COFA Annual 2007

At around August 2007, we were participating in the design and production team, developing graphic identity for the graduation exhibition of the College of Fine Art - COFA Annual. This project includes the overall concept design along with graphic identity, poster templates as well as dvd & web interface designs.
Following the tradition of the COFA Annual since 2002, the identities has been built around the alphabet A, which contains a dual meaning as the last letter of the faculty in short form.

Within the team, we were working collaboratively with two designers, Hiro Lai and Yosuke Ando, on developing the concept and the alphabet A. (Both of them are our very good friends as well.) So, here comes the conceptual thinking: the overall concept for this year’s COFA ANNUAL is making the mark.
Mark making is an act of showing presence and also a representation of a start or completion and hence a stamp with ink bleed has been introduced. The stamp itself represents COFA while the ink represents the graduating students from the faculty. Therefore, the two elements work together to produce a mark, much like the relationship between COFA and its students. Furthermore a stamp can be referred as a symbol of certification; a certification from COFA to its graduating students. When the stamp is used, the ink is absorbed and spreads on the paper, in which the ink spreading symbolises the students’ growth from COFA to the creative world.

We have also proposed two other versions of the logotype for the event:

We actually really like the dark gray ink version out of all since we enjoy reading through the subtle layering of the alphabet A; in which best represent the process of slowly revealing the depth of the characters on both the event and the graduates. However, after a group meeting along with the marketing team of the faculty, the group came to a conclusion to have a more ‘eye-catching’ identity for the year, which we respect the decision.

As you will see, in the following, the letter A are also being used as a stand alone elements in all the associating materials for the event.

A0 poster template designs:

Shown above are the template designs for all participating graduates covering all the variations of the degree program.

Those template designs has to be in consideration of a standardised hanging system for exhibition installation, which you can see the gray area on the top and bottom of each template and they will not be printed. A thin outline has also been introduced to indicate a working area for all designers in order to unify most of the graphical elements for this annual event. Once again, the line will not be printed.

You can see here in the two photographs showing those poster templates being used in context during the exhibition.

COFA Annual 2007 web interface and dvd interface:

If you didn’t have the chance to visit the exhibition or get your hands on the dvd/catalog on the opening night, you can visit the COFA Annual 2007 website for more information where you shall see the interface we designed as well.

The event dvd/catalog was actually available on the opening night which features all the participating graduates’ works with the interface and layout we have designed.
An image of a textured paper has been applied within both the dvd interface as well as the web interface designs. The paper was actually the one that we were experimenting with real ink to understanding the ‘ink-bleeding’ behavior.
The dvd interface features a sliding menu located on the left of the screen with the alphabet A displaying on the top of the strip. When the cursor reaches the strip, it activates the menu and it slides out to allow more options for navigating the content through name search or choosing from all discipline. The motion reflects the act of revealing and further understand the underlying characters within the event.

We would like to thank our good friends Yosuke Ando, Hiro Lai and  the design & production team as well as everyone who helps to pull the whole event together.