406 Module Evaluation

I really enjoyed this module as a whole, as it consisted of four separate studio briefs, I got to experiment with a few different types of design, as well as different processes - some that I haven't done since sixth form so it was nice to utilise old skills, as well as building on them and realising that they can be used within graphic design. For example previously I had experience laser cutting for product design, however I now realise it can be very helpful for creating stamps, laser cutting into wood to make designs more interesting etc. Another process that I enjoyed in the end was screen printing, I hadn't done it for over a year was needed a few test runs first to get the right kind of print, however after using the screen print room a few times for studio brief 02 and 04 I can now complete the process of getting a screen ready rather quickly. This enjoyment of screen printing has made me consider getting a screen of my own to create personal work which would help me develop as a designer in my own time. This brief has also taught me a lot about time management and organisation, having to juggle a couple of briefs at a time would have seemed impossible at the start of the year however now I am able to prioritise work and have it all ready in time. One of the ways I kept on top of this submission was to create my design boards for finished briefs rather than leaving them till last minute, I have also learnt to keep my blog up to date when I produce work or do any research as this makes the design boards a lot easier - I know what I was thinking and why I made decisions at the time rather than having to try and think back. I enjoyed all of the briefs for different reasons, for brief 01 I enjoyed designing and illustrating a book, utilising skills I have built on since joining the course such as use of grids to create good layouts, as well as carefully selecting typefaces and creating a hierarchy. I enjoyed studio brief 02 as we had total creative freedom with it, once I chose an event I designed the poster to my own style, yet keeping it relevant to the event. Studio brief 03 was interesting as I am not used to working in groups, at first I thought it would be very difficult for us all to contribute work that was coherent, however after group meetings and brand guidelines being put in place it was a success. For studio brief 04 I decided to work in a group again as I thought it would be good for us all to utilise each others skills, it worked well and I am happy with the finished result. Overall looking back on work before this module I can see how much I have grown as a designer, both in terms of creative skill but also how I organise myself and manage time, as well as how I act with my peers in critiques and group situations.

SB4 Evaluation

This brief further allowed me to develop my skills as a team player, we each utilised each others skills and delegated out the different tasks suited to each person.  To get to the final ideas and designs we each experimented with how we wanted the characters to look, using our own styles to produce a lot of work before evaluating and deciding which style best suited the overall aesthetic we wanted to achieve. Sophia then worked on creating the illustrations as hers were best suited. The other processes such as laser cutting and screen printed were split between us all. As a team we worked well together in terms of organisation as well as creativity.

I believe our final outcome to be successful and the only thing we haven't achieved from the initial brief is that we only have one game set rather than 6 outcomes, however the reason for this is that the game is meant to be kept in the studio, for everyone to have a play of rather than certain people getting to take one home. I have also learnt to take advantage of the resources available to us in the building such as screen printing and the wood workshop (laser cutting). It has made me realise that the limits to what you can create go a lot further than just digitally printing a document. If I were to go back and improve the product I would design and develop a box for the boards to go in, as well as including little envelopes for the cards; this box could then be kept in the bag to keep it clean and safe from general wear and tear.

SB4 Production

 

 

In terms of production, the game will include 1 board for each player and 15 character cards, plus the character they choose to be. There will therefore be 16 slots in each board for the cards to fit into. The board will be made out of plywood and slots cut out with a laser cut. Another piece of plywood will then be stuck to the bottom of this piece that has been screen printed with our 'Guess Who' logo. The front of the board will be sanded down to get rid of the burning after laser cutting and then possibly spray painted depending on how it comes out. We will also include a bag to put the set in to keep it all together.

We encountered a few problems whilst in the production of our game:

• We glued the characters onto pieces of card that had been painted red however we decided this did not look professional enough so we switched it for red card, which meant cutting all of the pieces down to the correct size again
• We bought 10 a4 sized pieces of 6mm plywood to use as the boards, with the aim of laser cutting holes to create slots for the characters however we ran into a lot of problems with this material, therefore we had to change to 2mm plywood. Even when using this plywood the laser cutter didn't completely go through therefore we had to push through with scalpel and scissors. 

We decided to use the 6mm plywood as a base for the 2mm, screen printing our Guess Who logo onto the back - we had to be careful screenprinting on wood as it could damage the screen.

we had trouble lining up the size of the wood with the laser cutter

the slots not properly cut out

red card backing

red paint backing

SB4 Development 01

After our initial ideas and experimentation we decided to use sophia's style of drawing, keeping the illustrations minimal to fit with the overall design of the game - the characters are recognisable by their main features as after asking around the class we discovered that all of the people could be spotted without their name.

Once all of the characters were finished we began to try out different colour palettes, using our research of Disney characters -

 we experimented with a few colour styles and finally decided on the one below as it looks the most professional and in the opinion of a peer critique the most eye catching and interesting. We also redesigned the Guess Who logo to suit our aesthetic. 

SB4 Research

We decided on creating a game that will help the first years to learn some of the tutors and other staffs names. The game that would be most suitable to this is 'Guess Who' - a two player game in which the players get a card with someone on it, and the other person has to ask questions in order to eliminate all of the other people on their board before being left with the oppositions character.

However unlike this design, which is appealing to the target audience of children and their families, our game will be a lot more aesthetically pleasing and should attract the type of person who will be on a Graphic Design course. Below are some examples of original board games and some redesigned.

For research we also had to create a list of people who we would include in the game:

Some of the staff already have photos on line that we can use for reference however for those that don't feature we went around and found them. 

screen print 

canteen

digital print

mac help

canteen

ben

SB4 Initial Ideas 01

Studio Brief 04 - Reflective Practice - Speaking From Experience

'Produce a graphic response/ graphic product /piece of work that makes a statement, comment, observation or gives advice about your experience on your first year of this course.
Work with any appropriate media or format and develop and identify the content will be entertaining, advisory or informative.

• Use the blank brief template to define your own aims, outcomes and processes.
• Take advantage of the processes and facilities you have been introduced to throughout level 04.
• The content of you final resolution should be appropriate to Level 4 freshers but also showcase the facilities and resources available at LCA.
• Enjoy the process of reviewing your year.
• On going documentation of your research, development and evaluation should be regularly recorded on your blog.

I decided to brainstorm a few ideas, in terms of what I could create as well as things I found difficult as a first year:

I then joined a group with Sophia and Josh and we brainstormed together, as well as asking people what they found hard, and looking at forums etc for students. The main advice out there is to relax and try to have a good time, so we decided to look at creating a game for the 1st years.  We decided on a Guess Who game that would help them learn staffs names. With this we went into experimentation of how we could create the characters - we didn't just want photographs as there is no personal or design touch to this.

Collaging worked well to disguise the person yet them still be recognisable however in terms of asking questions about their features it would be rather tricky. Continuous lines have the same issue, it is hard to notice real features with this style of drawing, the reason for this style being a lot of foundation students will have experience with it and therefore will recognise something familiar.

SB3 Evaluation

Figure 1

Figure 1 - The typeface ITC Franklin Gothic BT Heavy Italic may be acceptable in Leeds however it has very negative connotations in Liverpool and some other areas so if the posters or invites reached there it would put people off. With this in mind I would have chosen a different tabloid typeface to utilise. (Don’t buy the sun)

Above - The words ‘most’ and ‘least’ in the way-finding system are slightly harsh on the design work so could be rephrased and more information added so that people are aware of the reason for the order. The idea of the work being rearranged based on peoples thoughts is also problematic as logistically it would take a team to sort them every night and a rearrange of layout. A compromise for this is for people to tweet with the hash-tag #pmatterslca their thoughts on the work displayed as well as the order of events and what matters to them. The most tweeted event/ students work appreciated could then be tweeted by the account at the end of that day. I personally feel that my contribution to the group was a good deal, helping with the overall design decisions, organisation and an area of design (way finding) however if given more time I would have done a lot more development work for the designs, to achieve a more advanced system. I also would have created some mockups so that they could be seen in context for the presentation.

Something we missed out on making a big deal of was the use of humour on social media, inspired by sandwich board headlines we could have created a bunch of amusing images/ headlines to add to the social media in the run up to the event such as those below:

Some of the feedback and constructive criticism we received after our presentation follows:

• Consider the use of stamps for adding red to the promotional material, as well as use in the in exhibition - we did actually consider this in the early stages however moved away from the idea as the logo developed. 
• There is no need for ‘pressing matters’ to be typed in some of the way-finding as the branding is already loud and visible throughout.
• The branding could be seen as a little too serious, use some fun in social media e.g. fake news. 

Overall the concept was strong and the branding was consistent through most parts, if we had more time there could be improvements on the production front, for example creating physical mock-ups for the poster, flyer and catalogue so they could be shown with the presentation, as well as giving us an idea of if the production was doable. The gifs also could have been developed to include information on the event to be added as sponsored ads on the likes of Facebook. As a team we all had an impact on the overall brand feel as well as the physical work we produced, we worked well together and the communication was there.

SB3 Production and Final Outcomes

The catalogue will be printed in black and white on newsprint paper to keep costs down, the document will maximise space using a tight grid that allows everyone’s work to be added. Each catalogue would be unique as it would be brushed with 3 stripes of red paint. The paper size would be a3 and folded down to a5, a handy size for people to pick up and put in their pocket or bag.

Figure 1

Figure 1 is the final poster/flyer design that would be a3/a5 in size and plastered around the university, in book shops/creative places such as Village and Colours May Vary. As well as fly-posted around Leeds university campuses and city centre. The aim is to spark attention and interest in the event and it holds all of the vital information needed to attend whilst sticking to the design guidelines. The only criticism for this piece is the use of 4 red stripes rather than 3, some of the information should have been condensed onto the same line. The posters and flyers would be screen-printed, both in line with the exhibition and to keep cost down.

figure 2

figure 3

figure 4

Figures 2, 3 and 4 show the social media for the event, they include a snapchat geofilter which would be available to app users in and around the library to publicise and as a fun thing for visitors to use. There is a Facebook event to drum up interest, all of the vital information is included and images will be posted in the run up, similar to the Instagram and Twitter. The content will aim to be of an entertaining nature, appealing to the main audience we want (other creatives, students and professionals).

figure 5

figure 5

Figure 5 shows stills from a GIF created that can be used across the social media platforms to hype up the event.

SB3 Development 03

Josh was in charge of developing the posters and flyers, the flyers are to be mini versions. All of the posters hold all of the essential information and use the two typefaces we chose; as well as the colour palette.





Callum was in charge of the social media, this means setting up an Instagram, Twitter and Facebook event. This branding is consistent with the use of the same @ across platforms aswell as headers and images posted matching. Callum also came up with the idea of paying for a Snapchat Geo filter for the event which could work very well.

twitter

instagram

facebook event

snapchat geo filter design

snapchat geo filter design in context

Sarah and Hugo took on the role of digital invites and designs to go on them, making several moving gifs.

  



Dan was in charge of the design and formatting of the catalogue that would showcase everyone's work and be available to take home.