HEDKANDI

HEDKANDI - lets update the blog again

I’m quite pleased with this drawing because it’s the closest so far to being what’s in my head. Perhaps they won’t notice the flaw with this package design i.e. you can’t put any thing in it.

HEDKANDI - what am i actually doing maisie?

Its proving to be quite difficult to get this wonderful package design out of my head and into the physical world. Who thought of having three dimensions for gods sake?!

-What’s this then?
-I don’t know, it took me two hours.

HEDKANDI - update on "progress"

It seems I may be a bit useless at making things. I think I might present pictures of my vision rather than presenting my little cardboard creations. However, I have tried:
This is an exciting box design that changes shape as you open it! Amazing.

This is an origami Frisbee that also doubles up as an unfolding star! Nice.

One success however is these two little cubes which I think you will agree, are quite fantastic. Right, I think I should get on with some work now.

HEDKANDI - feedback from presentation

Broken English, me no mind:
Regarding the imagery –
Distortion, obscuring
Twist
Skew
Changing the product physically
Manifestation
Make a rule – all imagery has to be through lens
“beautiful distortion”
to distort, perhaps normally considered a negative word, like mutating – but what if each time the thing changes it becomes more beautiful than it was before?
Think about the colours – too busy at the moment.
The experience, to experience – to make opening a package an experience rather than just a necessary task.

CMC - final poster design

(the typo isnt actually in the finished one)

Cluster Munition Coalition Competition Demolition Expedition yeah

The brief is to produce a poster for the Cluster Munitions Coalition about any aspect of cluster bombs. Through researching cluster bombs and the organisation, I was inspired by the videos of cluster bombs being dropped.

When we got this brief I knew I wanted to do something typographic because I haven’t done anything like that for ages.

I came up with the idea of creating the words out of letterpress letters – placing them in such a way as to make them look as if they are exploding towards you.

This is the first attempt. The letters don’t spell anything out yet – I need to work out how it’s going to be read – from the centre outwards, from the top along. I’ve made it black and white and increased the contrast. I think this makes it quite a striking image. I need to experiment with the lighting to make all of the letters legible. The letters are being lit from directly in front (next to the camera), I think this creates some nice shadows, all the different directions add to the overall pattern.

Feedback from the presentation:
I was wondering whether the fact they are letterpress letters would get lost when presented to an audience that isn’t made up of graphic design students. We decided it would still be relevant to people who didn’t recognise them because they can still just be seen as metal letters – people will assume I’ve juts made them or something.
Another question posed was why letterpress letters? Other than their visual quality, what else do they offer to the meaning of the piece? I feel bloody stupid for not realising earlier but they are blocks of metal; metal is the material in which cluster bombs are made from, its what attracts civilians to search for them. It’s what explodes in your face if you find one. So they my poster is relevant, I just need to find the right words to communicate.

HEDKANDI - Start again you buggers

OK, back to the drawing board.
Below are lots of words, but I think you might have guessed that.
Obsessive
Passionate
Narcissism

Tempting
Irresistible
Inviting

Compulsive
Enticing
Alluring
Rude
Raunchy
Risqué
Decadent
Naughty
Badly behaved
MisbehaveMischief

Mask – flirtatious
Obscuring your identity
Facade
Illusion
Anonymous

CrucialNecessary
KEY – world

Thinking about creating a new world – ignoring whats gone before and what the current Hedkandi image is. I’m going to be inviting people to enter that new world.

Looking closer at the name “Hedkandi”
Thoughts, notion, dreams. Tasty, delicious, appetizing.
Come/step/enter inside – experience (our/your/the) Hedkandi

“come inside – experience Hedkandi”
Although it sounds very simple, I have chosen the phrase “come inside” because, it’s inviting, it’s a command, and it carries sexual connotations.

“Experience Hedkandi” – could be referring to Hedkandi in an abstract sense as well as stepping inside a physical space or situation and also experiencing Hedkandi as a brand.

Want it to be like stepping into another world – a world with countless girls, glamour, extravagance.

What makes Hedkandi different?One of the interesting things I’ve noticed is the cross-over between styles – on one hand its aspiring to be like the big labels in high fashion that are seen to be sophisticated, classy and extravagant. On the other hand, it’s appealing to girls that like to go out clubbing, have a good time, girls who like dancing, girls that are girly.

Linking it to the lens (shame to completely scrap those ideas when they can still be relevant) – seeing the world through the lens – obscuring your view. A little peek of what you might see if you were to go in.

HEDKANDI - Bracelet

These are stills taken from a film of a bracelet. I’ve tinkered about with the colours in Photoshop. They’re quite pretty but I’m not sure what to do with them! I really like the geometric shapes and patterns that are created.

HEDKANDI - Drucinda

These are all stills taken from film. I’ve found the best results come from film, not still photos – I am able to pick out the exact frame that looks best and strangely enough, they are better quality (probably due to the crapness of my camera). I’ve put the video on here just to show where the stills came from. Please ignore the 60’s pop and my singing – forgot about the recording sound aspect of filming. The second shot is with the camera focused onto the lens rather than Drucinda. 

HEDKANDI - more experiments, magazine

These are just some more experiments with the hexagon bug thing. It’s such a good idea, Kate Moss agreed to do some modelling for me.

This is one photo I took of a glass woman’s body thing that I have. I thought about using it more but I think it is too simple for my idea – I want it to be busy. Maybe I can incorporate it later when my ideas are clearer.

HEDKANDI - symbolic object

We were asked to bring in an object that I thought represented Hedkandi. I found this gorgeous bikini top in a charity shop. It’s got everything – the colour, the texture, the bling, the size – despite being designed for a 5 year old (do 5 year olds wear bikinis?), I don’t think this would bother a Hedkandi girl.

To show what my new bikini would look like on a person without any arms and made out of plastic, I tried it on Drucinda.

MOMIJI - a breif demonstration

MOMIJI - the alternative idea

The principal behind this idea is my need to make something visually beautiful rather than simply fulfilling the brief (hence working on it alongside the other idea). I realised that I didn’t actually like the other idea, I was just doing because I knew I would be able to – and that’s not very fun. I’m going back to the paint idea because I was really enjoying experimenting until I changed. Instead of using coloured ink (this was hard to make it look good), I’m going to use just black Quink ink (rather than black Indian ink – Quink ink has more depth). The landscape will spread (more like a virus than love I’m afraid) across the page. I want it to be very slow and steady with winding music playing alongside it. I’m undecided about how to include the dolls in this film. I think I might be able to make them look quite good but I need to experiment with this. I’m going to go and experiment now rather than write on my blog about thinking about going to experiment.

(add experiments here maisie)

(ok maisie)

MOMIJI - the world, yay

Right, this is a practise – IT ISN’T FINISHED! The music I have used is Girlboy Song (18 Snare Rush Mix) by Ahex Twin - I think it works very well. I showed this video at the presentation because I had spent a lot of time on it, even though the night before, I had decided to scrap this idea because it’s not very pleasing to look at (to see my alternative idea which I am carrying on alongside this one, please read the next post). I felt I had been too easily advised to move away from the look of the piece and concentrate more on the narrative, so I did. And I produced this. And it’s ugly.

BUT:
When I showed the clients and everyone else, people seemed to like it (although it was unanimous that I probably shouldn’t kill the Momiji dolls in the video – death, drugs and sex can be saved for the directors cut). The conclusion was to carry on with this idea because the momiji people (I was very disappointed to find out they didn’t actually look like momiji dolls) enjoyed it. I was surprised by the fact it was one of the only films with humour in it. I shall keep this element as it made it stand out from the others. What I need to do now is to find a way of making it look a bit nicer – at the moment, it’s more badly done than the animations currently on their website.

Just got the written response from the momiji dolls, they said "Representation of the dolls could be more attractive. Not keen on the death element!" thankyou momiji dolls, i will not disapoint.

MOMIJI - dressing up

After about four weeks (?) of Momiji madness, I’ve developed a slight (only slight mind you) HATRED for the blasted little dolls. I decided to go to a Halloween party dressed as an alternative Momiji doll, who gets drunk and does embarrassing dancing at other peoples houses.

MOMIJI - in the middle

We talked at uni about not taking briefs so literally. For example, when they say “we want the tag line to be spread the love”, it might not be the best idea. I had a go at combining the computer-generated pictures with the paintings. The idea was that with most of the image being computer-generated, it would be easier to demonstrate a clear narrative. I think it looks pretty awful but people liked it. I’m going to get rid of this idea IMMEDIATELY into my idea bin i.e. forgetting.