Design Compare & Contrast Professional

ALIEN BLAST

For my direct desing which is the app logo, I have compared it to an professional logo for the pac-chomp game available on the app store. The style of art used in both logos is very similar, and seem to be in the same style to each other. Both the logos also display characters, however the pac chomp logo doesn’t include any text this enable the character to be the centre of attention. I believe the logo design artist probably didn’t bother with adding text because the characters of pac man would be recognized by any gamer so the audience would know what the games related to, where as alien blast is new so to include text is important to notify what the game is. The pac chomp logo also has a blue border, and colourful colours for the characters against a black background, just like alien blast, this is common in app logos because bright colours against black backgrounds make the logo stand out more.

PAC-CHOMP

For my Indirect graphic design I Created a T shirt. I am comparing this to an angry birds shirt. The art on the alien blast T shirt runs diagonally across covering the majority of the t shirt body, the art on the angry birds t shirt is slightly more centralized, leaving some free space at the bottom. The cartoon style of art on both the shirts is similar, however the colours are much more varied in the angry birds t shirt, having the aliens a different colour to the t shirt material wearing accessories of different colours. The alien blast t shirt however is mainly based around different shades of purple, but comparing the t shirts together I don’t think the fact that the alien blast t shirt’s using the same colour in different shades makes it stand out any less than the angry birds t shirt with more colour variety. The text on the Angry Birds Tshirt however does make the tshirt art stand out very well, especially with the text being bold and white. It makes me think that if I was to add text between the planets on the Alien Blast shirt would it make a positive difference.

For my promotion graphic design idea, I created a poster. In comparison to the sonic poster, it is relatively different., however oth posters display the game titles. This is very important as in order to promote something you need to inclue the name of whats being promoted unless it’s indirect. However the posters are also different to each other. The alien Blast poster consist of a little less art design showing a title, planet and star print background. However the sonic poster includes much more including a landscape for the background, more colour and a variety of characters. The background demon straights a blue gradient, where as my poster is a solid colour, the text also has a thicker outline but I think the main feature on the sonic poster’s sonic, standing out at the front looking slightly 3d. The sonic poster is slightly more complicated than mine, but I feel the simplicity of my poster promotes the game well, and fits our target audience of ages 8-15. Where as the sonic poster looks like it would be fitted for a younger audience.

Design Suggested ImprovementsFeed back suggests that I could add some more graphics such as a circle shape behind the three planets, and colour experiment possibly making the plants three different colours. Peers also suggested for me to reposition the plantes so that they were running diagonally across the shirt going from small to big as if they were growing.

After receiving feedback I came up with my final design, consisting of three different planets running from small to large diagonally down across the shirt. I also had my own ideato use the shape tool, creating a circle to place beneath each planet giving the t shirt a slight 3d effect as they look as if they’re shadows to each planet.

The suggestions for my poster was that although the detail and illustration of the plant really good, the could be some more illustrations such as aliens or a pattern in the background. The text could also be experimented with trying out other fonts or effects for the text to stand out more, it could also be re sized so it spreads across the top and bottom more rather than being central with the planet.

Following from my feedback I stuck to the main idea of having the planet in the centre with the title above and beneath it, however I then started to experiment with different colours and backgrounds.

I FIRSTLY DICED TO CHANGE THE COLOUR OF THE PLANET SO THAT IT WAS MORE COLOURFUL AND ATTRACTIVE AS THE TARGET AUDIENCE ARE YOUNGER CHILDREN. I THEN DECIDED TO HAVE A BLACK BACKGROUND REPRESENTING THE NIGHT SKY, HOWEVER ALTHOUGH THE IDEA BEHIND THE COLOUR CHOICE WAS GOOD, THE COLOUR IT’S SELF ON THE POSTER DIDN’T CONTRAST WELL WITH THE OTHER POSTER FEATUES SO I DECIDED THE SHADE ON BLUE LOOKED BEST. I then added stars in to the background, because this ties in to the theme. I created them using the shape tool, however edited them by selecting the layer they were in and adding a stroke as well as a drop shadow, making them stand out more with the style of art the planet shows.From my feedback of my rough drafys it was a bit basic, and needed more effects, inorder to make the logo stand out more o it doesn’t look so flat. The positioning of the aliens needed to be adjusted so that they are more central, and having the inside of the text black could possibly be changed as it does’nt stand out that much against the background which is also black.

After receiving feed back i made adjustments to the following things:- The brightness of the background. I decided to adjust the brightness so that it’s darker making

the aliens stand out more against it.- Outer glow on the aliens. I added this effect by double clicking the layer the aliens were in giving me a menu of different filters and effects. I ticked the outer glow effect and increased the size so that it spread across just the right amount of space with out overlapping any text or alien facial features.I also got rid out the white outline which was on each alien in my first draft by un ticking the outline box. I thought the outline looked a bit tacky and not very good against the background.

Software PeripheralsAdobe Photoshop- I used Photoshop to create my final ideas, this was better than physicallymaking a creating them on paper, as it enabled me to create the designs in much more detain, with all the tools I needed. All 3 designs were constructed in the application however on to different sized canvas’.

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Microsoft word I used this to experiment with typeography fonts.

Printer

I used a printer to print out feedback sheets for my clients to write on and give back to me in order for me to type up feedback.

Graphics tablet

I used a graphics tablet to draw my designs for my three ideas in photoshop.

Reason for softwarePhotoshop was the most effective wayto create my ideas, and this is thesoftware I felt most confident in to makemy ideas in the best way possible, because it’s the software I have used the most in comparison to others such as illustrator

Physical materialsPenPaperPencilsRubber

All of these were used to create rough drafts for all of my t shirt, poster and app logo ideas. I I used the pencil for the first outlines and a rubber when needed, then once I was happy with the drafts I went over them with pen and filled them with colour.

By doing this it enabled me to think about colours and different layouts. It also gave me a variety of ideas to from in photo shop

Reason for peripheralsI find using a graphics tablet much easier and more comfortable to hold in my hand than a mouse, and they allow for an incredible degree of precision in your work.

T shirt Colour Experiments, Target audience/ fitness for purpose.

When deciding the colours for my final t shirt design I considered my target audience carefully.

This is the first color way of my t shirt, I decided to include blue and pink so that the t-shirt is uni sex, rather than using colors only males would like or females. I decided to use a dark color for the drop circle giving it a shadow effect, and a yellow for the shape tucked behind the planet, representing a star.

This was my 2nd color way choice, it is more of a masculine theme using black and green. I decided the green color for the planets because it stands out really nice against the black, and fits in with the alien theme. The only negative thing about this is it may not sell as well as only males will really be interested in wearing it.

This is my 3rd color way choice., which was decided to be my final design for the t shirt. The main color being used is purple, in different shades for the different objects which are, the planets and there drop shadows as well as the T shirt material color. I think this works well with the yellow too, and I feel this appeals to both boys and girls, from ages 4 – 16, as the colors aren’t too bright or “child like” for someone of an older age.

Logo Target Audience/ fitness for purpose

As my game is for younger kids I thought it was important to make the logo as interesting as possible. This is why I decided to have cartoon style art showing the aliens pull funny facial expressions, which I believe gives the logo great personality and variety, appealing to children. I also I decided to choose a star themed background, fitting in with the theme of space. I also decided to have this as the dark blue looks good against the color of the aliens.