Individual Progress Tutorial 13/11/12

This weeks tutorial with Andy was really useful as I could show in the progress I'd made since our chat last week. I took in all the products I'd made for the stationery brief, so I could get some feedback on how they were working, and showed the rest of my designs that were on my blog. Andy also brought in some books about logo design to help me as this was the area I felt the most stuck on.
Here are the notes about what we talked about:

Brief 1.

- Needs an underlying theme (could be topical to do with news stories)
- What is missing in the overpopulated greetings card market?
- What are illustrators doing at the moment? (look at Mr Bingo etc)
- Could be interactive, such as coming with a sticker sheet so you can add in your own message
- Create a new occasion, then there would be no competition from other companies
- Idea could be to focus on regional dialect and says and the style of typeface could relate to the accent
- The cards need a character and personality to stand out from what is already available

Brief 2.

- Print on to grey stock rather than printing grey on to white
- Make sure all the type is consistent, as some are different colours and sizes and caps and lowercase etc...
- The green text is easiest to read
- Could try doing a few with a more feminine colour scheme to appeal to women too
- Tools layout for pencil case doesn't work in a circle as the tools are just arranged around the text
- Keep all pieces consistent, with the text the same size in proportion to the image and each piece arranged in the same way, pieces need uniformity. Agree set positions so everything works as a set
- On the square pen pot line the tools up so there is more of a grid
- On the pen tube arrange the nibs so they are the same way as this would make more sense

Brief 3.

- For the quote about perfect presentation it could be written in an ornamental typeface to show how things can look when decorative
- The book should be small and thick, and printed on to good stock (maybe thick glossy), so it feels like a quality product, rather than a disposable one
- For the keep practising quote focus on the idea that the more you do the better you will get
- Each quote could take 2 dps, 1 dps for the quote and one for the message to make the book thicker

Brief 4.

- Create the products first, then apply the logo afterwards, as the design may influence what the logo looks like
- There could be no set logo like the Tate, or a different colour scheme or logo for every decade
- The logo could be thicker to work in reverse
- Look at the logo design books
- Always consider your subject and your target audience when designing logos - why is it like that?

OUGD301 / Crit - 8/11/12

For the crit I printed out some pages of my experimental design work as well as this question sheet. After looking at other peoples work, I can see a lot of people are at very different stages, but I really need more stuff printed and actual products to get better feedback.

Questions:

Feedback:

I got lots of pieces of individual bits of feedback from different people:

• Brief 2 - Varying opacity of filled iconography works most effectively to be visually communicative and bold.
• Brief 2 - Filled in iconography works best but use colour not black. Makes it most clear when in context.
• Brief 2 - Increase the line weight of the stroke 
• Brief 3 - Type shouldn't be black, use either colours or shades of grey.
• Brief 3 - Typeface is a bit busy, for a guide book, maybe more clean cut typography would be more fitting?
• Brief 3 - What is the purpose of the typeface and why has it got the lines all over it? Apply the rules of modernism, simplicity and less ornamental elements to improve legibility and the pure form of the type. It currently looks like Greek writing.
• Brief 3 - Verging on boarder line illegible, for a graphics guide book, be careful with some combinations.
• Brief 3 - Type could work well reversed out on black. It would work most effectively on a bold monochromatic or bright background - avoid anything dull or pastel toned.
• Brief 4 - Serif logo is much more interesting to look at in comparison to the serif example. Try having the same strap line.
• Brief 4 - The serif logo for the MGD is visually interesting but could a little more refined and clean to translate over a range of print and digital collateral. Experiment with designing ligatures with existing serif typefaces, may look a little more corporate and suited to the context.
• Brief 4 - The sans serif logo gives a contemporary edge.
• General - Huge amount of high quality range of investigation which covers and allows you to investigate and explore more effectively
• General - You explored a lot further since the last crit, but the outcomes are still the same, try changing the media
• General - You have briefly started to explore the way you can see the designs develop
• General - Blog is organised, looks like you know what you are doing. But print more stuff out for the next crit!!
• General - Clear ideas for briefs
• General - Need to apply designs to different areas

P.O.A.

After this crit I was feeling a bit like I was at a dead end as always, people have totally different opinions so doesn't make decision making any easier. I think I need to continue doing what I did this week and discuss where I am up to with a tutor as well, as crits have been really confusing me and making me feel unmotivated with the mixed feedback.

I also need to start brief 1, I think doing this now will be a good way to give my mind a break from the other briefs, so I don't get sick of them.

I am going to do the things I discussed with Andy on tuesday and ask his advice on where to go next on tuesday next week, to continue to get helpful feedback from the same person.

Individual Progress Tutorial 6/11/12

Today I signed up for a progress surgery tutorial with Andy to talk about a few issues that I was stuck on. I found this talk a lot more useful than the feedback I had been given in the previous crits, as I had been getting a bit confused and stuck due to the variation of feedback I received.

We talked through my ideas and design progress for each brief. I haven't yet started Brief 1.

Brief 2.

After creating the initial icons, I didn't feel like what I was doing (re-creating symbols of the internet as iconography) was very creative, and felt a bit stuck with the designs for this brief. 

Andy suggested the idea of making the symbols relate to the items they would be placed on in a clever way, with puns. The brief would be about a clever, funny idea, rather than a fussy design. I would be changing the meaning, rather than sticking to the obvious, and this would add humour to the designs and make them stand out more.

[Puns for icons] <-- see blog post

• Try creating the icons in RGB or other luminous colours
• Look at The Chase and Hat Trick Design for clever ideas
• Use well known icons people who don't know a lot about computers will still understand, so its easier to get the pun
• What other products would be popular such as recyclable shopping bags

Brief 3.

I now know what I want the content of the book to include. Here is what I have decided on after a really helpful discussion:

• The book will contain about 10 quotes, which will be featured on a double page spread, including an explanation about the quote
• There will also be end pages, introduction pages, a cover, and packaging
• The book will be A6 or smaller size, as a handy pocket book of inspiration
• Each quote will be presented in a different typographic style, relating to what the quote is about. For example, keep practising could be re-written many of times
• As each quote will look different, to keep the book from looking too much, a simple colour scheme of two colours, maybe just black and white, will be used
• I need to look in to bookbinding, but I am thinking the book will be french fold, to double the thickness, maybe professionally done at: http://www.spinkandthackray.co.uk

[Content for book] <-- see blog post

Brief 4.

The logo for MGD was the thing that I felt the most stuck on after receiving quite different comments in my crits.

• Research Pentagram logo design for classical logos and famous museum branding
• Which era is the museum about?
• The logo shouldn't be slanted as it looks a bit cheap and won't be substantial
• Should be sans serif and minimal
• Try designing the logo with just the shapes to make a simple, design led logo
• With the use of caps there would be no issue of leading
• Try bolder text

OUGD301 Feedback Crit

For the crit, I am showing my blog and have printed some sheets of work. I've also re-written my briefs as these will be useful to help people who don't know anything about what I'm doing to understand my work. I also realised that the old briefs I had written didn't totally make sense now that I have changed a few things.

Questions I want answering:

1. Does the logo design for the Graphic Design Museum work as intended? (To appeal to a wide audience and to last the test of time)

2. Which colours do you associate with the internet?

3. For the stationery brief, should I go with the pixel theme I've been looking at or look into Icongraphy?

4. Should my graphic design rulebook contain images or be type based only?

5. What do you think of the decorative heading text I have made for the rulebook? (See printed sheets)

Feedback:

Plan of Action:

After reading the feedback, here is what I have decided to do based on peoples opinions:

Brief 2

- Won't go with the pixel typeface as it is too obvious and not creative enough
- The colours I have decided on to represent the internet are blue, green, black and white

Brief 3

- Take the range further with merchandise etc
- Make sure the words of the typeface are readable and make it more like a proper typeface, so use the same glyph for each of the same letters in a sentence
- Think of the content, a bit of writing for each statement to back it up (Such as with the "Its not how good you are..." book)
- The purpose of the book is to motivate and inspire so it is better not to call it a rule book but a guide book
- The U.S.P of the book is that it is attractive to designers because of its design and the print finishes used
- The purpose of the typeface can be explained in the book. It looks good, and it makes designers think about how they can alter a font to customise it to how they want it to look, rather than just going with what is easily available

Brief 4

- Use helvetica or typefaces that are more relevant/important to graphic design in designs to appeal to target audience
- The previous audience for who the invites to the opening night would be sent to was too broad, so I have narrowed this down, to graphic design industry professionals including 'celebrity' graphic designers, such as ones that would appear at design festivals like typo, and members of the media to put the museum in the spotlight, like graphic design magazines
- I will avoid using gradients in the logo as this doesn't work
- I am going to continue to experiment with the logo design rather than settling for what I have now, as there are still changes to be made

Individual Progression Tutorial

Today I've had my individual progress tutorial with Phil which has been useful as I felt I was stuck at a bit of a dead end, not knowing what to do next, but now I know where to start and have an idea about how I should structure this module.

Notes:

1. Typographic Rule Book - Longest brief

- Play around with breaking the type face down, remove parts but so it is still legible
- Look at book formats: what shape will the book be and how will the reader interact with it?
- E.g. book could be shaped like a letter
- This should be the longest one, span out over 7 weeks
- Look at Graphic Design Rulebook - Thou Shall Not

2. Internet themed stationery - Short brief

- Who is your target audience? At the moment will be most appealing to young boys
- Choose colour scheme, start by choosing sets of 5 colours that work together than eventually lower this down to just three
- Keep this brief short, once you've got a pattern easy to apply it
- Pixel idea obvious side of internet so which other ways could you go?

3. Graphic Design Museum - Shortest brief

- Once you've got a logo and a colour scheme can apply this to anything
- Look at Saul Bass branding for Joomi Sushi

4. YCN Competition Brief - Short/ Medium brief

- Choose a back-up brief from the ISTD briefs, in case the YCN ones are not applicable to your design practice

OUGD301/ Group Tutorial 1

For this first group tutorial I read out what my rational and statement of intent is, and then talked through each brief individually. I received written feedback from everyone in the tutorial.

I made some notes on what Fred was saying to other people because it was also useful to what I was doing, and some of the things really got me thinking about one of my briefs in particular, which I think I will spend some time re-writing as I need to consider why I am choosing to do things and if it is relevant to my rationale.

Notes:

- What does each brief offer?
- Push every brief further
- Have a brief that is about playing about
- Do all briefs relate to the rationale and statement of intent and dissertation?
- Portfolio should be varied but clear who you are with a focus
- Extend every brief after resolving
- Proposal - think big - what could you do?
- Why would you be making a decision.. e.g. have your reasons for screen printing
- Don't repeat yourself with your briefs
- FMP - 6 briefs

Feedback on sheets:

- Stationery design of what? Could be graphic design museum
- Maybe consider collaborating with a type and layout designer
- Starting to develop type skills
- Incorporate image and type rather than ruling out all together
- Looking at type based briefs is pointing you in a new direction
- Why are you doing things within your briefs? Have a reason.
- Range of subject matter to keep you interested in your briefs
- Rule book will allow you to develop skills and so will a type based competition entry
- What is your area of focus?
- Who are the clients/ products/ theme?
- Good idea for type brief rulebook

..... I never got my tutorial sheet back :( ....

To do next: FOR FRIDAY!

- Decide which competition brief I will enter
- What will the stationery brief be? Can it link with the life of the internet brief?
- Get feedback on this new brief
- Re-write submission brief sheet