Protest Design Planning And Production
BenM
Mindmap & Moodboard
Prefer non-circular badges
Slogans supporting reparations
Statistics to gain empathy and trust
Could just put tote design on poster or badge, not very unique
Bold colours catch eyes
Prefer grids that link, but they can be disrupted by future posts
Vivid colours
Large, impactful words display message concisely
Initial Colour Palette Moodboard
These are some initial ideas for colour schemes my products could use. I experimented mostly with complementary colour schemes as I think they would grab people’s attention more and help emphasise a sense of danger. I think I prefer the less colourful ones with more shades of grey, as they will contrast more and give an even greater sense of danger or shock. I will probably experiment more with the colours when I have a better idea of the content of my posters.
Style Moodboard
Ruined statues?
Sin City colour effect
Isolated colour effect
Contrasting colours?
Missing sister statue
Rosetta stone?
Feelings of oppression
“Elgin” Marbles
Benin Bronzes
Emotional response
Specific examples
Eye-catching
Celebrated statues
Initial Sketches
I started by sketching out some of my initial ideas, to try and see what worked best and hone my concepts for each area. I decided shocking statistics or catchy slogans would work well on posters or Instagram posts, along with some bold imagery. For the badges, I preferred the idea of a relevant symbol that could be instantly recognised and perhaps that I could model in Maya.
After that I made a couple of quick styleframes for possible posters so I could get a bit of an idea of what things from my moodboard I most like. I think I like a somewhat detailed vector style as it catches the eye more than an intricate illustration, especially with bold, vibrant colours. I’m not sure how well the “Sin City” isolated colour effect works for the theme of my protest, but I do like how bold a colour stands out against greyscale. My strongest poster ideas I think are on oppressive statues to elicit an emotional response, along with specific examples of stolen artefacts in the British Museum, such as the Parthenon Marbles and Missing Sister.
Typography Trials
These are some initial trials for fonts I could use, before I delve into more specific typefaces on DaFont during production. So far, I like the bold, large typefaces more as I think they would fit a protest campaign well. I also think the ones that look slightly engraved, like the Roman ones at the bottom, could fit the theme of statues and artefacts quite well. Although I used the top one in one of my styleframes, I think it lacks the boldness needed on a poster with its hollow outline style. While most posters and Instagram posts use a sans serif font to improve legibility, I’m considering using one with serifs to match the museum theme, though not one with too much texture like the second from the bottom, as that would take too much attention away from the imagery.
Production Plan
Week 1 - Sketching design ideas
I will continue sketching lots of ideas for posters, grids and badges so I can pick the best ones to take forward and create a cohesive style for my products.
Week 2 - Taking poster/grid designs forward
I will work on my poster and grid designs first, getting continuous feedback and possibly doing some more research into good protest art in those forms.
Week 3 - Finalising poster/grid designs, modelling badge design
As I finalise my poster and grid designs, I will also model my badge design in 3D to give it a more professional look. I may find some tutorials to help.
Week 4 - Feedback and polish
I will get feedback on my poster and badge designs as I add the finishing touches and make them all look professional and cohesive, before evaluation.
Ideas Generation
I began the production process by digitally sketching out more ideas for posters and badges. This time I tried to focus more on slogans or catchphrases, as well as impactful imagery using statues, artefacts or other monuments that tend to celebrate the colonial era. The ones that best combine the use of typography with impactful imagery I can use for the posters, while the others I will likely use for the grid or badge.
First Initial Design
For my first poster, I decided to trace over the caryatid sister statues in the same vector style as one of my style frames, as I think they are a perfect example of what I am protesting. I experimented a bit with colors and text, but I will probably try out some more things later. I like the boldness of my designs, but it also seems very simplistic and not quite cohesive, in my opinion.
Second Initial Design
For this poster design, I took forward the idea of a statue not caring that it is being removed, as it commemorates and normalises colonial ideals, while many other recordings of its history can be found elsewhere. After sketching over a shrugging reference and 1890s-ifying it, I traced it with a vector brush in a similar way to the previous design, then tilted the vector to show it falling. I have experimented a bit with the colours and style, along with some slogans, but I think next I will explore my overall style more to find something unique and cohesive for all my designs.
Style Research
To help find some inspiration for a style that will help make my protest art stand out and impact people, I made a moodboard of other monochrome vector art from Pinterest and Google. I like the style I have so far, but I may need to add more solid shapes or extra shades to give my vector images more depth and emphasis like the top-right portraits have. I think I should also decide on a specific colour that will fit my campaign to give it a unique and recognisable image. While red works especially well for many protests, I think it may be a bit overused and also linked heavily with Sin City or Barbara Kruger. Pink, brown, and green all have existing connotations in protest art, and yellow or blue don’t have quite the qualities I want. For these reasons, I think a red-orange will suit my campaign best as it will be bold like red but unique enough to separate it from others. Plus, I like the way red and orange have looked in my initial designs so far. Along with more detail in my imagery, I think I should also play with the typography more to more add interest to the posters. I may still use a specific font for the Instagram grid, but to help the posters stand out and fit text on them more easily, I might hand-draw or adjust the vector typography on them. For the grid, I think I should also use more provocative imagery.
Feedback & Adjustments
First, I used Adobe Colour wheel to pick a colour scheme that I thought would work, though I did slightly alter them as I continued. After applying them, the posters already felt more cohesive, but I continued improving their designs with bolder colours, a unified type style, and further clarity adjustments based on feedback from my peers and tutors. For the top one, I rephrased the slogan to be more meaningful and made the text easier to read, then added white to make it pop more and fit with the other poster. For the bottom one, I rearranged the assets to fit a missing poster more, complete with a phone number, but also played with the text based on feedback until I was happy with the overall feel of the design.
Badge Design
I started by reshaping a plane in Maya using my early sketch as a reference until I had the right shape, then I used an orthographic screenshot of the shape as a base to paint over so I had an image I could use as a texture to overlay on the object, which looked alright. But the bump map looked a bit off, so I decided to switch to Blender so my friend Jack could help with the displacement mapping. To import the shape into Blender, I actually drew over it with vector lines to export it as an svg that I could make separate objects from in Blender. This proved very useful as I could then offset the separate objects to make the 3D badge I had envisioned, without using bump maps to fake depth. I was then able to set up a simple render of the badge in a plain environment with Jack’s help.
Instagram Grid
I started by making a grid of 9 coloured squares and deciding which would be text-focussed and which would have more imagery. Then I put the main slogan in the centre and worked on making the typography of it more interesting. The top-right one was probably the hardest, as I had to use sketches and references to get the poses of the statues and person so that their silhouettes would be distinguishable. After that one, I realised I couldn’t spend so long on all the others so I started reusing some previous imagery like the fist, stone and head with some relevant captions. For the left and right ones, I looked at my initial sketches for ideas and executed them, using some reference images to help. Then I decided to do some further research so as to find impactful statistics about the pervasiveness of colonialism in modern Unfortunately, most of the statistics I found were about opinions on reparations or institutional racism rather than actual figures, but eventually I found a decent statistics site through the Guardian, using a statistic from there and a slogan inspired by the article to fill in the final two squares. By this point, I was very good at my stylised typography from my posters so it was fairly easy.
Final Refinement?
After getting some final feedback and not seeing any more ways to improve my designs other than a few minor adjustments, I have decided to present my final deliverables. I may improve them with after some evaluation, but for now these are the finished designs: