Fruit and Vegetable Market, phase 3

After finishing my first 4 icons I started developing the next 4. Keeping with the same feel to keep a unity between all the icons.
Here are the problems I addressed:

-The icon below is to show people visiting the market where whatever they are buying will be wighted to calculate how much they will need to be paying.

-The icon below is to warn people of the uneven floors of the market.


-The Last two icons are to help people find their way around the market. The first icon points to where the fruits area is and the second points to the vegetable section.
When the two icons are placed next to each other I feel that they are better read.
These two icons are the only two without any human figure, however I think they still work well and carrier a sense of unity with the other icons.

Post Critique

After the critique I was left with some very good advice on how better improve my signage system.I got advice on how i could simultaneously streamline my design and communicate my message more effectively.Simply put it was to add lines to indicate amount rather than have an entire separate sign to do so.

For the typefaces I first looked through the Arabic typefaces since they are limited in number and its easier to find a Latin typeface that can syntactically harmonize with Arabic than the other way around.After looking through all the dirty or (gasp!) stencil Arabic typefaces available in Linotype (yes every single one) it was down to 2 . Myopia and Taghiir.
I chose Myopia because Taghiir was too clean.
Then I went on to look at an english typface that can balance Myopia I looked through :
http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=113&page=1
http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=108
http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=109
(gasp!)=> http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=114

(Yes every single one)

Fruit and Vegetable Market, phase 3

The class critique was very useful to me. I was able to hear what others thought about my work.
Below are the changes I made to the icons I showed in class.
Along with the small changes I did some cropping to most of the icons. Before the cropping the icons showed too much, they were more like pictures rather than icons. These improved icons, below, I feel will be clearer to the audience, for they focus on the main point they are addressing.

The critique

After working on the first icon, i tried developing a system for all my icons. I chose each icon to have a object and an index, since the first one i started with included the cutting knife(object) and the marks(index). I also decided not to include a lot of other information and tried cropping it with greater emphasis on the object. i also included a hand in all my icons.

The Critique:
The critique in the last class was beneficial for me. Since VCUQ is a design school, the critical response i received was on the fact that my icon designing was not suitable to represent the space and people. Thereby, now i have the challenge to develop something, which is simplified, communicates well, balanced, has a system and yet represents the mood of the place.

Abu Hammour Phase 3

As part of how to best represent my problem of people being hit by cars if they want to read signs.
I took a pictures from 300^o and began to look for which angles best represents the problem and began tracing them to abstract them more and more to see which elements are most important.

Again I apologize for not having pictures,Blogger is not being very helpful (as usual).

icon: problem 1, cutting marks on table

For the problem of having cutting marks on table, i initially started by looking at some of the photographs which i used in the previous phase. And i discovered that the Exacto knife is very commonly used on the tables without using the cutting mat. Hence i started by first examining the exacto knife..but since exacto knife on its own just being a tool doesnt convey much, for example it cud just refer to as not to cut with this . Hence i then took the marks on the table n traced them. Then i felt that since it is still not clear, so i traced the actual photograph in which the blade is being used on the table.
Since my mood board was based on preciseness and square rectangular form, i have tried to simplify my icons and make it simple geometrical kind.
Since my icons says :not to use the cutting knife on the table as it creates marks, i will have a stroke from left top to bottom right which means NO.
I also tried abstracting it with not being very literal by just showing the exacto knife the cutting marks and the circular part which is part of the furniture, the tables

Fruit and Vegetable Market, phase 3

After completing phase 2 the problems I needed to solve in the market were clear. I went back to the market once more and started taking as a many images as possible of the problems, the images I took included: wide shots, close up shots to show detail and I took as many different angles and perspectives as possible of the problems.

The fist problem I worked on was the wet floors in the market. I want a sign to tell people to be aware of the wet floors and to try and avoid walking over them.
I made many sketches some showing a figure slipping, some showing just a close up of the feet of the figure slipping and some showing a figure walking around the wet floor to avoid it.

I decided to take my sketches of the full figure slipping further into development:

After this detailed sketch I decided to see how the image would communicate if I simplified it:
I felt the above simplified sketch was not as effective as the first detailed sketch so I went back to it and developed it a little further. I added more detail, the wet floor under the figures feet and the motion marks by one of the figures feet to show that it is moving:After that I started experimenting with filling in the positive and negative spaces and balancing out the image:

Abu Hammour,Phase 2

When I found out that we have to confine our layouts to fit the template given, I realized I had to modify my comic inspired layout to fit it.I knew that I had to approach it from a different angle ,since my layout was based heavily based on a portrait oriented book.I had to foreseeable solutions to the new limitation,
1. keep the layout as is and force my audience to have to rotate the book to properly see mine,(which would have been a hassle for the audience but easier for me).
2.Adjust my images to fit the new layout while still maintaining the concept.
I went with 2 because i believe shouldn't force all our audience to adapt when they don't have to since our job is adapt so they don't have to .

Abu Hammour,Phase 2 the layout

-I decided that my book layout should look like comic book form so I am better able to control the time the viewers eye.With my images, I want the viewer to take less time analyzing some images and more on others.In comic books, control is done with the size and shape of the panel the picture is in and distance between each image. You move faster between a set of images if they are small,portrait and tightly spaced then you would if the images were large ,panoramic and take up a whole page,especially taking in to account the time to turn the page.

I am now posting how my final problems look. i had first collected a lot of pictures to convey a problem, dealing with the idea of macro and micro. But then after the class critique and discussing with the teacher, i realized that even three pictures when placed next to each other (keeping in mind the knowledge of semantics), my problem was very clear.
hence i will post pictures of few of my problem.
System:
My 3 photographs for each problem are based on a system. The first photograph is a zoom in of what is creating the problem; the second photograph is a zoom out of the environnment in which the problem is created and the third picture shows again a close up of the problem. Hence when placed next to each other, one can clearly get a feeling of the space in which the problem is created.

Maha, more problems

After my first problems I went looking for more and I got problems that are similar to my other problems. Basically they all have to do with sign.
My problems are mostly to do with kids and their environment. Kids tripping from bags, kids running around blocks etc.
All these problems are related to safety and signs. I separated them and got two different ideas or images for every problem. Eg . Bag problems an example of where they place their bags also shelf problems. ( image #3 example 1 for bags. )
Not all of my problems will be added to my book but just the important ones that I think will connect as a group to make my book.

Now I have to take all my problems and try to make a story board to see the connection with the placement or pages organization.
2) Will see if images are enough or should add more images to complete each story
then when i'm done with that , i will have to go back and fix my images if I have images that are not clear with brightness etc.