Design Developments

Figure 1

In order to respond to feedback I've experimented with the use of the waved line within my pictograms based on the distance between the print festival and each shop. I've also taken influence from topographic maps by adapting the concept of contour lines into my designs. I've adapted the use of contour lines within my pictograms by altering the incline of the curve therefor the higher the incline the further away the shop is from the print festival. I've also incorporate my original idea of altering the spacing between the lines to represent the distance from the print festival to the shop meaning the closer together the lines the further away the shop is from the print festival (see figure 1). However this lead to some pictograms looking cramped and distorted making the pictogram difficult to understand and the effect of the wave to be lost at a distance as the lines appear to merge. Although it worked well with those based on shops closest to the print festival it wouldn't work successfully in a system due to the drastic differences within the pictograms creating a un-uniform system.  

To further develop the use of contour lines within my pictograms I've simplified previous experimentations (see figure 1) by editing the incline of the curve in the same way as before but keeping the distance between the lines the same in order to create a more fluid curve (see figure 2). To do this I've based the incline of the curved on the distance in yards from the festival to each shop as using miles caused the lines to be too close together in previous experimentations creating a pictogram which was hard to read and understand. Initially I've experimented with positioning the curve to create the greatest impact on the audience which I found work most successfully when the curve is position in the largest section of the pictogram( see figure 3). Additionally the curve create a larger impact when only one wave is featured as this allows for the creation of a greater incline to represent distance as well as keeping the pictogram simple to avoid as loss of focus on the wave itself which can happen when too many waves are included in the same pictogram (see figure 2). To develop the pictograms further I've also experimented with stroke weight as the use of a low line weighting of 1pt (see figure 2) causes the picotgrams to be lost and create less of an impact on the audience when compered to those with a think stroke weight of 2pt. Thick line of over 2pt are too bold and cause the pictogram to be distorted as the lines merge when the incline of the curve is increased (see figure 4).

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

The use of colour is important within the pictograms as it allows them to be visible and understood from both long and short distances, therefor allowing festival goers to spot the system easily. I've experimented with colour by choosing colours featured within the branding and on buildings of each shop to give them an identifying colour, allowing for a bright and bold use of colour within my system in order to further develop my system. Initially this was difficult as both the Hip Store and Village books main colours where black and white making it difficult to find an identifying colour for each (see figure 5). This lead to the initial use of grey for the Hip Store and black for Village. However upon reflection found the colours where too similar and didn't allow the pictogram to stand out enough. I therefor conducted more research into the colours used on the websites of each of the store to create there identifying colours (see figure 6). The use of colour (see figure 5) for the lines themselves is too much as it reduces the impact of the waves within the pictograms as the colour tends to overpower the design.
 Following feedback I've experimented with incorporating the distance between the print festival and each shop into pictograms as inspired by contour lines. Initially I had planed to stick to the traditional representation of elevation on topographic maps (see figure 7) however the distance was too small making it difficult to identify next to the line. This lead to experimentations with overlaying the distance on the lines whilst incorporating colour so the distance was easily visible and the wave wasn't distorted (see figure 8).

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8