Creating the Invitations

I was given the task of creating invitations which would be sent to all the relevant press individuals, for the press day launch. One invite was to be sent to each person from that press organisation to be amongst the first of the public to see the installation and report on it.

We figured that a custom made envelope was not out of the question either, and so I created an envelope design, which would be printed along with the invites.

This was my first attempt at mocking up an invitation for this event; I wanted to keep it relatively simple and non descriptive, in the hope that people would become intrigued to turn it over and find out more.

Keeping it simple, using just the artwork I had create, the required logos and a neat title in the top right corner. Doubling up the artwork from just using the red, adding the colour of UniversalAssemblyUnit helped the design flow.

This is the reverse side of the invite with the relevant information for the press to read.

Seeing a lack of colour on the reverse side from the first draft of the invitation, we decided to flow through more of the red which is used for both iGuzzini and London Design Festival.

Making a slight alteration to the background artwork which now has an opacity of 30%, to make the text legible and easier to read. Using a wing tipped style grid to create an invite which almost directs your eyes towards the most relevant information

I created this grid not to be entirely accurate but to help me understand the symmetrical aesthetics. For example, when I used the centre align tool in illustrator to bring everything in line down the middle, it simply looked off centre. This was because the text is unpredictable and looked too lop sided. Manually adjusting the centre alignment, we had to use simply vision to work out what was pleasing to the naked eye and what would work best.

The grid may not look pretty and possible just too messy, however it definitely helped me organise the alignment process.

 

To be on the safe side in case we could cover the costs of printing our own envelopes for the invites as well, I created an alternative design which would fit easily into some envelopes which we had lying around the office. These were solid red envelopes just with the iGuzzini logo on them, very neat and slick.

These designs are just as effective, however some could argue that there is a lack of free space on the reverse side of the invites, which is also a factor to consider.

Another alternative which we turned down on the basis that it was too lop sided, and difficult to look at. But still an interesting approach and allowed for slightly larger text.

 

This is the envelope design I created, which never got printed, for reasons I will explain in the next blog post. However I felt that this was simple enough and effective at giving just enough visual information to allow the viewer to gain enough interest to open and observe the invitation.

If this design were to be printed, it would have to have been onto semi gloss paper, to avoid any ink rubbing off the paper, or through the use of a laserJet colour printer.

No More Underground…

We received confirmation from the same salesman which we had a meeting with last week, that the South Kensington Station has a very limited variety of options to go with. Therefore we were left with the huge display walls opposite the platforms, which were ridiculously expensive, or a simple set of A3 posters which are in plastic frames dotted around the station.

We did not feel that this would have been adequate for the artwork and would not show it off to the true potential, and the alternatives available were out of reach of our budget. As a result of all this my manager decided it would be best not to involve the underground station at all and focus our budget and efforts elsewhere.

As unfortunate as this is, as I would have loved to have seen my work on display in a public place, I feel that the money we have remaining can be well utilised to boost the online presence of the campaign and I think we may even reach a wider audience if we hook onto some more influential people.

The posters which I created will not be used for the underground but we may however use them to promote a competition which we are going to advertise. With a little rearrangement and deliberation I think it may turn out pretty well if I don’t say so myself.

Creating the Underground Posters

I have been asked to create some poster which will be put up in South Kensington Station in London. We have had a meeting with the manager for media advertising in the underground, Exterion, and spoke to a salesman who proposed us with some various options. However not options for South Kensington, but a brief outline of possibly what we could purchase and certain dimensions. We have not yet come to a decision and therefor the artwork which I am creating is very limited in the capacity of medium and dimensions, so I designed a typical A3 size poster, which could be scaled up or down and trimmed etc.

 

Using the artwork I had created, shown in the previous blog post, I created a simple poster in a variety of different colours.

I achieved the various different colour schemes by simply adjusting the hue settings from the Hue/Saturation tab.

Here are all the variations of colour, and I suggested that we could actually make use of all of them and promote this part of the campaign in multi colours, in order to stand it out from the everyday. And if it was to be used the South Kensington Station, we could make use of a particular form of display, such as the lenticular 6 sheets. This type of display changes the image as the viewer moves around it.

Media Platforms to Reach

Light Pollination was given a relatively large budget, for a project of this size, and iGuzzini has chosen to spread out the advertising on a wide range of media platforms. This way the advertisements can be more easily micro managed and also targeted at the industry personal such as, architects, interior designers and the design community.

I have been told that we will be producing poster designs to be put up in South Kensington station, and will be having a meeting to discover more about our options with this station and discuss costing and various sizes and mediums. Once we have finalised exactly how it will be displayed it will be put up a few weeks prior to the event at The London Design Festival.

This is my layout design, so I can begin to gain an idea of what will be required of my designs and how far they will have to go. A rough outline of spacing etc, and the use of the logos is a must.

Rough Poster plan for South Kensington station

I have now been given a brief outline of all the platforms, so I decided to lay all of them out and allow myself to play around with how many time various logos and images should be used once I decide on.

These Invites will be a standard letter size, and must have all the company logos on it, with my artwork which I have created on the front.

They will be placed in envelopes, and sent out to members of the press and selected few, around 300 will get printed.

 

I have also been asked to update all the relevant social media and company website, with my artwork with clear visible logos and explanation text.

This banner will be published to the top of an architectural magazine website, therefore only needing the company logos and a suggestive imagery (photograph), perhaps with some explanatory text. The main aim here is to get people to have the interest to click on it.

 

Lastly there will be an advertising video of the art installation and it will need a finishing page will the video will transition to at the end. This should Include a photography and all company logos.

 

I have also been told that the workflow will not end here, they will be adding more the advertising campaign as it progresses, as a result of remaining funds in the budget. Having a strong theme to the campaign should be a main priority and so I will need to frequently analyse my progression of work to make sure it is all in line with each other and the installation itself.

 

 

My Initial Ideas and Brainstorming

This brief, has an underlying piece of artwork which allowed me to create a foundation for my ideas. I knew that whatever I was going to start making, it would have to include the; same colour scheme, possible structural elements, obvious references to the artwork and of course all the respected logos, text and information being present.

Having mapped all this out I began playing around on Photoshop, as this is where I like to throw things around and experiment to find something to stick with.

I remembered a specific artist, Michael Craig-martin, who used to take great pleasure in simplifying objects, usually everyday things, and creating them into fun bright objects of art. I knew that simplifying the artwork would be difficult as the fibre optic cables are so fine detailed in their distribution of the light, so I began to look for the re-acurring  shapes and patterns which I could see in the pictures i was given (shown in last post).

Michael Craig-Martin, whilst creating his whacky objects with ridiculously bright colour, he sought to highlight the important defining areas of the objects, perhaps splitting say a mobile phone into maybe 3 different shades, including outlining.

Moving into Adobe Illustrator, to work with vectors, I identified the two important features of the installation from a pure viewing perspective, which was a line to represent the PVC tubing, and then a small circle on the tip to represent the light glowing from the end of the fibre optic. Ignoring all the detail of shading and curvature, and focusing on creating a flat image which could be easily transferred and adapted in seconds across all mediums.

This was what I came up with to start with…

By simply creating long rectangular shapes, shading them grey and black, and adding a small red circle on the top of each one, then copying and pasting when I had a large enough group to play with.

I eventually ended up with this, which didn’t take as long as one would expect with the exponential copying and pasting. I then went through and tweaked and rotated random sets to create a similar effect to that of the Light Pollination installation.

 

From here I went on to experiment with more ideas, looking at the artwork from different angles and attempting to find new identifying ways of simplifying it to be recognised instantly without being to obvious and in your face.

I looked at the top view of the artwork, and how best to capture just the tips if the fibre optics in simplified format. This was the picture I attempted to do this with:

As you can see, you can a very clear view at the base of all the tips of the fibre optics.

Using the image trace tool, High Fidelity Photo, and expanded, I was able to create a complex vector of the image which I then attempted to simplify by simply deleting sections.

Vectorised Image

All nodes and paths selected in image, cmd + shft G to Ungroup.

Deleting all the dark areas, leaving just the circular fibre optic ends.

Using the remains of the High fidelity image, i selected some distinctive shapes, and made a generic fibre optic tip, which I repeated to give the effect of looking from above.

This approach however was not as appealing. The shapes did in fact resemble the art work, but it occurred to me that it was just not obvious enough, and people would not relate this to the artwork immediately and with out suggestive text or logos.

I will attempt to implement these themes and choose one, once I am familiar with course of action for the project, regarding what platforms i will need to look into.

Light Pollination Introduction

This is an event which has been inserted into The London Design Festival. It was commissioned by iGuzzini, from the company UniversalAssemblyUnit.

The main concept behind the installation art is for the light to be interactive with the viewer, and to try and express how important light is and also create more interest for the iGuzzini brand.

The installation structure is shaped in a way that allows for maximum exposure and accessibility. Underneath the steel box is a tv screen and a computer feeding in data, with the fibre optic cables attached to the pixels in the screen, they then reach out protected in PVC plastic casing. There are also sensors positioned all over the installation which collect light from exterior sources and allow the art to interact.

 

The image which the company and iGuzzini were using before I arrived was a graphic interpretation of the installation (shown below).

So now I have the basic knowledge of the project, I will start to digest and develop my own ideas, and hopefully a fully compatible theme which I can cross over onto various platforms. I need to keep my designs close to concept of the artwork, and also make sure it is identifiable and different from anything else. Mentally must be able to get from ‘A to B’.

Some Top iGuzzini Projects

First of all, iGuzzini has offices in 64 countries all around the world, showing a real dominance over the lighting industry as a whole.

World View of iGuzzini Offices

They have a very firm grasp of the retail, architectural and urban industries and have had their light fittings used in most of the main sites of this kind around the world. Meaning you are very likely to come across iGuzzini lights perhaps without even knowing, however they are most definitely there.

Some of their most beautiful projects include:

• The Sun Station   –   Santiago de Chile, Chile

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• The Notre-Dame Cathedral   –   Créteil, France

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• Italcementi i.Lab Lighting   –   Stezzano, Bergamo, Italy

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For more projects from iGuzzini visit their Projects Gallery.

Inside iGuzzini UK – Guildford

Astolat Business Park
Astolat Way
Off Old Portsmouth Road
GU3 1NE
Guildford

Being based in Guildford, iGuzzini has a very unique and beneficial position on the map, proving as a location to provide the company with a great source of employees and exciting potential, with the added effect of having the warehouse right next to the office.

The building itself has a large workforce of 20+ on the three floors of the building, with a large showroom on the ground floor, stretching half the entire floor space of the building (shown below)

I have been stationed sitting opposite the Sales and marketing director office, with my own desk space. My manager is Rohan Servand, the Marketing manager who also has his office space opposite from mine, meaning quick and easy access to get information across to me. Below is my desk space and also a view of a typical office space.

My Desk space

Example of typical desk space

The office floor also gives way to a lovely view of the business park, which I get the pleasure of having every day.

On the ground floor there is a slick looking reception desk, and opposite an exhibit style installation of some classy looking stylist light fittings, and also a comfy seating area.

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This is the Cafeteria for all the staff, fully functioning kitchen, fridge and vending.

Staff Cafeteria

Outside recreation space

View of cafeteria from outside

 

Social media promotional post #hottestdayoftheyear

Part of my job description at iGuzzini so far has been to create social media posts which can relate to trending things on the internet. The first one I created involved the whole office, as it was the hottest day of the year in the UK. We decided to create a short video to go on Twitter to connect the company to trending media posts around the web. So this is what I came up with, you can check it out here if you have twitter: @iGuzziniUK. The video starts with a view of the 2nd floor office space which is almost completely empty, panning round to the window where the camera moves forward to show most of the staff lying on the grass outside in a circle sunbathing. I also added the Pina Colada Song which kicks in halfway through.

iGuzzini Sunbathing on hottest day of the year

So far the post has received over 130 hits and around 18 likes and 7 shares, making it the most liked post on the iGuzzini twitter page this year.

The company encourages this sort of interaction with their clients, as it is a friendly fun reminder of their presence and also raises awareness in general while at the same time showing the company has a sense of humour.

iGuzzini, a Lighting Industry Giant

 

iGuzzini is an Italian International lighting company, based in Italy with offices all around the world, including in Guildford UK. The products which they sell are of high quality suiting the needs of the high-end architects and projects. The products themselves are a thing of beauty which have travelled all around the world, iGuzzini have become a world leader in their industry.

There is so much more to light than meets the eye, and what does meet the eye isn’t always interpreted or acknowledged. However light has the power to change the environment itself, change a persons mood, alter your view on something entirely. The point is light is so majorly undervalued and we really take it for granted.

More energy is consumed by lights alone than mobile phones, they are almost always active, always ready for use and vital now for any building or outdoor public space.

Light is a vital thrust for man and for our bodies, it is useful, personal and variable. From skin to heart, we are made of light. It is one of the languages used by cells to communicate. It is energy, the same matter of living bodies. We can bring these two dimensions in contact and simplify their dialogue only if we start with a target of wellbeing. Every day new worlds are born and illuminated not in accordance to mere aesthetic purposes, but to ensure a higher quality of life.

As it stand iGuzzini does not have their own graphic department situated in the UK, the majority of all their graphic design is completed in Italy by their full time graphic department. However with the addition to myself on the team at iGuzzini UK. I have been given the opportunity to work on a very new kind of project for the company.

My manager has given me the opportunity to create all the promotional material and invites for an art installation they have commissioned in The London Design Festival. Which is a very good addition to my portfolio once completed. I have been asked to create all the invites, posters, website banners and further artwork for this event, and so far it has been going extremely well. Creating new designs each day and providing them with new ideas and new directions has been an interesting challenge so far and I have enjoyed working on this particular project. I will continue to update this blog with further experience gained at iGuzzini and possible even some of the artwork I have been making.