~ Nest 10 - development ~

My initial idea was to create post-card/poster designs that manipulate typography relating to the word and theme of focus.

This is one of my initial typographic compositions. This initial design was using the simple concept of a target or camera becoming more focused towards the centre of the design. I composed the type in circles closing into to the middle in a repetitive way, representing how repetition can help with focus. 

I created my own series of effects to apply to the typography. Firstly using the blur tool on photoshop to mimic the affect of a camera focusing on a small area within the frame, in this case the centre of the circle. I then created a grain effect over the top of this; I wanted to visually mimic the visuals you see in your eyes when you close them after focusing on something (say a laptop screen) for a long period of time. This links to my concept generation as I wanted to make something that reflected my personal experiance and associations with focus.

This second image is a much simpler adaptation. Just using the word focus once but this time adding the focused area around the letter 'o'. It's the same concept just rolled out further and in this case simplified.

This third image was a development of the initial ones - this time I was experimenting with using quotes that I felt were associated with things I personally wanted to focus on within my life.

Concept/idea change

The concept I have decided to go with is to create poster designs - I wanted to choose a design format that I wasn't hugely confident in within my personal practice. This way it would be a challenge and lead to a design which is experimental and different. I wanted to come up with a few 'sayings' that describe my personal feelings/experiance with focus within my design practice and just life in general. The aim being that people would feel a connection to my visual commentary on a personal level and understand them the way I do. The sayings I decided on illustrating are abstract and interpretable dependent on audience but have personal value to me and my practice as a designer, they are...

- Focus - But I Just Can't
- All I think about is not you
- Focus on the tips (tits)

I wanted my sayings to not be fully focused on graphic design as I feel design about design is quite boring. Instead they became quite romanticised and more about personal feelings towards trying to focus my life around myself and my work rather than romantic relationships. Personally it's something I have struggled with and has effected my design practice in the past, I wanted to gently encourage other creatives to overcome these feelings of distraction within these posters in an abstract way.