INNOVATE & CONSOLIDATE GRAphics + ARCHITECTURE COLLABORATION JOURNEY BOOK BY Akira MIMASU
Photo by Georgia Thomas Cover image by Lucy Steeden
“This live brief will give you the opportunity to work in a cross-disciplinary creative team to develop a project and then extend the outcome through the production of a related publication. AUB Marketing will select a number of these printed outcomes for publication. This is a live brief and a collaboration between Marketing as a client, BA Graphic Design and BA Architecture. You will work in small creative teams with students from Architecture to develop a project that explores and communicates AUB as a place. This will be an investigation of the people and spaces of the campus, but also the broader location within Bournemouth, Poole and beyond. Each team will engage with a chosen site through making, documenting and ultimately publishing work that extends and communicates the outcomes from these experimental collaborations. The publication will be developed in collaboration with Marketing.�
Exploring and communicating AUB as a place was our main focus as a team. We asked ourselves; through what mediums and methods can we describe and convey the essence of A.U.B and the surrounding environment in a unique and engaging way. Not only is there a physical and aesthetic essence, but also the aire of a student lifestyle at A.U.B that had to be conveyed. We were informed that the outcome of our collaboration would ultimately reach the hands of prospective students. This added another depth of complication to the brief, in that our outcome had to be considered in the context of conveying A.U.B to new comers and potential future students - so we wanted to leave them with a good impression of Bournemouth as a student area but also A.U.B as a creative enviornment. To tart our idea generation, we responded to and visually described A.U.B student life through the medium of mixed media collage.
Group Members: Georgia Thomas, Alice Hewitt, Jade Lim, Lucy Steeden, Charles Rodriguez, Akira Mimasu
COLLABORATIVE IDEA GENERATION
We set out to find and list the main areas and activities related to A.U.B - life, after which we divided these findings evenly among us. With a set of topics to visually describe we began creating our mixed media collages these made for a variety of interesting responses to get us thinking and kick off our collaboration project.
The architectures brought a very structured, logical and organised approach to the project which I really admired. At this point I was only just beginning to get to know the team but overall I was enjoying the collaborative experience. It did however became clear to me that if I was to be a good team member I would have to tighten my organisation skills but also my group work capacities. Being in a team for this condensed week pushed me to be open minded and adaptive. It was important to be a good listener but also to be honest when it came to critically analysing each others ideas. I feel that we were all on good terms and that we all engaged with the project equally.
Working as a team
Starting off with simple visual responses, we each had our own takes on visually describing aspects of A.U.B student life. My area of focus was food - a big part of my experience in Bournemouth. There are a number of venues that students enjoy and depend on the hustle bustle of busy student life. There were a handful of Bournemouth related activities and places that maket the place it is e.g.:
- A.U.B Campus Facilities
- Newforest / Hampshire
- Bournemouth Beach
- Fresh local produce
- Daytime Outings
- Highstreets / Town Center
- Nearby cliffs & hikes
- Nightlife / Events
1st HAND RESEARCH - VISUAL RESPONSES
1st HAND RESEARCH - VISUAL RESPONSES
EVERZINE - A PLATFORM FOR A.U.B. STUDENTS TO SHARE CREATIVITY
Taking a step back and looking at all of our collages and responses, we saw an interesting overview that gives a taste of moments and places in our surrounding. We realised that this activity of recording the vicinity was one way of visually expressing our experience here as students. During the process, we saw our individual collages as a part of a greater whole - a body of visual information that was growing with each visual response. We described this as a growing ‘zine - but we wanted to make this collaborative experience accessible to all students here. This sparked our idea for ‘Everzine’ an A.U.B based platform, where all students from all courses can contribute. The idea, is that ‘Everzine’ would set a theme every month. Then, through a free smart-phone app., students would be able to post visual work related to the theme. At the end of the month, the top rated artworks are compiled into a monthly printed edition of Everzine - which would be available to all students prospective or not.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Respond. Students make any form of visual piece in response to the monthly theme.
For a more interactive version, View the ‘InVision’ prototype of the app. here:
Record. Much like many other applications, users can upload images from their own device’s libary.
Upload. Before uploading, a title and description should be added to each piece of art.
Zine Mode. The uploaded work is now part of the growing ‘Everzine’ and is viewable to all other students within ‘Zine Mode’
View & Rate. With an upward swipe, each piece can be rated by other students - the top rated works are compiled into the monthly edition.
Swipe to navigate. Students can quickly access ‘Zine Mode’ and swipe through other works by scrolling left or right.
SMART-PHONE CONCEPT DEVELOpMENT
The next stage in the process was to protoype the printed edition of Everzine. Overall, the concept relies on the fact that a fun and energetic zene is compiled at the end of each month from the works that the app. collects. So far, the concept look spromising, in that if this were to actually happen it is lkely that we would have a variety of eye catching visuals to work with. At the moment, we could have perhaps made a more lively feeling compilation, in terms of vibrancy and how eye-catching it is. Despite a lack of vibrancy, I do feel that the concept is strong and would hold it’s own in real-life. The small format of the zene is playful and seems appropriate for something that might be handed out to prospective students - easy to store and not bulky to carry around.
PRINT EDITION PROTOTYPE
GRAPHICS / ARCHITECTURE / COLLABORATION
EVERZINE
SMARTPHONE APP. CONCEPT
EVERZINE
1. SIGN-IN USING YOUR AUB NUMBER 2. UPLOAD AN IMAGE OF YOUR ART 3. ADD A TITLE & DESCRIPTION 4. SCROLL THROUGH & RATE OTHER ART
“...EACH MONTH 3 WEEK COLLABORATION BETWEEN BA GRAPHICS AND BA ARCHITECTURE
^
A1 Collage Poster Outcome
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EVERZINE WILL
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“...A NEVER-ENDING ZINE THAT GIVES STUDENTS AT AUB A PLATFORM TO DISPLAY THEIR CREATIVITY TO THE UNIVERSITY. TOP RATED WORK FROM THE APP ARE CHOSEN AND COLLATED TO CREATE A MONTHLY ZINE WITH A DIVERSE MIX OF DESIGN STYLES...”
SET THEMES THAT WILL INSPIRE AND CHALLENGE STUDENTS TO CREATE NEW AND
Envisioning a platform for AUB students to share creativity pellentesque. Aliquam ultricies metus
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EXCITING WORK.”
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Everzine is a zine that gives students at AUB a
After presenting our concept to AUB Marketing, we were given the task to condense our collaborative experience into a two page newspaper spread, such that all the group works could be put together into one printed outcome.
platform to share their creativity to the university. top rated work from our app. are chosen and collated to create a diverse mixe of design styles. Each month Everzine will set themes that will inspire and challenge students to create new and exciting work.
EVERZINE NEWSPAPER SPREAD IDEAS
In these three designs, I am trying to find eye catching ways to get our idea across. At the moment, I’m leaning towards this layout as it seems to have the most eye catching use of the app and poster.
Envisioning a platform for AUB students to share creativity: Everzine is a zine that gives students at AUB a platform to share their creativity to the university. top rated work from our app. are chosen and collated to create a diverse mixe of design styles. Each month Everzine will set themes that will inspire and challenge students to create new and exciting work.
EVERZINE
Before taking on this project, I had the choice between an independent study unit or this collaborative unit. My thoughts where that, whilst an independent unit might provide an opportunity to fine tune my own style and craft - a collaborative unit would put me out of my comfort-zone and push me to learn how to be an effective team member. This was a challenge that I wanted to take. It seems to me that as my course progresses, I need to be put in as many ‘real-life’ scenarios as possible. Working as a team with designers from other disciplines emulates the kind of creative environment I might experience in the future at work, especially in a studio. I was fortunate enough to be working with bright minds that were very willing to bring ideas and solutions to the table. In fact, the collaborative experience was so positive for me that I’d be willing to work with these people on other future projects. The main aspect that tied us together and kept our concept growing was that we met as frequently as possible. The bulk of the collaboration was condensed into a week and with effective time management, we developed a coherent outcome with what I felt was a solid project logic. If I were to redo this project however, I’d have taken some factors into consideration. Developing an idea for an app. is exciting and conceptual, but isn’t economically an easy task. The budget and number of staff needed for app. development is very high. Instead, I would have liked to atleast experiment and focused more on a tangible and less costly outcome. Overall, this cross-disciplinary collaborative experience gave me a boost to in confidence as a designer. It was great to have other students listen to and engage with ideas that I proposed. I really enjoyedand benefited this cycle of mutual critical thinking within a group. This whole experience made collaboration appealing and helped to remove some of the anxiety I had about team work.
CRITICAL EVALUATION
2nd year GRAPHIC DESIGN BA (HONS) - TERM 2: INNOVATE & CONSOLIDATE