During this year I feel I have learnt many new skills, and how to be more independent as a designer. I felt that last year I was relying on tutors to help me constantly, I was just being lazy and not helping myself, where as this year I have been working much more independently by coming up with my own ideas, working out solutions for myself etc. Its a good feeling when you are proud of the work that you produce, even better when you know you've done it all by yourself.  

This is going to play a huge part in my professional project, well it already has because I have had to decide on an idea. Don't get me wrong I found this to be probably one of the hardest decisions of my life, but I did it in the end, and I feel that I have made the correct one. Anyway the professional project is really going to test what I have learnt throughout this course and I feel will defiantly show throughout this project. 

All there is to say now is that I intend to hand in PPRD with a huge smile on my face, and to keep cracking on with my professional project and of course the essay to successfully complete the course. 

Day Out

Today was a really productive day, I decided to get on with my FMP straight away by waking up at the crack of dawn and going into town. My day led me to taking photographs of shops that I felt appeal to the same target audience as whom I will be appealing to. The shops that I decided to take photographs of where Animal, Fat Face, Quicksilver and Free spirit, which all sell snow, surf and skate clothing. During my day I also picked up some useful bmx, surf, skate and snowboard magazines that I intend to create a mood board from.

Above I have included some of the photographs that I took.

After my talk with Neil I have made some slight changes to the slides of my portfolio. By applying the RBL poster to the bus stop ad-shell and the t-section onto the bus, I also decided to change the layout of this slide from landscape to portrait which I think looks a lot more professional as there is more room for each image. I also decided to change the type on each page, I decided to change the font, size of the font and also the colour of the font. The changed the typeface from Myriad Pro to Georgia, I chose this font because I have used the typeface in a lot of my work so by using this type face in my portfolio relates to my work. I also decided to reduce the size of the font because the type was too close to the images on my slides. Finally I changed the colour of the font to a light grey which I feel looks a lot less subtle than the black that I was using before, I think this change has worked well because I want the viewer to be focused on my work rather than the text.  These changes have made my portfolio look a lot more professional than it did before and I am pleased with the final outcomes of the slides.

I have included one of my final slides that I have changed since the last post.

Research/development critique

Today was a really good day, I started the day by getting my portfolio up to scratch to show Neil later on, which went really well. I then had my critique with Mike Ryan which couldn't of gone any better, purely because I have done the work. There wasn't much to be said really because I explained exactly what I have done, exactly what I intend to do and how I am going to do it. 

I explained my next steps of what I intend to do, the first being to gain some primary research, I then went on to explain how I intend to do this (by going out to different shops that appeal to a similar target audience as whom I am aiming at and take photographs and gather any relevant information). Mike agreed that this would be a very good way of gathering primary research.  I was told by my peers and Mike to come up with a name for the company, I agreed that this is a priority and will be met by next week. 

I feel that this project is going really well and I am very much enjoying it, at the start I got my self into a bit of a pickle with what idea to chose and after all what I have learnt throughout this course I know for a fact that I have chosen the correct one.

Above I have included some of the work that I presented in the critique.

Today I got a chance to show Neil what I have produced so far for my portfolio and curriculum vitae, I was told that everything is in order which I was pleased to hear. I was told that there are a few slight aspects of my portfolio that I may want to consider. The first being that the text on a few of the pages are too close to the images, and the second was to consider putting the Royal British Legion poster on a bus ad-shell and also the t-section on a bus. Other than that I was told that the layout I was using is fine and my work is professionally presented. 

Its getting closer to the deadline for PPRD now and all the work is building up. I have noticed a change in myself this year, and this blog has been a part of it. Its helped me reflect on myself and my own work, and kept me organised. Its a great change from last year, now I realise how unorganised I was throughout last year. 

Throughout my design career I intend to use this blog because its helps me keep a record of what I have done, how I could improve and mainly keeps me organised. I feel this blog has improved my time management skills and I find so useful for being a designer. 

D&AD/PJ Smoothies

Due to the amount of work we have at the moment and deadlines that are required to be met, (Myself, Alistair, Rob, and Chris) have decided to not enter the competition and leave it as far as we got to. Its a shame because we put a lot of time into this brief but never decided on a final outcome, we would start one idea and then move onto the next, the group simply wasn't working. 

Our ideas were strong and were aimed at the correct target audience, we met the brief as well as we could. The first idea we had was to use sexual innuendo, with a strong tag line which was aimed directly at innocent smoothies (Being innocent is ok but being naughty is more fun). I felt this was a strong idea we just didn't push it further. The main reason being is because we had a look at some of the D&AD entries online and someone had used the same idea and executed it really well. This really put us off pursuing this idea any further. So this is where the mess started, after decided we would change the idea we met up constantly to have group discussions and we simply were not moving forward with this project. 

But after a few group discussions we finally decided on a new idea, which then changed again during the working process, I will go on to explain. We started with the idea of using bottle of Pj smoothies in full colour combined with human models which would be featured in the background of the image in black and white to create an advert which would ask the intended viewer a rhetorical question, how do you cure your hangover? how do you relax?

This then changed slightly by replacing the human model with the Pj smoothie bottle, basically using the bottle as a human.  Due to the fact that we could never decide on what one to produce we only ended up with two incomplete visualizations. 

I have included the two images which we felt were closet to completion, but as I said there incomplete.

  

Tutorial with Anna

Today I had a tutorial with Anna about my essay, I felt that I have progressed a lot further since the last time we spoke as I now know exactly what I am writing about and also have a series of books related to my topic. I have decided on a title for my essay which is (An anaylisis of three contempory brands with reference to post modernism) I have also decided that I will be discussing the following brands Levis, Coca Cola and Howies. I will be comparing and looking at the differences between each of the brands but also be looking at the comparisment betweeen Howies and the much larger brands that I have chosen to look at Coca Cola and Levis. 

The tutorial went really well and I was told that I am approaching this essay well, I presented the research that I have done so far into the companies and what adverts/logos I will be discussing. I was told to manly focus on anaylising the brands and look at as many relevent books as possible.

I never thought I would say this but I feel that I am quite looking foward to writing this now and have suddenly got a boost of confidence which is what I really need.

Portfolio and Curriculum vitae

During this week I have been organising my portfolio and curriculum vitae so that it is ready to hand in for PPRD on the 9th March.. After the portfolio lecture with George Beverley I felt a lot more comfortable about how to present my work in my portfolio. Since the talk I have been working on my portfolio to get it looking at a professional standard.

I have included a few my curriculum vitae and a few portfolio pieces that I have been working on.

Portfolio lecture

Today I attended a lecture from the ex-creative director from Marketing Matters about portfolio presentation. The lectutre was given by a guy called George Beverley, I found this talk really helpful and now have a much stronger understanding of how to present myself and my work. Here are my notes that I took...... 

 1) Always makes sure your 100% happy with the work you include in your portfolio

2) Don't show anyone else's work as yours

3) Memorize at least two things about your work

4) 8-10 pieces of your work, if you only have 6 pieces of strong work that you feel compfortable with then only show them 6 pieces, don't add in work if you if your not happy with it.

5) Show your thinking  and how your got to the final design

• Your not the finished article so just be yourself, no one else
• Find out who the directors top 5 clients are, ask him questions to make him think your interested in the business 
• When getting criticism, ask what about the work you don't like
• Be aware that I am young with fresh thinking and cheap. So really this is an advantage for the director
• Punctuality, always turn up at least 10 minutes before
• Have a good attitude 
• Show you have a good interest in recent design/articles
• Be hungry for the job, show that you want it
• Always be honest no matter what, never lie
• Start your portfolio with a good piece of work, in the middle display the work that you feel is alright and then finish with your best piece of work

More replies

I have had some more useful replies from other companies which I feel have really helped with the project, here are the replies....

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your email; sorry it’s taken a while for you to receive a reply from us. 

If you head over to the “about us” section of the website (click on this link: http://www.howies.co.uk/content.php?xSecId=5 ) then you’ll find our full history, and a couple of pieces written by Dave and Clare (the founders) about the companies’ humble beginning 13 years ago on their living room floor, and also things like our decisions to partner with timberland etc.

What else is there..? Well, if you click on http://www.howies.co.uk/info.php then it would maybe be a good idea to have a read of our product stories, as you’ll find good info on the products we sell and where they’re made. (Also check out the hand me down micro site: http://hmd.howies.co.uk/story.html)

If you’d like me to send you a few past catalogues then that’s fine, just let me know where you’d like it sent to and I’ll get some sent, as these always have some really nice written pieces and stories.

If there’s anything else you’d like to know then just drop me another email and I’ll do my best to find out for you!
Kind regards,

hollie

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Hi Ben,

Our company, Get Ethical, is a portal site for many ethical companies.
I am involved with both Get Ethical and also my own company called Earth & Wear ltd, which sells ethical clothing brands, including our own labelled tshirts.
The tshirts are made from 55% hemp / 45% organic cotton. The reason for this is both the ecological benefits of organically grown materials and also the hard wearing, yet softness of hemp.
If you were setting up an ethical tshirt company then you should investigate hemp it as an excellent material - it requires no fertiliser or pesticides; it improves the quality of the soil where it is grown, it grows in a wide range of climates. The product produced is hard wearing, and tends to actually improve with age, whilst also blending well with other materials such as silk, cotton, wool etc. Also it has a very long and varied history of use throughout most of human civilisation.

You can view our own branded tshirts on our website - www.earthandwear.com. If you would be interested in a sample tshirt then please get back in touch.

I'd be interested to know your reasons for creating a brand identity for a organic/eco-freindly company - Is it a topic you have been given, or have you an interest personally in the ethical clothing business?

Best Wishes

Leith

Replies

I am glad to say that I have had a number of replies from the email I sent to various organic/eco-friendly clothing companies, here are the replies I have received so far.

Dear Ben

Thank you for your email and kind words about The Natural Store.

We do not have any written information in hard copy/brochure form. All our information is written on the website and you may find the 'more info' sections against each product you are interested in, very helpful.

Another recommendation is possibly contacting the various brands direct, as we do not manufacture any clothing ourselves but work like a department store where we sell many brands on The Natural Store but each product is already ready made. If you contact the various brands direct, they may be able to share further design, manufacturing, logistical, fabric make up information with your good self.

Finally, if you're looking into organic cotton and it's many benefits or normal cotton and the many pesiticides used in its growth, then we would say that the following website is very informative. http://www.pan-uk.org and also http://www.luxuryredefined.co.uk/docs/lux/intro.html

Good luck with your project.

Have a good weekend.

Best regards.
Rachel & Ismat
The Natural Store

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Dear Ben,

I would be happy to send you a catalogue and some fabric samples. I just need your address. You can read more about us on our website under 'Our ethical and eco practices' which you can find at the bottom of the page.

Kind regards,

Sue
Gossypium

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

For the past two or three days I have been contacting organic/eco friendly clothing companies to see if they can help me with some research. I have called most of the companies by phone and have ordered their catalogue which I feel will help me, as I will be able to see how they display their products, I have also sent out emails to specific companies and am now waiting for some replies. 

Below is the email that I sent out to the various companies.

Hi, I am a student currently studying visual communication, and for my professional project I am designing a brand identity for a non-existent organic and echo friendly t-shirt clothing company. I have come across your company and have found it very inspiring, I was wondering if there is any possibility if you could send me any relevant information to help me with my project, this could be a catalogue of your products, materials, information about organic products, anything really would be much appreciated.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thank, Ben.

Screen based communication 2 results/feedback

Today I received my results for screen based communication 2, I was pleased with the feedback that I received for this project as it was very positive and really helpful feedback. I was told that I worked really hard on this project which I feel I did, and that the final outcome works really well as a portfolio as it is minimal and well organised. I was also told to consider a few things which I now have realized and completely agree with, I was told to consider decreasing the size of my thumbnails as they are a bit large and indiscreet compared to other elements within my site. The other thing was to develop more confidence in my designs because when I am faced with a problem I tend to go with a completely new idea, but as it says in my feedback I will develop this skill through my professional project. 

My overall grade for this project was 57, which isn't bad, but then its not great. I said to myself before I get the grade if I get over 55 then I would be pleased but for some reason im not. I think it because of the fact that I only got 46 on the last project so at the moment I am still only borderline 50, I think. To progress onto the BA Graphics course I have to achieve over 50 overall for this year and at the moment I am just scrapping that, not only do I want to achieve this to progress onto BA Graphics but I also want to achieve it for myself, because if I were to get an overall grade below 50 this year I would not be pleased with myself. So therefore I have to now step up a gear and really push my professional project. 

Learning agreement

Today I completed and handed in my learning agreement for my proffesional project. I am pleased with the brief I have written myself and feel that it will be an exciting and challenging project to work on,  I have included my synopsis of study below.

Synopsis of study

For my professional project I will create and design a brand and identity for an organic and eco friendly clothing company, this is a non-existent company so therefore I will be creating a new identity. I will create a set of promotional materials for the company which will promote the brand/identity, I will research into existing clothing companies and how they have advertised and branded themselves, I will also look into why people buy organic clothes and what type of person buys this type of clothing, from this I will demonstrate my research and development through sketchbooks leading to my final designs. My research will consist of looking at existing clothing websites; magazines, catalogues and also other materials that I feel will help me. I will be contacting the companies I feel will be able to give me the relevant research that I need as I may not be able to find it in shops or elsewhere. I will create a time plan during this project to help me be organised and prepared for the work I have set myself. I will set myself deadlines to keep me focused and to make sure I get everything that I set myself completed within the time I have left, this will be noted throughout the project. Not only will this benefit me but it will also show a sign of professionalism that is what I am aiming to achieve throughout this project. The branding for the company will be designed to have a relaxed style and an organic feel to it, my target audience will mainly be people aged between 18-35 who care about there clothes and take into consideration how they look.
I have chosen to create this identity because during this year I have been working on a branding and identity brief that I really enjoyed and felt was very successful, so I feel my strengths lie within this area of design. For my professional project I want to create and design something that will help me get to where I want to be next year (BA Graphics), and I feel that if executed well this project will help me do that. Also I feel that this project will help me prepare for employment, as I would like to work in the branding area of design in the future. This project will be a professional standard of creative work and will be a strong piece of work to present in my portfolio. The reason I have decided to design an organic and eco friendly brand is because I feel that there is a huge market for the clothing, also my aim is to persuade people to buy organic clothing rather than going to designer brands.

 

Good times

Today I proposed my new idea to Mike Ryan and Sally Hope, and the feedback I received was a lot more positive than than the last idea I had. I was told this new brief I have set myself is a lot more subtable for a professional project and has a lot more scope than the last one. To be honset I completly agree, and I feel that I have made the correct decision by changing my idea. 

I feel so much more pleased and also confident which is a really positive thing, before I was really unsure with the idea that I was working with but now I feel so much more confident and content with the new and final idea I have to work with.

Live brief reflection

I am pleased with the outcome of the work myself and Chris have put into this live brief, I feel that the logo works well and the colours that we chose work well for the particular areas we were designing the brand/identity for (Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth) as the blues represent the costal recognition of these surrounding areas. Also the stationary we designed to go with looks strong and is well presented, I think the most positive aspect of our designs for this project is our presentation of the work as well as the brand/identity itself. We decided to chose three different shades of blue for the type to represent the surrounding areas which I feel works well. The only thing I have to say which I feel could make the logo stronger is to have three tear drops instead of two, this way there would be three shapes represting the three areas (Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth), other than that I have enjoyed working on this brief as it has developed my knowledge of branding and also working with another designer which we were able to bounce ideas of one another to come to a final product.

Live brief presentation

Today myself and Chris Walter presented our logo design and rest of the stationary to two representatives of the MAA (multi area agreement). We explained why we had chosen the logo and what made us come to this decision, we then went on to explain and show the rest of our work. I feel that the presentation went really well and was pleased with the feedback that we received about our designs. It was an experience presenting to a real client, I was a little nervous at first but then adapted to it. After that presentation I think that I would now feel a lot more comfortable when presenting my work to a client.

I have included our chosen logo and some of our development work. 

Today I emailed Anna about what I plan to write my essay on and told to define the topic so I can have a title ready to work with by next week. Below I have attached the email I sent followed by the reply from Anna.

Hi Ben, this is ok, but try and get your examples/case studies. If you use coca cola ads as one case study about how digital imaging changed the way it looked and also looked at the different socio-cultural aspects of the work (take 3 images- one from early 20th century one from mid and one from 2000) but then also look at another example to see how that changed (Levi's?? ).Try and get a list of books from the library to help with this topic,and take some out now to start the research. Bring it all in on Monday.
thanks Ben,
see you on Monday,
Anna.

From: 3161328 BEN STROWMAN
Sent: Wed 11/02/2009 19:03
To: Anna Middleton
Subject: RE: CVC

Hi Anna,

I have been looking at the coca cola adverts and how they have progressed over the years, I could look at what the different impacts of digital and non digital advertising have on people/the consumer, I was thinking about looking into consumer behavior.

Ben

I have been stressing long and hard about wether to change my idea completley for my professional project and I have come to a decision, and that decision is yes I am chaning it. I have decided to change my idea due to the fact of my presentation, I have been thinking about the feedback that I received an no longer want to think about it any more. The presentation made me realise that the project I have set myself is not strong enough, I created to much work for myself, and also the wrong work, the idea consisted of me interviewing other students whci meant I would spend most of my time writng the up. Also I realised that writing is not my strongest area so it would be a bad idea to carry on with this idea. So I have been brainstorming fresh new ideas and this is what I propose to design for my professional project (A brand/identity for an non-existant organic/eco friendly clothing company). 

Why I have chosen to do this?

Well I think it is for the best really, as part of this second year I am meant to be a more independent student and this means I have to make decisions by my own accord. A very vital decision aswell, the reason for the change was because I sat down and really thought about what I want to do, what would I like to produce? and also what will make a strong piece of portfolio work. And I think that this new idea answers all of these questions. I look foward to really getting stuck into this project now and feel its a much exciting and challenging project to work on than the last one. 

The next day

Well after yesterday I feel a whole lot better, I had a tutorial with Mike Ryan and explained what I had been working on over night since the presentation. I felt that a lot of progress was achieved from this tutorial, I explained the aspect of my idea that I plan to focus on which would be interviewing students from different backgrounds and different course to create a series of spreads for a student guide. I felt this went down quite well and I received some positive and useful feedback, I was told to go ahead with creating the spreads for the interviews for the guide but to think about all the considerations that go with it, such as the size of the magazine, if it is a magazine, the layout, and the text. This information helped and I feel that I now know what to focus on and feel that I can start on this project, and to honest im looking forward it!

Presentation

Today I presented my proposed idea for my professional project, this was to produce a student guide for students who are intended to study at bournemouth or students who are currently new to bournemouth (threshers). After talking to Kit and Neil about my idea I was pleased about the feedback that I received, but when I presented the idea to Sally, I just got negative feedback which really confused me. I suppose each tutor has different opinions so I just have to take that, this is when I have realized that I have to start making decisions myself, as noted in the feedback I received for Visual Communication in Context 2 project (there is no right answer to a graphic design brief, just your response, so don't worry about being wrong). 

I was told that I have created to much work for myself and would never be able to complete it in time. I agree with this and am considering reducing the amount of work I have given myself by maybe just creating a series of spreads for the magazine. I now intend to think about this project long and hard and come to a conclusion of what I want to do about it, make a final decision by myself.

Live brief (multi area agreement)

Today myself and Christopher Walter had a catch up with Matt Desmier about the live project we have been working on, which is a creating an identity for the MAA (multi area agreement). We showed Matt what we have produced so far and we received some very positive feedback, I was pleased with the feedback that we received and feel confident about presenting our work when it comes round to it next week. The only thing we were told to do was to make sure we have the answers for the questions that we could be asked when presenting our work, basically be prepared. So we now need to go off and think how we are going to sell it to them (literally), what makes our identity the best, why they should choose it. Myself and Chris felt that this was very useful information and will now act upon this and be prepared for our presentation next week. 

Today was a really good day, I had a chat with Kit and Neil about the idea that I had for my professional project. I received some really positive feedback and was told to stick with this idea and to dispose of all the other ideas I had floating around in my head. The idea that I explained to them was to create a student guide for the typical student that is intending to study at bournemouth. The reason I want to create this student guide is because when I came to bournemouth I felt that it was very daunting moving from home and not knowing where anything was. I showed them my learning proposal which explained my idea in more detail and showed how I was going to create the guide. The feedback that I received was basically to start my research that I had planned out to do ready for thursday when I will be presenting my idea. I was really pleased with the feedback that I received, it relieved a lot of stress knowing that I have a strong idea to work with and now I can start setting my aims and objectives. I intend to start planning out what I will be doing each week to keep on top of things, this will help me reach the aims that I set my self and also keep me organized. 

Visual Culture

Today I had a tutorial with Anna focusing on what I will produce for my essay, I found the tutorial helpful and feel that I now have an idea of what I want to write about. The reason why I have chosen to write this essay is because I hope to progress on to the BA Graphic design course next year, and to do so it is compulsory to write this essay. At first I felt like I didn't know what to write about but after explaining what I would find interesting to write about it all started coming together. After the tutorial I sent Anna an email as I still wasn't certain on my idea, so here is the email with the reply.....

That’s ok Ben, but a bit broad, what do you want to focus on? The impact of digital design on how ads look/are created? What time frame? What key examples? Have a think and get back to me- we need to get you started asap!

Thanks,
Anna.

-----Original Message-----
From: 3161328 BEN STROWMAN
Sent: 09 February 2009 19:43
To: Anna Middleton
Subject:


Hi Anna,

I have been thinking about what I could write about for my essay since our meeting earlier, and I have thought that I would find it interesting to write about how advertising has changed over the years, and the difference's between the adverts today and the adverts created many years ago.

If you could let me know what you think that would be much appreciated.

Thanks Ben

So after the response from Anna I now need to act on what exactly I will focusing on, im going to have a think about what she has said and then get back to her.

Today I have written up a basic learning proposal for my professional project. After stressing for the past week about what I should produce for this project I now feel satisfied with the idea that I have for this project. After the group tutorial I had with Sally I was put of the original idea that I had which was to create a series of books which translate languages. So I started thinking of what hasn't been done before, what could I do which is different? 

So I started by brainstorming all the ideas down onto paper that I had, this helped me a lot because I then began to think of what I would like to have produced for myself, what would I like? So here it is, the start of my learning proposal for my professional project.

What I will produce and why

For my professional project I will create a student guide designed for students that are planning to come to Bournemouth to study, the guide will be designed to inform
the student about Bournemouth and what there is to do, what places will be useful for
students, and also a description of what the areas of Bournemouth are like so they have an idea of where to live.

The reason why I am going to produce this guide because it is very daunting when moving into a new place, especially when you have been living at home your whole life. There is nothing like this out there at the moment so there will definitely be a market for this guide. As a student myself I would of found this guide useful when I first moved onto Bournemouth as I didn’t know where to live, where to go, how to get to places etc. My guide will help the student adapt to the area a lot more quickly, it will be a very useful guide for the student as it will tell them all they need to know about Bournemouth.

Target audience

My target audience will be students that intend to study in Bournemouth, which are curious about what is in Bournemouth and how to get around etc.

What to include?

Where to eat for cheap
What nights to go out on, which nights/pubs/clubs would suit the student
Where to get art equipment etc, best shops.
What is in winton, charminster etc
Library opening times
Any student deals
Travel information
Tips page, how to eat cheaply , ways of saving money. Etc
Use full telephone numbers, taxi’s etc
Where the doctor’s is etc
Interview students in Bournemouth at the moment and create a spread on there experience

 

Live brief (multi area agreement)

Today me and Christopher Walter had a meeting with Matt Desmier to go through the live brief that we had chosen (multi area agreement). We explained that we had read through the brief but still don't really understand what the multi area agreement is all about. So he told us some useful information about them which I feel will help us with our project. In a nutshell he told us what the multi area agreement is about and what they are asking for, also what style of design would suit there needs. Myself and Chris felt that the meeting was very useful and now feel we can go away and work on this comfortably. 

Professional Project

Today I received the brief for my professional project, Im going to be honest, at the moment I am quite nervous. I don't have any idea of what I am going to produce, although I do have an idea of what i would like to produce, if that makes any sense. After doing the exercise with Dan I thought about what I have enjoyed doing during this course and where I feel my strengths lie. I came to the conclusion that the two projects that I have enjoyed the most and feel that I have achieved best in are Visual Communication in context which was to create a magazine spread and also in the Screen based communication 2 project. So I feel that it would be within my best interest to either create a magazine or a web design project. Also I have to think about designing my work so that it is suitable to present to the BA Graphic design course, as Neil said there is no point in creating an illustration book if your going onto the BA Graphic design course. So I need to think what the content of my magazine or website will be.

PJ smoothies

I have been working on the D&AD project for last few days, we have gained a lot of visual research, mainly looking at other funky/funny posters which are aimed at a similar age group to the age group we are aiming our posters at. After looking at these posters together we all started brainstorming ideas, these are some ideas that I have been working on that I feel could work well. I have tried to make the posters look fun and funky which is what the brief is asking from us, I have used bright and attractive colours to do this. The idea behind these posters is to include the things that people my age like doing, what appeals to them. So I have included some silhouettes of people doing active things, this relates back to the smoothie as this is also conveying the message that the smoothie gives you energy. 

These are the first outcomes that I have created on the computer so I will need to go back and meet with my group tomorrow and discuss these visualizations with them and see what they think, and if they feel that they are strong enough to develop further.

Screen based communication 2 evaluation

I found screen based communication 2 a really exciting and enjoyable project, before starting this project I had always wanted to be able to create a website and now I have been able to do so, not only was I able to create a website but I was able to create a website presenting my work and me as a designer. I feel that this project was really beneficial for me as it may help me find work, and also because I would now feel confident if I was asked to create a website for a client. 

 I feel like I had produced a solid amount of work for this project and I am pleased with the final outcome of my website. I have worked hard on this project, putting many hours of my time into the project, from the start of this project I said to myself I will be putting my all into this project because I want to achieve the best I can, and I stuck to my word. By spending a lot of time working on this project I feel that it has payed off as I feel my website presents my work to a professional standard. I mean I went through many ideas and designs for my site which led me to creating my final design, if it wasn't for all of my development work I wouldn't of ending up with the final product that I did. 

I don't know wether you have noticed but I am giving all I have got into this second year, I am really pushing myself, and feel like I am developing as a designer whilst doing so. I know that I have developed since last year, I have noticed changes in myself, I am a lot more motivated and I feel that I am concentrating a lot more on the projects. I am aiming high this year because I am fed up of not achieving the best that I can. I know last year I could of achieved a lot better than what I did because I feel I wasn't applying myself as much as I could of. By writing this blog has helped me a lot this year, it has helped me reflect on my work and myself as a designer, keep me organized and also motivated.  

I have learnt a lot during the course of this project and would now feel comfortable if I was asked to create a website again. Last years screen based project was to create an animation in flash which was a long time ago so by having the tutorials for flash helped me regain my knowledge for this software, I also did the Dreamweaver short corse which I had also felt that I needed to recap on because I had forgotten a lot of the things that I learnt. So by using the tutorials throughout the course of this project has improved my skills in website design a lot. I have also learnt a lot by looking at other websites and how they have been constructed, whilst looking at these sites I have found so much that I was inspired by. 

After finishing this project I have realized how important the web is to us as designers, its such an easy way to show the client who you are and what your about, I think the web is the holds a strong future. I am so glad that I am now able to create a website, its I really good skill to have as a designer, especially with the way the that the current employment is going, as I have noticed there are clients needing web designers all of the time, so this is why I am pleased that I have learnt all of these new skills and would feel confident in taking the opportunity to create a website for a real client. 

Website reflection

I have worked really hard on this project and I feel that it has paid off, I am pleased with the final outcome of my website as I feel that it portrays me well as a graphic designer. I have designed my site so that it is simple and easy to navigate around for the reason that I wanted the viewer to feel comfortable when entering my site. The type I chose works really well throughout the entire site and feel that not only the typeface works well but also the colour of the type looks strong against the white background. I feel that I have exicuted the design well and am pleased with the way that my site displays my work. I chose to use the lightbox effect which presents my work to a professional standard and wouldn't change this way of presenting my work as I feel that it shows off the work really well. By looking at my site I can't really think of anything that I would change at this point, but im sure when I get my feedback there will be some aspects of the site I will be told to consider. Other than that I feel that this has been my most stongest project that I have worked on during the study of this course as I have learnt so many new and what I feel benifical skills, which I think will come handy later on in life as a designer, and I am really proud of the final outcome.

Final critique

Today I had my final critique about my website, here are the comments I received:

• My identity looks really strong, a lot better than the old one that I showed in the previous critique, its a good choice of type and works well. 

• Think about adding more images to a thumbnail, for example when the viewer clicks on one thumbnail to view my greetings card they can then click on the next button when the image is open to go through all of my greetings card designs. This allows me to add more images to my website and I am still able to keep the same amount of thumbnails on my page.
  

 

 

Tutorial with Catel

Myself, Alistair, Rob and Chris had a tutorial with Catel who gave a talk earlier on during the week about how to set up a business as an illustrator, we showed her the work we had done which was mainly ideas at this point, we were told that our ideas were good but we now need to think how we are going to put these ideas together, we were told that our most solid idea was to include small images all the things that people similar to our age like doing, a bit like some of the coca cola adverts that we had been looking at. So she told us to start thinking about what we like doing and include these things in our designs. I thought this tutorial was really helpful as we all now feel we know what direction to go in.  

Critique

Today I had a critique with kit about my website, the feedback I received was really positive there were a few things that I was told to consider in my design. The main feature that was brought up was that I had used three different typefaces, I was told to look at the different typefaces that I had chosen and then decide which one I would use for the whole of my website, as I am coming across to the viewer as a graphic designer I need to show that I have considered my typeface. The other thing I was told to think about changing the lightbox effect so that there is no boarder around the image that is being presented and see if I could change the colour of the background to white. I intend to try this out but I am pleased with the way the lighbox effect is presenting my work at the moment, therefore if I prefer the way the lightbox presents my work after making these changes I would choose that way of presenting my work.  

Catel

Today I had a guest lecture come inn and talk to me about her work and the process of being an illustrator. These are some notes that I took from this lecture.

How to set up an illustration business

1. Define your market

2. Research potential clients

3. Address the right person

4. Self promotion

When sending work to art directors make sure the images are larger than A4 make your work original/limited edition. Send them feedback sheet with your work.

Good website for illustrators - www.illustrationmundo.com

Get commission in writing stating: agreed fee and copyright

Pricing- ask clients how big there budget is make sure you get paid within 30 days.

Even though I am not specializing in illustration I feel that all of this information has benefited me because if I want to do some freelance work as a designer I now know what to expect. 

Over the christmas holidays I have been working on the design of my website, I started by looking at the design that I already created. This helped me a lot as was able to reflect on my design and make changes accordingly. I started by looking at the entire design, I thought that it looks too similar to the website that I have been looking at called Sitesquared, also it doesn't convey the correct message that I want to put across to the intended viewer. So therefore I decided to look at other websites and see how I could combine the elements that I think would work well to create my site. I started by looking at sites that I think suit me as a designer which helped me then choose which elements to use in my design, I looked at many websites but found that the most simple layouts worked best. This is what I am aiming to achieve within my website, I don't want to make it complicated for the viewer I just want to keep it as simple as possible. I also want to make it easy for the viewer to navigate around my site so keeping it simple will help me achieve this. After drawing out some layouts of what I want my site to look like I came up with this design which I really like and I think could work well as a site. I have still used a similar design to the portfolio on the Sitesquared website by creating a rounded edge on the thumbnail images, I feel that this creates a strong effect for the images as they look more interesting than a simple square which is used in most portfolios. So by combing these elements that I like I feel that I have created a strong final design to present my self as a Graphic Designer on the web.