EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Self Branding Synopsis:
To create a personal and professional presence it is important to produce a print-based and online design presence. This would include personal branding, samples of work and selfpromotion material (business cards, letterheads, creative CV’s, stationary etc.). The concept behind my personal branding is to communicate my personal and profession skill levels and personality. The colour used reflects being creative and motivated where the vector icons demonstrate my interest within the creative industry and the tools needed through my professional practice. My logo forms my initials to create a symbol that I can use across a range of documents and materials. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X9 presentation boards showcasing my development, concepts, processes and final printed promo pack and other resolutions for this brief.
Online presence
X! Promo pack in the form of, a set of stationary and promotional material, showcases my branding, this is all in the fold of a pack, which is contained within an orange folder. Letterheads, compliment slips, business cards, CD containing my portfolio and envelopes enabling me to send letters to studios. My website can be seen through the linked that is documented in my blog.
Business cards
A range of business cards that have been produced using different print methods such as, spot varnish.
Promo Pack
Evaluation Self branding brief was to produce and develop my own brand identify, even though I am not planning on becoming a freelance designer, it is still important to have your own visual identity when looking into placements and making connections with professionals. I had designed and printed my own business cards last year and was really impressed with the outcome. This brief allowed me to develop this branding into a wider range of stationary and items in the form of a promo pack. Within the self branding brief I have learn a large amount of skills such as setting documents up for printing, using UV spot varnish also making the design work across a larger range of documents. Many skills have been developed within this project as it has spanned over a large range of months, this has been very beneficial as it has allowed my to produce an effective piece of work that stands out as much as possible. The designs should also allow my work to standout against others when they get sent to employers/ design studios. A range of production methods were used within this brief, such as UV Spot varnish, this allows a shiny effect to be added to the design making it look more professional and higher quality. Another method of printing used was screen-printing, this allowed me to produce high quality piece of stationary that all had the save colour across them. This together with the digital printing process shall allow me to produce an effective range of work that shall be very noticeable. A strength I believe I have captalised within this brief would be the use of design work consistently across all types of design, publication and stationary. This has allowed me to produce a successful brand that would be recognisable and easily distinguishable against others. Another key strength would be my research that I produced into branding and brand identify around freelance and graphic design studios. This has given me a good insight into how my work should look and target the people needed. A weakness I believe has impacted this project would be the development work I undertook. I believe more development upon my concept and idea would have allowed for a more successful brand and identity. Make the identity quirkier and memorable would be beneficial, I hope to take these comments into work I do in the future. Having a memorable brand that is effective and creative is important. Overall, I am happy with the progress made and the outcomes that came from this. This was one of the last briefs I undertook and found it hard to manage my time, however it all came together in the end and the results are positive. This brief is also part of my Personal professional development and will be sent out to studios and designers who I want to work with in the near future.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Research Publication Synopsis:
By undertaking a period of focused, in-depth and sustained research into an area of graphic design appropriate to my own study. Through researching a range of research using different methods in the investigation of issues, practices, practitioners and companies relating to my own study, how allowed me to design a research publication forming a case study for my own practice. Within my personal practice it has become clear that my area of interest lies within brand and packaging, a lot of my final projects take on some form of 3-dimentional structures. This research Publication reflects my own creative, professional and practical concerns within the field of contemporary design practice. The concept for this publication is all about packaging been a treat and a delight for me throughout the year. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X7 presentation boards illustrating the design process, research and concepts for the publications. The development and printed finals can also been seen on these boards.
Printed Publication
X1 printed publication and printed packaging called ‘Packaged treat’, that holds the publication. The publication is digital printed, with a laminated cover to create a more realistic concept and also to protect the design. The publication inside the outer packaging is glue bound with a fabric strip to cover the binding edge.
Evaluation This brief was a requirement for the module to showcase an in-depth research project. My research project was all about packaging, as this is something I have found a great interest in over the last year. This was the last brief of the year and properly one of the most interesting one for me as it was something I enjoyed and had enjoyed investigating over the last year on the course. Gathering content for the publication was fairly easy as I had the motivation to fully research in-depth the subject of packaging and other aspects associated with packaging. I spoke to professionals, looked at books and online resources. The only regret from this module is not doing this research in the second or first year of the course, as it is a really interesting subject to look into and explore further. Within this research publication I developed my skills within research and development, these skills are important, as it shall help inform my design ideas and overall style. While this research shall also be the main content of the project it is important, as it shall influence the style, content and production of the publication. Through the use of development I was able to produce a creative and relevant packaging design that would house the entire booklet I believe this will be effective as it gives the brief an extra part to it making it standout against others. A range of methods were used for this project, digital printing was one of the main methods as it allowed all of the content to be printed quickly, effectively and at a lower cost. Other methods such as binding were used to help put the publication together, allowing it to look as professional as possible. The packaging design was produced from a net that took inspiration from previous sweet designs; this then used the method of laminating to make it strong and sturdy. A strength I believe I have shown within this brief would be my ability to focus upon high levels of detail such as the packaging design, this used a very intricate net that would house the product, this was one of the most difficult nets I have produced as it had a lot of functionality. Another strength would possible be the design, I have produced an effective design that houses my overall project work allowing it to standout and look and strong as possible. I believe more research and development would have benefited this brief as more content could be placed into the booklet and organized into a better order. While this did not affect the overall out come I believe it could have helped improve the finish make it a lot of useful for myself and other readers. Overall, I think this was a successful brief and brought with it enthusiasm and intrigue for my own personal practice. I am clearer on the area of graphic design I want to explore further. The printed research publication was really successful and looks really interesting from the outside. The content was indepth and clear allowing the reader to engage and read with ease.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Purdey’s Synopsis:
This brief has been chosen from the selection of D&AD competition briefs. The brief asks to, Repackage Purdey’s Rejuvenate and extend its range to include the new product - Purdey’s Natural Energy. I felt this brief would allow me to explore and experiment with packaging as I have become interested in packaging especially bottle designs. A challenge to work with different formats and scales is useful for my development in this area of design. The Rejuvenate drink range communicates being youthful; this is seen through an illustrative design, placed within the environment of the city surroundings. The Natural energy range is similar to rejuvenate however, with a different illustration, in keeping with the city landscape concept. Harness your natural energy uses the windmill a memory for being younger to communicate the idea of holding on to that much needed energy. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X9 presentation boards displaying the research, development, concept, processes, final designs, printed designs, ambient advertising and direct mail finals.
Printed posters
X4 print posters with the old design printed upon it, this show the development of the Purdey’s designs.
Direct mail
X3 Direct mail packs containing wooden stick, paper material and informative paper promoting the brand. The direct mail pack is square and placed within a plastic wallet.
Printed Labels
X4 printed labels of the final design, both for the Rejuvenate drink range and the Natural energy drinks range. Printed on satin, matt and acetate.
Windmill
X1 Crafted paper windmill used for the ambient advertising and photography.
Evaluation Purdey’s was a D&AD competition brief that asked to re-brand and create a new range for the Purdey’s drinks bottles. This brief has allowed me to develop a wide variety of skills within illustrator and Photoshop. These skills have aided my designs throughout the process; learning new tools and effects to create 3-dimentional mock-ups have also helped within my designs. This has allowed me to professionally and more realistically, present what my designs are going to look like as a finished product. The concept I generated for this brief forced me to experiment and test my drawing skills, I feel that testing new techniques and ways of creating visual designs is important to make your work stand out and create a sense of diversity. I feel this worked to my advantage and allowed me to develop my skills within this area, which could be continued in the future. As this brief was moderately short and didn’t have much substance, I felt it was necessary to extend the brief and push it even further to what has been asked. This brief has allowed me to get back to my childhood and start crafting and making again. Ambient advertising came to mind through research and investigation; this would be the best most effective way of getting the message to the Purdey’s audience. For this I started to make large paper windmill and direct mail kits, which developed my craftsmanship skills and allowed me to have fun with the materials and crafts but at the same time be accurate and neat with the process and production. Good craftsmanship skills is important for any brief and the more I experiment with mediums outside of digital I think this will only get better as time goes on. Hierarchy is a major issue within packaging, through doing this brief I think my skills within doing this has grown massively and this will benefit future brief and the communication success of Purdey’s. Within this brief I wanted to focus on the articulation of the concept and visual aesthetics. I felt that this was the most important aspect of the brief and to be able to get the message across clearly. Although I focused heavily upon the visual design and concept within the brief, I also extended the brief to allow further experimentation with materials and processes. I looked at different material that could be printed on to communicate the brand appropriately, using silver metallic paper and card was one of the production methods that I experimented with during the process. Although I didn’t think this was successful, it allowed me to realise they was more printing materials available to me. Producing the windmill for the ambient advertising enabled me to craft and produce something physical that would be used to photograph within the environment and then
manipulated within Photoshop to create multiple versions. The most useful production methods were using Photoshop to create the 3D bottle and vector mock-ups. From drawing the shape and format of the bottle on paper to creating a realistic 3D visual of the bottle with the design place upon it, I feel this was the major production method developed within the design process. Strengths within this brief would be the use of Photoshop and Illustrator to create design that is visually attractive and professional. Using the tools within Photoshop to 3D render and create shading around the vector bottle design, is something that I am proud of and continuing to developed skills within. The final outcomes were realistic and presented professionally across all mediums. Without the use of Photoshop and understanding how to use render tools and effects this brief would not be as successful or visually appealing. A strength I believe I have within my work would be the use of colour and the way that colour is used to represent the concept and to stand out, allowing the hierarchy of information to be much clear. A weakness seen throughout this brief would be photography of my final outcomes. This is something that I have struggled with in the past and not paid too much attention to the final documentation, this is a shame, as the designs are not viewed to their full potential. Photography within my work has certainly improved but not to the standard that I wish it to be at. Also it can be seen that summaries and self-evaluations need to be more frequent within my documentation. This may have something to do with time management, which is something I strive to improve. Overall, I believe this competition brief was really successful and I am very positive for the outcome of this. Although the design could not be printed on a physical bottle I think I have dine a really good job at creating professional mock-ups to reflect the final printed outcome.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Moonster Milk Synopsis:
This self initiated brief challenged me to produce a brand of milk that would target young children, at the same time encouraging parents to buy the milk for their children. The brief was to create a brand and packaging design that encouraged children to drink more milk, and at the same stand out against other milk brands. The brand communicates children's personalities, appealing through the use of bright, bold colours and illustrations. The concept behind the bottle format was to create a unique style that demands shelf presence, whilst the character design communicates ‘little monsters’ and the health benefits of the milk in a fun and playful manner. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X13 boards presenting the design process and print processes used through the brief. Research, development, concept, final printed material and mockup bottle designs as a range.
Promotional material
X4 T-shirts with both the green and the pink character design. One set of t-shirts have been screen printed and the other set has been printed using t-shirt heat transfer X1 draw string bag with the pink character digitally printed.
3D printed bottle
X1 3D printed bottle design, created from my own structural final design, featured in the final bottle images on the presentation boards.
Stationary
A large collection of screen-printed business cards, double sided. Business cards are printed to showcase two different monster characters, one green and one pink, demonstrating a range and extension of the brand. A range of screen-printed stationary; Letterheads, compliment slips, envelopes and stickers.
Brand Guideline
X1 bound brand guideline booklet A5 size, illustrating specific brand colours, typeface, logo, logo spacing, logo sizing etc.
Evaluation This brief set out to create an innovative brand and packaging for a children’s milk brand. This brief allowed for colourful, bold and expressive designs to stand out on the shelf. The audience was targeting both children and their parents, through health benefits and strong visuals. Throughout this brief I have developed a range of skills that have informed and allowed me to produce more professional outcomes. I have developed a vast amount of skills, mainly within the area of generating primary and secondary research. As my audience was very complex with the need to communicate effectively to both children and their parents, research was a major stepping stone to understanding the audience and what they needed/wanted. Packaging is all about first impressions and quick reactions and by looking at how other packaging in the same market have produced their visuals, concepts and information successfully, allows me to generate more knowledge and awareness. Doing this narrowed down my focus and motivated me to carry out more personal primary research. One of the major reasons this brief has been successful is due to the amount and quality of researched produced. Two other main areas I have developed skills within are, print processes and 3-dimentional designs. Working with structural designs such as bottle formats, has been a new and challenging experience. From doing this I have learnt that challenging myself with new formats has really improved how I think about design and the impact design has in different environments and how it should look in the real world. I have developed a keen interest within packaging and bottle designs through doing this brief. The initial aim of this brief was to design for a different type of audience and challenge my concept and production skills within food and drink packaging. My skills have also developed within the practical element of the module, through the use of Photoshop and Illustrator I have confidently produced a range of designs, which reflect the concept I have proposed. Producing a range of physical products that demonstrate these skills makes the whole process more worthwhile. Within this brief I have taken advantage of the screen-printing facilities. I had previously mentioned within my statement of intent, that this is something I want to develop and use more within the production of my designs. The stationary, business cards and promotional material all used screen-printing to
create a hand printed and personal feel as the brand is very playful and has tones of personality. I felt this would match the concept and overall feel of the design a lot better. I can now say that I am confident at producing screenprinted finals and hand printed resolutions. Using new technology and facilities such as the screen printing, fabric printing and 3D printing has really inspired me to push my designs and skills within graphic design further, allowing me to make more advanced and tactile results. This allowed me to engage with different methods and techniques that is often used within the creative industry. I really felt that the bottle shape and design that I had produced, could benefit from been professionally printed to look more realistic and to visually display the design accurately. This gave me the opportunity to use the new technology; 3D printing, the results were impressive and exciting. By using these 3D bottles, I have successfully used Photoshop to mock-up the visual design, the results from this was positive and will be useful for future briefs. I have really pushed myself to use new techniques and processes, so my skills become more advanced and varied. In the last year I had become used to designing for 2D purposes and this felt really restrictive and did not excite or motivate me as much as creating 3D packaging has within this brief. I wasn’t worried to find outside resources to print some of my finals and felt this allowed to more time to focus on the processes that I wanted to develop further. Many strength have become clear throughout the process of this brief. First of all writing the brief has been a challenge but also a success and has proved to motivate me more throughout the whole process. I feel that I will continue setting myself challenging weather their big or small to keep me enthusiastic about design and develop a better understanding to what I want to do in the future. Another skill I feel I have capitalised on is the use of illustrator and Photoshop. Photoshop has always been a weak area for me, however I feel this has progressed and I now feel confident in editing images and creating professional mock-ups. Confidence has also been a strength within this brief as this was one of the first briefs I undertook within the third year in the course, I have found that expressing what I am interested in and working towards my strengths has allowed me to be more daring and confident, allowing me to make quicker design decisions. I believe a key strength within my work, especially within this brief would be the uniqueness of the production material; the products I have produced have not been done before for this topic, making them a unique item. I have been given a lot of feedback within critiques to improve the overall aesthetics of my products. A skill I believe I have developed more than I currently had would be my printing skills; while my skills can be developed further I have produce a range of products that really stand out and look attractive. I have been told from a
few people and even professional, that my strengths within this brief lie within the choice of colour. I have a good eye for colour, which makes the design stand out even further and looks aesthetically pleasing. The presentation of my designs has improved massively and looks a lot more professional. I also believe that I have a better understanding of designing for commercial purposes and making sure hierarchy and legibility is appropriate for the context of the product. A weakness I could improve on would be my annotation skills as this is an important part of my design work and helps communicate exactly what work I have produced and why I have produced it in this way. I feel my work has an interesting concept and hope this comes across clearly within my annotation. Another weakness within this module would be proof reading; this is something that I need to do more often as spelling mistakes and design errors have occurred quite often, which has led to re-printing. Overall I believe this brief has been a success and has become one of my favourite briefs for this year. Overall, I feel this was one of the most successful brief I have done throughput the year. The concept and visual appearance of the brand stand outs on the shelf and with the design of the bottle been unique and creative it really stands apart from the range of briefs created.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Four Seasons Synopsis:
This self initiated brief asked to, produce a new range of stationary and cards for Paperchase The new range needs follow the concept of British Seasons, showcasing the changes throughout the year and how the UK is still attractive all year round. The aim was to make the Britain look good all year round. A celebration of the, Great British seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter). Creating awareness of how Britain looks in each type of season, making use of colour, textures and print methods enhance the outcomes and create aesthetical appeal over Paperchase stationery and cards. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X10 presentation boards showcasing the research undertook, development, concept/ideas, processes used and final designs both printed and digital.
Printed Cards
A range of screen-printed cards, using colorful inks and metallic colours to make the designs appealing. A range of different designs and illustrations for two of the four seasons.
Evaluation Four seasons was a brief that challenged me to create four illustrations/patterns that reflected each of the British seasons; summer, autumn, spring, winter. Creating stationary/cards to be sold within Paperchase. A skill I believe helped me produce an effective set of final pieces was my ability to produce patterns that work well, with a range of colours and designs. While illustration is not something I specialize in I aimed to work upon this and try use illustration with the work to make it more effective and interesting. This shall allow me to improve my illustration skills further ready for other briefs that require them. A range of methods of production such as screen-printing, digital printing, embossing were used within this brief to create a range of work that has a natural creative feel to it. With the use of illustration and colours they needed an effective printing method to make it look as strong as possible upon a natural looking and textured paper. The design methods have helped inform my design development process as it as helped direct how my work should be produced also what software should be used within this project to make the correct design that shall be effective as the final piece. A key strength would be my colour selection within the brief, I seem to have a good ability for picking colours that compliment the design and work well together. This helped improve the overall design as the colour were effective making it standout and appeal to its target audience. Another strength that I believe helped make the work successful was my illustration skills, while limited the same bits of illustration helped bring the design alive and look different to the ones already on the market. A weakness I would hope to improve within the future work I produce would be my organisation and time management, I allowed project creep to push the project passed is schedule completion date. This could be correct and sorted by a structured plan created at the beginning of the project that outlined exactly what work would be done on what date and finished by when. Overall, I feel this brief has allowed me to produce screen-printed finals that had developed my skills. I am happy with the outcomes even though I did not have the time or resources to produce the full set. I feel this let this brief down slightly but the outcomes that were printed had successfully been documented.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Early Bird Synopsis:
Early Birds is a self initiated brief which sets the task to create a new brand and package a product range for Bird food. This product/brand will communicate the benefits and potentials to provide for our British wildlife. The package design should persuade and engage with the audience, allowing them to make the decision to buy the product for their Garden birds, whilst intern helping the British wildlife thrive. The concept behind the packaging is to communicate the positive attractions of buying the bird food. The slogan used is ‘waken up your garden’, meaning to bring to life and make more vibrant by bringing birds to the garden from the moment you wake up. The colours are bright and the language is playful, which brings personality to the shelves. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X7 boards demonstrating the processes used, research gathered, development, final designs mocked onto photographed pots and photo-shoots of the final printed packaging.
Printed packaging
X2 final 3D packaging in the form of pots that is wrapped with the final label design, the label has been vinyl printed to create a realistic effect.
Printed labels
X2 printed labels that have been digitally printed and finished with laminating on the front sections of the label.
Evaluation Early birds was a self initiated brief created for the purpose of developing skills within food packaging for different categories and audiences. Early birds first labelled bird food packaging is a design brief for bird seeds, that demanded personality and attention. The Early birds brief gave me the opportunity to develop a vast amount of skills and develop these skills to create a finish outcome that effectively communicated the concept and was visually attractive. The skills developed within this brief range from the use of illustrator to create digital designs and experiment with colour and visuals. This brief set many challenges through the design process to create a label that accurately fit and worked with the format of the container. I have efficiently developed my skills to gather research and information that would link directly with the set brief, this in turn has allowed me to flourish with new ideas that can be used and modified to create an effective, professional final outcomes. Packaging research has become the main focus for me this year. Developing skills techniques through gathering research has allowed me the knowledge to evaluate the process more professionally and accurately. I feel my skills lie within this more deeply as inspiration and market research has allowed me to generate more unique and innovative concepts. My illustrator skills are growing within every brief I undertake, within this brief I heavily relied on illustrator to create freehand illustrations and shapes to create a creative and visually eye-catching design. The skill to work with different formats and nets when designing for product packaging is key to the successful deliver of the final outcomes. This is something I have definitely improved upon and continue to develop this skill level within this area of design. I have undertaken a range of methods and techniques to create a more professional and successful final piece. Developing the design through printed mock-ups and net development to make sure the design is accurate and designed correctly. Another production process that I have developed was producing a package design, which could house my other final products. Producing the net for the label was an important process as it is important to create the correct dimensions, sizes and format of the packaging to create an accurate printed final. Approaches used within this module have been tricky, as I had to use unfamiliar formats and sizes to produce label. This however has been an interesting and informative process, which I have learnt a lot from. The final printed label was laminated to create the effect of a realistic package design and this will also protect the product and keep it dry from the weather when in the garden.
A range of strengths stood out within this brief, such as the development process of the label design. While this was not something I have much experience with, I was able to research and build a design that worked well with the curved label design as well as the printing material that it would be placed upon. Overall the label net and design was a major strength as it allowed the rest of my brief to standout and look as good as possible. A weakness that would be noticeable within my work would be the development of secondary and supportive items, while the overall design is impressive and of a high quality. The secondary items were more of a second thought, I believe if this was thought about at the beginning the supportive items could be built in conjunction with the label design. Overall, this brief was really successful and I am pleased with the final outcome. This brief was something I really wanted to do and work with different form of packaging as I have been doing a lot of drink packaging. This was a positive change that I really enjoyed. I felt he final outcomes were designed and printed to a professional standard. The packaging communicates a tone of personality and impact that will stand out off the shelf.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
DR. ME Synopsis:
DR.ME came into the studio to present us with a brief. The brief task was to work with a partner to create your own flag. This flag needed to be experimental and expressive and must be rectangle, portrait or landscape. What do you want to see on a flag?, was the main question of the day. DR.ME flag was a collaborative project, with fellow BAGD student Tanida Pangyamang. The concept was to combine our two cultures and things that inspired us outside in the big wide world. For me it was all about Yorkshire hills and fields and the different patterns and colours that you see spread over wide-open fields. Tanida's inspiration was more about her love for Thai Culture and the patterns and textiles that it incorporates. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X4 presentation boards showcasing the design process, concepts and research undertook through this short day brief. Final images of the flag are also displayed within these boards.
Flag
X1 Large final Flag, printed on silk fabric within the fabric printing resources.
Original collaged design
This A2 collaged design was the produced the day of the brief, me and Tanida, created patterns and illustration onto bits of paper and then stuck them together on this A2 card. This was then scanned In and produced printed via Photoshop.
Evaluation Dr.ME was a live brief set my DR.ME, whom came into the college to brief us on a one-day brief and workshop to produce a flag. This brief was very broad in the way of process, concept and design styles, however the outcome was very specific. Although this brief was really short and didn’t allow for many printed outcomes, it was a really interesting and exciting process. The brief allowed me to take a break from the other briefs within the module and have a bit of fun experimenting with materials and style. The brief was a collaborative with Tanida Pangyamang, this partnership worked really well as we both agreed with the concept and was motivated to produce something personal and impressive in a short space of time. This brief, allowed me to develop and use my creative thinking skills to my advantage, this together with my craft skills to produce and effective design that was relevant and interesting. Through the use of these craft skills it has allowed me to produce an effective design that shall standout and look effective against other design within a exhibition. The brief included work with another student I believe this went very well allowing use to show off both our styles within one piece of design work. A range, of handcrafted methods was used such as collage, paper cutting and drawing. All of these processes were merged together into a digital document allowing for it to be printed upon a fabric flag. This method of printing was fabric and was done via a digital transfer. I hope to use this method again within my other briefs as it is a really creative way of printing and produces a great outcome. A strength within the brief that was the most important and successful was my ability to work with both craft based items together with printed based items. These were merged together within a image editing software such as illustrator and Photoshop, I believe I can progress my skills further by learning new methods of implementing different craft based items onto a digital document. There were a few weaknesses that I found within this project, one of this was my ability to work within a set time frame, I believe managing my time scales could develop this further and when work should be completed by. The use of time management shall become very important within my later careers I believe this should hopefully help me in the long run. Overall, I feel this brief went really well and I fully enjoyed the whole process, this was another brief that allowed for our work to be displayed within an exhibition for people to view.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Dialogue Synopsis:
Dialogue is a non-profit print exhibition held in the Corn Exchange. The challenge was to produce a one off print that communicates the theme ‘Dialogue’, this can reflect past conversations, forms of Interaction or spread further afield to communication today. The prints were manipulated through the use of print and match making processes. The print is based on today’s vast form of communication through digital devises and portable communication techniques. The iPad is something that has become a popular item for most people in society, this has formed many abilities for dialogue to take place, one of the most popular form of communication being, Facetime. A visual and interactive, form of communication within the 21st century. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X 5 presentation boards demonstrating the research, development and concepts process throughout this brief. Final designs and printed finals in context with the exhibition at Corn exchange.
Design sheets
A range of design sheets and developments that demonstrate the concept and though process throughout this brief.
Halftone vector artwork submitted to dialogue. Digital design
Evaluation This year I have found myself undertaking many live briefs and competition briefs that has given me the confidence to share and present my work more broadly. I have participated in many briefs large and small, Dialogue was a brief set by two students within the course. The brief was a small day brief allowing me to react to a challenge quickly with precise time management skills. Dialogue provided the opportunity to express the meaning of dialogue from a personal point of view; this would then be submitted and manipulated to mix my design with another submission. This is a very interesting concept that produced some great results. Having my work exhibited was something I always hoped would happy and it finally has in the form of a collaborative. Dialogue made use of my illustration skills, while this brief was small and had a quick turn around time. It allowed me to produce creative illustrations that represented the set subject. These skills were then developed further by improvements in the design process such as adding colour and finessing the overall design itself. I believe the illustrative skills help make the project as successful and creative as it was. A small format design was produced digitally and handed to the students for the exhibition, this was interesting as I had to make sure all my work was in the correct formats with the correct colour settings, margins and general print settings. The exhibition then printed the work via a screen-printing method, they also merged two different designs together to create a piece of work what was truly unique. A strength I believe I capitalized upon was the use of illustration within the brief, this was also merged together colours specifically chosen for it. I believe this has helped create a impressive and effective design that shall standout within the exhibition. A weakness that could be improved upon this project was to produce more research and development into the given brief shall allow it to be more successful and relevant. While this did not effect the final outcome I believe it would have helped improve the design further by having more relevant research and development ideas at the beginning of the project. Overall, I was really happy with the final outcome and was proud to take part in a successful exhibition at the corn exchange, Leeds.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Davies & Co Synopsis:
Davies & Co, are emission monitoring specialists who tests cremators and large machinery in the UK. They felt their existing brand identity didn’t communicate their brand, what they do and what they are all about. They felt their logo needed a revamp with additional promotional material to support the brand. The branding is based around the nature of the company, the delicate and free spirit of the logo was taken from the idea that healthy emissions entering the atmosphere. The logo forms the letter ‘d’ representing the Davies & Co, brand name. Along with the colors and the 3-dimentional effects the branding has come to life with energy and personality.
List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X6 boards presenting the research, development, concept/ideas, brand identity and final resolutions.
Printed Stationary
Old branding
A range of stationary including; business cards, letterhead, compliment slip, envelopes and continuation pages. This has been produced for two versions of the design one with a watermark effect upon all items of the branding/stationary and one range that is plain with simply the branding placed upon each item. A few samples of stationary displaying the previous brand identity for Davies & Co.
A set of printed stationary, to experiment with the print method, stock and Stationary mockups colours.
Evaluation Davies & Co. is one of my only live briefs that required communicating with a client. Davies & Co came to me asking for their branding to be re-designed and to make their branding feel more personal and reflect whom they are and what they do. Their previous branding was very dull and didn’t communicate the company effectively. My aim was to make the branding more modern and personal for the company, allowing them to successfully promote their brand. I have developed a range of skills while undertaking this brief. Such as communication, my communication skills were tested, as I had to communicate with the client to find out their requirements also any issues that they had with the initial ideas I produced. The communication also got very tricky when many design changes were requested near the end of the brief. A skill that I believe has been developed within the brief would be my branding strategies, I have only had a little experience with branding and producing a range of promotional items that support this, I believe this skill was pushed to its limits allowing me to produce the most effective design possible. The method used within this brief is digital printing, as this was requested by the client all documents and files needed to be produced to have the ability for digital printing. This also had to be setup correctly allowing a correct colour match once printed. This was an interesting experience as I normally produce these types of items through screen-printing, however the client want them mass printing and the only method that was cost effective and quick was digital printing. I believe my communications were the biggest strength as keeping on track with the work for the client has allowed for the brief to be done successfully. The use of colour was also a strength as the colour had to work well upon many times while also representing the brand effectively and correctly. The colours were researched and developed with the client to make sure they best suited their company beliefs and previous branding. A weakness that I would hope to develop in the near future would be my time management, as effectively managing the client is well however project creep can cause issues allowing for the project to take longer than expect. To rectify this next time I would aim to create a set of deadlines for the client and myself allow for all items of the design work to be done and signed off on time. Overall, this has been a positive experience and one, which I hope to carry on doing in the future. Communicating with real clients outside of college has been a nerve racking experience but also very positive and successful. As many people say clients make everything complicated and are very demanding however I found this quite encouraging and challenged me to
make more effort in my delivery. Keeping in touch with the clients and making sure they are up-to-date with all aspects of the design was important.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Cath Kidston Synopsis:
YCN competition brief Cath Kidston asks to design a new conversational print taking into account the Cath Kidston brand values and print style. The print should be designed to be used across three of Cath Kidston product range. The prints produced are illustrations/patterns based around the theme traditional British seaside. The print aims to create nostalgia of childhood memories from visiting the seaside when you are young. This has also been combined with Cath Kidston’s unique style with a twist of my own style placed upon this. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X8 boards demonstrating the research, concept, development, processes used, colour variations and final printed and digital designs.
Original Drawing and prints
Original drawings and illustrations on A3 white card. A range of A2 and A3 screen prints of the outline version of the final print, the design has been hand drawn and then screen printed onto different coloured paper.
Printed Finals
Fabric
Phone case, mug, kitchen mitten,
X1 Large cotton fabric sheet, with fabric printed final design.
Wrapping Paper
X2 rolls of wrapping paper with final print
Evaluation YCN competition brief Cath Kidston asks to design a new conversational print taking into account the style of Cath Kidston and their audience. The print produced focussed on illustrations/patterns that reflected the visuals and sights of the traditional British holiday. The print aims to stand out within the Cath Kidston range and look good on their products within their unique store. The brief has allowed me to be very hands on and experimental, using hand drawn illustrations and a variety of mediums and materials to produce a unique and intriguing final outcome. The print was produced using a hand drawn illustration and then manipulated on Photoshop and then adding colour to make the design stand out and appropriate to be seen on Cath Kidston products. I have developed many skills from doing this brief, one been hand drawing process, this is something that I have not had the confidence to use within my work in the past. However I felt it was time to be expressive with a brief and try something out of the ordinary. I supposed myself through the results of the illustration and became proud of the final outcome. This is something I will push myself to do in the future to further develop my drawing skills. Screen-printing has played a major part in the design process and this is a skill that I have developed throughout the brief. I use screen-printing to create darker lines making it more visible when scanned into Photoshop. This also created some nice posters/prints to demonstrate the process. Colour is another skill that is obvious within the final prints, the use of colour is careful thought out and combined to create a certain message and visual appeal. Cath Kidston brief has presented many opportunities to me in the way of using different production methods and techniques. I have used a lot of processes throughout the brief such as screen-printing, fabric printing, digital printing and large-scale printing. Using fabric printing to produce the print for Cath Kidstons home and fashion range, this is a large roll of fabric with the design printed full bleed on to the material. I found this process really interesting and learnt a lot about the opportunities that this gives me. Getting to know the facilities and the processes available is important to take advantage of different products that can be created. I fully enjoyed using a variety of different print methods and learnt a lot from this such as restrictions and problems that can occur as well as how to set the document up for different scales and materials. This process has allowed me to expand my rage of products and create outcomes that are more diverse. I believe creating a variety of processes has
allowed me to demonstrate the potential of my designs. Large-scale printing is not something that I often use within my work. This challenged me to create the design for a variety of formats and produce the print in different ways to fit the format. This brief has been fast moving and it has been crucial to keep up with the day-to-day progress. My strengths within print making and illustration has allowed my practical resolution to look more professional and become more successful in turn. The vast use of materials and print processes has allowed me to gain technical printing skills and I feel this has been a positive experience with professional outcomes. My illustration skills have played a major role within the design process and I feel this went really well to develop further into something that was more refined and presentable on physical products. Another strength within this brief will be the quality and production of the final outcomes and digital prints. I found within this brief that my annotation lacked the use of professional terminology and depth of discussion. As I seemed to write too much descriptive writing regarding the product or research, this could be improved by writing effectively about how it has inspired where/ and me how it could be used within my work or research. My quality of writing has improved within this year but there is still grammar and spelling mistakes that appear now and again. I also think that more research both primary and secondary could have been produced to inspire more creative ideas and processes. Overall, I am proud of the results and can see the design on many items within the Cath Kidston store or other similar stores. This brief certainly challenged my drawing skills, but paid off in the end, to see my designs hand printed and mocked up onto 3D products.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
Brand the boring- Cobblers Synopsis:
'Brand the Boring', involves branding a company that is commonly un-interesting. The challenge was to brand a, Cobblers, a company that is not visually or physically interesting. Create a concept and identity, which brings the brand to life, intern allowing them to stand out amongst similar companies. The brief is based around the idea that cobblers repair and bring life back to the shoe. While keeping the history, heritage, culture and recognition already associated with cobblers. The concept was based around the slogan ‘Saving Soles since 1989’ this gives the representation that they are saving peoples Souls/soles. Crafty soles, is the name of the brand to represent the craft and talent of the cobblers. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X6 presentation boards showcasing the research, concept, development, finals, brand identity, stationary mockups and promotional material, extended product concepts.
Design development and sketches
Sheets of sketches and development for the concept and visuals for creating the brand for the cobblers. Brainstorms and concept ideas that have been produced along the way.
Evaluation Brand the boring brief was a live brief set by Elmwood, Leeds. The brief took the form of branding a boring occupation/company, and my chosen occupation was Cobblers. From the beginning of the year I has set my self the task to work on more then one live brief and to take up all the opportunities presented to me. Having Elmwood deliver an interesting brief to us specifically was a massive opportunity as they are the number one design agency in the world, and are really well known and respected. Throughout this brief I developed a strong concept with cobblers as the main focus. Developing concepts through research and investigation has allowed the final outcomes to be more successful and relevant. I looked into, what they did and what made the unique from other companies out there, doing this is an important step for any brand or rebrand. A skill I believe I developed and used effectively within this brief was my idea and concept development. During the process of developing concepts and visual designs for the brief, we had the opportunity to speak to two members of the design team at Elmwood, who looked through our initial concepts and gave feedback in a progress crit style process. At this point the team seemed to v=be really happy about the results I was delivering and gave some really interesting and helpful suggestions that allowed me to progress further in a more successful manner. The brief heavily replied on a strong concept instead of strong graphics this made it important for me to make sure my idea was as effective as possible and made use of all the research I found. This brief was one of the briefs chosen by Elmwood, after a visit to their studio and presenting my concept and final design to them once more this led to a 1 week placement at their studio. Strength within this brief is my idea development and concept creation; this together with my time management allowed me to make sure the work was done correctly and correctly. Another strength would be the use of design tools that have allowed me to produce and effective overall design that helps explain and visually represent my concept. A weakness I believe I could improve upon next time would be my explanation and pitching process, we were asked to pitch our ideas to the students and client. I believe I could have done this better with a more organized structure to help grab their attention. While this is not something that will come easily, I shall aim to try and develop this further within my next live or client briefs. Overall, I feel this was a really successful project that led to some really impressive opportunities in the form of a placements and possibly future career plans. Although I did not produce many physical outcomes I feel that the digital finals were produced to a high standard that showcased my concept appropriately.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
BEAR Synopsis:
Bring the alphabet to life on the back of BEAR’s, Alphabites boxes. How will you build excitement among kids, and anticipation for future boxes? Create something that is exciting and engaging for children at breakfast time. BEAR was a collaborative project, with fellow BAGD student Natalie Dyson and also our submission for the YCN student awards 2014. The concept was to use the cereal packet as a way of allowing children to discover native habitats of the bear with the help of letters and visual imagery. Our idea was based around tear, reveal and sharing, where children were able to tear and reveal different facts relating to the native country of the bear. These could be kept, collected and shared among each other as a point of discussion at the breakfast table. Children could also tear and craft each letter related to the country explored, which would be found on the inside of the pack. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X 8 boards presenting the research, development, concept, processes, digital finals and mockup and printed finals/mockups.
Mockup letter
X1 mockup letter crafted from card with the illustrative design on the front side of the letter ‘c’.
Evaluation At the beginning of the year I decided to use one of the competition briefs as a collaborative brief, allowing my partner and I to get the most out of the combines effort to hopefully be successful at winning a completion brief at the same time. Me and my partner Natalie Dyson both wanted to work on a YCN brief as we felt they were more suited to out individual skills and interests. Working with Natalie was a really positive experience, as I think we have the same style and interest within our practical work and feel that we worked combined our skills and designs well. Natalie has a great interest within typography, where I have more of an interest within packaging which is a reason why this brief suited us well. A range of skills were tested and developed within the brief, while working with another student was important it also allowed me to effectively develop my communication and collaborative skills as making the work as effective as possible with both inputs was important. Another skill was my research, as this was important within the brief to find important factual information that could be used within the design. I believe I did this well and to a high standard to allow the work to be produced correctly and on time. The main process used within this brief was digital printing, as this was going to be printed for a one off competition it was important it was done correctly with the focus upon the graphical and factual side of it. This allowed me not to worry about the printing and focus more upon the graphics; this is not normally the case with design work, as you must always consider the method of printing. A key strength I believe I have shown within this brief would be my organization skills, organize both students work together into a design that works well is important. This skill shall allow me in future work, as I know I can manage the work done by two people and place them together into an effective design. I would hope that any collaborative work would go as smoothly as this. A weakness I believe could be improved upon within the next briefs would be my development and development process as producing a design that is refined and factually correct as possible is important. This could be done with further design ideas, sketches and concept development. The use of this shall also help improve my other designs further on in the year. Overall, I think we were both happy with the outcomes and the experience of working with each other on this brief. However more time could have been spent on choosing which brief we wanted to work on, as I felt that it wasn’t a brief that could be explored further and became fairly complicated and boring. This process has not put me off working with others as this was a positive experience, however in the future I would consider the project and the kind of outcomes that could come from the brief.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
100 years of Glastonbury Synopsis:
Glastonbury festival 100 years anniversary is coming up and they have joined forces with Brothers cider to create an identity for the new Brothers limited edition bottle, this will celebrate the anniversary of the Festival. Brothers Cider was one of the first brewed and purchased alcoholic drinks at the festival. The design incorporates all the emotions, feelings, objects and memories of the festival from the festivalgoers. This will create a more personal design that the audience will understand and connect with. List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Boards
X6 demonstrating the research, concept, development, processes, promotional material and final printed designs.
Printed Posters
A series of digitally printed posters, with foil blocking text upon the design. These were experimental pieces and showcase a range of different colours and stock.
Printed T-shirt
Printed white t-shirt with yellow illustrative design full bleed over the surface of the t-shirt.
Evaluation The 100 years brief has allowed me to develop and progress my label and package design processes as well as techniques. The designs were produced using common design tools such as illustrator and Photoshop, while these are commonly used throughout all of my briefs, I believe this brief has allowed me to improve my skills within Photoshop, specifically the technique of mocking the product up onto a realistic bottle or environment. This is very important within Graphic Design as selling your idea to the client without spending lots of money on printing is important. I believe all of the skills I have used have helped to progress the overall quality of the designs, while further work upon photography would be beneficial, as this would take away the reliability of 3rd party photography for product mock-ups. The concept for this brief was to create a label design for the Brother cider bottles, that would then be sold at the Glastonbury festival to celebrate their 100-year anniversary. The designs produced incorporate all the emotions, feelings, objects and memories of the festival from the festivalgoers. This will create a more personal design that the audience will understand and engage with. The final outcomes for this brief included the limited edition labels, creation of the flavour, t-shirts and cider bottle carrier for 8 packs and some posters that use the effect of the limited edition with the use of foil. I have used a range of methods to help increase the overall finish of the brief; while these methods have been used many times I believe they helped me to produce a professional finish. Foil blocking was a method used, while this is difficult I experimented with methods to see how effectively the method would work within my final pieces. This was support by screen-printing and digital printing to help create creative colourful designs that stand out off the page. This is something that is needed within product label/ packaging design, as it has to stand off the shelf and draw attention towards itself. I believe these processes used have helped me to produce a high quality, professional finish that shows off the design in its best light with next to no mistakes that are visually recognisable. They have been few key strengths identifies that have helped within the development and production of this brief. One being the skills I possess within pattern designs, this has allowed me to produce an effective design that works across a large surface area as well as on many supporting documents. This has also helped influence the design process of the label itself. Another skill I believe has been beneficial within this brief would be the use of design software such as illustrator and Photoshop, this has allowed me to produce creative designs that has then been mocked up onto realistic products creating a professional printed product. This is a common technique used within industry to show clients how the design may look. I hope to use this process more often within my work. A weakness I would hope to address in the future would be my development process and design boards, I believe the concepts and ideas are good
however they need developing further through concept and idea development. A few steps could be taken to help increase this such as more research boards as well as more intricate development work on the designs and concept.
EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603
Module Title: Extended Practice
LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Student Name: Stephanie Pickard
Studio Brief Title:
50 years of pantone Synopsis:
This self initiated brief asks for, a set of 5 posters, which communicates and celebrates Pantone's, 50 years in colour. This should be presented as a limited edition range that will be sent out to loyal clients and also be sold on their website. The posters shows the landmark moments throughout the 5 decades that Pantone have been around, the Pantone colours will then be placed upon the iconic images. Pantone colour is all about memories, emotions and feelings, so this was the best way to communicate these aspects of colour. The hand drawn type adds personality and the feeling of a one off print.
List of deliverables
Evidence
(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)
(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)
Posters
A range of five screen-printed posters with the use of gold vinyl at A2 size.
Boards
X9 A3 boards highlighting research, concept, development, process and printed finals.
Screen Printed experiments
A range of experimental prints, showcasing screen-print experiments.
Evaluation Throughout this brief I have developed my current skill base further through the use of screen printing, embossing and foiling. While these are methods that I have used before, I believe using these within this brief has allowed me to refine my process and technique used. The skills have been used effectively as they have allowed effective, high quality finish and me to produce that is very important with a design of this nature. A new skill that I have developed within this brief, would be the use on Pantone colours and the method of matching these with the Pantone colour swatches was important to make a correct representation of the Pantone colour ranges. My final concept for this brief was to create a series of limited edition posters that will celebrate the 50 years of Pantone. Using images from the 5 decades would communicate the idea that Pantone has been around for a long time and had a part to play in the emotions, feeling and memories within them landmark moments. A range of methods, were used for the production of the final pieces. The methods consisted of foil blocking, screen-printing and vinyl printing. These together helped increase the overall finish of my brief. While the methods of printing were used separately upon one another, the design and finish all contributed to the overall finishes of the designs, while screenprinting allowed the papers texture to standout with colour place over the top. Vinyl on the other hand allowed for a shiny polished finish that allows the logo to standout, these two processes worked well together to create a limited edition appearance. Two key strengths of this project stood out for me, this would be the range of methods and process used. While I had experience with these, the development and experimental side of this process allowed me to finesse the overall finish to make sure it was as professional as possible. The second strength I believe I showed within this project was research and investigation, while the design of this project was not very technical all the work needed to be reference and correct to make sure the designs were effective and factually right. This is one of the only brief that relies on research for the work to be correct and I believe I have managed this. A weakness I believe I could develop and progress past would be my structure and organization. While finding the correct imagery and facts was done, organizing them into a structure that is easily would was difficult, I believe this would cause even further issues if the final amount was larger. Making sure the content is organized shall also help in the future when I work for a company as having the files in the correct format and location shall allow ease of use and a more effective working environment. Overall, I am very happy with the final outcomes and have learnt a lot about print methods and how to get around issues with printing such as other methods of creating foil blocking through the use of gold vinyl. Having the final posters printed allowed me to build my skills and create something unique
and tangible. I think this brief has allowed me to experiment with print processes and creating strong concepts for a that is quick broad, I feel I have really developed my knowledge within generating research, knowledge of different processes and creating final outcomes at a lower cost that can still look premium.