OUGD505 Studio Brief 1 Design Boards

OUGD505 1920s Publication

Brief

Produce a body of work that explores the relationship between content context and product in relation to your individually identified subject or theme. You should aim to produce a response that clearly and effectively exploits the function of your concepts in relation to: A Brief History of.... A collection of..... An Introduction to..... Things you need to know about.... An exhibition of....... Your work should practically and conceptually explore the possible products, ranges and methods of distribution that may be suggested by your content or reflect your own creative ambitions within Graphic Design.

Background / Considerations

This brief is in three parts Part 1:  Based on the introductory workshops develop a practical, visual and contextual investigation of a specific subject of your own choosing. You should aim to develop research from a range of primary and secondary sources in order to fully explore the opportunities for informed creative development. Your research and development of this part of the brief should be documented on appropriate blogs and will be presented as part of your interim concept pitch. Part 2:  Develop a body of practical and contextual research that explores the relationship between TWO of the following areas of design. Publishing & Editorial Information & Way-finding Branding & Identity Product & Packaging Retail & Promotion One of these should be your primary focus of contextual research with the second allowing you to relate this discipline to the broader creative and professional contexts of graphic design. Your contextual research, critical observations and reflective evaluations should be documented on your Design Context blog and summarised in the design and production of a 16 page Design Context Publication. Part 3: Develop and produce a practical and contextual response to your research that brings together your research into content, context, specific design disciplines and appropriate media/formats. Your response should explore the relationship between product range and method/media of distribution as well as specific audiences, contexts and appropriate tone of voice.

After learning that our research was going towards a publication on our chosen topic, it became apparent to me that I needed to break down a lot of the research I had done as it is such a vast topic.

I chose to break it into the following categories:

• Art Deco
• Film
• Dance
• Jazz
• The prohibition/speakeasy

These topics would each have a short chapter to themselves. Based on my research, I had chosen to design a magazine style publication that would capitalise on the excessive nature of the era. I initially looked into the layout design and chose a selection that I felt lent themselves to the topic.

I chose a selection of layouts that differed from one another but bore similarities that could tie them all together. After doing this I assigned each layout to a topic, allowing for the formats to alter based on the density of the chapter. I chose to show the headers in Metrpolis 1920, a typeface that I think is a accurate modern interpretation of the design fad of the era, the use of angular and geometric shapes:

In terms of the cover design, I wanted to maintain this glossy exterior, while creating a design that would work with the typeface I chose. I came up with a simple angular pattern which I then repeated a few times making the design appear more dense.

I also allowed for the design to pull the focus into the centre, where I could then effectively place the title of the publication.

I chose to capitalise on the excessive nature of the era and altered the design to a gold colour with a black background, and I am considering foiling the cover to maintain a glossy aspect to it.

I used this same design in slightly less dense variations throughout the publication, altering the opacity so as to ensure it didn't demand all the attention of the reader.

I chose at this point to vary between a black and a white background, as this was another design tendency of the era.

I was initially unsure of how I wanted to incorporate images into the design, as I worried that they may be overwhelming when combined with some elements of the design itself. However, I found that much of the information given in the publication required images to be fully explanatory, so I used a small selection of images that i felt appropriately backed up the information.

On those pages that required more imagery, I either used less or none of the original pattern.

OUGD505 Studio Brief 1 Research Boards

OUGD504 Design For Print Design Boards

OUGD504 Design For Print Final Images

OUGD504 Design For Print Final Crit

In todays crit, we were split into two groups. One was to leave their work and supporting material laid out in the studio, then leave for 45 minutes, while the other group came in and assessed it, giving feedback and criticisms.

My group was the first to crit the other group and I found that the stages members of the group were at was extremely varied, with some only just beginning the design stage of production, and others having finished their whole information pack.

When it was time for our work to be critted, I had prepared some questions that I wanted answers to regarding my designs:

1. Is the stock an appropriate choice for the booklets, or do you think it might be too thick?
2. Is saddle stitch binding appropriate for the stock and format of the booklets?
3. Is the content relevant and helpful?
4. Do these booklets work as a set of 4 (foiling booklet to still be produced)?

Below is the feedback I received:

Person 1:

• The thickness of the stock is quite effective, especially for the pouches, yet it does make the pages of the booklets quite stiff. Maybe consider a lighter stock for the booklets?
• In regards to content, it works as a reminder for people so would be useful. Have another read through before printing as I found some typos.
• I think these books would work as a set of three or four, especially with the packaging. Have you considered making them more aesthetically succinct so that they are a clear set?
• Saddle stitch is appropriate binding and works well with the digital print booklet.
• The size is appropriate to purpose making it easy to handle. The layout feels a little disjointed, find a way to bring the information together to make it more succinct.

Person 2:

• Saddle stitch is appropriate due to the thickness of the stock.
• The background patterns in the screen and digital print booklets is a bit jarring and effects legibility. Maybe use them more sparingly.
• Content works as a set but aesthetics are a bit random, try to link booklets together, maybe with colour scheme.

While I did consider the feedback I received to be helpful, I was extremely disappointed and frustrated by the fact that I only received two responses when there were other people in both groups with up to ten separate responses.

In light of this I think that the format of the crits were effective in receiving good and informed advice and criticisms, I thought that there should have been a more definite way to ensure that everyone received the amount of feedback they need to move forward with this project.

In light of the feedback I did receive, I decided to ensure that the booklets were in conjunction with each other by altering the layouts so that they reflected the same format. I also decided to make some changes for the stock of the internal pages. I wanted to keep the cover a thicker stock as I needed it to be thick for the embossing booklet, and having that cover a different stock to the others would make them appear less consistent with each other.

OUGD504 Design For Print Embossing Booklet

For the embossing booklet I planned on keeping things much more simple than the other booklets, in order to focus on the fact that embossing is more a finishing process, and to show that it is most effective in it's simplicity.

I chose a type which would typically transfer well to embossing, but found that i would not be able to emboss each character itself as I was printing double sided.

For the imagery in this booklet, I decided to carry on the decorative element over the more instructive illustrations. Since much of the booklet is made of instructive body copy I didn't want to overwhelm it. Similarly, some of the attempts that I made to adapt my photographs of the embossing process to illustrations did not translate as clearly as the screen printing or digital print images did.

I didn't want this to let one booklet down more than the others so I took a different approach, composing a simple image made up of geometric shapes, a style which translates well to embossing, and used the embossing effect on Illustrator to lend an authenticity to the design and tie it in with the theme of the book.