OUGD503: Final Crit

What do you want feedback on?

1. Effective layout of boards (and consistency) -- this could be evidenced effectively in your project report and on your blog.

2. Project management:
- how do you evidence it?
- have you evidenced it?
- is there enough evidence for the time available?

3. Have you answered the briefs? If not, why not?

4. Visual Quality; technical ability?

5. Suggestions for improvement (and why)?

6. Evaluation of work - what works/what doesn't (and why)?

____

My Feedback:

Dressing the Screen Final Developments

Once we were satisfied with our images, I cropped them in Photoshop. The numbers and arrow were then ready to mock up as exhibition way-finding. We weren't 100% decided on whether to use these or not, so the effectiveness of the mock ups were important in swaying our decision.

OUGD505: Publication Final Crit

For this crit, we presented our final publication mock-up's and ideas in small groups. This gave us the opportunity to ask questions about decisions we were unsure of. My three questions were:

1. Which stock do you think would be most appropriate?
2. Is the content useful?
3. I am currently using a black and red colour scheme with a varied opacity. Is this effective, or does it need more colour?

My feedback:

1. 160gsm - thick but not too thick, experiment with both coated and uncoated.
2. Yes. The information all serves a purpose without bombarding and causing confusion.

1. I agree with Harrison (above) and think the more you experiment, the better. You want something sturdy enough for the braille.
2. Content is definitely useful.
3. Is red a relevant colour used within braille? You could make it directly connected.

1. I think a combination of stocks - true grain for embossing, and white matte for content.
2. Would be interesting to see where braille is used - examples? You could do illustrations of way-finding or something.
3. Limited colour scheme is good, but why red?


Strengths: 

• Using embossing to show how braille works by touch is effective.
• I think the embossing idea works really well - experiment with wood to start with as this is quicker than a copper plate.
• Illustrations for the alphabet are really clear and easy to digest. 
• Embossing would make it look really and it is appropriate.

Areas for improvement:

• Belt punches - try producing your own braille
• You could try using tracing paper for embossing. +1 - This might be a quick way to do things.
• You could experiment with bubble wrap exercise - pop exercise
• Research how people produce and teach their own braille
• Experiment with scale/ braille size.
• I also think using bubble-wrap would be fun to experiment with. - There is an existing calendar where it has been used.
• You could wrap the whole thing in bubble-wrap stuck on paper with the relevant circles highlighted/ printed underneath. 
• Rather than just talking about the alphabet, you could briefly go into other areas e.g where it is used, difficulty etc.

Considerations:

• Consider using watercolour/cartridge paper style stock - it feels soft and is white, but textured so blind embossing will will compliment the stock. 
• You could emboss onto tracing paper pages that slot in between and overlay images of braille. 
• Maybe include sentences in braille for the reader to practice reading and deciphering to help them learn. 
• Could you play around with the with the layout? 
• Possibly add pictures to pages about Lewis Braille and pages of info.
• Could you bind the publication to represent braille as well? You could use black rounded seals and they could even spell braille as well? +1
• Don't get too carried away with braille otherwise you will be in danger of overkill. 

OUGD503: Responsive: Collaborative Practice

During our next Crit and Peer review session, we were put into the same groups as before. This gave us the opportunity to see how each pair had developed their concepts. It was also a chance to gain feedback on our own developments and ideas.

The main nature of this session was to let the work speak for itself. We swapped work in rotation, mainly looking at another pair's boards to gather information on their subject. The feedback was then aimed towards not only how they could strengthen their ideas, but also how they could present their work to


Our Feedback:

Comment on the effectiveness of the concept. Does it address the problems identified in the brief?
Strengths & Weaknesses:
You have addressed both Russian and English in the concept but the string way finding could segregate the two as opposed to writing them in one. In the brief, it suggests it should be image-led, but no imagery has been used as of yet.
Suggestions:
Keeping the concertina concept apply relevant/appropriate images so the brief is addressed further.
Make more progress addressing other problems within the brief as it is difficult to see the effectiveness of the concept from a single item.

Comment on the design direction and decisions made regarding the production and distribution of the response. 
Consider the fact that all the materials need to carry company information. At the moment, the design is broad, not specific to the brief apart from the title. Consider how this concept is going to work across a range of outcomes. How will it transit between printed and digital? Will the concertina idea work?
Suggestions:
Experiment with a broad range of applications and see how the concept and design direction will look. The sooner you start and decide, the more development you'll have. Apply it and see how it looks.

Comment on what you would do differently and why?
Focus more on concept +unifying the two languages as opposed to the separation. The focus seems to be on way finding at the moment, but we would have focused more on the brand which we would then apply across different medias simultaneously. 
Remember to focus on synergy.

If money and time were no object how far would you go with the brief based on what has been presented?
Rent out an exhibition space and go to town experimenting with physical applications. Much larger and grander scale as this would be much easier to photograph.

Type Session

Kerning
never reduce any of the spacing between letters (negative kerning). The spacing should only ever be increased.


For our first task, we were asked to experiment with kerning our own name. It was suggested that we should use a simple sans-serif font as it is easier than serif. Our names were written in capitals.

Next we considered the most effective way to break a sentence across two lines. The focus of this was to think about where the pause in the sentence was. In this case, the pause could either work after the word 'break', or 'sentence'. Below are three examples of how this can be written:

1 - Break the sentence onto the second line after the word 'break' (without a comma).

 2 - Break the sentence onto the second line after the word 'sentence' (without a comma).

 3 - Break the sentence after the word 'sentence' (including a comma).

The third task was to write out 

four

three

two

one

in a way which encouraged people to automatically read from the bottom to the top of the page.

What you look at and what you read.

Text Alignment

 

OUGD503: Catherine Des Forges Logo & Promo Pack Development

Initial logo ideas consisted of various black and white typeface variations. My main focus was to find two key typefaces which worked well as a duo. In order to do this, I experimented with upper and lower-case combinations. I created 14 type/logo variations to present to Catherine, asking which examples she liked most. The initial logos are shown below:

Cat's favourite logo was logo number 12. We agreed that this style was the most appropriate for her design practice. The typeface is light, friendly, and approachable - an ideal representation of her interest in Children's Illustration. Once we had agreed on this typeface, I began doing different layouts experimenting with upper and lower-case. I then showed Cat a few different layout possibilities to compare against one another. 

The favourite type arrangement is shown below:

[[IMAGE HERE]]

To add a personal element to the logo, Cat specified that she wanted me to include a few of her own illustrations. In order to ensure the logo remained clear and legible, we agreed it only needed a small illustration. She suggested using a few jewels she had drawn previously, using her favourite pastel colour palette. It was her suggestion to include a maximum of three jewels. Below are a few examples of logo variations including the coloured jewels. Just in case, I also referred back to some of the previous typefaces to see if she now preferred these once the jewels were in place.

We agreed that Avenir Condensed Hand was still the most appropriate typeface. This meant we were able to then focus solely on the placement of the jewels. I experimented with placing one one each side symmetrically and placing a few in the same style next to one another. We also tried centring the jewels and placing them below the text. 

I showed the developments to Cat to to see which variations she preferred. We agreed that the jewels worked best below the type as this was less distracting from her name. It meant the jewels weren't the main focus, but they complimented her name nicely. The inclusion of the jewels also worked as a small introduction to her style of work.

The final logo choice is shown below:

We kept it simple, friendly and approachable to reflect her both as an individual, and as a Children's Illustrator and Surface Pattern designer. 

[LOGO HERE]

Once Cat was happy with the logo, we began to work on her promotional pack. This was to be used as an online portfolio for Cat to send to potential employers and as an alternative way to present her work as a set of collections. For this task, Cat provided me with all of her work and gave me a rough idea of how she wanted the layout and display to look. It was then my task to put this into practice, ensuring all of the images were edited and scaled properly through photoshop. 

The first page was used as an introduction. For this, the only information needed was Cat's logo because this already included her name, her skills, and the jewels as a small taster of her work. I enlarged the logo to make better use of the A4 page, making the text easier to read. As a bonus, I proposed that we added a repeat of the jewels along the bottom of the page in the same style as displayed in the logo. The final layout is shown below:

The main template was then formed for the rest of the promotional pack. We agreed it was helpful to repeat her name and profession on each page. This kept the template consistent throughout the pack, and also meant readers were more likely to remember her name and associate the work back to her each time. The jewels also remained at the bottom of each page, exactly how they had been placed on the introductory page. This was a great way to reinforce Cat's identity, and we were both pleased with the outcome. The final template is shown below:

The next task was to experiment with layouts. I was given a folder of Cat's work, along with an order of each of her collections/projects. She specified that she wanted a continuous layout of the flat digital designs displayed large on the left-hand side of each page. These were to then be accompanied by the drape designs she had created to showcase her designs in context. We worked together on the promo pack. My main contribution was ensuring the layouts were consistent and the images weren't pixelated or damaged for any reason. I decided the most effective way to do this was in InDesign. The images were each placed individually and scaled to the desired size. 

To avoid any image distortion when generating a PDF, I selected the images individually and chose the 'Edit with..' option in InDesign. From this I chose the 'Edit with Photoshop' option. This then directly opened the image in Photoshop where I resized the images to match their new dimensions in InDesign. Once the images were saved, they automatically updated themselves in InDesign, bringing the scale back to 100%.

A few examples of the pages are shown below:

_______

The next task was to help Cat with her CV and Cover Letter. Again, this was mainly a case of experimenting with type and layout. The logo was included on both the CV and cover letter, with the jewels running along the bottom edge in the same style as her promo pack template. I experimented with a few different layouts, including one CV landscape. The final pages are shown below:

[CV]

[COVER LETTER]

Finally, I needed to create an envelop or wallet to contain the body of work. We looked at a range of templates, but the most effective was a 'pillow box template' found on Pinterest. Using this as a template in Illustrator, I drew a new version using the Pen Tool. This was in order to make my own vector image to avoid any chance of pixelation when enlarging the box template. 

Once the template was complete, we printed out a few mock ups to make sure it was big enough to hold all of the contents. I then added Cat's logo on the front and an illustration she specifically requested for the back. Again, I experimented with both portrait and landscape but the layout worked most effectively portrait and it informed the user which way up the box/envelope was to be held.

[FINAL BOX WITH CONTENTS]