Hey guys, just a small update as to what I’ve been up to. I’m still heavily working on my icon design, today I decided to focus on the transport ones, instead of dotting around all over the place. I have managed to get to this stage, they have a lot more detail than your regular icons, a much more photographic feel one might say. Despite being quite complex for just regular icons, I feel they are strongly identifiable and that can’t be a bad thing… right?
Thanks for viewing,
Tom out!
I designed this typeface for a university project 2 years ago. It never really got used and got left at the far reaches of my hard drive. I have since revisited it and improved upon it. I also decided that I would try my hand at presenting it in a certain style as a way of promotion.
To do this I designed the logo based upon two “U’s” in the typeface, this tries to symbolise the name of the typeface, as they look like they are united. I also experimented with branding it to some form of charitable or aid organisation, this can be seen in the second poster. The second poster is based upon my original university poster, although i feel it is much improved, enjoy:
Thanks for viewing,
Tom out!
For my Final Major Project in BA Hons graphic design I decided to take on the challenge of developing a new wayfinding system for international airports, and possibly more specifically London’s Heathrow.
This will include signage layout design, Icon development, Typeface development / exploration and a small promotional campaign.
I thought I would share some of my developments so far within the Icon section of my project. Here are some examples:
These four icons are variations on the theme of departure.
1. The top left design uses the airport environment, in the background, to help emphasise what is happening.
2. Top right also uses environment through the obvious, but iconic, runway. Landing could show the plane coming down opposite to this.
3. Bottom Left shows a much flatter 2D variation from a side profile.
4. The bottom right makes use, once again, of the runway and the idea of a plane reaching the end and lifting beyond.
Both these two icons are colour variations on the airline lounge.
Personally I prefer the right design, as I believe the most prominent aspects need to be black and closer to the front. I have also used environmental factors to further define the icon. The background features have been made a very light grey to emphasise the least amount of importance, this is to avoid people getting them confused with departure.
1. With the top left I have tried to experiment with being as minimal as possible, making use of arrows to define the baggage being removed off the conveyor.
2. The top right is far more true am image to how baggage reclaim is perceived by most of us, therefore helping in recognition.
3. The bottom left image makes use of the tickets attached to the luggage to help explain the process undertaken, or the desired destination.
4. Bottom right uses the same principles as number three, except I have experimented with a different style of luggage.
Transport icons I believe are some of the hardest to portray. These designs almost have quite a cartoon like feel to them, I’m unsure as to whether they should be taken further, left in their current state or removed altogether. In my eyes they do hold a certain charm, with their large headlights and windows, although I think in an airport environment they would become confused. Especially the top right, which is the London Underground.
Getting around an airport using lifts, stairways and escalators is one of the major challenges that people can be faced with. That’s why I am spending quite a lot of time trying to develop a really strong concept for each. These are just a few of the many examples I have been developing (and continue to develop) Top four images are lift variations. Bottom set of 4 are escalators and stairways.
The bottom right lift design is currently my favourite, although I would like to replace the figure with one that is much more aesthetically pleasing.
In regards to the stairs and escalators, it is very difficult to find the best representation, as there is limited design features to use. Despite this, so far the bottom left is one of my favourites, despite being modelled heavily around the AIGA set of international symbols.
I am going to be exploring much deeper into all the icons you see here, plus many others.
I shall also be experimenting with colour, and how well these designs work with my own and existing typefaces.
Another possible end aim to the project is to develop a purely icon based wayfinding system, which has no words and only symbols/numbers to aid the user. I feel this could be a great way of helping to break international language barriers and I am really excited to start exploring that direction.
Thanks for taking the time to look.
Tom out!
Today, although focusing mainly on my essay work, I had a couple of ideas that jumped into my mind that I quickly wrote down in my book. I then developed them further when i got home. They were more to do with layout as opposed to anything else. With inspiration being taken from Schiphol airport signage. See for yourself below, the picture order is my thought process and improvements/re-designs I carried out as I went:
Tom out!
