Illustrated Case Study Essay - Contextualising Advertising by Examining the Work of Vault49 in Relation to the Four Principles of Graphics

Design and Reflecting on my Own Practice In this essay I will be discussing the area of practice I am most interested by; Advertising; reviewing the work of Vault49, my chosen practitioner, as well as comparatively analysing my own work. Advertising is defined as a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to take some action; it is the business of drawing attention through promotion of some product or service. I am particularly passionate about this specialised area of graphics design as I feel my strengths lie in idea generation and creative strategies. A practitioner I favour and take inspiration from is the company 'Vault49' who have contributed a great deal to my current design style. Vault 49 are an internationally award-winning creative agency with a high profile client list including Nike, Coca Cola, MTV, Microsoft and Sony. The artistic collaboration was established in 2002 after a partnership between students Jonathan Kenyon and John Glasgow during their final years at the London College of Printing. They are based in New York currently and re-located themselves there in 2004 after gaining much recognition on the British design scene. Vault 49 consider themselves to be a highly versatile team of screen printers, 3D model-makers, photographers, illustrators and designers. Much of their work combines the use of hand-rendered illustration, photo-collage and digital collage which results in the colourful, energetic, mixed-media artwork such as the example below. We can analyse Vault49's work for an advertising campaign commissioned by Vodafone to illustrate the high standards they set in producing design solutions. The brief was to create press and web advertisement designs to advertise the four different types of the latest BlackBerry mobile phone handsets. The advertisements themselves are highly innovative and generate a wealth of visual impact to the viewer in communicating the selling point of the product: that each phone has its own identity. The keyword used for the creative strategy to advertise the product is 'Director'. Naturally, we would assign business-orientated words and images with this term due to the connotations. The artwork seemingly does reflect the disposition of a modern-day professional. Looking at the artwork for the 'BlackBerry Bold' model, we can immediately notice the striking aesthetics of the vector illustration used which compliments the photographic image of the handset. The idea behind this concept is to highlight the suitability of this mobile phone for people who want to achieve an equilibrium in their work and leisure time. "The BlackBerry Bold is for people who like to balance work and play, with a real entrepreneurial spirit," as quoted by John Glasgow, (Vault 49's co-founder); we can certainly gather this impression from the design through its abstract pictorial representation of a 'pinball machine' connecting different business icons together. We must understand visual language as an important principle in graphics design in order to appreciate the use of this visual metaphor. Visual

language refers to a system of communication using visual elements. In this instance, we can perceive that the interconnected pinball machine-like illustration has been used to represent the notion of the BlackBerry Bold as a multi-purpose tool with two personalities; a device that carries both a professional, organised demeanour, as well as a playful character. John Glasgow states that they were provided with a "list of key characteristics of the products and their target audience". This demonstrates and stresses the importance of target audience and context as a fundamental principle in design. Without knowing the type of audience it is intended for, the design would not in fulfil its purpose in persuading the public to purchase and use the product. A successful advertising campaign is that in which appeals to its target audience and communicates the unique selling point of the product or service effectively. In relation to the advert, we would assume that the consumers of the product are young professionals with an active social life. The design does well in capturing the busy personality of a young businessman or woman in a visual form through the use of scattered but intricate icons. The general composition of the advertisement is attractive and eye catching. Glasgow makes a point of highlighting that this layout and format was chosen for My own methods of working have been heavily influenced by Vault49 and I look to their work as a source of inspiration for my projects, both in terms of aesthetics as well as threading narratives into my designs. This print advertisement produced by myself exemplifies how I have been somewhat influenced by Vault49 and exhibits my style of artwork. The brief for this design solution was to produce an advertisement to encourage teenage boys aged 13 to 17 years of age to buy Vans trainers. Extensive research into the target audience was conducted in order to produce an appropriate outcome. The thought behind the creative strategy used was to present the footwear as a fun item of attire which makes gives you a 'cool' status. This strategy is apt for the target audience as they are of a young, impressionable age whereby image reflects social status and further to this, plays up on teenage self-consciousness. The 'fun' aspect is reflected through the use of an Anime/Manga character. I chose to compose the layout in the way that I did with

To conclude, I aspire to develop my working style further by experimenting with trying other platforms of communication, particularly digital media, as majority of my work so far has been based around print advertising. I will continue to draw inspiration from admired creative advertising agencies and practitioners in the industry and applying my knowledge of the principles of graphics design to my work in order to produce effective outcomes to future project briefs.

References

http://www.vault49.com/ http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/index.cfm?featureid=1915&pn=1 http://www.bangbangstudio.ru/shooters/en/vault49/index.php http://rockofeye.net/artists/vault49