Self Promotion - Nikita Lyn Vink On the move. . .

We were asked to create a self promotion and branding campaign for ourselves as graphic designers, as well as a Curriculum Vitae. As we are now in third year and nearing the end of our studies, we need some sort of self promotion to take the next step in our careers. This was a fun project because we were our own client! We had absolute free resign on everything we did and wanted to do. 

20 Second Animation - Conserve Our Natural Environment Project

My movie was based on the recycling of plastic. After watching documentaries on plastic waste I came to realise that plastic waste and poses much threat on our environment and those who live in it. 

While brainstorming I came up with the idea of Barbie. Barbie is the epitome of plastic.  MTV has a target market of mainly older teens, who don’t play with Barbie anymore so I felt that using Barbie in my movie could possibly be quite random and light hearted - which goes with the theme of MTV.  

My idea is based around a dorky, big afro guy (sort of like Napoleon Dynamite ) who sneaks around to his sisters bedroom and rummages through all her unused storage under her bed to find her Barbie dolls. He plays around with them and acts out random scenes. The slogan is ‘Recycle Old Plastic’ - which relates to our generation and the MTV target market generation because most of us do still have Barbie dolls but we don’t use them. But in general it promotes recycling of plastic and will hopefully plant a seed in the mind of its viewer to be conscious of this. In the end there is an image of two bins, one for paper and one for plastic and the Barbies are shown in the plastic bin as being recycled.

Cook Book Design

I based my book on Vegetarian meals. My good friend is a vegetarian and she often refers to herself as a “veggie”. With this in mind I decided to name my book Cooking for Veggies, in other words Cooking for vegetarian people. Each chapter of the book is based on a “veggie“ and their favourite recipes. In Nicoles chapter I have added the vintage radio’s because she enjoys cooking with music and i felt that it would add an interesting element to the chapter. Her favourite tracks are also listed, as a reccomendation  to anyone who is following the recipe.

I used photographs to illustrate the meals that were produced and very simple handrawn elements of vegetables and vintage inspired radio’s as decorative elements to illustrate the editorial throughout my layouts. My drawings were then also used to create patterns, which I have used on my book cover and contents page.

Packaging - Donut Box for 5 ring donuts.

I based my packaging idea on an accordion (musical instrument). The idea was to create a package that would be able to fold up and down, which would be perfect for storage behind the counter and it would save alot of time because it doesnt need to be assembled. It first started off as a soft paper bag in which the donuts could be stacked, it then evolved into a harder cardboard box which could also hold the donuts apart from each other. Something very unique.

Innovative aspects and design improvements

- Folds Flat.
- Has a very interesting appearance.
- Houses the donuts snug.
- Doesn’t need to be assembled.

Vitamins for Seniors

For this project we were given a brief to design vitamin packaging specifically for people who suffer with arthritis. The aim was to design a package which would be easy to open and easy to use.

Features of my bottle

-The lid has a bigger lip which will help the consumer to open the bottle. It can be opened by hand or by placing this lip on a straight edged surface and pressing the lid down, depending on the severity of the arthritis sufferer.

-The bottle has a flip lid, which stays attached to the bottle. This will help the user to not drop or missplace the lid - which is always a possibility. The user also does not have to try to line up the lid, instead just flip it back down. Quick and easy.

-The next feature of the bottle is the spin lid. The spin lid separate the bottle into four sections for the user - The lock feature, Morning, Afternoon and Evening. Each of these times at which the tablets need to be taken are highlighted in a certain colour and also have the amount of tablets that need to be taken, at each of their tabs. Once the tablets have been taken the lid can be turned to lock, which closes the opening where the tablets come out.

-The rubber grip aids the user in holding the bottle easily and less possibility of the bottle slipping out hte users hand.

Editorial Illustration

For this project we were required to compose an editorial illustration based on an article that we chose. The article that my project was based on, was about the sub-culture of hipsters, called Lame Dude.

The article discusses the characteristics of the culture and the negative aspects of the hipsters. My illustration was based on how being a hipster has become such a fashion statement. Everyone wants to be a hipster. In a random discussion about my editorial an aardvark came up - Which lterally means that EVERYONE wants to be a hipster.My idea was very arbitrary which goes with the style of the magazine that I chose (One Small Seed) and my illustrations were fun and playfull.I drew an aardvark dressed as a hipster, which shows that everyone wants to be a hipster. The quote within the text that also influenced my illustration was ““As Soon as people enjoy the thing a hipster enjoys, the hipster drops it.” I drew the aardvark hipster being held by a rope above a mote of crocodiles, this literally translated the pull quote into an illustration.  The last page illustration is a crocodile with the hipsters leg sticking out , which means that the hipster didnt have a happy ending.. There is also a scull which is wearing hipster glasses, which just adds a touch of danger.

Photography Project

For this project we had to set up a full photoshoot. The aim was to take a photo which was based or represented the lyrics of a song that we chose.

I based my project on the song Swing life away by rise against. With all the lyrics in mind I decided to show a poor man sitting on the side of the road swinging a clock watch which was symbolic of swinging life away.

 We also had to add the lyric into the photo, so I added it in with the typical "Please help me" sign, but instead used my songs lyric.