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.