Final editing

So much work to do..

Critique again in class and discovered that my Pegasus Books page was a bit too yuck and old and I had to tone it down so it had more of a flow to the brochure. 

Also wasn't a huge fan of my front cover - which is fair enough because it was a bit boring. I've experimented some more and I think these will be my finals. -Well they have to be because I'm handing in soon! :"(

The map I really love. I do love the colours and flow of this work. 

My other pages:

A good map!!

I don't know how I did this...

The black map on the left was  stamped out of texture from the right. Its perfect! It needs text obviously but this will suit my brochure a lot more than that Google maps rip off I did. 

My "attempt" at a map

I thought going onto Google maps and just editing the colour and putting the shops logos on top would be a good idea... I knew this is my worst spread so far but I didn't know how to fix it until critique with my teachers.

So also my key area is too big as well I just noticed.
I went to class and he did say this was my worst one -which is fine. I really need honesty. I have to make my own  map (HOW???) and stylize the logos of the shops if I want to keep them in there. I think ill leave them out because It looks a bit tacky...

This is just a big mess.

More and more working on this

Am I the only one that is struggling with this??

I brainstormed some more and came up with these:

These are my spreads for the actual book stores. I am really happy with them and how they get more grungy as they go on. I want to know what my teacher thinks so.

I really need to get a move on and work on my covers, introduction page and my chosen page. I have no idea what to do for my chosen page!

Attempting more styles and also combining some too

This is Challenging

We had critique in class where we had to talk to people who hadn't seen our work before. This was so helpful because they were "fresh eyes" and Jamie (my partner) wasn't shy in telling me what I should change or keep.
Karl came and helped us too. And we discussed the idea of the book shops going in the order of newer to older. So it would progress nicely and have a good visual flow. I attempted this as well as other styles at home.

My First outcomes: 

The top left is for Unity Books. I wanted to give off a more clean and professionally look in this one and used minimal colour and texture to show this. I drew a plan of of it in my book first but I feel both are different but successful.

The other two designs are for Pegasus Books, which is older book shop and sells only second hand books. I went with the idea of making it look like a book also. I combined my own imagery with it too to give it interest and a less formal feel. Over all I'm not amazingly impressed with any of these designs.

Definitely on a roll

Finally getting into it

Tried merging the two designs together after I had played around with the water colour themed mock up. I came up with this. 

I turned out better than I expected but it still needs work. Over all I'm happy with my process today.

G-Unit out.

Turn On My Music and...

Funny how music can calm a stressed mind and force you to work

Only a few hours later(?) and I'm on a roll and feeling a lot more comfortable with my work. I've completed 5 mock ups and I'm really happy with two of them and how I could push them further. 

My first mock up: I focused on the watercolour textures and line of the work. 

My strong points: The colours, textures and use of research drawing I completed a while back.
Low points: Can't see the image too well -although that could be effective and draw the eye to textures and the feel of the work and also to the text. 

My second mock up: Experimenting with shapes, layers and scale. 

Strong point: The shape and the repeating of the image I like. I like the "reflection" one underneath it. I also like the outer rings that are lighter or darker. 

Low Point: I think it would be hard to incorporate all the book shops with this effect on one page because it is a busy design when others are added. 

Over all I am pleased with my progress so far. I was thinking of somehow combining these two mock up ideas somehow. Maybe having a slightly textured background and edited the colours of the photos to the first mock up colour scheme. 

G-Unit out 

I feel so behind.

Its because I am...

I have totally caught up with the book work but I have only completed one mock up so far but I am finding it hard to get "into the zone" and complete more. It doesn't help that tomorrows class is one on one with the tutors. I am so out of my comfort zone with this project. Which I suppose is good and I need to get used to it. 

I'm starting to feel the stress creeping up. 

Research Presentation

Trying to decide what Book shops to choose for my project

I gathered a lot of research over the week but after the class on Monday (3/3/14) I felt like I needed more visual research. I had collected some book marks and flyers but I hadn't drawn any of my spaces of taken any photos either. I will complete this tomorrow so I have more ideas to play around with. 

I got a little confused with the mock up idea we had to do. Do we just play around with what we think looks good/portrays the feel of our chosen places or do we try and organize our visual research into a brochure now? I didn't even know we had to do these mock ups in class until I read the course outline on stream just now. 

I am feeling extremely behind in my work already. It doesn't help that I didn't complete my homework (continue rendering mock ups, finding design examples and printing them on A3) that was due in today either. I am feeling lost because I don't know what final bookstores I've picked either. 

Can I pick Graphic comic book store, Pulsar Max comic book store and the library (which also contains comics and manga books)? I need to email one of my tutors... I think I'll do that now.

G-Unit out.