Do Something More Evaluation of the Brief

Self Evaluation 

This brief pushed my ideas of what a brand is and I think that the way the studio thought about brands was insightful, they saw them as experiences and pushed the limit of what a brand can be, although not seeing any of their work was a bit disappointing but I was understandable as they had all come from different studios.

They had asked us to re-brand something that was relatively dull, there was six choices and we picked ours from a hat. I got the City Council, which was not the one I wanted but it wasn’t the worst choice and I liked that I would have something challenging to look at.

I looked into the council, as I didn’t really know what the council actually did. I think that I wanted to make the council more personal for this reason so that it was more appealing to ordinary people.

I went for a highly vecotrised and bright style that was unlike my usual work. I think that created a coherent and appealing style for the council, but on reflection I can see that what I had created looked more like a campaign than a re-brand of the council, I was also aware after designing the identity I had called the new council something which already existed as some kind of campaign in Leeds, however I couldn’t change it as I had produced all the work!

I think that a strength of the work is that I had applied the new style to a range of products and I thought that this brought the idea to life. I also liked that my design had been considered and I had not looked to anyone else for ideas of what I could produce in addition to the identity. I felt because it was a competition there as a level of competitive attitudes that had made some people change their ideas or look to others for more ideas, but I had created my things away from this and I was not interested in the competition aspect I saw it as a bonus that someone may win a placement. 

I really enjoyed watching everyone present I felt that everyone had produced good, considered and extensive solutions and it felt like we had all improved vastly on our ideas of what a brand was and how it can be extended into an experience and applied to almost anything imaginable.

If I was to go back I may of liked to have firstly been told my name for the new council already existed, I was aware it did but I had completely forgotten as I was so intense of the design process. Secondly I would of liked to have had a crit about the work I had produced maybe even with said studio to see that my idea had looked more like a campaign, which looked good but wasn’t entirely appropriate for the brief.

Self Evaluation and Group Evaluation

Self Evaluation and Group Evaluation

The brief carried out over one day pushed my ability to produce work in a short space of time, and I liked the final result and its concept of a stay-cation. We worked in a group of six which in hindsight may have been a few too many and there was more ideas to debate. But as I had a tutorial for half an hour the morning of the workshop I wasn’t present for the main discussion about the concept. I think that when I returned some tensions had begun and it had out some people off doing the work but I felt that they should of moved past it and carried on with the group. I liked the concept but discussed it further with the group to get an idea on tone and audience.

We had decided to aim the magazine at more affluent young or mature professionals who had maybe got commitments of a dog or children that could not necessarily go on holiday at a whim, and so the magazine would look at new and perhaps trendy places to stay and the sights to go see around that in the island that is the UK, including Scotland and Wales, not Northern Ireland as it would require a ferry or plane and this goes against the point of the magazine. The other idea was that it may be for these types of people to encourage them to go on weekend breaks over a full holiday so that they don’t interfere with busy work schedules.

I was given that task of designing the front covers alongside another group member, Caitlin and I think what we came up with looked really high end. Upon critique in the presentation it was suggested that this was too minimal, but looking towards magazines such as Intern that have a niche market I felt that maybe it was an appropriate style as it was meant to be different.

In the group I enjoyed my role and I was given it due to my design being heavily editorial it was logical to give me this job. I am also good at sourcing interesting imagery, I wasn’t aware of this at the time but from doing further briefs and placement I have been asked where I have got certain imagery from and to me it seems normal but it is apparent that I have a skill for this. I will continue in all of my work to use this to my advantage.

However I felt that people where fighting over roles and as there wasn’t that many to offer some people where a little bit stranded, however I feel like some members got involved and put themselves into doing a job and asking to be put in that position and I admired them for doing this, as some other members had appeared to have really just given up and did not contribute to the work and at the end of the day Caitlin had been left with a task that one of the others could have been doing but had instead just laid back, which meant our presentation wasn’t as well put together and so if I was to go back I would have probably made these people aware of this, or I would have done the presentation myself as I am more savvy with the technicalities of putting it together and exporting it properly, and not using it from the memory stick in the presentation!

Fedrigoni- Self Evaluation

Fedrigoni- Self Evaluation 

In this brief from a small amount of research I instantly had an idea of what I wanted to create and I went into doing this almost immediately, I think that the idea went well and the outcome looks good but I do think that it lacks in its concept and other deliverables as there wasn’t any.

However I think the initial concept and application made an interesting end product, which is a promotional poster, made from laser cut image and foil. I think that producing the image as a laser cut vastly improved my skills and knowledge of that process, it also showed me there is a lot of preparation into more complex and layered designs, which is maybe why I didn’t continue any further with the brief as it was quite time consuming, especially with the addition of foiling the poster, which was done properly with a screen and heat press.

I think that the outcome is very appropriate to the target audience, which is other designers; I feel that a designer or other creative would appreciate the processes of production, and the aesthetic of the poster is mature and sophisticated. I think that the tone is appropriate and I will use this experience in all my briefs to get to the right tone of voice for the right audience.

I do think that the poster may not work as well when considering how you would show the differences between the stock, how this would be shown for each individual weight.

If I went back and dis this brief again, I would consider how I could extend the brief into more deliverables and promotion. I would look into more 3D and installation type outcomes, maybe even a pop up exhibition or larger scale piece to launch the stock would have been appropriate.

DR.ME Self Evaluation

DR.ME 

Self Evaluation 

In this day brief we where put into collaborative partners with the person next to us on the register which provided an new opportunity to work with someone we wouldn’t usually work with, however I felt that it would have been better if we had had our own choice and picked someone who complimented our own styles, but then again people including myself wouldn’t have really gone out of their comfort zones.

I think that this maybe threw me off to start with and I felt a little bit uncomfortable, but in addition to this I wasn’t familiar with the style or sector of work we where asked to produce. I also felt that the first brief was too small to separate into a collaborative piece and we ended up designing over one another which added to my uncomfortable feelings and which ultimately made me loose interest in the whole workshop and so I only completed the first brief.

I liked the research process and coming up with the ideas of what the vinyl cover could show, I created quite a few developments and I was willing to accept that mine weren’t as appropriate and the end design was mainly Sarah’s but this was fine as I liked the design.

I feel that in this brief I had a bad day and I think that people will have this from time to time, I think that I could of handled it a little bit better, but then I nor Sarah are interested in this type of design and so it was not hugely significant and she still continued with the other brief, and the last brief was self-initiated anyway.

I do feel that a positive of this experience was it determined that my interests do not lie in this type of design. And to address this issue I will not be producing work like this and my research into relevant studios won’t be music sector led studios.

WWF Annual Report Self Evaluation

WWF Annual Report Self Evaluation

I chose to do this brief originally in my brief plan. I felt that it would be an good project for me as it combines my interest in print and editorial wit my interests in nature and conservation. I saw the summary report online, and I felt that it’s appearance and format did not meet the standards of WWF itself, and so I decided to re-design the report in a more visual way.

In this brief I researched into infographics which is an area of design I had not fully explored before, I found the examples really interesting and I hoped that I would be able to create a similar standard of infographic design for the report. I think that the research helped vastly in the development of the new infographics, but it helped to draw out different ways the information could be presented. I feel that some of the infographics in the final report work really well and some I found more difficult but I don’t think that any of them aren’t successful and I feel that they are good visuals. I am particularly proud of the footprint infographic as it took me hours to produce and It has the potential for digital applications, and on a smaller level it looks good as well. My infographic design skills and knowledge definitely improved in this brief.

I also think that there is a very strong concept running throughout and the idea of the blue planet was a huge feature of the new report. Blue used as the only colour with black and stock created a powerful identity whilst using the WWF Panda on the front and back cover still made it clear that it was for WWF and I think the blue was a successful and innovative choice.

Another success of this brief is the printing method, the stock used is 100% recycled which is a stock I had always wanted to work with as it is more environmentally friendly, it also suits the WWF ethos perfectly. The stock also gave a newspaper like texture, and the imagery still printed well.

Layout design is something I was already confident with but I feel that in this brief these skills helped and they are clear to see in the final design, I am really pleased with the whole report and how it looks, there is a balance of text, imagery and space, I felt it showed that I had grasped these things.

Again a weakness may be that there is no digital application of this report, however I do not consider myself as a digital designer and I feel that for this to work online it would have to be something more than a PDF and this is beyond my comfort zone and interests, I think in reality in a studio collaboration with a digital based designer or animator would be necessary to bring this to life on screen. 

Overall the brief was highly successful and there isn’t much I would do differently if I was to do this brief again.