Typology brief - visual skills (development)

Idea development

Tools for surviving a zombie apocalypse 

This idea was my most successful, it could have been approached in a range of ways. I started by thinking of the most important things needed in a zombie apocalypse. I already had good knowledge about zombie survival after reading the walking dead comics, watching the tv series, and other zombie related films and games.

In alphabetical order I listed all the things that where vital in a zombie apocalypse. Some letters had way more items than others so it was important to make each letter have a different tool that served a unique purpose.

Zombie survival guide

I was pleased with my first mock up design. I like the different shapes and sizes of imagery on it. The arrangement/layout needs improvement so that there is even space surrounding the images. Im pleased with this concept because it has context. You have too read the images to figure out what they are for and how they are related to one another.

This helped me decide on my final list of items:
Axe, Binoculars, Crossbow, Defence, Energy drink, Flashlight, Guns, Head torch, Insect repellent, Jacket, Knife, Lighter, Medical kit, Night vision, Oil, Painkillers, Quad bike, Rope, Samurai sword, Tool kit, Utility belt, Van, Water, X-shaped throwing knife, Yorkie bar, Zombie juice (disguise from zombies).

I explored different ways of drawing the objects and if they could be drawn in someones hand.

I found this image which gave me the idea to try and simplify the objects into icons and reduce the details in the images.

I felt that simplifying the images looked restricted and formal. Not all the objects worked as icons and where hard to simplify. I realised this wasn't the appearance I wanted to achieve.

Detailed images in a looser arrangement was the way I wanted the poster to look so I progressed by exploring how to draw the items and finding appropriate reference imagery.

Drawing from reference imagery helped me to capture the items accurately and get the proportions correct.

I looked at how to display the title and had an idea to have it on a post in the ground. This then gave me the idea to have a zombie hand coming out of the ground. I wanted the letters to look like they are nailed together like a hand-made warning sign to suite the theme.

I experimented with what media my final design would be. I found that using fine liner in a few sizes looked clean and precise. I then added graphite afterwards to give a mucky, weathered appearance that contributed to the theme.

I found this image of a hand and drew from it to help me understand how it will come out of the ground, and the way the fingers clench. 

I got this image from the walking dead comic, i liked how the ground was illustrated and wanted to put a textured floor similar to this across the bottom of my poster.

I sketched out some rough layout designs for my final poster, I found it hard to arrange the objects with equal space in-between at first but after sketching a few times i figured out how they would fit together. I also decided that the title looked better at the top of the page, and i could possibly put a spade in the ground as well as the hand.