OUIL503
Project Report Alice Franklin
Coffee & Company Briefbox
I chose this brief as I thought it would be quite fun to do as a smaller brief. All of the briefs on briefbox were quite straightforward, but I chose this one as it was a lot broader. Although research helps me a lot when starting a brief, I didn’t research coffee cup designs as I didn’t want to influence the designs that I created. I really love coffee, it is something I drink a lot of, throughout the day, which is what got me started on how to tackle this brief. I tried to think of the everyday person who would buy the coffee. I tried to keep my designs more simplistic and contemporary, than detailed and graphic, with elements tying each design to one another. I really like the designs that I created, I think they go well together as a set, with potential of more designs to go with them. With more time I could have taken the designs further, I think they would especially be a lot better if the rest of the cup was designed a bit more, maybe some decorative pieces. Overall, I am happy with the designs but there is definitely room for improvement. I would like to improve my digital skills further which could improve the quality of the designs.
Illustration Friday I chose to do Illustration Friday as one of my briefs, not just because I thought it would be quick and easy, but because I thought the change in topic would be refreshing and the element of surprise making It quite fun. I used this brief to branch out with different mediums and techniques along with the different themes. I used copic markers, inktense pencils, fine liner and attempted stipple as a technique. This kept it really fun for me to do different things. I was also able to use humor in some of the pieces and puns, twisting the meaning of the theme. Although I used this brief as a chance to experiment and play a little, I somewhat wish I would have kept to a specific ‘style’ and medium for all of the entries, as although they are submitted separately, together they don’t look like a set and all look completely different. I also wish I would have been able to spend more time on them and make them look a bit more professional and polished but as it was a weekly competition, I would sometimes have to quickly finish them to submit around other work.
I also found that I was a lot more confident in this collaborative brief than I have been before, which I have regretted in the past. When it came to submition, we were having a hard time creating the presentation boards as people werent expressing their opinions and their seemed to be a lack of motivation. This is when I decided to take charge within the group and I pulled apart the best work from everyone and organised it into the presentations, I ended up really enjoying myself, ideas were flowing. I helped with arrangement and what to write on the slides, trying to refer it back to the brief. Overall, I am really happy with the brand we created and the presentation boards we submitted to D&AD. Although, there were hard times, it could have been a lot worse and I did learn some valuable things from the other course and how to work with people in the future.