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Tuesday 23 April 2013

What is good? Issuu Document, 16 page research booklet



Peer review

Nice use of hexagon shape throughout layout! works well. I wouldn't put contents on front cover though (it's getting hard backed that's why the contents appears on the front cover).

Really interesting facts about bees/men. Good layout p4/5 with the layered boxes. Good use of white space.

Great use of own sourced imagery.

Pattern works well through.

Great design work and layout. Colour scheme works effectively for the content.

Honeycomb elements/ colour/ choice of type make this really strong.

Good consistent design throughout. Good use of colour.

Very cool topic, love the simplistic & layout. I (L) Bee.

Layout and whole look of publication is bang on! would obviously like to see it printed. Contents cut in half doesn't suit the rest of publication.

Nice layout and use of pattern throughout. Not too sure on contents and front cover.

With this feedback in mind I changed certain aspects of my design work, altering the contents page and moving certain elements of the work, this was because when I did a proof print of the research, some areas looked like they could be better aligned and positioned.

REFINED APPROACH





Following on from this review, I've decided to completely re-format my research booklet, so that it can be professionally printed by 'Blurb'. Initially I wanted to try various design options, incorporating laser cut sections into the front cover was a key idea, however due to mitigating circumstances I've been unable to follow this up.

Sunday 21 April 2013

OUGD 503 Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them:


Throughout this module I’ve learned to see myself as a designer rather than someone who uses their skills to just produce things that look good. The responsive module has taught me to control my design decisions. Instead of thinking of what would look better, I think ‘would it suit the client or contextual purpose?’, After assessing my outcomes it was clear that there had been a big shift in the way I was designing, I wanted to create outcomes that were solving problems, paying attention to their cultural and social contexts. For eample; ZoomRadar was an interactive weather website which I’d re-branded and brought up-to date to fit in with a contemporary culture. But I also looked at how I could do something different for the company, and that’s when I thought about introducing the QR Code scanner. I designed some advertisements that were subtle in their message but also eye-catching and mixed with interactivity would hopefully cause interest among consumers. I made it my mission to use personal photography that really captured the beauty of weather.

I've learnt to co-ordinate myself and respond to briefs in a managed and controlled time frame. I've proved to myself that a group collaboration can create ideas that will make you learn. I've developed my Screen-printing capabilities, extending and re-visiting knowledge about Fabric screens and heat presses. The module has pushed myself down different pathways and given me a more confident footing when it comes to venturing outside of university and using the available resources at Vernon street, In just my two visits there I learnt about letter-pressing, hydraulic pumps, various binding techniques, using a machine motored drill.

Obviously Time managements been vital during this module, a-swell as recognising how far I can push briefs. In order to take the most away from the OUGD503 module, I tried to incorporate a varied amount of briefs; entering competitions from 'YNC', Submitting designs to 'DesignCrowd', Creating T shirt designs for 'Threadless', Completing self initiated briefs, Responding to briefs received through my college email and also Entering the Penguin Design Awards.

This module has been invaluable in the sense that I've made decisions I didn't really think I would, subconsciously and consciously I've focused my attention around a large proportion of Branding & Identity. You could say I've almost found my footing as a designer.

In terms of technical competence and problem analysis, I’d say the group collaboration definately disciplined myself and Luke. It emphasised the fact that we’d have to comprimise ideas just as we had to do with our own. There came times when one of us would have afew ideas, and one would have one good idea, which meant that person had to put aside how much work they’d done and accept the better route despite their emotional input. Working alongside someone else definately benefits, not only did I learn various activities through Lukes design process but I also learned to manage my time and be present when I needed to be, being around one another certainly improved our workflow, it was almost a casual competition between myself and Luke, we were working to prove ourselves to each other and taking advantage of all the processes we could. Designing this way has helped me; Emboss/ Deboss, Bind documents together using professional techniques, photograph in a suitable environment among many other things.

2. What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process

My range of deliverables and concepts to a brief have broadened, usually I'd try and develop one concrete concept but this module has taught me to basically broaden my design ideas and start thinking outside of the box. It's always better to do more work, than do less work. More choice...More chance. Presenting our work has also been a big learning curve for this module, it was constantly noticed throughout all our crits and I'd definitely say I've become more aware of what submission boards should demonstrate, numbering each board, titling each & making sure they all follow a consistent layout so the only things that stand out are your products.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?


All in all the Responsive module has ignited my ambition to get my work out there in the public domain, its taught me how to value your market and also highlighted the importance of time management and workflow. Deadlines didn’t really become a big issue for me simply because I’d planned my time and knew what work I had to do first, but also because I knew what work I could afford to do at the time. However my management could of been better, If I hadn’t spent time screen printing certain projects, I could of turned my hand to actually coding a website instead of proposing digital scamps, Or even made sure all of my deliverables were photographed appropriately. But due to circumstances some of these things just weren’t possible but are certainly factors I still need to 
account for. Earlier rather than Later. The responsive module has also lead to further investigation and promoted another self initiated brief, which involves ‘website branding’ for a company based in the Lake District.

I really think my strengths came out during the collaborative process, because we both had different skill sets it became easier to recognise my strengths and capitalise on these, the most obvious of mine was my attention to detail. The same goes for Luke because we both ended up subconsciously taking up roles.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future ?

My knowledge of all the capabilities in Illustrator let me down during the collaborative process, I felt Luke's knowledge of certain aspects in illustrator overshadowed mine, but this was an easy weakness to solve, which I did, using the group collaboration as a chance to also better my skills.
Although the stress of deadlines didn't really get to me the slowly mounting of briefs eventually took their toll, although I'd managed my time, the workload was daunting, there were times when I just couldn't touch work and it was in these times that the stress of the module would show.

I really felt the only noticeable let down of all my work was the photography aspect. I didn't manage my time a swell as I could of during the last run up to the deadline, because of this  some of my presentational boards were let down by shoddy photography. I know in future I won't even use photographs if they're not shot in the correct environments.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Plan how I'll spend my time on each specific brief, noting down when I'll need print slots, photographic resources and a tutors input.

Be wary of competitions, just because someones offering money for what may seem like little work, it doesn't mean it's worth it. Websites such as 'DesignCrowd' are strongly influenced by ranking and earning, the judging is made by regular people and not professionals/ people with an appreciation of design.

Tell the client straight away what information I'm required so there's no input from the client as your nearing the finish of a design/ layout. Keeping a constant communication with your client seems like a good idea but at the same time could just be making your life harder than it needs to be!

Always approach Web design! I highly regret not coding a website, I'd spent a lot of time developing interfaces and understanding what could be possible for websites and none of the time putting the designs into context as you may say.

NEVER take photographs at home, the Tungsten lighting makes all of the photographs lose their sense of quality!

STAY ON TOP OF BLOGGING, because it was a responsive module I concentrated on actually responding to briefs rather than wasting large amount of times blogging, In the case of this module I would say blogging throughout would be a waste of time because during these periods you'd have the time to extend the amount of briefs you'd be doing. However despite this way of thinking, I created a huge workload for myself when it could of been avoided.

Attendance - 4

Punctuality  - 4

Motivation - 5

Commitment - 5

Quantity of work produced  - 5

Quality of work produced - 5

Contribution to the group -5

Fedrigoni, YCN, collaboration, Stephen Maher & Luke Rossiter


Saturday 20 April 2013

Tuesday 16 April 2013

YCN / Feel Good Drinks Co / Responsive



Douwe Egberts, YCN, The Instant Range


Hellfire, Leeds Brewery, Creative Networks / Responsive


Mark Webster, Photographer, Branding & Identity


Design Crowd - Zoomradar, Branding.


Self Initiated Brief, Holistic Therapist. FHT.


Ko/Za Law Group firm, Design Growd, Logo design


Puffin Design Awards, The Wind in the Willows / Responsive


Threadless, Design a Monster, Tee design


Fedrigoni, YCN, collaboration, Individual contribution...


Responsive / Ko/Za Law Group LLP

Although the logo below looks very striking, It doesn't really fit what I was going for because I'd developed a pattern to use on parts of the letterhead, folder and envelope, as well as the web applications. 






Responsive / Ko/Za Law Group LLP, Initial Development

All of the briefs and additional information can be found on my design context, supporting evidence for the development of ideas is supported on submitted design sheets.

Following on from these stages of investigation & generation, I had the idea to develop a design that would hopefully permeate all of the 3 requirements the law firm had proposed. 

Reliability
Forward-thinking
Problem Solving.


Design Development...





Investigation of potential typefaces;

Because it was a law firm I thought either classification of typefaces would suffice for research, a Sans Serif typeface would of looked more contemporary but a majority of Law Firms tend to use Serif typefaces, possibly because they permeate a theme of tradition and class. Using a Serif typeface might therefore be better in communicating the business nature of my logo.




I thought about developing a wax stamp for the identity of the business, incorporating a sense of professionalism heightened the fact that it was for a lawyers firm, due to the time constraints of looming deadlines I didn't have time to actually follow through with this idea but the emblem below displays the surface on which the logo would be placed. I'm keen to experiment with this approach 


As you can see the development of my designs went through numerous developments before it looked anything like my final outcome.


Monday 15 April 2013

Responsive / Mark Webster Photography / Extending the deliverables...

Throughout most of the branding I've tried to keep the appearance of orange at a consistent level. Although the other colour choices also worked quite well, I felt orange suited what Mark was looking for. It was eye-catching, bright, and you could've said the other colour choices were more 'fad' colours rather than a colour that would stand the test of time. Orange also emulates Power and suits Mark Webster's field of photography - thoughtful and sincere...

"Orange is a power colour, It also stimulates enthusiasm and creativity. Orange means vitality with endurance. People who like orange are usually thoughtful and sincere." 



The two designs below demonstrate how the Website for 'Mark Webster' could be applied across platforms, displaying how the layout would function (scroll down.)


In terms of the deliverables I wanted to demonstrate how the logo could be applied to almost every aspect of his identity. As an example I used some of my personal photography and applied the emblem, showing how successful it can sit on a photograph. Could be a USP if he were to apply this logo on the corner of all his photographs.



As a point of investigation I wanted to see if I could achieve a brighter, more natural looking colour through screen printing. Using neon inks and splashes of orange I began. As you can see from my samples that I've supplied, the end result wasn't very useful. It seems that the neon inks work better when they've got some form of colour to bounce off of. Instead the blocked areas which can be seen on the screen below! Became lost among the brightness of the yellow. The colour was attractive, but at the same time didn't really give me what I wanted.



The digital prints came out a lot more pronounced and clear but when they were compared to the screen printed business cards - you could clearly see the benefits of screen printing, the colours were so much more vivid and exciting.






I was quite disappointed with the reply I received but at the same time I was happy that he recognised the standard of my work. As an introduction into branding & identity, this brief has certainly helped me channel my skills and given me a better opportunity to fulfil my next briefs focused around branding & identity.



Responsive / Feel Good Drinks / Brief 1/2

One skill that has been highlighted for me is the ability to apply designs digitally onto different contexts,  Although I haven't mastered this procedure, the module has highlighted that I needed to improve my skills in this area.


As you can see the expressions and designs could be given a whole different personality by the simple switch of some of the features, In this case all I've done is flip the mouth upside down.

Through the developmental side of design I came up with the following...
I don't know what it was about this design but it looked as if the characters were floating through a liquid which then reminded me of an alcohol that contains shards of gold foiling, giving the impression that the alcohol was full of stars. With this in mind I planned to use the effect in a bus stop shelter, applying the concept of liquid and floatable parts to create a stunning visual of colour. Imagine waiting for a bus, and to your side was a panel full of Juice filled with moving and floating characters. The concept behind this idea would be that the juice is bursting with flavour, as you'd be able to tell by the expressions of the characters.


The screw-top lids, instead of using a plain aluminium lid, why not add a bit of fun & cheekiness to them, after all 'Feel Good' did think they were being too modest with their designs.


I've taken the three most popular and prevalent flavours and produced 3 different ranges, consisting of a still range, sparkling range & special edition range.


I really liked the contemporary feel of the bottles below, I thought it would be a less viable option for Feel Good due to the labelling process being different but I still thought it would be worth proposing the option as it shows a wider range of compositions and layouts. The vinyls would be complimented by the fizzing nature of the drinks.


I don't know what it was but I've always thought fresh juice should be opened in a can so you can hear the fresh burst of air escape, I designed this range of aluminium cans because I could see them being a very popular trend during summer.


Outdoor, urban environment advertising. Feel Good felt that there was a lot of people that didn't know about the brand or didn't know enough so I took it upon myself to put together a campaign that would showcase Feel Goods flavoursome side.



The shop floor decals would instantly attract attention, bright uses of colour and product positioning would lead consumers to their product quicker and more attractively.


Still running with outside campaigning, I thought it would of been an interesting idea to apply large (HQ) stickers to cracks in walls to achieve the effect below. This instantly gives the impression that Feel Good is bursting with flavour.


The target audience was very broad, ranging from 13 year olds - 34 year olds, yet most of their attractions were clearly aimed towards the younger people, using child like cartoons and simple imagery. This is when I had the idea to give their website a whole new look, I wanted it to appeal to their whole TMG, so I played on the fact that Feel Good really like simple design and gave their website a very contemporary, clean and healthy layout. Because the bottle designs were promoting happiness I thought it was necessary to make them the focal point. Adults could then enjoy the functional and contemporary side of the website, whereas children could appreciate the designs of the bottles and relate to their expressiveness.



These perspex characters could be used to form a projection, the perspex is slightly transparent and orange in colour.




Responsive / Feel Good Drinks / Brief 1

After a lot of research into the market of healthy drinks and 'feel good' designs, it was apparent that my illustrations had to offer something different from the simply, cute, emotive designs you often see on adverts such as Ribena. As a starting point I began constructing a shape for my label. I knew from my research during 'Hellfire' that bottle labels can take almost any shape and size. Given the wideness and height of the 'Feel Good' bottles already, I knew that I should create fruit shaped labels, this decision was based on my research in 'Design Context'.


The leaf was the instant signifier to the audience, telling them they're viewing a healthy fruit juice.
In order to get the proportions right I planned out where the leaf would fit perfectly without disrupting the structure of the design.




Appropriate colour schemes for leafs...




Applying gradients and textures initially gave my designs a sense of realism, the only problem was that this would make things more difficult if it came to getting the designs industrially printed. The colours could end up quite murky



I must admit I found it much more time efficient when it came to developing my illustrations on-screen, Usually a sketch would take hours to perfect, yet here I was using simply shapes to create my own cartoon. Once I'd got the basics of the characters face, I was able to quickly manipulate certain sections, giving the illustration a different personality and appearance.


In the assets of the brief I was provided with the existing label designs, this came in useful because I could use my designs on the current 'Feel Good' badges which can be seen in the image below.



From this point onwards, my main aim was to distinguish what type of bottle labels would be most suitable, I could incorporate clear labels that would almost disappear as your drink emptied. This would imply that that juice is full of happiness and flavour because when the bottles full...you can clearly see the happy expression on the label, but when it's emptied...the expression disappears.




Would using a border bring out the design more and make it more appealing? I think it would definitely serve a purpose of attraction but I really didn't want to ruin the look I was going for, In my opinion I think the border makes the logo look trapped and you lose the sense of attraction to the character and relate to the effect of the white border...could possibly work if they were all placed on top of one another, a blend of white and colour might turn out good?



Using the information provided in the brief I began ordering the information and making it work in relation to the shape of the label.


In the brief it states 'We're a fan of outdoor campaigns' Using the fruit in such a way gave way to a range of ideas that would be suitable for brief 2! As a starting point I began to pencil out a Point of Sale display but then thought...it's too normal and too boring! This is when I turned my ideas towards the urban environment. Where can advertisements be placed...where no one can ignore them? In the Public space! 

About Me

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Leeds College of Art. Graphic Design.
 

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