Creating a publication

I have decided to look at Colour as my theme for studio brief 01 in this module, art influencing graphics is something I am very passionate about within graphic design so this module being so open I would love to create something I personally will enjoy designing.

I wanted to show how the relationship between art and graphics can influence each other. Looking at famous paintings and then applying the same compositions, colours and styles to the design. I chose the title of the publication 'Colour In Art' in response to this.

As the work is all about the use of large expressive typography I felt a bold and graphic typeface for the cover would be appropriate.

The colours of the six letters in 'COLOUR' have all been taken from the various colours seen throughout the publication this would them reinforce the ideas the publication is trying to convoy.

Using Didot typeface allowed me to use very large letter forms but in serif type this would then show a more sophisticated style to the designs and relate to some of the older paintings featured.

The cover I kept quite simple to try and make the reader want to know more and invite them to pick up the publication. 

This basic structure of painting on the left and then text on the right I continued throughout the publication, this would insure clarity of communication and keep the work as consistent as possible. I decided to crop each of the paintings to the same size rectangle shown above this would again keep the consistency throughout. 

The typeface I selected was the same as the cover, Didot this would then be recognisable from the cover and allow the publication to flow better when reading. 

I used Bodoni type for the small bits of text and the CMYK numbers for each of the colours. Taking the colours directly from the paintings and applying them to the type would show this direct correlation to the artwork. I felt the publication needed to be able to be used so including each of the CMYK numbers would mean if the reader wanted to they could use the colours for them selfs.

As I wanted each type to emulate the artists work with Cezanne using a striking and bold application of paint in all of work this should be reflected in the type. Using Mfred typeface very large filling the space of the page this would then feel appropriate. I composed the type on the page first then found the appropriate space for the CMYK numbers and the information on the painting.

This artwork by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai I felt was very detailed and beautifully composed so this had to be reflected in the typeface. This CCArtSans typeface designed by Eichi Kono a Japanese type designer work in conjunction with the painting and the colours would translate effectively. Out of all the pages this is my favourite due to the subtle nature of the image and the type they feel connected and very together.

Mark Rothko being a very famous american artist the only typeface that felt really worked with the painting was the slab serif type Rockwell. Even the name of the type connected to the artists name and the large R's and circular O's felt reminiscent of a Rothko painting. Picking the colours for each I wanted to continue this hierarchy of colours seen in many of Rothko's paintings. I think this spread the colours relating to the paintings are most clear and feel very consistent. 

Throughout the publication I wanted to really show a variety of different kind of modern artists and Ellsworth Kelly being a much more conceptual artist that looks mainly at flat colour I felt his work would lend itself nicely to this publication and be a interesting change. Using Futura typeface very simply in a consistent stack much like the painting itself. The colours used needed to be clear and related to the painting as best possible. I looked at using a blue and a green but due to the large amounts of red and black on the right hand side of the painting this would translate better into the type.

Picasso being such an influential and recognisable artist I wanted to feature one of his paintings in the publication but I found this really difficult to get right and look how I wanted it to. The artists work a lot of the time had such a range of contrasting colours that translating this to the type was very difficult. At first I looked at some paintings of his Blue period but felt it generally didn't represent enough the Cubist style be later became so famous for. I chose this painting titled 'The Weeping Woman' as it is very recognisable to the artists work and would better represent him as an artist. I used the typeface Aachen as I wanted to keep is this use of very different typefaces for each and felt the large curves and way the type was very bold but clear large reflected nicely the artists style. Picking colours from the painting again was a challenge as there were so many really contrasting colours together that didn't appear so different looking at the painting but was very prominent when applying them to the type. I experimented with a number of combinations and felt happy with the combination shown above.

The final spread I chose to feature the artist Joan Miro as this surrealist style was very different to any other images I had looked at and would be a refreshing change at the end of the publication. I used the typeface Modern216 due to the distinctive flicks and curles on the serifs that loosely represented the paintings. I again kept it very simple using the blacks of the image but just changing the I and the O this would keep the type subtle but nicely reflect the painting. I thought the use of the accent was enough of a change to keep the composition of the type very simple and put more of the emphasis on the type and the accent itself. 

The back page just simply used each of the paintings features and the name of the artist. This would again create a sense of wonder and make the reader want to know more about how they relate to graphics. Overall I am pleased with this publication as it relates to all the themes we have looked at in design principles – colour, type, layout, grids and composition. I hope I have created something of real use and that I can refer back to when picking colours in other projects.