Part 2: Assignment 2 (Point of Sale Display)
Final illustrations:
Ideas development:
Initial thoughts:
Upon reading the assignment it seemed quite a challenging piece of work. I immediately began to visualise so many different types of illustration: from watercolours of fruit and veg, through to all digital artwork. This work could be taken into so many different directions and styles. However, the warning in the handbook was very important for me to note, "... be especially conscious of the way you use colour ... and surface marks – poor choices can result in food looking mouldy, battered, and ultimately unappetising.".Whatever, I chose to do, it must be produced in a media that makes for visually appealing food items. The choice of media and drawing surface would make-or-break this piece of work. I immediately began to think about the bright colours I could achieve with acrylic paints or coloured pencils.
After picking over the assignment details, I set myself some success criteria to clarify and refine the direction I'd take with the brief:
- There must be a very high level of consistency in composition and style between the two displays. (In the "real" supermarket display, one seasonal image is replaced immediately by the next)
- All fruit and veg must be appealing and realistic looking
- Summer display must be bright and "summery" in feel/aesthetic.
- Summer display to feature fruits that we associate with the season.
- Autumn display must show autumnal colours
- Autumn display to feature vegetables we associate with the season.
- Have some form of textual message for the shopper (and not just produce a "pretty" picture of fruit or veg)
Ideas development
The initial brainstorming of keywords was a useful first step to exploring the brief and stimulating my thinking:
I then created a moodboard of different point-of-sale examples I collected online:
Point-of-sale displays are, of course, extremely varied depending on their function, size, etc. But overall I felt that the ones which are more text heavy are less effective. After reviewing the moodboard, two questions started to come into sharper focus for me:
1. Who is the target viewer?
2. What purpose does the point-of-sale display serve?
These two question were never far away in my mind throughout the rest of ideas development and producing...
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After mulling over the keywords and moodboard, I started to explore ideas and experiment in my sketchbook:
As well as the sketchbook page, I decided to do some digital experiments/mock-ups too in order to try out the composition and the look and feel. I found that exploring ideas and experimenting with the composition in Photoshop is quick and an extremely valuable part of the ideas development process. A lot of ideas and compositions can be toyed with very quickly.
My first set of experimental thumbnails seemed uninspired, clichéd and aesthetically muted:
After making these I came to the view that the starburst effect (background above) is overdone in graphic design and is a visual cliché. However, these thumbnails were a useful exercise - I started thinking about composition and the whether or not to have a single fruit/veg, or multiple, i.e. what should the eye focus on in the image? I also pondered a little more about the question, "what is the purpose or message of the point-of-sale?"
I progressed on to some different digital thumbnails (scanning in from my sketchbook for the one on the left):
Composition 2 - Background colour was meant to contrast with the orange slices, but is rather brutal and unappealing as a summer theme. Liked the combination of text and a focus on fruit piece(s).
Composition 3 - Much more appealing colours. The blue of the text somehow representing a cool sea or ice cube in the summer sun, and contrasts well with the yellow and oranges. However, the text seems a little heavy handed somehow - too big?
Producing the Summer Illustration:
Firstly, I think that producing the thumbnails, both in the sketchbook and digitally, was extremely important to developing the final image (shown left). The thumbnails provided me with the ideas to take forward, and also to clarify the direction that the work shouldn't go in! All the final decisions I made can be traced back to thoughts about the thumbnails. Below I discuss and elaborate on some of the main thoughts and decisions I made in producing the image:
"Draw an orange slice for the background, and to overlap them in a scatter pattern..."
Drawn from a real orange slice using Polychromos coloured pencils - giving a waxy and high pigment finish to the drawing. I decided on colour pencils because I wanted a media that gave me a lot of drawing control (meeting the objective drawing requirement of the task), and also that would be high colour impact. I considered oil pastel, but worried it may go a little too abstracted.When I took this slice into Photoshop and tiled it, really didn't work! The orange colour was too bold with too much contrast in value (especially around the rind). Therefore I had to put a pale lemon layer over the top (in Photoshop) and use a layer blend. This puts the background into "the background of attention". I suppose you could call it some form of visual wallpaper. However, a side-effect of what I did was to render the orange slices into a slightly unknowable fruit! I.e. are they oranges, lemons or grapefruit slices. I don't think it matters particularly - it is still achieving the summery aesthetic I want.
"The focus of the illustration will be a vibrant looking strawberry drawn from life..."
Same decision as for the orange. Drawn from life using Polychromos coloured pencils, I achieved a lot of control and the bright pleasing colours I was after for the drawing. I cut out and placed the strawberry in Photoshop. And slightly enhanced it with colour balance option, moving a little way on the red scale in order to make the fruit look a fraction more red, plump and appealing. An important aim was for the strawberry to be big and inviting. I wanted it to jump off the image with thoughts in the mind of the shopper, "... summer.... strawberries and cream.... refreshing...."
"Add the supermarket brand, but keep the type very simple..."
I think that the handbook is rather coy about the branding aspect of this task. I thought it important and fun to add a supermarket brand and sales message, after all the whole purpose of this illustration is as a point-of-display to entice shoppers.
After the thumbnail brainstorming I felt it best to keep the typography simple, and reduce it down to a mere Summer or Autumn. Although I felt that a "slice of summer" idea from thumbnails was fine, my thinking was that quite a lot of words would distract from the star of the artwork, the strawberry. I used a graphical text generator (www.dafont.com) to produce the script style text, and then added blue gradient colour and drop shadow in Photoshop.
After the thumbnail brainstorming I felt it best to keep the typography simple, and reduce it down to a mere Summer or Autumn. Although I felt that a "slice of summer" idea from thumbnails was fine, my thinking was that quite a lot of words would distract from the star of the artwork, the strawberry. I used a graphical text generator (www.dafont.com) to produce the script style text, and then added blue gradient colour and drop shadow in Photoshop.
"Does it look better framed with a thin border?..."
On some of my thumbnail sketches I was quite taken with the idea of a sharp border of some form. I experimented by adding a slim white border with a little glow. It worked for me, it acts to "frame" the content quite well.Developing and producing the Autumn illustration:
Summer illustration now done! Creating the Autumn was as straightforward as I had deliberately intended:All the ideas development and thinking process had been done for the summer work. An important success criteria I had was to ensure consistency between the two images, therefore the only changes and decisions I needed to make for the 2nd illustration were:
- Which autumn related fruit or veg slice would be best for the background?
- Which autumn related fruit or veg would be the main focus?
- How would the colour scheme change to reflect autumn colours/colour associations.
I chose to draw an apple for the background slice because apples are typically an autumnal harvest fruit. An association with season that most shoppers would directly or indirectly understand. More importantly, I wanted a vegetable as the focus. The main question was, "which vegetable would most people associate with the time of year?" I asked a number of friends and did a little research.
Answers were wildly varied. Nothing distinctively autumnal... except perhaps for the ..... pumpkin. Halloween associations certainly - but more importantly they an autumn season vegetable. The more I pondered the pumpkin, the more I felt I'd made my choice. A quick digital mock-up in Photoshop confirmed that I was on the right lines and that the concept would work as an image.
After drawing the apple and pumpkin, producing the Autumn illustration had the same workflow as for the summer illustration. With the most important step the drawing of the pumpkin:
The pumpkin was drawn from life. And the colours on the final drawing came out a little darker than I had anticipated. Therefore, for the final illustration I slightly brightened the colours and made the pumpkin a little more orange and vibrant (but only subtle changes I'd say, because I still want an autumnal "mood" - this is a moody darkening season.)
Evaluating the two illustrations:
Composition
A balanced symmetrical composition seemed to suit the square format of this assignment. This appears to give each illustration a sense of order, balance and calm. The general composition is broadly adhering to the rules of thirds; with the top third being devoted to the brand logo and text. The then gives the two-thirds focus to the most important aspect - the centre of attention being the fruit / vegetable.
Style
I'm happy with the overall style and look of both pieces. They seem to have a slightly old-fashioned charm without being kitschy or self-consciously retro. I think this old-fashioned aesthetic is achieved from the effect of the hand-drawn strawberry/pumpkin combined with script styled type. My mind drifts to some of the 1950s adverts using hand-drawn elements and type.
Colour
I'm happy with the colour palette for the summer illustration. Overall I think I've achieved the bright, sunny feel that I set out to create. I pondered the blue of the text for some time:- I was worried that blue as a cold colour wouldn't be in keeping with the theme of the hot summer. However, on producing I saw immediately there was no worry. The blue brings to mind associations of blue sea, swimming pools and ice-cubes. Rather surprisingly the cool blues worked for the summer style.
The colour palette for autumn was - on the face of it obvious - the browns and russets typical of the season. However, I was concerned I could end up creating something ending up as "muddy brown" if I overdid the autumn colour associations. I skewed my thinking towards the apple green, with the autumnal brown being limited to the text and border. Although I feel that the colours do work on this 2nd illustration, there is something not quite as easy or as pleasing about it as the summer one. I ponder if my overall colour palette is a little too pale overall?
Further improvements?
In the summer illustration: I think there could be some tidying up of the pixels of the strawberry. On close inspection, I left a few rough bits. I also ponder if the fruit needed some form of shadow to offset it against the background. But perhaps this could ruin? Simple is best sometimes I feel.
The backgrounds of fruit slices (for both images) are deliberately haphazard. However, I can't help thinking that I should have been more mindful about the backgrounds and been more strategic in the layering, sizing and positioning. Perhaps I could have achieved a modest improvement in overall presentation and impact?
Would hand-drawn type added further interest and be an area of possible change/improvement Certainly it would change the whole aesthetic of the piece with hand-drawn text. And perhaps quite not suitable for this particular brief?
Suitable for purpose and the target viewer? Do my illustrations meet the brief?
These two questions are the most important - and key to the level of success to this assignment. I think that my two illustrations certainly would work displayed a supermarket aisle and add a pleasing "context" to the displays of fruit and veg. I feel I've met the brief.
But what message do these images convey? This question bothers me the most. Overall I think that their prime purpose is for the images to add to ambience and mood to the seasonal shopping aisles, and not give a direct message. That was never in the assignment brief. Overall, I feel I've had success in promoting seasonal ambience.
Perhaps my work should have been more utilitarian and blast out a message such as "50% off this week!"? But such overt sales messages and windy text was certainly something I wanted to avoid in this assignment (especially given my part 1 assignment was quite textual in nature).
Style
I'm happy with the overall style and look of both pieces. They seem to have a slightly old-fashioned charm without being kitschy or self-consciously retro. I think this old-fashioned aesthetic is achieved from the effect of the hand-drawn strawberry/pumpkin combined with script styled type. My mind drifts to some of the 1950s adverts using hand-drawn elements and type.
Colour
I'm happy with the colour palette for the summer illustration. Overall I think I've achieved the bright, sunny feel that I set out to create. I pondered the blue of the text for some time:- I was worried that blue as a cold colour wouldn't be in keeping with the theme of the hot summer. However, on producing I saw immediately there was no worry. The blue brings to mind associations of blue sea, swimming pools and ice-cubes. Rather surprisingly the cool blues worked for the summer style.
The colour palette for autumn was - on the face of it obvious - the browns and russets typical of the season. However, I was concerned I could end up creating something ending up as "muddy brown" if I overdid the autumn colour associations. I skewed my thinking towards the apple green, with the autumnal brown being limited to the text and border. Although I feel that the colours do work on this 2nd illustration, there is something not quite as easy or as pleasing about it as the summer one. I ponder if my overall colour palette is a little too pale overall?
Further improvements?
In the summer illustration: I think there could be some tidying up of the pixels of the strawberry. On close inspection, I left a few rough bits. I also ponder if the fruit needed some form of shadow to offset it against the background. But perhaps this could ruin? Simple is best sometimes I feel.
The backgrounds of fruit slices (for both images) are deliberately haphazard. However, I can't help thinking that I should have been more mindful about the backgrounds and been more strategic in the layering, sizing and positioning. Perhaps I could have achieved a modest improvement in overall presentation and impact?
Would hand-drawn type added further interest and be an area of possible change/improvement Certainly it would change the whole aesthetic of the piece with hand-drawn text. And perhaps quite not suitable for this particular brief?
Suitable for purpose and the target viewer? Do my illustrations meet the brief?
These two questions are the most important - and key to the level of success to this assignment. I think that my two illustrations certainly would work displayed a supermarket aisle and add a pleasing "context" to the displays of fruit and veg. I feel I've met the brief.
But what message do these images convey? This question bothers me the most. Overall I think that their prime purpose is for the images to add to ambience and mood to the seasonal shopping aisles, and not give a direct message. That was never in the assignment brief. Overall, I feel I've had success in promoting seasonal ambience.
Perhaps my work should have been more utilitarian and blast out a message such as "50% off this week!"? But such overt sales messages and windy text was certainly something I wanted to avoid in this assignment (especially given my part 1 assignment was quite textual in nature).
My points of learning and final reflections:
One thing I've certainly learnt from this assignment is the importance of experimenting with different ideas, and in particular trying out ideas with thumbnails and mock-ups. It is very easy to jump on some initial thoughts and conclude, "yep-I have the right idea here..." But I'm realising more and more that experimentation brings extra thoughts, helps refine, and springboards new directions. I have a pragmatic side which - when I have an idea I like - I then resist spending time on trying out alternatives. But I'm glad I tried out a range of different things (especially digitally).
What at first seemed quite a challenging assignment has provided me with exactly that - a good challenge. I like that it has been about solving the problem of an appealing point-of-sale display.
The challenges of incorporating objective drawing, then composing in Photoshop continues to build my software skills and capability across the workflow. I continue to like the mix of traditional drawing/painting media, combining with the possibilities of digital.
Overall, this has been a stretching assignment and I'm pleased with the outcomes. I look forward to part 3 and how I can build on further experimentation with different media and digital, plus richer ways to creatively experiment/thumbnail during ideas development.
The challenges of incorporating objective drawing, then composing in Photoshop continues to build my software skills and capability across the workflow. I continue to like the mix of traditional drawing/painting media, combining with the possibilities of digital.
Overall, this has been a stretching assignment and I'm pleased with the outcomes. I look forward to part 3 and how I can build on further experimentation with different media and digital, plus richer ways to creatively experiment/thumbnail during ideas development.
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