Responsive - Group Brief / Air Bnb - Visual Research

As we have decided to make postcards as a part of the printed pack for hosts/guests, as well as posters for magazine adverts, we needed to delve into some research. Here are different examples of visual research we have come across, which could take influence onto our final designs.

Air plane baggage label concept

This series of posters relates to our topic of travel and holidays within the air bnb project. The typography made up from 3 letter words on each ticket, replicating the actual baggage tickets, make up 4 different holiday phrases. This is a different way of advertising holidays, that we have not come across before. The way that they are all worn and used makes it better. 

The example on the right with hand rendered typography on top of an image creates an appealing aesthetic, which is used a lot more now a days in graphic design. Spreading out items like the poster on left is similar to ideas we have considered with regards our air bnb poster designs. The items are summer themed, and this is again similar to our own theme of travel. We were talking about using items from the home and place them from suitcases/baggage.

This poster makes use of the negative space well in creating another signifying visual representation. When the poster has turned upside down it reveals a 'terrorist' or a bad guy. Also the idea of including 2 messages within one poster is interesting. The design is subtle and colours are simple, making for an effective poster. 

Using a logo and just an image for a poster can sometimes be very powerful. Here pantone have used an image of a vibrant orange puddle and their logo. This technique is something we might consider when it comes to the posters. We have discussed using the photography studio at college to take photos of objects that could help represent our message of Air Bnb being welcoming, homely and making people feel like they belong abroad. So the final composition of the posters could include the potential photographs and an air bnb logo, if the image conveys the message well. 

An example of some white on black calligraphy. As of recent Alec has been using his experience with hand rendered type and calligraphy on different Air Bnb words, which we could use for our printed and digital designs. 

Another route we could take with the posters is to do something similar with these ones created for IBM. By using the bright colour scheme from the air bnb branding and create icons that convey the message of belonging to the audience, which would go alongside their logo.

Cityscape concept

After our first meeting all together we discussed with Joe the idea of incorporating different cityscapes inside the shape of a key, as keys are associated with 'home'. He has sketched some draft illustrations of this idea, however since then we decided not to along with this idea. 

These designs have been produced digitally in illustrator it seems, but also have a slight vintage aesthetic. The postcards include significant buildings from each of the cities and are represented stylistically in the forms of silhouettes. 

These illustrative postcards work well in representing their cities. The style on the left is a little twee and uses quite alot of different colours. The example on the right only uses 3 colours and makes for a more impactful design. The texture, simple colours and print aesthetic used on the right is more appealing than the one on the left in our opinion. We want to do something similar with our own postcards for air bnb. 

We want our postcards to resemble their cities and make the audience recognise the design and be familiar with them. Both of these designs use landmarks and city icons in them, they help represent the geographic location. 

  

Using hand rendered type over illustrated landscapes can produce good results. Although these are nothing like Ed Ruscha's work, they still create a nice look. Analog type is definitely going to be consistently used in our project.

These different sections of maps from big cities are colourful and detailed, but still remain effective. Designs like these, which obviously have had a lot of effort put in to them will want to be kept by those who receive them. The idea of the postcards for our printed pack is so that the guests either keep them as souvenirs or use them to send home, this means the designs/illustration will have to be appealing.