#10
Name_ Ross Francis Student ID_ 102181 Level_ 06 Module Code_ OUG603
Brief Title Type Of Brief Skills
Collaborators Nature of Collaboration
LCM
Brief
Live poster brief for Leeds College of Music event
Create a poster, programme and social media package for the LCM Steinway showcase in London.
Art Direction, Copy Writing, Screen Print, Concept Generation, Layout, Illustration, Typography, Professional Engagement Joel Burden Joel and I conducted research and concept generation independently. We ended up using a concept Joel put forward that seemed to perfectly solve the problem of the brief. We developed a design direction together put produced layout possibilities independently. We screen printed the poster, and I created a video of the entire process for the Leeds College of Music blog.
Background
LCM is a conservatoire with All-Steinway status. Steinway is an internationally recognised brand of piano. LCM students are handpicked through out the year to perform in the Steinway showcase. The showcase that will be advertised is a Spring Classical showcase. Leeds College of Music holds these showcases every 2-3 months to maintain a presence in the south.
Considerations
The tone of voice has to be friendly, forward thinking, but with a direct reference to the traditional values that are at the core of the Leeds College of music brand. Traditional core but with a contemporary edge.
Solution
The solution to this brief was to build a design around the copy ‘210 Years In The Making’. This concept combined the ages of Leeds College of Music and Steinway and Sons, in order to give the event an assumed sense of grandeur. The visual style acts as a metaphor for this combination. The modernist typography from the time Leeds College of Music started, and the art-deco style imagery from the 19th century when Steinway and Sons started.
Evaluation
This went reasonably well. I was very happy with the final product and the presentation, however the brief seemed to last a lot longer than was necessary. The concept stages were long and drawn out, and the layout of the poster seemed to go through various stages of development, and although it was quite an arduous process, it seemed like it paid off in the end. I feel that to be fully happy with this brief I needed to work and act on the development stages far quicker. In addition to the development stages taking longer than expected the print and production of deliverables also took longer than expected. While the development stages were down to poor scheduling and slow design development, the print process took longer due to the problems that occured during printing. The design was difficult to produce using screen print, and would be suited to a more professional process. The registration was difficult to master and the inexperience with such unpredictable paper stock meant that we spent a longer than expected getting the desired result. Since the beginning of the year I have started to gain a renewed confidence in my layout abilities, my copy writing, and my application of typography, I think the visuals produced for this brief have set the standard for my future work, and I feel like I have started to develop a consistency between the quality of the idea and the quality of the final work. I am aware that I am still a bit hit or miss with my briefs as a whole, but with this realisation it provides a platform for future work post university, where I will be continuing my personal development with freelance and self-set briefs. I engaged in a lot of correspondence with the marketing department at Leeds College of Music in order to make sure they were happy with the direction of the brief. This meant I had to produce industry standard mockups to propose to the marketing department. This engagement came with benefits and allowed us a budget for the print. This allowed for more expensive stocks to be used and allowed us to gain experience selecting, ordering and working with more exclusive paper stock.