OUGUD503: PROJECT REPORT

OUGD503: MODUEL EVALUATION

The responsive module has been a new and challenging experience, as a designer I have been able to challenge myself by working in a multitude of graphic design areas that has helped me expand my skills and knowledge. Working with clients and  keeping up with deadlines has been a challenging but successful process throughout the module and I felt that it has allowed me to grow as designer. Entering international competitions has been a really exciting prospect as this is  something I have never done before and getting work out to people outside of university. The responsive module has given me a glimpse into what life could possibly be like after graduation and also has built my awareness on the importance of reading briefs and meeting their requirements.

Throughout the module I have identified my areas of strength which are based around branding and identity and editorial and layout. From the people I have worked with and my final design outcomes the majority of work I have done has been based within these fields of design. I also think I have developed my crafting skills in this module and found other strengths that I can capitalise on in the future such as packaging and promotion and digital design such as apps and blogs. Something I have also realised during the course of this module is the selection of briefs I have chosen, which are down to what my personal interests are, who I am as a person and what inspires me. I have chosen a lot of music and fashion based briefs which are industries I would like to work in, in the future and hopefully work my way up to an art direction role.

In this module I think I have really excelled in regards to collaborating with other creatives. I have worked with people on my course, in other courses, universities and other professional fields such as make up artists, business owners, poets, musicians, events management companies, models and videographers. In doing this I think it has broadened my brief outcomes and has really benefited me as a designer in making future contacts to work with. I have also really enjoyed working with a multitude of different creatives because they have a different perspective on things compared to myself and have opened my eyes to new ways of design or have taught me some invaluable skills.

In doing these briefs I have also been able to identify the areas I need to work on for improvement, some of the briefs I have done, I felt I could have done more in-depth research into more contemporary design and target audience information. However the majority of work that I had received from clients, they had already proposed what they wanted specifically. I think by me not doing this some of my design work could have been pushed further.

I also think another area of improvement for me is to make sure I am meeting the briefs requirements, in regards to the secret 7 briefs I felt that I definitely could have pushed my concepts further and made stronger designs for the exhibition, but with balancing all of my other work I found my concepts very quickly and ran with them. On the other hand with the Oasis brief I really pushed my concepts and wanted to create something that was quite challenging and different to what anyone else would think of creating. I think in both of these briefs I have learnt not to over work myself but also not to under work myself, and this is something that I am learning as a designer and trying to find a good balance between the two. With these areas of improvement now brought to my attention I think this will definitely help me develop as a designer when it comes to concepts and time management and this will be an on-going investigation during my time on this course.

Overall the responsive module has been a big learning experience for myself not only as a designer but also as an individual. I have learnt about the importance of being weary on who you work with because they can’t always be reliable. I’ve learnt that you can’t always design things that you like and that there has to be a balance between yourself and your client. I have also learnt that you should only take on projects that you can handle and make sure you design them to the best of your ability, and most of all I have learnt that I need to be more positive about myself as a designer. I felt that I have achieved a lot of things and learnt a lot of lessons in these 9 briefs I have chosen and will continue to keep up my hard work.

OUGD503: PRESENTATION BOARDS

Asos Presentation

Asos Individual

Oasis

Typographic Poetry

Secret"7 : Black Sabbath

Acoustic Avenue

Secret"7 : Lorde

Noir Clothing

Yoke - Dialogue Exhibition

Open Doors Magazine

ACOUSTIC AVENUE: EVALUATION

Acoustic Avenue is a charity event sponsored by the Teenage Cancer Trust, in Leeds at the Unit One bar. The event was described as chilled, acoustic, engaging and relaxed. The brief required me to create a single sided A6 flyer that would promote the event and to be distributed by the events management course at Leeds Met. 

The process of creating the Acoustic Avenue flyer was quite challenging, as it had a very short deadline which pushed me to find a concept, develop my idea's in a productive way and fulfil the clients needs. Despite the quick turn around I really enjoyed the brief as it's within the music field which I am really interesting in working with in the future.

The client was also really pleased with the outcome of the work and I will be working with them again for future events in the summer.

ACOUSTIC AVENUE: FINAL

The final design of the flyer will not be printed until May so I decided to mock up the design into a template to show how it will look in context.

ACOUSTIC AVENUE: EVENT FLYER DEVELOPMENT

From my initial sketches I chose one style to go ahead with and develop even further digitally.

I started to mock up the flyer, beginning with creating a grid so I could mock up were the type and image could be placed. I also created text an image boxes as a guide.

From these designs I felt that image was too pixilated so I looked for another image to experiment with further and play around with the layout of the type to see the range out outcomes.

From these designs I thought this one worked the best, in regards to heirachy of type and image. 

However I thought I would experiment with another image just to see the out come of that.

For the design I used the tones within the image for the colour scheme to give an overall warm and inviting feel. I also used Baron Neue and Lane Narrow for header and body copy for the design.

From my developments I sent them all to the client to ask if they wanted any changes, alterations ect. and they were really happy with the work I had produced for them. However after some further research I expressed tot he client that Jimi Hendrix isn't an acoustic artist and the image of the artist would have to be changed. 

I experimented with the another artist Johnny Cash who plays Acoustic guitar, and still using the final layout from the last design I simply altered the images with overlays to get a range of outcomes. I chose to include a blue to the design as it has connotations of relaxation and calmness which is the emotions expressed when listening to Acoustic music.

I sent over the designs to the client and with a few minor changes this design was chosen as the final one.

ACOUSTIC AVENUE: INTIAL IDEA'S

To start my work I decided to brainstorm into the the word Acoustic and see what idea's I could produce from this.

The word that stood out to me most and what I could work with creatively was guitar. However I felt that a guitar was quite a generic idea for an acoustic night, so I decided to think about iconic people that played the guitar and how I could portray this. 

From my research I felt that Jimi Hendrix would be the perfect person to feature on the flyer, as he is an icon in the music world, is worshiped by a lot of music artists and fans and has a cool sense of style.

For the brief I decided to research further into flyer designs to get an idea of what I could do and from that research I found a lot of layout inspiration. With these in mind I create a collection of thumbnail designs for me to develop further digitally.

From my thumbnails I decided to take this design further to develop and see how that would work digitally.

ACOUSTIC AVENUE: BREIF RE-WRITE

A copy of the brief re-written as a guideline for me to follow by.

ACOUSTIC AVENUE: BRIEF

One of my friends who does Entertainment management and promotion at Leeds Met University, asked me to create a flyer for a night even called "Acoustic Avenue".

She sent me a press release about the event so I could get an idea of what the event was about and could generate some creative ideas form that.

I chose to take on this brief as i have an interest in music and events design so I felt this would be a perfect opportunity to get more work out there and potentially make even more contacts in that side of the industry. Also my work will be mass produced for people to interact with which is an exciting prospect.

Press Release

Acoustic Avenue

Unit One presents Acoustic Avenue, an acoustic night with a chilled atmosphere with live music and cheap drink deals. This will be a charity event featuring up and coming artists showcasing their undiscovered talents. With a chance to win a bottle of wine, free meal and other goodies in our raffle. Entry is free and a complimentary shot will be provided on the door.

Unit One is Opal and Concept places number one pre drink bar. Great drink deals with 2-4-1 cocktails, double sprit mixers for £2.50 and pints priced at £2.25. It’s a great location that’s 5 minutes away from the city center, making it easily accessible to town so you can carry on your night out.

Unit one has a spacious, lively welcoming atmosphere.

Introducing a cosmopolitan vibe that successfully juxtaposes cheap student deals, a combination that surely is a rarity in the Leeds scene.

The acts will start performing at 8pm onto 11pm, but the venue will be open earlier and close around midnight.

The staff is friendly and welcoming, and there are plenty of seats and tables available, So if you fancy a good night with a chilled atmosphere with great live music, get yourselves down to Unit One on  Friday the 2^nd of May.   

Client Requirements

• A5-A6 Flyer
• Include charity and location
• Deadline of 1st April

The client requirements were very brief which gave me the option to do what I could interpret from the information. I felt that this was something that would be quite hard as I didn't really know what kind of style to go for. However due to the night being an Acoustic event I decided that my research could help me think of something.

YCN OASIS: EVALUATION

The YCN Oasis brief has been a bit of challenge in regards to finding a focused concept and attempting to execute my designs. I have come across a lot of obstacles along the way with foiling, laser cut and types of typography to use. However I felt that I did balance my time quite well with the other briefs and modules I had to do alongside it.

At points in the brief I felt I focused more on the crafting element rather than were it can be distributed which was a main point in the brief which I should have took a closer look at. I felt if I did this I would feel more confident with what I had produced.

I felt that the brief did provide a scope and breadth of possible outcomes and ranges I could propose and I think I did this successfully despite the trouble I faced in completely finishing them. I'm glad that I attempted to work out of the digital realm and took on a more hands on approach which challenged myself as a designer.

I think I did make a few unrealistic time sheets and idea's in regards to the brief, but I have learnt form this and will be sure to make more time for me to finish certain aspects of designs or choose specific ways to execute designs. I also believe that if I have a big design idea I have to be realistic in the time I have to complete it!

In regards to identifying the problem for the brief I think I did this successfully, a strong skill of mine apart from design is writing creatively so I felt this was the perfect brief for me and I felt that the messages I created were fun, girly and spoke to the Oasis customer which the brief asked for.

The challenge I had in the brief was evidently the practice of printing processes and not only have I gained a new skill in beading but I have learnt about little things in order to make sure I don't make the same mistakes again.

The presentation of work was not clear on the brief how it should be presented so I used design boards as a way of communicating my idea's. I felt form the sessions with fred I created boards with impact but still were easy to understand and be interested in.

If I have learnt anything from this brief it was to think before you plan, and the reality of time scale with what else I have going on. I defiantly bit more off than I could chew and was slightly implosive. But I am proud of the work I have created and feel confident and knowledgable for when I enter future competition briefs.

YOKE: EXHIBITION PREVIEW NIGHT

Today I went to the Yoke exhibition curated by Eve and Nathan, The exhibition was really good and was nice to see everyones work who had contributed to the exhibition. It was also interesting to see how everyones designs had been mixed together to make new images.

This is the first time I have had my work featured in and exhibition and had really pushed my interest in screen printing and exhibition design.

(my work)

(my work)

(my work)

(my work)

This is something I will definitely consider doing in the third year as part of my module.

YCN OASIS: SUBMISSION

The submission process for YCN was really straight forward, I followed the processes that are listed below through my images and also received a confirmation email after the process.

I submitted my work a day before the official deadline and felt really relieved after it was finished!

YCN OASIS: PRESENTATION BAORDS

YCN OASIS: MOCK UPS

After choosing my final designs I then decided to create digital mocks ups of how the message would work in context. I categorised the 9 messages in 3 sections which are displayed below.

Online Messages:

For my online messages I experimented with some look book shots that Oasis have previously used. I wanted the designs to look similar to Oasis brand and felt that by using these images it would be appropriate. I used a grid and started applying my designs and images until I made a cohesive set for the online mock ups.

- Final Outcomes

I was really pleased with these designs and felt the represented the Oasis style successfully. If I had more time I would have liked to have used my own photography for the brief.

In store messages:

From my primary research I tried t collect as many in store images I could and used some ones I also found the internet. I found this process quite hard trying to make it look professional as the images had a lot of objects that where hard to remove in photoshop.

However I think I made the message clear in which way the could be presented in store in a clear and successful way.

In store accessories:

The inshore accessories such as frames and billboard were also quite hard to mock up due the angles in which they were positioned.

However with the images I sourced i felt I mocked up the designs to best of my ability and the skills I have in photoshop.

With the mock ups completed I then had to focus on my presentation boards and how I could make them interesting.