The first brief I took on for the module was to design the LCA annual Christmas card. I chose this brief for a number of reasons. Firstly, this project is very similar to tasks that are given to junior designers in graphic firms and studios and so was good industry practice. The deadline was also only 3 days after I had read the brief, previously I had never taken on a project that had to be completed in such a short amount of time and so it was a huge learning curve. The final reason was that my interests in design are leaning towards print and so this brief would play to my strengths.
As I was pushed for time, my research for this brief came solely from the internet. If I had more time, I would have visited stores etc for primary research, I would have also tried harder to get hold of previous Christmas cards produced by LCA in order to get a good idea of what they tend to go for. In the short amount of time I had, I managed to come up with three possible designs and informed my final design based on feedback. The outcome has a professional finish and, when presented to a group of peers, received positive feedback on the relevance to LCA as a college, the overall christmassy look and the representation of Graphic Design as a course. If I had more time during the production stage, I would have experimented with different stock, ensuring that I produced tester prints so I could have received more feedback and carried out further development.
The next smaller brief I took on was for Papyrus, a charity that helps young people having suicidal thoughts. The decision to take on this brief was informed by the fact that up until that point, I had only produced design work for myself. This brief was an opportunity to out my interests to one side and produce something for a real-world cause and to actually make a difference. Another reason was that I normally tend to stay away from illustrative briefs, however my intentions for the year are to broaden my skills and thought this was a good opportunity to do so.
I produced two final outcomes for this brief. One informed by research into the charity itself and one informed by my idea of ‘calm’ and illustrated in my own style. I approached the brief by trying to produce something appropriate for the brief and something that could potentially get chosen instead of producing something that I like or that follows my own interests. If I had more time during production, I would have developed my illustrations further as I felt they needed refining in terms of line weights etc.
In evaluation of both these short briefs, they were huge learning curves for some of the same reasons. I gave myself only a couple of days to complete my responses to both briefs and this meant that I had to completely rethink my approach. Normally, I would try to gather as much research as possible before producing any work. However, I did not have the luxury of time and so I had to be efficient and balance research with production. In all, I think that I adapted well to the time pressure however it is definitely something that I need to experience more in order to improve as it is something that will be important in the industry.
For my substantial brief, I chose the one set by Arjowiggins on the D&AD website. I chose to do this brief based on the fact that the aim was to champion the use of paper and this is an aspect of the design world that I am interested in and so I felt I could produce a strong solution. Unlike the shorter briefs, I had a lot more time with this project and so I approached it how I would normally. This involved extensive research in the form of primary and secondary. One way in which I adapted my approach was that research included looking at previous winners of D&AD awards to get an idea of what I was up against. In terms of processes, this was the brief where I learnt the least as I was able to stick to what I know and had the freedom to do things my own way. The final outcome met all the aims I set out to achieve. One of these aims was to take my idea one step further as, from research, I discovered that this is often what makes people win the award. I did this by producing a multi-media product and is something that I hope will get noticed.
The last of the briefs was for studio brief 02 and required the putting together of a team of creatives to then take on a live brief. I out myself forward for the adobe brief as it asked to produce a series of posters. At the time, I had just undergone research into poster design for another module and it quickly became something I am interested in. One issue with choosing this brief was that it became obvious that it was preferred by Graphic Designers which resulted in us forming a team of only designers. We overcame this by demonstrating that we are all unique designers with differing skills and interests.
The overall role I took was the project manager. I took charge of producing the contract and took control of meetings and staying up to date with one another. I let the other group members play to their strengths in terms of computer skills. This process has taught me that I enjoy the director side of group projects the most. It also taught me how important a role like a creative director is to ensure a group works coherently and smoothly whilst playing to peoples strengths.
Evaluating the module as a whole, it is definitely the one in which I have learnt the most, both about myself as a designer as well as Graphic Design as a discipline. It was a valuable experience entering live briefs that are set by real companies around the country as it gave my work more significance and is useful for when I leave University. One thing I will do differently next year is to be more selective when choosing briefs and to make sure my decisions are well informed. One mistake I made this year was choosing the Adobe brief as it turned out to be very restrictive and so I did not enjoy taking it on as much as the other briefs. This taught me to read through briefs thoroughly before choosing them.
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