Fortnightly Critique – Gig Poster

Koffin Kats

Source: http://gigposters.com/poster/164225_Koffin_Kats.html

Designer: Snack Machine Creative

Immediately this design caught my eye as I was scrolling through posters. This gig poster, promoting the a gig for the Koffin Kats. The use of both positive and negative whitespace helps to establish a busy, but easy to read event information.  The main shape of the poster being a coffin, helping to enforce the band name along with the bones arranged to spell the main act.  The handmade look is the main theme for this poster, most probably sections were done by hand, later worked with on the computer later. The more you look at this poster, the more you notice little pieces. The visual heirachy in this image is focused with downward directional forces. I find this poster is easy to read and understand, even if there is alot going on around the information, the green highlights around the text help to create this.

Conclusion

Overall I really like this poster, the overall colour scheme (black base, white font, green highlights) is quite nice, also giving off a horror/haunted vibe (similar to “The Misfits” punk band). The art style is great, and has been used to fill the areas around the text quite close.   If there was anything I would change about this poster, it would be to maybe include not only the date for the gig, but the time for when doors open.

Fortnightly critique – Logo

The Cookie Lab

Source: http://www.logospire.com/logos/8810

Designer: Harvey Shepard

The Cookie Lab website: http://www.thecookielab.com/

This logo, created by Harvey Shepard was for a Boston based bakery that specialised in nerd-chik cookies. The logo itself is a visual pun, the cookies acting as the chemical in a beaker (using whitespace), the bubbles also erupting from the top, the final cookie having a bite taken out of it, affecting the clean lines for the rest of the design.

The visual heirachy of this design draws the viewers eyes with upward directional forces. The colour palette used is not too distracting from the white text placed at the bottom which is exactly what you want with a logo. The overall theme of the design works with the companies name, the sign being of a similar shape to a hazard sign found in a lab. The white stroke applied around the cookies helps to break up the strong sky blue and the brown.

Conclusion:

I really like this logo, the design is simple and original, the use of line and colour contrast help establish this. I immediately found the logo easy to read and theme was apparant after a first glance. The designers use of white space for the beaker I found to be a nice central place for the design, again the directional forces leading my eyes from bottom to top;

• i) “The Cookie Labs”
• ii) The beaker with a cookie inside it
• iii) The cookie bubbles floating to the top

Fortnightly Critique – Print Advertisement

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/outdoor/vancouver_police_foundation_if_looks_could_kill

Advertisement – Vancouver Police Foundation: If Looks could kill

Advertising agency –  DDB, Vancouver, Canada

Art Director –  John Larigakis

Illustrator –  Ehsaan Mesghali

Source – http://adsoftheworld.com/media/outdoor/vancouver_police_foundation_if_looks_could_kill

This print advertisement was created by the DDB, canada for the Vancouver Police foundation. The advertisement immediately enforces the theme of the design (police badge) along with the one liner “If looks could kill, we wouldn’t be selling these glasses, we’re against that kind of thing”.

The advertisement is effective with its message immediately, the directional forces in the main focus leads your eyes down to the bottom of the badge as the one liner draws your eyes throughout the design, bringing you to the bottom of the badge – the sunglasses advertised sitting below this. What I like most about the design is that, upon first glance it is a police badge, but the more you look at it the more you notice in regards to detail, which builds the overall design.

The use of police symbolism can be seen through the police badge; for example the whistle and police cap.The font used varies throughout the badge, this works towards the overall intricacy of the badge as everything is a little different and layed out carefully to make the final product. This advertisement conveys its message clearly, even with a large intricate layout. I feel the advertisement is memorable and very direct to the audience, sometimes advertisements focus too much on the design and not the message conveyed, this is not the case.

Conclusion

Overall I really like this advertisement, its witty, the colour scheme is simple (blue, representing the police) and the intricate shapes and objects that make up the police badge are well thought out. In regards to the message conveyed the advertisement gets its point across to the audience immediately with the use of a little humour. If there was anything I would change it would be to maybe incorporate the sunglasses in the police badge better, the sunglasses could be repeated throughout the badge with the other objects, not just two small silhouettes of the sunglasses.

 

Fortnightly critique – App Review

http://www.148apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IMG_0001.jpg

App chosen – Marvel Comics (iPad Version)

Seller – Marvel Entertainment

Source – http://www.iospirations.com/iphone-design-inspirations/app-design/detail/26-marvel-comics

The Marvel Comics App, published by Marvel Entertainment can be found on the Apple store for either the iPhone or iPad for free. The app features a wide variety of marvel comics to purchase for a small price (premium releases) or a selection of free comics to download and view, which also has quite a selection.

I downloaded the app for my iPad as I felt the larger screen would beneficial. After downloading and launching the app I was impressed by the organisation and layout of the store, even providing a button for those new to marvel, introducing them to the comic series and universe.

Testing the app on my iPad

The store has great prices, with sections for deals, packs, also categorised into story arcs, or series. Upon selecting one of the free comics (The Invincible Iron Man – The Future: Part 1), the comics description is displayed to the user, along with a 5 star rating system. The user interface for the comic reading is very good in regards to functionality, allowing you to turn the pages automatically to a set timed slideshow, adjusting the comics orientation, page overview, comic information (who it was written by, who the art was by), etc.

Once reading through the comic on the ipad I was quite impressed, the tiles load once you tap the screen, the last tile then loading the page as a whole. I myself prefer to read comics and graphic novels printed, but this app has been done so well that I will continue to use it for future use, especially on long trips.

Conclusion

The Marvel Comics app is a great idea, that has been well executed both in regards to functionality and overall layout/theme. If I was someone who preferred to own things digitally I would love this app, the resolution of the comics are superb and the user-interface for reading the comics is great.

If I was to change anything about this app, maybe allowing for the user who has created an account in this app to be able to save the comic tiles to his photo gallery.

Overall though, I recommend this app to anyone who is a comic enthusiast or someone who is interested in starting to read comics in the Marvel Universe.

Fortnightly critique – Website

Source: http://www.romainbriaux.fr/

This website features the work of Romain Briaux, a french student in his 4th year at HTEC, specializing in web design. The site work as an online portfolio. The layout of the site is very easy to navigate through, the organisation of the information is interesting and quirky.

The landing page (above) for the website is simple, but shows a video loop playing in the background. The site immediately focuses on its main use with very little text on this page but in bold “WELCOME TO MY NEW PORTFOLIO” is seen so the audience gets an immediate idea of what the site is all about.

Viewing the designers work is very interesting in regards to layout and organisation (see image below). The site uses animated tiles once the mouse hovers over it, perhaps using “onmouseover” in their code. Once one of the tiles is clicked the interface then slides over to the topic selected.

The buttons are well labelled and located, these are for information such as about, my work, contact, and various social media links.

Conclusion:

Overall I like the sites theme, layout and functions. It has most of the characteristics for a well designed website, my issue though is in regards to load times. The target audience for this site would be those interested in web design, potential business and for the own designers use as a portfolio. In saying this the target audience’s internet connections must be relatively fast, and good in connection, this was the designers focus. For a wider audience though, this would not work so well as the site has so many functions applied to the main navigation that it may create a difference experience for another user (eg. slow speeds, site timing out).