Creating Ideas

Mind Map:

In groups we had to come up with ideas about making an Olympic advert campaign for the 2012 London Olympics and the nations all coming together, so we started off by making a mind map to do with the Olympics.

Olympic Campaign Adverts:

I like this advert as it represents Britain with the lions and colour on the Olympic medal. The designer has made this advert look very posh and sleek by creating this clean design that has been kept very minimalistic but still keeping it's appeal to the viewer with the clean graphics that have been represented.

I like this advert because it's basic yet appealing, it gets straight to the point  in what it's trying to promote which is the Olympics. I love the way the designer has took a simple text and the Olympic logo turning it into something unique by using the colour the colour of the logo to create this swoosh effect of colour flowing through the text and has made it look as though it's flowing in and out through the text which makes this piece very eye catching.

This is one of my favourite ad campaign for the Olympic as it's to promote the Olympics itself but also to promote Durex as a company.  Durex has used the shape of their condoms to their benefit as they're round like the rings of the Olympic logo so they've took this on board made the rings of the logo look like condoms that are connected together. The design is simple and that is all this needs to be, because the rings clearly indicate the Olympics and the condoms clearly represent the company along with their logo in the top corner. This design also has a humour about it with a sexual innuendo that can be linked with the Olympics because of a quote from Usain Bolt who is one of the Olympics biggest stars, the quote "not every man wants to be the fastest in the world" coming from Usain Bolt is hilarious because he's the fastest man on the track but the quote is suggesting something more sinister linking to the bedroom which ties in with the whole Durex safe sex campaign.

Once we had put our ideas on to a mind map, we each made a mood board to do with a topic within the mind map. So I did mine on the games held at the Olympics.

After our ideas generation we decided that we would in corporate the 5 rings of the Olympic sign in to 5 different images of different London attractions e.g. Big Ben, London Eye, London Underground etc. We also came up with the slogan ''Lets Unite'' which would be on each of the posters for the ad campaign to go with the whole subject of unity across the globe.

Generating Ideas

Concept Fans

Introduction To InDesign

Introduction To InDesign For Future Presentations:

First of all we took a picture and some text from the internet and resized and positioned it learning the basic tools of InDesign.

We then changed the title colour and made it more presentable .

Xbox Game Covers

Word Association To Generate Ideas -
In this task we were given a list of words that we had to choose from at random. I ended up going with "Might Axe" and "Heroic Hobo"

Mighty Axe:

Mighty definition - Possessing great and impressive power or strength.

Axe definition - An edged tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle.

Character Bio -
Mighty Axe is a viking type character that walks with a slouch dragging an axe behind him. He's got gingery hair and beard and is a middle aged big built man. He wears rag clothes with metal armour around his top half of his body.


Character Design -

To create this I took an image of a guy, axe and some armour renders then placed them into Photoshop. I started off by desaturating all the images so that they were black and white. I then started to use selection tools to cut out the images that I wanted. After that I placed them into another Photoshop file and and started to place the armour over the guy following the size and shape of his body using the transform tools on the armour. To make the armour look more realistic I used the highlight and darken tool in area around the armour that would either be lighter or darker. I also added in drop shadows on the armour to make them look as though they were separate pieces adding to the realism. Finally I took my axe image and placed it under the man and armour layers and positioned to look as though it was strapped to his back.

Game Cover -

To create this I took a render of an Xbox cover title head and placed it in  Photoshop so I knew what size I would be working to. I then took an image that go along with my game design from the internet and desaturated it adding in my armoured character in over the top. I then duplicated my character layer and lowered the brightness until it black distorting in a shadow shape and adding a slight blur to create the shadow. After that I used a layer effect of the character called outer glow to give this white glow around him. Finally I started on the text by using a default font and colouring it white and adding a drop shadow, I then got a splatter brush and made a selection around the text and start to dab the brush over the text to create the blood effect.

Evaluation -
Overall I am pleased with how my design has turned. I like the way I've managed to manipulate the armour on to my original man picture render to look as though he's actually wearing the armour. In the actual cover design I like the way my character blends in with the background and looks as though he is actually standing there within the scene due to the shadow I've added in. Another thing I like about this design the my blood splatter text I've managed to create which goes along with the concept of the game as it's been design for a first hand combat type game. The only thing I can fault about is maybe the outer glow around the character, looking at it now just makes me think does it necessarily need to be there? But all in al I'm happy with how the design planned out.

Heroic Hobo:

Heroic definition - Having the characteristics of a hero or heroine; very brave.

Hobo definition - A homeless person; a tramp.

Character Bio -
The Heroic Hobo wields nothing but his fists as weapons and has longish scruffy brown hair. He is also a middle aged ruff edged man that has a medium build to him with dirty looking skin complexion. He wears a scruffy ripped jacket and jeans.

Character Design -

I made this character simply by using a reference image form the internet to draw from and drew it out slightly different changing colours and facial expression through using only the paint bucket and brush tool.

Game Cover -

Here I used the Xbox cover image as before and the I took an image from the internet  of a town for the background and added a filter over the top called poster edges to give this drawn look. I then used an old type face and made a selection over it placing in body parts and colour from my character design. Finally I added in my image of the character, duplicating him and adding a slight blur and lowering the brightness to create this shadow effect.

Evaluation -
The design is something I'm very pleased about as I drew my character instead of manipulating it like the other. I lack drawing skills but I believe this design turned out very good and I've managed to create the cartoony feel that I wanted, he also looks like a hobo which is the effect I wanted to create from this piece.
I'm very happy with the game cover as well because the title "Heroic Hobo" I believe ties in with the character concept within it as he's in a very heroic stance and looks as though he's accomplished something or done good. I'm also happy with the text and of the title as I've gone for an old look type face which I believe corresponds with the game concept. The only thing I can fault about this design is the background although I'm pleased with it, I think that it could do with being a bit more cartoon like. Overall I'm very pleased with the final outcome.

Renault Twizy Advert

Research:
The is very small and compact with the dimensions of 234cm long, 124cm wide and 146cm tall besides it being so small it manages to accompany 2 passengers. Renault have also made the Twizy kind of cool by bringing it out in various urban colours making a really nice, smart looking city car. The car is very eco friendly as it costs less than £3 to fully charge it and can be charged from an ordinary house plug socket, it is also very cheap to maintain the vehicle and the road tax of it is bare minimum. As the car is electric it releases zero CO2 emissions when driving.

I researched into eco ad campaigns because that is general hype about the Twizy that is it's main selling platform. I like this design because it uses the colour of green which immediately makes you think eco as that's the colour in which eco is based on. I also like the way the designer has put a faint image of a city in a paler green colour and placed in small to make look as though it's in the background and then they highlight the the big bright green tree at the front suggesting that it's better to be eco-friendly. Another thing I like about this design is the text title where he's used the phrase "in eco we trust" suggesting being eco is a good thing, which it is. The designer has also highlighted the eco in green correspending with the whole eco design and making it stand-out catching the viewers eye. 

This advert takes a completely different approach to marketing the whole "eco" thing. The designer has used the a smoke chimney with a guy putting his arm around the cartooned face chimney with a "best friends forever" t shirt on the two of them suggesting that society is best friends with pollution.  To get the idea across that we should be eco, the designer has done portrayed by using a text message to get the general message that eco is the way forward and that we should be bestfriends with eco. He's used the green which and highlighted the serious words within the title to attract viewers attention which in turn will make them read on. Although this is a good marketing strategy to get the message across I believe the subtitle text underneath the title is slightly hard to read as it has a green background with text that has been cut out to make it the same colour as the background of the image which makes it harder to read as the colours blend a little too much.

http://www.renault-ze.com/en-gb/gamme-voitures-electriques-renault-z.e./twizy-urban/presentation-1949.html&child=1949

My Idea Based Upon It's Eco-Friendliness:

1# Magazine Advert with an vibrant Renault Twizy with eco-friendly logo (Greenpeace) vinyls and a dull powerplant background, emphasising the fact that it's eco-friendly.

I made this piece by using a background image of an oil plant and a image of the Renault Twizy. I placed in the background image of the plant first first darkening the colours to make it look bleak  I then added in smoke by using the brush tool and rendering clouds and slightly adding a Gaussian blur to give a more realistic smoke effect. I then placed in the image of the Twizy after I had cut it out from the background using the magic wand tool and rubber tool. Once the car was placed in the image I used the distort tool to make it look as though it's parked within the image. After that I started on the colour change, I done this by using the colour balance and hue/saturation tools to give this green look to the car. Finally I added in the black bar and text by simply using the shape tool and text tool.

Evaluation:
I'm pleased with how this turned out because it portrays the message that the Twizy is eco-friendly, which is what the campaign is all about. I like the way I've managed to create realistic smoke and got the car to look perspective with the background image. Saying that they are some flaws to my design I believe it looks slightly tacky and I wanted a more realistic look to the advert e.g. the green is too green, I should've maybe only coloured the white of the car in green as it looks a bit unreal with it all over. Another thing I'm dissatisfied about is my poor use of the rubber and selection tool to cut the Twizy out as there's a faint whiteness around the image. But overall I'm still happy with my design.

2# Guerilla advert where the Twizy has been made to look like a fruit hanging from a tree.

I created this piece by first of all acquiring a field image, tree image and the Twizy of the internet. I then place in my field image and changed the colour to black and white lowering the saturation after that I used the poster edges filter to give this drawn look. I then placed in my tree image and Twizy image, I added the same poster edges effect to the Twizy to correspond with the background. Penultimately  I drew in black lines hanging from the tree and duplicated the Twizy several times to place them around the tree using the transform tool to resize a couple of them. Finally to add a bit more of an effect to it I duplicated the tree and distorted whilst adding a blur to create a shadow effect.

Evaluation:
I'm very pleased with how this turned out, I believe the desaturated colour blends the image nicely and it all looks clean. I like how I've managed to get the tree in perspective with the background and it all follows the same art style throughout the image. Another thing I love about this image is the realism brought in by the shadow of the tree. Although I'm very pleased with this design I think it may have benefited from the tree either being a bit smaller and placed a little little further back within the image or put slightly to one side but I wanted it the central image of the piece. But I am very happy with how this design planned out.

Group Ideas Presentation:

Research

Toyota Hilux TV Advert:

I think this advert is a good idea because it keeps the watcher entertained throughout the advert whilst also getting it's message across, I like the concept of the 4x4 going through all natural terrains and then all of a sudden it's brings in the surreal of a hog that fire breathes, wears armour and rides a motorbike which also brings a bit of a funny aspect to the advert whilst still keeping to the point of the advert saying that the Toyota Hilux is a very reliable, strong 4x4. At the end of the advert they use comedy again to get the point across through the random monkey that is in the car, but the only thing I found bad about the advert is the text and at the end isn't left on the screen long enough and I found it hard to read in time that it's on there.

Heineken Advert:

I think this makes a good advert due to the irony in it where the women open up the walk in warddrobe and go crazy about shoes and clothes stereotyping that all women think about is shoes, clothes, shopping etc. But then it changes the scene and then the mean open up a walk in fridge to find thousands of Heineken which emphasises the stereotype that men love beer, which in turn gives the advert a sense of humour about it making the viewer more likely to buy the beer. The only flaw I see in the advert is that it might detour women from buying this drink as it is shown as a mans drink as only the men are the ones going crazy over the beer.


Mentos Advert:

I think this advert is good because it uses humour once again to attract the viewers attention, when he breathes at the dog the dog despises him, but the he takes the mento and the dog makes a move on him which makes the advert funny by making it ridiculous and completely unnatural which will appeal to many peoples sense of humor, but the advert does have a downside because women are sometimes referred to as dogs and he attracts a real dog which may come across as calling girls dogs as the mento was meant to attract the woman.

Nike Web Banner:

In this banner advertisement 2 shoes are merged together to be made to look like a snake which is really appealing as you don't know what it is when you first look at it, but then it eventually changes into what the advertisement is all about; designing your own pair of Nikes'. The advertisements text also catches your eye because the background colour are dark and the writing is a bright red and white. So this banner advertisement is a very effective piece of advertising because I don't see any bad points to it, apart from the fact that they've used some disgusting colours on the shoe, but that is only because they're showing the viewer that you can basically make your shoe whatever colour you want.

Magazine Advertisement:

I think this magazine advert has a very good colour contrast and depth as the clouds fade in to the ground which is very appealing, I also like the way they've edited the text making it look grungy and then when you see the characters with the weapons it all sort puts the image together to create a sense of corruption and violence.

Guerilla Advert:

This guerilla advert is effective in getting it's message across, as it's telling you to take a break from the sun but the artist uses the sunlight shown in to the picture to create the message out of the shade created by the sign post that portrays the message, hinting that you shouldn't stay out in the sun for long and use the shade to hide from it. The only thing this advert doesn't do is give the reason why you shouldn't stay out in the sun, but most people are aware of the dangers so it doesn't really make the advert a bad design as it still portrays the right message that you shouldn't stay out in the sun for too long.