OUGD601 Context of Practice 03 Practical Piece Development Board 3

This was by far the fastest design to take shape. Because the other boards took so long, my mind has been on this design for a while without me acting on it. I knew that I wanted something that could act as reflective because the whole concept of the board was hope and light representing that hope. The type needed to be open and also strong so sans serif suggested itself for the job. 

The square grid really helped me with the construction of this, maintaining straight verticals. I made certain that the forms were not too sharp as can sometimes happen when using sans serif capitals. I made the decisions to try out all caps because of that strength that I wanted to evoke with the quote and the way that the mostly short words have a definite visual cadence, adding further visual strength to the design. The ridges on the letters that allow the sense of reflection came from thinking about a metal pub sign I saw. Which unfortunately I do not have a photograph of. I saw how the tones of metal were changed by the light either side of the ridge. This not only looked great but provided the perfect space for the application of colour, which I had be wrangling with for a while. This way the dark parts of the letters could be bright gem like colours and the light could simply be white chalk reflecting the light which is the only ornamentation of the board. This light will simply be blurred light yellow chalk falling arose the letters. I am concerned that compared to the other boards this might look overly simplistic but I also feel that holding back when you have enough with a design is important. I think I will defer judgment until it is on the board, because the simplicity fits the simplicity of the quote.

For the layout I wanted it to be dictated by the beam of light. I decided on left justified to the angle of the beam. This also means that the words create a stepped appearance, ascending towards the light. This again works to communicate the hope at the centre of the message. I tried out a slightly different approach on the 'O' in work of this sketch. I decided up the letter further to make it look more gem like. However, this seemed only to make it looks broken, so not the impression I was looking for.