All other studio brief evaluations

OUGD501:

Throughout completing this brief I have explored the way in which personal ethical beliefs should take precedence over professional beliefs in order to continue thriving in changing your practice, thus improving. Through my initial research I began looking into the ideas of other designers and what they say about their personal opinion on professional values, most simply described by Steff Geisbuhler (2010) as “a major ethical dilemma is to be hired to work for a client whose products, services or actions are harmful, criminal, politically unacceptable, or promoting violence and war, foster morally unacceptable opinions or actions” a designer faces this dilemma each and every single day. Although it is becoming more accepted to say no and stand your own moral beliefs, even if the client does not particularly have the same stance issue you can be pushed to convince them, as identified by SophieThomas, ‘Sometimes the most interesting jobs are those clients who aren’t ethically minded but can be persuaded or pushed!’.

This led to me having an understanding of the way in which designers perceive their work, and how they valued their work. It is widely understood that it is hard for designers when they start out to turn down work, as they need a name within the industry, Johnathan Baldwin (2006) argues ‘it’s not too difficult to refuse work if you are financially secure, but being principled can be an unaffordable luxury’. Although I agree with this statement due to the natural way in which the hierarchy of the industry works, I decided to challenge this within my visual exploration. The creation of the zine that actively highlights the positives of saying no to a client and sticking to your own ethical moral beliefs shows the way in which saying no can have its negative connotations removed and actually benefit oneself as a designer. My further research allowed me to gain an understanding of the way in which successful designers use this technique within their everyday practice, although not taking directly positive points from the quotes from designers, the quotes in which they are talking clearly explains the way in which they had turned down work which had led to other things. Through doing so they are remaining professional yet also withstanding their personal beliefs.

By raising the awareness of the positives that can come out of turning back down from a client it gives young designers the confidence to do so. The product itself was aimed towards young designers and therefore created as such, this is aimed towards young designers that they are still learning their own practice in developing their own visual style and voice. Because of the nature of trying to develop a larger portfolio and understanding of the industry itself younger designers are more prone to saying yes to every project. Therefore, something is needed to allow them to understand that this isn't the case.

In terms of design and believe I created an outcome which successfully fitted with the brief, and was also something which could be further expanded and produced on mass production.

OUGD503:

Tea - Overall I’m pleased with the outcome I believe I have hit the brief in terms of creating a creative use of the tin, as the metal itself comes as part of the design package. I’ve also successfully marriage together the set of three tins in terms of design style, and physically in terms of the box in which it comes; in keeping with the style of luxury, and both elements complementing each other. The tins are reusable as a secondary pack due to their material and stylish nature, but not without in keeping the debossed branded elements of time tea. Considerations of shelf impact were taken into account in terms of the designed comparison to the traditional more muted competitors. This is through the bright white packaging and complimentary high-gloss gradients, which have been using simplistic modern and elegant way. I believe the flavours and the brand itself is aimed towards the luxury market, due to its all natural ingredients, lack of caffeine rather a different natural replacement to wake yourself up, and an all-natural relaxant tea to help the consumer wind down.

Mossy Bank Logo Design - The set of three leaves represents the three main species of tree which can be found at mossy bank, therefore representing the way in which the environment has been formed and what is present there, which is to be preserved. Contrasting colours make each individual leaf evident, whilst the overlapping nature of the piece brings together the three-separate species as a whole. The overlapping nature has also been made to resemble a chain-link, this is one of the main developments from the previous stage, this was said to represent the community spirit which the committee have. The visuals presented in this way to look almost as if the three separate elements were pulled apart they would be unable to be broken, similar to the way that which the committee wishes to keep the green space available as public space and fight for what is theirs as a whole body, rather than a separate resident. The typeface which has been used is simplistic and concise, making it available for most people to easily understand and comprehend the meaning of the Logo. 

As the logo itself, without the type, is a strong single piece; it can be used alone in other contexts once the logo has gained notoriety within the local community.

Rachel Victoria - Overall I’m pleased with the outcome that has been created the artist now has a series of stock images which can be used to promote herself as an artist across social media and other platforms. As well as a clear brand identity in which could be carried across multiple platforms and music sharing paraphernalia. Merchandise has been considered and further will be developed in order to promote, gain and maintain widespread brand notoriety. I believe that the designs have successfully indicated the genre of the music tours being an alternative pop artist, as well as raising the thought of evoking visual questions which can be further investigated through the music.

Dog's Trust - Overall I am impressed around with the final outcome which can be shared across the social media network believe that infected the dogstrust brief, as it enables social media users to understand that they don’t need to go and buy a pedigree dog just to fit with the trend. It taps into the key demographic of new dog owners your way which they will already be on, and rather than destroying a trend utilises in a way to benefit dogstrust. The visual literacy used throughout the video is upbeat and happy similar to the way in which the dogstrust ads have been created before. Yet is quick enough pace and short enough to be able to be a social media ad, that people will take interest in and share due to its modern relevant context.

Adidas Motion - Overall I’m extremely pleased with the outcome of Adidas motion, as it answers the brief in changing the fabric of one of Adidas’s key cities in a realistic way which could happen. This brief also allowed me to further experiment with my Illustrator skills, and push myself to learn new software such as premiere pro and after effects. This brief also saw the recording of a voice-over, in which I learned how to use the recording studio. Moreover, I believe this brief has enabled me to collaborators better design responding to the way in which my collaboration partner saw the vision and making that come to life, a realistic and in a fitting way for the brief. The collaboration overall with successful and the workload was evenly distributed between the two of us. This brief gave me the insight into what it will be like in industry working with the creative director/advertiser in order to create an outcome.

Deals with one of London’s growing problems, and could easily fit into Adidas’s growing world of tech. In response to the way a primary research tells us what the target demographic want and therefore would be successful if put into market.

As a whole I have found the module extremely stressful, it is testing my time management skills in a positive way, yet I do not think it's realistic to run four modules at this same time; as it does not give you any time to focus on one single thing leading to a declining standard of work across all of the modules and briefs. 

I enjoyed both working singularly with the client as it enabled me to gain the confidence and skills to be able to test myself and start doing personal projects freelance. Its also enable myself to test new boundaries in terms of what software I can use and has allowed me to develop a new skill set within the field of video editing and audio editing; something which before this module I had never touched upon before.

Working collaboratively was excellent experience as I chose to work collaboratively with somebody who I would be working close with an industry, thus giving me an insight into how the industry would work in terms of working relationship between different agencies. The overall collaborative experience has also give me the confidence to go and ask to work collaboratively with different specialisms both inside and outside of university walls.

OUGD504:

Overall from both of the studio briefs I have gained a greater understanding of the way in which production methods alternate depending on the needs of the consumer but also the format in which the media needs to be presented. Studio brief 1 was hard to grasp because of the last minute changes which were not notified about followed by a knowledge about the subject I was designing for an no way of possible engaging with it in the way that is needed as we were told to do something that is personal. As we were told this is how it would be in industry, when receiving content for design in the industry it is expected and organised; it did not provide a realistic experience and was an extra unneeded stress which we could have been easily informed of at an earlier date. 

Once the content was properly understood and researched into I was able to begin to understand the direction of design I was going for we were given another brief and forced to move on. Although the brief in terms of the process of making a book gave me a greater understanding of the process and time taken to professionally make a publication to a finished product from design by hand. It also helped highlight to me the difficulties that may occur when in the production stages e.g. having to print, spot varnish and bind my book more than once because of selecting the incorrect binding methods. 

The second brief was interesting as it is not an avenue I had even thought of exploring within design before. Due to a lack of knowledge in terms of the software required to prototype it took a while to get into the swing of designing for a user experience interface, I would hope that the IT department are soon going to hold workshop sessions for XD. Although in saying that the experience of teaching myself the software was a good one and allowed me to learn from the mistakes I made, through doing so both my illustrator and photoshop skills were improved. 

As a whole I feel as if the module helped me develop as a designer, although I would have greatly appreciated some more tutor led sessions in terms of the creation of the UID project as it was something I didn’t particularly feel like I had much guidance in. 

OUGD505:

Studio Brief 2

Overall the brief has been achieved in respect to creating a product which tackles toxic masculinity. This project taps into an industry which is already changing and brings to light in society a gap in the market where males are interested but none of the major-league make-up brands have tied into yet. The realised solution takes away the gender stereotypes in form of the colours used and the type of packaging design that is presented. As a graphic designer of the 21st century I believe that design should be improved to keep up with the society and current culture that we are living in. Once again, as previously mentioned, the design is about progression and without correlation of the progression with society the designs that are created will become outdated, similar to the views of toxic masculinity. The design itself tackles toxic masculinity through gender-neutral manner, gender stereotypes are implanted and learned from a jungle early age as proven in my research where people are told that only certain colours are acceptable for certain genders to be able to wear, and certain activities are only liable for certain genders. Thus, leading to learnt perception of what is to be a male and what is to be a female. The design itself is fresh clean and young and has been designed to specifically fit multiple primary research sources from the target demographic. Therefore, it would fit in correctly with the target audience and the current cosmetic market. The typeface used even represent equality due to its balance between sizing and also elements which identify individuality, thus allowing for both the quality and a visual reference of what the make-up is there to do.

If the project was to be redone the boxes themselves would be physically made, unfortunately due to facilities this was unable to happen, yet in industry this would not be an issue and therefore would be in fitting if taken to industry.

Studio Brief 1

I believe that the brief is been met the pieces are confusing layered busy and intense, clearly paralleling the music that it is representing. The addition of collage at the dimension to the music, giving the listener an extra way to lease themselves within the sound. It is evident that this is related to house music in general due to the gradients have been used in the background. I believe this successfully gives enough relevance to the genre without specifically putting it inside of this genre visually, as it states what the music does; it borrows from other house genres to be able to call itself a house, whilst not really existing. The aspect of something existing whilst also not existing is created through the surrealist aspect in each image each image displays a situation which has happened in a way that makes it seem fantasy like, through the addition of different imagery in different styles.

I believe the Prince was successful, and due to the colour and busy nature of them they will be easily eye-catching within the exhibition and get people thinking about what the real concept behind fidget house is.

Although the design was somewhat out of my comfort zone, stepping away from the minimalist and simplistic strong design I'm compelled towards, this project allowed me to experiment with handmade techniques and mixed the multimedia skills I had learned from previous workshops, into my practice.

If I were to have more time with the project I would like to create an immersive experience in which design really truly makes the person feel what the music is all about. Further allowing me to experiment with the ideals of textures and different senses to create something that isn't really there but physically is.

Overall:

Overall I feel like ougd505  as help me develop my research skills, it is allowed me to gain confidence in asking primary resources for research questions, and therefore gain a better understanding of who I'm producing a product for. Within both briefs the extensive research allowed me to see also the amount of time that it takes to be able to gain a full body of research to make and properly informed decision.

This is something I have not done before because I did not have the skill set to be able to do so, I now feel like this is a skill I can take into the industry.

I believe that  I am happy with both of the outcomes from both the studio briefs, although one was slightly out of my comfort zone and allowed me to experiment with techniques I have learned but haven't had the opportunity to use before. I also believe that because of the amount of research that was done it almost made the design process seem less important because of the amount of time allowed for it.

This project saw me experimenting less with different outcomes I feel like this is because of the amount of research I did into each of the subjects I felt as if I kind of knew the direction in which to go to be able to achieve the brief.

The beginning of this module was a struggle, this was due to the fact that we also had three other modules running at the same time, towards the end of the module time constraints also affected the different experimentation I would've been willing to go to, this is because of the extremely close deadline date to another module, two days in total. If I were to do the project again I would want to experiment more with the different visual languages associated with each brief, and see if I could create contrasting designs to see how I could test the boundaries of the brief itself.

I do feel as if this has helped me prepare more as a 21st-century designer giving me an understanding of the way different industries work, such as the music industry and the way in which new and constant cultural changes are happening. This is Jamie how important it is to keep up with these cultural changes in order to keep relevant as a designer.