Peer Evaluation - Studio Brief 03

Evaluation

This being our first proper group project, I was unsure as to how to approach it at first. We suggested that each member of the team went away and researched into a different concept and that we would then come together at the end of the week and each pitch our own concept. This method allowed us to explore a number of possible avenues and avoiding just thinking of one and going with it straight away.

We then decided on which concept we would like, as a group, to take forward.This came as a result of each of us giving our own opinions as to what works best with each concept and then combining them into one.

We then had a small talk with Simon, who's main critique was that it was more of an idea and less of a concept. To build on it, we would have to have a much stronger sense of what we are trying to achieve. Something that came up in the talk that Simon liked the idea of was the concept of investment. From this, we then started brain storming about how we could make investment into a concept.

We came up with the idea that we would be asking the attendees of the exhibition to invest their time into the work on display. This then ties in with the idea of the Leeds Bank of Art.

We then had the task of distributing the work load evenly as the Easter holidays approached. We made a list of all the jobs that needed doing and then allocated each one to a team member based on skills and interests.

I had the task of producing ideas for wayfinding and other visuals that would bring the concept together. 

We had the idea to start a Google presentation. This allowed us all to edit our concept and final pitch at anytime and see what others had contributed. We all made sufficient effort over the three weeks we were away and so we had a strong enough concept to present on the Friday.

After the presentation, we evaluated our feedback from the tutors and third years that we then acted upon and altered within our presentation to then re-pitch the following week.

Unfortunately, our team and concept did not get picked however it was a learning experience into working within a team that I hadn't previously done.

Project Development

Sticker Pouch

To present my blogger stickers in a professional and engaging way I'll be exploring holders and pouches.

The idea is to enclose the stickers within a sleeve that will include useful tips and information about blogging.

The info will include how to make blogging less of a chore and more useful to the owner.

The engaging packaging will hopefully lead recipients to take an interest into my design and open it up to find the stickers enclosed.

Lotus CD Sleeve

A customised CD sleeve, inspired by a blooming lotus sleeve. The company is based in Singapore and so they have taken inspiration from their surroundings to dictate their branding and packaging.

Pamphlet

The stickers on there own do not actually teach the recipient anything, so I thought of attaching them to a small pamphlet.

The pamphlet will include tips and advice on how to make blogging less of a chore on the flip side.

I have designed a small A6 pamphlet that the sticker will then be attached to.

I have kept it this size for the reason that it would be cheap and quick to produce if they were to be distributed to 70 students within their starter packs. The small size means I can fit 2 pamphlets onto one A4 sheet, further reducing the cost of print. I couldn't print double sided as I am making slits in one side in order to hold the sticker.

I kept the colour scheme at orange and white to match the blogger logo. I have then used a two typefaces, one for the header and the other for the body text, that resemble text found on a video game. I've done this so that it looks computerised as well as being relatable to a younger audience. 

Both side with be printed so that I can then stick them back to back. I haven't printed double sided as the stickers will be attached using two slits situated in the corners of the dotted square. The two layers prevents the slits from coming through the other side.

Reflective Practice

Reflective Practice

The aim of studio brief 04 is to produce a design that communicates the advice I would give to level 4 students enrolling on the course next year.

Immediately, I began to come up with different bits of advice I could give...

- places to go out in the evenings e.g. restaurants, clubs, bars and pubs

- day activities for the weekends e.g. trampoline world

- Things to do with the course itself e.g. blogging, print room slots, inductions

Writing my own brief

We then had to write our own brief to inform our design decisions. 

Studio Brief

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Speaking From Experience

Undertake research into key information & past experiences that you think would be beneficial to anyone enrolling on the course next year.

Produce a graphic response that offers advice to first years.

Work with any appropriate media & format to ensure the advice you give is easy to understand and useful to the reader/viewer 

Produce a design that will be noticed and not ignored, Allow for the design to be mass produced easily and applied in noticeable spaces.

Background / Considerations

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Aim to explore a range of different aspects about the course and life in Leeds in general.

Think back to the time when you were starting out on the course, and think of the info and advice you would most like to receive. 

Mandatory Requirements

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Use the blank brief to define aims and intensions 

Take advantage of the processes and facilities available to me

Content should be appropriate to a level 4 student 

Cheap and efficient reproduction

Deliverables

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Design Boards

Resolved design solution

Rationale and evaluation

Blog posts

Blogging

I have decided to pursue the idea of blogging. 

Blogging is one aspect of the course that I have battled with throughout the year. My relationship with it started very badly as I did not see the point and thought of it as a really bad way of documenting my progress. In the past, I have kept sketch books which I was much more comfortable with using, and I hadn't used blogging before. My frustration grew as I saw blogging as just extra work I had to get out the way in order to enjoy any work I was interested in.

This is why I have decided to try and prevent this from happening to next years 4th years. 

My Aim

To create a fun and engaging character using the blogger logo. The character will be a clear representation of blogging and will be light hearted. This will hopefully change the 4th years opinion on blogging and make them stress less.

Idea

The Blog Monster

The blog monster is a fun character that will feature along side sayings such as 'feed me blogs' and 'don't leave me hungry!'

[image of drawings]

Feedback

I left a few sketches out in the studio along with my brief in order to get some feedback from my peers.

'I think it's slightly childish and needs more consideration of the target audience'

'the monster aspect is quite negative, maybe make him/her more friendly'

From the constructive criticisms, I gathered that my message needed to be more positive as well as take more consideration as to who the intended audience is.

I made some more sketches and produced a more friendly character with more sympathetic messages.  

My New Aim

My aim is to create a friendly and positive relationship between student and blogger from the get go. This would have been greatly useful to me at the beginning of the year. I now hate blogging slightly less but still am not a fan, however I feel that my experience with it could have been a better one from the beginning if I had had a good relationship with it.

I will be creating a character out of the blogger logo and combining it with positive, witty text.

As for format, I intend to create stickers. These will be handed out in the welcome packs and can be stuck anywhere from laptops to notebooks and even in their rooms.

Production

I've taken the existing blogger logo and combined it with classic cartoon character features. I have aimed to make it as friendly and approachable as I can whilst also adding elements that consider the age of target audience. One way I did this was to give the character a pair of trainers, typical of the audience and well recognised.

I then thought up a couple of humorous slogans to go with the character and on the sticker. Both were then applied to a circle shape to form the sticker design.

I stuck with the original colour orange from the blogger logo as a) it would be easily recognisable and b) its very vibrant and will be noticeable on a number of surfaces.

Stickers

I decided to produce stickers as part of my response in consideration of my target audience. The recipients of these will be freshers starting the course next year. They are popular amongst said age bracket and will therefore appeal to them and be noticed more than just text or imagery. The stickers can be applied in a number of places such as desks, laptops and notepads.

The idea behind the sticker is that it will be situated in places where it can motivate students to get blogging and get it done so that they don't fall behind.

Feedback

The general feedback of my stickers was that they were not age appropriate.More consideration into the target audience is needed as at the moment, they are a bit childish and would be suitable for a younger audience.

One comment mentions:

"Less child cartoon. consider not having a personified blog character? Just nicely designed blog stickers? more subtle maybe"

This feedback gave me the idea to scrap the character and design a new sticker that my target audience would be happy to stick on their laptops and desks.

I've taken the existing blogger logo and manipulated it to make it more interesting. I've kept the original orange colour and added some background shading.

I have prepared the stickers on an A3 sheet for printing this afternoon.

Book Binding

Introduction to Book Binding //

Saddle Stitch Binding

A very easy and affective method of book binding.

Simply make 3 holes along the seem of the book, Thread the needle through the three holes in sequence and finish by tying the thread in a double not on the inside.

Japanese Stab Binding

Again, a very simple binding technique. Make 5 marks in a piece of card and place your pages on top of this card. With a machine, drill the marks through to make holes. Then thread the string through in sequence and tie it up inside with a double not.

Accordion Binding

This technique involves gluing together a number of sheets folded in a V shape. The cover is made up of two separate pieces of, in this case, cardboard. The effect is that of an accordion as the pages splay out and unfold into a zig-zag shape.

Layout Excersise

Grid Layouts and Compositions

for my publication, it is important to consider all principles to ensure the design is informed and consistent.

I began with doing some quick thumbnail sketches of the different techniques and styles available that I can use to organise and compose the books content.

The different layouts can have different effects on how the information is interpreted by the reader. For example, formal newspapers use a strict grid system that displays information in an organised manor. This gives the text and imagery more importance and formality. However, with showbiz and tv magazines, the information is displayed in a much more haphazard, unorganised fashion. This is due to the less serious tone of voice and results in a slightly more engaging and exciting layout that appeals to a certain audience, different to that of the newspaper.

I then translated this onto my laptop and played around with the content of the publication. I experimented with paragraph shape and sizing as well as type setting.

As my book is all about being short and snappy, I wanted to make the paragraphs this way. One way to do this is to make them short and stumpy so that they are easily digested.

Similarly, with the drawings, I had to come up with a layout that suited each drawing and that would leave enough room around the edges to fit the extra info. I wanted to keep as much consistency between spreads as I could but problems arose with the shape of each drawing which meant that it had to be compromised.

Typesetting

typesetting is an important aspect of publication design as it controls things such as speed and comfort of the reader. The alignment of text is one way in which this is controlled, the readers eye must be taken from one line or paragraph to the next easily and comfortably. This will allow the reader to feel comfortable whilst reading as well as being able to digest information efficiently.

Chosen Exhibition Concept - LBA

Team 10 - Concept 

Leeds Bank of Art - ( LBA )

After exploring a range of different concept ideas, we came to the agreement that we would take forward the concept we labelled 'Leeds Bank of Art'

The concept aims to create an atmosphere similar to a bank throughout the exhibition experience. 

The name is a play on words with the college name and logo. This giving the exhibition branding a clear relationship with the college.

We used the Google Presentation app in order to produce our slides for the pitch. The app allowed all members of the team to contribute at any time, this allowed for a balance of work load and input throughout the team.

We decided to list all the aspects of the exhibition that we deemed important and unique. This included:

- The work is produced by level 4 & 5 LCA students

- All work is produced using traditional printing methods

- The brief is to produce money design and is consistent throughout

- The show is sponsored by First Direct

- The venue is a former bank

Our aim was then to approach each one of these aspects with the intention of using is within the concept.

For our original logo, we simply manipulated the existing college mosaic logo.

When we first presented our concept, the feedback we received included the fact that the college may have an issue with us using their logo in our designs. In order to use it, we would have to contact the college and ask them if it would be okay.

We didn't get round to contacting them, however we would have if our concept was chosen to taken forward.

For now, we designed an alternative logo that we would use instead.

The existing logo designs are shown below. We have changed the word college to 'bank' as well as changing the year established to the year of the exhibition.

We have used a limited colour palette of black, white and pink. These colours were inspired by the branding of both the college and of the sponsors First Direct.

One idea we had to distribute invites was to design bags full of invites, posters etc.

Above is the information we deemed important to communicate to anyone we want to attend the show. The date and location being the most important.

We wanted to incorporate the unique architecture of the building into the visuals of our concept. A team member produced patterns including the one above using traditional printing methods, this tying in with the unique aspect of analogue work within the show.

The promotional invites will look something like these...

The example on the left is our first attempt at invite design. The feedback outlined that the first direct logo was far too big and too much of a focus. The geometric pattern is too small at the top and needs to be more of a focal point. In general, the invites were too threatening and needed to lighten the tone. 

In response, we made some changes that included enlarging the pattern, taking away the first direct logo and generally making the invite more approachable.

The invite will be sent out to a number of different audiences including professionals in graphic designer and other creative industries, banks, tutors at the college etc.

So that the visuals of the concept are consistent and work together, I made some mock ups of how the wayfinding would introduce the geometric repeated pattern.

The example above is the pattern forming the number 4 which would indicate that the work beside it was from level 4 students.

The wayfinding would work well along side the exhibition pieces as it is produced using a traditional printing method.

The feedback we received concerning the wayfinding was that it was a bit flat and not exciting enough. If we were to carry this project on further, this would be an aspect of the visuals that we would work on and make more engaging and as a result add to the overall concept. 

Poster Design...

VIP Lanyards 

An idea we had concerning the VIP guests at the opening night was to make them known to us as students by giving them special lanyards to wear that would indicate that they're visiting professionals and as a result we could approach them and make conversation.

Further Promotional method

The poster below doesn't include any info about a date or a location, it is merely to heighten the awareness of the exhibition running up to the event date.

Feedback

An element of last years exhibition that we were told worked well was the feedback wall that was visible to the exhibition attendees.

At first, our idea was to create a mock ATM machine where you would insert your feedback written on a check. However the feedback we received mentioned that this takes away the element of the feedback being visible.

We tackled this by changing the ATM machine to just a pin up wall, keeping the idea of the checks as post-it notes.

Evaluation

This being our first proper group project, I was unsure as to how to approach it at first. We suggested that each member of the team went away and researched into a different concept and that we would then come together at the end of the week and each pitch our own concept. This method allowed us to explore a number of possible avenues and avoiding just thinking of one and going with it straight away.

We then decided on which concept we would like, as a group, to take forward.This came as a result of each of us giving our own opinions as to what works best with each concept and then combining them into one.

We then had a small talk with Simon, who's main critique was that it was more of an idea and less of a concept. To build on it, we would have to have a much stronger sense of what we are trying to achieve. Something that came up in the talk that Simon liked the idea of was the concept of investment. From this, we then started brain storming about how we could make investment into a concept.

We came up with the idea that we would be asking the attendees of the exhibition to invest their time into the work on display. This then ties in with the idea of the Leeds Bank of Art.

We then had the task of distributing the work load evenly as the Easter holidays approached. We made a list of all the jobs that needed doing and then allocated each one to a team member based on skills and interests.

I had the task of producing ideas for wayfinding and other visuals that would bring the concept together. 

We had the idea to start a Google presentation. This allowed us all to edit our concept and final pitch at anytime and see what others had contributed. We all made sufficient effort over the three weeks we were away and so we had a strong enough concept to present on the Friday.

After the presentation, we evaluated our feedback from the tutors and third years that we then acted upon and altered within our presentation to then re-pitch the following week.

Unfortunately, our team and concept did not get picked however it was a learning experience into working within a team that I hadn't previously done.