The document provides context for the student's final major project (FMP) idea to create a motorsport graphic design look book. The student draws on their previous work creating magazines and fanzines focused on Formula One racing. They have improved their Photoshop skills outside of class and want to combine their passion for motorsport with their graphic design abilities. The look book will feature iconic motorsport events edited with various themes. It will have an exhibition and merchandise to add further elements. Inspiration will come from studying prominent graphic designers like Stefan Sagmeister, Rob Janoff, and David Carson to help achieve a high quality, unique style. Researching graphic design books and theories will also help strengthen the project's visual design elements

1. Contextual Research

2. FMP Idea
• For my FMP I decided to go down the route of motorsport graphic design. The way I came to this conclusion is by looking at my
previous work throughout the previous years. In the first year for the print task I decided to create a motorsport magazine based
around Formula One. This product came out pretty good for a first attempt, it had the basic features for a magazine but didn’t have
any photoshop skills or techniques in it. It mainly used text and pictures. In the second year for our factual fanzine task I again
chose the route of Formula One. This time I had improved my photoshop skills. This was through my own accord, outside of
college I started a motorsport graphic design page to really improve my photoshop skills in preparation for the second year of
college. In this factual task I used my skills that I have developed over the year and this dramatically improved my work as it used
techniques like Camera Raw Filter, layer masks and much more. Using these two years as practise and using my time outside
college to enhance my photoshop skills I have decided to create a look book of iconic motorsport events but in graphic design
edits, these edits could follow a certain theme too, so a 50’s event could have a 50’s type edit or for a 80’s event it could have a
80’s type theme too. This look book will have an exhibition and merch to go with it to add extra content to the project
• The second reason for chose to create a motorsport look book is the fact that over the years my knowledge for the Formula One,
motorsport and car world has improved dramatically. This will make my work quality improve compared to if I decided to choose a
different topic like Flowers or Films. This is because I know what the audience of motorsport fans and what they enjoy and what
they don’t like. This knowledge of the audience and sport will make my edits higher in quality and help my grade.
• I chose to create this content through the media of a look book is because I believe my target audience for this look book will enjoy
more visual content over written articles. In addition to this, I enjoy creating visual pieces over pages with articles on it and I feel
that my strengths in photoshop is stronger than my written strengths.
• Overall, I believe creating a look book, exhibition and merchandise for my graphic design motorsport edits will be the most
enjoyable to create and this, in my opinion, will boost the quality and creativity as I will be wanting to make the edits the best I can
as I am enjoying making them. This media plays to my strength and also fits the target audience I am focusing on

3. My Motorsport Edits
With this edit I used many skills that I can use in my
FMP, such as layer masks to bend images into
backgrounds and colour selection to make certain
features stand out. In this example, the helmets
reds were enhanced
This edit is an example of the themes I could follow, I
went with a 80’s runaway theme, this theme could be
replicated for an 80’s event

4. Stefan Sagmeister
• To create a look book on motorsport graphic design at the highest level possible I need to obviously have the best and most unique
ideas to make my ideas stand out and make my work look the best it possibly can. To help me achieve this I need to look at the
most influential graphic designers that there have been and Stefan Sagmeister is definitely one of those people. This graphic
designer designed album covers for some of the worlds biggest artists. These include people like, Jay Z, The Rolling Stones and
many more.
• Stefan was born born August 6 1962 in Bregenz, Austria. At an early age we could see that Stefans intentions of a career was in
graphic design as at the age of 15 he was employed by an Austrian Left-Wing youth magazine, called Alphorn. In this magazine we
had the first glimse of his D-I-Y theme as he told his friends to lay on the floor in the shape of the letter A, Stefan took the picture
from the buildings roof and this is where this unique typography graphic design that he is famous for was born.
• This passion for graphic design led Stefan to study graphic design at the Universtiy of Arts in Vienna, Austria. This is where he
recieved a scholarship called the Fullbright Program, which made it possible for Stefan to travel to New York to study for the well
know Pratt I. Institute. Stefan found his city, he loved the city of New York and this is where he would eventually started his own
business there, Sagmeister inc.
• At Sagmeister Inc. this I where he started to make a name for himself. At first no record labels came to Stefan to get a album cover
designed by him. However, his friend was about to release an album and couldn’t pass the opportunity up for Stefan to create his
album cover, Zinker’s Mountains of Madness. Stefan seized his opportunity and made this album eye catching with a optical
illusion type of album cover and this worked, this album earned him four Grammy awards.
• Stefan is a big inspiration for my project as he created his own style of graphic design. He found his passion early and created his
own empire. I will definitely look at his work to inspire me in my work to make my work unique in the motorsport graphic design
industry.
N/A, (2020), Famous Graphic Designers: Stefan Sagmeister, https://www.famousgraphicdesigners.org/stefan-sagmeister
N/A, (2016), Star Designer Stefan Sagmeister Always Finds New Paths, https://www.arcticpaper.com/stefansagmeister

5. Stefan’s Work

6. Rob Janoff
• Obviously, for a look book with an exhibition and merch I need to have good branding to promote my
exhibition to my target audience. One of the biggest graphic designers that has created the most iconic of
logo’s, apple, Rob Janoff. Rob will be a huge influence on my exhibition and merch branding. If I want to
make my exhibition and merch branding eye catching and unique, why not look at the author of the most
iconic and influential logo of all time
• Rob was born and raised in the Culver City in Los Angeles. Rob studied at San Jose State University. Rob
majored in Industrial Design, but later decided that this wasn’t his passion and Graphic Design was.
• After university Rob decided to get himself into the field of graphic design. Rob started to use his design
skills on small Silicon Valley Agencies. In 1977, Rob got a place at Regis McKenna. This is where Rob would
get the opportunity that made him famous. Rob’s creative director chose him to create a logo for a new
client which was Apple. The creative director chose Rob for his experience in tech graphic design and you
can see this choice paid off, Apple is one of the most iconic and influential brands and logos of all time.
• After Robs great success at Regis Mckenna, he moved onto jobs in Chicago and New York where he carried
on making logo’s and branding for local and overseas clients.
• Rob has been one of the most influential and iconic graphic designers in history, his work moved with the
technological advancements of the time and helped the brand of the 21st century become a household
name. Robs work will help me create the right branding. I will look at the key features of his most iconic
pieces and take influence from them and translate them into my merchandise and exhibition branding.
N/A, (2021), About Rob, https://robjanoff.com/aboutrob/

7. Rob Janoff’s Work

8. David Carson
• For my look book I need to take inspiration from all types of print media, from the two previous graphic designers I have looked at
logo design with Rob Janoff which will help me develop my exhibition an merchandise side of my FMP, as he is one of the best logo
and branding graphic designers of all time. With Stefan Sagmeister, I have taken is his approach to graphic design and looked at
how I could be unique myself with my work. However, I have missed the biggest media within graphic design and that is with
magazines. In the past I have created magazines but out of my own imagination and never looking at unique magazines to
influence my creations. With David Carson this will change, David is an extremely successful and famous graphic designer who has
been a big part of magazine design.
• David Carson was born September 8th 1955 in Corpus Christi, Texas. His love for graphic design wasn’t apparent from the start as
he was a professional surfer, ranked 8th in the world so he was very successful but at 26, David attended a two-week commercial
design class and found his new passion. He soon started to attend at a commercial art school then went onto working for Self and
Musician, a small surfers magazine. David had combined his two passions of surfing and graphic design.
• After this stint at Self and Musician, David worked for Transworld Skateboarding, this gave David the freedom in his graphic design
work and this is where he started to create his signature style with the chaotic style of overlapped photos and the use of different
fonts, sizes and letters with typography. People loved this style, they felt it was a breath of fresh air and had never seen a graphic
designer convey a message in such a chaotic way
• In 1989, David moved onto becoming an art director at the magazine, Beach Culture. David earned 150 awards while at the
magazine company. The magazine eventually folded after the 4 years David was there. However, his work at Beach Culture earned
him the job as an art director for Marvin Scott Jarrett.
• David was a huge influence in the magazine scene even though he came into it very late. His experiences in surfing definitely had
an influence on his style. His style appealed to younger audiences and this helped him expand his media style to more than
magazines as he made adverts for companies such as Nike and Levi.
N/A, (2020), David Carson: American Graphic Designer, https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Carson

9. David Carson’s Work

10. Book Theories

11. Book Theories – Graphic Design Rules
• Reading though this book has helped me a huge amount on how to approach my FMP.
• The book goes through the basic do’s and don’ts of graphic design from typography to print
techniques.
• This book had limited pages I could look at but from the pages I looked at I learned a lot and can
take this advice into my FMP.
• The first page went through how to organise your layers in photoshop. This is problem I have had
in the past, with the edits I have been doing they have had a lot of features to them ranging from
backgrounds, drivers and cars with plenty of features within those features. This page went
through the correct way to organise your layers and they can be organised by colour, type or
imagery.
• The second page goes through something similar. However, this page shows that sometimes more
is worse. It explains how if you think something is missing from your project, maybe the direction
you are taking the page is the wrong direction and you should go back to square one and take it
down a different direction and it will come out better. This is something I definitely need to take
into consideration with my FMP as I am creating an exhibition of motorsport edits which focuses
on aesthetic features with multiple area design. I will look at my designs when I think something
is missing and see if I'm taking the wrong approach
Peter Dawson, (2019), Graphic Design Rules,
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Graphic_Design_Rules/mKHMDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

12. Book Theories

13. Book Theories – Graphic Design
• This book goes through in depth techniques of graphic design. The book goes
through simple theories such as lines, symmetry and rhythm and pacing.
• The first page goes through the use of planes, it explains what planes are.
However, the information I have gathered has helped me a lot in certain ideas for
my edits. I will use the concept of planes in my merchandise and exhibition
branding. These planes will help my exhibition stand out and have its own unique
style that I need to have. Learning a lot from Stefan Stagmeister, learning that the
way to stand out is obviously to have your own unique style. Looking at this page
has helped my branding for my exhibition and merchandise.
• The second page has the same influence as the first page. The second page goes
through the use of Bezier Curves. Looking at how these curves are used and
combining them with planes, I can create some really good branding and
merchandise for my exhibition for my FMP
Ellen Lupton, (2008), Graphic Design: The New Basics,
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Graphic_Design/Zae0jhF_-fMC?hl=en&gbpv=0