OUGD406 | Module Evaluation

I have found this module as a whole the most enjoyable. This is probably because I had the opportunity to show what I had learned in my first year and apply this to real briefs. However, for that reason it has been the most challenging as my work has always counted for something.
This module has been very helpful in terms of my development. Particularly in terms of techniques, materials and production. I have tried to be less digital with some of my projects, using more traditional techniques such as pencils and ink. I have also had a confidence boost for the process of screen printing and now feel more ready to try the process myself.
All the briefs have been 'live' in some way and have given me the opportunity to get my work out there. This has shown me the reality of dealing with clients and working to a time scale.
 I feel that through the final 4 briefs, I have improved with my design process as a whole. My analytical skills have improved and I am explaining my decisions more thoroughly. However, I still feel that I can push this further.
I am gradually improving with testing my work before production and considering everything about my designs such as type setting, layout, grids and colour. My outcomes are more professional and informed as a result.
I have found that I work well within a group during the collaborative practice brief. This is a very crucial skill as a graphic designer so to know I am good at working in a group and enjoy it is a huge bonus. I also developed friendships in the class as a result which was helpful for me personally.
Despite these positives, I am still weak in many areas. My research is a large factor that is bringing my work down. I need to critically analyse my research and gather more of it. I tend to always stick to the obvious research and find it difficult to think outside of the box. I have also felt far lazier during the last few briefs. This is because it is difficult to focus with so many deadlines and I have found it difficult to balance them all. When I have made mistakes in the briefs I have tended to leave it and not try and correct the mistake, this is a poor habit to get into so I need to ensure my work is perfect before production.
I also need to push my final outcomes more. I tend to produce the bare minimum and could easily push this further. For example, I should have printed and tested my book jacket on the actual book and photographed it to see my work in action. I feel that having this attention to detail will greatly improve my work.
Finally, I feel that my blog is lacking quality. I want to improve what I write for each blog post, focussing on quality not quantity - only stating what is relevant. I want to improve the images I use on my blog and become better at recording my whole process.

OUGD406 | Studio Brief 04 - Production

The production was very stressful. The main issue came with my foiling - which was disappointing for me as I had tested this technique so many times. Despite lazer printing in black, the foil failed to stick to the text. I turned the temperature up and put the slip through many times as this is what I had learned from experience made the foil stick more but the foil still would not stick. I then tried to use the gold foil I had left over from my practices but I came out with the same result. It did create a nice speckled effect but this was not as eye-catching as I had hoped. For that reason I scrapped this from my final designs. I am still unsure about why the foil did not stick so I cannot reflect on what went wrong - perhaps I should have tested the exact paper and printer with foiling rather than assuming it would work. There was some success in the design. I chose a dark blue paper from the library as stock as this seemed to compliment the turquoise foil the best, allowing it to stand out. I conducted a couple of tests using the studio printer to see if black text would stand out enough (I did not have time to screen print white), the results were successful and the text could easily be read.  

Vinyl was a new experience for me so I expected some teething issues with this. I estimated the size of the vinyl strips and created illustrator files that were the size I wanted. The print guy was able to adjust my files to the size of the vinyl, keeping them the size I wanted but also keeping my personal costs down.

 My acetate poster printed well, the type stood out nicely against the wall - although an illuminous green was not available which would have stood out more. The vinyl stuck on perfectly- although the plastic sticker was tricky to remove, however a sticky residue was left over making the poster seem dirty. I decided not to try and remove this in fear of ruining the poster. Fortunately the residue is not as visible against the wall. 

My final and biggest piece was reasonably successful. I was pleased as it was so large, I worried that it would not stick. I had a lot of bubbles in the backing paper and worried that this would affect the application. The texture and bumps in the wall also made this difficult. I did manage to stick the vinyl to the wall, I nearly lost some letters but thankfully the final result was successful. I developed a technique where I used a cutting knife the gently stop the letters peeling off the wall, this worked well and all the letters stayed in place. However, I did accidentally stick the text over a large bump in the wall. Fortunately, this was not an issue. I do not think I could have avoided it because of the nature of the wall I was using.  I placed it by the door when you come into the studio. I felt this was the best place as I was unsure how the studio space would move around next year. There is a lot of traffic coming in and out of the door so hopefully it will be read as students walk past. It is also easy to read both parts of the text from the crit box.  The letters were slightly more bumpy than I had hoped, but this was consistent with the hand made type I created. I think the result looks very similar to my mock-up so I am pleased with this piece the most. In hindsight I would have created all my final pieces in this way as final did not turn out as expensive as I expected. 

Here are some photos of my work in action and my failed piece - 

OUGD406 | Studio Brief 04 - Evaluation

Studio Brief 04 has been the most difficult project in terms of time management as we have had 4 deadlines to focus on. However, it has been enjoyable to reflect on the year and pass on valuable advice to the first years.
Despite the difficulties of time management, I feel that I was well paced throughout the whole brief. I had a print booking ready so I knew the time I had to produce my final outcomes. I was well prepared with ideas and reflection for the interim crit, and by the final crit I had a solid idea in its final stages before production.
I am extremely pleased that I have pushed my materials in this brief. Foiling is a new favourite technique and I plan to use it for small (or larger) touches on my future projects. I was pleased with myself for learning how to do it myself. I also enjoyed the simplicity of the technique and now I have the confidence to carry it out. I have also pushed to experiment with stock. Unfortunately, the supply of stock in Leeds is poor. Despite this, I have gone away from the standard papers available in the print room. It is also useful to get into the habit of considering stock at all stages of the design process. Vinyl is also another technique I explored, I would have preferred to experiment and test this prior to production but as this was only mentioned in the final crit I was unable to do this. It is good practice however to understand what can go wrong when producing a vinyl piece.
I was also glad that I pushed myself typographically to create my own hand rendered typeface. This was not only enjoyable but useful to begin to understand what materials and techniques produce the best results for this process. I also felt the typeface put my own personal stamp on the work making it unique to me.
I am also pleased with how I managed to test certain techniques before creating the final piece, as well as printing quick mock up posters to understand the scale that I was working with. The process of testing is gradually becoming a strong stage in my projects which is good for my design process as a whole.
There were some elements that lacked in my project. Unfortunately, this was research. I rushed too quickly into the experimental stage and my research got left behind. The research that I did carry out was extremely helpful to me, however I feel that my designs would have been more successful if I pushed my research that little bit further. I did research techniques first which I have rarely considered which was a bonus to my project.
I also fell behind fairly quickly with my blogging and it is likely that I have missed some key points as a result. I am normally quick to blog about something - it is usually blogged about within a day. My descriptions and analysis of my work was poor as a result of this and perhaps my work would have been more well justified if I had been able to keep up with this.
I also feel that I spent too much time experimenting with foiling and did not consider the posters as a whole. The type choices for my descriptions were informed but I did not explore all my options first.
Overall, it has been a successful project and I am particularly happy that I was able to push my knowledge from first year for my final project. I feel that I am becoming more creatively confident and willing to take risks with these projects. I am also feeling more confident in finding out information and techniques for myself which is a very useful skill to have.

OUGD406 | Studio Brief 04 - Final Designs

After the final crit, I went to the digital print room to research vinyl costings and the process in general. Vinyl colours available in digital print are as follows - gold, dark blue, light blue, bright yellow, neon pink, bright green, dark green, orange, purple, black, greys.

PRICES

Basic colours £4 per metre
Neons £15 per metre
Reflective £17 per metre

Unfortunately, he is unable to order in any more vinyl prior to my print booking on thursday. He did recommend I buy my own from Sydney Beaumont which is situated in Leeds. However, since there is a wide range, I am planning to use whatever vinyl is available at the time as there were several bright colours which would attract the attention of first years.

After my research I set about finalising my designs and the production method. I narrowed my posters down to the most appropriate 3. I eliminated the poster related to friendship as this seemed like the odd one out and was not consistent with the work related theme.

After the advice given, I have decided to push the boat out to grab the attention of the first years. I am creating one large vinyl for the wall (only one due to costing).  This will be the length of 2 A3 sheets approx. I created a basic mock up to imagine the vinyl in the studio :
I plan to use the bright blue vinyl if enough is available - if not another bright colour. To ensure the type underneath compliments the vinyl I end up with, I have chosen a neutral grey. This may seem boring, but it is the larger titles job to catch the attention, then hopefully the first years should read underneath.

I have decided to create each poster/piece differently to attract attention in a different way for each piece and again illustrate the variety of techniques available to hopefully inspire the first years. My "guilt free relaxation" poster is going to be A3 size (large enough to be noticed but small enough to reduce my own personal costs). I plan to use acetate to demonstrate unique printing surfaces and also illustrate a clear mind that is achieved with the guilt free relaxation. I planned to print in a neon green as the colour gives a peaceful vibe and but remains equally eye catching. However, CMYK does not allow such vibrant colours. To resolve this, I plan to use the neon green vinyl that was available and mount this to the acetate once the smaller description is printed on. 

My final poster will incorporate the foiling that I have been experimenting with. I plan to use a turquoise vinyl available as this noticeably stands out on the foil chart. Once I have purchased the foil, I plan to compare this to stocks available in the library to identify the most ideal combination of colours that I feel will stand out but remain complimentary. 

My booking is for thursday, so fingers crossed I do not encounter any issues. However, if I do, I will have learned how to use vinyl, a process I haven't tried before. 

OUGD406 | Studio Brief 04 - Final Crit

At the stage of this crit, I had my concept ready to go I just needed to create it. I recieved some helpful feedback suggesting that my concept was good, but I should push myself further for the production and materials to fully engage the first years.

FEEDBACK -

The group felt that my use of foiling was appropriate. The idea to make it more engaging, stand out and grab attention is important for first year students - similar to the vinyl lettering at the sign in sheets.

The new wording was better and well considered.

The hand written type looks more personal, more natural, less designed and overall more casual.

It successfully inspires students to experiment. Could encourage students to engage with the poster more by making it 3D somehow?

There was a suggestion to use vinyl for one of my posters or to even go directly on to the studio wall - if the studio is the only place you can view the work, this backs up and emphasises my aim of encouraging the students to use the space.

 Vinyl would look clean and neat

Could use neon to grab attention. Just black is stark and boring. Could screen print? Experiment with overall production method.

Scale is important to grab attention. There is a limit with foiling of A3 size.

The posters should be a personal dialogue between us and them.

Consider overall location of each piece. Analyse my decision for this. Consider tone of voice.

OUGD406 | Studio Brief 04 - Experiments

At the moment the designs I am considering are focussed on foiling and stock choice, this makes the digital element of my designs difficult as it is hard to imagine what my designs will look like when produced. I have started basically, thinking about the shape, size, typeface and colours as well as the actual content. 

EXPERIMENT PRIOR TO INTERIM CRIT - 

I have begun some basic experiments with posters and postcard shapes. For a poster, placing all of my content would be inappropriate as the poster would not deliver the message quickly. So if I am to design a poster, I have considered just using the titles for each step that would be on my notecards. I feel that this needs to be broken down into something that is more catchy and easy to remember, rather than a long list that could be quite boring. For the post cards, I think that numbering the cards may be important to show the order of the process e.g. research should not be done last! So I have played around with the idea of a single number on the back, with the title and content on the reverse side. From my research I liked how the serif typefaces looked in foiling so I have begun using these for my cards as an initial experiment. 

I began using a blue colour to imagine the stock, although I plan to use a more pastel shade similar to my research. I feel that I need to ensure the pastels I use appeal to both genders, as the first years will be a mix. I did try to represent the colour of the foil in the type, however this did not look realistic enough, so for that reason I am focussing on the form of the layout, as I can see from my research that pastels and foil are complimentary. 

Now after the critique I have decided to only create posters to motivate students to use the studio space. This came across in the crit as a better idea judging from the feedback, I also feel that it is a stronger concept overall and looking back I have found briefs far more relaxing from using the studio space. I want to encourage students to see the studio as a work space, and home as a space to relax. By separating the two, you can relax without feeling guilty at home.

BRIEF

DESIGN A POSTER OR SERIES OF POSTERS THAT ENCOURAGE THE FIRST YEAR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS TO USE THE STUDIO SPACE MORE.

BACKGROUND/CONSIDERATIONS

WHAT WOULD ENCOURAGE OR PERSUADE THE FIRST YEARS TO USE THE STUDIO?
WHAT WILL GRAB THEIR ATTENTION? WHAT MATERIALS COULD YOU USE?
CONSIDER TYPE? WHAT SIZE? WHAT IS LEGIBLE?
WHAT SIZE IS APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR POSTERS?

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS/DELIVERABLES

FINISHED POSTER(S) (MINIMUM A4 SIZE)
SUPPORTING BLOGPOSTS


Idea generation thumbnails -

I wanted to push my designs further for this brief, so I decided to attempt handwritten type. This will have a more personal feel which I feel will appear less intimidating to first years. I feel that the personal, less instructional feel will grab the attention of first years more so than type which can sometimes feel harsh.

I tried a variety of methods for creating type, firstly I tried sharpie as this is a quick and simple technique. This is also easy to live trace on illustrator. I researched hand written type as I drew to inspire my designs.
I also experimented with water proof ink. This was tricky due to the quality of my brushes, but I managed to create an alphabet which achieved the friendly feel I was going for.

I saw this friendly piece in on a graphic design studio website. I was inspired by the shape of the letterforms and this influenced the shape of my own. 

Hand written ink and sharpie experiments -

I was inspired by this ink letterform as the shape was similar to some of the type I attempted to hand render. I decided to try and repcliate this by cutting a stencil out of card and applying ink on top. Unfortunately this ink seeped underneath, meaning the shape of the letterform was not strong enough. This fiddly technique was not ideal for me for this project. 

I then began to construct some rough posters using the a mixture of the hand rendered type that I created. Purely for testing I used "Reasons to stay in the studio, no 1" followed by a reason in digital type. I used digital type for the reason as I felt by having the separation the type was easier to read. The hand written type is designed to draw a first year in to the poster, the type at the bottom is secondary, to be read once attention is grabbed. If the poster was all hand rendered type I think it would appear too busy and there would be no clear typographic hierarchy. 

Printed ready for foil testing

After some experimentation digitally, I printed several words out in each style of hand rendered type, as well as a serif typeface(Didot)and a sans serif typeface (Futura). Once printed, I used gold foil similar to my research to foil the type. I was pleased with the professional effect. I feel that foiling is ideal for my posters for several reasons, firstly it is likely to catch the attention of the first years due to the shiny effect, not many posters use such a technique which would make the piece stand out. The foiling would also inspire the first years to be more experimental with their techniques, illustrating the possibilities available to them. Being graphic designers, the design is key so using such a technique is more likely to catch their eye.

Type testing with foil - some of this black ink was visible so I need to use a higher temperature and put the slip through more times to ensure the foil has bonded

Test foiling some compositions for feedback

Successful tracing Paper foil test, although the heat has faded the blue type

The foil left over had an interesting texture. I would have used this if the shape had not been irregular 

 I then asked a few students which type they felt was most successful and appealed to them most as a first year. The vast majority of students preferred my thicker, ink based type. Some stated that this type was more legible and would catch your eye from across the room. Due to the overwhelming agreement, I went forward with this typeface.

My next step was to tackle the wording of my posters. More feedback from students suggested that I should reverse my poster, placing my reason first followed by "stay in the studio", as by reading "Reasons to stay in the studio" many first years are immediately turned off to the idea. This made far more sense than my original designs, so I just had to work on how to phrase each poster. I did experiment with the wording in the original order but found that the impact was not as successful still. I spent a lot of time brainstorming with student in the class trying to work out the best way to phrase each poster. I decided to narrow my reasons down to 3 or 4, adjusting "use the studio" to each phrase, I tried to bear in mind a friendly and welcoming tone-of-voice as not to scare the first years away from the idea of doing work in your spare time:

- Stress reduction (Feeling Stressed? - Lower your stress levels by spending more time in the studio to reduce your workload.)

- Time to relax at home (Want Guilt Free Relaxation? - Separate your work and home life. Use the studio space in your spare time, then after some hard work head home to chill out and watch Netflix yay! )

- A chance for 1 to 1 chats with the tutors (Need Time to Chat to the Tutors?  - The tutors are much easier to pin down if you use the studio in your spare time. Hang around later to get some great advice about your current projects. )

- A chance to develop closer friendships (Want to develop close friendships? - The best conversations happen in the studio. Stay later, get to know people better and get some work done at the same time - bonus!)

Brainstorming with other students

Testing in illustrator