OUGD603 - Weekly Plan - 14/11/16

Again, the emphasis of this week will be COP. The deadline for this module is fast approaching, therefore I will need to spend every day this week working on my essay, producing practical work and updating my blog with regular posts.

OUGD603 - Weekly Plan 7/11/16

I have decided to dedicate this week to Context of Practice, as this is the module that will require the majority of my energy and attention from now until the deadline which is not far away at all.

OUGD603 - Weekly Plan 7/11/16

I have decided to dedicate this week to Context of Practice, as this is the module that will require the majority of my energy and attention from now until the deadline which is not far away at all.

OUGD603 - Extended Practice - Weekly Plan - 31/10/16

Week commencing 31/10/16

I found it beneficial working to a plan last week and will continue to make them as the weeks progress.

In this mornings briefing, Amber stressed the importance of the next few weeks in terms of COP and Extended Practice, mentioning that the focus at this point should definitely be on the dissertation. It will be important to keep the other modules ticking over in the mean time. I took this advice into consideration when devising a weekly plan:

Mon 31st - Continue experimentation for Chicago Film Festival - brainstorm, play around with different techniques, do some primary research by asking people about what they associated with Latino culture etc - spend the rest of the day/evening preparing for COP tutorial

Tues 1st- Work on COP essay, do further reading and get ready for tutorial at 3pm with Ben

Wed 2nd - Research and attempt to contact a studio/practitioner for PPP, enquiring about placements and work experience - continue producing ideas for Penguin Book Cover

Thurs 3rd - Begin doing primary research for COP then catch up on blogging for COP and Extended Practice - make sure things are all up to date

Fri 4th - Continue COP research and essay writing

OUGD603 - Extended Practice - Weekly Plan 24/10/16

In an attempt to get more organised in the approach to my work, I've decided to start roughly planning the structure of my weeks in order to be as productive as I can for the rest of the year.

Week commencing 24/10/16

Monday - dedicate to PPP - do some research into personal branding and examine the relevance to your practice right now. Do you need it? Experiment with some pattern making or a new logo - have fun!

Tuesday - Start a new brief - make a start on a competition brief, maybe Penguin or Latino Film Festival - also prepare for first COP tutorial and blog about it

Wednesday - Start Penguin, do some reading for COP and go to Start-Up Wednesdays workshop, Letterpress workshop

Thursday - Dedicate to COP, continue writing and reading, consider the practical element, try and make a start on primary research

Friday - Continue with competition briefs

OUGD603 - Penguin Random House

The Penguin Random House design awards have been announced and I am looking forward to getting my teeth sunk into at least one of the titles this year. I really enjoyed this brief last year and I think I will definitely get a lot out of it again in terms of experience and extending my practice. 

The titles this year are:

Adult Non Fiction: Fiction: In Cold Blood
Adult Fiction: To Kill A Mockingbird
Children's: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and Three Quarters

My first thoughts are that most people are going to be drawn to the Adult Fiction title purely because it is such a well known title and loved by plenty of people. That one would appear to be the most obvious choice, so I will probably not design for this title.

I am intrigued by the other two titles, as I haven't heard of them before and it would be an interesting task to design for a children's book as well as quite a heavy, dark non-fiction title. I definitely want to use this brief as a platform to push me out of my comfort zone.

I am going to begin by doing initial research into the titles and start sketching out preliminary ideas/concepts, then get feedback from my peers and tutors before progressing any further. I realise that feedback is going to be very important this year in relation to the development of my work.

OUGD603 - TRJFP - Experimentation

My first move for this brief was the experiment with type. This is usually one of the first things I like to explore when tackling a poster design brief, as I feel typographic treatment is probably the most important consideration to make when designing for print and large scale poster designs. I also really enjoy playing and messing about with type, I feel this usually produces usual effects which can't just magically appear. 

I tried out a number of typefaces, all sans serif. I have a liking of condensed, stretched and bold fonts currently, so I experimented with combining a few to see how they would interact with each-other. The results are pleasing and reflect energy and excitement. I knew from the beginning of this brief that I want the designs to be full of life and reflect the positivity of the cause. 

Currently, Helvetica is looking like the font that I am going to utilise in these designs. It's functionality and boldness appeal to me, as well as its ability to be highly legible even when manipulated and stretched about. 

OUGD603 - TRJFP - What Will I Make?

From the meeting I had with Sharon from The Real Junk Food Project, we established that I would be creating a set of posters which would appear in all of the cafe's the charity has across the Leeds. These posters must be A2 in size and communicate the information in a simple, effective way. The aesthetic and general design treatment is completely down to me, which makes me excited as I pretty much have full creative freedom with this brief.

I must produce at least:

- 1 poster summarising the aims of TRJFP
- 1 poster summarising the Pay As You Feel concept
- 1 poster welcoming the customers to specific cafe
- 1 poster describing what TRJFP does/is all about

I am also allowed to produce small stand up leaflets that will be positioned on tables within the cafe's explaining in a little more detail exactly what TRJFP stands for and why it is a hugely useful cause. This should be a good experience in terms of improving my typesetting and compositional skills.

In OUGD505, I produced a small, low budget zine that contained background information about food waste, its relevance to modern society, food insecurity and all the associated issues. I also included a few easy recipes that can be made which utilise leftover ingredients and so on. Sharon really liked my initial design for this small publication and said that I could possible re-design it and re-examine it's purpose and context. This will be great as it will give me more to do than simple design posters. Below are some excerpts from the zine:

OUGD603 - The Real Junk Food Project - Live Brief

After meeting with a representative of the charity, I was able to articulate the written brief and begin designing. As it currently stands, I will only be producing a few poster designs, potentially some leaflets, menu's and a small zine containing information about the charity. I am hopeful that I will be able to extend this into coming years and get future work from this live brief. 

The Brief


Extend an existing branding/identity project for The Real Junk Food Project based in Leeds.  

Background Considerations

The Real Junk-Food Project is a global mentality. 
They establish Pay As You Feel cafes in towns and cities that divert food destined for waste and landfill and turn it into delicious, nutritious and healthy meals that are consumed by the local population. Fundamentally, they are a charitable organisation looking to make very real change in the community. The branding/identity must reflect these core aims and values honestly and appropriately. It must also achieve a tone of voice that is accessible. The aesthetic shouldn’t feel out of reach to the average person walking down the street, it should aim to be inclusive of everyone.

Research

Look at current branding/identities for similar organisations. Look at aesthetics associated with cafe’s, diners, restaurants from around the world. Be broad in scope and draw inspiration from near and far. Make it fun and exciting in order to attract as much attention to the cause as possible. Remember to make the designs functional in order to communicate the intended message of the charity and everyone that supports it.  

You will design promotional material to be used across their local cafe’s and other establishments. 

Mandatory Requirements

- Regular blog posts documenting the development of the project and research
- Five design boards documenting the research, experimentation and finalised products/designs
-Evidence of communications with the client, discussing the current work and future aims 

Deliverables

The deliverables will be defined by the charity and will evolve as the project continues. For the time being, produce:

- A series of A2 posters outlining the key concepts and aims behind the charity
- Stand-up info pamphlets to be displayed on tables in the cafes

OUGD603 - Extended Practice - Dialogue with The Real Junk Food Project

For my OUGD505 ethics based brief, I decided to undertake a branding, identity and promotion project for Leeds based charity: The Real Junk Food Project. This is a cause that I feel really passionate about and want to contribute to in my own way, so I saw OUGD505 as being the perfect context to undertake the work. 

I feel I produced some really exciting, well considered work, so after the module had finished, I took it upon myself to contact the head of the charity to discuss potential for collaboration over the summer. I sent through some of the key pieces of work I produced within college to gain his insight, feedback and constructive criticism. He initially took a while to respond, but once we established a dialogue, I was able to extend the work further. 

The initial feedback received was really positive and made me feel great about the concepts I had generated. Adam wrote:

'Thank you kindly for your efforts, we really appreciate it.

In regards to your initial designs, what is the overall intention of your work. Are you offering to design specific material to contribute to the project, or do you wish to supply us with core materials and designs that we can work with to expose our work?

Once both parties are clear on your outcomes, then we can move forward much more productively.

Kind regards, Adam Smith'

I responded with:

'I am willing to develop the work so that it could act as 'core material', which would then have the potential to be extended and built upon in the future, evolving with the project as it expands.

I think it would also be really exciting to push my initial 'guerrilla' poster designs further in order to help spread awareness of the project on a local, national and international scale, ultimately contributing to the projects overall efforts.'

We then didn't communicate an awful lot over the summer period as I was travelling and they were very busy, but at the beginning of September, I got back in touch and we arranged a date to meet up to discuss designs and potential expansion of my original work. 

OUGD603 - Extended Practice - Identifying My Audience

In preparation for today's crit, I was required to write a statement about 'who I am as a designer'. This exercise was useful in helping me to articulate and consider my current concerns and interests within my own graphic design practice. I wrote that I am:

'An interdisciplinary designer with broad interests and concerns within the fields of graphic design and visual communication' 

I deliberately made this statement broad, because I don't like to place myself in a box so to speak when defining my practice. I believe that a contemporary graphic designer can have wide ranging skills and concerns and doesn't have to label themselves as being interested in one singular aspect of graphic designer. I almost feel that it is impossible nowadays to conform to a label as graphic design practice continues to expand past its traditional values and roles.

I am confident with my statement and feel that it reflects the creative that I am currently.

Obviously, if I wanted to, I could write a more specific statement about my particular interests within graphic design, but for the time being, I am enjoying being broad.

We also spent a while discussing target audience and its relevance/importance to the briefs we have written for ourselves for Extended Practice. I found it difficult to express a target audience for my work, because I don't like to think of myself as catering towards a very specific group of people. I think graphic design speaks to everyone in one sense or another, and I like to speak to varied groups of people in the work I produce. However, I can see the importance of identifying a target audience for extended practice, as it will ultimately allow the briefs to be more successful.

I have identified my target audience as being between the age of 5 to 50, because throughout Level 06, I know I want to target a range of audiences within this wide age demographic. For example, I know I am going to be undertaking a project targeted at young school children and another brief that will target young adults. I also see myself doing a brief aimed at people 30+.

I found the session very useful in helping me articulate my practice and concerns in a more conscious manner; I feel this is going to be an entegral part of becoming a well rounded designer throughout Level 06.

OUGD603 - Extended Practice - Written Briefs

Extended Practice requires me to write my own briefs, which initially seemed as quite a daunting challenge to me. However, after undertaking some initial research and spending considerable time thinking about what sort of a 'designer' I am at this point in my studies, I was able to generate basic outlines of briefs that I want to undertake throughout level 06. 

I made when writing the briefs to make them broad in range. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to tackle different issues and speak to various target audiences in level 06 and to try and get out of my comfort zone in terms of the aesthetics and the work that I produced throughout level 05. 

I understand that I may not actually complete or undertake all of these briefs this year, however, I value the process of writing them and view it as good practice for my future which will involve me being self motivated and self directed. 

OUGD603 - Extended Practice - First Meeting For Collaboration

Today I met with Charlotte Curnick from BA Illustration to discuss the potential for collaboration on a brief that I have written for Extended Practice. I was put in contact with Charlotte through a fellow course mate which was convenient as it meant that I didn't have to spend time searching for an illustrator on my own. This has allowed me to have an efficient start to the year which I feel good about.

We discussed my key concerns that I had outlined in the written brief and the ones that Charlotte had developed based on initial conversation online. We also established a time frame to work to, aiming to make it as realistic as possible. We agreed that it would be beneficial to start working on producing some initial content for the publication before the Christmas break, in order to have a basis of work to develop further after COP is handed in at the beginning of January. We agreed that meeting at least once a week would be a good idea, or once every other week depending on our schedules.

At this stage, we see the project being completed by around March 2017, as we both agreed that it would be beneficial to spend quite a long time on the project in order to achieve a successful aesthetic, tone of voice and overall finish on the publication.

In prep for our next meeting, I am going to spend some time considering the content more carefully, thinking about exactly what it is I want to communicate to the intended target audience. Charlotte is going to do more or less the same and think carefully about the aesthetic and type of illustrative approach she will take. We also agreed to start making mood boards that will guide us through the initial stages of the project.

OUGD603 - Extended Practice - Presentation of Brief Ideas

Today, I presented my ideas for Extended Practice to a small group. The presentation went well and I received some constructive feedback from Amber which I used to re-evaluate the briefs and re-write a few of them. I also found it really useful sitting in on other people's presentations in terms of inspiration. There were a lot of good ideas floating around in the room which I took note of. I realise that these briefs are just a staring point for Extended Practice, and I will definitely have the opportunity to write new ones and adapt these ones throughout level 06.