous two, trying Mesquite Std Medium again yet it looked way too narrow in the spacing. I decided to produce a Manger icon for the top of the card, trying one plain, one with straw and one with a baby in it but the plain looked the best and more professional. The colour looks quite dull and off-putting due to the mustard shade.
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| 'Away In A Manger' Card |
I decided to test a different pattern making it different from the other previous cards, making it easier to see the text based on the larger amounts of space. I selected a different shade of light brown which goes much better with the rest of the design which continues the brown theme from the manger design.
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| Last 2 Designs |
I followed on with my last 2 designs being 'Carol of the Bells' and 'Good King Wenceslas'. 'Carol of the Bells' uses a Bell as a motif, is quite light and uses a golden colour to reflect the bell itself. For the 'Good King Wenceslas' card, I used a Crown motif aligning the text underneath as if the Crown is going to be worn by the text. I chose the colours of red, gold and green as they come across as quite regal and rich.
I had a mini Crit with Emily in order to get some feedback on my Designs and she said that the trouble with my current designs is that they are slightly disjointed and the typefaces themselves, despite working with the aesthetic, are currently difficult to read due to the patterned backgrounds. I think I am going to improve on them by producing a white solid background for the text to sit on and change the patterns so that they are all dotted as the dots give a vintage, traditional theme which the rest of the patterns don't work with.
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| Selected Christmas Cards |
I produced a backing to the text which was just pure white, blocking out the patterned background making them stand out and be much more legible and readable. What I like about these designs is that they work as a series whilst being able to stand on their own. I feel like the choice of Typefaces are quire appropriate and look quite textured which goes with the brief. I did previously try out different patterned backgrounds but it looks a lot more uniformed now using just the dots so, if they were put in a pack to sell, they would work well together. They are simple yet follow the brief. My favourite ones are the Deck the Halls card and the Jingle Bells card as I feel that they have been the most successful and appeal to the target audience more than the other cards.
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| Saving as a Jpeg |
The brief asks for the cards to be saved as a Jpeg file. To do this, I went to File and Export. I changed the Format from PNG to Jpeg and then I made sure that the file was a RGB file of the highest quality when saving.
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| Re-Sizing to 500x500pixels |
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| Re-Sized Cards |
To make sure that the images are at the precise, correct 500x500pixel size, I put them into preview and cropped them down to the correct size before submitting them to the website.
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| Submission of Competition Entries |
From the entries that I submitted, I produced a Design Board showing the cards altogether in a professional manner.
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| Design Board for Tigerprint Cards |
What I liked about doing this brief was that it gave me the chance to do something I hadn't done before (Christmas Cards) using a texture or pattern (Dotted Background) and experimenting with different typefaces which I haven't used before. It gave me a bit more confidence in my ability in regards to using different fonts and making things which are a bit more typographical. Also, I managed to produce the Cards in a day which may seem a long time for others but is quite fast for me and the way I work. It will be interesting to see how it goes in regards to the competition itself. Some of my designs I don't think will have a chance but I think my 'Deck The Halls' card and my 'Jingle Bells' cards have a chance.
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