Project Report. Adam Riley
B ri e f 1. With the Toyota brief being one of the larger sized briefs that I could have picked I found that a brief asking for this much would be a rather interesting challenge to undertake as the outcomes that could potentially have been produced would test me as a designer more than some of the shorter feeling options that I could have chosen. In short the brief asks the designer to come up with a new advertising concept for the first vehicle on the market powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. I came across many issues within the brief, many of which stemmed from the creation of a concept and how my design solutions effectively communicated this to the potential target audience. My first issue was with how to effectively communicate the concept to the desired target audience. I had come up with a concept around the pro’s of using a hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle that was short and straight to the point that could also be used across a wide variety of media and be used within a short term campaign based website. I experimented with different image based solutions that would visually support the catch phrases but it was this creation and use of image that I struggled to make a strong enough connection to both the product and catch phrase that was causing me problem with the entire concept of the campaign. To overcome this I had to complete further research into both the product, target audience, and look at previous examples of how campaigns and their
concepts work together. Because of this I began to look much closely at the product itself and figured that the root of the technology was the essence that the only emission from he vehicle is water. I tried this both conceptually from using molecules to using literal water to subtly create a professional looking image that would work in a series to support the concept of the way in which the campaign works. Overall I feel that the realisation of which made me turn back on my research and begin to look at what I had researched in a different way has taught me that the research stage is one of the most important, if not THE most important stage of a brief as insufficient research will leave you struggling to find the correct design solution that you are searching for that will potentially leave your work lacking success.
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Brief 2. I found this brief quite appealing to myself and my own practice as I currently have somewhat of an interest in editorial design and the experimentation within the layout of both type and image. I found that although not directly related to my interests, the idea of redesigning a classic book cover did seem quite an enjoyable challenge and would provide me with practice in designing covers as this is something that would be useful for me when producing small publications/ zines as I sometimes find myself stuck with the cover one the inside content of the design is completed. After completing a stage of informed research and looking at the target audience of the chosen novel (A Clockwork Orange), I was able to create an informed final design based upon what I discovered by looking at both of these materials. When only the type was left on the front page I initially went back on myself to try and come up with something more expressive that emphasised both the context of the story inside the novel and that would stand out when placed in a busy bookshelf as standing out from the rest was one of the main issues I found from reading the brief and to the extent of which would basically make the novel either a success or failure. Through experimentation I found that a rather odd looking formation of different tracking, leading, and kerning better suited the design that what I previously thought would be suitable for
the final resolution. From the eventual experimentation within my initial design process I can learn that without previous experimentation into my ideas, type, and image, my final design will be weak and the overall project will lack depth. I can learn from this that after an extensive body of research is completed, that I should begin and experiment with different aesthetic solutions that may be relevant to the final design to create multiple designs that can then be criticised before the best parts of what works and what doesn’t can be formulated into a final tailored design that is much more suitable for the target audience and the purpose of the brief.
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Brief 3. Earlier in the year we were tasked with choosing a brand and creating the branding solutions that was mainly based around the creation and consideration of their individual logo and how this would ideally work in the real world. I thoroughly enjoyed the task so when given the opportunity to question the branding and create and apply this into a campaign with an already existing and successful brand I jumped at the chance. However, differently to the other briefs for this module, I was to be collaborating with another student from second year Illustration as part of a joint project and to combine both our design styles to create a stronger final outcome. We found the aspect of tearing apart an already existing brand challenging and tough to begin with as the brand had given us a strict set of guidelines about what we can change and what we can’t alongside a rather substantial amount of brand values that we should adhere to and that should be emphasised through our designs of both the product and campaign to support. In the end we produced a slight redesign of the product that adheres to the brand values while emphasising their status of craft cider which we were able to apply to a basic campaign that could be easily adapted and expanded upon in the future with the extent of their product range such as the smaller 250ml bottles. With the brief being completed collaboratively the thing that I found the hardest was the way in which we
would both talk our ideas down that would constantly leave us with little or no progress other than a few one sided changes to our concept. Because of this I think the final design could have been slightly better as it is important to take a step back and think about what is better for the brief rather than who can win a conversation as it is the brief that will ultimately reflect both our practices, ourselves, and our chances of winning a YCN award. This has taught me a lot about future work with clients and future collaborative work as it is important to take everybody’s equal while think about how what you say may affect the 5. final outcome of the brief that you are completing. This is something that will directly affect my working practice as by being able to speak correctly to both professionals and clients will combine your skills collectively and allow you to apply different ideas and design solutions in a working fashion. This is also a skill that will allow you to put over your own ideas and suggestions to try and coax your peers and clients into going ahead with your ideas and producing work that you want to produce and offering suggestions that may be better and more informed than those of a peer or a client.
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Adam Riley
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