OUGD406 - Studio Brief 4 Initial Ideas

The last brief in this module - and of the year, is to create something to show the new first years when they arrive in September. Whatever we create should be reflective of our year and advise the new students about what we experienced. 
For this brief I didn't have any initial ideas that jumped out at me straight away, which happens most of the time for me, so I decided to sit down and come up with some ideas that could work. I thought back to the beginning of the year, what I felt and what worries I had. I thought back to what I would like to know about the year ahead. 
Some of the initial ideas or aspects to focus on I had were:
- It's not all about type (as the first module was heavily focused on type)
- Working in various different mediums
- Tips for time management
- Tips for stress
- Blogging
- De-stress routine
- Conversation starters
- Do's and Dont's
- Memorable moments

I wanted whatever I created to be appealing, fun and not daunting for the new first years. I want to be able to help and advise them, not make them feel even more worried or stressed. I think a few days to think on these ideas will make whatever I want to create become clearer.

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 3 Feedback

Once the winner for the exhibition had been decided, all of our groups were called in to receive some proper feedback about our concept and designs. Unfortunately my group didn't win, but we came quite close. We had a good presentation, but quite a few things let us down. 2 members of our team were barely around to help due to circumstances out of our control, and I feel if we had all worked on it an equal amount our concept would have been a lot stronger. 
We were told name re-cover could have quite negative connotations too, and some of our designs weren't consistent with the overall brand. 
They liked our posters and stamp idea, but we also didn't provide any in-depth information about the costings, so they were hesitant about us overall.
I feel like these comments were fair, and we could have worked a bit harder to compensate for the missing members of our group, but I think they made the right decision with the winner.

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 3 Final Outcome

Before our pitch for the exhibition, we wanted to print out our collateral to be able to show it and see what it actually looks like. We decided on a thick textured stock, to link back to the print aspect, and give it a more personal feel. We decided that we wanted a more white coloured stock because it will look better with the bright red colour, rather than an off-white. 

We created 3 poster designs, though with a smaller budget we will only use one. We also printed out the invitations, which are double sided and very minimal. We also came up with a stamp idea - an A4 proportioned stamp that could be used for various parts of the exhibition, here it can be used for stamping the invites with a square giving space to write in who ever is being invited to the exhibition, to make it more personal. The stamp can also be used to stamp peoples hands on the way into the opening night, and we can use it for a feedback wall - stamp a space on the wall and leave your feedback of the exhibition inside. This idea is interesting because people can create their own works of art while at an exhibition. 
The flyers that we made were printed individually at A6 size, but we made four slightly different designs for them, so when you put 4 together they create an A4 sized design. 
Finally, we created the exhibition guide. We decided to create a concertina for the exhibition guide to reflect how the work will be hung - A4 width apart in a row along the wall. 

Here is our printed collateral: 

I feel like our pitch went well, even though there were only 3 members of the group there to present on the day it went smoothly and we got some good feedback. I think we have a strong concept and even though its simple, it links back well to the actual work being exhibited. 

Overall I have enjoyed this brief though it has been difficult at times. Working in a group is hard, especially when everyone has different styles and ways of working, but I feel my group have created something that we can be quite proud of, even if we don't get chosen.

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 2 Screen Printing

Once I had my book bound and ready, the only thing left was to screen print it. I went to the Vernon Street screen printing resource drop-in and printed the gold cover design onto the front of my book. 

I think it turned out well, even though the design didn't fully print, I quite like it that way as it adds a feel of care thats gone into the work, and how it's all been made by hand. I'm unsure of the black cover, I feel like the white would have looked better if I went with that, but overall I think my book has turned out well. 

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 3 Improvements

After the interim crit, we felt confident with out concept, though there were still some aspects that needed some work. We thought for a while about the colour scheme, and what Simon said about the colours being attractive. Some of our group did research in the library and found that pink was the most eye catching colour, so we tried this on our design, but we couldn't agree on it.

People said it was too feminine and not gender specific. It didn't really work, so we tried a different approach. We finally settled on red and black, red being the feature colour. As we were allowed two colours plus stock for the book cover brief, the same rules apply here. I came up with these new poster designs for the red and black colour scheme:

I feel like these posters use the white space well, and as we will be using slightly off white stock, the red will jump out even more. The posters will be printed in A3 which is still in the proportions of A4, just to make sure people see the poster and don't disregard it. I also created the open night invites within this same style: 

The invites are minimal and simple, just drawing the attention to the squares and the text. We are also playing around the idea of personalised invites, incorporating the idea of a stamp to the back of the invite with the persons name. 

I feel that we have some strong ideas and have everything ready for the pitch. Other things that have been created by the group are: flyers, exhibition booklet, social media, signage and name tags, which all fit the same style as these posters. I feel confident with our idea, and I think we will be able to deliver an impressive pitch. 

OUGD406 - Hungry Sandwich Club Study Task

Today we had a visiting professional come in and talk to us - The Hungry Sandwich Club. They're graduates from our course, from only 1 year ago! This really impressed me because it shows just what we can do with this course and how far we can go. They showed us a bit of their current work and how far they have come in under a year. 

They asked us to take part in a live brief that lasted for the day. It was to design the cycling trail map for the Leeds indie food festival. We were in the same groups as our exhibition brief so we all decided to discuss ideas together first.

We threw around a lot of different ideas, and it was between them idea of a menu, or a circular trail that looks like the wheel of a bike. We all drew some ideas for each, and decided that the menu would be the easiest to complete within the given time constrains. We all started to mac up our designs and see which one we liked the best. This is what I started with: 

I didn't really like this idea, because it didn't actually look like a menu. In the end we decided to go with Joels, because on his it looked the most "realistic", though it had a simple and appealing style. This was the design that we submitted:

I feel like this was a good resolution to the brief, though I felt I could have been happier with the final outcome if we were given the opportunity to work by ourselves. I still find it hard to work within a group because in the end no one is really happy with the outcome. I enjoyed this brief and it was really cool to see the hungry sandwhich club talk to us and help us with the brief, as they were in our shoes a few years ago.  

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 3 - Gallery Visits

This week we went on a tour of a few galleries around Leeds and in Wakefield. This trip gave us a sense of how to work with a space, and I found it quite useful to think about an exhibition in this context as I've never really thought about it before. 

The first thing I noticed was the signage around the exhibitions. Everything was well sign-posted and you knew where you were and how to get to something else:

The signage was clear and simple, using a sans serif typeface for maximum readability. I think this will help us when creating our signage and collateral for the exhibition, as these are already successful designs. 

Another thing I noticed was how they worked with the space. Each piece had room to breathe and it wasn't over-crowded. I think this is something we need to consider, giving the limited space we have for our exhibition.

Overall I think the gallery visit was a success because it made me think about exhibitions in a different way and I thought about things to consider for our exhibition too. I think we need to be well aware of the space and how the work is going to be hung, also how the exhibition is sign posted and how we display the information. 

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 2 Binding

The binding method that I chose for my book was a Coptic bind, but as my pages weren't printed into signatures I had to do a single sheet bind. I found a tutorial online and followed this to bind my book: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04vt8YfT7XM


To create the front cover I used the book binding workshop at the Vernon Street building. I used grey-board and buckram to create the cover. A spontaneous decision led me to have a black cover instead of my planned white. I was convinced that the black would look better against the gold screen print of the cover design, so I went with that.

Once the front and back covers were created, I drilled holes into the book where I wanted it to be bound. I created 6 holes all together, as stated by the tutorial.

Binding the book was a long process, but once it was done I was fairly happy with it. As it was my first time binding, I thought I'd done a good job, but my only issue with it is that it's quite loose and looks slightly untidy in parts:

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 2 Printing

To print my book, I found some nice stock in the college library that was quite cheap. I decided to buy that to print my booklet on and went to the digital print resource. The first time we tried to print my book, the settings were incorrect (again) as print blank pages was un-ticked, so all of my pages were out by one and the spreads didn't match up. I felt like this was a happy accident though, as the paper that I chose didn't print out very well. 

The staff in the print room were helpful and gave me some better stock to use, and my booklet was finally printed out correctly.

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 3 - Interim Crit

Today we had our interim crit for the exhibition brief. We showed Simon what we had so far, including the posters, invites, exhibition booklet, signage, name tags and leaflets. He said that our concept was good, using the restrictions of the actual brief for the exhibition, but that we could push it further and that there might be other things we haven't thought about. 
He liked our name for the exhibition, Re-Cover, and thought it was a good play on words, though we should think more about our colour choices. At the moment they seem quite muted and don't grab peoples attention, and the main aim is to actually get people to look at the posters/invites etc and get them to attend. 
We also need to think thoroughly about displaying the work, how we will hang it, and if there's a grid system to display the work. 
We also discussed personal invites and making sure people who were invited were impressed enough to come along, and we also need to think about who we're going to invite - our target audience. 

Overall I feel better about our idea than before. I think we have a clear direction and concept - the restrictions. We need to improve our work slightly but I feel confident that we can create something that will really impress people and ensure that it links back to the content. First of all, we need to address the colour issue, so I have sent the poster files to my group and we're all going to change the colours of it and discuss what we've created. 

OUGD404 - Studio Brief 2 Printing Mock-up

Before I printed my book in the digital print resource, I decided to do a mock-up print using the printer in the studio, to make sure the book worked and felt like I imagined it. I printed the book out but the settings were wrong on InDesign, so the pagination of the book was wrong when printed. I kept it though, and I was happy with how the book felt (with what I could tell), and decided to go ahead with the proper printing.

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 3 - Day 4

Today my group decided that the 3 posters they liked the best were:

I'm happy with these posters as a set because they all have a clear focus. They all involve the A4 squares and colour scheme. If we were to have a bigger budget, we would use all 3 posters, but if the budget restrictions don't allow us to have 3 poster variations, we'll be going with this:

I also started work on the invites. Initially we were going to do them A6 landscape, and this is what I came up with: 

Although this design had all of the elements of the posters I created, I didn't think they looked amazing. I decided to create a portrait version to see if I could work with the space better:

I much prefer this design, as it has a direct link to one of the posters, and if we only use one poster the at least the background design will be used here. I also made the text fit into an A4 proportioned sized square on the back. I feel that this invite is more appropriate (the text isn't final yet), and looks more professional. 

We also discussed how other people were getting on with their tasks and to see if all of our designs matched. This is what Joel has made (sinage and name tags):

He was also in charge of creating the flyers. We decided to have them A6 but when they were put together into an A4 sized shape they came together and created something:

 

I think they all work well together so far, hopefully we can get a strong concept together for the interim crit.