Product/Range/Distribution; Re-written brief & project rationale.

After the workshop we were asked to re-write our brief based on what we had learnt and whether our decisions had changed. My brief is still quite similar to the first but is worded better so the idea could be understood fully. The outcomes are more clarified at this stage too so it is clear exactly what I plan to do. We were also asked to fill in a rationale sheet based on the workshop as we'd essentially just written it. This has helped me understand whether I am getting the full potential out of my brief and have covered all areas. 

Product/Range/Distribution; Workshop two.

This workshop got us to think about our brief in further detail to see what we might need to change on the intial written brief.


5 problems i'm interested in solving:
- Creating a piece or multiple ones that are illustrated to visually communicate. 
- Creating design for editorial to compliment text.
- Work as much with type as image and how this is applied to a few of the briefs. 
- How can something visually communicate well enough to make an audience interested? Uniqueness. Selling point. 
- Rebranding something to refresh and intruige the audience. 


5 messages I want to deliver:
- Illustration can capture attention and create interest. 
- If something is visually exciting and different it will sell. 
- Editorial is as much about the imagery as it is the text. Each compliments the other. 
- This particular magazine is desirable because it's limited edition.
- Certain films aren't just for children, they can be enjoyed by all.


5 reasons why:
- I want editorial to be seen as more visually exciting and use it to engage people more. 
- Illustration can highlight films more so than text because films are highly visual to begin with.
- People presume editorial is for adults so on that basis bringing in 'childrens' films will reach out to a larger audience and change opinions. 
- A consumer looks for a 'one off' so creating limited edition should sell. 
- Refreshing a brand at a limited edition point will add value and a collectors element. 


5 facts about my subject/content:
- Designs for the Little White Lies magazine are usually strictly illustrative. 
- It's a bi-monthly independent magazine about the film industry. 
- There is a defined list of the most popular films for each year online.
- Content of the magazine usually relates to the latest films. 
- Each issue of the magazine is themed around a particular film.


5 facts about audience/context:
- The audience is film fans.
- The audience is 18+ (up to around 30).
- The context is editorial design for the film industry.
- The audience is likely to be regular visitors to the cinema. 
- The audience is enthusiastic about film and also passionate. 


5 distinct products I could produce:
- A series of magazine covers.
- Illustrative or factual postcards.
- A series of illustrative posters/prints.
- T-shirts.
- Stickers.


5 elements that could turn magazine covers into a range:
- Having a range of different films on each cover in the series.
- Having the same film but different illustrations on each cover. 
- Changing the layout for the same film. 
- Creating the same cover but using different materials. 
- Including covers for all the sequals of films so you'd have a range within the range. 


Think about what you can produce and for what purpose. 

Product/Range/Distribution; My initial written brief.

Based on the four briefs that i've chosen as my favourites from various competitions I have written my own brief. I've taken elements from the CSS brief and also the D&AD but overall my brief is mostly heavily based on the D&AD brief because this is the one I could imagine myself enjoying and gave me most opportunity to explore the things I enjoy. The bit I did take from the CSS brief however, is the fact they'd like the designs to be illustrative and this is the direction I want my brief to take. I didn't want my brief to be exactly like the D&AD one so tried to put my own twist on it. The problem I discovered to write my brief is that Little White Lies' main focus is on art-house films therefor limiting their target audience to those with this interest. I want to open this magazine up to the larger potential audience that it could have by using mainstream cinema to do so. By creating a limited edition series this means that it would be a one off and if it were successful, the magazine could look at releasing issues that are more often based around mainstream cinema. The target audience as a whole is people who have an interest in film and the industry. This brief will probably be re-written at least three times during the module based on decisions I make and how they may change. 

Dreamweaver workshop two.

HTML; hyper text mark-up language.

To make a website you need;

<HTML></HTML>

<TITLE></TITLE>

<BODY></BODY>

<HEAD></HEAD>

Order; <HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE></HEAD><BODY></BODY></HTML>

PHP; applied to sites like amazon that have a lot of products on them. 

You can view the code of any website in the world to see how complicated the design is. 

The first image to ever be posted online once people figured out how. 

To set-up our folder from the ones we've made. 

Whenever websites are created the first page needs to be called index.html.

To view codes to edit click on 'code'. 

The website progress can be previewed by clicking on the globe symbol.

Options to work with css. 

Type body and space, to get type options press shift and {.

Then start typing font and choose font family. 

To close each section add a semi colon. 

Once the body is done go to the next line and type }.

Icon to link the stylesheet to the website. 

To create a div start with #wrapper.

If you indent type it causes less confusion.

If you want something to have a solid background, make it transparent in photoshop and add colour code in dreamweaver. 

To save it as transparent use PNG-24.

With no transparency use JPEG (in photoshop) 

Product/Range/Distribution; Workshop one.

This workshop was a simplified way of getting us to think about what we want to do throughout this brief and write our rationale. 

5 things I want to do; 

- Explore a new topic/focus point eg. music or film

- Work more with editorial design

- Use a mixture of type and image

- Explore stock more and experiment 

- Look into digital aspects more if this becomes apropriate

5 things I need to do; 

- Work with a format of outcome I have not really explored before 

- Research the specific area so that I fully understand it and can also apply it to other projects in the future

- Highly consider how digital can come into play throughout this brief if at all 

- Develop my illustration skills

- Work out of my comfort zone

5 reasons why; 

- By applying some of these things I will broaden my knowledge

- I will expand my skillset and understanding 

- I may become more confident as a designer 

- I've not explored digital enough and I may find it could become a key part of my practice

- Being able to produce a range of formats will create an interesting portfolio

Things I need to develop...

Personal skills; 

- Illustration

- Become more confident with my work and self

- Conversing with tutors for feedback

- Presenting my work

- Decision making 

Practical skills; 

- Digital outcomes/development

- More development consideration

- Illustrating 

- Informative blogging process

- Strong concept development

Processes; 

- Print: stock experimentation 

- Mock - up creation/test pieces

- Digital print

Products; 

- Branding

- Editorial/editorial image

- Promotion

Context; 

- Exsisting editorial pieces of the same subject

- General publishing and editorial

Product/Range/Distribution; The briefs (5 reasons why I chose each brief).

D&AD: Little White Lies

It gives an opportunity to explore illustration further. 

The brief is well written and gives a clear idea of what is expected as an outcome.

The film industry is an area of personal interest.

It gives the opportunity to really explore and experiment media.

I've haven't yet explored editorial so this brief gives me an opportunity to do so.

ISTD: Putting on a fresh face

It gives the opportunity to really get into and explore typography. 

It's an opportunity to emphasize any existing branding skills. 

It has a defined target market within which I can relate to. 

There is opportunity to apply design to a range of different media eg. screen and print. 

There is existing branding to work with as a starting point so something to capitalise on. 

YCN: The Feel Good drinks company

I'm within one of the main consumers of the drinks industry so can relate to the products. 

There are restrictions for the brief but it is also quite free at the same time so gives great opportunity to really explore outcomes. 

It's gives the opportunity to explore branding and create something unique. 

The drinks industry is massive so there is plenty of supporting research for any ideas and concepts. 

It asks for a fully integrated campaign so a full, exciting body of work can be produced from this brief. 

OTHER: Talenthouse - design artwork for CSS

It gives the opportunity to explore illustration and come up with some really unique ideas.

Music is a great personal area of interest so this type of brief would be enjoyable. 

The deadline has passed so there is already inspiration for the type of things that stand out and opportunity to capitalize on this. 

I'm familiar with the band so being genre aware could benefit my design work. 

The requirements make the brief seem very simple so a unique personal twist could be added to the brief so you get a personal aspect out of it and could be challenged. 

Dreamweaver workshop one; SCAMPS.

Scamp designs for my personal website; general ideas of how i'd like it to look. 

Dreamweaver workshop one.

Aims; 
- Identify website purpose.
- Identify target audience. 
- Identify audience needs. 
- Demonstrate an understanding of interface and layout techniques. 


Purpose; 
- To showcase your work.
- To get work. 
- Employment opportunities.


Target audience; 
- Design studios 
- Corporate clients 
- Events 
- Independent buyers
- Collaborators 
- Like minded people


Audience needs; 
- Overview of work
- Contact details


Which target audience are you targeting?


Look at exsisting websites for personal area of interest. 
SCAMP - quick layout of a website design. Usually produce around three different designs and annotate them. 
SITE MAP - showcases the content of the website (different pages). 
Can ask clients for sites they like as inspiration. 


Choose a website and write the first things that come to mind... 
Apple; clean, technological, innovation. 
Legwork; illustrative, plain, dull, bland. 
My own bike; weird, european, intruiging, minimal. 
Slavery footprint; too happy, layout, minimal. 
No limite arcades; horrible, tacky, busy, garish. 
Evangelical catherdral; confusing, strange, busy. 
Ling cars; horiffic, too much, bad movement, confusing. 
Olly Moss; what?, very minimal, intriguing. 
Vicki and Laura; different, simplistic, horizontal. 


There are certain web standards that need to be stuck to in terms of size, width, font etc. 
Avoid animation. Try and use a maximum of five links. 
Your work should be the focus and the website should be basic. The work should speak. 
Lightbox - a tool in which video can appear over the top of something else. 
AWWWARDS - links out to award winning websites for inspiration. 


Websites I found that are 'different': 
www.kinetic.com.sg
www.duplos.org
www.timburton.com
www.momentskis.com
www.ultranoir.com


The navigation of a website should never move. Try and fix the navigation. 
Make sure networking is applicable to getting a job. 


For a website: 
Home 
About
Work 
Contact
Networking
Some elements could go onto the homepage. Could have different pages for work produced in different media. 


Web standards:
Rectangle 8:6 sizing (800x600) pixels. 

There are two things needed to make a website go live; a domain name and hosting. 
Make sure you have unlimited bandwidth (the amount of people that visit per month). 
There are a list of websafe fonts. You choose a font family so if the person viewing the website doesn't have one, it picks the next one on the list. 
If you want to use custom fonts then save them as an image. 
Colour can be selected by the colour picker and selecting 'only web colours' in photoshop. Specify colour through the hash tag code. 
FTP; can upload the file through dreamweaver.


www.kuler.adobe.com; online adobe colour picker. 


Using websafe colours means that the colour is the same on all computers. 
Size: to be accessable to everyone it needs to be 800x600. Size depends on what the website is being used for. 
We can't use images that we don't own the copyright to. 

Product/Range/Distribution; Chosen competition briefs.

We were told to find four briefs for the second half the module, one from D&AD, ISDT, YCN and then one from any other location of our choice. I chose four quite different briefs but some had overlapping requirements based on my interests. 


CCS music brief: The reason I chose this brief is because i've always had an interest in the music industry and design for it so this was my chance to possibly design something relating to it. The requirements are quite simple and give freedom to design. One of the key factors I liked about this brief is that illustrative design is welcomed, something which I really enjoy and tends to be a main part of my personal practice. 


D&AD: The reason I chose this brief is because the subject matter again, is of personal interest so I'd quite enjoy doing a brief like this. I've not really heard of Little White Lies so there would be plenty of research alongside this brief to inform any designs I create. Although the constraints were a not as free as with other briefs, I still feel I could work with it because i'm familiar with some of the films they discuss within the requirements. The main reason I was drawn to the brief is because the whole thing seems quite simple so it can really be what you make of it. 


Feel Good drinks company: The reason I chose this brief is because it steers away from previous subject matter that i've explored as i've never really looked at the food/drinks industry. I didn't really like the fact the company seem to be a bit picky with some of their constraints but still feel there are elements I could take from this brief such as the opportunity to brand working with an existing brand. It seems like quite a fun brand so gives good opportunity to explore colour. 


ISDT: The reason I chose this brief is because it was another that gave opportunity to explore branding, something which I seem to be getting more into. I have to admit that I wasn't really keen on any of their briefs as a lot of them seem to be typed based where as i'm more of an image based person. 

Image; end of module self-evaluation.

1. What skills have you developed throughout this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? 

I have developed my illustration skills throughout this module and have applied this all of my projects so this skill has developed quite well. I have began to develop more of a personal style that could be recognised as my own work. I have also become more confident with this skill because i've managed to put it into practice quite a lot. Time management has also developed throughout this project because a lot of the briefs were just one week so I had to decide what a substaintial amount of work was week on week and whether I was developing things to the best of my ability. General image skills have developed throughout this module because i've learnt the various ways an image can be produced whether it be in 3D, illustrated, photographed etc and then I have also learnt how to combine these skills. I think a range of these general skills has been applied well throughout the module because I have tried a range of techniques throughout each of the briefs. 

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? 
The main method of design production I have used throughout each of the briefs is illustrating the imagery I need before producing it digitally. This has informed the design development process in the sense that I then take these images to create things digitally so without them I wouldn't have a basis for all of my imagery. I have also used photography as a design development process because this was relevent to some of the briefs. This informed my design development process because it was the last stage in some of the briefs and created the final piece so it finished the process. I've also sometimes used photoshop to edit some of my imagery so that it was ready for illustrator when it came to making a final piece. This informed my development process because without editing some of the images in photoshop I wouldn't have got the same result within my final pieces. 

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? 

Illustration skills are definitely a strength throughout my work because I have become more confident with my drawing style and feel as though i'm developing something that is beginning to look like 'my own'. In future I will capitalise on this by using this skill more often whenever I am given chance in a brief, even if just for experimentation. Completing the briefs for the correct deadline has also been a strength throughout this module because if I hadn't had kept on top of the work I would have struggled to get everything done for the module deadline. In future I will make sure I manage my time just as well so that things get done and I dont have a big build up of work at the end. My ability to come up with a range of different ideas has also been a strength throughout this module because it means I have created a range of work and experimented with things I maybe haven't done before. In future I will make sure I explore a large range of ideas so that my work becomes more diverse. 

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in future? 

My work throughout this module has two main weaknesses. The first weakness is that I have not researched as much as I could have for each of the briefs. In future I will make sure I research as soon as I get a brief so all ideas I have intially are inspired by something and can be informed and developed fully by a better body of research. The second weakness I found was the amount of experimentation I did. I found that I threw myself straight into things instead of spending time coming up with a range of ideas because I didn't want to spend too much time with only having a week one most of the briefs. 

5. Identify five things you will do differently next time and what you expect to gain from doing these? 

1. Look and consider more research: My ideas will be more informed and it is likely I could come up with better ideas too. 


2. Prioritise each module that is running as high as the other: The briefs won't feel as rushed and i'll have put more effort into them. They will not be forgotten about. 


3. Develop more: I could come up with some really good ideas through doing this instead of just going with the first one I come up with. 


4. Experiment more: I could have used a range of different techniques to create final pieces. I would have a more diverse range of work and it would be more visually exciting. 


5. Use a greater range of sources for research: I may come across something I wouldn't find on the internet for example. 

6. How would you grade yourself in the following areas: 

Attendence 5

Punctuality 5  

Motivation 3

Commitment 3

Quantity of work produced 3

Quality of work produced 3

Contribution to the group 3

(1 being poor and 5 being excellent)

Image; The best of British.

This is my response to the self initiated brief. As with all of the previous briefs I wanted to do something in which I could hand illustrate my final outcomes. I decided to base my brief upon type as image as I quite enjoyed working with type as it made a change from what I usually do within my work. It's very loosely based upon that brief in the sense that I have chosen the quote 'The best of british' and decided to illustrate words within that based on the results I got from my survey as to what was 'most british' so technically i've used a word for type as image. I decided to create a series of posters in response to my brief because this meant I didn't really have any limitations on size and because I had a few words it could easily create a nice series. 

This is the imagery I created that I knew I would need for all of my final posters. I would take this into photoshop and create it digitally to be placed onto my posters. 

These are the final posters I created for my brief. Most of them are quite simplistic like with all previous briefs but then some of them are also more conceptual. The one element in particular that brings them all together is the fact they are quite minimal and are produced on a white background. I've gone for the illustrated style again throughout this poster series and feel this works quite well because it represents our country as being quite quirky which is a positive characteristic. I do have my favourites such as 'the queen' because I feel that some of them could have been developed a lot further. The style of posters could be seen as those that could teach children about their country, although this wasn't my intial intention, this would work really well. I had the intetion of creating one poster per week but fell down on this a bit throughout the brief.