A personal project for this talented Graphic Designer blends animals, geometric shapes and a simple, traditional dictionary. Initially created in relation to this designer learning the other uses for the names of the animals he was illustrating, Vila has created a set of work which blends modernised graphic design with a traditional purpose, a dictionary. Coming across this design set I firstly found the concept behind the piece very interesting, the original style automatically humours the audience due to the interesting and slightly funny approach it has.
The simplistic style that this designer uses allows all elements of the work to suit one another and work as a team rather than forcing all of the attention on one element. I find the simplistic, understated colour tones extremely useful. Vila has stayed true to the stereotypical colours found within these animals in order to ensure that the audience communicate the animal correctly as it is a crucial element for the concept of the piece. The additional geometric design style gains the audiences attention automatically as blending the modernised shapes with a natural creature is like creating a new reality to the audience. The realistic colours, tones and shades/depth are created within the animal so that the illustrative drawing does not create an excessive cartoon approach. This style of design clearly is not intended for a young audience as the purpose, a dictionary would not be a type of product that would immediately appeal to them. However it would appeal to an older, adult audience as they would find this appealing, humorous and useful. As a viewer of this work I find it appealing through the different approach and purpose it has however as a product I doubt I would want to purchase it.
The colour tones are kept realistic to the animal they are illustrating for instance the pig is cerated using only pink tones, this is a successful element in order to communicate with the audience because it keeps the imagery true to it’s form, coinciding with the purpose of the piece and the success of the concept. I find the contrast between neutral foreground and background tones very successful despite being a blend that would often fade together as neither have an overpowering brightness. The dull grey used behind the illustration produces a very sophisticated and professional tone, this is perfect for the purpose of the piece as the designer is keeping this a key element in aiming to produce a spin off of an actual dictionary. I believe that the decision to use this tone has been an exceptionally successful one. Despite using very graphic, geometric shapes for the main animal foreground, the designer has refrained from doing so with the outline of the background. This is a way for Vila to ensure that the background does not overpower the imagery, he has successfully prevented the background becoming a border, he has allowed it to simply become a canvas which would immediately appeal to the audience as this would not be a style used in an actual dictionary, gaining their attention.
Despite enjoying this piece, I find that the effect of fading the type out from the central bottom location it has been given very unsuccessful as it stops the piece from being used as a style of dictionary, it prevents the audience from understand what is being communicated, without this it might as well be a geometric image of an animal. A main reason that the audience would mainly view and appreciate this work is being of the interesting, original concept and purpose, being a dictionary to inform them of other used of these animals names, fading the type out stops this from being projected onto the audience and I find this a huge drawback for the success of this design set. Also the placement of the type at the bottom proves off balance. central would usually be a successful style for any type to be included within a piece however here a contract of bold, large, oversized type and tony more sophisticated text proves too much. I agree that the name of the animal should be larger as it would be in an actual dictionary and believe that this does prove successful however the contrast in size is too overpowering and takes away the audiences attention from understanding the piece as a whole. However, I do find the interesting placement and layout of the type intriguing. I really like he simplicity used and the separation of a simple line proves very appealing.
The grey colour tone also links in with the style of colours used throughout the whole image as well as being bold enough to be easily read and processed by the audience. On the other hand, the smaller type is very hard to understand and read, this would not be relevant if the piece were displayed at a large scale however as it is, it does not communicate successfully.
Overall i believe that his design set has a vary of successful and less successful elements, I believe that the designer has created a good piece with an interesting concept however as an audience viewer I would not purchase this if it were a product.
LCA Critical Journal 