Brief 9: Secret 7 - Diana Ross - Verdict

My submission didn't make the cut for the exhibition, but I am still happy with what I have done and I enjoyed the project a lot so not to worry. There isn't anything that I would change about the project, and will most likely take part in it again next year! It is a great brief to do.

Brief 12: Yearbook - Floor Plan

As we had asked Duncan for the floor plan, he had mentioned in our meeting that he had an old hand drawn one. He emailed to say he got it

He gave it to us so that we could scan it in, and wow it's so interesting! It has a lot of character and would be a nice touch to have it in the book, to give it more personality and identity.

I scanned it in the Digital Dungeon where they have a big scanner. It wasn't actually big enough, but I managed to get most of it on, and did it in 4 sections.

He also emailed me to give me an electronic version of the floor plan and who sat there.

Brief 12: Yearbook - Layouts

Following the group meeting with Duncan, we decided to get some layouts sorted and figure out the size we want to do the book.

Me, Jordan and Joe did this together, and we felt that B5 was a good format to use. It's a bit different to what we are used to so makes it more interesting, and is a good size to hold since it is smaller than A4 and around A5 size.

We made a mockup on paper to get a better idea of the size and how big the images would be. We calculated a space for the margins since we would have to compensate some space for the screw binding

And then decided on layouts - with up to three images. Jordan made these on InDesign

We also realised we had some more questions for Evolution after doing this:

• Do they recommend 2 or 3 screws
• How big would the margin have to be because of the binding
• What kind of screws are available and do they have a supplier for them

Then I sent them over to Duncan, so he could send them to the Textiles group.

Brief 12: Yearbook - Evolution Print Talk

Evolution Print came in to discuss the ideas we had and whether or not they can do them, as well as what they have done in the past. Here are the notes that I took from it which are relevant to our project

• Can print on up to 450gsm
• They use Colourplan stock
• Binding options - perfect bind, screw band, full canadian, half canadian, wire, stitched
• Cheaper to print in sections of 8 and 16
• Also print in B formats
• Finishes - matt lamination, emboss, die cut

Brief 12: Yearbook - Meeting with Duncan

After we had all come up with ideas and a concept together, I arranged a meeting with Duncan so we could discuss them.

We spoke about our ideas for the concept, visual decisions and choices regarding stock and binding. We wanted to do this before we spoke to Evolution Print to see if we were on the right track and that they felt this fit in with their vision for the book.

Ideas

• The theme of the book could reference the fact they are a tribe
• Reference this in introduction
• The contents could be categorised by floor plan
• Contens would be blue print of floor plan
• Photos of their workspace could be shown 
• Infographics featured throughout showing how hard working they are and culture of course - how long they are in studio per day, how many plants etc
• A day in the life - diary of typical students day
• 3 layout variations - up to 3 pieces of work
• Binding with metal screws
• 96 pages
• 1 page per student
• Contact details on page - in small
• Cover image - piece of work

Feedback

Duncan and Emma (who co-runs 3rd year) gave us feedback on the ideas

• Cover image should be abstract, colourful, shapes, simple graphics
• Uncoated stock is preferred
• Rows of students consist of 4, 6 and 8 
• Day in the life - they will ask a few students to make a diary
• Not precious about the copy they provide - can be shortened
• Photography - we can organise a photographer to go around
• Class photo needs to be arranged in advance to get everyone there

Dates

After we discussed the ideas, we started thinking about dates to start getting things done. Since they have 60 students, we need to get content from them in advance.

Layouts 24/3 - create layout choices on same day to give students idea of what format their work needs to be in

Student work 3/4 - give them the date of next Friday to get work to us. This gives them a week and a half from receiving the layouts

Infographics - we sent Duncan an email of the info we wanted so we can start gathering data for this. This will take a while since there are so many students

Send to print - beginning of May - production takes two weeks, meaning we will have the books by the middle of May. Since our deadline is May 22, we wanted it ready for this so we can submit it for Extended Practice

We asked Duncan for:

• a floor plan
• a list of peoples names and where they sit
• copy for the book they want to include
• events/exhibitions
• infographic data

Brief 12: Yearbook - Printed Textiles Book

Switch to Textiles
Me, Jordan and Joe had said that if we didn't win the pitch for Graphic Design, we would go for Printed Textiles instead.

I wanted to design the yearbook for this course because

• I feel they are one of the only courses in the college I really value
• Their exhibition last year was amazing
• Their work is of such a high standard
• Creating layouts with their bright work would be fun

Meeting with Duncan
I had a meeting with Duncan, the head of the course, to go through with what they had in mind for the yearbook. Jordan and Joe were at an exhibition in London, so I took lots of notes so that they had all of the information as well.

Avoid:
Laura Ashley
Floral
Feminine
Glorified business cards
They are more than this

They refer to themselves as tribes
Have a pack mentality, a community
They are very proud of their course
They are protective of their space - don’t like strangers in it

The book needs to sell the space, the hard work ethic and the course itself rather than the people - the people will sell themselves. It needs to show the course as a collective, rather than individuals. Identity as a course/team

Page after page of peoples work can get quite repetitive and may as well just send people a business card - really emphasised the idea of showcasing the culture, course, work ethic etc.  

It needs to be relevant this time next year - so show a lot about what the course is about. Studio shots, quotes about the culture of the course etc

Looking through the previous yearbook, there was a full page with one piece of work on it and he said - you only needed a small portion of that to get the same idea across and if someone contacted them a few months later the student will have moved on by then and gone onto different seasons, designs etc
He’s given me a copy of the previous year book 

When at an interview, this yr book could be used to support and show the amount of hard work it is and the kind of space they are used to working in

The space is very creative, messy, full

Seen around the studio:
Posters with quotes, motivational speeches and slogans on them ('you can do it', 'life after uni’, etc)
A crying tally - they want to show how much blood, sweat and tears goes into the course to show to employers how hard working they are
Work is hung up creatively - through washing lines, masking tape, mood boards, different materials stuck up, lots of different imagery and compositions
Plants!
Busy, conversational, music playing (Blue was on when I was in there)
Mood boards were colour coded
Compositions were stuck up rather than singular pieces of work (he liked that)
It was like a hub of creativity, very very visual (definitely puts our studios to shame)

They don’t create cushions and curtains - they have wallpaper, cards, ceramics, materials, lots of different things that they do

Maybe have a few layouts and let them choose the one they think their work would fit in best

I showed him the idea of our metal screw binding for last pitch and he was open to that

It’s a quick turnaround, will have all of the content by the end of the month and was even saying we could all have a chat by the end of next week about what we want to do. 

Encouraged to go in and talk to the students, get a feel of their culture, but tell them ideas rather than ask them as there is a lot of them and won’t please everyone. Can go in and arrange photos etc - they will have promo shots by end of month he was saying. Can get more content if we need it

Summed Up

• Like graphic design, they value themselves highly and are very proud of their work and course
• To promote the culture, hard work ethic and course rather than individuals
• Avoid anything feminine
• Sell the course! 
• Something students can bring with them to interviews to support the fact they come from hard working background
• They refer to themselves as a tribe

They really want to sell the course as a collective and team, which I think is great! To show their identity as a whole will be lots of fun because their space is amazing. The way the students have made it their own and filled it with so much work is really inspiring and its clear to see how much effort that they put in.

Brief 15: IxAM Exhibition - Decision Not To Enter

I've created a plan of action for what I have left to do this year, and it is still quite long. I've decided that I am not going to take part in this project due to timing, as I would rather spend extra time on remaining projects than squeeze another project in.

It's a shame as I was looking forward to taking part in an exhibition, but it's best for me right now with the workload that I have.

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Evaluation

1.  What skills have you developed through this project and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Productiveness

Before this project I was going through a stage where I didn't know what project to do and I wasn't being productive at all. I knew that I needed to start something, and if it was going to be a YCN brief it had to be now since I was running out of time. Doing this brief got me back into the swing of things, and I worked so hard every day to make sure that I achieved everything that I wanted to. 

I created a plan and timeline, and had a really good way to manage my time. I started each day early, going to the gym to give me a fresh start to the day, prepped all my meals for the day so I didn't have to spend time making food, and used an app on my phone to block out social media so I couldn't get distracted (my downfall). I then just worked all day, but made sure I spent time to eat healthily and talk to housemates when I needed a break, and didn't go to bed too late. Having a plan of action helped me so I could see how much time I had for each part of the project and I could see whether I was sticking to it or not. I did spend more time on the ideas stage than I would have liked, but I was able to just move this around and alter it which still worked. 

Decision Making

This is my biggest weakness, but I managed to improve this skill during this project. I simply didn't have the time to procrastinate and worry about my choices, so I became better at making snap decisions when I had to.

Presentation Boards

I feel I have improved on my presentation board skills, as usually I worry so much about what to write on them but once I got going I found it came more quickly than usual. I also used things like drop shadows and annotations to get my point across further and humanise the way it looks which I think worked well for this brief.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

Sketches

I really wanted to get the navigation right for both the website and the app, and include the most relevant content. I feel like I would not have been able to do this without doing so many sketches and notes beforehand as it really helped me refine my ideas and see in front of me how it would work and what it would look like. Although they are only small sketches and probably aren't legible to other people, I know what I mean and they really helped to inform this part of the process for me. 

After Effects

I have used After Effects a few times now, and I was more confident this time round with what I wanted to achieve as I have done similar things before. I wanted to create an animation for the website and the app, which I was able to predict how long it would take me since I have done this before. It also took me less time, with each animation taking just a few hours. I find it quite therapeutic using After Effects as although it is quite fiddly I enjoy doing it and the outcome is rewarding.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

Digital Design

The main focus of the project was the website and the app I produced. Although I produced a lot for them to what I would say is a high standard, and really thought about the navigation, context and content for them, it didn't take me that long to produce. I definitely spent longer on the ideas and sketching stage than I did at the digital development stage. I think this is my strongest area of design, so I found it quite easy to create something that looked realistic in a short timescale, which is what I needed to do.

Working Hard

I started the project two weeks before the deadline, and I wanted to make it a substantial project which looked great for my portfolio and had a lot of thinking behind it. 

I wanted to create a website, app, environmental concept, poster designs, snapchat illustrations, x2 animations and a microsite within that timescale - all to a high standard which were competition worthy and were well thought out. I had lots of ideas for these, and spent a lot of time sketching and refining my ideas and designs before I went to the digital stage so that I could make it something realistic, that would work well in real life as well as be appropriate for the brand. 

I did everything that I set out to achieve within the timescale - aside from the microsite which I decided wasn't necessary, and still managed to submit it with plenty of time to spare on deadline day. I think this just shows that although I set myself a huge task and challenge, I really wanted to do it and I managed my time and dedicated myself to the project to reach my goal. I think this is important to be able to do in industry since I'll be working to really short time scales.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

Decision Making

My worst trait is being unsure and unable to make decisions. It's something I have always struggled with, and is something that I have found hard this year since we have to decide all of our own projects. Before I started this brief I was unsure whether to do this, the Propercorn brief or my own written brief. I spent so much time trying to think of what to do, and thinking of reasons why this project wouldn't work instead of just going for it sooner and seeing what I came up with. As since I started doing it, I loved it and wished I had spent more time on it - or at least finished earlier.

Too much emphasis on digital?

I don't know if this is a weakness or not, but I do do a lot of digital design and put a big emphasis on it. I feel like it was relevant with this brief, although I did also want to do a microsite which would have been four digital elements! I just really enjoy creating digital design, but I do feel I should branch out more to show I do have more skills than just that.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

• Have more confidence in making decisions - I wouldn't have started this project so late (two weeks beforehand) if I was more sure on picking projects and sticking with my decision. This would have given me more time to create an even bigger project or allowed me to submit and finish the project earlier.

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Submission

I submitted:

• Website Animation
• App Animation
• List of images (references to images I used)
• Website pages (so they can see them all - wouldn't fit on presentation boards fully)
• Presentation Boards

Here is my confirmation email:

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Presentation Boards

Here are the final boards that I submitted for YCN.

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Boards Development

I needed to submit presentation boards to YCN to explain my idea in as much detail as possible and show them the response I have created.

Board Content

I had already mocked up the app, snapchat and posters as I did them, and saved everything as a PNG ready for inputting into the presentation boards.

I started thinking about what I needed to include and a running order. I started with digital things first, and as these are the biggest part of the project it makes sense to open with them, then the outcomes for the live like a local campaign (posters/environmental)

• Title Page
• Website - home page; filter; search results; trip results; brochure
• App - log in/sign up; destination/explore; results x2; bucket list/trip list; trip overview/itinerary/price
• Snapchat - 3 examples
• Poster - mock up; two other examples
• Environmental

Boards Development

I started to develop the boards on InDesign.

I thought about having a blurred image as the background, and allowing the crisp designs to stand out against them

I then tried it in the style I have used throughout the project which I think looks more professional and easy to read

I added annotations in a hand rendered font to point out certain things that I wouldn't necessarily mention the written description. It works with their more laidback and conversational approach

I thought I could use this as the title page - however, I then decided to use a grey background and dark logo just like the animations I created.

I added more type to the description to include as much detail as poss, which I tried to do on every page to get my point across.

I used these drop shadow settings on the website pictures so they stood out against the background which is of the same colour

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Environmental Final Design

Here is the final design for the environmental concept. I think it is clear what it is and where it is, particularly with the text that will accompany with it on the presentation boards

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Environmental Design Development

 I began designing the Environmental on Illustrator. I knew what I wanted to look like, and I felt that creating it as an illustration would be the best option since I could do it exactly how I wanted rather than searching for a relevant photo to mock it up on.

I started collecting images from their Facebook that I could use. I created a board with their logo on and the Live Like a Local campaign name written underneath it.

I filled up the board with images. I could have left it like this, but I wanted to add a background to show the context it would be in

I decided to base it in a shopping center. I tried to copy what Trinity looked like to make it look more realistic and have something to reference to.

I started by making a banner

I added some background shop windows, pillars and more banners

I added a smaller shop window/columns in the middle to show another floor of the shopping center

I started to add an escalator, but felt it didn't look right

I added reflections in the shop windows

I started to add things to go in the shop windows - mannequins, restaurant seating, billboards

This just gives it more context - here is the final design

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Environmental Idea

Why?
Since the brief has asked for a variety of mediums, I thought it would be good to do something for environmental design as this gives me a range of things to design for - online, social media, print and spatial so just shows how my ideas work across everything.

The Idea
My idea is to have a board which has a myriad of images on it showing lots of different destinations and experiences that Topdeck has to offer people. people can then take photos of that interest them, and on the back of the image would be information about where this experience is, more details about it, and the trips that you can experience this on.
It ties in well with the Live Like a Local campaign since the photos stuck on the board will be localised events that Topdeck encourage travellers to take part in to immerse themselves within the culture.

Where?
I thought about where brands advertise these kind of things, and thought about shopping centers. I also thought that travel agents that advertise Topdeck could advertise something in there.

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Snapchat Mockups

Here are the screens mocked up on iPhones to give them a better context and to be ready for the presentation boards

Brief 11: YCN Topdeck - Snapchat Design Development

Sailing in Greece

I started looking at photos that would work well for this example

This is what sailing in Greece with Topdeck looks like, so thought this would be a good example

I looked at images that look as though they have been taken while sailing, which is probably more realistic

I started creating an illustration that would work well with this destination, and felt waves was appropriate. I wanted the font used to be quite hand rendered and free

I added a gradient map to alter the colours of the image

The Instagram filter is too strong

There isn't enough contrast with the colours here

I added a boat to give it more context

I changed the colours of it

I added some brush strokes to it

I felt this was a better image because it shows what the actual view from the boat looks like which is more realistic and visually pleasing

I added a caption to it like they do on Snapchat

New Zealand

I had a really good image of New Zealand landscape, and thought that would work well. I started to create a landscape to be used for the illustration

But I felt that was too structured and went for a more loosely illustrative style

Topdeck Bus

I wanted one of the illustrations to be the bus, so people could use it while on the coach or when they are about to get on it

In terms of destination, I thought it would be good to have somewhere less travelled to have a variety of things

I started drawing the bus

I made the bus the colours of the actual Topdeck bus, and placed it onto the image I chose in the end