Type Museum Brief Evaluation

_{This brief from} the very beginning was always about the processes and how I could incorporate them into my designs. And throughout this brief that has not changed, I set out to learn about processes and that is what I have done. What did change was the context with which these processes were used. When I started out I thought it would all be about the typography, the most I experimented the more I realized I didn’t want to create type I wanted to use it. So it became more about the content of the sayings driving both the processes and the designs. This was a lot easier and it made for a more co-he rent brief.

This brief turned out to be the most important brief that I have done, it not only helped me produce some processes heavy posters but those processes then crossed over into my other briefs and really showed me the potential and made me think out of the box when it came to designing things. This ended up being the groundwork that informed a lot of decisions I made in subsequent briefs.

I think what became most apparent with this brief and looking at the others was the work I had done with the laser cutter, whether it be creating stencils to emboss or printing plates, I have used this machine across a variety of different substrates and in many different ways and has opened up so many possibilities, and this wouldn’t have been possible without my investigation into print processes.

 I think the hardest element of this brief had to be time management, a lot of the processes I used were very time consuming (taking 2 and a half hours to raster one image for example) and this is the only thing I could learn the hard way, which in turn did have a knock on effect with the brief because I thought it would be a lot smaller than it was and not take as much time. However, I am happy with this because it meant that once I realized it was going to be time consuming I spent more time thinking about the processes I could use and how I could use them.

With each brief I have really pushed myself in getting my ideas down on paper and with this brief this helped immeasurably. I have defiantly changed the way I work for the better and because of this all the decisions I have made are more informed, and I think this brief has a lot to contribute to that factor. Everything I did I had to think about properly before, to try and use my time more efficiently.

This brief has pushed my skills and knowledge in all sorts of areas, and I now know that I can use them in my FMP in a more decisive and clearer way. I did do a lot of experimentation that didn’t work, but this was part of the learning curve (the main fail being with the printing plates, I didn’t have enough knowledge to make them work and they didn’t produce the style of work that I wanted).

I also learnt about different stocks and what was better to showcase the work that I wanted.

Overall this brief has been vital to improving and focusing my design practice, and it encompasses everything I wanted to get out of a brief, and not only did that but informed all the decisions I made in the other briefs. It was like a huge reference point for me, and my idea generation. 

D&AD Brief evaluation

This D&AD brief started out as a one day brief that we all had to do, and escalated into one of my more substantial main briefs. This was a brief involving event branding, I wanted to try and create something that focused on the information side of the event as well as making the participants feel special for going to the talk. I wanted this brief to connect with the audience on a more personable level. As I already had the foundations of the branding element for the brief I took these and developed them to create an umbrella brand that would go across the range of different deliverables that I produced. With some tweaking and pushing I created vector images that could be used on the variety of different media, from the tote bags to the posters. Throughout this module I have learnt a lot about branding, and this helped me push my skills in creating a cohesive image that could work around the event. I really wanted my brand to be about the experience and by creating a set of deliverables that the participant could interact with in a different way I think I have achieved this. The most challenging part of this brief was making quite decisions and running with them, by outlining a clear set of deliverables from the beginning it meant I had more time to focus on creating some ideas that would work with the deliverable concepts. This was a big learning curve for me with regards to time management, I had to really organize my time and structure it so that I could get the most out of the brief. I wanted to bring across processes I had used, or not yet used into this brief such as screen printing and using the vinyl cutter to draw. This brief gave me the opportunity to do this, but it meant I had to be efficient with the time I had.

Generally I am very happy with the brief that I have delivered I think that it delivers on the main aims I was setting out to achieve with this brief, and yet again it has given me more experience with working with branding. I benefitted from the efficiency of decision making and I defiantly plan on taking this on in my FMP, it’s just showed me how much I can produce in a couple of weeks.

Hotel Brief Evaluation

This was by far the most frustrating brief I’ve done. I think the main problem was I had no clear direction for what I wanted and how I wanted it until the last week of the module. I neglected this brief in order to focus on my other briefs (processing and D&AD in order to turn them into something more substantial). I don’t regret this decision, however I didn’t factor in the impact it would have on this brief and how confused it would leave me. By the time I deiced to side line it I had already created the logo and come up with a set of deliverables. However when it came back to me doing the brief I’d run out of time to do the things I’d wanted to do initially, and I’d also covered some of the processes in other briefs so I would end up repeating myself. So after talking with tutors I decided the best avenue to go down would be to focus on environmental signage, its something I hadn’t done before. This gave me more of a direction but I was still confused with what I was coming out with, and then I started photo-shopping. That was a big mistake. I am alright in Photoshop, I know the basics but when it comes to something as complex as I was trying to create it looked rubbish.

So again I had to simplify it again, and I realized I had lost track of what I actually wanted to produce and that was essentially Brand Guidelines. Realizing this I back tracked through previous brand proposals that I had done and realized what I had wanted to produce. Taking this format on I have now developed a coherent body of work, that I feel reflects the brand identity in a different way instead of following the generic stationary route, as I had already covered this in  another brief. It was more about creating the brand identity and environment and I feel I have achieved this. I did want to produce work with this, but actually producing a vectored proposal worked a lot better for this brief than I had imagined. 

BRIEFS SO FAR

Just to round up where my progress is with my briefs so far:

BRIEFS:
1. Poster [ON HOLD] - 80% fininshed, need to do packaging and last prints.
2. Hotel [ON HOLD]- 50% Logo designed, brand identity sorted, need to apply to media and print.
3. ISTD[ON HOLD] - 20% Still in the development stage.
4. Solicitor Brief - 60% Logo designed and happy with, need to apply designs to stationary and print.
5. DANAD - 75% Nearly finished, just need to get everything printed and delivered.
6. Processing - 75% Nearly finished, need to do final tweaks and print.

D&AD BRIEF

New D&AD brief, outlining what to do with the event, why and how.

Processing brief

This is the break down for my expanded processing brief, this is what i will now take on a deliver. 

Solicitor brief

After looking into my research, i was pretty uninspired with the work produced by law teams and designs who have done something from solicitors. So when it came to creating ideas, it was pretty much down to coming up with something i'd seen for other things, such as the hotel etc.

Some of the initial ideas, surrounded the tree concept

my only worry with this is it may not convey it being a

company about law but instead a company about trees?!

After creating some fairly basic ideas, i have taken the ones i am

more interested in and have sketched them a little bit neater

so you can actually see the shape of them.

BRIEF 3

Within my tutorial with Lorenzo, i was told to make my briefs more specific that i am working on. So i have decided to focus on re-iterating what i want to get out of the branding brief that i am doing. at this time i have left it so that i can get the 'Poster' brief done and out the way. 

DELIVERABLES: (For each brief i have listed the appropriate deliverables at this time)

A new logo incorporating old and new. A different brand focusing on traditional and modern. I will do this through the use of type and processes. 

Each area of the hotel i want to have proposed.

Main deliverables:

Menu, Keys, Stationary, Dressing gowns, Slippers, Interiror art work etc. 

BRIEF 1

After my one on one tutorial with Lorenzo, he said that my blogging was good and my progress was good. I did tell him i fell like I'm completely organised but in a chaotic way. Working across 4 briefs at once is quite daunting and challenging, but he said that this is what your ant to be doing, so i guess thats good!

However, he did point out to me that i needed to focus my briefs down from the ones i started out with because they have changed now, only slightly, and i have more of a focus with them so i need to reflect that.

So i have re-written the briefs i am currently doing. 

DELIVERABLES: (For each brief i have listed the appropriate deliverables at this time)

A set of 10 posters, each content and process driven. 

Focus on typography sayings and the process relating to the content of the saying.

The 10 posters will be a range, to keep them together to work as a whole product there will be colour restrictions: RED, BLACK and WHITE - this is a good restriction and it will work across all the posters.

Each poster will be packaged appropriately, using one type face and the information corresponding across the whole packaging range. The packaging will differ at the posters and their formats differ. 

10 posters - packaged.

Within the 10 posters there is a possibility for ranges. 

BRIEF 4

Initial concepts:

Main focus on TYPE, LAYOUT and FORMAT. The format of the book is going to be completely central to the readability and legibility of the project. I am really excited about this brief because I'm looking forward to doing something completely out of the ordinary. 

BRIEF 3

" An investigation into the theme of the hotel, whilst investigating the origins of the hotel and area which will drive the concepts and design for the hotel"

Edited Rational

ISTD

BRIEF CHANGE

After visiting the D&AD talk it has really inspired me, and i have found by looking at my briefs that i have kind of restricted myself in a certain sense and i have also gone into over lowed of type. Everything i want to do will revolve around type and manipulating it, however i think i need to start thinking about it as part of the briefs not the main thing. Branding is one of my key interests and realising that the typographic posters i am creating are very type based, having another brief relating to an all type shop seems a lot and i don't think i'll enjoy. What i am also finding out is that the processes i am using creating my posters can actually cross over to my other projects, whereas before i wasn't really thinking about that.

SOOOOO, i have decided to change the 'type shop' brief and focus it more around branding, instead of the content itself. I want to take something and re-brand it. I feel a little restricted at the moment and i think its because all I'm focusing on is the typographic posters. So i want to start something fresh, and something that will get me really excited, so I am going to change the brief and start working on something different for a while.

// OLD BRIEF

// NEW BRIEF

4 Briefs

BRIEF 1

BRIEF 2

BRIEF 3

BRIEF 4

> ISTD <

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ADDITIONAL BRIEF

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ORIGINAL 10 BRIEFS