OUGD505 - Design Practice 2 - Module Evaluation

General Thoughts On The Module 

I’ve really enjoyed this module, and I put this down to the freedom that came with it. Considering how open the bigger of the two briefs was and the amount of time we were given to spend on it, I don’t see an excuse to not have enjoyed it, as it allowed everyone to focus on something they’re interested in and gave them enough time to be ambitious with it. Their is no comparison between this and the briefs in the other 30 credit module, where one of them was branding (which I don’t really have an interest in), and two were tied to our Summer brief, which didn’t really work out for me because the format of the briefs didn’t suit the research I’d undertaken over Summer. So I’m pleased that I’ve had the freedom that this module has allowed me. 

On the assumption and understanding that Extended Practice next year will function in a somewhat similar way to this module, I feel that this module was a good introduction to next year, as it was far more self-directed than any module undertaken up to this point, which I’m pleased about because it shows my time and self management skills in their greatest light.

My Performance In The Module 

As it has been throughout the year, my attendance and punctuality has been very good, I can only remember being late to one timetabled session, although I wouldn’t want to be quoted on this. 

I also feel that I’ve taken on board the feedback from responsive well since I was given it in late April, which was that my work and my experience as a designer would benefit from experimentation with different new processes. Because of the timing of this, it is shown more in my book cover than in Product, Range, Distribution. The time and effort put into the book cover through the extra processes has somewhat awakened me to the potential stress that can come with being a graphic designer, although this was somewhat minimalised by my good time management. That said, I think that the extra momentum I carried with me in terms of willingness and motivation to go the step further when producing my work has shown in my information boards. Combining the processes of digital printing, laser printing, laminating, and duplexing would probably have been something that I wouldn’t have bothered with at the beginning of the year for an outcome as basic as an information board, and I’d probably have just stuck with the digital mock up and been happy with this.

How This Module Has Helped Me

Because of the enjoyment I’ve found in both the briefs, this module has helped point me in the right direction for COP3, as well as helping me to consider what work I want to focus on in the future.

I found creating the booklet for the app very satisfying in terms of organising something nicely on a page, and this is something I tend to feel often when using InDesign. This isn’t just because I was interested in the brief, because the element in which I engaged with on a personal level was the research and the designing of the app itself.

The slight disappointment I felt with my final book cover has highlighted the importance of experimentation to me, as if I needed to do something involving stenciling or debossing in the future where I was being paid, I wouldn’t want to give a client work I wasn’t happy with. I now realise that learning how to properly execute these processes early is important.

Next Year 

Like mentioned above, I know that next year I want InDesign to be pretty central to a fair few of the projects I undertake because I enjoy using it and enjoy working with layout in a wider sense. This is something I identified to some extent in Level 4 as well, through my enjoyment of the layout brief.

I also found that I enjoyed the challenge of making the app consistent with itself, which isn’t really a surprise given how this challenge lends itself to layout. But I noticed that throughout the development stages of the app I felt more comfortable designing an app than I would’ve done a poster. This is very reminiscent of my feelings when working on Beth’s Creative Advertising work in responsive where a print element worked alongside a digital element. I put this down to the intimidation that comes with starting with a big empty space and not wanting to make the first mark. In terms of developing portfolio work next year, I feel like working on app design is something I should pursue next year.

The only field of design that this module hasn’t allowed me to work on is packaging, so I’ve identified this as something I want to experiment with early on next year so I can decide if it’s something I want to persist with going further into Level 6 and even beyond that.

OUGD505 - Covered - Post-Exhibition Experimentation

After seeing the exhibition yesterday I did some experiments with the stencil I used for the text on my folder to try and look at alternative covers for my book that might've been more suitable for the exhibition by making more use of the two colour stipulation.

I started by scanning the front and back of the stencil so I could digitally make use of the marks left on it by the blood and ink.

 

I found that when trying to produce an outcome that was completely digitally based strayed too much from the roughness of the concept I was trying to stick too. The best digital version I got was this, which I don't think is better than the version I submitted.

Because of this I went back to the print room and tried adding ink to the debossing block, to try and neaten up the application of the ink to the paper.

I only had two sheets of the stock I used left, and the difference between the application of the ink between the two showed that this wouldn't have worked as well as I would've wanted it too without a lot of persistence and wasted paper.

To try and get the deeper and more prominent debossed effect, I tried pressing the block into the greyboard stencil, as this was thicker than the paper, which left a larger room for the depth of the debossing. However, the board was too sturdy and so the embossing was about the same depth as it was on the paper.

During a conversation with James Holt after I told him I'd been printing with blood he suggested that an alternate route I could've gone down would've been to stain the grey board with blood and screen print on that, which would've allowed for a tidier finish. I wish I had have had this conversation two weeks ago, because this would've been a really good experiment. Not only this, but because the grey board would be weakened by the blood, it would be softer and easier to deboss into, which would've possibly allowed me to get the more prominent debossed effect I wanted.

OUGD505 - Product, Range, Distribution - Evaluation

General Comments 

Before this brief I had never designed an app before, and didn’t really have any idea of how hard it would be to incorporate a consistent grid system throughout the various different page layouts. In the strictest of senses, I would suggest I failed to find on, and so it was very time consuming switching between the different screens making minor changes all the time to try and make the layouts as consistent as possible. 

Early on in my research I spoke about potentially producing a campaign aimed at the Chinese Government pressuring them into protecting more of the Panda’s habitat, I’m glad I chose to avoid this, as I’ve really enjoyed this project.

What Went Well

I really embraced the research element of this project, not only was I reading from a large variety of websites, but I also watched about 5 hours of documentaries, as well as taking a visit to Yorkshire Wildlife Park to see how information about animals was presented to the public. This sort of first hand research has been something that I haven’t really done in the past, and this project has taught me how primary research can help directly define a problem, whereas secondary research often iterates around it. 

On a lesser note, I’m also very happy with the general aesthetics of the final outcomes. I didn’t necessarily put as much time into the aesthetics as I have done with previous projects, but this is because I took a very heavily influence from WWF’s existing identity. This allowed me to concentrate more on the research, which is an indication that I found a nice balance of research to practice in this brief.

What I'd Change

I notice retrospectively that I’ve gone back to my old ways of having white backgrounds everywhere, whereas recently I’ve been improving my use of colour. Whilst I wouldn’t change this for the outcomes I chose to produce, (due to the fact that I’m pleased with them), I could potentially have thought more about the final outcomes before I went ahead with the design process, as this may have allowed me to have produced outcomes where more colour would’ve been appropriate.

OUGD505 - Product, Range, Distribution - Final Outcomes

App Screens

App Proposition Booklet

 

 

 

Information Board Re-Design

OUGD505 - Product, Range, Distribution & Covered - Design Boards

These are the design boards I'm going to submit with my project. They summarise the more important decisions I made and research I undertook throughout these past two projects.

OUGD505 - Product, Range Distribution - Production of Outcomes

I started off by printing out some screenshots of my app at a size large enough to fit the gaps in the information boards. Laminating them gave them the shiny reflective quality of a digital screen.

 

I had the information boards printed on white mount board to give them a sturdiness that any other stock couldn't provide. This came with a couple of problems though, cutting out the rectangle for the laminated paper to sit on was difficult even using a scalpel, and left me with a corner that wasn't very tidy. 

As well as this, there were areas where the print quality wasn't fantastic, particularly on the photo of the lemur. This is an issue I've had with the digital print equipment before in the OUGD504 Augmented Design Brief. Because of this previous experience I decided not to print the background colour I had used in my digital designs because the printing of large areas in block colours tends not to come out very consistent, as I felt that a white background would look better than a poorly printed off-white.

I used double-sided tape and masking tape to fix the screens to the back of the boards as opposed to any glue to eradicate the potential of any glue smearing into a visible area.

I found that even printed on mount board, the large size of the information boards made them a bit flimsy, so I backed them on foam board, again using double sided tape to avoid smearing. This not only made the boards sturdier, but it also hid the untidy fixing of the screen to the board, and made the board as a whole more representative of the thickness it would be in commercial use.

I printed them out at different sizes to show how they worked at A3 as well as A2, so that they place less restrictions on their potential positioning in a real life context.

I decided to print the cover for the booklet in a darker colour stock to differentiate it from the rest of the spreads. I used the same 135gsm G. F. Smith Colourplan as the spreads, but I used Cool Grey rather than Ice White.

I bound it using staples because the simplicity of it lent itself well to the commercial side of the booklet. Because of the relative thickness of the stock, creep was a noticeable issue at first, but I'd left enough whitespace around the edges of the spreads for this to be easily resolved by trimming it off with a ruler and scalpel. The thickness of the paper was necessary because I was printing double-sided, and wanted to avoid being able to see through the pages slightly.

Overall I was very happy with the outcomes, and feel that they sum up my research well and have the educational undertone that I set out to achieve.

OUGD505 - Covered - The Exhibition

Retrospectively, maybe the sort of approach I took to this brief wasn't right for the exhibition. Most of the other posters there were a lot more colourful and eye-catching than my own.

 

On the plus side, the debossing looked a lot better than I was expecting it to because it wasn't very deep. I do think a more polished finish to the lettering would've made it fit in a lot better, but this is something I've already expressed my regret about in terms of my lack of previous experimentation.

OUGD505 - Covered - Evaluation

General Comments

I discovered Nietzsche doing some research for COP, and was very interested in thoughts initially, despite them not being particularly relevant to my COP this year. I knew I wanted to involve him heavily in COP next year as a learning experience for myself, and I saw this brief as an opportunity to get a head start on my reading for my dissertation research. In this sense I wasn’t sure if I should pick The Antichrist or Thus Spoke Zarathustra, as these were the two books that I was initially attracted to Nietzsche by. From a Graphic Design sense, The Antichrist left me with more options because of the connotations of the title. This was probably the brief I’ve enjoyed most since being at LCA because of how it’s allowed COP to merge in quite heavily.

What Went Well

I feel that from a conceptual point, I got this brief pretty spot on, and no matter how much longer I could spend on the brief, the concept couldn’t become more refined or appropriate to the book or the author.

Given previous projects of mine have “challenged conventions" in more satirical ways (such as WWF Condoms), I was happy to show that I could produce work that was a much more serious undertone to it whilst still being heavily engaged with it, which has been something I’ve struggled with at times, such as in the J2O brief. In this sense I feel like I’ve shown that I’m more than what most people probably see me as, which is something I see as a success on a personal level.

What I'd Change

My lack of experience in producing physical outcomes using different processes has been highlighted in this brief. I didn’t order enough stock to be able to allow for wide enough experimentation in the debossing process and painting or printing with the blood. In hindsight I should definitely not have used stencils for the printing, and instead used the laser cutter to cut out printing blocks to use like a letter press, as this would’ve made for a much neater finish for the lettering on both the poster and the sleeve. I also would’ve liked the debossing to be deeper into the stock to give it more prominence. I would also have painted the areas of the debossing blocks that I wanted blood to run through so that would’ve been printed on with the embossing, making it neater than myself painting it by hand. I feel like I didn’t leave myself enough to time or resources (in terms of stock) to experiment as much as needed to in order to do the concept justice, which I’m slightly upset about in all honesty.

OUGD505 - Product, Range, Distribution - YWP Information Board Re-Design

I started by identifying the fonts that Yorkshire Wildlife Park use on their website using fount, because the font used on there are the same the as on the boards at YWP and on their leaflets and flyers etc.

 

I positioned the screen in the bottom right because kids are short and most people are right handed, which makes it more accessible to children. The left side of board is now left with the biggest space, so that side was used for the more text-heavy information to appeal to adults. Photographs are only small to stop it from coming across as not very educational.

The positioning of the images didn't split the board into two as much as I'd have liked, so I moved them slightly to try and separate them a bit more.

I found that having an image above the screen on the left split up the page too much though, as it completely isolated the text relating to the screen.

I settled with the above layout because I felt like it was clear that the board was split into two different sides, but there wasn't too much separating them. I still felt that it lacked a sense of seriousness though, which I put down to the fonts YWP use.

I changed the fonts to the ones used in the app, and changed the background colour to the one used often in the app to make it look more serious. This worked because the WWF font has got more authority and seriousness to it than Chelsea Market, and Open Sans is blockier than Helvetica in bodies of text, which makes it look more educational before you've even read any of the text.

The re-designed board is also easily re-workable in the same layout but for different animals and issues, as well as showing how the app itself can be expanded into different versions for different animals. It also shows that the app works at various screen sizes and can easily fit in to educational contexts.

This is how the new information board looks. The bright colours and interactivity of the app make it more appealing to children, whilst the blockier and more serious looking text look more convincingly educational to adults. I feel like it would definitely get more attention than the current information boards.

OUGD505 - Covered - Embossing and Printing Process

I spent a while testing out different settings on the laser cutter to get the right depth and clarity of cut in the wood I was making my embossing blocks out of. The first one clearly shows I had the file set up wrong, the second wasn't deep enough and was slightly pixelated, the third one fixed the pixelation but not the depth, and the fourth setting was pretty perfect.

The final A4 embossing blocks came out like this, and took ages to cut out because of the size, this is a part of the process I would look to refine in future. I also cut out the stencils on the laser cutter but in thin, sturdy card. I chose this material to make it easier for me when it came to the painting.

 

After the paper had been embossed I tried applying the lambs blood through the stencil, but it was far too runny and leaked under the stencil, making it completely illegible. It also dried a horrible yellowy-brown colour, which doesn't make it clear that it's blood.

I tried mixing the blood with the red paint block in this tin I had in my cupboard to thicken it slightly and give it a deeper red colour. Whilst the result was a slight improvement, it wasn't striking enough and didn't look as powerful as I wanted it too.

I got some red ink from the print room and mixed some blood into it. This allowed me to have a deeper colour, thicker printing material and still use the blood. This was done in the knowledge that vangardist magazine mixed blood with the ink successfully. This gave me a much deeper colour without having anywhere near as much running. 

I did a couple of practice runs with some of embossed paper.

This was my final poster

This was the final sleeve

 

Whilst the printed version does the concept more justice than the laser printed version, I'm a bit sceptical as to weather it was worth all the time and effort for it. It's definitely an improvement on the cover of my copy of the book though, and it was nice to do a project that was a bit more hands on than my other projects.

The text on the final poster does look a bit like Resolution Sans, the Jonathan Barnbrook font I used for the headings in my Study Task 3.