OUGD203 Evaluation

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN LEVEL 05
Module Code   OUGD203
 Module Title DESIGN Practice 2




END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION


NAME Lisa Whitaker BLOG. ADDRESS http://l-whitaker1013.blogspot.com


1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
• Indesign software skills – starting to find my way around this software and linking files from photoshop and Illustrator
• Type and layout – My eye for layout is definitely improving after the Design module with Graham.  Thinking about readability, hierarchy and grid layout more effectively.
• Collaboration – getting the right balance between project management and not taking over to much.


2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
• I have re-visted book binding techniques and would have liked more time to extend this.  Limitation with printing/time meant could only try Japanese stab binding, screw posts and perfect binding.
• Improving vectoring skills in Ilustrator has opened up more opportunities for my design outcomes.


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


• Extensive research and analysis has enabled me to focus on a ‘real’ product and problem
• Improving attention to type and layout
• Project planning and tenacity has allowed me to develop this brief extensively
• Growing confidence in asking for help from experts eg Book binding at Vernon Street
• I am researching more Innovative Graphic Design which is contributing to stronger design outcomes




4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
• Found it difficult Project managing everything we had to do since Easter however this was partly down to me having too much of a break at Easter!
• I have not blogged as much project development as I have been progressing along which created a bottleneck, giving me a problem hitting the deadline.


5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
• I still need to make time to  put pen to paper more with editorial layouts, logo development and storyboarding.  
• I do make action lists and plan my time in my notebook however I have not documented this on the blog.  I want to find a digital method which can be easily uploaded to Blogger so I get credit for this. 
• I tried to achieve too much on both YCN and Product briefs which meant that I did not execute some of the outcomes as effectively as I could.  
• Think about what is really being asked for as an outcome ie with Product I spent a lot of time making products which in the end were not required at hand in.  maybe could have digitally mocked up more of the products.




6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: 
(please indicate using an ‘x’)  


5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
1 2 3 4 5
Attendance 4
Punctuality 4
Motivation 5
Commitment 5
Quantity of work produced 5
Quality of work produced 3
Contribution to the group  5
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

Evaluation product range and distribution

Evaluation of Product, range and distribution

Overview

Initially I had focussed on the briefs which had print based editorial outcomes as I wanted to make something and also wanted to test my typography skills.  As my PPD development has progressed I find myself being engaged with Branding and Identity and I can envisage this is a good direction for me commercially.

The Brief

My husband, David runs a guitar school and has been asking me for some time to re-brand the school.  Following a conversation with him we were discussed the possibility of a journal for the students.  Also he has started taking the business into primary schools and as a result needs some promotional material suitable for Schools, Head teachers and parents.

The outcome

I have asked several students and parents for feedback about the logo and prospectus and have received some very favourable comments.  The kids think its ‘cool’ and want a t-shirt!  The parents think it is representative of David and the school.

Learning outcomes

This has been challenging in terms of limiting the ‘range’ of what I could achieve within this brief.  Also the whole project has led to us developing the business as well and it has been difficult to keep focussed on the Module dead line.  I have kept reminding myself that this is the foundation and now the work can continue.

I have also challenged my practical skills by applying some book binding techniques.

The other challenge has been trying to produce something special whilst still being able to reproduce the prospectus/journal and leaflets economically.  I have accommodated this by designing products for the brief and then sourcing cheaper short run digital printing for the real products.  Going forward I plan to screen-print the posters to keep costs down over the summer.

Conclusion

Overall the whole project has been positive in terms of contributing to a business that has real meaning to me and also in terms of the learning outcomes. My design direction is becoming more defined as I enjoy Branding and Identity and also the layout skills I have employed.

Product, range & distribution boards

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YCN collaboration evaluation

My collaboration was with Kirsty Hardingham. Kirsty was an enthusiastic partner from day one and open to which brief we went ahead with.  Fortunately we were both gravitating towards the Heinz Salad Cream brief.  The brief struck us as one that we could have some fun with and also as a ‘campaign’ style brief the outcomes could be both print and/or digital.

Our roles

We settled into definite roles within our partnership quite naturally - My role was Concept development/Project manager where as Kirsty was responsible for designing and producing practical outcomes such as the posters, website and chip cone.

The benefits of collaboration

Kirsty has much stronger Illustrator skills than me so she concentrated on producing a lot of the art work where as I focussed on the After Effects moving image and the Indesign boards.  In this respect we complimented each other well.  We were also able to bounce ideas of each other which strengthened the outcomes.   

Certain tasks were better executed in collaboration such as the photoshoot which we did with Jenny Sneap from Vis Com.  We needed several pairs of hands to get the photographs we needed.   

The disadvantages of collaboration

The only frustration from my point of view was that she did not come to two of the early crits/ workshops which meant the tone of voice of the campaign was initially directed by me.  I was concerned about this as I wanted the brief to be as collaborative as possible.  I also had to address the problem of  managing the situation without creating friction.  

On a positive note though whenever we agreed actions with deadlines she always delivered and during the last week we really pulled together to submit the boards. 

Conclusion

We were able to reach agreement on the design direction and tone of voice early on in the project.  Overall we planned and coordinated the project effectively.  We were both happy with the outcome we submitted a couple of days before the deadline.

YCN Submission/ My contribution Boards

My Contribution -  as I made the original boards I have used the same layout.  The breakdown has been quite tricky as Kirsty and I have worked together and most of the brief. 

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These were the boards submitted to YCN: 

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Photos of final products

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Following some last minute feedback from Lorraine I was able to amend the PDF copy:

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Revised the poster layout after crit feedback

Following feedback from the Crit, I moved the 'key' to the left.  The suggestion was also made to add the "brand logo' of the guitar such as Fender, Guild etc however I think this may contravene Copyright. Instead I have written the make and model of the guitar.

I intend to extend this range of posters to include a purple and blue one.  Ideas for other images include Chord boxes - open, major and minor and b chords,  Scales, a who inspired who family tree different genres

A full range of leaflets for SGS!

Four gatefold leaflets to promote the range of services that Slaithwaite Guitar School provide:

Developing a leaflet for the Rock Band Club

The promotion and distribution of the SGS Rock band Club will be to local primary schools, initially to Head Teachers using the SGS look book, then to children through a free workshop then to their parents through a leaflet.  the leaflet will also be used do the children can join on completion of a form.

The format of the leaflet will be A4 gatefold.  Design ideas for the leaflet are based on the roll down banner.

SGS brand and the colour

Originally the colours where going to differentiate between different 'levels' of achievement at the Guitar School.  After developing the product range and some discussion with David we have decided to use the Colour system to differentiate different elements or services the business offers as follows:


Red - One to one/group tuition


Green - The School Rock Band Club


Purple - The recording Studio


Blue - The Studio Rock band Club - Summer holidays and Saturdays.


The Black will be the overarching logo which holds the brand together.


I have also changed the logo design as when I printed the book the SGS did not quite 'sit' comfortably.  This is the final logo set:

Each element will have promotional material printed in the relevant colour so the one to one tuition starter packs will be red, leaflets promoting the Rock band Club will be green.. The "brand' will retain its identity through the SGS logo.

All the copy on web and print will use Trebuchet.

Developing the range

I had become a bit too focussed on needing to physically make everything whereas after the crit I realised that some of the 'range' can be mocked up.  This expanded what I could propose:


T-shirts
Hoodies
Plectrums
Gig bags
Straps
Button badges
CD covers
Flyers/leaflets
Stickers
Cap
Ipod/phone  covers
Pencil cases/ pencils
Coffee mug

Final crit Prospectus

This is the PDF version of the Prospectus however it does not convey the french folds nor the Japanese stab biding of the printed version!

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Prospectus further development

I realised on the Monday morning I was printing with James that the 10pt Trebuchet I had used in the prospectus however I wanted to get something printed to check the french folds,colours and general layout margins etc would work with the Japanese Stab binding.


  

I worked out how to quickly change all the point size copy from 10 to 8 in Indesign.

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I also was concerned about how David was going to reproduce these in the real world!  It cost me £9 to print this is the digital dungeon.  I have been pricing up some shortrun brochure prices as the other problem is the school wont need more than 100 copies.

I found a printer that will reproduce A5 brochures fro one copy onwards.

The Indesign layout was reasonably easy to adjust to A5 landscape.

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Final crit feedback and actions

Development for student pack

Design development for content for the Guitar journal

Logo development following crit

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The colour was a lot more vibrant vibrant on the laser printer compared to screen so I check the colours on the Pantone swatch books.

Letterhead ideas

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Business card ideas

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Progress Crit

Questions I wanted the group to consider:

1. Please can you look at logo development and advise if this is the best solution(Colour way/typeface)

2.  What do you think about the binding of the look book (prospectus)?

3.  Do you think a customised ringbinder for the Starter pack is the best solution