OUGD405 | STUDIO BRIEF 4 | RESEARCH

The problem I had identified from  studio brief 3 was that serial killers are stigmatised and extremely misunderstood. Although their actions are entirely immoral, I believe acknowledging them and trying to understand them more would be beneficial and solve this problem. Serial killers are usually plagued with a lot of mental health issues.

I’ve already done a poster about mental health for the last module, so I decided on designing a leaflet or small poster on a talk about Jeffrey Dahmer in particular. The reason I didn’t choose to do about serial killers in general is because it would be a bit too generalised, and would be more focused if I chose Dahmer. He follows on nicely from brief 3!

I have identified the problem and now it's time to conduct some appropriate research. Since I've chosen to do a poster series, specifically for a lecture at a university, this is where I'll start. I want to research general poster/flyer designs and not just keep it too specific.

This poster is for an exhibition, and I think it communicates that well through the use of primary colours, it looks arty and geometric. I really like the use of the colour, it pops right out of the design and looks really nice with the black. The title font is very geometric as well. I like where the text is placed in 4 thin columns, it looks really spread out but still concise.

I like this layout as it has some really nice black backgrounds on the white text. It looks extremely effective and organised. Since it’s about architecture, you can see why the designer chose that layout, it all fits together like a structure.

The perezramerstorfer design really stuck in my head, I loved how it stood out and the colour scheme works so well with the black and white imagery. Colour scheme is also very important whilst designing something like this; it all needs to work well together and look visually appealing to attract an audience.

This poster has a nice use of colour. I like how they are variants of the primary colours and compliment each other really well. The beige background is more effective than a white one as it's a little different and would look nice on this colour stock. I dont really like the gradient on this poster, I feel like it looks out of place.

These two posters really stand out to me because of the particular font that's used on them. The first one really stands out because the font is so massive and white. I like the condensed capitals; it's something I'm considering using in my poster, however not as big as I'd rather have imagery as a larger focus than this one. The second one has a font that reminds me of a dated computer, or a typewriter, and I really like it! I thought of experimenting with one like this for my poster.

I had watched the Dahmer Files during brief 3, and the cover art really stood out to me. I loved the use of a subtle mustard yellow. It had a really retro feel that I wanted to include in my work.

I wanted to also try using some colour duirng this brief as even though black/white/greys are my thing, I kind of want to experiment and push my comfort zone a little more.

My research has lead me to a more informed direction and helped me choose what types of colours and imagery to use, along with fonts.