RESEARCH
My research included contacting a designer who had worked with what I considered an interesting fold. This also gave me the chance to ask about their design process and get an insight into how a professional studio approached a brief and how it compared to mine in technique and order. I liked the idea of making something digitally but adding something handmade to contrast
On 1 oct. 2014, at 00:24, Jess Johnson <jessj1103@hotmail.co.uk> wrote: Hello, My name is Jessica Johnson and I am a Graphic Design student from Leeds, UK. I was recently given a brief to create a leaflet that explained the process I went through when given a brief right through to the decisions I make when making the final product. When looking for some design ideas and inspiration I came across your website and I really liked some of the interesting ways you have worked with layout, such as the three folding leaflets about European architecture. I found these fascinating and I would be really grateful if you could help me with just answering a few questions I have to help with my research. I would love to know what you think about incorporating more complex paper folds into production of leaflets? Do you think it would work well or would this have to rely on the content and the relativity? In terms of the brief itself I am also really interested as to what your design process is when you begin a project; where do you start and what questions do you ask yourself? It would be really appreciated if you could help me with just a few short answers but I understand if you are really busy!
I looked into a variety of existing products that had a unique fold or packaging to give me inspiration and ideas. I also used youtube to find tutorials that acted as a guide for me to learn new and different folds.
Thank you, Jessica Hi Jessica The 3 folding leaflets revolve around European architecture. Kim Holtermand’s photographic work has pure, geometric lines, so the leaflets presenting his work ought to have the same architectural feel. The imagery’s structured and unstructured aesthetic is translated by the folds, so it isn’t the number of folds that matter but the global result. As of our creative design process, we start by sketching our ideas, in order to explain to each other what we have in mind, then, we work very long hours on Mac using Adobe programs such as Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign etc. Quite often, we tend to give a new dimension to our work, by adding something traditional, such as a hand-made bind, or something letter-pressed. Hope this helps Nathalie Kapagiannidi Art Director at Say What Studio – saywhat-studio.com thisismirador.com
As part of my secondary research I looked at several books from the library however I found that this one was the best as the diagrams were much easier to understand. The designs ranged from very simple to complex in this book and I decided that I would use some of these as the basis for my fold, I wanted to create something myself that wasn’t in the book but I needed something versatile to start with.
INITIAL IDEAS
Making a visual representation of my design process really helped to start generating some ideas as I was easily able to break down into around seven steps how I got from a brief to a finished project. Seeing it visually really helped me thoroughly remind myself of how I work.
Having a large variety of sketches is something I always aim to have before I begin designing in detail. I compiled just over twenty ideas as I felt this gave me a large basis to choose from and experiment with. I wanted each one to be slightly different to the next so that they were each offering a different direction in terms of visual aspect. I chose four designs from this that I felt could be worth developing, I narrowed them down quickly by some rough testing and the process of elimination. Some of them I based on the book designs that I had studied as I felt these offered structured bases which is something I would really like to work with, I want my leaflet to be strong in terms of stability and visuals. I annotated each one in an analytic way, being critical at this point of what could realistically work and where problems could occur makes it a lot easier in the later stages.
I really enjoyed experimenting with paper and I was surprised how easy it was to create some really interesting and diverse folds that could be practical when putting down content but also visually appealing from the exterior.
After having a small crit with peers I chose my idea that reflected a triangular tube that stood on end vertically. I felt that this was stable and was different to any that I had seen in books and online. I started to develop the idea by looking at the specifics such as how to close the leaflet and the exact measurements and angles for the panels and slope. I want my leaflet to be able to close so that this reflects how I like to keep everything neat and organised throughout my design process to keep in order.
DESIGN CHOICES
As a beginning to my design choices it was necessary for me to split the layout and create some thumbnails in order to decide how I wanted to go about presenting it. It was split into 7 panels deliberately as I had decided my 7 process steps. I wanted one that was clear to read but also would allow me to include visuals too.
I began to develop my icons, I wanted them to look simple but clever and easy to relate to the category it represents. I sketched several ideas for each one first before choosing the most appropriate to digitally create. I found them quite easy to create surprisingly, I constantly referred to peers for opinions throughout development.
The back design of my leaflet I wanted to keep quite simple. I already had all of the content on the inside and I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think it was necessary or practical to have any text on the outside. I used the icons to create a structured pattern but I reduced the opacity so that it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem too overbearing from the exterior.
Colour and typeface were two of the most important design choices I had to make at this stage. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel particularly confident with either but I decided that I wanted to use something that had a calm annotation to suit my personality. I chose to go with the grey background and pale green text as I felt the other colours were too harsh, this was more suitable. Regarding typeface I knew immediately that I wanted something clean and sans serif and so I decided to use impact for my title as this is loud but also very legible from both distance and fairly close.
I was fairly pleased with the outcome of this brief, I felt that it was really open to my interpretation and this was a really good way to get me into thinking for myself and looking at how I can view the brief to make something unique. As the target audience for this production was me I decided that I needed to really think how my process could be visually documented. I came to realise through visually writing down my process that I am a very structured designer, I like things to be organized and I like to know my schedule at all times so this is something I wanted to reflect in my leaflet. After experimenting with different folding techniques and learning new and complex folds, I decided that it would be suitable to my personality to have a leaflet that was strong and could stand alone; this would represent the rigidity of my design process. To enhance this I decided I wanted my leaflet to be encompassed by the outer layer to give an overall neat fasten on the exterior by using a slot fold to make it look concise. Regarding the design I think it was appropriate for me to stick with something that was simple with no overcrowding areas. I created vectors for each process and I was quite pleased with how these turned out, it is something I often struggle with and so I need to practice this more often. The colours were quite a difficult choice for me, I wanted something playful and light-hearted but I didn’t want it to look too childish. I used a pale green and a grey that I think worked really well together, I didn’t want to use anything too loud as I feel this does not represent my personality or. One thing I struggled with was the layout in terms of the folds and how the content would lie on them; I initially forgot the small bit I would have to overcompensate for when I folded the structure. This set me back slightly time and cost wise but I had allowed extra time at the end in case anything went wrong, this is something I have learnt from previous projects. It is an easy fold and is simple to open and shut, this is a problem that a few people have encountered. In terms of the fastener I think I could have developed this more, I could have made the shape a bit more interesting and the practicality of it slightly easier. I would have liked to have developed this more by creating something handmade to finish off the clasp but I did not have time. If this were to be printed on a mass scale I think it would be very easy to do so, although it would not be efficient when having to cut and fold each one individually, this could be simplified or left as an open poster but I do not think it would have the same effect. Overall I am really happy with how the leaflet I created has turned out, I believe that it strongly represents me and the content clearly shows my design process in a precise but effective way. If I were to do this again I may consider using a different fastener to close it that could make it slightly more functional.
FINAL DESIGN
On my final piece the clasp has worked quite well, it is fairly neat and looks like it fits in well with the design. It is discrete so it doesn’t draw attention to this point when open as the slit is in one of the creases between the panels on the inside and isn’t visible from either side making it practical.
The stock I used to print on was a matte stock 120gsm, I tested it on a thinner stock but this felt too flimsy. I didn’t want to use something too thick as I felt that the folds would make the ink crack due to the high volume of used, however it needed to be thick enough so that it wasn’t see through. I kept the writing on the inside short and to the point, I wanted it to briefly describe the process and using a sans serif typeface that was clean and legible. The white space looks quite effective it allows the rest of the design to show clearly without being overcrowded.
The simplicity of this design works really well on the outside, it makes the leaflet seem inviting and draws the audience in as it is interactive too. I think lowering the opacity made it seem not too harsh and didn’t show up the overlapping of the objects as the leaflet wrapped around on the exterior. The pattern is structured and sets the theme.