Dear diary, part nine

August 9, 2013August 8, 2013 | Anna Cull

Science Fiction stamp design – sketches Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011) — Science Fiction stamp design – sketches
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

Science Fiction stamp poster (594 x 420 mm) Background stars and planets courtesy of the Internet Student project, 2011 — Science Fiction stamp poster (594 x 420 mm)
Stars and planets (background collage) courtesy of the Internet
Student project, 2011

Another one of my favourite designs at college was this stamp poster (and all of the stamps). Below is the text I wrote as part of the project:

Commemorating 50 years of science fiction on television in New Zealand, this collection features illustrations of some of the 1960s most iconic science fiction programmes.

Television arrived in New Zealand homes at a time when great advances were being made in space exploration. The 1960s was a decade obsessed with the “space race” as the Soviet Union and the United States competed to put a man on the moon. These 12 stamps depict television shows that tapped into our fascination with space and space travel. There were tales of friendly aliens living among us and of hostile alien invasions; journeys into our possible future and into the questionable past; galaxies filled with spaceships, robots and strange new worlds.

This post is the last of my Dear diary series… but I think I’ll start blogging about the artwork for these stamps — because stamps are cool : )

The diary pages are from a journal I designed for my Design & Arts College exhibition in 2012. Two years of research, ideas, word maps and sketches had to be reduced to a mere 72 pages. It was no easy task but I now have a beautiful, professionally bound diary that I’ll always treasure.

Dear diary, part eight

August 2, 2013September 16, 2014 | Anna Cull

Chef logo, labels and rebranding campaign – concept development and final logo design
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

A full-on design challenge, this student project was all about the relaunch of one of New Zealand’s favourite pet foods: Chef. The secret life of the domestic cat was my inspiration — house cats are predators who, although wild at heart, always come home for Chef. I used a simple line drawing for the logo/body and Photoshopped the eyes (in detail below).

My Chef logo, labels and magazine advertising campaign. The background images used in the ads are courtesy of the Internet.

Dear diary, part seven

July 26, 2013July 20, 2013 | Anna Cull

‘Stagnant’ billboard design – word map and sketches Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011) — ‘Stagnant’ billboard design – word map and sketches
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

‘Stagnant’ billboard design – composition sketches and final illustration Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011) — ‘Stagnant’ billboard design – composition sketches and final illustration
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

This was one of my favourite projects at design school: an illustration of flora depicting the word ‘stagnant’ (for a billboard advertising an online dictionary). It had to be linework only (no colour) which meant making the most of tone and texture. My word is deliberately stuck in the mud and claustrophobic. I’m especially fond of the strangler fig around the tree and the tiny mushrooms on the text. The final illustration is a 205 x 405 mm ink drawing and I have no idea how long it took to complete (so please don’t ask) ― the black background alone took about four hours. Madness. Utter madness.

These pages are from the diary I designed for my Design & Arts College exhibition in 2012. Two years of research, ideas, word maps and sketches had to be reduced to a mere 72 pages. It was no easy task but I now have a beautiful, professionally bound journal that I’ll always treasure.

Dear diary, part six

July 19, 2013September 16, 2014 | Anna Cull

Boutique brewery logo, packaging and advertising campagin – word map and logo sketches
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

The design aesthetic for this student project owes much to the textiles of William Morris. My campaign evolved from the idea that the Old Mill could have been a converted textile mill. You can see the individual logo designs in my previous post.

Old Mill Brewers tee shirts and bottles (digital mock-ups).

I had ever such a lot of fun writing the menu too.

Dear diary, part five

July 5, 2013September 16, 2014 | Anna Cull

ABN logo – sketches and final design
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

I worked on this logo while I was at design school and so I included it in my exhibition but, really, it was a freelance project that I did in my ‘spare’ time. Access Broadcast News is a media-monitoring company based in Wellington. They wanted their logo to be vibrant, dynamic and creative. I liked the idea of putting a new spin on the more traditional images of news communication such as radio waves and old television sets (which is why they appear in the sketches). My final solution is a cheeky nod to the RKO radio tower. I brought it into the 21st Century by adding multi-coloured dots to represent modern fibre-optic cables.

Dear diary, part four

June 28, 2013July 7, 2013 | Anna Cull

Beat book cover design – sketches and layout ideas Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011) — Beat book cover design – sketches and layout ideas
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

'A meme that launched a millions trips' – final cover design — ‘A meme that launched a millions trips’ – final cover design

For this project we had to use found images and a limited colour palette to design the cover of a book about the beat poets. My cover is a paper collage of photographs, censored texts and deconstructed poetry. The background features excerpts from the works of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs that I have retyped, rearranged, printed, torn into pieces and transferred on to paper using an acetone printing technique (the same technique I used for my book without boundaries). The acetone transfer produced a wonderful, imperfect, aged sort of effect which you can see in more detail below.

The diary pages are from a journal I put together for my Design & Arts College exhibition in 2012. Two years of research, ideas, word maps and sketches had to be reduced to a mere 72 pages. It was no easy task but I now have a beautiful, professionally bound diary that I’ll always treasure.

Anna Cull ~ Art & Music

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