01 Brief Title
The Brief
Solution
Evaluation
LCA Prospectus 2015/16
Proposal a design solution for the Leeds College of Art 2015/16 Further and Higher Education Prospectus.
The first design decision made was to divide the content across separate booklets. This was decided to enable potential students to download information about specific courses, rather than needing to download everything as a PDF.
When I decided to undertake this brief I was aware of the heavy workload - at a point the project strayed into becoming a full re-brand of the college, At this point I took a step-back, reassessed what I wanted to achieve with the brief and focussed my attention on the prospectus design. From me focussing my attention on the prospectus each design decision became easier to answer, from format, stock and the colours used all the way to the content needed for each booklet and how to improve elements of the body copy from previous prospectuses.
Brief Type Self-initiated
Collaborators N/A
Background The original Leeds College of Art mosaic logo has often been called unusable. For this reason I set myself the challenge to use the College’s mosaic in an interesting, functional and aesthetically pleasing way. I felt the mosaic was an important element to keep as it represents the College’s heritage, which is something the College ought to be proud of. In previous prospectus designs the mosaic has been slapped on the page as an after-thought, the College’s heritage is dismissed the this action.
Considerations The design has to be high-quality, engaging and be produceable to a limited budget. The design has to be adaptable for future use, and represent the college as an evolving entity that hasn’t lost sight of it’s history. In a world that is becoming increasingly screen-based it must be considered how people will be able to access the information online.
This introduced a problem in itself, how to contain the individual course booklets. There were a few options, from using a box, coptic-binding or using the slipcase. I decided to use a slipcase as this was the most cost-effective, aesthetically pleasing and functional option. A simplified version of the college’s mosaic is used on the cover of the slipcase. The decision was a simple one to make, how to mosaic was applied to the slipcase wasn’t so simple. The choice was between die-cutting, embossing and spot varnishing. These all offered different benefits, the embossing and spot-varnish were considered for their ‘special feel’, however they offered very little extra to that. The die-cut offered more in terms of functionality and how the college should be represented. The colours used on each of the booklets have been chose as they combine to form a colour wheel, this is to show the inclusivity of the college, that it welcomes all people. The typeface was selected as it is neutral, with a condensed style being chose to work within the smaller column widths of the layout. The format is kept small for two reasons, the first is to save on print costs, the second is to allow the user to keep the prospectus on their desk without it being too obtrusive.
I made great progress with time and resource management skills in this project, dividing the brief into four sections; directed research, content development, design development and production. This helped me to avoid a lot of mistakes I have made in previous years. Looking at the brief as smaller chunks helped me to avoid mistakes I have made in previous years. I learnt a lot by completing this brief; The quantity of time and effort effort needed to complete a publication requiring as much copy as the prospectus. The complexity of representing each course in a balanced and interesting way, without detracting from the other courses on offer at the college. Both of these lessons are valuable to my progress as a designer. What would I do differently next time? I would have liked to collaborate with a photographer to help with the cover designs using monochrome photographs of the college, this would have made for more relevant cover designs. However, the cover designs showing colours that symbolise the college’s inclusivity is a unique approach to the prospectus, and one that is very effective in itself. The production process raised a few issues in itself, not having access to professional folding equipment led me to compromise on the prototype quality. The result is a messy slipcase, I am aware of the stock I would use if the prospectus was to be printed commercially, so this isn’t a long term issue with the project.
David M Gaskell
OUGD603
Brief 1
1/5
Research
David M Gaskell
What I did
Why I did it
How the research informed me
I started the brief by looking at examples of Art College prospectuses used by other insitutions, institutions the college should aspire to become, such as the Royal College of Art. Following that I opened my eyes further a field, looking more generally at experiemental editorial and print design. The final research I undertook was in reading the Leeds College of Art prospectus cover to cover, paying close attention to what content is needed, what quotes are used for each course and the order in which information appears.
The most important objective of the research was to give me an understanding of what a prospectus is, and the content that is needed. I looked to institutions Leeds College of Art should aspire to be, mostly Royal College of Art in London, often referred to as the best art college in the world for inspiration and guidance on how to compile the prospectus and the content that needs to be included in the prospectus. I looked at more general print design as it will influence the format, special finishes and/or if I decided to create a purely digital prospectus.
The research informed me to the extent of information that is contained in a prospectus. This led me to think about how the information can be formatted, and deconstructed to make for a more logical reading experience. The research I made into general print, and possible formats influenced the outcome greatly - with me deciding to follow a similar format to Sagmeister’s ‘Things I Have Learned’. I chose this avenue as it is visually engaging and allows me to deconstruct the information in the prospectus, making it easier to access information and a more interesting read in general.
OUGD603
Brief 1
2/5
UCAS Code W615
Mike Smith 0113 202 8000 mike.smith@leeds-art.ac.uk
BA (Hons.) Animation.
This programme is new for 2013. Building on the very successful animation elements of our Graphic Design and former Digital Film, Games & Animation degrees, it enables us to focus on the very latest practices, techniques and trends. An ideas-driven course, it will teach you to use traditional and new practices including storyboarding, stop-frame animation, 2D and 3D digital production skills as well as motion capture technologies. You’ll learn to build your own practice as an animator, gaining experience, advice and inspiration from our excellent industry links. A huge range of careers beckons—from TV, film and 2D/3D animated shorts to the internet, apps, gaming and interactive technologies.
Course validated by the Open University.
Development
David M Gaskell
Mosaic
Colour
Format, type & grid
The original Leeds College of Art mosaic logo was integral to the prospectus design. It represents the College’s heritage, something we should be proud to talk about, for this reason I made the mosaic the focal point of the design, taking the original mosaic and designing a highly simplified version to be used as a slipcase in the prospectus design.
I wanted to use colour to represent something positive about the college. I started by thinking about what colour can represent. In the end I decided to colours will be used to represent the inclusivity of the college. I took a colour wheel and selected twelves colours (plus black and white). I chose to use the colour wheel as it symbolises that everybody is welcome at the college, as long as they have the money to pay the extortionate fees.
The prospctus content will be delivered through 14 separate booklets, sized 210mm x 130mm. The size was decided to keep the prospectus from taking up too much space on desks. The layout is kept simple, using a neutral layout to allow each course to be displayed in it’s best light.
OUGD603
Brief 1
3/5
Production
David M Gaskell
Slipcase
Inserts
Supporting Materials
Several test versions of the slipcase were made - testing a variety of stocks to see whether the mosaic pattern was durable to survive the postage service. I encountered several set-backs in this process, I was unable to find an appropriate stock and duplex/triplexing wouldn’t offer an appropriate solution. In the end a compromise was made, witht he slipcase prototype being constructed using mountboard.
The inserts were difficult to develop - after the first round of development there were twelve inner booklets, this was an issue as one of the booklets had twice as much information as the other eleven, causing problems with binding consistency. This problem was corrected by dividing that information across three booklets, making the total number of booklets up to fourteen.
I began developing supporting materials for open days, after speaking with the greatest marketing department of 2014 and realising the college had updated their ‘branding’ over the summer, and that the new branding wouldn’t allow for the designs to be used I decided against developing the supporting materials and focussed entirely on the prospectus design.
I expermented with embossing the reverse side of the slipcase, the experiments were discontinued after my tenth attempt when using a wooden mboss plate. I attempted to use a copper plate bu the College staff at Vernon Street were unable to help with that process, it’s not like it’s their job or anything afterall.
Fabric stitch binding is used to give the booklets a high quality, hade made fee, lifting the college above their competitors.
OUGD603
Brief 1
4/5
Outcome
David M Gaskell
What does the design say
Who does it say it to
Why it works
The prospectus design says we are an experimental and creative college whilst at the same time being professional and capable of delivering and excellent education to yourself and/or your offspring.
The prospectus is aimed at potential students, feeder colleges and most importantly parent who have a big influence on where their children decide to study.
The die-cut slipcase represents the golden history of the college whilst showing it as the progressive entity it tries to convince itself it is. The format can be adapted moving into future years, with each courses cover design being created by the graduating third years, turning the prospectus from a piece of external communications to a college community project.
OUGD603
Brief 1
5/5