OUGD504 Module Evaluation

This module hasn’t turned out to what I was expecting. The first brief seemed like a continuation of last year, which was good because it eased us back in quite nicely. It was good to think about how I design. I think because I wanted to change how I worked, highlighting this has benefited me a lot. I now draw things by hand first and then go on to digitalise if appropriate. I stay longer and make the brief more interesting for me personally. I’m happy with what I produced for the time, because a lot was hand rendered. However if I had more time I think I could work more on the hand rendered elements more.  

   Logostarter was an interesting brief because it was real. I went for a local business so I could show them what I had designed. However, I didn’t because I really wasn’t happy with what I came up with. I was very stuck on colour and it just looks poor quality. I can see what I was trying to create but I think about the time I wasn’t confident in using Illustrator. Over the longer briefs I have gotten a lot better using the pen tool to outline hand type, however for this quick one week brief I didn’t have time. If I had longer I would have totally obsessed more to make sure there was smooth lines and nice colour. I did enjoy the idea of the brief and it prepared me for responsive more which was helpful.

    I was really looking forward to the website brief. I was intimidated because I had no clue about websites at all but after our first session with Simon on coding, it seemed really interesting. However I think it is a massive shame that there wasn’t a replacement tutor who could teach us the coding. I think it is quite specialist knowledge; it probably would have helped me be more interested in the brief. I think all I did was design flats of what a website could look like with considerations of RGB and HEX codes. It was interesting to learn what would work on the Internet and what wouldn’t but once the sessions with Simon stopped, I think I just thought about the overall look. That is probably because new media isn’t what I want to work in so trying to make this brief interesting to me was difficult.

    The last brief is the one I’m most happy with because of what I designed. I can see how much I have improved from the beginning of this module, with hand type, use of colour and understanding my audience. It was very important to be aware of what your designing and for who. I tried to keep this on my mind at all times. Since my website is for creatives and so was my advert it was quite easy to design something I think they would like. I like the design and I’m a creative, so it should work. Since this was an advert campaign understanding distribution was important. I made sure that when I designed the three deliverables they were appropriate for the audience, they were cheap to make and easy to actually distribute. I think in all three this is true. It was difficult thinking of three ways to advertise a website. I didn’t want an advert for a website, because that wasn’t the brief. I think just expanding the website and making people involved was the important part. This brief has helped me understand the importance of knowing commercial considerations. In all designs I should be aware of this and I think I will now due to the research I made.

     This module didn’t work out as I thought because I thought we were going to actually make a website that moved. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case but I think if I’m interested enough in it, I would of worked out how to do more than I have. I think because we weren’t getting specific lessons on how to, I lost interest on trying to work it out myself. It’s shame but I did learn about what you need to consider when designing for web. This will be helpful in future briefs and work. Even if it isn’t a web specific brief, understanding the use of colour and what is allowed and isn’t, applies to the whole of graphic design. However, I have enjoyed this module because there was a lot of room in the briefs to add my own ideas and make it more about what I enjoy.

Augmented Reality, Evaluation

I have really enjoyed the Augmented Reality brief. At first I didn’t think I would because it looked incredibly digital and I didn’t know how to start. After research and understanding the word ‘augmented’ it helped me see what I could do with this brief.

I’m not particularly interested in very digital things like making videos or animations. I prefer more traditional methods of design, so with this brief I wanted to answer it but in my own way. I liked that the brief was print based because that meant I could get the hand rendered type elements into the adverts. This meant it would directly link with my website and hopefully expand the website. Once I worked out what ideas I was going to design, the actual designing was easy, fast and fun. Once I get into a design I work quite fast and solidly on it. This was definitely the case with the ‘hand type made east with typeline’, once I realised the slogan it was easy to experiment.

   My time management was not good with this brief however. I didn’t really realise it was a full brief till very late on; I think the briefing must not have inspired me much. If it had I would have started work on that quickly. There are other elements like responsive taking over my priorities for a part of the time as well. Once I had realised how much time I had left, which was about two weeks, I quickly started thinking of ideas. I found it quite easy to work solidly for a few days at home over Christmas. This meant I caught up quite easily.

   There was quite a lot of experimentation in this brief. It took me a few good tries of writing out the slogan to a point I was happy. From that to digitalising it was just a case of playing around with composition and colour. The design of the slogan definitely changed a lot from my firs attempt. I really enjoyed this process. It was fun and interesting thinking of new ideas of how it could look. Realising the 3D was a light bulb moment and I think it looks good. It gets the viewer to look hard at the slogan and work out what it says. From there they see the URL and hopefully makes them want to look it up.
     Since this was an advertising campaign brief, I had to think about the commercial side of things. This is why I printed my posters at a4 and on basic stock, meaning it is the cheapest method. I also only want to put them in specific places to wouldn't need as many as if I was distributing them all over the city. Stickers are cheap and easy enough to make and get the website name out further than the city. The magazine advert is the most costly because it means buying space in a magazine. However again this is specialised and so would only go in hand full of design magazines. I would put them in local Leeds mags as well to cut down the cost.

    Overall I think I worked well on this brief. Once I settled down with a design I was happy with it was easy to build that up. I can see from the Logostarter how much my hand rendered typography has improved, which makes me really happy. I really enjoy rendered type and only want to improve further. I think being able to get it in the brief is very exciting for me, I hope I can do the same in future briefs.

Augmented Reality, Designs in context

The idea with these posters is that they are small enough to posted in many different places. I was picturing notice boards at galleries and cafes etc. This is an example of it up and being used. I like that they aren't perfectly placed and have other flyers and posters around them.

I've tried to put the stickers in context of where I think they will be used. I don't think my photoshop skills are that good after looking at this..

However, a lot of people have stickers on their computers and Macs and stickers go hand in hand when talking about creatives, so I think this would be utilised well. 

I think this looks good as part of a magazine, probably better if I could render better. But I think the magazine advert really suits the composition and placement of a creative type magazine.

Augmented Reality, Final Pieces

The final pieces for this brief have come out really well. I think my favourite is the 'Excuse me' posters, but overall happy with the three print based deliverables.

Changes to wesbite due to augmented brief

Title header has changed 

 Colour of strips, submission box and slogan has changed. The slogan is catchier and earlier to read now, and the blue flows well with the rest of the pastel type colours. I think this looks a lot better than the neon green that didn't really fit.

Since I changed the green on the website because of the 3D design, I added the same colours to the poster. It allowed me to work out the hierarchy and worked out really well. It reads well and I think gets the message of my advert across. 

Changes to rationale - rather than keeping the look of the adverts within the look of my website, I have updated the website. This makes the website better, and allowed me to develop my ideas for the adverts a bit further .

Augmented Reality, Sticker

This idea of using lines to cover the slogan a bit, so the person had to decipher what it said had been on my mind. So I thought I would create it to see the result, I like it but it doesn't suit the rest of the campaign. 

I think it looks good, with the lines going over the type, and the different opacities. However, it doesn't need to look like this. It doesn't convey the look and idea of my website, and doesn't follow the style.

I decided to use the same slogan design from the magazine on the stickers, it keeps the campaign flowing and I think works well as a sticker.

I looked at a few shapes, knowing I wanted a soft edge, but didn't want to follow to exact shape of the letters. I chose to go circular because it is a good, useable sticker and the slogan sits nicely within it.

Augmented Reality, Magazine

The original title header looked like this above. I used this for the website and thought I could use it for the magazine too. Use it like a billboard but create a slogan to go with it.

I wanted to add some colour and more depth. Normally I like drop shadows but after attempting it, it didn't really work. So I thought I'd just draw it properly like the poster.

 I drew it out properly which made it a lot easier to digitalise. I neatened it up a bit and realised the dot of the eye crosses over the 'L' making it look like a 't'. So to not confuse but to make sure the slogan was illegible I took it out. 

I experimented with colour but didn't like the look of it when it shrunk down.

I began playing around with colour and thinking of a drop shadow. I liked the look of the different colours, and thought changing the opacity to low so you can see the colours overlapping.

The colours reminded me of 3D, so I looked up how to make something look 3D, these were the first attempts. I started to play around with the colours to see what the best combination was.

Once I found my favourite combination I realised a beige kind of background makes the colours more noticeable rather than just white.

I put the final design on an a4 art board and it looked good in that format rather than a more square shape.

Augmented Reality, Poster

I sketched a few ideas out and tried to think of a few sentences to put on the posters, but I really could only think of one. I liked it so thought I'd make one question poster and one answer poster, which would have the acetate on. 

I began by using the first slogan I had thought of. I was thinking that using just hand writing would work, but it definitely didn't once I had digitalised it. It looked rush and badly placed.

I then decieded to draw up a full poster and digitalise it. This was easier and more effective, however I still don't like it. The flourishes are really bad. I think I need to go back and just improve some parts.

I like the capitals and think it reads well, I need to make sure the type hierarchy is correct.

I tried again with the type but it still looked awful. I think I know how I want it to look.

This  is final 'hand rendered' which I am much more happier with it. It digitalised really well, and I think the shapes a lot better and smoother.

After that it was a case of working out the layout so it reads well.