AWOL Zine Designs

 

For this design (top) I wanted to focus on the positive side of the Northern Quarter as one of our themes for our AWOL zine was Negative/Positive. I edited one of my own photographs I had previously taken whilst sourcing inspiration in the Northern Quarter. I wanted to portray the positive side of this area of Manchester in such a way that wouldn’t be too obvious. Using Photoshop I was able to achieve a grey and dreary effect for the background image,  I then collaged on top a circular section of the same image but using warm, vintage style colours to create a contrast between the two.(Positive/Negative)

I really like cityscapes and fill that the buildings as well as the people really make a place. These building blocks are quite imposing especially when edited to look glum, so by layering the warmer coloured image into the composition I felt brought positivity into the design. The colours that were created when using Photoshop for the circular section reminded me of the effect some sunglasses have on the natural light. This made me think of summertime which instantly lifted my mood.

I thought the sunglasses effect of the circular cut out on the previous design worked well in portraying a more positive outlook on the cityscapes within the Northern Quarter, so I played around with multiplying the image dozens of times to create a kind of psychedelic design (top).  At first the placements of the images were random but then a patterned formed at the top with the orange toned buildings connecting to one another, I thought this was kind of interesting as it looked like the images had been reflected onto each other. I particularly liked how some of the buildings from separate images flowed into each other, I thought this re-enforced that chaotic and fun feel to the composition.  

 

For this design I collaborated with AWOL team member Nicki. She was concentrating on identity as her theme for the zine, so I used her photograph and collaged my previous design into it. This time I cut out square shapes from the previous design as well as circles and placed them on top of the people’s heads. Due to the fact that Nicki and I were concentrating on identity for this piece I wanted it to be in response to the importance of individuality in the Northern Quarter. The Northern Quarter to me is a place that celebrates individuality however; I think that in some cases people in their quest to be individuals can end up looking like each other. It’s for that reason I copied the man in the foreground several times and dotted him around the composition. I don’t really like the overall look of the composition as it looks a bit thrown together, a part from this I do like the concept behind it and will try to incorporate it into another design.