Evaluation & Statement of Intent

"A print based investigation of type and image with a focus on promotion and publicity material"


I feel OUGD301 has been the most enjoyable module of the course so far. I liked the fact that we could choose our own briefs and have the flexibility to do a mixture of long and short briefs. At the start of this module I was very indecisive and therefore my briefs changed a lot, and I also felt I was spending too long on them, I feel that towards the end of the module was when I began to produce work I preferred, and I seemed to be more on track. I feel after this module I have gained a better working frame of mind, and hopefully for the next module I will know how to approach a brief. I have also discovered, that I definitely prefer shorter briefs, I feel I work better quickly, I tend to lag a bit when working on a brief for a long time, it becomes a bit samey to me and probably to everyone else.

For my next briefs I want to set myself stricter guidelines, one of the problems I had with some of my previous briefs was that they were so vague, it took me about 3-4 weeks of churning out design work, only then did I have a written brief that I could design from! I also want to set myself small briefs with deadlines that I have to try and stick to, as well as proposing possible deliverables for the brief before I have started. Most of the time with my briefs, I think of one finished element of the brief before I have even started, so throughout it, design work and deliverables change and develop, although this is inevitable with all briefs, sometimes it's a bit extreme in my case due to my lack of decision making at the start.

Brief 1 - magazine covers for g2
This brief has probably changed the most, it started off as a photography and type based design, producing covers for LIFE magazine, it then changed to producing covers for g2 using a variety of styles/media and for a variety of topics. These were all scratched due to vagueness and the fact they weren't narrow enough. Once I finally established the brief, it was an interesting one. I hadn't thought myself as producing patterns from vector images, but I found myself working with clean cut, one colour design. I am happy with how the covers have turned out, the frustrating thing is that they didn't take me that long and the deliverables could suggest it was a short brief, however it was the development and the changing of the briefs that took too long to overcome. Be more assertive and strict at the start of a brief.

Brief 2 - Book jackets
The surprising thing about how this brief developed was again, the design direction. It started off as an illustrative based brief, I painted/drew designs/aspects for the covers but they didn't work so I tried another approach, using type and one vector image, this initial idea didn't work but I began to develop a design from this idea. It was looking at the work of David Pearson that inspired me, I loved the patterns he had done for his covers, and really wanted to produce some covers similar to that style. I enjoyed coming up with patterns that could relate to the story, and also the layout of the book covers was a new experience that I felt was challenging but in the end rewarding. This brief also expanded in terms of deliverables, it's the most substantial brief I have produced this module, I am happy with the deliverables, however some areas could've been worked on further (packaging, window display). The same thing happened again as did with Brief 1, in the sense that it took me a while to get to a design direction, so then everything that happened after that was a little rushed. I am pleased with my covers though and the other deliverables, I enjoyed producing design for book covers, the aspect of working towards a story and also layering type over image. Be more decisive.

Brief 3 - National Portrait Gallery
I thought of the design direction before I had started the brief, which was a nice change. I wanted to work with blurred photography and type. The brief commenced as just being promotional for the National Portrait Gallery through a set of posters, however it developed into becoming a specific exhibition which I came up with - Iconic. I also produced a booklet, ticket and leaflet for Iconic that related to the style of the posters. I felt my real challenge and my focus with this brief was type and layout. I wanted to produce something really crisp and neat, I have become interested in type and layout throughout this module and have begun to appreciate it a lot more. I am pleased with my final deliverables for this brief. If I could something it would be that my booklet look more professional. I printed it in Digital onto thin matt, but it's all scratched and marked which is disappointing. A few of my pieces look a bit dodgy as well, that's something I need to work on, I'm bad at making things, they never look professional. All in all a successful brief regarding outcomes, I could've developed it a lot more but I felt it was time to put it to bed. Spend more time making work so it looks professional.

Brief 4 - YCN - Heinz Salad Cream
My competition brief. This brief came together quickly, I had a few initial ideas which I started to work on, however, I thought of an idea, and once put to paper, felt it really worked. It was nice for a concept/design direction to be established early on. I felt this brief wasn't rushed towards the end, I wanted it to be a fairly short brief, so it wasn't that intense. However I managed to explore three areas of the concept, posters, mail outs and product design. Hopefully it works and the concept is clear, after asking colleagues, and getting initial positive feedback from Fred and Joe I feel the brief went well. Surprisingly again, my direction was type driven, clearly I have gained a lot more appreciation for type and layout over this module. However, I could've thought more about deliverables and how the brief could've been expanded. Think thoroughly about deliverables and how the brief can be expanded for effectiveness.

Brief 5 - Elliott M
This started off as a short live brief for my cousin, I wasn't actually going to put in on my blog. However when it became a brief for myself I decided that I had been spending time on it, and that it had potential so I wanted to take it further. I really like where the brief has gone, I feel I was a little out of my comfort zone when designing for a Drum and Bass artist, but once again using a pattern/shape with a purpose, seemed to work for me. The brief started off as a chance to design a few album covers, however it developed into producing more of an identity for Elliott M, I enjoyed this aspect. I liked imagining how the artist could be recognised in public. The LP covers were interesting to produce, and I felt this brief was a chance to push the boat out a little. Most of the deliverables are mock ups,  and surprisingly I enjoyed coming up with products/merchandise to support Elliott M (an area I wouldn't have put myself in). Unfortunately this brief started to really kick off towards the end, I started to think about design inside gig space, and possible products for Elliott M, gig related or just merchandise. I managed to produce some mock ups of these however, I feel my development of these is a bit slack, I could've done so much more with this brief, but didn't have time. Know when to finish a brief, deciding which elements are the most appropriate and then exhausting those.

Brief 6 - Little White Lies
A very very short brief, I wanted to spend under a day on a brief, just to do some quick design work and have another deliverable for this module and portfolio. I felt the D&AD Little White Lies brief was perfect, there were strict guidelines for the brief, and examples I could work from. I also really wanted to work with film. I wanted to produce something that was a little different from the typical LWL magazine, however I stuck to there guidelines. I worked from a main character from the film, kept it illustrative and also used their template. I used bright colours to that the magazine would stand out among others on a shelf (I feel this is what LWL aim to do). I like my final design for this and it was a relief to had a quick, bash out brief I really got stuck into it. However, would it have been useful to try out other ideas before going with one? Always do alternatives to seek out a favourite.

Brief 7 - Flicks Film Magazines
Another short brief, I learnt from my mistakes from previous briefs and set myself some specific guidelines. I wanted to work with film stills, a certain film for each cover (film year 2011), and a layout that worked across all of the magazines. Once I had found the appropriate images, logo design, name, layout etc.. I felt I had finished it. However it was decided that the designs weren't flexible enough to work for any image/film. I decided that the title logo could be in any colour, as long as it worked well placed over the image, or worked alongside the film's story. I also had the main film, featured outside of the other's text box, and had it in appropriate typeface to the film. I really like these, and I feel I definitely work towards quick briefs, with a strong concept/design direction already established. I also really like working with film. However, for this brief and others I felt I didn't execute them well on my boards? Should they have been photographed in context, e/g wrapped around a magazine? Always demonstrate products within their appropriate context to help execute your design.

Briefs - in a pdf!

Elliott m - finishing touches,

VINYL LABEL

My final crit feedback stated how I could include a label for the vinyl, I had forgotten about this element so have done some variations of possible labels:

I prefer the label when in block colour with black text, I think it's simple enough that the logo shape and colour stand out as being recognisable enough. The label fits proportionately on the LP and won't overlap any of the track space.

Here are the five labels I think work best for the albums, they layout is quite simple because I want the shape of the label and the colour to be the main aspect of the design.

I also thought more about the stickers/stamps and other merchandise that would support Elliott M's gigs.

UV UV UV UV UV UV

I thought about how the stamps, stickers or bracelets that are in the shape of Elliott m's symbol could work under UV lighting, therefore the specific colours/colour light up the environment.

(available in the five colours)

bracelets designed under the influence of the Elliot M symbol. Very simple but hopefully represent him.

creating moving/buzzing lights as the stamps glow and the audience dance/move

I briefly thought about inside the gig, and how Elliott m's symbol/logo could be behind his desk. 

I don't have time to develop these properly, I feel I could extend this brief into so much but I need to know what I wanted to focus on in the first place

 

**THESE WON'T BE ON MY BOARDS BECAUSE I HAVE SENT MY PDF TO JAMES 

I have sent a pdf to James  of two more boards for Elliott M to replace existing ones

G2 fold out posters,

These are the ones I have decided to go with,

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have printed these on black and white in the mac suites, so the stock isn't the correct stock. They would be printed onto A2 bulky newsprint, but due to size limitations and no more manual feed I just had to settle with A3 white paper. I also needed to print through the lasers so the foil blocking could work. 

I foil blocked the posters to give them a special sort of feel/look, they can also be printed in bulk so they could easily be mass produced. I have also proposed a recycled paper (bulky newsprint) to support the overall message of the articles, and ink levels are low. 

I want the poster to have a sense of speciality about it, so the receiver doesn't just ignore it/put it in the bin. 

Boards prep,

Starting boards!

ROUGHLY CONSIDERING CONTENTS (subject to change when producing)

 

FEEDBACK FROM BOARDS

Brief 2 - posters in context? where would they go in shop?

Propose ideas - what other elements could be involved in the whole reading experience?

Brief 3 - use photographs for better context

Brief 4 - put into context

Brief 5 - consider vinyl label design

*make sure all images are aligned perfectly

*colours and stock work well and putting products into context is effective

PLUS, markings/corrections onto boards, typos etc...

All in all, useful crit, found the corrections on my boards (typos etc) were very useful as you don't always spot them yourself!

Few issues about context I took into consideration, and I also considered the vinyl label for Elliott M brief. 

However some issues I feel it was too late in the day to start developing a new concept (mainly for book brief). 

My boards have been transferred into a pdf (took 35 minutes) and will be given to James early Monday morning!!

I made a few corrections to one of my Elliott M boards as well, 

Brief 1 - g2 magazine covers

Brief 2 - book covers

Brief 3 - National Portrait Gallery 

Brief 4 - YCN Heinz Salad Cream

Brief 5 - Elliott M 

Brief 6 - Little White Lies

Brief 7 - Flicks Film Magazines

Print today at 2

Printing,

YCN - portrait posters, 1 landscape (not to scale), 2 mail outs


Flicks magazine - printing, 4 or 5, onto matt or satin, probably matt

Final print off for book brief - page with mock up stickers and magnets. I am going to photograph these so they appear to be stickers and magnets, I'm not actually going to make them.

THIS WEEK'S PLAN:

Today I am finishing off Elliott M brief, and prepping for print.

Then I will either photograph today, or tomorrow (light might be better earlier than later in the day)

Then up until Thurs I am going to produce boards for all my briefs that I will take to crit

Elliott M - tees

Considering the range for my Elliott M brief, I thought about if there was to be a gig, or a series of gigs that focused on each single each time. I have thought about t shirts that Elliott could wear whilst dj-ing and also have them available to purchase as well as the lp covers.

Here are the designs I did, using the cover designs I did for the albums. I want them to link.

Experimenting with layout of design:

Design I liked, testing with other LP designs and on black:

I have also thought about the stamp that people get when they go in could be a stamp of the logo?

Another way to show that the person has paid could be giving them a sticker on entrance to the gig, 

Idea for sticker, the logo with appropriate colour, 

I want to keep the range quite simple, and also relevant. Seeing as this was supposed to be a short brief, a chance to design album covers, trying to style for something I wouldn't choose myself. I think the range I have chosen to do is relevant to the brief. 

I don't really want to do MORE posters in this module. 

YCN - heinz, finishing off

I need have decided not to add a scratchy effect to the image, I would rather print it onto a textured stock, off white colour, to give it the authentic, organic look.

The ones that communicate the best as with the tagline 'problem solved' is where there is food mixed into the word puzzle, I think this is because you can see that salad cream works with all the food featured in the post.

The wordsearch one, doesn't have any food in it, so it doesn't work as well, although, visually I think it's quite strong, and it is good to use for the mail out as a problem to be solved.

I have added 'missing ingredient?' to the top left corner, as the question, suggesting the problem then being solved!. However, I still need to communicate the idea that salad cream goes with a lot of things, 

^ adding food types within the wordsearch, people may spot the food within it. Would this be appropriate for the mail out though? Advertisements are supposed to be quick/direct. 

I'm not sure if you can see 'missing ingredient?' well enough, so I thought about having the '?' in green, does this look out of place? 

too much? I think it seems a bit too different from the other ones having the statement included? I think for the mini campaign my consistent tagline is 'problem solved.' I want the others to be self explanatory. Maybe I should just have the foods involved in the wordsearch and that be enough. 

Landscape posters, 

mail outs:

two variations for inside

cover:

Flicks -varied, related, series

Something that Joe and I discussed in my meeting was how I had established a layout/design that could run throughout the magazines, but hadn't yet taken it further where I could actually design the covers individually as well. Although I had manipulated the images, and changed them, they were the only things that changed throughout (other than the date, selected films). I needed to have more flexibility within the design.

If an image didn't sit well underneath the particular colour type than there needs to be the flexibility to change it.

This is why I want to change the colour of the typeface according to how well it sits with the image, I also want to have the main feature film, placed on the cover other than the spine. Hierarchy!

Here is a more revised cover for January:

I chose blue because it went well with the browns and blacks that existed in the image. I also tried using the same typeface as 'Flicks' for 'The King's Speech'. I overlapped it so create more a merge between the strip on the right and the image. 

Further experimentation, changing colour and different layout/concepts for cover feature:

I have decided to make the main title of each film, relate to the film in some way. I have looked at either their existing film posters to see what type of font was used, I have also thought about the film in general and how it can be communicated through type.
Each magazine issue also has a different colour for 'FLICKS', the colour relates to the film in some way, or sits nicely on top of the specific image that is on the cover.

Here are the 12 covers:

After mini chat with Joe,

Film Mags - layout is working, image is working. Work on unique layout of main title for each film mag, and also experiment with different colours for each film according to the colour of the image. Add appropriate contents (issue number, price, cover photo information)

Heinz - Idea is working well, which ones work best for advertisements and which one for mail out.

YCN - coming to an end,

green background or off white?

I NEED TO START FINISHING

I need to stop drifting around on briefs,

I have a print slot on Monday 2pm where I want to print off any remaining briefs, bits and bobs that need to be printed for them.

For this I must finish
- magazine covers
- ycn heinz salad cream, portrait poster & mail out (landscape and little card I will mock up)
- stickers&bookmarks (from book brief I missed out)

After my print slot I want to finish mocking up stuff. I will also photograph my products.

Tues till Thurs - PRODUCE BOARDS, printout black and white ready for crit !!

Flicks - spread's little details

I have gone back to looking at my design context, looking at existing magazines. Although I want mine to be original, I think it's important to see what existing film magazines are producing already.
I noticed on the Empire's cover there were little strikes/lines along the left hand side of the front page, I tried something similar on my cover

bottom left corner, bit of detail for the back

I thought that I could have these strikes on the spine of the magazine, however it needs to look right when you can only see it on the front cover, 

It looks alright, not sure if it works well with the style of the front. Are the stripes too random?

It seems a bit pointless when it's just a block colour, I may just have it so it's on the spine only