SOI Evaluation

Looking back at my statement of intent and seeing where i've come:

I honestly feel my design practice had been quite focused for some time and so I have stuck to my statement of intent pretty well. I've known pretty much since second year that packaging design is the path i want to follow and third year has allowed to take this focus and really put my all into it. I've always felt a little embarrassed about showing my work off to people, but now im producing work I like and starting to feel proud of what i've done. I finally feel like my portfolio is coming together.
I stated that I wanted to focus more on the concepts behind my work and I feel I have done this in particular with my Waitrose brief and especially the YCN Graze brief.

Ministry Of Sound Evaluation

   This brief initially started out as a competition brief for D&AD to complete 3 typographic posters for Ministry Of Sound. I had always set out to submit the posters and then expand on the brief in order to fulfil if for the module submission and also, I wanted to incorporate packaging design into it as this is my main focus area of design.
   With the initial brief set by D&AD, I felt that there were quite a lot of limitations and so the posters I submitted for the competition, although I was happy with them as I felt they suited the MOS brand and I felt I worked well to the brief mandatories, I didn't feel they suited me and the kind of work I usually produce. This meant once I had completed the posters for the competition submission, I felt very stuck for quite some time with how to expand on it. I then decided to pretty much start this brief over. I stuck with all my initial ideas and similar inspiration but scrapped all the mandatory requirements set by D&AD (such as colours) so I could produce something I felt suited me and my portfolio more. This was the best thing I could have done with this brief as I feel very happy with what i've ended up producing.
   One thing that I'm very please with is due to the initial D&AD brief being in the typography category, it meant I had to be very type focused and so I produced my own typeface. I've always been interested in type but never created a typeface before and I'm actually very pleased with how it turned out. I feel this is good for my portfolio too as I now have another element to add to it to show I have a wider range of skills.

Graze Evaluation

   I'm really pleased with how this brief turned out, and i'm happy I have submitted it to YCN. I always think the pressure of entering a competition brief means you try harder and try to produce work to a higher standard, purely for the reason you are competing against so many others and also the pressure that so many people could end up viewing your work.
   As this was the first brief I fully completed due to the competition deadline, it gave me that push to work harder on the rest of my briefs to get them to this stage by working at a quicker pace. I always seem to start off briefs very slowly before I get round to designing and developing, but due to this brief (and D&AD) both having tighter deadlines, I learnt that it is much better to move quickly. I gained more confidence from working like this as I proved to myself that I am capable. I also found that working at this quicker pace means you get the time to make mistakes, learn from them and they can still be resolved, rather than running out of time. It also means your briefs don't drag out and you don't end up getting bored which I have found in previous modules.
   I felt when I initially started this brief that there wasn't actually too much you could do with it due the the brief restrictions being quite tight (you couldn't change the format of the packaging etc) however I feel what I came out with was very concept driven as well as focusing on the visual aspect so this made me feel I had took the brief further than just a simple re-design.

Yearbook Evaluation

   I think the yearbook brief has been the ultimate learning curve for me, yet been so rewarding to have completed. Initially pitching for the graphics yearbook, I really wanted to take part in a real life brief that was representing part of the college and that would 100% be existing in the real world and so being picked for the fashion yearbook I felt was such a great opportunity.
   This was my first brief in which I have ever worked for a client so it was quite nerve wracking as it's such a big thing for the college, however working with others gave me that bit more confidence to take it on and also completing it as part of the course meant I also still had that bit of security behind me if things didn't ever go quite to plan.
   Editorial and layout isn't my usual area I focus in so I found this brief taught me a lot. I've definitely learnt quite a few more skills in InDesign which I didn't have before. And i've also learnt how relying on other people (the fashion students) in order to actually complete the work can be very stressful. We had many problems in receiving images and information which put a lot more pressure on us as we had to complete the book in quite short period of time. However I think we did rise to the challenge very well which made it a lot more rewarding in the end.
   Due to it being a real live brief meant there was a lot more pressure for everything to be completely perfect. This was good in the sense that it never allowed me to cut corners and also meant I was working to complete things at a higher standard, yet the responsibility of this meant it was quite a stressful time.
   I think we worked well as a team when it came down to the fun stuff such as experimental work and design decisions, however when it came down to putting the effort in to get things completed and organised there were some who took on more responsibilities than others. I've learnt collaborations are a lot harder in groups larger than two and would prefer to not work with this amount of people again as it got a bit confusing at times trying to make sure everyone knew what was going on.
   Over all I feel we all should be very proud to have completed this brief. The experience of working on something so important and also for a real client has actually made me feel a lot more confident for finishing the course and doing this as my future.

Fashion Packaging Evaluation

   Although this was only a very quick brief, I am happy with the results. Due to my main focus being packaging design, I was asked by Emma Cooper if I wanted to join her and her fashion student Hannah Wakeford in creating packaging for Hannah's submission. As I wasn't doing any kind of fashion collaboration I instantly said yes.
   The brief was quite simple as Emma had already created all the branding so I designed and created the packaging to go with this meaning logos and colours created by Emma were part of my mandatory requirements.
   It was really fun to work on and actually having a real client was a good for experience although I did find producing work for someone else to have was quite nerve wracking. I knew it had to be fully functional and perfect as there is no escaping any mistakes with the use of good photography!)
   Hannah was really pleased with the finished piece which is always a confidence boost, however it was quite sad to have created this to then hand it over to someone else and not have it as your own, I guess this is something I will need to get used to though as it is how a lot of things work in this kind of industry. I made sure I photographed well for my portfolio and i'm really please how this looks.

To Do

To do list for tomorrow:

- Finishing touches to Hannah's packaging and photograph it

- Photograph Ministry of Sound brief
- Re-take some of deli images
- Finish type posters

Once I have photographed all of the above I can then get on with putting together my final boards which I  will be printing on monday.

Crit Feedback

I found todays crit really helpful....

(upload sheets)

Action plan:

Yearbook Feedback

Cover:
Gemma didn't like the photo on the cover as she felt it didn't look encouraging for new students to come on the course. However she liked my idea of the cover with the folds, combined with ellis' idea on the extended lines from 'fashion and design' (see these below). She also liked becky's idea of collaging the students images on the cover however due to us not having any of these yet we might be too pushed for time to use this idea.
We have decided to work separately on some more cover ideas based on Gemmas feedback and meet together again on friday morning to finalise it.

Layout of student pages:
Gemma was happy with the layouts we had chosen and the layout of the text. Once we have received all images off students and placed these into the layout we will need to meet with Gemma again to check the order of the pages.

Contents:
There was a mistake on the contents page in the mock up as I had printed one where the type was too large. However this is just a minor change

Breaker spreads and quote pages:
Again due to the image, the quote pages need more work. Gemma liked the block colour pages (and she also really liked the colour we had picked) and said she would be happy to have these as the breaker spreads.

Other:
David Frost quote will be taken out.
Stick with the idea of the cutting lines.

This weeks plan

Monday
- Work on deli brief (changes to menu, design packaging for jars and bottles)

Tuesday
- Yearbook meeting at 10am to discuss ideas and put together a pdf to print
- 1pm briefing
- 3.30pm meeting with Gemma to go over yearbook

Wednesday
- Print out deli menu and packaging
- Design deli recipe cards

Thursday
- 9.30 am crit

Friday
- 9.30 am meet with yearbook group to finalise the design over cover, contents, and breaker spreads
- Hannah fashion packaging

Saturday
- Finish adding the content of context publication and send off for print

Sunday

Timetable

This Week (7th-13th):

- Finish Deli brief and print
- Hannah packaging
- Yearbook

Next Week (14th - 20th):
- Add final images in yearbook
- MOS brief

Following Week (21st - 27th)
- Fashion branding brief
- Photography of finals

Following few days (28th-30th)
- Finishing touches
- Print boards (mon 28th)
- Any extra blogging

Self Motivation - I CAN DO IT!!!

Yearbook Update

We've been having a few problem regarding images from the fashion students. Many of the students have not finished their garments yet and therefore have still not had any photoshoots. This has lead to a huge delay in progress on the yearbook as we have no images to work with. The layouts have been decided on so we are just currently working with any image we have had so far. We have been setting various deadlines but now we have gave a cut off deadline for final images by 14th May.

List of dates and deadlines:

Tues 6th April - This was the original date to receive images off students.

Fri 4th May - PDF of final to Lorenzo - Due to the issues above this has been discussed and will be sent at a later date.

Tues 8th May - Meeting with Gemma 3.30pm to show her a printed version (this will be as close to the final as possible but many images will be being replaced once finals are sent from the students)

14th May - Final deadline for images off fashion students. Any images not received will mean they cannot be involved in the book.

14th-16th May - Two days to add/change final images in the layout.

16th May - Send final to print

Statement Of Intent

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design