OUGD403 Evaluation Form

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

During this module I have gained skills within how to design and draw typographic fonts which have been taught to me along side other modules however taken what I have been taught into this module has helped me create types properly. Also my Adobe Illustrator techniques, I would have already considered myself to have had a good knowledge of this media and process however I have never created fonts and typefaces before so learning how to do that has increased my knowledge but has also allowed me to practise being intricate with detail.

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

Normally I wouldn't necessarily do a lot of drawing and sketches when I design, as I don't feel it represents what I want to show as well as I could do using software on the computer, however I feel like this module has given pushed me to practise drawings and sketches which has inevitably allowed me to be more carefree when designing at the end of the day they are sketches to help me develop my ideas. During this brief I did have an injury to my hand which did effect my ability to draw and I think when I couldn't draw my sketches it made me want to do it even more so as soon as my hand was better I wanted to catch up on the sketches I had missed and wasn't able to do. It made me appreciate the different skills I had. Even though all my final pieces are done digitally it is always nice to be able to have that option to dip into both media's for a range of ideas and finalized pieces.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I think the strengths in my work have been my commitment to working hard and not allowing myself to fall behind, disregarding the injury that happened to me during this module. I didn't want it distract me away from this project so for the Typeface task where we had to draw the typeface did have the biggest impact as at the time I couldn't do it, however I pushed on and completed a full alphabet with glyphs on the computer two days after my operation and then when I could draw again I re did it on tracing paper by hand. This has in essence made me realize and appreciate my skills and ability and having this mindset about working hard when I am fully capable has been really eye opening, therefore in future I will bare this in mind and always work my hardest and to the fullest of my ability.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

I think weaknesses have been my blogging and research, although I am happy with my final pieces I do think that with more research and development work they could have been better. In the past I have always had briefs that have been very long and all the work been done has been in sketch books whereas here it has been a total eye opener in working quick, not wasting time on certain things and making sure I have everything organized and pieces ready to upload on my blog. I think from now on I will know the importance of collecting relevant info and uploading them onto my blogs in an organized fashion as it has caused me some confusion.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Work at a quicker pace If I worked quicker id be able to get a lot more done and I wouldn't feel so stressed when it came to doing things as it would be a lot more straight forward. I would be able to devote my time on the things that mattered rather then the smaller finer details that may not be so relevant. 2. Research more thoroughly and more detailed Research is the key area where you gather ideas, I think I didn't do enough research for my piece to be well justified and presented. I think I should have gone into greater detail which would then have a knock on affect to my final pieces as they would be to a higher standard of design, and ones that I could truly say I am proud of. 3. Do more sketches and design ideas Sketches and design ideas are something I feel I did very little off, and that is because my research wasn't as efficient. Therefore for the next module I will make sure that I do a whole range of ideas that will then allow me to choose the best and go on to develop it into something better. 4. Blog at the end of every session At first I stayed on top of my blogging however as other modules came in I felt myself loosing track off other modules including this one so from now on I will make sure I am being more thorough with my blogging to get all info down with correct links to avoid this happening again. 5. Not take group crits to heart so much Every crit we had I came away feeling a little disheartened as I was proud of my work and some of the comments may not have been very constructive which has then enabled me to not want to carry on with this project as much as it should. However crits are positive feedback to any designer and I suppose when in the industry people just are not going like what you have created and that is just there personal opinion therefore in future I will recognize the faults of my design going into crits thinking that maybe this piece isn't perfect but it can be improved.

How would i grade myself in the following areas:
Attendance:Good
Punctuality:Good
Motivation:Very Good
Commitment:Very Good
Quantity of work produced:Good
Quality of work produced:Average
Contribution to the group:Good

OUGD403: Alphabet Soup- Illustrator

Produce an alphabet based on one of the letterforms you created from the Alphabet Soup, Visual Thinking brief. Once again you are restricted to using one colour and it is to be produced in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, key). Although you are restricted to one colour you experiment with opacity and half tones.

 

From the previous brief this is the letter i took inspiration from to create my full alphabet (below) Although this isn't necessarily one of my favorite designs however when experimenting on illustrator this idea turned out the better design.

Experimentations

 

This design was meant to look as if it had a hole it and it had been cracked however as it looked more cracked to shattered also it doesn't  really look as good as i had hoped it would.

OUGD403 Message and Delivery : Distribution

Produce a mail shot that distributes, disseminates and reinforces your message to an appropriate list of recipients

Your resolution should fit within the envelope provided (you can remake, modify or reproduce the envelope in any other media but the dimensions must remain the same) and be accompanyed by a visually appropriate mailing list. You should consider the relationship between the outside/inside of the envelope and its contents.

What do you want to say? To promote an anti terrorism campaign, that it is an important matter which needs to be stopped.

How do i want to say it? I want to say it in a serious manner however visually it needs to be appealing to the audience

What Language would be appropriate? Quite formal but straight to the point

What visual languages exist that relate to your message and how can you use them? There are a lot of visuals that relate to terrorism campaigns majority happen to be quite formal and plain, with more type then there is image therefore for mine i wanted to still have quite a bit of type but also images to back that up.

Is the content communicated primarily through type or image? If it is both what is the relationship between the two? The content i choose to use will be both, as i think to get a message accross type is important to get the message across and image reinforces that.

What does the mail shot aim to achieve. Does it direct you to a website, encourage you to attend an event, is it interactive or is it self-contained? My mail shot will direct people to a hotline number that people can ring if they have suspicions or queries about this matter. The inside will also be interactive as my idea would be to have a hand shaped into a fist that you will pull out but as it is attached to string it will only pull out so far so that it cant be lost.

This was the original design idea that i wanted to portray, showing the back of the evelope with the inside showing when the envelope is opened.

This is an image of the front, showing the inside hand as well. As you can see i stuck the same designs that i used for my posters to show a relationship between the two also by keeping the same colour scheme this emphasises it as well.

This is the back of the image again with more detail, originally i wanted to have a red inside but due to only having a restriction of two colours and a stock having an inside colour would be over the limit i was allowed. I thought that red would emphasise danger and make it stand out more, also would be visually appealing to the audience as well. The bottom design is of the envelope shut, the middle deisgn would be when its opened and the top image is of when the hand has been pulled out. As the mail shot had to be on the same stock as the envelope i had to change my hand from being white to being grey.

The above two screen shots are just the same designs again.

 This is the design for the template, it has a white background due to me printing on a grey stock. It was important to get the measurements correct and things positioned in the right place so that when it was folded everything would be facing the correct way.

Template

Here is another template, however this was just an experiment in how it may work.

 

Mailing List

Mailing List 

The audience to which i would send my mail shot to but generally be the general public as you are trying to inform them about terrorism but also as the only main piece of information was the hotline number then it is there for everyone to see.
I wanted my mailing list to be similar to the posters and the mail shot itself so it was important to keep the same style and designs throughout. It would also be printed on the same stock that is used for the mail shot, envelope and poster designs.
As we had to send the posters to Leeds College of Art that is the first in the list. Then i thought about sending it to Leeds City Council who would be responsible to sending them out to all people whether it be to there houses, businesses, colleges, university's and schools and any other organizations within the city. To broaden the amount of people who would get the benefit of this mail shot i would send it to the Local Government House in London who could see the importance of spreading this information around especially in London where Terrorism has recently played a massive affect in so many peoples lives recently. I found a company that would organize sending leaflets to companies and associations so i think it would be beneficial to send it to them who would be in control of distributing them around. Then finally i found a counter terrorism association that i would send the mail shot to them as a way of maybe advertising the leaflet so they could maybe help distribute this campaign as well.

 Final Mail SHots/ Envelopes and Mailing List

OUGD403 Final Images for newspaper article Poster

Final Poster Designs

In my designs i wanted them to look visually appealing but put across my point with out over loading the poster with too much information, by keeping it relevant and simplistic.

Type and Image Poster 

Just Type Poster

Just Image Poster

 

Development Designs

image and type design

Here i was experimenting with placement, however i went with my final layout as it kept it in theme with the type poster. If i hadn't then then the designs wouldn't have worked as a set or series.

Image design
Below are different experimentation's with different ways of how i could present my image design. I found this the hardest poster to design as its quite hard to show your theme through image alone. So this poster took the longest  to design because it took a lot of goes at it before i considered it finished. However from the crit there was a lot of positive feedback about the design of my image poster however i am not 100% happy about it. I find it too simple and a little bit bland. However below are the different ways i experimented with the chosen symbols i had used.

image poster design

image poster design

Type and image poster design
Experimenting with layout again. This didn't really work as it was too central and the way the images are placed visually it makes it look as if there is too much going on

image and type poster design

 Experimenting with colour- Didn't work well as there would be too many colours involved, even if i was allowed a bigger amount of colours still wouldn't work as it doesn't make the red stand out.

 

AMENDMENTS TO MY POSTERS

From the crit these are a few of the points that were noted which i will go on to change on my posters:
-Colours (used too many due to the colour of my prints went blue rather then grey)
-Taking the image out of the type poster and replacing it with more text
-Maybe experiment more with layout and layout and size
- Experiment with the size, uppercase or lowercase of my designs

RECTIFIED FINAL POSTERS

 Image and Type Poster

 Image Poster

 

Type poster

Taking into account all the things in the crit i think i have developed my posters for the better with the advice they had given me. When i print my images out i will experiment with the stock colour as to leave it with a white plain background or use a grey stock.

OUGD403 Alphabet Soup: Final Queen Alphabet

 Final Alphabet

Above are the name tags i made. When resizing it the letters, the name tag went all distorted and gave this scratched effect which i quite like the look off however, i played around with illustrator some more and managed to get it look less distressed.

Below are the drawings off my typeface, originally when i made this font i did it all on computer as i had a hand operation and wasn't able to draw so when my hand was healed i re-did the alphabet on tracing paper and drew the letter. I had to however get rid of a lot of detail as trying to re-create it and draw it would be impossible to do as the effect wouldn't have been as nice.

Final Drawn out alphabet

OUGD403 Alphabet Soup-Visual thinking-Visual Communication

 

Final 10 letters of my Alphabet representing the  word SHATTER