Product Range Distribution: Poster Development

Based on tutor feedback gained I've looked at different ways to improve the legibility of the posters (see figure 1) as the type gets lost within the pattern. This lead me to look at other official documents (see figure 2) that I could draw visual inspiration from such as a degree certificate and birth certificate. In relation to experiments with the birth certificate (see figure 3) it was difficult to present the information within the layout as there wasn't enough information to fit within the layout of a birth certificate for it to be relevant and noticeable that inspiration had been drawn from this document (see figure 3). Therefor I chose to look into the layout of a degree certificate (see figures 4-6) however faced a similar problem as to the lack of information that need to be featured within the poster compared to the official document. This made it difficult to create a layout that was recognisable as the type just looked centred (see figures 4-5) within the page, as this is where the bulk of the information of  a degree is however this wasn't instantly recognisable like the passport. I also looked at including the hand illustration at the top (see figure 4) to replace where a university seal/crest would traditionally be placed, however this looked cluttered and out of place when compared to the rest of the design.  Upon reflection of my experiments with different documents I felt this wasn't working so looked at removing some parts of the design  around the text to make it more legible. This was difficult as I was unsure as to how much of the design to remove as I still wanted the posters to fit alongside the invite and running order. Therefore I experimented with both removing the pattern from around the text (see figure 5) as well as removing sections of the pattern across the poster (see figure 6). Personally I think the experiments seen in figure 6 are more successful as removing fibres from the whole pattern creates a more realistic representation of security fibres as you can only see a few with the naked eye on official passports and documents whereas I want to showcased the 'fake' nature of the branding by countering this. However I still felt these designs could be developed to fit the layout of the invite and program leading to the use of left aligned type within the posters as I felt this was more appropriate which was confirmed through peer feedback (see figure 7).

Based on the need to hint to the 'fake' aspect of the branding I've looked at how to incorporate colour within the branding based on the idea that fake fluorescence and fibres shine brighter under UV than authentic fibres. This lead me to colour pick colours from photos of security fibres in order to more accuratly inform my colour choices (see figure 8-9). However due to the low quality of the images many of the colours picked turned out more muted than expected (see figures 8-9), although some colours create an interesting contrast (see figure 9) none of these experiments captured the bright nature of fake fibres. This lead me to look back into my research which stated many fibres are often red and green which informed the use of brighter colours based on my initial swatches (see figure 10-11). Furthermore I looked at more vibrant blues as this was a common colour within my initial swatches. Consequently brightening the swatches allowed for brighter colours to be created (10-11) however I plan to test print the most successful (see figure 12) in order to see if the brightness is transferred to printed material. Furthermore I was unsure about the use of two colours as I was concern the contrast between the colours would create a legibility issue. This lead to experiments (see figures 11-12) using one colour only within the fibres and text instead of the background as the fibres are the only thing that light up under UV light the background it supposed to stay the same even within fake documents. However the only issue with this is the potential loss in brightness due to the lack of contrast with the background, leading to the need to test print some of the more successful colour combinations.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10 

Figure 11

Figure 12