I like that route. It’s also in line with the style in Nadia’s examples, and we’d get material with full copyrights on our side, so we can publish it under an open source licence if we want to (as per the contract with Lorenzo). It still depends on a bright idea on the designer’s side to transport the solarpunk theme with this style of illustration, but that should be possible to some degree.
A futuristically looking stock image would not be taken seriously for The Reef materials, I think. I prefer an illustration for this.
For the Sci-Fi Economics Lab it could be different since that is clearly utopian already. @alberto’s call to make I’d say.
That was confusing at first but now I think he says: a minimal illustration (shown left and right in the mockup) can be done as part of our contract. A bespoke illustration (center in the mockup) is way beyond the scope of this contract and would cost upwards of 2k GBP. @ilara is that what you discussed? (Just make sure we don’t misunderstand our designer and get into budget related discussions in the end.)
As for the “works of solarpunk” art, I have to agree with Lorenzo that you can’t get that for our budget in Europe. The most polished works that Alberto showed as examples are all detailed, photorealistic 3D renderings, and that is a ton of work. I use this kind of 3D software (Blender) every now and then … so I think I have an idea about the amount of work. For this one for example, my guess is that 3000 GBP would not be enough at European rates:
I will of course be really cool to have a solarpunk 3D rendering for The Reef materials. But the way to get to that with limited money is different and more medium-term than a fast-turnaround design by a professional designer in Europe.
Off-topic: how to get to our own solarpunk renderings
We would provide some 3D raw data (3D scans / photogrammetry) of a candidate building to my favourite Indonesian 3D studio, and ask them to transform it into a solarpunk styled building. We’d get the 3D model (which is no problem with these guys them, I did that kind of deal with them before) and with that model we can do our own 3D illustrations, as many as we like and from any angle. In a second step (with some more budget) we’d ask another 3D designer overseas to provide proper textures and background objects into that model. Over time we can build a little solarpunk 3D world from that model, which then provides the material for all our illustrations. And publish it open source, to fix that absence of open source solarpunk design materials that I noticed when looking for that a few months back. But as you see, all this is definitely more of a medium-term task.
Also, big difference, we can put whatever we want (limited to already said restraints of time+budget+feasibility) in an illustration. A stock photo is croppable but not modifiable (no weird Photoshop accepted, nor by me, nor by Lorenzo). And we also want to think about all supports we could use this illustration on: a stock photo on a tshirt? No, thanks.
The picture in the center of the mockup is a stock photo that he cropped and put some copy on. He can do that, if we buy a stock photo that we like - the good ones are quite expensive though and the nice cheaper ones are those everybody buy - but then we come back to the previous point: not modifiable, not on every support, etc. What he says is that asking him to reproduce a 3D picture like the one in the center with our own wishlist about The Reef is impossible: he’s not a 3D graphic designer, it takes a lot of time and work, much more money.
So, to sum up: I’ll say to Lorenzo that we would have the illustration, minimalistic style. Also, I’ll give him some keywords to stick to:
community
nature-dominated
techno-positive
futuristic
pleasant
solarpunk-y
city integrated
geodetic + round shapes
Plus, colours: as in solarpunk style, I’ll tell him to use mainly blue, green, grey (metal) and brown.
I come back to you with a more accurate brief about The Reef.
We decided to have the illustration, minimalistic style. Also, here are some keywords to stick to:
community
Since it’s a co-housing + co-working aiming to be carbon neutral or maybe positive, a focus is to represent multiplicity. People of different kind are the desirable inhabitants of The Reef. This could be represented as 3+ hands (following the first sketch you sent us) or in the way you prefer. Please, keep in mind diversity (ethnicity, gender, ability, …).
nature-dominated
The Reef wants to grow nature in and outside of it. Lush flora is a must.
techno-positive
We imagine a world where technology is a tool for a better living, not for oppression, control or addiction.
Communal living can easily be stressful. Our way of imagining it is a pleasant balance between privacy and social relations, where people try to have a positive impact one on the other.
The Reef, as the thing it takes the name from, is not an island (well, you know what I mean ). It’s integrated in the ecosystem around it. So, the city of Brussels has to be represented in some way - as skyline around The Reef, using Bxl typical architectural elements as part of The Reef (windows or roofs), you name it.
geodetic + round shapes
As you did in your first sketch, geodetic elements and round shapes are required. Also, please let The Reef have some strange shape using these elements. It has to be a house, but not a classic one.
Colours: as in solarpunk style, please use mainly blue, green, grey (metal) and brown. Other colours can be used in small details.
If you need any informations, please don’t hesitate to call me.
If you have decided, this is no longer needed, but I accidentally found a Belgian photographer that puts landscapes (leaves etc.) on the skin of people. It is very suggestive of man-nature harmony.
we have our second visual. I must say, I think he got the spirit
Remember: this is a SKETCH, we will have a proper illustration in a few days. For this reason, we must give him confirmation ASAP to start to work on the different deliverables. Deadline is 10th October.
Here you can see the complete image.
Here he highlighted our requests.
Here are different framing for the different possible formats.
Yes, in my mind that’s suitable But since I’m not gonna live in The Reef, I defer judgment to the others. For the website that I’m doing, there’s no reason against this sketch. It would do the job well.
). It’s integrated in the ecosystem around it. So, the city of Brussels has to be represented in some way - as skyline around The Reef, using Bxl typical architectural elements as part of The Reef (windows or roofs), you name it.
But since I’m not gonna live in The Reef, I defer judgment to the others. For the website that I’m doing, there’s no reason against this sketch. It would do the job well.