Studio Brief 1: Sign development

A computer would allow me to generate a 3D sign with all of the lines and shapes that I had intended to use. Thinking practically, I had to make sure that there were no 'floating' lines because these would not work when actually physically created. 

In the interim crit, it was decided that the sign post would be made out of metal and freestanding, giving the illusion that it had been created from on single pipe and then 'blended' together to create on flowing structure.

As I had never created anything 3D in Adobe Photoshop before so I used the Youtube tutorial which showed the step by step process to create 3D lettering and I just applied the process to my sign design. I found it to be frustrating because small changes can completely distort the whole appearance of the sign post. 

I started by drawing out the sign design with the pen tool and merging all of these shapes together to create a solid shape (Figure 1). I then created a 3D extrusion so that I could change the colours and depth of the 3D shape (Figure 2). I then merged the two layers together so that I could render it all as one final shape (Figure 3). I can now use this object and pace it into context, allowing me to present my idea in a visual way that people will be able to understand. Figure 4 shows the start of how the sign could look in context. I have began to add the extended sections across the floor so that they can direct people to the locations.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

The idea that the letters on the atomic structure would represent the initials of the location that it is pointing towards and the small number would represent the distance is something that I have researched into (Figure 5). I found that it may actually be more useful if the number actually represented the estimated walking time to the location as this would mean more to people than what it is in miles, preventing any conversion trouble to those not used to the metric measuring system. Figure 6 shows how it could look if it was to be created with the letters and numbers representing the location and walking time. 

Figure 5

Figure 6