OUIL406 Visual Communications SB2 - Finals and Evaluation

I think overall, even though these are much more of a step into graphical illustration, which is something I haven't explored for a while I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. I think they all communicate the individual identity of the underground networks really well, even though they probably weren't the most complex to execute. I don't really feel like i've managed to put my own individual 'voice' into them all that much - largely because they involved a lot of referencing and tracing to get just right, but I think thats largely something illustrator does very well - clean, clear, graphical illustration work, and I think these outcomes definately reflect that.

I have mentioned it briefly in the other posts - but if I recreated these, I'd probably explore using textures a lot more, and maybe look into how I could make the signs look a lot more like weathered, aged real life signs - with noise and scratches and things. I think that would help seperate them from that 'graphic illustrator' syndrome that illustrator-generated images often suffer from too. 

OUIL406 Visual Communications SB2 - Postcard Production - The London Underground

Again, created in a manner similar to how I did the Berlin Postcards - to get the accurate 'plan' of this particular stretch of tube line I traced over an image of the tube line using the pen tool at different widths. I picked this section because it had a particularly heavy population of lines in one area (meaning it looks a bit better and less spaced out) - I also made sure not to add any type on this one at all; largely because the tube particularly is really iconic, and I think if I put any station names down on it, it'd just look like a cropped copy of the the tube map, and I want it to remain illustrative to a certain degree.

Again, it's largely a basic method of crafting - though honestly I think its appropriate for these illustrations, because signs - especially these intended for navigation, are intentionally created to be clear, bold and graphic, so anyone internationally can figure out where they need to go. 

OUIL406 Visual Communications SB2 - Postcard Production - Berlin U-Bahn

Probably the postcard that was the most labour-intensive and shows the less for it. The U-Bahn is well known for its beautiful tiled signs - but these become frustrating when you have to recreate said tiles repeatedly in illustrator. Again, like the Metro sign, because all the typefaces are widely different, I had to hand-trace the type over existing images of the signs which was fairly time consuming - as was copying and pasting hundreds of tiles over and over again. I then arranged the signs around the edge of the artboard until I got a crop that I liked.

Whilst I do like this card and I think it definately represents the U-Bahn - I think the colours and the black grouting on some of the tiles kind of irks me - though I think thats largely from being subject to years of vector-based clipart that uses the same visual style. I think if I recreated this i'd probably see what effect texture would have on them, to see if it would age the tile work any better

OUIL406 Visual Communications SB2 - Postcard Production - The Paris Metro

Probably my favourite out of all of the postcards i've done for this - I just really like the outcome of it and the colours and the wraught iron really sings 'art nouveau' and thats super crucial for creating work about the Paris Metro.

Much in the same vein as the last postcard - I worked on the sign large, placing the area I wanted to be cropped into the area of the artboard (this is really good for creating extra elements and then placing them back onto the canvas) 

Unlike Helvetica, I couldnt find a decent example of the Metro font at all so I simply hand-drew the letters using the pen and shape tools. The Wrought Iron frame was simply made using various widths of the pen tool - the curve of the frame made by warping it using the stretch and skew tools. Simple stuff - I'm really pleased with it as a final though. 

OUIL406 Visual Communications SB2 - Postcard Production - New York Subway

Probably the most straightforward and stress-free of all the postcards and work that I did for this. Whilst I didn't want to do something /too/ obvious, I figured the biggest representative common across all of the underground systems was the branding and the signage they used throughout - especially as it gave them all their individual 'iconic'-ness. So I used the signs as a basis to create the final illustrations.

Helvetica is used heavily on the Subway signage, so I basically used the type and shape tools to plot it all down around the artboard. Even though this is probably the most simple of all the work ive done for it, the choice to crop in this way is a really good way of using type as image, using that visual identity Helvetica brings to help communicate the 'subway'. The colours of the spots as well are probably the most well known of all of the subway runs for tourists - being the one's for 42nd Street into Times Square. 

OUIL406 Visual Communications SB2 - Further Idea Exploration and Illustrator Experimentation

These are all Ideas and experiments in composition that I did to get back into the swing of using illustrator.  They're ideas that I either didn't think would work as a set compositionally or just didn't turn out like I expected them to when upon excecution.

This was an idea I had centered around the platforms of the underground - I initially found it really difficult to draw and get all the paths filled on one layer, since having a large amount of elements on it made it really difficult to seperate them all. By pathing out a sketch on one layer, I managed to then draw another set of paths on the second layer to plot a load of different shapes - and delete details as appropriate.

In hindsight I really kinda like how this looks - at the time I thought it looked to simplistic, and I was concerned with how it would turn out across the three as a set but the spot colour of the green signs looks really nice. I probably wouldn't have discounted this as early on if id've gone back and explored it further

Part of 2 outcomes elaborating on the idea I had to draw the seats of the undergrounds - adding a bit more of the environment of the trains to add context to them. To add pattern to the flooring and the chairs, I used a mix of the brush and the geometric tools to make textures that could be used as a "fill" for specific shapes. 

In the end I was pretty unhappy with how the colours looked on this - very gaudy, didn't really work or gel or really give off a vibe of the tube really looks like. Plus, I found that resizing the shapes didn't resize the fill of the texture with it, making it look much more like a generic bus seat in the end. Overall pretty bad.

The other, more successful outcome for the seat Idea. Here I started to use the textured brushes to add more depth to the flat shapes - recreating the 'worn' kinda vibe you get from the subway cars. I was actually a lot happier with this than the tube one - the main problem with this as an idea was that the orientations of the Metro and the U-Bahn are much more like a standard 'train' as opposed to the side running seats found often on the tube and subway and I felt it'd be too confusing to really make 'work' as an endpoint

Another alternative looking into using the profiles of the train cars as postcards - pretty simple stuff here, all made using the geometric tools. The MTI type was made using the warp and skew tools, but otherwise it was entirely crafted with basic shapes.

I think this could've made a strong set in the end but I personally felt it was too simplistic, and risked falling fowl of the typical "voiceless-vector-illustration" vibe you often get from stuff made in illustrator. 

OUIL406 Visual Communication SB2 - "Greetings From" Initial Ideas

After conducting visual research into our cities, we then started to draft some initial ideas for our set of photographs. I tried to go for designs that - whilst represented the individual rail networks, worked as a set and were also recognisable as belonging to their individual cities as well

This set is based about the different seat patterns you find in and around the underground systems - since I find seat patterns pretty interesting and recognisable. Whilst I liked them as a set, I feared that as a final, they would be a little bit too obscure and even though I knew where the seats were from, unless you'd visited the locations yourself, you probably wouldn't do.

This set was designed to focus on the different trains that run in each system. I quite like this idea, and I can feasibly see this working (the paris and berlin trains could be quite obscure, but if the viewer deciphers the london and new york ones, they could probably work out the other two) My main concern with these is what they'd look like in illustrator - i.e - would they perhaps look a little bit too basic? I'm probably going to investigate that further.

This last set is designed to focus around the various signs on the networks - again, something that generally comes to mind when I look into undergounds, and its also something they all have mutually important in common. Again, like the trains I think they would have to be carefully handled because I think they could either look copied (ie - little design work used) or give away too much information. I think cropping would be key with this idea.

I think working with the different ideas in illustrator will change the way I look at them - I think the last two look the most promising though. Maybe if I add more of the surrounding environment to the seats idea, it would look a bit more recognisable? 

OUIL406 Visual Communications SB2 - "Greetings From" Visual Research for the London Underground

An enormously functional and Iconic part of london, the Tube system is a vital part of the inner workings of london city centre. Much like the metro's Art nouveau signage, the underground map is an iconic piece of design - as recognisable to london as the Big ben, or the red double-deckers.

The tunnels of the tube line are particularly circular - which is what coined them the name "tube". A lot of the older tube lines have elaborately patterned tiled work in them, which allowed people who couldn't read to identify what platform they needed to get off on.

 Much in a similar way, the inside of the tube trains correspond to what line you happen to be travelling on. The centre handrails are the colour of the line, and the seat patterns coincide with them. The most famous of which happens to be the new Central Line pattern.

Key visual stuff for the Tube

• The famous London underground map
• Circular tunnels
• Colour co-ordinated seat patterns and interiors
• Red white and blue trains to go with the red white and blue logo.