Key points:

Inspiration

Connection*

Flow

Sound

I was playing around with how I would represent sound and unity while still using very basic forms and shapes. As you can see from the progression from top to bottom, this practice became key in the development of my main logo for Southbank.

Because one of the core values of Southbank I want to highlight throughout this project is accessibility, I wanted to document a day spent at Southbank without having spent any money (although I did fail at this because of the tempting smells of the food market). I wanted to capture images and video that captured the energy of the place, and also highlighted my new slogan: all paths lead to the centre. I think the diversity of people and interests are more than visible through the content I captured during this site visit.

Video taken with Camcorder

Photos and last video taken with Nikon Coolpix S610

Reflection: Although I like the message of these videos, (the idea that Southbank is a place where you can go without having to spend any money and still have a good time through art, community, etc.) I didn't end up finalizing any of these drafts. This is mainly because because I wanted to keep honing in on my skills in After Effects. Once I had a better understanding of the program, I ended up feeling more comfortable with what I could portray without having to use any videos or pictures. This way I could stick to that abstract approach, keeping it consistent throughout the main brand world.

The first featured my initial logo attempt and were a bit too complicated and ambitious. The third story board is one I came up with after making my logo revisions and highlights the way the logo is made up of the interchangeable arrangements of quarter-circles.

I envision this video to be played on screen before any big events that the centre will hold in the future. I wanted the video to feel quite festive and exciting.

These were some of the first solid touchpoints I developed, and I'm happy that the tutors responded to these well after my initial design attempts.

On the second page I am also playing around with the idea of the two chatting characters based on the core brand logo. The chatting figures inspired me to take on character sketched, as you'll see bellow and later on.

It feels playful, which is a vibe I've tried to capture throughout this project. I think this playfulness is also important in making zero waste feel more accessible. A fun identity makes serious topics like climate issues less serious and pessimistic, as this can overwhelm a lot of people.

The use of graffiti text, the name of the event, and the upcycling event in question are targeted toward the skaters of the Southbank Centre. However, the characters work to attract and interest a wider audience of all ages. They make the event feel welcoming, fun, and inviting, instead of feeling exclusive of those not into the skating scene.

I decided to add new colors to the sub-brand so that the colors, plus the use of solid black, could separate these events from the main brand world. I know I didn't want to follow the common green-washing aesthetic, which is why I stuck to a fun and vibrant color palette.

As you can see later on, I didn't end up using the characters based on my logo for this activation because I felt they looked quite goofy with the long legs. Although I didn't use them, they were a key part of my process of getting into making these little characters.

However, I realized there was a way to include these concepts in a more minimalistic and abstract way, so as not to visually complicate things. I went back to square one and revisited the cut paper method to draw back on the complexity a bit and stick to the solid quarter-circular shapes. Limiting myself to these quarter-circles made things a lot less busy visually, and conceptually tied to my core values for the project. The four quarter-circles represent the four venues that make Southbank what it is, as these parts build the whole.

In this activation, I invite artists to make artwork using nothing but waste. Artists can submit their work to Southbank through an open artist call for a chance to be featured in the Trash Art exhibition at the Hayward Gallery.

At first, I was a bit shocked by the way classes were run. It was surprising to me that there was little technical help to be expected from the tutors during class time and instead workshops to attend outside of class time. This is something that I was not used to, as in the states class time is usually a mix between technical and conceptual support. I come from a school with a smaller class size (usually only 12 students per class), which means I am used to getting more one-on-one feedback sessions with teachers to develop ideas and concepts. It took some time for me to get used to working with (what at first seemed like) very minimal feedback from tutors. These academic differences, although a bit challenging at first, did a lot in aiding my independent work ethic and motivation outside of the classroom.

Looking back on my work here, it is really rewarding to see all of the work over these past months compiled into one place. It also is a good opportunity for me to gauge potential room for improvement. I would have loved to make an interactive app instead of just a digital poster, but by the time it took for me to solve the issue of my banner being too complex and deciding to cut the info into two touchpoints instead of one, submission was just around the corner. At that point, I did not have enough time and not enough knowledge of UX. UX / UI design is however a skill I have been meaning to learn for quite some time now, so hopefully next term I will have the opportunity to pick this up. Looking back on my project, I also would have liked to make a 3d model of my rendering of the deck benches so that I could realize what these would look like in real space. This way I could have pictured how these would look at the SBC and mockup people interacting with them, as that is the whole purpose for designing them as a touchpoint. Something that held me back from this is the fact that I have no working knowledge of 3d modeling software. After some YouTube tutorials, I couldn't get far enough into Blender that I felt comfortable with the tools to model these. If I had a bit more time to work on this project, these are things I see I could refine more.

This unit has brought many firsts for me and my design journey. I had never worked with either sound or moving image before. And, while it was a bit of a journey having to teach myself a program for the first time in my academic career, I feel really proud of the final outcomes. This also makes teaching myself skills like UX/UI and 3D modeling seem a lot more feasible and approachable. I also have never made a sketchbook like this before, and for the longest time couldn’t grasp what exactly was being expected from us in these sketchbooks. In schools in the States, sketchbooks are merely for sketching. And, because I have been studying graphic design in a school setting for around 7 years now, I tend to think quite digitally rather than on paper. Picking up a pen and sketching on paper for the first time in a while felt a bit odd at first, but it was refreshing to have to think about things outside of this digital space. I'm worried I still have not fulfilled all of the tutors' expectations with my sketchbook, but it feels really rewarding to have my process (trials, errors, and all) laid out here in front of me.

Paintings from Google Images, various sources

For the final audio featured in my video, I used a mix of found and made sounds. I edited these sounds together (messing with volume, fading, and reverb) using the app BandLab to make the final result.

After animating my video and timing it to the background sound, I used sounds from EpidemicSounds as a sort of foley to heighten the send of motion in my video.

This festival would exist to highlight the importance of the skating community at the centre, and showcase the strong social power and change they can make when they band together, just like what they did years ago to save the skate park.

Originally, this symbol was a custom icon I designed to signify community. I revisited the mark in creating the logo for this festival because one of the central goals of this festival was to highlight the strong skating community. I also liked how the symbol looked like a cycle, reminiscent of the recycling logo.

After tutorials, I also realized that I had created a lot of printed material up to this point. Despite the eco-friendly choice of using recycled paper and soy and algae-based inks (based on my materiality research), I decided to shift to a digital approach for my re-designs to unnecessary printing and waste. A feedback I got to help me manage the amount of info being decimated in ways that were easily digested and read (unlike this poster with too much info) was to separate it into two touchpoints- posters to capture attention and a digital flyer to highlight the program.

I went with posters because I wanted there to be a QR code that people could scan to pull up the digital flyer on their phones to curb too much physical printing.

In designing this event, I wanted to showcase the work of Hilma Af Klint, whose color palette and minimalist approach heavily influenced the brand world I work in. In keeping with my core values of accessibility to / representation in the arts, I thought it was fitting that the event I designed tickets for highlighted a female artist who paved the way for generations of artists to come.

During one of my final tutorials, I got feedback that I wasn't maximizing the space enough. This inspired me to play around with ways I could use my characters to infiltrate the space. This take was of floor mural way-finding, which I wasn’t digging, so I decided to try again.

This became the inspiration for one of my Zero Waste touchpoints. I thought my festival could have an event where skaters could donate their old and broken decks and the Southbank Centre could commission local carpenters/wood artists to make new public benches for the centre in memory of this lost life and in the spirit of the strong skating community and culture at the centre.

My design was not intended to be reminiscent of kilroy, maybe I just found myself subconsciously placing my character peaking over the wall because it felt so familiar to me from my childhood (from the influences of my brother's tags and from growing up in Massachusetts, where this symbol would be literally everywhere).

The images below are from Google image search, all from various sources. I really like the opportunity this character-based design approach has in allowing the characters to give life to the space. Southbank's architecture is brutalist and at times harsh and sharp. These characters really liven up the space and add a sense of excitement for visitors.