OUGD406 Communication is a virus

You have been given a task. You are required to produce a graphics response that engages with a specific audience. Your response should consider the context and environment in which you aim for it to be delivered. You will need to identify this as part of your initial concept proposal.

You should aim to identify, analyse and use existing means of distributions in order to select an appropriate method of communication.

DRINK TEA

In our group we came up with a culmination of ideas before we started to research, which was down to knowledge we knew all ready about this topic. From these ideas (dp blog) I wanted to start my research off by looking at a company called 'UK Tea Council' 
http://www.tea.co.uk/
13th Feb 2013
 as there are some interesting facts about the topic. 
This quote from the front page of the website particularly interested me 'The UK Tea Council is an independent non-profit making body dedicated to promoting tea & its unique story for the benefit of those who produce, sell & enjoy tea.' as it is saying a similar thing to what we are aiming to do. In a sense that it is spreading and communicating information about Tea to people everywhere. It also promotes Tea rooms that are in the UK. This website has been the forefront for my initial research purely because it gives me facts and figures and information about tea that I didn't know about before.

 

I watched a video from this section that was called Tea: Fuel of the Nation (2012) and its about Britains relationship with the iconic drink that is tea.

 http://vimeo.com/35458948 

Tuesday 13th Feb 2013

 It was a really fascinating short film about why people drink tea, and a lot of people explained they only did it because there parents did and its grown around them to drink it as an every day necessity.

 

Also on this website i had found a recipe for Green Tea Ice Cream
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/green-tea-ice-cream
Tuesday 13th Feb 2013

 

This got me thinking about other types of tea, i.e flavours and methods

I watched a video on Youtube and it was about a Tea Expert called Jane Pettigrew who explains a few popular teas.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyhB-wLGICc

Tuesday 13th Feb 2013

 

 10,000 Different Variations of tea. These teas get broken down into different categories that determine brewing time and the correct water temperature, to make the perfect cup of tea.

 (above) White Tea- To make this tea the companies that produce this tea you pick the leafs and buds then leave to dry. Needs to be brewed at a heat temperature of 160 degrees for a bout 5 minutes.

 (above) Green Tea from Japan, is a tea which gets brewed badly so often. It is a very delicate tea again needs to be at a temp of 160 degrees so a general cool temperature for roughly 90 seconds to 120 seconds.

(above) Black tea- English Breakfast blend- Good for the mornings to get you going. Is a mixture of leafs from India and Sir-Lanka and you brew for a approx 3 Minutes.

Other Tea Varieties
  Oolong, Black/Red Tea, and Yellow tea

Going back to about reading about Tea Paraphernalia i remembered seeing a website about a mug that held the tea bag on to the side which would also strain your tea bag without having to use a spoon.

http://designtaxi.com/news/355810/Teacup-With-A-Groove-Prevents-Teabag-String-From-Falling-Into-Cup/
Tuesday 19th Feb 2013

The cup is designed by Samir Sufi

I thought this was an ingenious idea that is a simple concept.

Tea Packaging
 http://www.krftd.com/special_report/top-20-favourite-tea-packaging/
13th Feb 2013

As i continued to search for interesting Tea Packages i came across a Graphic Designer called Sergiu Naslau who had created a blog called
http://www.wabbaly.com/tea-packaging-designs/
which had some mind blowing packaging ideas on his page.

Whilst also looking at packaging i came across a company called 'Bubble Tea' http://www.bubbleteahousecompany.com/bubble-tea-as-a-business.asp
20th Feb 2013
Which specialises in tea, however its tea with a difference. This is tea that has a mixture of ingredients. Below is an image of there menu:

 

 

OUGD406 Design is about doing

Live Brief: Secret 7"

 

You need people to see your work and the essence of Graphic design is Communication. There is no value producing work for it to be placed in a draw. Often the best work or best ideas are the ones that people have see. You must get to use to distributing your work at the any available opportunity.

Secret 7" is a project that combines music and art. After their success in 2012 the team are back with a new line up of artists, a new set of tracks and a new charity partner.

 

Brief

Secret 7" are inviting creatives from around the globe to take inspiration from one of the tracks from the artists below and design an original 7 inch vinyl sleeve. The sleeve must not feature the name of the artist or title of the track.

 

Chosen Artist: Elton John- Bennie and the Jets

 

After looking and listening to all the tracks of the artists that were an option for me, I chose to do Elton John purely because in my eyes he is the most iconic. I knew the other artists but not as much as Elton John. I also knew that visually he would be the best one to portray. After listening to the song i decided to look at the lyrics first to see if the lyrics would spring any ideas.

Hey kids, shake it loose together
The spotlight's hitting something
That's been known to change the weather
We'll kill the fatted calf tonight
So stick around
You're gonna hear electric music
Solid walls of sound

Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet
But they're so spaced out, Bennie and the Jets
Oh but they're weird and they're wonderful
Oh Bennie she's really keen
She's got electric boots a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine
Bennie and the Jets

Hey kids, plug into the faithless
Maybe they're blinded
But Bennie makes them ageless
We shall survive, let us take ourselves along
Where we fight our parents out in the streets
To find who's right and who's wrong
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/e/elton+john/bennie+the+jets_20046854.html

I then wanted to look at his previous album covers, to see how they had been portrayed and the style in which they had been done in. Below are various albums which I liked :

http://www.lyricsgather.com/album/E/636-ELTONJOHN-lyrics.html

 

 http://www.lyricsgather.com/album/E/636-ELTONJOHN-lyrics.html

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_and_There_(Elton_John_album)

 http://www.last.fm/music/Elton+John/Rocket+Man+(The+Definitive+Hits)

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John_(album)

 http://www.lyricsgather.com/album/E/636-ELTONJOHN-lyrics.html

 http://www.lyricsgather.com/album/E/636-ELTONJOHN-lyrics.html

 http://www.lyricsgather.com/album/E/636-ELTONJOHN-lyrics.html

 http://www.lyricsgather.com/album/E/636-ELTONJOHN-lyrics.html

 http://www.lyricsgather.com/album/E/636-ELTONJOHN-lyrics.html

http://www.lyricsgather.com/album/E/636-ELTONJOHN-lyrics.html

I made the assumption that the majority of these covers were designed for the view of being fun and colourful capturing the essence and style of Elton John, Its his style that he is known for. From this i did some research on what people thought of when they hear elton John. Below is a pie chart of the common answers that were given when it came down to visuals that they think of.

From these results it gave me idea that i could take this on and look further into them. Firstly I needed to look at these items that made him so well known for them. Even though these are represented within his album covers I wanted to look at other photos of him where it shows this.

 http://pinterest.com/pin/30610472439264426/

 http://pinterest.com/pin/22236591882159960/

http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/2011/01/24/elton-john-on-gnomeo-juliet-fatherhood-and-his-love-of-runaway-bunny/

http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654205921445/

 http://pinterest.com/pin/37928821833745215/

 http://pinterest.com/pin/291608144592213907/

 http://pinterest.com/pin/510595676472902763/

http://pinterest.com/pin/68468856805759720/

http://pinterest.com/pin/291608144592213907/

 

http://cartoonvegas.com/my-caricature-gallery/caricature-gallery-mike-wagner/elton-john-by-mike/

Looking at illustrations you can see that they have played with these key features aswell, from this i started thinking off ideas.

I also looked at previous entries of secret 7 just to see how other designers had portrayed there chosen artist with out using words.

Pete Fowler for DJ Shadow in 2012

http://pinterest.com/pin/265712446736991583/

This image inspired my own work, purely because this designer took note of this artists iconic items which would be his glasses, mustache and collors. I thought it is a really nice representation. I also think the style in which it has been done in is very inspiring. The way the use of black outline in contrast with the soft touches of the background detail with the detail in the sunglasses makes the features stand out.

http://pinterest.com/pin/114841859218177319/