Further Ideas

Following on from the previous idea which was saying the right thing in its concept but not in its finish and style. I have followed the idea of wanting to get people away from their technology and outdoors by having a photograph of a beautiful garden which is partially covered by a mobile phone that has a virtual garden app loading on it, the concept behind this idea is to make people question WHY they are not experiencing the real thing when it is right in front of them and to get them to realise that its much better to really be there.

I feel that this concept is very strong and is exactly what I want to develop further, however I am not sold on the look and feel of this piece as it stands. I think to make a series of these posters with technology partially covering the images in the background all look coherent, I need to define a proper style to show the dramatic difference between "the real thing" and whats on screen. 

Ideas

Having read over the brief a few more times I feel like the key point is that people arent going outside as much in todays society. Because of this I want my campaign to encourage people to step outside and not miss out on the beauty of it for the sake of their TV or their IPad. 
The idea that this has lead to to is to have someone missing from a poster, to show other people outdoors enjoying their time while the main subject is in cut out form, similar to when you join a social networking site and they have a simple face shaped outline where you are meant to insert your photograph. 
The slogans that I have come up with for this piece are along the lines of 
"Be there" or "Dont miss out"

Here are the slightly different variations of this initial idea

While I like this idea, I feel that it isnt quite showing as i'd hoped and I feel it could give the impression of a missing person or hidden identity rather than the idea of missing out on fun.

Branding

The branding guidelines for the national trust are quite strict and detailed so I have made a list of bullet points to outline the three most important parts of these guidelines.

• The logo must stay the same (except for colour change)

                  The below colours are approved for use:

• Leave breathing space for the logo, do not put it next close to another image or text

               This is the recommended clear area

• Where appropriate, the layout of covers and posters is based on the idea of a picture frame

                Here are some examples of the picture frame templates to use

National Trust

Because I have been struggling to come up with an idea for my XL Recordings brief it was suggested that I consider changing the brief all together to start on something new that I can enjoy and sink my teeth into. This is something that I have not wanted to do as we are getting closer and closer to the deadline for this project, however I feel that the work I will produce from the XL Recordings brief will be half hearted as I have had such difficulties with it. 
For that reason I am changing to the National Trust brief. 
We now only have one week till the hand in date so getting through the research and idea generating will have to be quick.

The national trust brief 

Aim: To connect people back with nature and the outdoors, to attract a younger audience.

Reason for this: The national trust has been given an image that it is for old people and cream tea on the lawn and it wants to show the younger audience that it is more than that. They want to reconnect people with the great outdoors and strengthen peoples bond with nature. 

Things to consider: Video format must be MPEG or MOV, Images must be JPEG only. Consider print, digital and experiential when creating work. Abide by branding guidelines.

Outcome: A campaign that consists of either a video (max 2 mins) or up to eight images. Supporting materials can also be added to the main hand in.


The national trust was set up in 1895 and has been going ever since, this long lasting trust has the aim to "Look after Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty permanently for the benefit of the nation across England, Wales and Northern Ireland". In 2010 the trusts membership count hit over 3.7 million and this brief is set out to make sure that number continues to grow. As the national trust is such a long lasting company they do have strict guidelines to keep them easily recognised. My first step in the process is to look though these and make sure that I know exactly what I can and cant change about their current set up.

Models

After a brief 1 to 1 with my tutor the idea of creating small models of the band came up, I decided to try the idea to see where it lead and started creating my miniature Thom Yorke. 

This took me quite a while and I realised it wasnt viable to do all of the members of the band. I also realised that the idea only lead as far as making the models. After a long time trying to come up with an idea I decided to wave the white flag on the models. 

Feedback and Barcode

I decided that the pieces I have been working on dont fully represent what the brief is asking, as its main focus is around the fact that in rainbows was set out to pay as you like. This is an obstacle I am struggling with as I dont want to make the poster look like it is suggesting they gained a lot of money as that is the oposite meaning that they were trying to tell. The music is more important than the money. 
I have been looking at things that represent money without screaming overpriced or huge gain and the two things I have though about are a bar code and a piggy bank. 
A bar code is a symbol for how much something is without actually telling you the price which could fit in very well with my brief, and the piggy bank resembles youth and saving suggesting pennies rather than notes and giving the audience the idea of innocence. 

From this I went on to create some images based around the bar code idea.

Here you can see I started with a simple bar code in rainbow colours and using the numerical alphabet I spelt radiohead down the right hand side.

With this I then made a 3D version and played with colours and angles to see what worked best

Once I had picked an angle I then tried to incorporate the previous work to try and represent both the money and radiohead.

Although I quite like this final piece I still don't believe that it is saying what I want it to and using such obvious references it is still in danger of looking too literal.

3D

When asking for feedback on my previous idea of the grid logo, there were a few concerns raised.  
The main worry was that the logo is too literal and therefore boring. It was suggested that I try and break it up a little to make it more abstract. I took this on board and have been playing with the different ways to make it look more abstract, the best way I have found so far that looks good is to change the pieces into 3D and move them around to break the clean lines. Here are some examples of how this effect looks. 

The other concern that the class had was that using such strong inspiration from Donwood when he has already worked for them before may cause an issue. So although I thought his work was fantastic and I will still use it for inspiration on how he transformed something from just an illustration to a beautiful moving gif, I will try and steer clear of taking too much of his style into my own work for this project.