OUGD405 - Typogateaux

We have to create a cake that resembles an existing letterform or glyph. I went on Pinterest and started looking at different cakes once I drew some initial ideas.

 As I had the idea of making a scrabble cake, I found two examples.

As I like serifs and fruit flavoured cakes, I thought this was a really good example.

I also had an idea of creating a typewriter style cake, and found this really good example. I like how it is made onto cupcakes.

There was always going to be a helvetica cake somewhere.

This cake fits in with my idea of creating the world map and having wire sticking out of it to fit little slabs of cake on top, with letters carved out.

 Another example of scrabble cake - this is the type of thing I vision going on top of the wire for the world map cake idea.

Here is a bundt red velvet cake - if I wanted to do the letter 'O' then a bundt cake tin would be ideal. Red velvet is also very christmassy.

 I thought this would be a good idea to replicate, as I made note of in my initial ideas.

I thought this would be good to keep to reference to.

Research for the world map idea cake

After looking through cupcakes, I think this would be a better idea than having slabs of icing for what will be stuck through the wire, as it would be more durable. 

This is a key lime cupcake, and I thought this would be a good flavour to use because the earth is green, and so will go with the colour of the map.

Here is some raspberry cupcakes, because I like fruity cakes, and could use this as the flavouring. However, it wouldn't have much relevance to my audience or cake.

Here is an oreo cupcake, and I thought this would be a good recipe to use because on the poll that I did, most people chosen Chocolate Fudge as their favourite flavour.

Here is an example of letters being drawn onto cupcakes, and I could do it like this or actually carve icing and place it on top of the cupcake.

I needed an outline of the world map so that I could trace it on to the top of the cake.

I then started to research some of the famous fonts that I could use on top of the cake.

There a few routes I could go down:

• The four font families:
• Gothic
• Roman
• Block
• Script

Or:

• The ways type was produced before the digital age:
• Stone
• Sable
• Wood
• Metal
• Silicone
• Bone

Or:

• Famous Typefaces such as:
• Helvetica
• Gill Sans
• Baskerville
• Times New Roman etc

Or I could go for a mixture of these.

So I am now looking at different fonts, and where they or the designer originated from so that I can work out what location to put them on the cake.

Bud Howard - Courier

This monospaced typeface is one of my favourites, and it was initally designed by Bud Howard. It was later altered by Adrian Frutiger when it was used for the IBM Selectric Typewriters.

Georgia
This is one of my favourite typefaces, and I am using it now for this bodycopy. It was designed by Matthew Carter in 1993, and was used by Microsoft. Carter was British, so I would put this font on England.

Baskerville

Designed by John Baskerville in Birmingham in 1757, this typeface has been popular for hundreds of years.

 Helvetica
Probably the most famous typeface, it was designed in Switzerland by Max Miedinger.

Gill Sans

Eric Gill was a british typographer, and this font first appeared in Bristol, so it would be placed there on the map.

Alexander Rodchenko

Rodchenko was a constructivist, and this is some of his work. This type would be good to feature to show something from Russia.

Bonzai

I wanted to find an oriental font, that mimicked the sable style. So I went onto dafont on the Japanase/Chinese section to find some.

Rockwell

This is a slab serif, designed at the Monotype Foundry. The Monotype Foundry was based in Massachusetts therefore I would place it there on the map.

Cake Recipes

I now needed the recipes for a chocolate fudge cake, as my poll suggested that was the favourite; a recipe for my cupcakes which I think I should also do chocolate related to fit in with the big cake and a recipe for frosting to cover the cake and cupcakes.

Here is how to make my chocolate butter cream for the cupcakes: 

There are two variations to making Oreo cupcakes here and here:

The first one is this recipe:

However, when I started reading the recipe, although it does sound delicious, it involves icecream in it, and I don't know how I would store it overnight without it going frozen in the freezer, or melt in the fridge so that is why I started looking for a different recipe which is:

I got all of these ingredients, and also thought that I could use this buttercream frosting recipe, and add food colouring to it.

Here is the method and ingredients for the chocolate fudge cake that I used:

Lecture Notes: High Culture/Low Culture

High Culture/Low Culture 
'Defining the Avant-Garde'

Mass/pop culture v art culture

Dictionaries link term - avant-garde - with terms like innovation in the arts or pioneers

- Idea of doing art/design work that is progressive - innovating
- But also refers to the idea of there being a group of people being innovative
- Being avant-garde in the work that you do - challenging, innovating etc
- Being a part of a group - being a member of the avant-garde

You can be avant-garde while being a part of the group.

The term is used everywhere, for florists, home and bridal companies. Reduces the meaning

The avant garde were a group of radical artists, who were experimental and shocking. 

Marcel Duchamp

Defaced Mona Lisa and signed a toilet as art.

'Fauvism'
Wild Beasts

Term applied to avant-garde artists by critics.

LCA quotes prioritise certain concepts:
Innovation
Experimentation
Originality 
Creative Genius

Its only when you get to romanticism when you started to get people experimenting your creative self. Previously, a master would have trained you their style of art, and you would practise it until you learnt the skill, and could do it as good as them.

Chaterton couldn't sell any of his poetry work, because he thought he was too clever for anyone to understand it, and killed himself because he thought the world was too stupid. 

Artists are seen as, or think themselves as, higher than other people.

The idea of avant-garde relies on the myth that artists are a creative genius, and superior. 

Art for Art's sake
Whistler Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875)
Just seeking to look good

End of 19th/early 20th C
Two approaches to avant-garde art
1. art that is socially committed (artists being the avant-garde of society, pushing forward political objectives)
2. Art that seeks only to expand/progress what art is (in itself and for itself)/ art for art's sake

Significant Form
Clive Bell - old critic
He came up with this concept:
The relations and combinations of lines and colours, which when organised give the power to move someone aesthetically.
His favourite painter is Cezanne.
If we are not 'aesthetically moved' by the paintings, it is because we don't understand the significant form, and are idiots.

Jackson Pollock Lavender Mist (1950)

Stalin banned avant-garde art in the 30s, because people didn't understand the radical, experimental art and that people were being elitist. 

It seems that if you want to be understandable, and communicate, you cannot be radical or experimental, because if you are, people won't understand it. 

Kitsch is commerical art, things that are made to be sold, and mass-produced.
The term comes from art critics, and was used to distinguish high and low culture. (Kitsch being low culture)

Jeff Koons Michael Jackson & Bubbles the Monkey (1988)
Art of kitsch?
It references something that is awful (small figurine)
But it is placed in art gallery, and sold for thousands

Thomas Kikade
Calls himself the 'painter of light'

Carl Andre Equivalent VIII 

K-Foundation Award (1994)
Held award for same nominations as turner prize, but for worst artist. The winner for both was the same, suggesting that the specialist judges who chose the best artist are pretentious, as the public chose the same one who thought it was shit and didn't understand it. 

Damien Hirst 'For The Love of God'

OUGD405 - Postcard Research

I researched some postcards for the postcard project that I did.

As I had gotten a shape to focus on in the postcards, I looked at this illustration on the postcard because it is made entirely of shapes. It could be interesting to change part of the photographs into different shapes too. 

I really like this postcard because of the shapes and colours that are used, to create a really nice illustration. This could relate to my own postcard because it is also revolved around shapes.

These postcards work as a set because they use the same colours and the same style of illustration, and I need to consider a theme throughout my postcards because it is supposed to work as a set. This could be the use of colours, effects, shapes or filter.

I love how this image is made up of different coloured shapes, and you can see where light hits the trees and the ground. I really like the earthly tones that are used, and I could incorporate this into my own postcards by transforming the photographs to be made up out of shapes.

This is similar to the last postcard in the sense that it it uses shapes to make up the image, but the shapes here seem to overlay the image underneath, with a low opacity and texture on top. 

These postcards are double sided, and this is something that I need to do as part of the brief when I am printing. I also need to make sure that each side is consistent with each other, like here the postcards use the same colour scheme. So in my own postcards I could use the same image on either side, or same colours.

OUGD405 - Printed Text and Reading Further Research

As our group have decided to focus on helping children read, I thought it would be appropriate to do some further research at design focused at children, and some statistics on child literacy.


I started looking at different statistics to help me realise how big of a problem it is, and why we are addressing it. 


'almost 40 per cent of those ages eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books - although 85 per c ent of those ages eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.'
- Dailymail

'children with no books has 'lower' levels of attainment, negative attitudes to reading and read less frequently'.
- Dailymail

'Over a third of London primary school children reach the age of 11 without being able properly to read and write, and 20 per cent are still having serious difficulties by the time they leave secondary school.'
- Letsgetreading 

'the UK ranked at 47th for the number of children who read for pleasure.'
- Letsgetreading

'Exposure to stories helps to enrich the imagination and provide knowledge of a range of experiences that a child can draw on to give them confidence in their daily life.'
- Letsgetreading 


I decided to look at more packaging, as that was what I started researching for printed text and reading. To look at products aimed at children was also my task to do as part of doing different research processes as a group.

Although these are aimed at parents as they are buying for the children, they still have a colourful, playful design which children would appreciate.

The Natural Confectionary Co. use bright colours and characters to advertise their sweets. The type 'Jelly Squirms' is positioned at different heights to give the impression of movement, as jelly wobbles.

These use very simple colours, and block text to make it understandable to children. The characters used look very happy, which could encourage children to use the product as not many like to put after sun lotion and suncream on.

I really like the illustrations used here, as the cartoon like images of the vegetables make them seem friendly and comforting, as children often refuse to eat vegetables.

I really like the simple illustration here, and the bright colours would attract young children. The big, bold text stands out against the colours and is readable for younger children.

Characters are used again on this packaging for a drink, and subtle colours are used on the lion, which makes the display text stand out more against the coloured backgrounds.

I think the justified text works really well underneath the duck illustration, and even though it is aimed at parents, the bright colours and the animated illustrations would appeal to children as well.

This is a very clean design, with simple colours unlike the other designs I have looked at. The bright colours don't look overpowering against the white background, and I think the curved typeface makes it appear friendly and laidback.

These growth charts are incredibly bright, and the characters are very geometric. That is the sort of style I want to achieve, but add a lot more colour to make them more lifelike and friendly.

I really like these illustrated fruit, as the designer has given them a personality, and the fact that they are happy would encourage young children to notice it. I also like how it is on a white background, because although it is aimed at children, it hasn't substituted good design, which can be seen on lots of children's packaging which have too many colours.

I love these simple illustrations, and how they fill the frame of the border. Even though they are bright, they aren't gawdy and they grab attention.

I really like how the open mouth is used to place the text, as it really stands out, and allows for the rest of the illustration to be undisturbed by text. I've noticed a lot of the text used on children's packaging is lowercase; Emily in the group has designed a lowercase typeface specifically for the project which will work really well.

I just thought this was really clever, although it is very simple and effective.

I really like this packaging, and the green works really well against the transparent packaging. The use of green circles act as peas to work with the title, and some are also illustrated into children, appeaing at the target audience. Although it is aimed at children, the design is really clean and simple.

I love this illustrative book designed by Malika Favre, and I think the shades of colour used are really subtle and attractive.

These monkeys are humanised by wearing jetpacks, to go with the title of 'fuel'. The white text stands out really well against the bold colour of the packaging.






I found this campaign for children eating smartly, and I liked the colours and illustration, but I think it is perhaps too wordy to be aimed at children.















I started looking at the most popular children's books, and I found this website has a list of them, and some quotes from the books which I thought would be useful to our project as we want to do wall murals.

children with no books had ‘lower levels of attainment, negative attitudes to reading and read less frequently’.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjJ479TK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

almost 40 per cent of those aged eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books – although 85 per cent of those aged eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjHxOswV
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

almost 40 per cent of those aged eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books – although 85 per cent of those aged eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjHxOswV
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

almost 40 per cent of those aged eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books – although 85 per cent of those aged eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjHxOswV
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

almost 40 per cent of those aged eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books – although 85 per cent of those aged eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjHxOswV
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebookv

almost 40 per cent of those aged eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books – although 85 per cent of those aged eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjHxOswV
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

almost 40 per cent of those aged eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books – although 85 per cent of those aged eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjHxOswV
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

almost 40 per cent of those aged eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books – although 85 per cent of those aged eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjHuWiMU
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

almost 40 per cent of those aged eight to 17 live in homes with 10 or fewer books – although 85 per cent of those aged eight to 15 own a games console, and 81 per cent have a mobile phone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392782/Boy-9-tells-teacher-The-book-house-Argos-catalogue.html#ixzz2DjHuWiMU
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook