Responsive Report Becky Silveira
Individual
YCN - Fever Tree What were the problems I faced?
Why did I choose this brief? I chose this as my major brief as it gave me the opportunity to research into different countries, their cultures, what they’re famous for, their landscape etc, which I find really interesting. I have a love for travel and this gave me the opportunity to look at photographs of different countries I wouldn’t of even thought to look at. It also gave me the platform to research different countries that I haven’t had a reason to before, and allowed me to find out lots of interesting places around the world which I’d now consider visiting whereas before I wouldn’t think to look at them. This brief also has connections to the charity Malaria No More UK, and I’m interested in working for/with charities which help people, to make living situations better, and to generally just help out, so this was great to connect this brief with a charity. The outcome for this brief was a wrap design, and when I read the brief I immediately had images of glorious repeat patterns, and experimenting more with patterns is something I wanted to do, which this brief allowed me to.
How did I succeed? The end pattern designs for the bottles appear sophisticated and work as a collection rather than as individuals. I also feel quite proud that although I found this brief really tough in what they were actually asking me to produce, I didn’t just give up, which I could quite easily of done at one point, but I found through it and came to a proper finish, one which I am relatively pleased with.
Definitely understanding what the brief was asking me to produce exactly. Initially I thought I had a really clear understanding, however after talking to peers and reading the brief more thoroughly, this understand completely disintegrated, and I didn’t really know what I was doing anymore. This afffected me emotionally and productively, as I became fed up with the brief and therefore my workload stopped. I found it really hard to find a mock up for the bottles, as there wasn’t one anywhere on the internet, and experimenting with the 3D effect on Illustrator was a terrible mistake as it completely froze up my mac each time, resulting in having to restart my mac and losing all unsaved work. This also set me back, and wasted time when I could of been getting on with something more productive. This issue with mocking up the bottles resulted in them not really being displayed how I would of liked, and not showing them off to their best either.
What have I learnt? I have learnt how I dislike designing bottles, and that I should never attempt to use the 3D effect on Illustrator. It has also taught me that some briefs will not be as clear as you’d like them to be, but you have to do with them what you can, and see what the end result turns out like, rather than giving up.
How will this brief impact my practice? This brief has taught me that bottle design is not my forte, and that I shouldn’t let myself get stuck in a rut with a brief, but brainstorm and work it out. I have also discovered that I’m not so good at patterns, so perhaps that isn’t something I will actively pursue in future briefs.
Secret 7” Why did I choose this brief? I took part in Secret 7” last year and unfortunately didn’t make the cut, however I loved the freedom of the brief, and wanted to have another go. I also liked how the outcome was so simple and clear, so there was no confusion as to what to produce.
How did I succeed? I got to explore freely using different medias such as photography, watercolour and inks, which I don’t get the chance to in a lot of briefs because they don’t provide the freedom. Being a short brief I made sure I didn’t spend too long on it, as time should be spent on other, larger briefs which required more detail and depth. After visiting the exhibition last year, a lot of the winning entries were quite ambiguous and unclear as to what track they were for, and last year I don’t think I really achieved that, so this year I went for a more abstract and ambiguous approach, which I feel creates more questions when you look at them, trying to figure out what they’re supposed to be, rather than it being handed to you.
What were the problems I faced? I found it tricky to develop my ideas past the initial designs, as being produced using a hand rendered approach, any digital adaptations could look out of place unless handled carefully. However in feedback when I rasied these concerns, my peers said they looked fine as they were and didn’t need additional development.
What have I learnt? I have learnt that sometimes the simplest of ideas are the best, and that you shouldn’t tryand develop something when it doesn’t need it. I have also rekindled my love for hand rendered techniques, and this is definitely something I should try and apply mroe in other briefs where appropriate.
How will this brief impact my practice? This brief has taught me to know when an idea is finished, rather than trying to push it to it’s limits unnecessarily, which will definitely stop me from overdesigning things and making things much mroe complicated than they need to be. I will also try and implement more hand rendered work into future briefs, as this is something I really enjoy, and which produces an end result I am happy with.
BACIL Why did I choose this brief? I chose this brief because a lot of the previous poster designs for BACIL are very scary and really, really out of date, and I thought it was a great opportunity to create a much more contemporary, appealing poster design. Also poster design is something I feel quite comfortable doing, so this was an easy icebreaker brief to get myself into this module.
How did I succeed? I managed to create a not scary poster, which doesn’t appear threatening but still gets the message across clearly. I wanted the poster to appear more like a friendly voice rather than someone shouting at them what to do, which with the illustrations and the textured background, this achieves.
What were the problems I faced? I found it really tricky to appear friendly whilst still having impact and creating a bold message, as these are two contrasting ideas. I also found it difficult to make the illustrations appear unchildlike, as the illustrative style looked quite kiddy to start with, especially before the application of colour. Initially I wanted to produce a photographic poster, however I found it really difficult to make the composition of the items look professional and not weird and placed oddly. The ideas was to lay the items out in an orderly fashion, inspired by knolling photography, which has a great structure and all the items are of a similar theme or colour, which makes it really structured. However items coming out of a bag are of the same theme, but they are definitely not similar colours, they’re all range of colours, so to put them together they don’t look ordered and this reuslted in a jumbled composition.
What have I learnt? I learnt that photography takes a lot longer and is a lot harder to make something look structured than it initially appears.
How will this brief impact my practice? This brief has shown me the difficulties faced with tone of voice within my work, which is something I will take much more notice about in future briefs.
Goat Collective Why did I choose this brief? We had a workshop which involved creating a message using cuttings from magazines, newspapers and leaflets, which I had so much fun doing. This workshop inspired me to create something for Disposable Society for the Goat Collective exhibition, using the same magazine cutting technique, as this makes use of publications that would otherwise be thrown away, giving them a new life. I also used to create montages using magazine clippings when I was in college and high school, so this really reconnected me back to something I used to spend so long doing and have great fun doing.
How did I succeed? I created an outcome which makes use of materials that would of been thrown away, which reflects the idea of the exhibition. I also reconnected with a technique that I really enjoy, and this made me realise that I should use this more in my work in general, as this is essentially part of my creative style. I produced this outcome in one day, which is what I was aiming to, to make it a quick fire, one day brief, as I didn’t think it needed the time taken over it that other briefs did.
What were the problems I faced? I found it difficult to make the text stand out bold against the clothes background, as with the text being taken from magazines, they often had a coloured background which merged in with the clothes background. This resulted in having to replace several of the letters with ones with white backgrounds to ensure you could read it easily. If I had wanted to take more time over this brief, perhaps the letters could of been produced using letterpress onto white stock, and then cut out individually and stuck to the clothes background, making them much bolder.
What have I learnt? I relearnt my love for cutting and sticking. I have also learnt that I really need to work on my application of text to ensure that it appears bold and stands out sufficiently. I’ve also learnt that sometimes the briefs that aren’t laboured over and are produced quickly sometimes produce more spontaneous results filled with more personality.
How will this brief impact my practice? This brief has inspired me to use more hand rendred techniques, especially cutting and sticking in my own work, as this is something I really enjoy doing and produces effective results. I will also take more time in ensuring that my text has enough impact, and finding new and inventive ways to make it achieve impact.
Collaborative
YCN - Feel Good
Why did I choose this brief? Initially I was going to do the Shutterstock brief for collaborative, however during the quick fire presentation of everyones work, I saw one persons resposne to the Feel Good Drinks brief and it really inspired me to produce something with a lot of energy which pops. It also made me see the brief in a new light, as initially I wasn’t really sure what it was asking, however after seeing someones outcome for it it showed me the possibilities.
What were the problems I faced? One minor issue was that the patterns weren’t produced as quickly as I hoped they would by my other two team members, however when I raised this issue with my group they got the designs to me really quickly the next day which was so much quicker than I expected.
What have I learnt? I have learnt how to communicate with other people who have a different working style to me, and to accept the way that other people work, and the stages they go through to get to the final outcome.
How will this brief impact my practice?
How did I succeed? The brief asked to make Feel Good on the radar of young women, and I think the bottle designs, posters and other forms of outcomes definitely appeal to women, whilst still having a lot of energy and being fun, yet promoting Feel Good’s key values of natural ingredients and no added sugar. I worked successfully as part of a team to produce these outcomes, and we communicated really efficiently using Facebook to share ideas and get feedback from one another on the work we’ve produced. We used Google Drive to share files and so we could all access the work at any time we want, which worked really successfully, as I could go into the file and get whatever aspect I needed at any time without asking my team members to send it over.
This brief has reinforced that I don’t really like doing bottle designs, so perhaps should think more carefully about the outcomes that a brief may require before choosing it. I also feel a lot more confident working as part of a team, and knowing that I can hold my ground about ideas I feel are important.
Evaluation This module has been a really tough one for me, as given the freedom of being able to choose my own briefs, I don’t think I thought carefully enough about the outcomes they would require, and what outcomes I should be producing in order to develop skills in the area that I am interested in. I chose briefs with either an interesting content or with a simple outcome and a clear brief, rather than choosing one which required me to produce an outcome that I enjoy, such as a publication or website. Not choosing the right briefs for me resulted in me not really enjoying this module, as I wasn’t excited about the briefs (except Secret 7) really, and this made me sluggish to do the work for them, which resulted in me being a bit behind in this module throughout. I don’t think my bottle outcomes have been presented in the best way possible, as ideally I’d print the design so it could be stuck onto the bottle itself, making for a much more accurate representation of how it’d look if it was actually produced, however due to lack of time I didn’t have chance to produce this type of outcome, only digital mock ups. I also think I could of managed my time better with this module, rather than leaving the two large briefs until right at the last minute to produce. However this was kind of a conscious decision, as I wasn’t enjoying them as much as other briefs, I chose to do the briefs I was enjoying over the Responsive ones, as I got so much more pleasure out of them. This is really something I should work on, to ensure I do the work that needs to be done rather than just the work that I want to do. I feel pleased with how I performed as part of a group on the Feel Good Drinks brief, and think I pulled my weight towards the end where the bulk of the work landed on me. I think I could have done more research for the brief, however this just didn’t happen. I communicated clearly when we met up face to face and also over Facebook where we discussed things when we weren’t together. This definitely gives me more confidence in that I can guide and lead people and think logically on how to go about solving a brief, which I thought I could do before but it’s always reassuring for it to be clearly demonstarted in the real world. If I was to do anything different, I’d definitely do different, more inspiring briefs, perhaps from less high profile companies.