Making the second poster

For my second poster I started in Illustrator. The first thing I did was draw a bottle using the pen tool and gave it a fill of solid black. I then dropped in Martin O'neill's image of the tree and triangles and using the pen tool again I drew around the triangles to get the basic shape, I then added my own triangles to make the shape fit around the bottle instead of the tree. 

After this I then added colour to the triangles. To make sure I got the right colours I used the eyedropper tool on the original image to pick out the best colours. Adding them to my swatches pallet meant I could use them all without having to find them again. All I did after this was to select particular triangles and made both the fill and stroke the colour I wanted it.

Once I was happy with how it looked I exported it as a PNG and opened it in Photoshop. At first I added a brown strip at the bottom of the page but after seeing this I decided it didn't work. So what I did was to use this PNG and place it over the same textured background as the first poster. I also needed to have the logo on the bottle, because I had added the textured background it looked strange to have the logo in white. So in Illustrator I added the logo to the bottom of the bottle and cut it out so that when the new PNG was over the texture in Photoshop it looked like this.

Making the first poster

The first thing I did for this poster was to create the circles. To do this I used the Elliptical Marquee tool and the paint bucket. Once I had added all the circles in the colours I wanted I added a multiply effect to the layer and dropped their opacity to make them overlap one another. 

The next thing I did was to create my logo at the bottom of the page. I wanted a bold, simple font that was close together so it looked almost like one block. To do this I added a text box and wrote "LRB" in impact, I then changed the spacing between the letters so that it was -100. 

This then went at the bottom of the image to make it look like this is where the circles are coming from. I then added a background texture from an image I found and dropped it opacity so it was quite subtle and I then added a base color onto the background layer. To finish it off I then added the letters to spell out regeneration in different fonts and ended up with this.

After looking at this put together I decided it needed more and a suggestion that was made was to have an image or drawing in the background. I thought that would be a good idea so opened an image of a well built up street into Illustrator. In Illustrator I then used the pen tool to draw around the image to create a line drawing.

I then exported that as a PNG and opened it in Photoshop. I then dropped it behind my logo and circle layers to see how i would look. I was very pleased with the over all look of the image and have decided that it will work well as both a poster and a Leaflet cover. I may however take off the word regeneration for the poster image as I feel it may be too much for someone passing by to take in. 

Mock Ups

Once I had finished my sketches I decided to mock them up again to get a clear idea of what they might look like. To do this I used a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator. My first idea was to have the letters "LRB" at the bottom of the image and circles bubbling up from around it. I then wanted to have the word "regeneration" scattered in different fonts. Sticking to this idea I created this mock up.

Here you can see that ontop of my original design I have also added a background texture as this is something Martin O'neill does in all of his images. I like how this is looking but feel that its a little bare. One person in my class suggested having an image of some sort in the background, so I thought I would give it a go and see how it look. I then found an image of a well developed street and created a line drawing from it in Illustrator and then added this into the background of the image above.

Now I have seen what this looks like with an image in the background I am very pleased with this design and feel this could work for both my leaflet cover and a poster.

The second idea I had was to use Martin O'neill's image of the tree and triangles and create the same effect around a wine bottle to represent the bars opening up down London Road. To do this I drew an image of a wine bottle and all of the triangles in Illustrator and then placed that into photoshop, added a white logo to show up on the bottle and the brown strip at the bottom like the original.

I am over the moon with how the bottle and the triangles are looking, I feel the colours work particularly well as I took samples from the original image to get them right. The brown strip at the bottom of this image doesn't work for me. Even though the original had this I think this idea will benefit from getting rid of the brown and bringing in the same textured background as the image before. I think with these changes this idea could become very strong.

My final idea was similar to my first in its layout but used cutlery to represent the restaurants that are coming to London Road. I drew all of this piece in Illustrator but now I have seen how it looks I will be dropping it into Photoshop to add the same textured background as the first, not only will this make the image more interesting but it will also keep a running theme between my work. I would also like to get rid of the black outline on the targets and rearrange the cutlery so they dont interfere with the targets as much. With some of these changes I feel this is another strong piece and I am very happy to continue my work from here.

Sketches

After deciding I wanted to re work my ideas i had another look around Martin O'neill's website and found some images that inspired me. The first being this image of letters coming out of a TV. 

This image has great movement and I liked the idea of the letters coming from one place, I combined this idea with my love for the coloured circles in the background of the two images below to come up with my first idea.

My idea is to have LRB (standing for London Road Brighton) so the poster is clearly branded and for this to act like the TV and to have the circles coming out of the top like in the TV picture, I also though that keeping the same theme as the TV image, I could put the letters spelling regeneration in different fonts coming up from the logo like the circles, below you can see this in a sketch form.

My next idea is based very strongly on an image Martin O'neill created featuring a tree. I love this image so much and feel there is nothing that needs improving that using this same pattern of the triangles, but instead of a tree, there can be a wine bottle to represent the bars opening up down the road. My sketch of my idea is underneath the original image.

My final poster idea is keeping the same ideas as my first idea in this entry about having objects coming up from the logo at the bottom of the page. This time however instead of the circles I would like to base my work on this beautiful image of targets by Martin O'neill.

Along with this I am planning on adding a knife, fork and spoon to represent the restaurants opening up on London Road Brighton. below you can see a quick sketch of what I think this may look like.

Pitch feedback

When I presented my work to the class there were mixed reactions about which design to go for. Everyone felt the cut out style will work well, however seeing the classes mixed reactions I am tempted to try a new idea out to see if I can get the best out of this project as possible. 
The general feedback from my mock ups of the building stuck on with tape and the torn wall revealing another venue was good however no one was particularly blown away by it, making me think people in the street would walk past my posters.
The feedback from my other idea of having the images or pattern behind the text was good, although people thought it was a bit boring and didn't have any branding for London Road Brighton. 
I am now going to go back to sketching ideas to see if I can come up with something that has a good reaction all round.

Mock Ups

As I am unsure which idea is my strongest I have decided to create mock ups of all three so in my pitch my peers can help me decide. The first mock up I have done is for both my first and second ideas, having a photo stuck on with tape and having a rip in the image revealing another image behind.

These next mock ups are showing both sides of my third idea, one showing how I could use a pattern behind the text and the other showing this technique with an image behind it. 

In my pitch I will present all of these mock ups to see which people feel is the stronger idea. From that verdict I will carry an idea forward. 

Ideas

After looking at Martin O'neill's work and deciding on the theme of cut out, I decided that having an image of London Road Brighton with an image of a swanky hotel or block of flats stuck on with what looks like tape would suit well, below you can see my design idea in sketch form.

My second idea is along the same lines as my first but combining this with the idea of the typography by Martin O'neill called "gifted fidget"which was a layered piece revealing an interesting layer behind the original. To use this idea I am planning on having an image of London Road Brighton, removing a section like the front of a building and then showing an interesting inside, like a nightclub scene, this idea is also in sketch form below.

My final idea is to have a poster that is directly linked to the typography "gifted fidget". To do this my idea is to have a white poster with letters that have been cut out and behind that is another layer of either a pattern or an image. I will do this with both text and simple shapes such as a cocktail glass, below you can see my sketch of this idea.