OUIL 503 Responsive
PROJECT
REPORT Aghnia Mardiyah
CONTENTS Pan Macmillan Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.... 4 Tigerprint Floral Surface Pattern…………………….. 8 J2O packaging redesign……………………………... 10 ayaso Boutique rebranding………………………….. 12 Leeds Children’s Hospital Kidney Book…………….. 16
Collaborative D&AD WWF animation………………………………. 20
Module summative evaluation………………………. 24
Pattern created for Tigerprint Floral Pattern competition.
PA N M A C M I L L A N Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
The YCN Student Awards is an annual competition that challenges students from around the world to respond to a collection of live creative briefs, written each year by diverse partnering organisations. As I am interested in children’s book illustrations, I decided to take on Pan Macmillan’s Alice brief as my first brief. The brief required me to create a new cover and up to two interior page illustrations for Alice’s Adventures i n W o n d e r l a n d ’s 1 5 0 t h anniversary year. They wanted the
illustrations to appeal to parents of both girls and boys aged 5 to 9, as well as gift givers such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. To start me off, I did some research into existing Alice book covers and children’s book illustrations in general, to see what people out there have already done and what I think works and doesn’t work. My decision to make my final illustrations out of cut paper was because I’ve noticed, from my research, that there aren’t a lot of book illustrations that are made
like this. I found the paper cut aest het ic so d ifferent and refreshing to look at that it stands out a lot more for me than the other ones that I have seen.
As ‘Alice’ is one of the best-loved classics, I had to think about how I could really make my work different and stand out from the crowd and to previous Alice interpretations as well. I also wanted my illustrations to be special for the book’s 150th anniversary and I thought that creating something that hasn’t been done a lot would make it
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appear more unusual and distinct. My peers also thought that the handcrafted style will appeal to not only the kids, but to a much larger audience as well and would therefore enchant a whole new readership, as requested in the brief.
Ideas for the cover and interior page illustrations came quite easily to me as I am quite familiar with the story. This made things much easier for me but in the end I decided to base my illustrations on Sir John Tenniel’s original Alice illustrations so that fans of his illustrations can relate to my illustrations as well. I had to think strategically though, and decided to choose the scenes that were less known and not the most obvious. Hopefully this way my illustrations would stand out from other entries and also catch the judges eyes. When it came to making the paper cut outs, I found that it was not as easy as it looked. It was very time consuming and it required a lot of patience and persistence;
this made me rethink about my decision to create two interior page illustrations. I realised I needed to balance out my time effectively for all the projects that I had simultaneously going on and decided to only create one interior page illustration so that I was able to tend to other projects as well.
Overall, I’ve really enjoyed doing the project and I am really excited and really pleased with the final designs. I am also quite proud of myself for exploring a new media and a new way of creating images. I believe that my final illustrations respond quite well to the brief.
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TIGERPRINT Floral Surface Pattern
Each month Tigerprint launches an exciting new design brief, which provides a fantastic opportunity for everyone including students and graduates to demonstrate their design talents. It's also a great way to get an insight to what it's like to work on a live commercial design brief.
brief wanted me to look at Spring/Summer 2016 trends for inspiration and also have the Marks and Spencer customer in mind. From looking at M&S’s website I identified that the majority of its customers would probably be working professionals and quite savvy, so I tried looking for colour palettes that are quite elegant yet still fun The brief required me to design a and lively to reflect the Spring/ pattern for a female recipient Summer vibe. that could be used across a range of Marks and Spencer wrap My flower designs are not products including gift bags, completely realistic but are wrapping paper and tags. The based loosely around real flowers
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to make it more interesting and playful. I entered 5 different floral designs (the maximum amount) and in the end, one of my designs made the competition shortlist! Out of a total of 1400 designs submitted, I made it to the top 87, which I am really pleased about and shows that I too can make patterns that are commercially viable. I found this brief a real quick-turnaround brief that required less developmental work, which obviously I really enjoyed. Overall, my pattern making skills have improved and I have a better understanding of making them. I also had fun focusing my work on colours, shape and textures.
J2O
Packaging redesign
The J2O packaging redesign is another brief from the YCN student awards. I decided to take on this brief, as I wanted to try putting my skills into practice on product and packaging. The problem identified by the brief is that many do not see the current artwork design as ‘adult’; the colours are viewed as bright and childish, and some consumers have even described it as cheap and ‘chavvy’. The challenge was to redesign J2O’s Orange and Passion fruit, and Apple and Mango flavours to appeal to a target audience of 25-35-year-old
men and women and make them proud to be seen holding J2O in bars, restaurants and at home. It should bring through J2O’s expressive, unpretentious and playful personality. During the early stages of the design process, I found that using hand written type, too much colours and too much decorative elements made the design look too playful for the more mature audience. I decided to cutback on the amount of decorative elements and use black as the base colour, as it is a
colour that is most associated as being more sophisticated and mature. I also decided to use a ready-made font that I made slight changes to, so that it was more suitable for the new design and the target audience. Overall, I think my final designs could have been a bit more ambitious but I think it still answers the brief. I did not find the brief as enjoyable as I thought I would, and found it a little too limiting. I also found it quite difficult with the layout, but maybe this is just because I need more training and practice.
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AYA S O B O U T I Q U E Rebranding
Boutique
The founder of ayaso Boutique approached me to do some rebranding for their business. They have asked me to create an element/logo that reflects their signature sense of modest femininity and they gave me the entire control over what I come up with for this. I did some initial sketches of ideas loosely based on a smiling figure as their newest collection is called ‘As She Smiled’. When I showed them my sketches, I was told that the style was something that they really liked, especially
the hand drawn, hand written written graphics that they would style and the simplicity. However use on the back of their business they kindly told me that they cards and for a shell scheme, would like to try something which they will use to exhibit/sell without a figure in it. After a their work in at the Middle East couple of days pondering what Film and Comic Con. This was a @ayasoBoutique do to, they contacted me again Official muchPage: easier task, as they were Designer Founder: @by.somayas and decided that they actually sureand with what they wanted and would like to go forth with the all the elaborate requirements Email: ayasoBoutique@gmail.com previous idea. w e re d e c i+971 d e d 50b 460 e f o re Mobile/WhatsApp: 8420t h e y requested it from me, including #AsSheSmiled Once the logo was created, the colours, the style, sizes etc. ayaso Boutique everything else seemed to click AsoProject it wasby: just a matter of bringing into place much easier. The client it to life. seemed to know the direction they wanted to go and requested I had never done any sort of for me to create some hand branding before, and it wasn’t
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really something that I was interested in doing, but after completing and seeing how successful the project turned out, I’m now really interested in delving further into this type of design work. After completing this project, I have learnt that it is based on the cooperation and the organisation of both the designer and client that will make a project run smoothly. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this project and felt that it gave me the most insight into what it is really like to work with a real client and a real live brief. It also gave me a such a great boost of self-esteem to know that the client was more than satisfied after the completion of the project and also after seeing all the designs in its physical forms and being used in the real life world.
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^ Updated website with new logo.
< Business cards and polaroid photo holders.
KIDNEY BOOK Leeds Children’s Hospital
Leeds Children’s Hospital is creating a child friendly book about the hospital journey of having a kidney and l iver transplant. The book would be passed onto the children going through this journey so that they are able to show their friends and help with their understanding.
improve my skills in illustrating children’s books. I was picked to do the job as they liked how child friendly my drawings looked and thought that my style of drawing would suit the book well. Because this project is something that is relatively big, I realised that it would not be possible for me to complete the whole book in time for the module deadline, so for the purpose of this module, I have completed 3 fully illustrated double pages.
They needed an illustrator and because I am interested in children’s book illustrations, I decided to respond to their email, as I thought that it would be a great opportunity for me to T h e p r o b l e m t h a t I f i r s t gain more experience and encountered with the project was
that the story they gave me was far too long and not all of it, I thought, was necessary. I also had to think about how the text would sit with the images so I was anxious when I saw the amount of information they wanted to fit into a page, as I know from my past experiences of baby sitting kids that they are more likely to become less interested and engaged when they are presented with something that is text heavy and not very visually appealing.
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I kept in constant contact with the hospital via email and have had two meetings in total (at the time of writing), which were used to discuss problems and concerns about the project. The length of the story was one of the issues raised in these meetings, which after a long and hard thought, they eventually agreed to cut back on a couple of things. Though still quite long, I decided to give it a try and work with what I got given. Initially, I was also going to submit a front cover for the book, but they told me that they were not completely decided on a couple of things such as the title of the book and what they wanted on the front cover. They said that they were going to come back to me about it but I still havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t heard from them regarding these matters yet.
In the last meeting I showed them the pages that I have completed so far and it was really nice to know that they were really enthusiastic and excited about them. They have discussed with me about potentially illustrating more books in the future for the hospital, which I am really flattered about! I hope to continue with this project in the coming months and hope that the book will be very useful for the children and the hospital.
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C O L L A B O R AT I V E : D & A D W W F Animation For the collaborative brief, I decided to collaborate with an animation student because I am particularly interested in working within the animation industry. I thought that it would be a good way to give me an idea of what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like to work alongside animators. Me, and my partner Sam Jackson decided to take on the D&AD WWF brief as it was the one that the both us had taken an interest in even before we met up, and we also thought that the brief had the most potential to put both of our skills to use.
The brief required us to take the WWF Living Planet Report findings and make them relevant and accessible to the 'always on' generation and to inspire a new generation to understand that we all have an impact on our planet and an effect on its health. Our solution was to create an animated infographic as we believed that it is the most effective way to communicate complex messages very quickly. We also believed that visual content and the moving image engage viewers almost instantly
and the impression they leave lasts longer than mere words.
Our final outcome came a long way from our initial idea as a result of more research, planning and testing. Initially we were going to use and animate a single, continuous line to signify interconnectivity and to communicate that our relationship with the planet is reciprocal: that we need the planet and the planet needs us, as required in the brief. However, when we came into one of the peer reviews with our idea, some
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mentioned that doing this might require a lot of time, which we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a lot of and that it might also appear too simple and might therefore affect how engaging it would be for the target audience. Hearing this made me a little anxious, so I decided to experiment combining line with bold shapes as we were also suggested that graphic pictures could work better for the audience. Although we got completely rid of the line idea in our animation in the end, I still believe that it communicates the intended message across quite effectively. This brief proved to be quite a challenge for the both of us, as it required a lot of reading, thinking, planning and testing, but we both remained quite persistent and punctual, which helped us a lot. Communication between Sam and I were also very frequent and we would always discuss our ideas and suggestions before any drastic changes were made, to ensure that we would both be happy with it. In the end, we were able to complete the brief a week before the deadline, which left us some time to make minor adjustments to our animation until we were both happy and satisfied with it.
For a collaborative project to run as smoothly as possible, and to prevent conflict, I have learnt that trust, communication, punctuality and effort from each individual in a team, are very important. Overall, I have really enjoyed doing this brief and have also enjoyed working with another person. I felt that decisionmaking in a team was a lot easier, as it felt more informed and reassured. I am really thankful that I got to work with Sam on this brief and it has also been a great experience; she is responsible, super punctual whenever we need to meet up and she contributes really well to the team. I definitely wouldn't mind collaborating with her again in the future!
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M O D U L E E VA L U AT I O N
Each module that I have come across has been really challenging and has taught me different things each time. This responsive module has definitely been a challenge for me, but it has also been one that I have really enjoyed the most so far as well. One of the reasons why I found this module the most benefitting so far since starting my degree, is because it has made me apply myself into the real world of work and has therefore been really useful in providing me an insight to what it would be like working out of
education, with real clients and real briefs and preparing me for it, which is really what its all about at the end of the day! I also liked the freedom of being able to choose our own briefs for this module. For example, the projects I chose were the ones that I thought would be most useful for me, the ones that were based on my interests, the work that I wanted to gain the experience of doing and the skills that I wanted to improve. Choosing my own briefs and trying out different ones have also given me an idea of the kind
of work that I definitely enjoy doing, and also helped to i d e n t i f y m y s t re n g t h s a n d weaknesses as a creative and a designer/illustrator. For example, I now know that I am not as good when it comes to packaging design/layout or that I am not as good at designing something for the more mature, older audiences. Although I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to limit myself with the kind of work and the audience that I work to, I know, and it is evident from the outcomes of the projects that I have taken that my work is a lot stronger when I have
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younger people as the target audience. I also think that the visual aesthetic that I like to work in is better suited for them. Out of all the other modules that I have completed over the two years of my degree, I believe that this module has been the one that has taught me the most. Time management, organisation, punctuality, communication, decision-making, are a couple of things that this module has thrown at me. Having a lot of different projects going on simultaneously, forced me to think in a more organised m a n n e r. T h i s m o d u l e h a s somewhat trained my brain to plan ahead of time, to ensure that I was able to tend to other projects and give it equal attention. On the whole, I realised that time management is key for success for everything you do. Pressure of working for real
clients, I felt, was a lot more intense than the big competition briefs. This caused me to discipline myself more with my punctuality and I felt I was more motivated to do the work. With my working professional mindset turned on, I wanted to leave them satisfied with my service, so that hopefully they would come back to me for further design work if and when required. My attitude towards the competition briefs was slightly different. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel the same kind of pressure of the deadlines or from the competition organisers. Because of this, I knew that I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let anyone down (except myself) if I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t complete the briefs. Despite this, my competitive personality still wanted me to do well. So I applied myself with the same kind of enthusiasm and completed the briefs to the best
of my ability. I had looked at more briefs, as evidenced on my blog, but I found that I was balancing too much work and simply did not have time to do them. Overall, I feel that this module has been really insightful and enjoyable. It has taught me a lot about what it would be like working out of education, and how I should go about dealing with it. Due to the fact that I had to keep in constant contact with my clients, I also believe my communication skills have improved a whole lot over the course of this module. Whether it is face to face, over the phone or via email, I feel that I am a lot more confident in talking to people. I feel that I am now able to conduct myself more professionally, and to produce work and present them at a more professional standard.
Aghnia Mardiyah Š 2015 BA (Hons) Illustration. Leeds College of Art