Lca christmas card

Laura Wallbridge-Bruce

OUGD603 - LCA Christmas Card Competition (Collaboration)

Brief and Research in Store The email with the brief attached, sent out by Leeds College of Art to all of the students, stated that they would like a Christmas card designing, with a crafted feel, but also look professional and artistic.

Research was carried out in various different stores around Leeds.

One of the most significant and inspiring stores was Marks and Spencer. The final product needed to portray an element of fun, but also give a feel for a professional and engaging work environment.

Brief and Research

Research in College All of the examples above demonstrate all of these requirements. It was just simply a case of taking inspiration from them all and creating something representative of Leeds College of Art. With the target audience ranging from businesses including governors, to community groups and suppliers, this Christmas card needed to be appealing to a lot of different people, otherwise it wouldn’t interest them and make the card stand out from the rest and be memorable.

Using the college as a resource for research, it became apparent that there was a clear theme running throughout all of the designs.

The mosaic tile had been used continually, to make people aware of the new branding which was created by Peter and Paul. At the same time, bright and engaging colours had also been used to create publications such as exhibition brochures and the college’s prospectus, which are both striking and versatile. This works really

well to reinforce the college’s brand image, which is why it was decided that this would be applied in some way, to the Christmas cards. As there are several variations of the mosaic tile, this provided room for creativity and exploration.

Laura Wallbridge-Bruce

OUGD603 - LCA Christmas Card Competition (Collaboration)

Personal Contribution

Typography and Colour

Cracker Card Design

Experimentation

Cost

Using the brand guidelines provided by the marketing department at Leeds College of Art, Garamond Pro was chosen to be used to create the Christmas card. There were no particular restrictions relating to the colour. The shade of red chosen was taken from the brand guidelines, whilst the green was simply chosen to compliment it. The insert designed by Ellen was designed in a similar way, whilst maintaining brand identity and an additional couple of colours.

Taking inspiration from all of the primary research carried out, the Christmas cracker cards were inspired by several existing products.

The interactive element of a cracker was taken and applied to create a more memorable experience for the recipient. It could also be argued that the cracker could be reused by the recipient, by simply changing the label and insert, therefore providing a secondary use and providing a sustainable solution for the college.

A lot of time was taken when experimenting with all of the final touches. It was important to make sure that the work was achievable in the given time, whilst also providing the marketing department with an impressive solution. Initially, berries and holly were cut out by hand and applied to the cracker, attached to a festive piece of string.

This would have been too time consuming though, which is why the design was refined to create a tag with a logo and illustration instead.

Cost was initially estimated depending on predicted amount of hours spent on printing and creating the final products. When it was announced that this design had been chosen to reproduce 75 times, the cost of production increased. Thankfully, this wasn’t an issue for the marketing department, but definitely highlighted the importance of calculating estimates correctly in the first place, because not everyone is so lenient. Most definitely a learning curve.

Laura Wallbridge-Bruce

OUGD603 - LCA Christmas Card Competition (Collaboration)

Development

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card to have been produced and chosen by Leeds College of Art as the winners of the competition. Having dealt with commercial printers, in particualr LGP Print in Leeds, it becomes apparent just how little of the manual labour is required when working for a studio or a company requiring any form of graphic design as it is so time consuming. The experience of hand making each of the 75 cards (with an additional 10 spare) was therefore quite a memorable

experience and something to feel proud of. The repetition of the mosaic tile has been used to create a pattern which links directly to Leeds College of Art and also forms quite a simple print.

Development The development process began by initially forming potential ideas as a collaborative pair. Being able to make suggestions and receive instant feedback as to whether or not it would be appropriate, was one of the most successful aspects of this brief. It is important to be able to prototype an idea before producing the final outcome, incase of any problems that may occur along the way. Without the process of trial and error, it would not has been possible for this Christmas

Laura Wallbridge-Bruce

Final Outcome The final outcome consisted of one design duplicated 75 times with three different string variations attached to the left hand side with a little bell attached to it. The principal sent a letter of thanks for the final collection of cards delivered to her office. Overall, this brief was one of the most enjoyable and satisfying throughout the year. Given the opportunity, it could be extended further and recreated using different patterns and sold as a personal ongoing brief.

OUGD603 - LCA Christmas Card Competition (Collaboration)

Final Outcome

Laura Wallbridge-Bruce

Final Outcome Although it was Ellen’s responsibility to work on the insert of the Christmas card, having the opportunity to give feedback, and essentially take on an art director’s role in this situation, was very enjoyable. To know that this was sent out to nearly 100 organisations on behalf of Leeds College of Art, is a fantastic achievement.

OUGD603 - LCA Christmas Card Competition (Collaboration)

Final Outcome