Studio brief 4 design boards

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Studio Brief 4 Speaking From Experience OUGD406 Callum O’Reilly Level 4

Studio Brief 4

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Rationale

Studio Brief 4

Create a practical and interactive piece that the new students can take with them to be able to explain something you struggled with, that will be presented to them. The idea should be considering new skills that you have learnt over the year and become representative of these skills, taking into deliberation the college facilities and also being representative of what you can produce.

The final outcome should be reproduced by hand 6 times, to be presented to the first year graphic design students at the beginning of the year.

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Initial Ideas

Studio Brief 4

My initial ideas consisted of: -Cocktail shaker with ingredients for different cocktails printed onto it for different situations – stronger = more stressful.

-Cards against (humanity) Graphic Design -An overdraft guide to cocktails, where to get the best drinks during the week for the cheapest.

-A fresher’s guide to what you wont do but you said you would do, all of the things that everyone says they’re going to do when they come to Leeds, but then don’t.

-Beer pong of students tips, best bars, student life general tips.

-Student Calendar for student problems by month.

Although I chose to experiment with the idea of creating a calendar as it is something that is practical and can be used by the students wants to get organised throughout the year, this is something I struggled with in the forward’s advice to the first years. Although the idea changed throughout my development the basis of the calendars that same, to help organise.

The idea post crit was to create a calendar where the months get more stressful the calendar provides a recipe for a cocktail which get stronger. This idea proves successful amongst peers.

Originally the calendar was meant to be a desk top feature which flipped through, and kept post-use. I decided on this idea as it was something interactive that the students could use I could also present in a way that breaks the ice, serving the cocktails to them, introducing them to Leeds College of Art.

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Development

Studio Brief 4

I wanted to create something which was representative of what I had learnt that year my first idea was to create line art illustrations which were filled with previous work and in this year, for example the one on the left depicting Mono printing experimentation from earlier in the year; something which I had not done before coming to the University. My idea de-veloped into creating vectorisation of each of the cocktails each month, changing the col-ours depending on their ingredients, making each one vibrant.

Even through this process of drawing vector images I have developed my Illustrator skills.

This is evident as the cheeky Vimto, shows a lot less detail than the Lemon Drop, as it was done first. Illustrators another program I did not know how to use before coming to uni, it is such a massive part graphic design I want to represent the way in which students will understand that you will eventu-ally learn how to use this software. Development is also evident through the process of cre-ating the calendar itself. Originally it was going to be wrinkled or they are thought this would interfere with the design style, therefore it was bound using card and staples to keep the look minimal and modern. This is evident within the design of a developed new grid system which would allow for the room to do this, therefore taking into consideration fur-ther developments later on in the project to minimalize the effect has on my design.

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Production

Studio Brief 4

The production method itself consisted of me creating two calendars, this will then become six. The trial calendar allowed me to experiment with perforation ensuring that even while calendar is being used the design is not affected too much. This also allowed me to experiment with the type of papers they will be printed on, during it’s not too thick so that perforation works with ease. The production also saw me change the order of the drugs on the calendar to make them from weakest to strongest although this affected the dates and year on each of the sheets and therefore need to be reprinted after amendment.

The most time-consuming part of this design with the illustrations of the drugs themselves. Each illustration was individually done to the way you would normally expect these cocktails is set within a bar. The colours were determined by the ingredients that were found in the cocktail. This took more time than it would ferment used as I am not used to using Illustrator, although this gave me the great opportunity to develop said skills. It also gave me the opportunity to experiment with drawing vectors and the way in which detail can be added using flat image and how debt can be added to the use of translucency of the layers.

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Production

Studio Brief 4

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Final Outcome/Evaluation

Studio Brief 4

In relation to both the brief, rationale I believe I’ve created a successful outcome the calendar I designed practical, that helps the students organise themselves throughout the year; and also interactive as it gives the students a new cocktail each month. The content I have chosen is appropriate as organisation is something I struggled with the myself, the drinks concept behind it is a light-hearted joke about stress relief, but also enables the audience something to talk about with their new flatmates therefore helping them break the ice.

The choice of media as appropriate as it can be placed within a room on a wall, unlike most calendars have aesthetically pleasing impression, which will not be ruined by the use of the calendar due to the perforated design. In my experience last year speaking from experience project consisted mainly of printed booklets with tips, although this was helpful it was not interactive, nor something I could take away remember the beginning of the year by. The piece I was presented with last year also did not specifically but in slight anything that person had newly developed since coming to the University. This was a big element me as I want to show off what university could do for you, such as help development within Illustrator, as evident through my work.

I believe the strength of my work is very athletic nature coinciding with its actual practicality allowing the students to have something that they would want to keep and consistently use. Although I believe my weaknesses through this brief with the lack of development due to time constraints given, this is where working with the team could have benefited me, as I was balancing other briefs simultaneously with designing and producing this one by myself. I would also improve the outcome by further experimentation with paper stock, although the print room was unavailable due to being fully booked as this was the end of the year. To combat this, I will be booking print room slots in the future before the briefing, as there was multiple facilities and available at the time of this briefing.

I believe that the ecstatic I have given a piece works well, the typefaces chosen are modern and concise complying to what is needed of the media in terms of this format. The colours chosen a variant depending on the drink, the brightest colour out of each has been sampled and used as the piece to create a sense of balance. I believe these colours are relevant for current design trends, as well as being non-gender focused, allowing the calendar to be used relevant to a wider audience; as we do not currently know who the audience are.

Overall I’m satisfied with the final outcome in terms of helping the new students, as well as the way in which it is helping develop new design skills; i.e. developing my illustration skills within Adobe Illustrator.