OUGD603 / Module Evaluation

OUGD603 

Evaluation 

Managing my own time this year for Extended Practice has been a huge learning curve for me. I always slightly struggled with this aspect in first and second year, however having to organise my time efficiently on my own for this module made me plan and utilise my time effectively. Being excited and enthused about the briefs I was doing also was a big help, as well as live and collaborative briefs as I didn’t want to let the client or team member down. 

I found undertaking the number of briefs I did challenging, and at the start of the module fairly overwhelming. I found a great way to keep level headed was to extend my Context of Practice project (the value of hand-made design in the 21st century) as it is an aspect of design I feel very passionately about. By extending this and focussing it towards the craft of ceramics, I was undertaking a lengthy research-led brief that I spent at least one day a week doing throughout Extended Practice. I found having this day of working completely practically kept my ideas fresh as I found a balance between digital and physical projects. I think having this balance is so important, as other wise I could have become bored with my computer based projects. 

The freedom to work collaboratively was something I thoroughly enjoyed this year. This collaborative process has now become a lot more natural and beneficial to me in comparison to when I was first introduced to it in first year. I have found that utilising every member of the teams skill set to compliment one another creates a much more well rounded and comprehensive outcome that would not have been achievable if working individually.

Another aspect of Extended Practice I have enjoyed this year is having the choice to explore new techniques and processes. I was able to get a grasp a much better understanding of video and stop motion this year, as well as using Premier Pro. This is a skill I have always been interested in and I now feel a lot more confident in this area, it is something I will develop on in the future. 

I found feedback in this module very beneficial, I feel that as a class we have learnt to be more critical and by using this to our advantage (critiquing each others work) it has enabled me to grow as a designer. Although sometimes I didn’t take on board every bit of feedback given, I always formed my own judgement based on feedback collected from peers as well people external from the course. 

A weakness I found in this module was not being confident enough in my work and comparing it to others. This made me doubt some of my work and at times lose motivation, however having regular feedback sessions helped subside this and as I learnt that everyones briefs were so different there was no need to compare.

Overall, Extended Practice has been the most challenging yet also the most rewarding module I have undertaken to date. This is because I chose briefs I was passionate about, as well as live briefs, this made me want to create the most professional outcome as possible and therefore really stretched me as a designer. 

OUGD603 / Planning Time

Scan in of my time plan for these past months:

- found this very helpful to have own personal deadlines for separate parts of briefs, splitting them into research ---> ideas ---> design development ---> PRINT / or finish however appropriate

OUGD603 / Restaurant Rebrand / Collaborative Brief / Evaluation

Restaurant Rebrand / Collaborative Brief

Evaluation

The rebrand of Lupe’s Mexican Cantina was an extensive brief. Working collaboratively with Charlie meant we generated a broad range of ideas and utilised both of our different skills to design something most appropriate to the best of our ability. 

Starting out, we both created many different possible logos for the restaurant and after gathering feedback from peers as well as non design conscious people, we formed our own judgement of what was most successful. Before deciding on a definite logo we started creating the designs for flyers and menu’s, testing out different logos to see what worked best across all appropriate platforms. 

An article online on hand-painted signs in Mexico was extremely beneficial and influential for the logo. We based all of our initial designs on these, referring to the strong accents of the letterforms, as well as the fluidity of the more script like typefaces. Referring to these authentic hand-painted signs kept our designs close to the Mexican culture, attempting to portray the authenticity of the restaurants food. 

The concept of the Mexican wrestlers made our design unique and appropriate to our student target audience. The images used are fun yet also distinctly Mexican. Creating a repeat pattern out of these and applying a duotone to fit to the colour scheme of the branding, we were able to use this on any necessary platforms. After the overall image of the branding had taken shape, we extended the brief and created a wide range of outcomes with it. We were both able to do this freely as we were following our own brand guidelines created.

Overall I found working collaboratively on this brief highly rewarding. Both of us having different skill sets allowed us to extended this rebrand in to a big project, which both of us are very happy with the final outcomes.

OUGD603 / UP YER SLEEVE / Evaluation

UP YER SLEEVE

Evaluation

As Secret 7 wasn’t on this year it was great to still be able to create a visual response to a track, being as abstract and experimental as you want. The track I was allocated was Good Name by William Onyeabor, a Nigerian funk artist from the 70’s. I enjoyed researching in to Nigerian funk culture and trying to subtly portray connotations of this era / genre through my own designs. 

Collage and other forms of drawing were experimented with, however the most successful technique I used was moving a collage while scanning it in. This created a distorted effect which reflects the synthesised / electronic aspect of Onyeabor’s music. The use of bright colours such as green and orange are influenced from other Nigerian artworks and designs, I wanted the design to have undertones of this culture. 

Feedback showed that the chosen track was the most popular, this was my preferred design too - I think it visualises the song most accurately. 

OUGD603 / Food Stall Branding / Evaluation

Food Stall Branding

Evaluation 

I found this an exciting brief as the idea arose from a rough idea for a potential business plan with a friend. We came up with the idea about a year ago and I thought by making one of my briefs the branding for it, then if it ever were to happen to identity would already be done. Having this thought of the business going live kept me passionate about the project, meaning this was actually quite a long brief for me as I spent a lot of time gathering feedback and making alterations. 

Having this brief as a long one turned out to be beneficial as some parts didn’t go to plan, therefore by not setting any concrete deadlines I was able to go back and fix it. This was the case with the printing, initially I planned to riso print the menus and loyalty cards as we want the business to be as environmentally friendly as possible, and riso printers are very cost effective. It uses soy-based inks, are extremely energy efficient and generate a minimal amount of waste. Another reason to riso print was to access the bright colours used in the design, these colours are essential as it would make the stall stand out and be appropriate for the bright, fun surroundings of the festival. 

Allowing myself to have more time with this brief meant I could re-print the designs through screen printing, this gave the bright effect I was looking for.

Feedback was essential in this brief as when the menu was first being designed, aesthetic overrode important factors such as reader usability. It was unclear that you could mix and match the dippers to dips, having them directly opposite each other looked like they were permanently paired. This was really useful constructive feedback, after this I designed a range of different layouts, using arrows to communicate the mix-match aspect of the menu. 

I think the overall branding caters to the target audience of festival goers accurately through its use of bright colour and humour - through language and illustration. I am pleased with this brief and after showing it to my friend (who would be the business partner) she said she was really happy with it and even more driven to start it up now that it’s envisioned.

OUGD603 / Ceramics / Research-led Brief / Evaluation

Ceramics / Research-led Brief

Evaluation

This brief was an extension of my Contact of Practice project, exploring the value of hand-made design in the 21st century. By doing this I was going through hand made processes myself and testing the benefits - referring back to the theoretical research on Carl Honore’s beliefs and the positive effects of using slow processes and using our hands.

I have thoroughly enjoyed focussing this  research of hand-made design towards ceramics and have learnt a new skill / hobby in doing so. This is something which I now will carry on with after university and hope to learn and practice more.

Learning all the different steps and stages of ceramics has been the longest, ongoing project I have undertaken this year. It is a very slow process, each of which are equally important so great time and care has to be given at every step. Learning to experiment with different glazes (and not get too attached to the creations in the process) has also been a big learning curve. As the nature of ceramics is so unpredictable (things can break / change colour in the kiln which is out of your control) it’s important to detach yourself from them, even though this is difficult as each one goes through such a long journey!

Having this as an ongoing brief through these 4/5 months has also kept me motivated and passionate about my work. I found having one day a week completely off the computer screen extremely beneficial. This break allowed me to think in much more practical, tactile ways which I felt like I was missing out on when doing digital design work. It also meant I didn’t get tired of my other briefs as I had a balance. These psychological benefits refer back to the contextual research in my Context of Practice project.

OUGD603 / Exhibition Branding / Evaluation

Exhibition Branding

Evaluation

After rewriting the brief and making it appropriate for an individual project, I pushed forward with designing and created a range of possible ideas for the branding. After gathering feedback I formed my own opinion on what worked most successfully and extended the branding to use for the posters and flyers necessary.

I utilised my time well in this brief and set myself personal deadlines meaning after altering the brief it was a fairly linear process. I enjoyed creating a visual output to the concept which Charlie, Charles and I came up with. The branding was created while having feedback from the target audience (students) and therefore caters well for the audience. The logo communicates effectively what the exhibition is about through the ways the letters sit to mimic changing the way things are seen / seeing things differently. The dashed line has connotations of a scientific diagram, similar to a light prism. This demonstrates the concept of perspective in the exhibition.

If I had more time with this brief I would have liked to turn this proposal to reality and put the exhibition on. The presentation would be given infant of the different courses and then putting it on at Studio 24, possibly sourcing work from renowned designers also so that students could be exhibited along side them and possibly mingle with industry.  

OUGD603 / Website Design & Branding / Live Brief / Evaluation

Website Design & Branding / Live Brief

Evaluation

This brief ended up being bigger than I anticipated as when designing the website for the Furniture Restoration Business I also had to brand it too. Having ongoing communication with the client was extremely beneficial for this as I was able to understand exactly what the client wanted, and therefore meet his needs as closely as possible. 

Having feedback from peers in the studio was also valuable. There were some things the client suggested that didn’t visually work from a design perspective, and when asking peers for feedback they supported my decisions which made me feel more confident when telling the client.

Catering to the target audience was a challenge as it is one I have never designed for before (typically older, interested in antiques or antique dealers). Looking at the the clients competitors, other furniture restorers websites has a very corporate, sometimes dated aesthetic. After talking to the client it was clear he wanted to stay away from this and have something a lot more sophisticated and modern. When talking to the client I wrote down key words from the conversation which were ‘classical, Georgian 18th century’ and by doing this I was able to refer back to these while designing to keep the clients vision close. By taking inspiration from clean, contemporary websites such Cereal Magazines I was able to generate ideas for a sleek, minimal but classic tone of voice. 

I nearly let the target audience slip when sizing the body copy to a fairly small point, this was purely for aesthetic reasons although after referring back to the brief I resized the text to bigger in order to cater for the older audience. 

I found this brief very rewarding as the client said they were extremely happy with the finished outcome. Gathering feedback from peers as well as people external from the course throughout designing was very helpful. Once finished, peers said the tone of voice of the website conveys classicalness through the sophisticated serif typeface. I am glad the website design was successful in this aspect as it is something very important to the client.

OUGD603 / Real Junk Food Video / Collaborative Brief / Evaluation

Real Junk Food Video / Collaborative Brief

Evaluation

The concept for this brief is something I am passionate about and therefore kept me motivated throughout the project. As the issue of food waste is a really important issue we found that there was not much coverage online targeted at our age group. We looked in to The Real Junk Food Project and what they do and strongly believed in their ethos, although we think with more publicity they could reach out to a wider audience. As a result of this, we decided to create a video, as a lot people in our age range (18-25) scroll through Facebook and watch a lot of videos. Stop motion was chosen as a result of our research, PES especially influenced us as he uses a lot of food in his stop motion videos which are very effective and engaging. 

Time management in this project was very successful. We set ourself deadlines throughout different stages the brief, working collaboratively definitely benefitted us in this way as it made us more efficient as we were all relying on each other. Working collaboratively also allowed us to generate a wide range of ideas for different transitions and compositions when creating the video on set. It was also the perfect amount of people to move the props / food and operate the camera too. 

A weakness was cutting the video down to an appropriate length. The video is a fairly long (1 minute 43 seconds), however taking any parts out or speeding it up would either ruin the timing of video or defeat its purpose. The video could also be seen as having too feminine colours due to the pink background. If we had more time we would have sourced a more neutral background. 

Getting feedback throughout editing the video was essential as certain problems were pointed out that we wouldn’t have considered before. For example the typeface, initially we used Akzidenz Grotesk (a simple, sans serif typeface) in quite a small size for the text. However after watching this version the tutors suggested using a more playful typeface to reflect this tone of voice communicated in the video, and that Akzidenz Grotesk seemed too corporate. Looking closer in to the type we realised we also needed to consider orphans, layout and type placement.

Taking this feedback on board we changed the typeface to Fredoka One, a rounded bubbly formed typeface however still legible. This communicates a more friendly, approachable tone of voice. 

If I were to spend more time on this video I would possibly change the background colour so that it is more gender neutral. As well as this, I would go through the stills and edit out the shadows / marks on Photoshop. This had to be done for some of the more obvious shots however there was not enough time to go through them all, if this was done I think the video would have a more professional finish. 

This brief helped develop my skills on Premier Pro to a much higher standard, as well as the general stop motion process, and therefore broadened my skill set as a designer. Having a meaningful concept behind the video also kept us passionate about the project as it is something we all 3 of us feel strongly about. 

OUGD603 / Stop Motion Promo Video / Live Brief / External Collaborative Brief / Evaluation

Stop Motion Promo Video / Live Brief / External Collaborative Brief

Evaluation

This was a short yet labour intensive brief. The decision to create a stop motion animation using a plasticine model was a new challenge to both of us so we had to learn quickly on the job. This is something I have always been interested and think this was the best way to learn, or at least get an introduction to this process. 

Looking into stop motion animations such as Morph and Wallace and Gromit was hugely inspiring as they set the standard immensely high. As this was a small brief we gave ourselves one day to shoot the whole sequence meaning ours is clearly at a very beginner's standard, although referring back to the professionals and reading about the processes and techniques they use was very helpful.

The brief was to create a fun video that the night ‘Soul Control’ (branding is an octopus) can share on social media to gain interest for the night. I believe the brief was well met as feedback from the animation was positive and it attracted a lot of attention to the night Soul Control was putting on.

This brief also allowed me to learn and explore a new skill (stop motion with model making) which I was completely new to. I would like to develop this skill further and create something to a higher standard in the future. 

OUGD603 / Jessy Lanza / Evaluation

Jessy Lanza 

Evaluation

This was a small but enjoyable brief. I found it refreshing to take a break from thinking about a target audience and other considerations and create something solely based on a song. I aimed to interpret the song in my own way through image, experimenting with designs / visuals by responding to the sounds, beat and lengths of the notes. 

This allowed me to create more experimental and unpredictable designs that I wouldn’t have been able to think of other wise. Although this was one of the smallest briefs I have done it has encouraged me to try and approach designing in different ways, as I found when responding to the sounds I made some really interesting and different outcomes. 

Having the restriction of printing on bright white stock made the design appear unfinished, however this was overcome when I decided to mono print a background colour and then lino print the design over this. 

If I were to expand this brief I would have liked to make a series, possibly experimenting with different colour ways and then creating 3 square lino prints to compliment each other. 

OUGD603 / Event Branding / Live Brief / Evaluation

Event Branding / Live Brief (Peachy)

Evaluation

This was a live brief which was on going at the same time as writing my dissertation, so time management was an important part of this brief. This benefitted me greatly as it enabled me to start extended practice keeping time management in mind. 

I had to keep this brief to a strict schedule as it was for a client so I had to work efficiently. This kept me organised and working quickly. After taking on feedback from peers the chosen design was pushed forwards and developed. The neon green colour  used reflects the upbeat electronic style of the music played at the night, and the use of heavy block capital lettering convey the bass element of the music - client described the music as Grime, Bassline, Bass House and UK Funky.

The client is very happy with the finished design and has asked me to carry on with designing for the night as it progresses. The first few nights have been a success! Working with a client like this has been a good lesson for me as it has got me more used to working in a professional manner - initially, having to make alterations that I didn’t necessarily agree with was challenging, but this is all part of working for a client and something that I am learning to get used to.

OUGD603 / LUPE'S Cantina Rebrand / Final Designs

OUGD603 / LUPE'S Cantina Rebrand / Window Vinyl Sticker

A vinyl window sticker has been designed displaying the opening times of the restaurant. Keeping consistent with the branding an image of Mexican wrestlers has been used above this.

This would be on the window of Lupe's, so passerby's can see the opening times in a more interesting / interactive way than just a normal sign. This way they will look into the restaurant (through the window) and see the intimate, authentic environment Lupe's has to offer.

OUGD603 / LUPE'S Cantina Rebrand / Social Media

A facebook page has been mocked up:

Website:

OUGD603 / LUPE'S Cantina Rebrand / Paste Up Poster

Keeping consistent with the rest of the branding I have designed a poster which would be stuck up around Hyde Park / Headingley to attract the student audience. 

OUGD603 / Food Stall Branding / Screen Printing

As riso printing didn't go to plan, the menu's and loyalty cards have had to be screen printed. This way the bright colours can still be achieved unlike if they were printed digitally due to the restrictions of CMYK.  

If these were to be produced on a mass scale (for the food truck in real life) they would be riso printed as this way they would be bright but produced a lot quicker than screen printing. Also because riso printing is environmentally friendly and cost effective as it uses soy-based inks. Each stencil (master) is made from thermal sensitive paper and unlike offset printing it only takes a single print for the screen to be fully inked and ready to print thousands of copies. Riso printers are extremely energy efficient and generate a minimal amount of waste. 

This answers the relates back to the brief as stated - the company would be ethical and environmentally conscious.

 

OUGD603 / LUPE'S Cantina Rebrand / Apron

Me and Charlie screen printed the logo onto the aprons - this way we can see how the design would actually look on the necessary platforms. 

We are thinking that when pitching our design to Lupe's, having something physical like the apron could allow them to see what the design would look like 'in action'.

OUD603 / Website Design / Finished Website

Feedback: 

The client is very happy with the finished website which I am pleased about. It’s simple but has a classic tone which is conveyed through the serif, upper case typeface.

Having on going feedback and communication with the client was extremely beneficial and made sure for a website and branding that the client was completely happy and comfortable with. This was definitely a successful part of the brief.

However communication was also a weakness in this project as the client didn’t send me the photos by the time I had asked, meaning this brief had to be prolonged and had to be come back to later. This interfered with my time schedule for other briefs too.

Overall I really enjoyed this brief and found it rewarding to turn the clients vision in to a real running website.

Mobile version: 

OUGD603 / Research Led Brief / Ceramics / More Pictures

These pictures were taken with a film camera to give a more natural effect. 

OUGD603 / Jessy Lanza / Lino Printing

I decided to lino print the design as this gave me freedom to improvise with it while listening to the song (whereas with screen printing once the screen is exposed the design is final and unchangeable).

The first carving I did was a little messy so I went over the carving again making sure more of the lino was cut away for a cleaner print. 

I found having to use white stock a struggle as the prints on white looked almost unfinished. 

I got resolved this by mono printing pink onto the white paper as a background, then printing the black lino print over the top. I think this held the design together better. 

Final: