Final Artwork for Map

This is the final artwork for the map with the key and the locations in place. Now I've printed it I think perhaps that the key is slightly too big, it looks a bit bulky in comparison to the rest of the design, but at the same time it's important information and perhaps it needs to be.

Open publication - Free publishing - More scuba diving

The 'finished' guidebook

Product Shots, Range

After talking to Graham I looked at how images could be included into the map. I thought about using photographs in combination with the pictograms as a sort of key, or to have very wide and long photographs along the top and bottom of the map. Graham discussed with me how this may change the way people use the map, and having something more visual/photographic may make people actually want to keep it on their wall for a long amount of time. When I actually tried to do it though I think it cheapened the design of the map and the pictograms of location lost their impact.

I've now added the grid as well as re-adjusted the type size for the sea names. I've also started to add on some of the locations. It's quite interesting actually when seeing visually the locations of the divesites, although there are only 2 types of dive on there at the moment there seems to be quite an interesting relationship.

A lot of the locations are small islands which I didn't initially include, but also the size of the icon covers it up anyway so these are some of the things I'm having to address now I'm putting the design together. This seems to be the point at which the problems in the design are arising and I'm having to work out the best solution.

A blog of mistakes

Tried to think ahead here and export the indesign stuff I'd been working on so I could blog about it tonight, stupidly though I exported it all as spreads so the pdfs are twice as wide as they should be. Also in the second pdf I'd been trying some layouts and then changed the baseline grid so all the work at the beginning has relayed itself out and now looks disastrous. Anyway, after speaking to Graham he said I should try and use image and type in this booklet to demonstrate something new in my portfolio so that's what I've been trying to do. Originally the plan was to have a page of information with a full bleed photo on the other side but I've tried to mix it up a bit. It's actually been quite enjoyable to sit and do this I just wish I'd started it sooner rather than later. I've found that the last few days have had the re-occuring theme of not being able to overthink things too much and just decide else I'm never going to have everything done for submission.

Open publication - Free publishing - More scuba diving

This is the most recent draft of the work, I think it's sort of working. It's quite dry though. Although one comment I had was that it looked trustworthy which is good for information design. To be honest I don't think I have time to go for a different direction I just need to get it done.

Open publication - Free publishing - More scuba

Open publication - Free publishing - More scuba

Scuba Guide Book Layout

The booklet is going to contain several elements; information, photos and lists of locations. To keep the information clear the format should be easy to navigate through. The typeface for the lists is likely to be the same as the typeface on the map so they link well together, but the body copy will probably be a serif typeface to make it more readable.

Final Pictograms

Final set to be used.



This is the artwork for the stickers which can be used with the map and guidebook. The background colour is the same colour as the sea on the map so that the number and icon can be part of one simple shaped sticker making it easier to use.

When I tested the map on the laser jets the colours came out horribly and the map looked awful, the detail was all lost and it just looked a mess. To try and show the detail I thought perhaps I should try and add a stroke but this just made it look even worse. I'm hoping that it's just the tone of the laser printer and that the artwork itself isn't a problem.

further pictogram development

I think these are pretty much the pictograms I'm going to use, some need slight tweaking/tidying up but I think I could spend the rest of the year trying to get them right and I'll never get anything else done.

Show & Tell

Today was show and tell, it was really good to see what everyone had been getting on with and to see how people had approached the idea of range differently. Some of the work made me really think about different approaches I could take and I was genuinely impressed with a lot of the work. Also seeing things other people had done made me realise that I had probably made similar mistakes that I could address.

Anyway, questions & answers from todays session;

Does the ‘Butterfly Effect’ brief have enough of a range?

- could propose other films

- yes, but if time expand into stationery

- iphone app if time

With the introduction in the key booklet now does that help the understanding of the work? (butterfly effect)

- yes, much better

- key and event book adds clarity

Originally each pictogram was going to be a different colour, does keeping them the two same colours work? (scuba diving)

- yes the colours work, simple & clear

- 2 colours work, perhaps change the colours to something brighter

- yes, but red is vibrant and blue is dull

- hard to know without context but would be good to see the colour options

Do the examples of pictograms work at the smaller scale? Are they clear in their meaning? (you can write on the print out)

- slightly smaller than they can go, makes lines on scuba diver thicker

- pictograms are all clear but the wall one is a little hard to get

- colours are nice but makes the smaller ones less clear

What sort of impression do you get of ‘Equine Engineering’ by looking through the website proposal?

- High end, make body type smaller

- bit dry, look at DS emotion for different spin

- colours are great, add more details

- traditional not very innovative

Any major type errors that are staring you in the face with the website?

- body copy too big

Other comments:

- have different layout on the tshirts, information could be too detailed to print on clothing

- prints have worked well

I've tried to take on board what Mark was saying about using a margin for the icons I also found that with the amount of colours I've been testing out it's actually maybe a better idea to just use 2 colours for all of the icons. At the moment I'm going to use these 2 colours til I've finally finished the visuals of the icons. I think I'm probably going to use either this pink/red or a bright orange as the main colour just because of the contrast with the colours of the map and because they are colours taken from coral reefs. The lighter colour inside is the blue of the ice in replacement of white.

Tutorial with Mark Howe

I had a tutorial with Mark Howe last week which was really useful in terms of looking at work within my portfolio and stuff I'm working on at the moment. I got feedback to do with how commercially viable work was and also how it worked aesthetically.

We looked at the pictograms I'd designed for the mapping system(NHM) and Mark felt that I should either add more detail to them or go the other way and make them even more simple and really think about iconic images. Feedback suggested that it seemed as though I'd been looking at the animals etc and used the details of fins that were there but perhaps I could afford to simplify them further. This is something that perhaps I need to consider for this scuba diving brief and also a consideration for all the pictograms I do in future which is whether to go for the more detailed version of a pictogram or really make it iconic. It's such a difficult thing to judge though because these pieces of design need to exist at around a 5mm size and understanding that relationship between how things work different scales is so important.

Another thing which we talked about in relation to the icons were to ensure they all had the same weight. A bit like how we discussed in type with making all the logos the same weighting so there wasn't a hierarchy. By doing this hopefully they'll all look consistent and part of the same series. Also to make rules for myself such as creating a margin which the image inside has to abide to, this will ensure that there is a level of consistency, a lot like how a grid is used within layout.

With regards to the floor plans and leaflet I'd produced for the NHM we discussed the tone of the work and agreed that it was too dry for the tone of the museum. We talked about the kind of literature that is given to museum visitors and it's all full colour with lots of pictures and usually with the map as part of that. So really the whole tone and approach to it wasn't really suitable for the museum and it's visitors. It should be able to excite people about what's there.

We also talked about the balance within information design of not patronising your audience but not confusing them either. Something that Mark had said he did before researching stuff was to write down everything he thought he knew about the project first. This way he knew what he might need to research but also he had a record of what is sort of common knowledge. This particular tip is something I NEED to do. With the amount of research that goes into the projects I'm working on I end up becoming really attached to what I've learnt and start making presumptions that other people know this stuff as well and this in turn will undoubtedly affect how well I can communicate to people.

As general portfolio advice about mocking ideas up, it was advised that you give as realistic idea as possible to what it would look like. So where for example I have the illustrated version of the ants way finding method it would be better to use the photo of the vinyl stickers in context instead.

The feedback I got for my butterfly effect brief was useful, suggestions were that the lines could be the colour and perhaps make them thicker. Also to make the curves bigger and half the distance between the different horizontal paths so that it becomes visually beautiful information whereas at the moment it's the obsession that makes it interesting. I'm at a point now though where I'm thinking, that yes if I make the curves bigger etc it will probably look better but I'm sure that my time during this module would be better invested into developing my other briefs, so perhaps this is something I can come back to at a later point. I also have come to the point that I think I could just go on making improvements forever and the rest of my life would be taken up by this 'one day' brief.

map, type

This could work better, including the name of the dive site but still when it comes to the amount of locations that need to be included it won't work. Also it means that once people add their own stickers onto the map the design will be inconsistent.



Adding the location name. I think this is too long/too much information but also there is no way I'd be able to fit in all these bits of information so close to one another.





Using just a lighter shade of blue for the sea names maintains the pictograms being higher on the heirarchy but you are still able to see/read the sea names.





The blue number works much better, it's much calmer and easy to read



Using the pink for the numbers, the contrast between the red and the green works well for the pictograms because it makes it easy to spot but type wise it's very difficult to read.



The sea names here are far too dark. I thought I'd try and use the same colour as the land but this way if I need to overlap the type onto the countries you won't be able to see it anymore.



Adding a stroke, this is awful



Having this as a condensed typeface looks a bit odd, since there is so much space around it. I think it should be a wider typeface to accentuate how much space there is and make the sea look bigger.



This colour for the type is far too distracting, the contrast needs to be lower and the colour darker