Design - Ankh Morpork style (research, existing artwork and illustrations)

Research Key

• AOD - The Art of Discworld by Paul Kidby

Paul Kidby has been illustrating the Discworld series since 1995. Has done one-offs, cover art and fully illustrated publications for Discworld.

Pratchett states that Paul sees things his way about 75% of the time (and seems to imply that the late John Kirby, who also illustrated Discworld up until his death in 2001, saw things slightly less truely to Pratchett's own vision).

A Kidby illustration of Ankh Morpork streets. Unseen University's Tower of Art seen in the distance.

Commander Samuel Vimes of the Watch with Buildings and Stuff behind him

The general aesthetic fits with my view of Ankh Morpork - it's always been timber-framed houses for me.
However seems somewhat monotonous to have all houses in this style. Perhaps variation would be good.

Kidby's view of Pseudopolis Yard doesn't quite fit my image. I always saw it as a single building with a walled-off yard outside that one would enter via a gate (assuming that 'Pseudopolis Yard' referred to the building itself and not the street on which it was located).

Design - Ankh Morpork (research, real-world cities inspired)

Pratchett says that to get an image of Ankh Morpork that came close to replicating what he sees, we'd splice together the Estonian city of Tallinn with large parts of central Prague.

My Pinterest board featuring collected images of Prague and Tallinn, including the Old Town district of Prague - click here



Selected images of the Estonian city of Tallinn

St Catherine's Passage

Part of lower town city wall

Selected images of the Czech city of Prague

Prague 1650

Discussion

These images don't directly match up with how I tend to see Ankh Morpork. I see it with primarily timber-framed buildings (given its habit of burning down) and muddy streets.

Looking at Kidby's illustrations though, I feel that perhaps more variation in architecture is required - a city full of buildings of the same architectural style feels somewhat boring and doesn't fit with the scruffy, scrappy, melting-pot character of the city.

Project Planning - Ankh Morpork Breakdown and Information

Research and Development for the Pseudopolis Yard Watch House

 Research sources and their abbreviations in below notes

1. LSpace Wiki (LSW)

1. The Compleat Ankh Morpork (CAM)

1. The New Discworld Companion (NDC)

And various Discworld novels as listed below

• Jingo (J)

• Guards! Guards! (GG)

• Night Watch (NW)

Begin notes.


Ankh Morpork:

General information:

• About 1.6km wide
• Two cities (affluent Ankh and poorer Morpork) divided by the river Ankh
• Pratchett notes that you'd be able to create his view of Ankh Morpork if you could splice the city of Tallinn with large parts of central Prague.
• Built on loam and past incarnations of the city
• Generally accepted that it began with the Tower of art, University sprung up around this and the city around that.
• City sits on the river Ankh, very polluted river and solid enough to walk on. Where Sto Plains (western europe) meet Circle Sea (based on Mediterranean. Trade city.
• Assassin's Guild - oft seen more as a top-class grammar school where people are sent whether assassinhood is intended or not.

Governance:

• 300 Guilds
• These guilds/pressure groups make a fuss about things and this gives Vetinari space to do things his way. NDC

Geography and cultural details

• Morpork is downtown city, where trading, taverns, etc happen. Industry, commerce, shipping, work, mostly done here rather than in Ankh. Unseen University (old power) and Patrician's Palace (current power) both reside here as well as most of the ruling guilds, so while aristocrats and guild leaders live in Ankh, power happens in Morpork.
• Isle of Gods - a mound
• City rises towards the Tump
• Small factories and workshops in Phedre Road and Cable Street areas, and more traditionally along Street of Cunning Artificers
• Guilds - Many guilds, temples, etc and government buildings centered around patrician's palace and across from Isle of Gods (CAM)
• Brass Bridge - 8 Hippos line it facing out to sea. Relates to one of the legends of city's founding that talks about two orphaned brothers who founded city and were suckled by a hippo. Similar to Rome's she-wolf. Seattle has a slug.
• The Barbican - "The Barbican had been the fortified gateway in the days when Ankh-Morpork didn't regard an attacking army as a marvelous commercial opportunity. Some parts were still in use, but the bulk of it was six or seven stories of ruin without stairs that any sensible man would trust. For years it had been used as an unofficial source of masonry [can we replace with another building material] for the rest of the city. Bits of it fell off on windy nights. Even gargoyles avoided it.
• The Shades - the darkest bit of Morpork. Place in a pit or depression? 'Go down into the shades'
• Opera House - Largest indoor space in the city (CAM)

-

Images sourced from Lspace Wiki

Further reference:

• Prague's Old Town Square high resolution panorama image
• Prague's Astronomical Clock

The Watch

• Commander Vimes, Captain Carrot
• Headquarters in Pseudopolis Yard
• Section Houses in Dolly Sisters, Long Wall and Chitterling Street. Smaller non-permanently-manned stations at most main city gates., also River Patrol office and slipway behind Mended Drum. Chitterling Street has the Shades and docks in its section. (NDC)
• Cheery Littlebottom - Forensics
• Colon and Nobbs - patrollers. Assigned to Traffic Division based at P Yard at end of Jingo (NDC)
• Training School at Lemonade Factory (cont?)

Watch Equipment

• "Official issue is not as follows
• One Shirt, Mail, Chain
• One Helmet, Iron and Copper,
• One Breastplate, Iron
• Breeches, Knee, Leather
• Cape, Rain, Leather
• Sandals, Leather
• Boots, Leather
• One Sword, short (or one axe for dwarves, club for trolls, adapted paper knife for gnomes)
• One Truncheon, Oak,
• One Crossbow (or Siege Crossbow for Troll Officers)
• One Hourglass
• One Bell, Hand, Brass and Wood,
• One Sewing Kit (zombie officers only)
• One Pot, Ceramic Cement (golem officesr only)
• One Badge, Office, Of, Watchman's, Copper

Specialist Equipment issued as standard to officers on patrol from Chitterling and River Gate and as required by other officers with business in Shades

• One Blanket, Wool, Blue (for existential confusion of bogeymen)
• One Religious Symbol of Watchman's Choice (for discouragement of vampires)
• One Discourse of Pure Reason (Vampires for the Discouragement of, Freethinker's option)

New badge designs commissioned by Vetinari as Watch grew more prominent.

• Old badge motto "Make my Day, the Moments Pass Quickly' (Fabricati Diem, Pvncti Agvnt Celeriter)
• New badge Motto 'The Streets are Always Safe for Honest Folk (Viae Sunt Semper Tutus Pro Hominibus Probis)
• Vimes is only bearer of old-style Watch badge

Pseudopolis Yard

Area surrounding Opera House in Ankh. Isle of dogs - a semi-island on the Ankh. A mound (LSW). Watch house is turnwise of Opera House, bordered by Lower Broadway and Butts Treat, backed party by Knuckle Passage.

Sybil Ramkin's Childhood home (GG, NW). Similarities to London's original Scotland Yard, which had the public entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard and was originally a private house.

Relevant Maps and Illustrations by Stephen Briggs

Trolls - skin flexible as leather but much tougher and longer lasting NDC - stone?

End notes

My Thoughts on Research Process

How much detail to go into with my research? Perhaps use the Jingo breakdown as a guide for things to look at initially, create a more directed focus. So the areas of Ankh Morpork where events take place, etc.
how vital is the exact version of Discworld to show? Ankh Morpork has advanced quite a bit as has the Watch - will including information seen only in later books damage the product? Perhaps only show things explicitly mentioned in Jingo and earlier. Need an earlier copy of NDC then.

Copies of The Discworld Companion - 2nd edition is BEFORE Jingo, 3rd edition (New DC) is a couple of Watch books AFTER Jingo. Could be better to get the second edition one and then add any unmentioned developments from Jingo novel itself.

HOWEVER given the scale of the problem of ensuring complete accuracy with the exact point in time that Jingo occurs as well as the short time period in which this project needs to get underway (as well as the lack of serious consequences if I don't get it all completely accurate), I must give myself license to let the 'historical accuracy' of the project be imperfect.

How legitimate is the LSpace Wiki? Looked at this compilation of Pratchett interview answers - no answers there. Does he ever mention having support for the wiki?

Aim today was to get some general information about the city and a clearer picture of it. What's happened is a consolidation of info, clarification of some preconceptions I had from the novels including the knowledge that now improves my lackluster mental images of locations such as the Barbican)





Insert photo of map on wall

Research (design theory, contextual/industry practices) - Building Design

Watched the following Feng Zhu video that talks about designing a creepy asylum

Purpose: Presenting two different looks to a client quickly - not super refined, very loose. Create right mood, right lighting. Design?

Early stages:To get colour pallete - take  photos that you like and paste them into document. Make collage. Value and colour.

Started with line drawing, painted over line drawing twice. Based on line drawing by a student.

So the purpose is to define mood and lighting - we can't build sets from this.

Clients and context: Might only have a day to do these before a client wants to see them for approval - so defined detail goes in the important parts. Focal points of composition.

Composition: One image using colour contrast (warms vs cools) one image using value contrast (lights vs darks) to bring out subject

Lighting and atmosphere - reds and yellows don't travel very far in foggy environments so you have to desaturate them a bit

Some detail added to both improve mood and give some story. I think also adds some visual interest.

Research (design theory) - Mood Boards

Article 1: Why Mood Boards Matter on WebDesignerDepot.com

Article discusses mood boards in context of web design - but the principles seem entirely translatable.


Begin notes from Article

• Mood boards are useful for mocking up design ideas for presentation to a client.
• Removes the inherent ambiguity of written/spoken words by providing solid visual examples of designers intention.
• a compilation of inspirational elements
• photography style, colour palettes, typography, patterns, overall look and feel of the site. 
• Soft or hard, grungy or clean, dark or light.
• Casual and rapid visual prototyping
• Any changes that the client needs or if they want more options to choose from - can easily and quickly be created or revised.

Style of board to use - loose collage or refined template?

1. Loose collage easiest to make and less formal but may be confusing for clients who don't interact with designers often. Less detail oriented.
2. Refined template better for clients who don't work often with designers or are very detail focused. 

Author tends to create 3 wildly different mood boards for each project, 1-3 hours on each. Wide range of styles important for getting most out of process. 

Discussion with client - explain what you want out of the meeting and open for all feedback. Let them know the inspiration behind each board - the list of adjectives is useful. Clients tend to know real fast which board feels right to them.

Benefits of using Mood Boards:

1. Defining a visual guide early on means you waste less time doing more intensive work that will eventually be scrapped - save a lot of time down the line by doing this work at the start.
2. Earlier involvement of clients make them feel more involved, help them feel listened to.
3. Clients get a deeper sense of why you made your choices and trust you more to make these choices.
4. Freedom to experiment more outside of limitations like layout and technical realities.
5. Reduced no. of revision cycles

Examples from the article:

Loose collage mood board, copyright webdesignerdepot.com

Refined template mood board, copyright webdesignerdepot.com

End notes from article.

Article 2 - 7 Reasons Why Mood Boards Are Worth The Extra Time on Creative Bloq

The most relevant information where a list of sites that could be useful in creating mood boards.

Copied directly from the site:

"At Digital Surgeons, we use mood boards to establish an overarching visual language on a brand, product or site level. And we don't just stop at visuals on our mood boards either: we cover everything from voice and tone, ad-like objects, interactions and interface patterns."

Design systems - provides an overview of what mood boards are and how creating one will help you.

styletil.es - a great site by Samantha Warren, which helps explain the benefit of using style tiles in your next design.

Pinterest - not just for cupcake recipes and wedding planning anymore. Pinterest is an endless source of visual inspiration on whatever category you seek.

Dribbble - surf the latest and greatest from designers all over the world for your inspiration cravings.

Behance - An online portfolio site from all imaginable creative fields. Their recent acquisition from Adobe will hopefully keep them flush with cash and motivation to keep growing (and hopefully not lose their soul in the process).

PatternTap - Pattern Tap is your one-stop shop for User Interface inspiration.

Image Spark - a great site for discovering and curating and discovering mood boards. Unfortunately, it seems to be on the chopping block from its creators, so enjoy the images while you still can.

mural.ly - a new site that aims to be the collaborative tool for designers to work together on a look.

Musespeak - Another great collaborative tool for teams to create mood boards together.

Moodshare - A great platform for search, creating and sharing mood boards.

Checked out a couple. Styletil.es was interesting. Written specifically for web-design, it was not all relevant. But it had a list of design terms that are useful to keep in mind and can drive research over the next couple of weeks:

Elements of design

• Line
• Color
• Shape
• Form
• Pattern
• Space
• Texture

Principles of design

• Unity
• Harmony
• Balance
• Rhythm
• Emphasis

Article 3 - How To Create Mood Boards 35 Expert Tips on Creative Bloq

Written by Paul Wyatt

Article seems to be more about presentation for a client than the collection and generation of ideas.

1. Look at non-digital sources of inspiration as well. Both publications and self-taken photos. Snapshots.
2. Try to have 'meaning and threads from one image to the next' rather than just a collection of images. Curate threads and synergies. A compositional thing?
3. Offline vs Online - "An offline mood board will generally be looser in style and require the extra kick and emotive spark that comes from it being presented to a client. An online mood board should be tighter and will generally need to work harder to convey a theme or style."
   Why? Online won't have you there to help explain the theme or style, I assume. Can provide emotive support via audio too, whereas an Offline board must provide emotion through imagery and your performance alone?
4. Layout give prominence to key theme images and have smaller supporting and explanatory images around these. Viewer will look around the board for images to explain any questions they have about the key images.
5. The tactile nature of cut-out images glued onto boards enhances the emotiveness of what’s being explained.
6. Can practice mood board skills by creating a 3x3 grid of images to explain what you are like, then test it out on colleagues. 
7. You can use text tastefully
8. Have an obvious theme. Ensure it's relatable to the client.
9. If it ties in with something you experienced then add that in. Client emotive connection.
10. Better to over explain than under explain.

Was unsure about using a mood board as an idea generation/personal style definition tool. Found this blog that states that "Moodboards are great for generating ideas and sticking to an aesthetic feel that may not already exist in one designed artifact alone."

To do: revisit the red text above in class and also ask lecturers if moodboards would be good to use in my situation for defining a design language.

My own process:

I'm trying out Google's image viewing and organisation software Picasa at the moment. It looks like it will be useful for organising my collected reference image library, given that I can assign tags to images or groups of images based on their content. Later on I can type in a search for one or more tags and find all the images that pertain to my search.

I can create an album from as many or as few images as I want and then create a collage from that album, effectively creating a mood board.

Project Planning - Developing Ankh Morpork, first design plan

There are a number of ways I could go about developing the general aesthetic of the city of Ankh Morpork.

I could begin by designing

1. Citizens
2. Residential homes
3. Wide shots of full streets
4. Very wide shots of the cityscape
5. In-universe tourism advertisements
6. etc

I've chosen to begin with the Pseudopolis Yard Watch House, a location that features prominently in the plot. Residential building that's been converted into a police station.

Pros of this choice:

1. allows me more time to develop my figure drawing skills before designing characters
2. allows me to focus on a specific design and actively contribute to a key location to the project instead of drawing anonymous and inconsequential buildings,
3. allows me to define a general aesthetic for Ankh Morpork that can then be extracted and applied to future designs - altering it for more upmarket or downmarket locations and for different establishment purposes

Proposed plan for developing this building:

Look at:

Existing descriptions of Pseudopolis Yard

Existing artwork of Pseudopolis Yard

Existing sci fi-fantasy mashup designs

Collect descriptions in a list.

Create mood boards of 3 different styles, using other artists' work, real world photos, etc
Pick one to continue on with.

Then - start designing


Return to this plan afterwards and note things that should be changed, etc.

Project Planning - The Brief

First port of call is to set limitations of the project and put these into a brief.

Research:

Some research sources that I looked at briefly to get some key topics to cover in the brief:

• Creative Brief on Wikipedia
• Writing a Brief on DrawnToCreativity blog
• The Creative Brief: 10 things it MUST include on Felt&Wire

Development and brainstorm:

I didn't want to spend too much time preplanning, so I selected the most important limitations and set them out below.

1. Drivers/Goal
2. Aesthetics
3. Destination medium of designs
4. Target audience
5. Primary conceptual focus
6. Tone

General visual style: caricatured realism. Realistic rendering of light and shadow, materials, etc, but creatures, characters and environs may have exaggerated proportions to emphasise specific attributes.

Outcome:

Brief:

Generate designs in a caricatured realism aesthetic that assist the translation of Terry Pratchett's comedy-fantasy novel Jingo into the comedy science fiction live-action film genre. The target audience are fantasy and science fiction fans with an appreciation for humorous wordplay and the exploration and appropriation of cultural tropes through comedy. The designs produced at this point will define out the two dominant cultures of the novel as well as some of the key locations, characters and props beginning with those most central to the plot and working down. The designs will stay true to Pratchett's original tone and characterisations with genre specific alterations made to place them in a science fiction context.

Misc thoughts:

brief makes design process more exciting - builds motivation to start working