OUGD402 | Studio Brief 02 - Critique

The night before our critique, we were surprised with the fact that we had to create a 5 minute powerpoint form presentation rather than show our work in whatever form we had it. The aim of this was to introduce us to the reality of the industry and help us prepare for these surprises.
As I had already presented my work on art boards in illustrator in a presentation style, I used these to construct my presentation. I had to create this in the morning due to not having a working laptop at the time. I did try to use my presentation grid, however Google Slides, the format I was using to create my presentation would not allow me to adjust the grid to the correct size. After seeing others grids during the presentations, I am rethinking my own and considering whether I should simplify it for the purpose of my presentation for studio brief 03.
As I was third up, I did not receive much feedback. The group seemed to like my colour choices and my idea of using "playful" as they felt that this described my way of working. I feel that my presentation skills were good, I spoke confidently about my idea and tried to engage with the audience. I feel that my confidence is really growing with presentations. I enjoy talking about design so I think that this is helping me when it comes to presentations.

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 01 - Salts Mill, Saltaire visit

Salts Mill is a large art gallery and shop located in Saltaire, which is a 20 minute train journey from Leeds. Myself and some friends went to visit.
It was helpful to get out of the main city and see something new. The space inside is amazing, as it used to be a mill. It is now filled with art work, mainly by David Hockney, as well as hundreds of art books, materials, stationary and more. The place was a great source of inspiration and resources and it was nice to see design in such an unusual setting.

I was drawn the the row of coloured lampshades across the ceiling.

In the stationary section I found a collection of notebooks and sheets by Rifle Paper Co. I was attracted to the patterns, as well as the small sleeves around the books which featured a classy serif font, which I felt added value to the notebooks. I have been interested in creating my own patterns to print on to notebooks to potentially sell, so this was a good source of inspiration for me. I would like to create sleeves for my own books and maybe foil any lettering or details on the front of my notebooks. 

What was useful about Salts Mill was the large section of graphic design books, the main books on display highlighted to me the popular graphic design books that I should be reading to inform my studies. Although I did not buy any, I plan to look in the LCA library to see if any are available to borrow. 

I fell in love with the large vases of lilies on each table

An example of David Hockney's work

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 02 - Evaluation

I felt that this was a brief that I really engaged with as it is something I have attempted in my spare time. So having the opportunity to create a more professional branding was good for me.
There were a number of successes during this brief, I was pleased that I created a business card and website despite these not being deliverables. This is beneficial to me in that I can use this to benefit my own practice outside of university and begin to establish myself as a freelance designer - potentially earning some money in the process.
I was pleased that I approached this brief by producing some initial sketches. I find it easy to jump straight on to a computer without thinking first, and then I find myself left in the experimental stage and soon later stuck for ideas. My idea generation was also aided by my different approach of research - a mood board. This method of research was really helpful to me and an approach I had not considered before, so I plan to use this in future briefs.
I feel that photographing my business cards with a DSLR really improved the look of my business cards overall. I am beginning to understand how to use a camera more with every brief so I really enjoyed photographing the cards.
To improve my approach I would have considered the points on the brief more, relating to myself and my practice. I was unsure what to advertise myself as and I feel that if I defined this more clearly I could have directed my designs. I feel that I could have also been more creative with my business cards in terms of shape, creative design and a clear visual representation of me. I would have created a sleeker logo which was in the form of text or had a clever meaning but despite my research and experimentation I could not come up with anything creative.
My time management was okay for this brief, however I began designing quite late after the briefing and feel that I need to make a clear time plan at the beginning after a briefing so that I can create everything in time. I did manage to finish in good time, but I feel that with a time plan I could have been more effective with my design process and created a better result.
Finally, I feel that my research needs to improve, as I am too eager to get designing. I do carry out research but I have not recorded this very clearly. I also need to expand my research sources as I jump to Pinterest too quickly without considering primary sources.

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 02 - Full Final Branding

My final branding consists of 5 elements a logo, colour scheme, type, business cards, website and presentation grid. My logo is ideal in that it can be used in many different colours, for example, the text colour can be changed as well as the stripes. This allows versatility when using my logo. The colour scheme I opted for consisted of shades of blue, turquoise and pink. I wanted an element of girliness in my colour scheme but also allowing it to appeal to a wider audience. I feel that the harmonious colour in my scheme will appeal to all. 

My typefaces are useful in that both of these can be used for titles/headings etc. My type was very informed by my website as I was restricted to certain typefaces. I felt that Bebas has a bold look that is striking and catches your attention, The overall structure of the letterforms appeals to me. Montserrat is a clear and legible typeface at any size, it has a crisp look and I felt that I wanted to get away from the typical fonts such as Helvetica and Futura. 

My website and business cards were a construction of my logo, colour and type. The website itself is very simple, including the following pages - home/hello, about, portfolio, services, contact. I want to make it clear and simple that I currently design and that I am easy to contact. I have also advertised my prices as being highly reasonable considering I am a student. I plan to improve this website during my spare time in the summer break and also will use this time to advertise myself. As for my business cards, they follow the simplistic feel, the only details I gave were 'graphic designer/illustrator' and my website and email. I decided not to include a telephone number as I feel that my phone is currently for personal use only and feel that I can be more formal though email contact. 

For my presentation grid, I wanted to create a grid that gave me a lot of freedom to play around with the design if need be but still have some order. 

Overall I am pleased with my design but I am finding it difficult not to change. I feel that this is because I see so much design that I love every day that I just want to keep redesigning when I am inspired by something. 

sophiegracedesign.weebly.com (work in progress, will continue after full deadline) 

Presentation Grid 

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 02 - Continued research

I have been researching creative branding on Behance to give me some more inspiration. I am inspired by so much design that it is difficult to select a style that I would like to recreate. So I am currently looking at a range of designs.

Yairon Martinez

What drew me to this design was the bright colours as well as the logo which is easily placed with a variety of patterns yet it remains bold and recognisable. I would like to apply a similar concept to my logo/logotype whereby it is recognisable with different patterns and colours. I feel that if you can achieve this your brand has a stronger presence within the industry and can more easily be applied to various collateral whilst looking professional.

www.tinnecornelissen.com

The illustrative style of this branding drew me in. I am a fan of this 'wobbly' style of illustration, I feel that this branding has a really personal touch and the pastel colour scheme is friendly to whoever would receive it. As much of my work takes an illustrative approach I feel that something illustrative would be appropriate in my branding. 

Vittoria Miceli

This branding is more graphic design based but it has a playful triangular pattern on the back of the card using a bright colour palette which follows more of an illustrative style. The type clearly communicates that the person is a graphic designer, I like how small icons have been used to clearly communicate the information being given. The pattern is easily transferred to other collateral which provides a consistent and professional design.  

OUGD402 | Studio Brief 02 - Business Cards

After finally deciding a final business card, I went to digital print and printed them on 300gsm matt stock. I did have the option of a glossy stock but I felt that this would not suit the style I was going for. I felt the matt stock had a more hand made feel whereas glossy would potentially look tacky and like I was trying to look too professional. 

I set up the designs to print in InDesign with the front on one page and the back on another in a 16 x 16 grid. I used the alignment tools to ensure everything was lined up correctly. I analysed the business cards and created grid lines to ensure everything was centred. The back of the business cards do not look centred, however this is because of the nature of the 3D box and how your eye interprets it. I created some minor differences in colour for some of the cards to have a variety but consistency at the same time. 

I then took out a DLSR with a macro lens which allowed me to photograph the business cards professionally and highlight the details. I placed these on a variety of surfaces such as chip board and blue and lilac stock to explore where the cards photographed best. Unfortunately, the lilac stock made the cards look a very unusual colour so I scrapped these images. I am still mastering using a macro lens so some of the photographs are blurry in areas, but I feel that this creates a quirky effect. Below are the photos I achieved -