Updated Materials
I’ve made lots of progress and changes in the decision laboratory visual language. I think that I am finally arriving at a place where what I am taking in as inspiration and how to make it communicate what I want it to is happening. I think you lose something in seeing screen shots, so I took the time to print and cut these things to see them closer to the intended end result. The paper Im using is a smooth natural finish paper.
THE COLLECTION: one or two more things to come soon.
ROTATIONAL DECIDER MANUAL:
I’ve been considering dropping the star from the logo, its just been seeming unnecessary and not gelling with the rest of the visual vocabulary. Here there is a triangle in its place, a shape that reoccurs throughout the project, still used as an arrow.
PATTERN DETAIL: Based on the three arrows used in the three way decider, an isometric pattern is made with arrow that potentially lead you in an infinite number of directions.
INTERIOR SPREAD: Ive cleaned up and simplified the borders and ornamentation.
MANUFACTURING STAMP: A new addition, realizing that the name and logo were starting to appear “too branded” I decided that rather than a tricked out logo, this is how you would find out where this thing comes from. I’m looking in to having a stamp made as well, for 3d objects. It also has to do with my assignment, “Showing what Decision Laboratory Looks like”. I am going to keep it in Brooklyn, and I am scouting locations in old manufacturing areas in Sunset Park and lower Brooklyn.
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DICE LABEL
UNIVERSAL THREE WAY DECISION MAKER: For a closed view, see the first picture. On the right is a spiral bound note pad, shown with a page flipped up. The black part is the back panel, and extends out to the left. The wheel spins.
BRAINSTORM TEMPLATE: Poster used as a template for word mapping. Write words in the spaces, and connect them to other words using a pencil and a highlighter.
DETAIL:
March 9, 2010 at 6:50 am
these are awesome. see them actually print out is so much better than screen shots. the end page looks nice.
everything looks nice, one question, the seven dice set is now in a circle package?
March 10, 2010 at 3:30 am
No, just a circular sticker on the angled package.
March 9, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I really love the switch to the new pattern, I feel like it is much more of a background pattern and doesn’t call as much attention to itself as the previous one, so much more fitting. The back of the manual looks kind of haphazard and I don’t know whether it was intentional or not, but I like it. It feels very un-designed but attempted, which looks very 60′s “book/manual” to me, and fits extremely well. (it may just be the proximity of certain words or the off-kilter-ness of the type layout) Wonderful detail whether planned or not.
Something still seems very odd about the ornamentation of that triangle under the pie chart with a line passing on either side.. I’m not sure if its maybe the size that throws it off for me, but there’s a balance issue there that is viscerally unhinging.
The dice label is working so well now. I think that bold black border was a perfect addition, it really makes the rest of the text pop more and gives it some more contrast between the shapes and the text.
..One more thing, I can’t see them very well, but the header bars under the titles in the manual look very old to me, as in medieval old. I would try maybe some more science-y looking bars, for me it looks really odd, and potion-like (maybe that’s what you’re going for now that I think about it) but it feels really off with the rest of the imagery.
Everything is looking really well considered and executed though, really simple, but in a way that makes it feel complex and understood.
March 10, 2010 at 3:23 am
i love these new pieces of your project. the arrow patterns are working a lot better than some of the things you had before, and i think the serif you’ve paired your original font with is a good choice. the stamp is another thing i think is really relevant to your project. dice set is looking good. and i really think the incorporation of diagrams and more drafting-like elements is a good step, especially because your typeface was kind of based off of those things.
March 11, 2010 at 7:55 am
yes, glad to see so much progress and that the project is coming together. my only stretch of a criticism is that the type heavy areas seem to be missing something. like they need more text or need to be a bit more complex or something. can you set up an appointment for next week to come in an discuss?
March 14, 2010 at 12:33 am
I’m not sure about the logo thing. I think I’ve always agreed that something about it felt slightly incongruous with everything else you were visually doing, but that the mystical side of the actual content allows it to fit. I know it sounds funny coming from me, but I wonder if an equilateral triangle alone really works. Although maybe it does work as a sort of “unofficial” non-logo that pops up here and there.
I like the diagrammatical (dotted) line and arrow thing you keep using. It works really well with the draftsman feel of your typeface, which I am loving more and more with every passing day. And the back of the booklet is ACE–so perfectly evocative of some old, forgotten something made in a brooklyn factory.
I don’t really understand how the brainstorm template aids in brainstorming. It just looks like you write a different thing in each space, which wouldn’t be that helpful from my perspective.
I like the way you’re combining the serif typeface with this, but I think I agree with grant in that it feels wrong. I think it might be because it’s a small cap? Maybe just a straight all caps would make sense?