Idioms

Project 6: Idioms

The sixth project was based around typography. We were given a brief with seven different idioms. We had to choose four to work with. The idioms were:

Stuck in a rut:

• Bad part in your life
• No motivation
• Bored of things
• Problems
• Can't get out
• Dark earthy colours to represent feelings of not knowing what to do.

Fall on deaf ears:

• Ignoring advice
• Doing what you want
• Not wanting help

Two can play at that game:

• Getting own back
• Revenge
• Jealousy - links to the colour green
• Mischief/Cheeky
• Game ideas - board game (imagery)
• Getting equal - links to the number 2 (two)

Vanish in to thin air:

• Disappearing without trace
• excluding yourself from everyone/civilisation
• Light pastel colours remind me of the word air

Larger than life:

• Happiness
• Wealth
• On top of the world
• Bright posotive colours
• Nothing can bring you down

Needle in a haystack:

• Searching/finding/looking
• Frustration
• Confusion
• Impossible to find

Keep an open mind:

• Think posotive
• Anything can happen
• Loosen up
• Experimental
• Don't be defensive
• Think of good and possibly the bad

After i had thought about each idiom i though it could be helpful to do some observational drawings just to loosen myself and my thoughts up.



I worked from objects with different types of fonts on.

I created some quick sketches and some more detailed drawings of the font on my chosen objects. These fonts could be used later on within the project.

Another method i thought could work well was making small collages of what i thought of each idiom. This is a method i used within the Graphic Design taster week of the exploratory stage of the Foundation course. This first collage was based on 'stuck in a rut'. The colours i chose were dark earthy colours to symbolise being stuck and confused. The imagery on the colours were stripes/lines which i thought could also symbolise an actual rut.

This collage was based on 'larger than life'. The colours i decided to use were bright ones to represent feeling happy and being 'larger than life'. Stacking the blocks of colour shown imagery of being larger/higher than life.

The idiom 'two can play at that game' was an idiom i found quite hard to represent however i thought it would be interesting to challenge myself. The colour green symbolised jealousy/getting revenge, which refers back to the idiom quite well. I experimented with cutting out the letter '2' in different fonts, just for experiments.

Thinking more in to 'two can play at that game', i thought of a board game, initially one with the simple checkered background, therefore experimented with collages based around this.

'Disappear in to thin air' made me think of pastel colours, such as the ones i used here. I thought imagery of something getting small, to look as if it was disappearing. This is something i will work on as the torn edges dont give the 'delicate' effect that i think this idiom has to it.