OUGD505 - Module Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them: 

Primarily within this brief I think my practice in relation to concepts and ideas has improved dramatically. I feel I have consciously made the decision to try and produce graphic design work that has a strong concept underpinning the practical work. I found it interesting thinking about how you can create a relationship between the subject and the design and the workshops defiantly helped develop this. Although I now understand the idea of a strong concept it took me almost giving up on my What is Good brief to implement it and be confident when presenting an concept.

I feel as if I have tried to explore and experiment; for the Bi-monthly poster brief I tried to utilise a new process which was vacuum forming, I had the an idea of how I could potentially create a poster that would stand out and look unique in comparison with the other entries. Unfortunately ir didn't pay off but I think this was because the idea was ambitious and required a larger vacuum forming machine which I simply didn't have access too. I thought about laser cutting and using vinyl but I decided I had done that before and wanted to explore another media.

2. What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

I began using design sheet a lot more which is something I said I would do in the last module evaluation  This has really helped me brain storm new ideas and get them out of my head. This is important because until the ideas are on paper they don't really exist. I think it helped create my concept for Anapol which I was pretty happy with.

I thought it was a good idea using the 3D meda again because it was something different that I hadn't really explored. Again it was a big risk to fully explore the capabilities of physically cutting holes in my exhibition guide to fit 3D glasses but I think it made it more interactive and exciting. 

Everyone was struggling to get print slots and it was quite frustrating having to commit to print slot times that worked around crits and other studio commitments. Although I think this was a problem it forced me to work to a set deadline and also utilise other processes such as vacuum form which I mentioned. 

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I think Anapol had a clear identity and also a clear concept that was eventually very focused and specific. A new strength I can now identify after this module is actually how to properly create a specific concept. I will continue to make my design decisions based upon an informed subject with relevance to the theme. 

Although I had a hard time and struggled at the beginning I stuck at it. I think this is a quality you need to get through your work load. Obviously its important to actually keep on going and not give up. I think the What is Good brief really did test me and if I have problems similar again I will know how to get through them and also have the willpower to continue. 

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future

I have begun to hate blogging. I find it tedious and time consuming. I will address this by implementing a clear system. I need to remember to blog what I have done as soon as I can. I used to be good at this but now I leave it to the last minute which makes it extremely hard. 

Presentation boards. I think presentation boards can constantly be improved. I still sometimes get confused as to what needs to go on them. I will try to find some examples of good presentation boards. I will also write a plan of what needs to go on there so that when I start designing them I can tick off things that need including. 



5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Create a concept faster. This will allow me to begin my designing a lot faster and achieve a greater finish with a larger body of work which is developed in depth.

I will blog everything that needs blogging as soon as possible. This will mean that I am not struggling to get everything ready for hand ins which will make the documentation better.

I will book more print slots so that I don't have to use the laser printer!

What is good? - Website

Development

I used a mix of lorem ipsum and my own generated content for the body copy simply because I was running out of time. I generally prefer to write my own content. I used the same cyan on the website as my printed products to keep the exhibition branding consistent. 

The background images is 35mm film I layered over the top of the cyan. It was quite difficult to scan the negative film in so that I could see the film's exposed image. I couldn't really do it on my scanner so I left the scanner lid open and pressed the film down. It was the best scan I could get and it wasn't that high resolution but it still was high enough resolution to use.

The website consists of 4 pages. Schedule, sneaky glance, Ap blog and Anapol (home page). 

What is good? - Anapol Website

Development

This is process of scanning in the negative 35mm film and turning it into a background for the website element of the exhibition. I turn the layer style to multiply to blend the film image in. This was a visual link to my poster and current theme and I saw a contextual example a studio called Filthy Media, which I blogged on my design context that looked good. 

What is good? - Anapol Flyer

Development

My re-written brief made an emphasis on using format to create a consistent concept. The idea here is that the flyers that would be handin out in the street as promotion are the same size roughly of 35mm film. The paper will be perforated and would be torn off. This mimics the style of splicing film to edit it together. Ideally I would laser cut the hole for the camera teeth on the flyers but I won't be able to line the papar up with the printed image. 

I began by deisnging the flyer with images but decided the format was to small to see the image clearly. I scrppaed the images and made the flyer typography based using the key details, this made more sense and also look better visually. 

What is good? - Anapol Exhibition guide

My idea for the exhibition guide was a guide that incorporates stereoscopic glasses into the guide. The user will be able to view the exhibition way finding and promotional products in 3D. I think this adds an element of fun and interaction that some exhibitions and galleries lack.

 

I made some mock ups to see how the format would work with the lens holes cut out. I found that the holes in the centre of the guide meant that the book lost its rigidity. I also began mocking the pages on this book and found it hard to work the layout to the page.

I still made a page plan of titles and started to work with the content. 

Development

Inside pages

I decided the lens cutouts at the centre didn't work for the reasons mentioned above. I made a new mock up and tried them at the top of the guide. This meant that the spine wasn't effected and the book wasn't floppy. 

Contents

 Introduction

The left hand page of the spread has been left blank because I want to add a picture of the exhibition posters mocked up in the city centre somewhere. This will show the exhibition in context. 

Here you can see me making small changes to the layout to eventually I found something I felt looked right. This page introduces the audience the event and where they can see it again.

 Early 3D efforts

This is basically an introduction into 3D film that starts with The Power Of Love 1922. It explains the films history and explains that it was the first commercially released 3D film.

 Techniques

This page explains the differences between anaglyph and polarized film.

 3D catches on

This page talks about Bwana Devil and how 3D starts to catch on.

The Golden Age

Many view the Golden Age of 3D film at 1950-1955. Explains the boom from the postwar economy and starts to talk about the influence 3D comics had.

House of Wax/ Vincent Price

First 3D film in stereoscopic sound, Vincent Price and The Mad Magician.

Creature from the black Lagoon

Dial M for Murder

Alfred hitchcock

Mock ups

I printed mock ups to check that things like Halftone images look right. Some images were quite noisy because the settings were set too high to print. Other images were blurry because the resolution was too low.

I realised making mocks is so important when working within print. Its a lot easier to check design decision and scaling when you have the product printed in your hand.

What is good? - 3D Film Development of concept

Major Changes

Crit

I went into the first crit with 3 weak concepts and if I admit I was a little confused what a concept actually was. After the first concept workshop my group came up with the real ale bar which was successful  I think the success of this concept made my What is good? ideas seem even weaker. The crit group identified that my main problem was that I hadn't narrowed my heading down. Perception was too broad and meant that I was giving myself more work then necessary.

Lorraine said that I needed to focus and pick something I wanted to fully explore. I was really conscious that I was running out of time and hadn't made a start to designing.

I continued to try and find something within perception but was having no luck. If I am honest I kind of gave up caring abut What is good? until I spoke to Lorraine again. From speaking to lorraine I had the idea of working within 3D film. It felt like a fresh subject and allowed me to work through my mental block pretty much.

3D content research and content genoration. 

What did I decide to do?

I am creating the branding for an exhibition – Called Anapol

My original heading was Perception.

What’s the exhibition about?

It is an insight into stereoscopic film (3d film), looking at five films from the ‘Golden Age’ of stereoscopic film 1950 – 1955).

The Exhibition will cover the equipment used at the time and also the key figures that helped make 1950-1955 the ‘Golden Age’ of cinema.

Why is the Exhibition called Anapol?

It is a combination between Anaglyph and Polarised – two techniques of 3D film utilise from 1950-1955.

Where?

The exhibition will be held in Leeds Art Gallery

Audience?

Employed

Educated

English Speaking

Able and Non able-bodied

Men and Women

Individual adults and groups

Aged 25-34

Deliverables?

Signage and Way finding for the gallery

Tickets

Promotional Posters

Exhibition guide

Leeds Art Gallery front of house poster

Canvas bag

Final Crit

I went into the final crit with my exhibition poster:

Although the I didn't have a huge body of work to show everyone it was agreed that it was a big step from the last crit. I have found a specific topic and also started to design a brand with a colour scheme and logo. From ehre I can begin to design the rest of the deliverables. 

Also some little design tweaks were needed on this poster, for example aligning body copy and also grammar. Everyone also liked the format of the poster and my new concept which was the main positive. Seeing as I had been struggling to find a strong concept I now feel like I have found one and can fully focus on designing. 

COP2 Practical Response - Design Development

Front cover

I started by designing the front cover to my COP2 practical response, but ended up leaving it to finish until the end basically because I thought it was more important to get the main body of content finished before perfecting the aesthetics of the front cover. I already had some designs in mind from design sheets I did so I was confient it could wait.

Design sheets

Digital Designs

Front cover - My idea is that the collection of little rectangles represents all the small houses which when layered under the vellum sleeve will fit into the big rectangle representing the big house. I'm trying to show the that the collection of people could all live off the amount of resources that one big house consumes. 

Vellum sleeve - This is the big rectangle (house) that will appear on the sleeve of the publication over the front cover. I like the idea of physical action of pulling the publication from out of the sleeve.

I started to develop the front cover image.

Here I made a mock up. It was quite hard to line up the filled orange rectangle with the smaller rectangles. It was also difficult trying to glue the vellum together as prit stick wasn't doing the job.

Contents + Spreads

I began by annotating the 'We the Tiny House People', I added my own commentary and also recorded interviews with the featured homeowners that I found insightful and interesting. This is how I started to build my content and also begin to build a narrative and some kind of structure.

Once I knew the structure of the publication I began designing a layout for it. I mocked up a quick paper book and began writing the headings of where roughly I wanted the content to go by chapter. After I did this I made another mock up with some more detailed editorial design. You have to make paper mock ups or I just find myself staring at the screen for hours doing nothing.

Here you can see my digital mock ups. I printed around 8 copies of my book mainly to figure out what print settings I needed! but also I was experimenting with new layouts and interactive parts of the booklet.

Below you can see where the spread doesn't match up properly.

Eventually I decided on a pearly grey stock as it made my images pop and also it complemented the orange I used throughout.

Construction of sleeve

I the reason I used vellum was for the layering effect it allows. I also thought that is signifies kind of a high class wealthy look within print. The idea being that you take the publication from out of that context.

Had to set the printer to fast print so that it didn't bleed ink as the vellum was quite coated.

Here is the template for the vellum sleeve. I had to increase the width from the original because it kept opening the seem when it was flush.

Binding

I went for a saddle stitch seem as I thought it made more sense and had more correspondance with the context. Having a home made feel, little materials and DIY.