Monotype boards 503

OUGD503

RESPONSIVE COLLABORATIVE - MONOTYPE

VICTORIA REDMOND

THE BRIEF-

RESPONSE-

To create a new typographic system for The Big Issue focusing on typography. The aim is to create a connection between print and digital consistent identity. Create something which is primarily user friendly. Without changing the brand ethos the brief asks you to develop and expand a new typographic system. To consider the Big Issues history and its ultimate focus which is to help people in need.

For the brief Beth and i began planning and arranging what we were going to do to execute the brief. We decided we would love to create an interactive magazine but it would be far to cost effective. So we decided we would re brand the Big Issue with our new typographic system and integrate the digital with the print based.

Considering - There always needs to be a physical printed element to the paper as this means that it can be sold form the street.

This is essential to the Big Issues Business.

Mandatory/Deliverables - New typographic system. Create a printed paper using 8 images and mock up digital other.

We first began designing and gathering information by meeting up brain storming and researching together. Our collateral for the brief was a printed and photographed re-branded publication of The Big Issue along with a proposed website, and digital IPhone mock ups.

We both designed and produced a typeface which we then displayed over a range of layouts and content from The Big Issue in the form of a publication. We designed the front cover using an image standing stone to give the publication a northern feel.

OUGD503

RESPONSIVE COLLABORATIVE - MONOTYPE

For the brief i researched into layout and typography styles which helped to influence a brushed typeface for our new typographic system. I looked at layout styles that were unusual to give the newly branded Big Issue a new aesthetic but with the same ethos. I also looked into Type specimens to differentiate the styles people display there typography in and what specifications have been defined. I looked at different types of digital magazines and felt using a QR code would be the best way to link the printed material to the web platform.

VICTORIA REDMOND

OUGD503

RESPONSIVE COLLABORATIVE - MONOTYPE

MY TYPEFACE-

TYPEFACE

For the typeface i designed for monotype i was interested in designing a minimal/geometric style sub header typeface. I prefer more structured style so i felt this would be appropriate.

I took inspiration from clash magazine i really like the high end aesthetics of the magazine and find there typeface works well across a range of different layouts such as headers , sub headers and even over imagery.

I wanted the typeface to integrate with Beths hand rendered brush stroke typeface but unfortunately it didn’t work as a set we made a decision as a pair to leave my typeface and to focus on using the brushed typeface across the newly branded publication.

I am really pleased with my typeface although i designed over and existing one i feel like i have benefited from experimenting with typography.

VICTORIA REDMOND

OUGD503

RESPONSIVE COLLABORATIVE - MONOTYPE

For the front cover me and Beth decided what would go where and had joining roles in the decision of how it would be designed. We produced the cover by experimenting with different photography images. We placed our ‘Paste up’ Typeface on the front cover , making it big and bold to create impact.

The other image is an example of a double page spread i designed for the publication featuring a story by Joel and Olympic athlete on the left hand side. It had our custom typeface placed over the image a small amount of text under neath the image then a QR code available for the user to scan to take them to the digital platform. The opposite page experiments with chopping up an image and placing it all back aligned. The custom typeface is again placed on top to keep a consistent.

VICTORIA REDMOND

OUGD503

VICTORIA REDMOND

RESPONSIVE COLLABORATIVE - MONOTYPE

Another task of mine throughout the brief was to consider the digital platform whilst Beth prepared a web page mock up i worked on the I phone & I Pad mock ups.

Beth and i both considered the original website making sure we have the same tabs such as - News, features , arts & Music. We wanted to make sure that the usability was still straight forward to the user and the website was easy to use and navigate.

We made sure that the website aesthetics and the rest of the digital platform all worked together as a set and used simple black and white aesthetics , we felt this would be appropriate as we were using imagery and didn’t want the pages to cause confusion.

Designing the mock ups were straight forward and i enjoyed experimenting its good practice for further modules.

OUGD503

RESPONSIVE COLLABORATIVE - MONOTYPE

Beth & i decided for submission and to finish off the brief we would produce branding guidelines unfortunately due the style of the typeface there wasn’t to many mandatory s when using it.

We knew we only wanted the typeface in black & white this is because its a header and sub header typeface and because of legibility we felt it worked best in these colour choices. We also stated how the typeface should only be used in large point sizes.

This typeface is focused on conveying the personality of the Big Issue as a genuine publication with a good cause.

The typeface moves away from standard editorial design which is opulent and high-end. PASTE-UP has a more approachable tone of voice, which creates an aesthetic able to look comfortable in the hands of vendors and readers.

PASTE-UP is real, friendly & honest. PASTE-UP doesn’t pretend to be something its not. PASTEUP is bold & genuine. PASTE-UP isn’t scared to shout about the Big Issues.

VICTORIA REDMOND

OUGD503

RESPONSIVE COLLABORATIVE - MONOTYPE

VICTORIA REDMOND

EVALUATIONFor the collaborative brief I worked with Beth Dalzell we chose the D&AD brief - Monotype. We first began designing and gathering information by meeting up brain storming and researching together. Our collateral for the brief was a printed and photographed re-branded publication of The Big Issue along with a proposed website, and digital IPhone mock ups.

When first looking at the brief me and Beth began choosing appropriate typefaces to re-brand our magazine it was later (1 week into the brief) brought to our attention that other people had actually designed a typeface for this brief. When we re-read it does say ‘ Develop a new typographic system for a local street paper ‘ we didn’t think it was specific enough and we had obviously missed it. We seeked some guidance from a teacher and then decided to design two typefaces as there was two of us in this collaboration. Later that week D&AD emailed out to make sure people knew it was essential you designed a typeface for this brief I am assuming a lot of people had thought the same as us and obviously emailed to ask. Luckily it had only been a week so we began designing our typefaces straight away. As we had chosen a brushed typeface and a tall bold typeface for sub headers I began creating the sub header typeface and Beth began experimenting and using a paintbrush to design a typeface. It worked out really well as designing them specific styles of type worked well with our design styles and we are strongest in. Once the typefaces were designed we began experimenting with mock ups and layouts.

We next had to consider how we would actually present our new typographic system and branding for The Big Issue. We decided to try and integrate the printed media with the digital platform but we found this difficult, as we couldn’t take the printed magazine fully off the streets. We considered different approaches for this problem but this was probably the hardest part of the brief. We finally came to the conclusion of using a QR code integrated into the magazine so users would be able to scan the code and receive more of the story’s featured in the magazine. We initially decided to cut the content down quite drastically in a way to make The Big Issue cheaper and more cost effective but if we were to keep it A4 which we had decided we realized we wouldn’t save money as the paper size would be the same. We decided to keep the magazine A4 size we used stories existing from The Big Issue and content off the website.

It wasn’t the content that was relevant for our design as it was simply to show how we have showcased our work. We named our Big Issue ‘ Same Big Issue ‘ this is to represent our new typographic system and branding we felt it had impact and used this on the front page in Beth’s Brushed typeface. We didn’t use my typeface in the publication in the end I was really pleased with it but we decided as a pair it didn’t work with the brushed typeface. The reason the brushed typeface worked so well was because it was friendly and real. We found it worked really well with an image of the standing stone.

To finish off our submission we printed and photographed our Big Issue and used the images on presentation boards to submit. We also mocked up the Web platform that users would be taken to when scanning the QR code on our double page spreads. The reason we branded it the way we did was to give it a more aesthetically pleasing feel and friendlier theme.

Working with Beth for the whole of the brief was enjoyable we both worked together on almost everything we felt this would be the best way to execute the brief to the highest standard. If something wasn’t to work out with a design if we were together we could both decide on the next possible solution to resolve the problem. I’m not sure this was the best idea as I think it would of set me up more for future collaborations when I’m not always going to have the opportunity to be sat next to someone I’m working on a brief with. There were parts of the brief were we did individual mock ups but we made all the decisions together I would say the work produced for the brief was completely split. I really enjoyed working well Beth I think she really considered all deliverables and other points I may of missed. A downfall of the brief would be that I didn’t really like the brief all that much I think I found this because I didn’t have much interest in The Big Issue but I came to realize the brief was about the typographic system and the The Big Issue was just the background. I think I’ve gained a lot of experience from doing this brief with Beth I’ve learned to work at a collaborative pace considering other peoples thoughts and inputs and making quick design decisions. Doing this brief also gave me the ability to work hard at something that didn’t really interest me that much its prepared for the work place because I know I won’t be able to always pick my own briefs. I would definitely love to work with Beth again we didn’t have any disagreements and I feel we produced a really good submission that was worthwhile and rewarding.