Visit to Newton Park Campus

Although I have visited Newton Park before, I figure that it will do me well to come up with ideas for hoardings that suit the environment that they are placed in if I actually visit the place they will be erected. I also found the current hoardings that have been erected because of a new building that is being constructed. The brief suggested that the hoardings that I am designing for will be similar in style to these.

These are the hoardings. I really dislike the design of these currently. They are hideously corporate and you can tell that stock photography has been used. They could be erected anywhere and advertise any university because they are such general statements. There is nothing unique to them that describe Bath. This is why I feel that I need something completely different and unique for the hoardings that is specific in design to the campus and Bath Spa University. This is probably why the competition is open to students and they are not getting a design agency in to complete the task, because above is the result. I need to give them what they want, designs that are completely different and more arty. 

This is the location of Newton Park campus. Instantly, you can see the importance of the grounds of the university. The University are very proud of the land that the Uni is situated in. There are 3 ways that I can take this project. I could represent what happens inside university. I could represent Bath itself or I could do something entirely abstract. I think I want to combine the last two. I want to do something that represents Bath and the grounds and the beauty of the place that the Uni is situated but I also want to produce something that is slightly abstract and only suggests my concept or message. 

This image of a dafodil that I have taken has one of the university main buildings in the background. This image has given me inspiration for a new idea. I like the strong vertical flower in the image. I also like the fact that the flower was taken on the grounds of the University. The University grounds are beautiful, they are kept very well and generally flowers and wildlife are very important. I think that I want to take photos of flowers or trees in Bath, paying particular attention to vertical compositions. It is spring at the moment. It would be good to take photos of blossom and buds. These are both symbols of growth and blooming life. I could have a message such as:

'Bath Spa University- the natural choice for students'

Bath Spa University- Let your future blossom'

I particularly like the last idea, and this is how my idea is going to develop. I am going to go to the botanical gardens in Bath and take photos of blossom and buds and develop the concept and idea from this research. 

Flower photos

These are my flower photos. I am particularly happy with the way that they have come out post editing. The colours are rich and vibrant. The majority of the photos have been taken with apeture of F3 to as wide as f1.8. The only lens I used was a 35mm prime. I think that this has provided the images with consistancy in style and composition. After my previous attempts at the hordings I have decided that my designs will be consisted of strong vertical structures. Therefore all of the flowers, the buds and the blossom have been taken with an emphasis on a central vertical. Where this has not been achieved I have rotated the image so that a strong vertical is shown. Some of the shots have been taken by reaching upwards and by lying on the ground etc and I have not been able to see through the view finder. However, I have been able to use auto focus for these shots which has given me interesting focal points. Focal points were particularly important to me in these photographs. I took many photos of each particular flower with different focal points and these are final photos that I am satisfied with. I am now going to develop these photos into hoardings. 

Idea rethink

This was a quick idea that I came up with for showing public transport in Bath. The idea being that the type is contained in a black rectangle that sits over a stylised halftone image and the text relates to the subject matter. So, for public transport I have created the type out of small orange circles as if it was made out of led lights that show information about trains. I want to add colour to the images and want them to be particularly bright and bold. They need to be more fun and interesting than the photos that I have taken so far.
I could do A friendly atmosphere poster and the text be a rounded, bold and inviting font. A 'great nightclubs' poster and the text could be inspired from a nightclub in bath. A 'Great range of pubs poster' and the text in an iconic drop shadow serif font in a sand colour on dark background.

The final image is looking very corporate and not really how I envisaged it looking. I want the idea to be fun and engaging. Instead I have produced a message that is rather boring. The small caption 'fantastic public transport' is not inspiring at all. It is a general statement that could be used to describe any university across the country. It is just a poor corporate message. The other ideas I have for hoardings in this style are weak too. The messages do not capture the imagination, they are just bland and boring. 

The shape of the boards are very unusual and difficult to work with. They are almost square. I need to come up with a new way to utalise the shape and create interesting compositions with it. This half tone idea has given me another idea however. I could take the photos that I have taken so far in Bath and layer interesting and bright colours behind them. This would brighten up the idea and create a colourful and engaging hoarding. 

This is a quick attempt at this idea. I have taken a photo of one of the artizan style food stores and dropped quickly brushed colours behind the black and white image. This is very crude but was just to show a concept. I like the idea of using strips of image and colour as this is a nice, aesthetic aesemetric way of using the odd board sizes. However, I do not think that this particular image is very successful. I am going to continue to develop the strip idea for the boards. I am going to see what my origional low point of view night photography looks like in this spliced style of working. 

I think that this idea is getting somewhere.