Proyecto de curso

My project for course: Graphic Design for Fiction: Visual Identities with Stories

por Tom Muller @hellomuller

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My project for course: Graphic Design for Fiction: Visual Identities with Stories 1

For my final project I chose to design the visual identity for a short story I wrote that appeared in the award-winning anthology Mam Tor™: Event Horizon. I originally created the story back in 2004 and felt it was time for an update, and see how I would reimagine this story. I wanted to expand on it and approach it as a fully realised project.

The story, "ONEIRONAUT" is an alternate reality sci-fi story that is inspired by 60s counter culture, popular fringe and pseudo science theories and American Modernism — in short, all the ingredients for a great design passion project! For this task, I renamed the story "ONEIRONAUT: Redux" indicating I'm reviving the story and updating it for a modern audience.

In my course, I go into much greater detail, and share case studies and examples of what Designing for Fiction entails. You can sign yo and access the course and get immediate access to the lessons and files.

Before I started the project I set myself a brief to give myself a framework of what I would be creating: A visual identity that encapsulates the story, and apply that identity to the full book package: A masthead/cover logo, the cover design and full book design (things like chapter pages etc).

I started by revisiting the original story and visuals to set up the project and give context. The story in a nutshell, is an account of a 1970s science project about lucid dreaming gone wrong, told through a series of visual vignettes and diary entries.

Once I have defined my brief and decided on my subject matter I can start the project and design the logo, visual identity system, colours, imagery — and bring those together in the final cover design and book package.

A spread from the original Oneirnaut story as it appeared in Mam Tor™: Event Horizon.

I begin by doing visual research, finding references and a direction to create the project moodboard.

Then I start by sketching ideas, bringing ideas and concepts to life.

Once I'm happy with my sketches and concepts, I begin translating those into vectors in Adobe Illustrator and design the logo

The final logo for THE ONEIRONAUT

The final logo alongside alternative logo options that can be used in the story.

The icons for each Stage in the story, with the main logo mark.

A typographic style sheet for the identity system, also illustrating the formatting of titles.

The visual identity system is translated into a small guidelines document that shows all the styles and applications.

The logo is the first step into building the wider visual identity that consists of type, form, and colour.

Using the colour palette I built (referencing the original story), I start creating shapes and compositions as vector shapes.

Experimenting with layer blending, blurring and gradients I create images that enhance the story.

My project for course: Graphic Design for Fiction: Visual Identities with Stories 20

The final 'hero' image is enhanced in Adobe Photoshop to create a stronger distortion effect.

The final design is assembled in Adobe InDesign, where I design the cover and interior pages.

The final cover design for ONEIRONAUT: Redux, incorporating both front and back cover, spine and all contents.

The opening title spread in the book that continues the visual language for the story.

The first page in the book, the Half Title page.

Rather than a traditional chapter index, the contents are designed as a scientific diagram for each 'stage' of the story.

Final presentation mockups to show how the actual book will look.

A project presentation isn't complete without showing your work on a billboard, of course :)

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what I created for my course project.
In the course I go into great detail on the creative challenges, ideation and design process on creating identities that tell stories; like I did for this project.

To see the full course, and my creative process you can sign up and access to course and get immediate access to the lessons and files. I look forward to see your projects and response to the creative brief in my Designing for Fiction course!