Thursday 26 January 2012

Image// Rationale Three: Scale/ Frame/ Format..

Brief// (What is the problem you intend to solve?)

To create an eye chart using only one object of which is a Rubiks cube.

Who needs to know?// (Who is your audience? Be concise no more than ten words)

People who go for eyetests.

What do they need to know?// (Be clear and specific)

They will need to clearly see what the object is from a distance of 20ft. The imagery must be at different scales on the eye chart.

Why do they need to know?// (The concept for your problem)


To see whether or not their eye sight is good.


What will they respond to?// (How will they connect/ understand the outcome?)


They will respond to the eye chart which will contain the Rubiks cube at different scales and using only two colours (including stock).

What research is required?// (What do you need to know in order to complete this brief to the fullest potential?)

Primary:

- Photographs of Rubiks cubes.
- Trying out different colour combinations.
- Look at different types of eye charts.

Image// Rationale Two: Type as image..

Brief// (What is the problem you intend to solve?)

I will need to choose 3 quotes from the three articles from the first brief. I will then use the type with image to create 3 seperate type as image designs.

Who needs to know?// (Who is your audience? Be concise no more than ten words)

My target audience will be anyone who is interested in the 3 articles I am working with or those who enjoy type as image.

What do they need to know?// (Be clear and specific)

My target audience will need to clearly understand what the type as image is representing.

Why do they need to know?// (The concept for your problem)

They will need to know because it will help give them another perspective of the article possibly out of context.

What will they respond to?// (How will they connect/ understand the outcome


They will respond to the imagery designed with the type and hopefully see the link between the two.


What research is required?// (What do you need to know in order to complete this brief to the fullest potential?)

Primary:

- I will need to find a qoute from each of the articles and begin to think how I can use them combined with imagery.

- I will need to choose appropriate imagery that will clearly represent the quote and communicate its message.

Image// Rationale one: Editorial Image..

Brief// (What is the problem you intend to solve?)

I need to create a set of three images that will represent the three seperate articles and their subject matter.

Who needs to know?// (Who is your audience? Be concise no more than ten words)

My target audience will be the weekend Guardian readers.

What do they need to know?// (Be clear and specific)

What the articles are about through the use of imagery and possibly the tone of voice too.

Why do they need to know?// (The concept for your problem)

They will need to establish a link between article and the imagery to help them gain an understanding of what the article is about, this may also help them engage more with the article.

What will they respond to?// (How will they connect/ understand the outcome?)

They will respomd to the imagery that represents the article.

What research is required?// (What do you need to know in order to complete this brief to the fullest potential?)

Primary:

- What imagery is relevant to each article.
- What media would best suite the context of the imagery.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Design for digital// Top 10: crit..

Concept crit 18/01/12

Strengths//

- In depth annotation on storyboards which give clear direction
- Good wide target audience

Areas for improvement//

- Consider sound: can relate the sequence to sound (timings)
- Make clear in the title sequence what a bucket list is. Define and emphasise definition
- Mix image and text, dont just keep it seperate frames

Considerations//

- Not sure the font is suited to the topic area
- Also it changes from sans serif to serif throughout.. could stay same/ similar
- Walking motion.. will need to make it appear realistic in order to work, not look cliche
- Can be hard, maybe dont show legs
- One second gaps between frames may be too long
- Perhaps be quite subtle and not give away much on the title sequence

Additional comments//

- Do necessarily need to include your 'Top 10' throughout the sequence (will give away programme)

Monday 23 January 2012

Enterprise and Innovation// Business plan template..

Business plan template//







Enterprise and Innovation// Group Tutorial one..

Tuesday 17th January// Tutorial with Jane:


The business plan brief//

What needs to be included within the 8-10 minute presentation:

Give yourself some headers to focus on e.g skills and services- what can you offer as individuals and as a group?

Target audience- who are they and where are they?

Self promotion- how will your audience know who you are, where you are and why they should use you?

Competition- who are they and where are they based and how will you compete?

Financial considerations- start up costs, salaries, accountants fees, business accounts, own daily rate, funding, bank loans/ how long will it take to pay it off?

Location- where will you be based- someones top floor of house, hot desking at Heart in Headingley or commercial premises like Round Foundry?

Give out something to remember us by- could be a piece of self promotion that you might send out to target audience.

Consider the four areas you are being graded on:

1// Level of analysis: make sure you have analysed your research materials critically.

2// Knowledge and understanding: make sure your presentation and supporting files show appropriate understanding of the module.

3// Organisation of material: make sure your visual presentation effectively communicates and supports the issues discussed- it is logical, is it clean and ordered or is it a ragbag of stuff?

4// Clarity of delivery: make sure your verbal presentation effectively communicates ad supports the issues discussed, did the spoken words flow and match the ones on screen, did you get flustered, were you prepared?

--------------

After discussing the brief for the business plan, we showed our press ads that we had designed. Unfortunately ours did not receive good feed back at all! Basically it was awful. The name was unsure of, the tag line was rubbish and the paragraph explaining who we were didnt explain anything!

I learnt a lot from this crit, I was the one who designed most of the press ad that was shown during the tutorial which means I felt responsible for the bad feedback. I did feel like I had let my group down by designing something that was crap, but it was a learning curve. As a designer you have to be able to take criticism and learn from your mistakes. As a group we have been worrying about what to all ourselves when really this isnt what the brief is about. Yes we do need to come up with a name and an identity but we also need to look at the bigger picture.

We did come up with several names but there was always someone who was unsure for one reason or another. We came up with things like North star (because we were going to be based up north), Gravy (again because Yorkshire locals love gravy and we came up with the tag line 'everything is all gravy'/ all good). We then had Octopus (8 arms is better than 2) it wasnt liked because it was too light hearted! Then we've had Haus or House?

Anywho im sure we will think of a good name but until then there is lots of work and research to do in relation to the business plan!

I don't feel we have been that organised so far as a group, we have had meetings but we have yet to set ourselves roles within the group to get particular jobs done. I am worried that we will get behind schedule.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Enterprise and Innovation// Proposed position statement..

Task//

Write 10 short but informative statements that identify your distinctive 'positioning' as a Graphic Designer. Your statements should consider your ambitions, skills and areas of creative interest in relation to the market, your clients, competition and possible collaborators and should be based on the information you have collected in response to the set tasks.

You will need to compare a list of your skills and services against customer/ client needs to those of your competitors, this should help you determine how your company is unique.

----------------

- Areas that I am interested in within the graphic Design field is branding and identity. I have always enjoyed creating a brand identity for projects within the course and I have recently started to think about how I can brand myself and what approaches I would take. I have also been creating business cards and letter heads for my dad, he's a self-employed plasterer and he wanted something he could give out to potential customers to gain more work opportunities. He was very pleased with the designs, of which I am going to have professionally printed for him.

- In terms of working on my own, collaboratively or as part of a larger business, I feel that I would quite like to own my own branding and identity studio. Its always been a dream to own my own business and this course is helping to prepare me for how I can make this dream come true. I think that I would need to gain some experience in this field of design before I went off on my own, as I want to be fully prepared so that I get the most out of my business experience.

- Another ambition of mine is to move to America for a year and try to get a job in a big business, then maybe even move to New York and start a business over there. (Big ambitions maybe, but nothings impossible!) I have family that live like an hour away from NY City which is quite handy.

- In terms of gaining experience whilst I am still on the course, I am wanting to try as many different things as possible, as I guess you dont know if you like something till you've tried it. Obviously I will want to stay close to branding and identity but I would love to visit an editorial and web design studio to gain some experience and understanding of how it all works.

- I feel like I have learnt many new skills whilst being on the course as well as building on skills I already had. My job is to create and I feel I am pretty good at this. I think one of the most important things to have in a field of Graphic Design is passion, you have to want to do well in a career that you enjoy. Theres no point choosing a career that you wont enjoy!

- I want to be the best in my field of Graphic Design, which means I will have to work hard and have a brain like a sponge so that I learn everything I need/ would like to know. I will need to have an amazing portfolio of work to show to potential clients, which means I will have to work hard to produce the work that will go in my creative portfolio.

- I would love to take my Graphic Design skills abroad to different countries to share the skills and knowledge I have about Graphic Design with other cultures. This will make me more informed about the broadness of Graphic Design and it also raises the opportunity of travelling the world.


- I would obviously have a lot of competition in my chosen area of Graphic Design. I think something that is very important would to not restrict my skill set. I know I say I love and enjoy branding and identity but I shouldnt cut myself off there. I will try as many new things as I can including branding and identity, editorial, packaging and promotion etc. The more I know the more I will appeal to clients and potential employers and the better I will be than my competitors.

- I would love to collaborate with other designers and companies as I feel this is a very important part of developing as a designer. You must be able to work with others, not only that but more than one mind is better than one. This could start whilst I am at uni, working with class mates and as I start to visit studios and get placements, it would allow the opportunity for more professional collaborations. I think the best collaborations are where you are very different from the other designer, it means you both have different skills to bring to designing.

- The most important thing to me though is to make sure I find a job that I enjoy, it doesnt even matter if it is unrelated to Graphic Design or if it is doing something completely different to what I have stated above. As long as I am happy!

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Design for digital// Top 10.. Action plan one..

Action Plan// 11/01/12


Action// Find out from Mike or Lorraine how you can 'draw' imagery through the sequence using Illustrator files.

Action// Define target audience, channel and timing of Title sequence and Idents.

Action// Define imagery that I am going to use/ decide on 10 images I will definitely be using.

Action// Find a good audio version of The Bucket List soundtrack No.19// A wink and a smile.

Action// Re-do design boards.

Action// Look at Channel 4's schedule and idents, what style do they use?

Action// Dont forget about designing the CD sleeve!

Action// Double check typefaces will work on After Effects.

Action// Start to draw out storyboards for next progress crit (18/01/12)

Action// Get some Illustrator imagery ready to show for next crit as an example of how I am wanting to work.

Design for digital// Top 10.. Crit one..

Group crit one// 11/01/12

Concept crit//

Strengths:

- Ideas to have it drawn out in the sequence sounds interesting, ask how to do it

Areas for improvement:

- Instead of including all 10 things in 10 seconds (idents), try to use just one so its not an overload of information.

- Dont need to much information on the sequences as you dont want to give too much away.

- Could be nice to just have illustration, title and what the illustration is of.

Considerations:

- Check out the YouTube guy doing bucket list of things to raise money for charity (Irish guy).

Saturday 7 January 2012

Enterprise and Innovation/ Lecture 5 notes..

//10 steps to a future you:

1// Proactivity:

stimulus - response

stimulus - choice - response

- circle of concern/ circle of influence/ proactivity

// Internal environment

- your skills
- your resources
- your lifestyle

// Micro environment

- your network of friends and associates
- your competitors and other practitioners
- your suppliers
- your local community
- stakeholders


// Macro environments

- world market conditions/ currency/ populations/ cultures
- economics/ exchange rates/ wealth/ debt
- technology/ supporting/ emerging/ alternative
- social trends/ trends/ behaviours/ demographics/ needs
- politics/ legislation/ tax/ war/ population
- the environment/ pollution/ conservation/ sustainability

2// Project

- develop a vision for your future
- create a principle centred personal mission statement
- extend the mission into long term goals

Business vision - business plan - life plan = priority management

' Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans' John Lennon

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

3// Provide

- clear explanations to people
- speak in their language; not yours
- talk about benefits; not processes

- Think - who are you talking to
- Create - clear messages
- Inspire - people with your creativity

4// Prioritise

- put first things first
- keep a proper balance
- stick to your personal mission

time - study - social life - rest - money = focus = results

5// Presents

- Think - win/ win
- Seek - outcomes and relationships that are mutual beneficial
- Do a favour to gain a favour

// Kohlberg's theory:

- Pre-conventional: Dependent

- I want
- Why should I?
- Nobody listens
- Short term

- Conventional: Independant

- I would be happy to
- Your needs
- I understand
- Medium term

- Post-conventional: Inter-dependant

- We can
- Together
- Mutual benefit
- Long term

6// Pause

- pause to listen - give all your attention. Give yourself to the moment
- empathise, walk in someone elses shoes
- dont re-iterate or interpret - just listen
- do you really know how they feel or are you just saying how you feel?

- see first; then be understood
- learn from your differences

7// Proven

- Consistency
- Integrity
- Reliability

8// Partner

- synergy multiplies your talents
- work with other experts outside your field to achieve greatness

- Partner
- Avatar, Hollywood model
- 600-800 credits for Avatar
- All free-lance or small business


9// Pit stop

- sharpen up - bolt on, get new stuff
- rest - renew, re-vitalise
- explore - challenge, excite

10// Propel

- extinguish your fears
- exude confidence
- instil faith