BRIEF 10: DR. ME SAYS MAKE A FLAG//DEVELOPMENT//OUGD603

development

After collecting visuals and looking at various images to try and shape the direction of the design of the flag we started putting down ideas based on what we had come up with when researching.  Themes included, birds, maps and nature, which I think comes across on our initial design sheets.  The clear direction we wanted to take it in was a joinery/location etc.  These are initial ideas:

We had to consider the direction the flag design was going in and not just to look at it from a visual way, the concept was important as it gave the idea some context.  We considered the design in smaller details from the direction of the birds flying in correlation with the map to what specific bird it would be and what direction that breed would be heading in.

We had several ideas for how we could see the final design put together on the flag material.  One would consist of the map centred in the middle in the shape format of a compass as this also symbolises journey and direction.  We started looking at how symbols of the season could play a part in this design and how we could feature these in order to support the bird migration and the theme of journey.

sketches of potential designs, including one focussing more on the immigration of a flock of birds and how this would be displayed, playing with the compass symbolism and using north, east, south and west in the design:

mock up:

We used a flag (the same measurements as the one that ours would eventually be printed to) to mock up our design, cutting out various shapes that would be used in the design and looking at how the design would be displayed to scale.  From the mock up, the centre of the flag would focus on the map, which would either be placed into the outline of a simple compass or placed over the top.  At this point we were unsure where the bird would be positioned, possibly in the middle amongst the map.

The symbols at either side of the compass represent the pattern of bird migration and the movement of the birds. We also thought the flag would be a suitable format for this design as a flag moves which would help to display more clearly the movement throughout this design.

This is the basic mock up for what the final design would look like.  The main focus would be the map collage positioned in a compass, we are unsure whether to include the north, east, south, west aspect on the actual flag or whether this would be obvious within the design.  

We have also considered whether to put the symbols of the sun and moon, representing night and day, with the design, this could also impact on the design when displaying the bird movement.

development 

Mock up back onto design sheet.  This is the general idea from the mock up in more detail.  This design includes the moon and sun symbols with the movement of the bird migration taking place at either end of the flag.  The main focus takes us to the bird, in this case the swallow, where research was done to learn more about the swallows migration movement, the type of season in which this takes place, in what numbers do they migrate and the type of flowers/plants that would be in bloom at this specific time.  The map and compass are also the main part of the design, these areas of the design are also considered with the type of bird - the location on the map, the positioning of the compass.

notes/concept planning

photo montage/collage aspect, mock up
We then started collecting images online of what type of visuals we wanted to use in our design.  We were concentrating on old fashioned looking maps, as these have a more aesthetic quality about them, birds (swallows in particular) and plants/flowers/nature.  At this stage we were still experimenting with whether to create the collage by hand or to use photoshop to manipulate the image to exactly how we wanted it.

In this mock up we haven't focused on the compass as much, this is something that will be incorporated more so in the final design.  This stage was focused more on how the imagery we chose would look with one another and what kind of visuals we wanted to include in the final design.