OUGD405 - Design Process - Frame (Photoshop)

Brief notes:

• Re-imagine backing for a photo frame series or set.

• Design must include key details.

• 3 finished designs that work as a set or series.

• 6x4 inch, 7x5 inch, 8x6inch or A5, A4 or A3.

• Any images must be manipulated in Adobe Photoshop, any text or vector based imagery must be created in Adobe Illustrator.

• Consider how to engage a buyer.

To start I began looking at existing backings for photo frames evaluating the negatives and positives of them and how I believe they can be improved:

I visited Clas Ohlson to take images of not only the backing but how they are displayed in store as this may have to be taken into consideration in relation to the final design.

From taking several pictures at the store I deducted several points:

The majority of images are printed in greyscale - This is economical as the print would be cheaper to produce in high quantities however the backings aren't attractive and do seem too dull. A perfect frame would consist of at least a colour to grab attention and engage an audience, especially here in Clas Ohlson.

The dimensions of each frame is clearly displayed aligned centrally - A clear and large point size creates reading of the dimensions an ease however this did not occur on all designs. This is definitely something I need to include in my design.

Lack of continuity - Images vary for no apparent reason, the lack of continuity creates a sense of un organisation and creates a visually cluttering experience. This cluttering can be confusing and must be changed, continuity of design will create a more efficient shopping experience. I presumed this lack of continuity to be down to production however when I noticed the same typeface was used throughout the designs, I knew that these frames were specifically designed for Clas Ohlson

Each frame is wrapped in a plastic wrapping - This must be taken into consideration with my design; for example If faint drop shadows or light tones of grey are used they may be mistaken with reflection from this wrapping.

Details need to recognised and read from a distance - Shelving and display can alter readability and may be hard to control as a designer, however creating a design with a point size that can be read with ease from at least 4 feet is essential, an aspect I gathered myself, as I am fairly tall I found it difficult to read the details on photo frames on the lower shelves. As well as readability, I find it much easier to shop if the details of a product are continuous and found in the same position on each backing design, Clas Ohlson did have this.

After evaluating Clas Ohlsons range, I then went on to do some more evaluations online:

Ikea do not use backing images on their website as the information is displayed in type below however after visiting Ikea I discovered they display a range of stock images and this cluttered description piece:

The dimensions of these frames is not easily recognised nor is the function of the central images or body copy underneath the minute Ikea logo. After this brief researching I came to the realisation that the re design of these photo frame backing is commercially needed. 

One of the few designs I appreciated was this one from Debenhams, a rather minimal design with easily readable dimensions and a square of colour to atrract attention worked well. This spot of colour is similar to an aspect of many modernism designers and as quoted by Dieter Rams: 

A kitchen machine which you use every day in your kitchen can not stay in a dark color. The push buttons on it: yes. But not the whole thing. It’s too dominating the kitchen.

Design should not dominate things. And not dominate people. It should help people.

Relevance to this colour attracting attention relates to Ram's Idea that design should help people, therefore, helping the shopper. I intend to use colour as testiment to this. 

I appreciated this basic design from John Lewis however the dimensions of the frames was just too illegible and the quote was unnecessary as although the intention here is to inspire customers to buy the product, any customer looking to buy a photo frame will have planned to buy a frame previous as physical photographs are needed before buying.

This was one of the only photo frames I found that had a photo backing which was actually relevant to the frame. As it is engraved and presumably the baby in the picture is named Poppy this backing actually made sense. This however is a very precise market and I will not be designing for engraved frames although it is something to take into consideration when evaluating the context of backing images.

Because of the variation of branding and universal designs I have found, I believe it best to create my series of photo frames for a company, adhering to their brand guidelines and current product ranges. I have chosen to design my photo frames for Clads Ohlson as I am a fan of their store, I admire their logo and the interior design of their stores. 

I now have to research the company, their values and if there is anything I need to take into consideration within my designs.

http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/c/our-company-%7C-Clas-Ohlson/aboutus - The film on the bottom of the page was very useful in the learning of Clas Ohlson as a brand.

The logotype is originally helvetica with the stems of l and h as well as a and l aligning.

Being personally interested in the branding of Clas Ohlson, I wanted to read the brand guidelines of the rebrand or at least get some information about it.

I found the agency that rebranded Clas Ohlson from its previously aged design.

The original Clas Ohlson Logo

The Swedish agency who were briefed to rebrand.

Their rationale.

The colour swatches, patterns and typefaces of the rebrand.

In their rationale (above) it states their is a graphic manual in progress, the fact they put this publicly on their website made me inclined to believe this would be released to the public, why else would they tell the public? I emailed BAS and got the response above, I then emailed Clas Ohlson however received no response.
Although I was unsuccessful,
this was good for collect aspect of the module and shows my improved research skills.  

I wanted to gain a better impression of Clas Ohlson so I did the best source of research I thought possible, I simply went shopping there. Walking in, I believed the shopping trip was some what of an experience. The interior a wave of white and medium blue, everything was clearly signed, there was no unnecessary ornamentation anywhere, the continuity of helvetica was pleasant, besides from the history wall, the shop was crisp and minimal and the baggage continued this when I got home.

After analysing current products and other ranges in Clas Ohlson I thought it best to create a list to add upon the brief to use as a set of rules for my designs:

Colour should be used but as little as effectively possible to save on print to be used commercially.

The dimensions of each frame must be clearly legible whether placed on a bottom shelf or top shelf.

Continuity must be created, stopping visual cluttering. This can also be applied to more product ranges after. Logo and dimensions must be kept in the same place however there must be some kind of visual alteration between designs to identify difference.

Must take the plastic wrapping and point of sale display into consideration. Contrast must be created between product and display. No subtle greys or yellows to be used because of wrapping reflectiveness.

These are my rules, I can evaluate my work against these aims. Taking into consideration my rules, I began looking into other fields of graphic design for inspiration:

A homage to Braun, this poster is part of series of posters
paying tribute to Dieter Rams and other Braun designers.
 I appreciate the ease of reading as well as the mechanical essence of the image.

This advertisement for a Braun shaver uses an black image created
to a technique I can use in Photoshop, the threshold tool.
Only one colour is used yet it is much more attractive
than the greyscale imagery seen above in my research.

The cover art for Franz Ferdinand's You could have it so much better
which was inspired by Rodchenko portrait of Lily Brik holds two aspects I believe would work well.
Firstly, the half tone on the woman's face show how image can be
created simply using one colour.
Secondly, the cone shape that holds the type diagonally would create an interesting composition when placed over my series of three photo frames.

Advertisement for Leica, 1960. Design by Peter Seitz

I enjoyed this advertisement as the concept of a circle and photography is similar to one of my initial ideas I have yet to annotated. The black and white image is somewhat similar to the artwork of the Braun advert above.

Available at Clas Ohlson, I enjoyed the design of this notebook, the alignment and overlap of letter and number creates a resemblance of post modernistic graphic design.

Top: Similar to the idea above, an illustration would represent each frame, I have started experimented with circles as, for me, a circle is the most basic reduction of photography and vision. A circle can represent an eye, the aperture of a camera or a point of focus. 

Middle: Working with the concept of age and history, I included the original Clas Ohlson logo I looked at earlier and added quotes such as 'Capturing a frame of time' , 'Framing history' and 'History is inevitable, frame it'. In my earlier research, I said 

'the quote was unnecessary as although the intention here is to inspire customers to buy the product, any customer looking to buy a photo frame will have planned to buy a frame previous as physical photographs are needed before buying'. After Designing with this concept, I realise I was incorrect and appealing to a customers emotion can create a sale.

Top: A series of shapes differentiating size clearly while the logo and dimensions stay the same size.

Middle: Similiar to the album above, the diagonal cone is created when the series of three are placed next to each other, this creates the cone which can attract a customers eye as well having a life of its own when on display to create patterns and customer interaction.
Bottom: An illustration of 3 frames varying in size representing the series of three from above, the frame will fill represents the frame shown, along with the dimensions this design holds continuity however seems too basic to attract attention.

Similar to the notebook I mentioned in inspiration from other sources, the idea here is to overlap the dimensions and 'Clas Ohlson'

Unlike my other ideas, this idea seemed to arise from no where however did create some interesting results. Using the glyphs from A1,A2,A3 I tried to resemble the unjustified stereotypical imagery found in existing photo frames, such as love hearts ( A and 3, top) and the eiffel tower ( A and 1, bottom horizontal). This idea however has a limited spread and wouldn't be practical in using across a range.

Based on the braun advertisement, the top three sketches show possible layouts for a similar design using an image of a camera edited with a threshold to create the black and white shape.

Here I digitised the idea, I liked the image however I do not believe this idea could be successfully run through a series.

Originating from my circle reduction above, I simply created an outline of a circle with a similar layout to the Antonio Carusone systems poster. I liked this design and believed the circle creates a point of focus almost which does attract the eye. This design fits to all of my aims apart from the legibility of dimension.

Building upon the design of a simple circle above, I wanted to keep the relevance of a circle without creating a boring elementary feel. I created a vector shape of an aperture, trying to make it as simple as possible to keep a relevance to the other resemblances of a circle I mentioned earlier.   

Experimenting with layout.

Inspired by the notebook found in Clas Ohlson - Not legible enough, unnecessary grid design

The use of Helvetica is informed by the branding guidelines from BAS.

I do like the negative space created here however there isn't enough to distinguish between the series.

An improvement on the above design, the circle on each image increases with size to represent just that. The increase of the circle can also represent the opening of aperture which in turn creates a larger scale.

Digitised initial Rodchenko inspired design.The concept of an increase does work however I do believe the sharpness of the shape creates harsh feelings. I never expected to work with denotations of shapes at the beginning of the brief.

I printed this on A5 and worked out which point size were most fitting from at least 4+ feet away, as mentioned earlier when talking about the display of the frames. 24pt and 36pt seemed to be perfect as any bigger seemed unneeded and ruined the aesthetic of any design, any smaller was illegible from a distance. 

I decided set the type within the width of the diameter of the circle. White on blue seemed far too unbalanced.

White on blue in context.

Blue on white is much more easier on the eye and here the opening of the aperture is clear and works well.

I presented this design in a final critique and received this feedback:

Do you think the design is appropriate?

'I personally think the simplicity works well and would not put anymore type on'

'Maybe have a photoframe on there to reiterate what is is being sold'

In response this I don't believe this is necessary, it is clear that the product is a frame.

'I think simplicity works well'

'Yes, the image works well as something that stands out and symbolises exactly what it is supposed to'

'Yes'

'Minimal composition works well'

'Minimal design style works  really well' 

'I think the minimal design style works really well'

Is the concept of the design easily understood?

'Yeah, I think it is easy enough to understand'

'I should think so yes'

'Yeah I think so'

'Definitely communicates the camera idea with the aperture circles'

'Yes, although it looks really similar to the aperture logo from portal. That probably has a lot to do with the blue'

'Depends on the audience of the store' -  As a Clas Ohlson customer myself I believe the average shopper here is more appreciative of design than that of many other home stores, therefore yes.

'Perhaps not but the visuals are strong enough to convey the size increase'

'When viewed as a set, yes, perhaps not if viewed individually' - From my research I discovered these photo frames are displayed in sets so they will not be viewed individually.

'I think it is something that is instantly associated with photography'

Would you change anything?

'No'

'Play more with colour, Clas Ohlson's colour scheme is light blue and white. You could have tried a blue background with white type. That would be more accurate and recognisable as their branding' - I disagree with this comment as after inverting the colours, the white type on blue creates a unbalanced sharp image that is not comfortable to the eye.

'My eye is drawn to the illustration - due to the size and boldness of the shape - however I feel the text has more relevance - therefore should be more eye catching' - I agree with this comment and therefore went to change the colour of the illustration and type.

I experimented with alteration of colour, I believe the top two designs both work well and do create a greater contrast between illustration and dimensions. The bottom design does not work as blue seems to be out of focus because of the contrast with the black illustration.

'Blue isn't a colour I would associate with the photography really, is there a reason for the choice? A mix of lens flare/overexposed colours would work well' - The blue is justified as the blue from the branding while I do not believe any kind of gradient of lighting would work with such a flat design. This would also increase printing expenses. The function of the backing is to inform that it is a photo frame and display dimensions only, decoration is not needed.

'How have you used photoshop?' I have used to photoshop to place my designs into the frames as seen in the image above, the brief states 

'All typography and vector based images must be produced in Adobe Illustrator. Any images must be manipulated in Adobe Photoshop. The final composition must be produced in Adobe Photoshop.' 

I have abided by this, the illustration and type has been made in Illustrator while I have not used any images and the final composition has been produced in photoshop.

'No, i think that these are effective for the shop they will be put in, I also think they would work for something like idea.

I have evaluated my feedback and responded correctly, I do believe the comment about the colour of the type and illustration was correct and it did help improve my design.