Mood Board

I have taken into more research into my illustrations I planned on creating along with my messages.  I had chosen to go down the pathway of using a floral design just not so intricate.  I needed some inspiration for my theme.  I thought using a theme of floral would show a part of Oasis that hasn't been shown before.  On the brief it says that to have have a non-seasonal focus so I need to be careful here.  

I love how this image above is so free flowing.  The elegance of the swishes makes it look very natural and pure.  I like the way how you can make up your 'fantasy' flowers within a theme like this.

I like the textured lines within this.  It adds a different effect to adding colour to a design and adding pen lines in a certain way can create curves and almost a way of growth within the flower and vines.

I found this image on Google and reminds me of a wallpaper or a design used for women's clothes & accessories such as purse's and hand bags.  I love the flowers on the cream background.  The reds, blue and yellow contrast well this it.  The flowers are small giving the impression that this is a huge print. 

Slogan Examples

I did some research into writing slogans.  Even though we had the challenge to write these messages from the ones we already had, I gathered that writing a slogan that is short and snappy will catch people's attention.  Something I found out was using alliteration in your wording.  This means using a describing word with the first letter followed by what you was going to say.  From my research I came up with the following messages;

Time slot delivery. (We offer delivery slots at a time that suits you) - Deliverytime Anytime

We accept paypal in store (just download the app) - Paypal Friendly

Student discount 15% off all year round (With a valid NUS card) - Student Perks, 15% Off

Personal stylist in store (Personal shopping experiences in stores) - Your style is Our style

For my first message I liked the idea of putting the words delivery and time together to make Deliverytime.  I added anytime to the end to create 'Deliverytime Anytime'.  I liked using repetition in my slogan because it's catchy and I think stays in peoples heads.  This is a short message that gives off the message of getting your item delivered any time (obviously within sensible times).

We accept Paypal in store was a hard one because I didn't know how to put this into a few words.  I came up with 'Paypal Friendly'.

Student discount 15% off took some research because I wanted think about what do students get that is better than regular people when buying in store?  I came up with various words and landed on 'Perks' in the end.  'Student Perks, 15% off'.

Personal stylist in store I found the easiest because I wanted to relate to the customer by bringing them into the brand.  My original idea was Our style, your style, any style'.  I liked this because It relates to the customer however I thought it didn't fit into my other messages.  I shortened it to 'Your style is Our style'.

I liked using the idea of repitition in my slogans in personal stylist and time slot delivery.  This is because the repition of a word that Oasis wants to promote is memorable.  I want to relate to the customer and doing so can make them feel comfortable and feel Oasis is the brand for them.  Oasis also states how they consider their use of language saying their tone of voice is chatty, playful, casual and friendly. They love to make you smile! Oasis want to speak like the customer’s best friend.  I think my chosen messaging fitted perfectly.

Pitch Feedback

I have pitched my ideas & development for the Oasis brief.

I have shown research, chosen slogans and some work in development and everyone likes the path I'm going down.  Although Kate said my art direction was not defined enough for people to imagine my ideas.  This was obviously not strong enough.
I went through the different design decisions I wanted to make by breaking down the brief into the most simple ways, taking out keywords.  Some of these were detail, colour and design.  I took a look into their clothes and what Oasis are generally about.

I was undertaking the pathway of using floral patterns for my designs and incorporating them in a way it emphasises the typeface and brings it out to be eye catching since these messages go in-store and online.  My colours I have chosen a colourful colour palette mostly taken from nature.  Adobe Illustrator has different colour palettes suited to your style such as flower, nature, artistic etc.

Apon pitching, I had a simple mock up of one of my messages called 'Deliverytime Anytime'.  This being my message for Time slot delivery.  People seemed to love the rich pink I used with my typeface and the font also.

I presented some sketchbook work which I have drawings of proposed messages.

Overall everyone liked my idea but lacked a pure art direction.

Typography

I have undertaken research into typography.  I wanted something that would fit the Oasis brand but also gave it a fresh new look as we could want these messages to be striking enough to be noticed and also on the website.  I wanted something that is visually pleasing and makes people look and appreciate the design just not what it says.  Oasis say they are playful and want to come across as the customers best friend.  They want to communicate in this way.  Below are the typefaces I thought would be most successful along with my design illustrations.  I have written 'Deliverytime Anytime' for all of them.

The font above is called 'Billion Stars'.  I chose this because I liked the way is freely flowed across my screen and reminded me of twirling vines and flowers.  I fit this would fit almost perfectly.  The disadvantages I would say is the eligibility.  The letters are fairly close although this could be easily adapted in Illustrator.  I wanted to come across as elegant but this font comes across to me slightly vulgar and intimidating.  This reminds me of a classic tattoo typeface.  

This is my favourite of the 3 and is called Xiomara.  This one unlike the above has soft edges and isn't as harsh.  This has an elegant feel about it.  I love how the capital letters have free flowing ascenders and descenders.  Each with a slight 'blob' on the end.  To me this adds quality and class.  I think this font would fit the Oasis brand because they products are not cheap and from what I have said the target audience is early 20's to late 50's.  This in my opinion suits the brand.  Obviously this is just black at the moment and will look completely different when coloured.

This is another favoured type choice and is called Clair De Lune.  I love the simplicity in this font I have always believed that simplicity adds purity and give s a sense of organic and feel this will tie into my design illustrations.  I like how each letter does not have the same thickness this adds a diversity to the font.  Also most letters have small feet at the bottom but on the over having letters such as 'y' and 't' they have these delicate like twirls.  I also thought this would be perfect to use because of this.  Reminding me of twines.

Colour Palette 

I wanted to finalise my colour palette after pitch continuing with the 'garden' floral theme.  The first colour in this colour palette is the Oasis pink colour used in their logo.  It's a deep pink colour that I want to use within my typefaces.  I have extracted the greens from a colour palette within Illustrator.  It was called 'Nature'.  In the brief Oasis state they want a fresh new style and I feel confident this is a successful way forward using nature colours.  Keywords to keep in mind are chatty, confident, stylish, fun and surprising.  I thought it was a good idea to include the 'Oasis pink' in every single one of my poster to relate to the brand.  Hopefully people will see them and see a relation between the brand and my designs.  

The colours below are all Oasis colours.  I feel like it would be way to restrictive to stick to a rule of just these colours within my typefaces and illustrations.  Maybe slightly plain too as I want to exploit my theme powerfully and confidently they they don't already have.

Artists Research - Alex Beltechi

I've decided to search for some artists that embrace colour, print & detail.  On the Oasis brief they say they love these particular styles.  In my work I would like to bring the messages to life using colour and detail.  In the following blogs I will look at a diversity of artists that pursue different visual styles using different elements of prints colours & layouts.  The first artist I will be looking at is Alex Beltechi.

Alex Beltechi creates his own typography and incorporates illustration within to make them extremely interesting and appealing.  I am researching his work because I want inspiration into using detailed design alongside text.

Here is one of his Self-initiated designs.  This typographic poster is called The Lost Art of Subtelty.  I'm most interested in the flicks and swishes he uses off the top part of the poster.  I like the way these elements look so effortless but also precise.  These parts add value to the text suggesting its importance.  I love the neon glow effects on this part of the text too.  Its also lighter and brighter in some places to the others too.  As the ascenders on this type are so varied they look freely used and flow with the type.  As for the other part you can see that this is in blocks almost.  This is interesting because when different parts of a letter cross over as you would write it out, a lighter shade has been used.  This may not be medianly obvious.

Here is the mock up in pencil before being digitalised.

In this one he used the image of a fresh beech wood branch as a symbol of his progress and personal growth as an artist.  The slightly italic text again brings value to the text for me.  The letter 'g' isn't actually a capital letter however considerably larger than the rest of the text.  This is clever and maybe something to think about for my own messages.  A theme seems to be the exaggeration on the tops of letters being elaborately used.  On the end of these are leafs from a beech wood branch.  His colours are fairly dull and dark, but this is the visual theme of this design and works very well.

   

This one is called Type treat.  I love how the word type has been illustrated in a way of one of those red & white candy sticks.  It actually looks like you could take the text and re-bend it into a different position.  The word treat is written as if its a splash of melted chocolate.  Italics has been used here slightly.  The visual style is very strong.  

Above here is a design called City.  I like this one as its simple yet can maybe get slightly complex in areas so a nice balance.  Its obvious that main parts that can be seen in cities are used here working around the letters.  We can see buildings, CCTV cameras, cables & a pair of headphones.  I love how this looks especially on the letter Y.  On the descender of the y, the cables just casually flow down looking so natural but obviously well thought out. 

Last of his work is Dream.  I like the way the text is 3D on this it really stands out.  The baseline in this design has been fairly ignored to create something that is odd but looks very organic.  Branches seem to be spouting from parts of the text maybe to symbolise aspirations and dreams, of course.  The green colour suggests this is natural and organic alike.  The background works well as this is dark to make the text stand out.  To me the dark background symbolises the night sky as if this could be in someones head when their sleeping.  You can defiantly see a moon in background to back my idea up and what I think are mountains there.  I really love this design.  It has a focus and has so much meaning.

After looking at Alex Beltechi's work, it has been interesting to read into his designs to think about the meaning of them.  The use of colour and space has been a theme throughout, as has been the ascenders on his typefaces.  From this research I can take away different visual themes to consider for my own considering the Oasis brand.

Oasis brand research

I have decided to undertake research into the Oasis brand, what their about and their products.  From this I can gather a strong style, what they have and what I can do in design to add to this.  Here I have gathered a hand full of images of some clothes from the Oasis website;

The above dress is very elaborate in style & design.  The main design point being flower-patterend.  The design features all over the dress including the back and is very dark but in ways rich in colour.  I love the dark reds and greens that symbolise nature.  This makes it feel pure, organic and wholesome.  All the colours complement each other because of their darkness.  Despite me calling the design very dark its also very attractive.  It looks elegant and peaceful.  Black obviously being the background, the pattern overlays this in a way that there is no 'rule' to what falls where on the dress.

On the this dress the same principals have been taken overlaying flowers and leaves on a darker background which makes sense and works visually well.  The flowers and petals are a lot smaller on this dress making it look more like a pattern than a free flowing type of design.  Colours being used here are pinks, white, red and dark green.  All these colours relate to being pure.  They remind me of a typical garden.  

This one differs a lot between the first two.  The only thing that I can find that relates is the dark background again.  Main colours being used here are reds and purple/dark blues.  The flowers on this dress are much larger than the first one I looked at and bring out more detail in the flower rather than an all covered pattern.  I like the way the purple type of flowers are not immediately obvious until you look slightly closer.  This design to me gives off a sense of mystery.

Above here is perhaps the same flower pattern in the first dress.  The flowers appear to be larger since this is a skirt.  Colours to think about for my own are reds, pink, white and greens.

This is the first top where it is not completely covered.  I like this because this design reminds me of a flowery vine running down an old cottage.  Again this looks very elegant and you certainly wouldn't associate any of these clothes being cheap.  I like the navy background, this bring the flowers to life.  There is also 2 small birds within the flowers that are defiantly not medianly obvious to the eye because I have only just noticed them.  I suppose when up close when someone is wearing this you would notice it.  I love how they bring nature within to their brand.

The scarf here is very elaborate and characteristic.  I loved how the whole scarf is covered in such a small pattern and I consider this one of my favourite designs.  It reminds me of walking into a field full of tiny flowers beneath you.  The colours work great together they complement each other in a way that when brought together like this, it represents a what I would consider a successful piece of design.

The above top has a cream background which is different to ones we have seen before.  This is interesting because this is also the first time I've seen a pattern from them that includes dark blue flowers.  This wasn't included in the others due to dark backgrounds.  This design isn't really a pattern and seems more free flowing.

This top is the most different to what I have found and analysed.  The birds are all the same size facing in different directions to create the illusion of being in flight.  This again works very well as I like the way they have brought nature within to their clothing brand.

Finally one of my favourites from them all.  When I look at this I consider it as a piece of art more than a pattern.  I love the way the larger flowers are mainly nearer the bottom of the skirt.  From this vines twirl upwards in different directions with leaves sprouting from them and smaller flowers.  A bird and butterfly feature in this design and remind me again like before of a summers garden.  

From my research above I have found out that Oasis obviously love using pure, rich detail within their clothes a lot of this being floral patterned.  Their colours are great because they are not block colours but water coloured.  This adds density to the designs and brings them to life.  I like the way that some look much more patterned than others and by this I mean set out like tiles would be or a wallpaper all uniformed.  Some others are distributed out more naturally.  From this I have gathered an appropriate colour palette as I am very interested in taking on the floral role as I love the style so much.  

Target Audience

My target audience for my chosen brief is women ages between late 20s and 40s.  After looking around the site It was clear that this was the case.  A lot of their clothing has a floral pattern on and to me, this distinguishes an age.  I think middle age women will enjoy shopping here as obviously I have never been to Oasis or knew what they were about.  I've also asked a couple of friends & family if they have ever shopped in Oasis or know about them and they said yes.  These people age from 20s to 50s.  I think asking a few people about weather they have shopped in Oasis before has helped me be certain on the target audience as this changes everything I have to do.  Another thing that I have noticed is the price tags for their clothes.  They are not cheap but not horrendously expensive either.  Its interesting because as like many other shops Oasis does have different 'collections' and 'trends' and these are fairly pricey.  Some over £100.  This is good for me as I am almost certain Oasis is not aimed at young girls.  I think the most popular age of people that shop here are around mid 30s.  This comes down to their clothing pattern, price tags, colours used, colours used on their website and so on.  They want to appeal to the 'girly girl' who is fun.  They are a playful brand.

Research

Research into the website.  From this website research I aim to find out their main colour scheme, typography choice, visual style and target audience.  As I'm not familiar with the brand It would be relevant to see the type of clothes they sell too.

Above here is the Official Oasis website.  My first thoughts of this website is that it's very clean & almost 'tidy' in a way.  The background is white and in my opinion this works really well because this sets an excellent canvas to put content in as it looks clean & professional.  The main colours seem to be this rich, dark pink and of course white.  Both colours complement each other whilst appealing also appealing to their target audience, middle age women with an eye for fashion.  I really think this brand has an appealing website for women and draws their attention in.  The reasons are the colours scheme, typography and of course the clothes they produce and sell.  The typography is very elegant and innocent.  My reason for my thoughts on this is all in the letter thickness and and letter spacing.  In the above image the word 'perfection' has a typeface that is spaced out with a thin letter thickness.  I think the use of empty space is used to Oasis' advantage as the white symbolises space and the letters do the same thing.  

In the background of every page of their website is a background picture.  The top layers opacity has been reduced to show the background.  The background is made up of individual ice cubes that have a piece of fruit inside them or something colourful.  Strangely, this works a treat.  The season is winter and this is a good relation to the time of year.  Its almost if their clothes they sell (such as winter coats) become more appealing because of this background picture of ice cubes.  This is to remind you of the season and how cold it is.  They have the ice cube background on every page like i said however, on the homepage they have a slight difference but same concept.  The ice cubes are bigger and have the word 'sale' embedded in them.  So a letter per cube.  I love the colours they have used.  Although they are bright and blotchy, they still resemble the winter season as many would think of just white thats associated with winter.  The colours look almost like fractured glass and colour runs.  This gives off the feeling of being fragile and cold so maybe this subliminally links in with winter.  The idea of having a leaf in a cube looks organic & natural symbolising the clothing and brand is too.  

This is part of the 'Parka Perfection' text of the homepage.  As I've said the rich dark pink is very much aimed at women but not over girly such as a bright light pink would be.  So i guess this would appeal to middle age women or slightly younger.  The all capitals makes it clear what it is and is eye catching against the white background.  The thickness of the letters are slightly larger to catch the audiences attention as the type isn't exactly that big.

Exactly the same as the above 'Parka' typeface.  This text is even smaller and the thickness of the letters are even thicker.  The smaller the text the more thickness and vice versa.  This seems to be a theme throughout.  

 

Oasis

Brief:

The brief is to create a range of messages for the Women's clothing brand Oasis.  These messages need to be illustrative and designed well to stand out in their stores & online.  They have given us basic keywords for us to work around in order to creative our own.  These messages need to be creative and be brought to life to suit the Oasis brand.  

Here are the keywords to work around:

• Time slot delivery (We offer delivery slots at a time that suits you)
• We accept paypal in store (just download the app)
• Personal stylist in store (We offer personal shopping experiences in selected stores)
• Student discount 15% off all year round (With a valid NUS card)
• Cant find your size? We will track it down and deliver it for free
• Free wifi in store
• Gift cards
• My Oasis Card (apply for a loyalty card to make shopping even sweeter)
• We love social (follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram & Google plus)

These are the messages that have been given exactly off the brief.  They want to come across very chatty, playful, casual and friendly. We love to make you smile! We want to speak like our customer’s best friend.

These messages are aimed at girls passionate about fashion so this will be a challenging brief to overcome.  

Since we have to make the messages I will need to know more about my target audience and take a look at the website.  After I have put the messages together I will then do extensive research into the the way they come across.  And since they said they love detail and colour, this will defiantly one of the channels I go down.