Extended Practice Brief #4: [Nanyang Day 5] *Further Developments

This is the more refined version of the design development for the brochure design. 

Following the teams crit I:

• Made paragraph justified for a cleaner and simpler read. More functional than the free flowing design previously
• Images are more restricted in terms of shape, circular shape still gives it a playful and bubbly characteristic without being too chaotic and 'rough'. Complemented with flat pop colour illustrations giving it an addition illustrative looks aswell.
• 'Laws of 2100' page moved to the back too, makes the brochure easier to follow and  hierarchy of information is well considered so audiences wont be confused or bored.
• Images edited to have a cooler and bluer feel to compliment the colour palette and contrast the bright background colours used.

I made two versions as the team liked the yellow previously, but also I wanted to try out with just the coral as I thought it works well better with the constricted colour palette but also gives a very cultural and educational, yet warm and inviting character to the brochure.

New Text

St. Mark's Basilica

The Basilica was created in order to house sacred relics that were stolen from Egypt by merchants when a storm came nearly drowning them when St. Mark appeared and came to save the day!

This story was once mosaiced on the Basilica’s ceiling among other art. But, when the city submerged the Basilica became home not just to the relics but to ‘were really destined to sink under the sea (just a little later than scheduled) as previous generations undermined the climate storm of the present. This time their was no St. Mark to save the day, only humans that walked away. 

Bridge of Sighs 

The limestone bridge was made as part of the Doge’s Palace as well as the in-city prison. It was the passageway for prisoners before their execution and the last place where they could see Venice as they ‘sigh’ in despair and mourn.

Today, the Bridge has completely vanished due to the nature of its material. But, also the constant neglect of the rising ocean temperatures 80 years ago caused the destruction of the bridge. Now, only remnants of th e bridge remains, marking where it once stood, as it vanished before our eyes, just like the prisoners and their sighs.

St. mark's Square

St. Mark’s Square was once a small marketplace square which eventually flourished to a more advanced and grand ‘piazza’ in Venice. The square was the lowest point in Venice and where it flooded first during ‘Acqua Alta’. The government in the older decades would put out wooden bridges for locals and tourists for safer travels. 

However, now the square is surrounded by sea life rather than trees and sea creatures fill the ‘streets’ instead of people. Today the lowest point in the city has become the highest place for sealife to thrive. The government definitely doesn’t need to put out bridges now, when they could’ve took the extra step to take action in reducing climate change ages ago. 

Print out drafts

I printed out the designs on 100% Recycled Cartridge Paper (100gsm) and Cocoon Silk 100% Recycled Stock (100gsm) too.

• 100% Recycled Cartridge Paper (100gsm) - I liked the rough but thin texture of the paper and the fact that it's sustainable as it's 100% recycled. When printed on the colours however, look pretty dull and dark on the paper especially the coral which was a let down. And felt rougher than I anticipated. 
• Cocoon Silk 100% Recycled Stock (100gsm) - Semi gloss stock which made the images and text pop and felt more 'luxurious' and professional. I was satisfied with how thin and smooth it was as well and works really well when folded as the spine was really clean and precise. 

I made the group decided which colour and stock was better too and we decided that the coral was better on the Cocoon Silk as:

• It feel better, more professional
• Thin semi gloss paper is nicer
• BUT, maybe make the Law of 2100 page a darker coral as the orange text is hard to read, but changing the colour of the text would look more out of place than changing the shade of the coral.

Extended Practice Brief #4: *Team feedback for the brochure Design Development

Feedback from group about brochure design:

• Take out less important bits of the paragraph as it's too long.
• Keep the paragraph alignment rigid e.g. left aligned as the flowy design seems too chaotic and takes the attention away from the images. Also quite eligible (some words are cut out hard to follow when read)
• Make the crop images cleaner 
• Put the 'Laws of 2100' at the back page instead as it looks out of place at the moment. 
• Yellow Stock looks more inviting that pale blue stock, so maybe use the orange stock for final instead??

Thoughts & Reflection:

From the feedback, I am going to change the design in order for it to be sleeker and more fitting to our intentions and aesthetic as an agency. 

Extended Practice Brief #4: *Practice Presentation Crit

We also had our initial crit presentation with some of the MA students today and in this presentation we showed our idea and ongoing design developments for the brief that we are doing: GOAL #13 CLIMATE ACTION.

Feedback from presentation:

• Good for thinking about which paper stock an typeface is used, shows attention to detail
• Typeface 'Apfel Brukt' is really interesting and cool.
• Think of what paper stock you print on.
• Think of a better way to start fo presentation: firstly introduce the brief we are tackling in order to make our solution make sense.

Thoughts & Reflection:

Overall, it was a good presentation as we got some helpful feedback but also we got to see how interesting other teams' ideas were and we get to see their progress and work as a team.

Extended Practice Brief #5: Thursday Crit [Ruban X Graphic Design Collab]

I was kind of worried since I didn't have a rationale to explain my ideas, but I was glad whne people still gave me substantial feedback I can think about. 

I was going for a more simple and playful business card to identify with Ruban's photographic style. Something quite muted and organic and raw. Breathy, airy, natural...

For the publications, I'm contemplating between a really playful and inviting wire-o binded book kind of nostalgic and really familiar and a perfect binded, sleek and contemporary editorial style book. 

Overall, I think I got some good feedback, people really liked the playful business cards on slide 2 and most people liked the 'Coastal Meadows' (wire-o bind) layout but preferred it with a perfect bind? This may be something I can experiment on and try... 

It was also nice to look at everyone's work, some branding and identity work were really good and tings to tae inspiration from which was nice. 

To move one I will:

• Further develop and refine the business cards, they're still drafts so when I refine them they may end up looking different but with a similar tone and characteristic. 
• Meet up with Ruban to nail down what the collateral are and what we are doing in tis collaboration. 

Extended Practice Brief #4: *Design Development for Collateral

I showed my group the collateral that I've initially started working on and concluded that the brochure is the most appropriate for the collateral therefore it's going to be the one that I'm going to refine more. The colour palette and logo are also good and we are going to keep, as well as the typography.

Brochure Development

• Made the images 'flowy' and cropped them seamlessly trying to compliment it with the whole playful and illustrative tone that we are going for. 
• I choose three of the most popular tourist spots in Venice: St Mark's Basilica, Bridge of Sighs and St. Mark's Square. Not only are they pouplar but they are also the places that are the most vulnerable to submersion e.g. St Mark's Square is the lowest point in Venice and the first place to get flood, and right in the centre of the Square is St. Mark's Basilica making it jsut as vulnerable as well. And, the bridge is made of limestone, meaning it would completely erode and disappear in 2100.
• Choosing these places also means, that they've be the most popular places to be toured in the year 2100 as they would be the once mostly damaged.
• The paragraph text are not grided but are 'free flowing' emulating the sea and ocean, fitting for the underwater concept that we have, although it was quite hard to make it look 'clean' and legible. At the moment, it still looks a bit messy and chaotic on the page.
• The illustrations are highlighting the points were the floods happen in Venice and the most affected areas in the tourist spots chosen. 

 Brochure Writing

• St. Mark's Basilica - 

The Basilica was created in order to house sacred relics that were stolen from Egypt by merchants when a storm came nearly drowning them when St. Mark appeared and came to save the day! This story was once mosaiced on the Basilica’s ceiling among other art.But, when the city submerged the Basilica became home not just to the relics but to reefs too.Perhaps, the relics were really destined to sink under the sea (just a little later than scheduled) as previous generations undermined the climate storm that was foreboding our present, stealing this generations’ chance to experience what was once their privilege to walk on dry land. This time there was no St. Mark to save the day, only humans that walked away.    

Bridge of Sighs -

St. Mark's Square - 

The writing is inspired by the Brothers' grimm stories as we wanted it to be really engaging and more fun to read than usual informatioal brochures.

• It's informative and educational yet satiric and quite dark as you keep reading on. Gives the readers a thought provoking text to read and makes them question themselves as they read it alongside being on the tour. Tone helps set the mode of the tour as well as the message we are trying to portray.
• It's writing similar to a story rather than just stating facts in a serious tone. Makes it more inviting to read and also fits a wide audience as audiences can be from children to the elderly. 
• Stating facts in a story like way in order for readers to retain information they are reading and seeing at the same time. 

Extended Practice Brief #4: Day 3] *Initial Mock Ups for Collateral

I've chosen design elements which I thought would help create the aesthetic tone of the tour as well as mockups of collaterals showing how they would look and what their purpose are. In addition, we've decided to focus on Venice, Italy as the main city that we are doing the tour in as it is one of the main city's today that is currently submerging and will submerge in 2100.

Chosen Colour Palette

• Blue and Coral - Literal correlation to 'underwater', sea, ocean, submersion. But, also bright and complementary, has inviting, cultural and education characteristics fit for the purpose  of the idea. 
• Typeface - 'Apfel Brukt' from open foundry 'Collletttivo'. A soft sans serif typeface with specific holes and cuts at each of the letters' 'blackest point' which in turn resulted in 18% less ink consumption when printed. A sustainable typeface which serves its eco-friendly use and intent, as well as still aesthetically and eligibly functional serving both visual and operational usage. The typeface is 'airy and bubbly' giving it a friendly and bubbly characteristic, fitting for the inviting and playful tone that is intended for the collateral. 
• From the same foundry another typeface to compliment 'Apfel Brukt' is 'Necto Mono' a contemporary slab serif font that has some structural and illustrative characteristic at the same time, complimenting 'Apfel Brukt's' 'experimental' style. 

• Logo - I've chosen to use 'Apfel Brukt' as the main title typeface for it's striking visual as well as primary purpose. Also, I think it perfectly fits the aesthetic and tone that we are trying to create for the tour brand. 'Underwater Tours' is the name I've chosen for the brand, making it as straightforward as possible, which can in a way mask the 'satirical' tone that we want to present at the end or the 'subconscious' of the audiences, as we want them to enjoy the tour thinking it is for the submerged cities but later realising why they can actually do these tours in the first place. 

• Brochure - Main collateral for the agency intended to be used within the tour in order to help with the informational and immersive experience of the tour. I've chosen a standard 'roll fold' and stripping down its structure as I thought it would be most effective in order to put focus on the visual and content of the brochure itself.  In terms of the visuals, it is currently heading to a more loose and illustrative style to show a very inviting and clean tone to it, which compliments the type used but contrasts the content within it. In addition, I've also thought of possibly what content to have e.g. 
• a map of the spots we are going to in the trip  
• 'laws of 2100' - altered/imagined maritime laws that has been changed in accordance to the state of the climate and city in 2100, were instead of going to prison or paying for the crimes, the consequences are activities or experiences that people will go through in order to realise and learn how to be more sustainable and take action on the dying planet which aims to stop the cycle of bad climate action or none at all. 

• Booklet - Although the brochure is the main collateral, I've predicament with a booklet as well, bring it a more 'narrative' and 'story like' tone to the design which may also compliment the intended satirical content in the design. Similar to the brochure, the aesthetic features are illustrative but with a more structured grid to the content. I've also drafted the 'map' idea in a more fluid style. 

• Additional Collateral - I thought maybe a poster and a website banner could also be included in the collateral for further advertisement and branding as well as wrapping up the branding together

Thoughts & Reflections:

I'll show these ideas to my group mates tomorrow and see if these fit our idea and which ones we are definitely going to go forward and refine.

Extended Practice Brief #4: [Nanyang: Day 3] *RESEARCH

Content

The global average sea level is believed to rise by 1 foot between now and 2050 and studies have shown that coastal cities such as Venice would be submerged underwater as soon as 2100. If the speed of global warming can’t be slowed down or lessened (not exceeding the 2 degrees Celsius cap from the Paris Agreement) the Mediterranean Sea levels would rise up to four feet in the next century (as well the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans). Continuing and worsening climate problems such as this, would have a huge impact on how a city is going to adapt or try to survive in new climate conditions. It is also a major concern as people also have to change their style of living in order to live in cities with problems such as flooding or and worse sinking. This is currently happening in Venice right now were famous sites in the city are at great risk of damage and if it’s not prevented right now it will be submerged and destroyed by the predicted year of 2100.

'Collletttivo’ is an open type foundry who distributes there typefaces for free to individuals and agencies who share the same thoughts and ethos as them and use their typefaces for the better good of society. The foundry created the eco-friendly typeface ‘Apfel Brukt’ which has been consciously created with having practically and design in mind, creating a balance between aesthetic and function. The typeface’s main features are the it’s ‘holes’ giving it an ‘airy’ and ‘friendly’ tone, and the holes specifically being made on the blackest point of the letterforms which results in on the forms taking in 18% less ink when printed. Having this function in mind highlights the foundry’s considerations of the impacts of their designs not only to the audience but also to the environment. It also showcases how design can be used not only to communicate to the audience through information and visuals  but also showing how designs and considerations can be used to help take action on massive world problems that affect everyone.

PPP: Terms & Conditions

NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!
*DIGITAL PORTFOLIO (PDF) ON LAPTOP IN FULL-SCREEN MODE, SCREEN TIME-OUT DISABLED 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Invoicing

+ Name & Address of client (company name)
+Your name (company name)
+Amount needed to be paid (full breakdown) depending on the method e.g. hourly rate, project-based
+Your account number (payment options)
+Your UTI Number
+Description of Service
+Payment terms, date quota (how much interest/fee will be put if payment date is not met)

our group

other groups 

Terms/Service Agreements

+Both parties lay out full scope of the service so no one can back out or say something otherwise outside of the service
+Less legal terms (often clients don't know exact design knowledge or estimations)
+Once signed, it becomes your responsibility to do the job (likewise with the client) 
+How much is charged for the full service
+rate (and explanation or breakdown of the service)
+Definitions (e.g. UI and UX design)
+Copyright - who owns of the final design and who gets the license 
+Any other mockups, rough drafts will belong to the designer and can't be used by the client for anything else. 
+Deadline
+Additional work outside of the contracted work will be of additional fees with different terms and conditions applied in accordance to the type and duration of the work. 

Our groups

Other groups:

+unexpected illnesses (what happens if this occurs)

+will the designer get a share of the profit if the designs are used on more mediums or branches?

+how many changes the client can make and at what stage of the design process (gives you control of your own workflow and won't let the client abuse their 'power' and keep coming back to you for changes on the design)

+failure of payment (consequences/ extra fees)

10 Things every GD'er Should Know

+Crediting Work

• understanding who owns files & who buys storage (lay out each stances of each party)
• understanding usage of designs & possible expansions to brand guidelines.

+Schedule Parameters

• work hours/days
• what the client is buying from you
• timeline(deadline) stay on track

+Client Responsibility

• client representative 
• clear on what the client needs to do (communication between the two parties)
• client approvals (how many and which points in the design process)

+Samples

• drafts, sound, video, locations, media (layout what they are and their individual costs)
• creates for a more reliable workflow

+Credit

• who gets credit for the work 
• how big is the credit
• tags? social media, mentions etc.

+Delays & Terminations

• consequences of non payments
• fees, interest after each day? week? etc
• suing client, or vice versa

+Usage

• media -> specify what media the designs are meant to be used for
• avoids misusage and damage to your own name
• maximises the function and effectiveness of the design for the intended media 

+Duration

• how long can the client use or own the design
• what happens after the allotted time?

+Location 

• location of design 
• specify to retain an active part 

+Files 

• length of storage
• physical backups, cloud storage etc.

+Retrieval Fee

• File requirements 
• Types of files they are getting and why they are getting these specific files

Words of Wisdom

+ GOV.UK for copyright, trademarks, patents and licensing

Thoughts & Reflections:

Overall, it was one of the most helpful sessions we did in PPP and I learnt so much about the different things and details that we have to include in the T & C and the different options we have in order to get help in constructing a T & C agreement and how we can protect ourselves for potentials risks when going in an agreement and dealing with potential clients.

Extended Practice Brief #4: [Nanyang: Day 2] *INITIAL IDEAS

Today we are narrowing down which goal we are going to focus on to start our research and design for our brief. We had a workshop session with Orlando to help us narrow down these ideas.

We wrote down the pros and cons of each of the three sustainable goals that we chose from yesterday and in order to realised which one is actually the most viable and doable in a san of one week, rather than planning ideas that cant be completed or refined properly in a week. We still leaned towards the Climate Action goal and have actually started to drop down design ideas for it which have influenced us in our decisions. Though we did realise that we could do so much for 'Reduce Inequality' as it's such a  wide topic from Social class to Religion.

Afterwards we decided to finally narrow down to one goal 'Climate Action'. Then we dropped down individual ideas for the topic itself. From our previous ideas from yesterday, the underwater tour idea was the strongest therefore I decided to create my ideas around it:

• Sustainable Branding - I thought of using sustainable materials for designing the collateral that might be created for the idea. E.G
• Paper stock - can go back to basics of natural biodegradable resources such as wood or leaves (going back to the idea of starting civilisation, dystopia perhaps?
• Handmade and organic materials - give and archaic tone and aesthetic to the design but also make a statement to say that this is how we started as a mankind, and were showing you that it is still effective 
• Using typefaces that are sustainable or made to conserve energy - using deign as a tool to make a statement as opposed to just giving the audiences 'a statement' (showing how powerful design is and how it can be utilised in order to showcase such sensitive topic in a small functional way like typeface and letter without compromising aesthetic nor function). 
• My idea was explored further by my teammates during a 'speed dating' session which further showed it's potential and how it can be put in the overall idea that we thought about yesterday. (though I write this idea with the underwater tour idea from yesterday, it can also be applied to other ideas therefore I though it would be helpful overall to the team). 

my idea

my teammates ideas

• My teammates also had interesting ideas such as 'Moving the sun away from  orbit' or creating a story or myth about cities disappear or submerging.

We saw from these ideas that some of them compliment and are quite similar therefore we decided to combine the 'underwater tour' idea with my sustainable branding idea in order to create a cohesive and appropriate design collateral. 

Idea Refinements

• Set in the year 2100, when half of the world is submerged underwater, our idea is to create an underwater tour agency which tours families, people interested in history and general public in submerged cities around the world that has been affected by climate change, in order to entertain and inform them about the effects and consequences of how previous generations (2020 OUR GENERATION) have treated the Earth and ignored the effects of climate change. It will be branded through: a video advertisement, website and a physical brochure. The collateral will come together in order to education, inform and entertain the audiences through it's bright and inviting aesthetics and tone with a satirical backhanded approach to the effects of climate change and climate action in order to create a thought-provoking and striking way to get audiences involved in climate action. 

Delegating jobs

• Video Advertisement - Natalie and Danial
• Website - Jake
• Brochure - Me

Thoughts & Reflections:

After the workshop we got a much better idea of what we wanted to create and brand and also aftet delegating the roles we found it easier to work on collateral and share them with the group afterwards. For me, I'm starting to research what:

• content is going to be in the brochure
• colour palette 
• type
• tone and message

*Note - unfortunately Georgia had to step down from the group so only the four of us are in the team from this point forward. 

Extended Practice Brief #4: Live Brief [Nanyang: Day 1]

Day 1 of the Nanyang Polytechnic X Leeds Art Live brief Collab.

My team:

• Me
• Jake 
• Georgia
• Natalie (Nanyang)
• Danial (Nanyang)

We met up with our collaborators and right away work on discussing the 13 UN Sustainability Development Goals. We then picked three in which we thought were the most interesting to us and the ones we feel passionate about that we can talk about and tackle as a team: 

• Reduce Inequality – talking about gender inequality and how it's still a really big issue and somewhat taboo especially in certain areas around the world like Asia; in the other half of the world where it's slowly progressing as well and more women (especially) are standing up for women's rights and equality in society. 
• Quality Education – talking about education inequality (can go under reduce inequality too) and how certain 'social classes' are restricted or privileges to certain eduction unlike others. 
• Climate Action - talking about the rising sea levels and the increase ice cap melting; recent issues in the past month such as the Amazon rainforest and Australia fires, Philippine volcanic eruption, African floods etc. Also increase interest in submerging coastal cities and islands like Venice, Italy, Australia, Hawaii again due to global warming and how 'standard' adverts are becoming too normal for the general public to  give attention to. 

Thoughts & Reflection: 

From the three, our team leaned more towards 'Climate Action' as we became interested in the recent environmental events that been happening around the world, although maybe we are going to bring aspects from the other two goals into one main focus issue. So far, these are the ideas that we wounded up with as a group. I'm also quite satisfied with the group we have and we've been getting to know each other, as we're going to be working together as a group for a week. 

WOW I've already messed up my timetable! :/

SOOOOOO...

As I've said in my presentation, I had specific schedules for each brief that I am doing, however after talking to Jocel about our internal collaboration (That's So Astro) that I thought we were meant to start this month, we ultimately decided to start it next month. Therefore, I have to rearrange and reschedule all my briefs. 

I ended up starting:

• YCN UK GREETINGS COMPETITION BRIEF &
• EXTERNAL COLLABORATION - ADELINE WONG'S PUBLICATION

I've kinda strayed away form my timetable, but also reconsidering the briefs that I'm doing, I think I it will actually be best for me to do LAURADIO instead of the STARPACK brief, looking back at both briefs I think it'll be easier and more enjoyable for me to do LAURADIO, as we've already established the bases of the podcast as well have already started editing the pilot episode. There''s also 4 of us all together therefore it may become an easier and free going task. Going forward with LAURADIO instead, Ive also decided to drop the STARPACK Sustainable Packaging brief as I realised that doing 4 competition briefs is a lot of work for a month considering when it's due as well. 

OLD TIMETABLE

Reconsidering everything again:

JANUARY

• LIVE BRIEF - 60 SEC VIDEO [#anysongchallenge]
• COMPETITION BRIEF - YCN UK GREETINGS [1]
• EXTERNAL COLLABORATION - ADELINE WONG'S PUBLICATION [2]
• LIVE BRIEF - NANYANG POLYTECHNIC UNI EXTERNAL COLLAB [3]

FEBRUARY/MARCH

• EXTERNAL COLLABORATION - PHOTOGRAPHY X GRAPHIC DESIGN COLLAB [4]
• COMPETITION BRIEF - YCN FEDRIGONI X OLIVER BONAS [5]
• COMPETITION BRIEF - RSA 'A Platform for Joy' [6]
• INTERNAL COLLABORATION - 'That's So Astro' [7]

APRIL

• INTERNAL COLLABORATION - 'LAURadio'
• INDEPENDENT LED BRIEF - 'Baybayin'
• RESEARCH LED BRIEF - 'Irrational Fears'

MAY

• Refinements 
• Blogs
• Design Boards
• FINISHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Extended Practice Brief #3 [Initial Idea + Initial Idea Email]

After my initial email to Adeline, she also sent me her pictures for the publication so that I can start gathering ideas and drafting it for her and get started with the brief. 

As we haven't actually had a proper meeting yet as she is quite busy with her exams, I decided to start on the designs by myself. Although, form a small talk we had, she mentioned that she's not confident with her 'Graphic Design' skills she preferred if I take the led in creating the design for the brief, however she did say that she'd like to see it as more of a photographic publication with minimal text. 

So far I've drafted a very simple and rough layout plan for the publication. These are main points that I started while drafting the publication:

• very simplistic but quite contemporary title page design, however I feel like it may not be reflecting her style as much because we haven't properly talked about it yet. BUT so far, I wanted her to get a gist of how I work and what kind of design I tend to work with so in return she also gets a sense of my practice. 
• Drafted a possible 'text heavy' page that she can think about as another alternative to the simple photographic publication, BUT it might look a bit too magaziney?????
• Considered how the photographs may flow in the publication, the relation of image size, layout etc. with the audience
• Start a 'narrative' with the images

Thoughts & Reflection:

I emailed Adeline the draft and told her the gist of what I've started so she gets on track of my side of the collab. I didn't want to sound too 'pushy' to start the collab but just made her understand that I've started it (around my own timetable) but doesn't mean that she needs to feel pressured to be on it too, because she is extremely busy. 

Extended Practice Brief #3: [Adeline Wong: Sinchon Water Gun Festival Publication]

One of the external collaborations that I'm intending to do is a collab with a 3rd year Art & Design student from University of Leeds, Adeline Wong. I have known her for a while now and found that she enjoys photography and it's on of the mediums that she likes to involve in her own practice a lot. She also mentioned that going to Korea and taking pictures of the Sinchon Water Gun Festival has made this passion greater as well and that she'd also like to put together her photographs in a publication, however she has limited experience with Graphic Design, therefore we decided to do this collaboration. 

In this collaboration we are going to:

• Create a publication which showcases her photographs from the 2018 Sinchon Water Gun Festival.
• Establish her own style within the publication design.
• Create a publication which can also act as a personal branding as part of her portfolio, as well as showcase my abilities to create a multifunctional publication through my design decisions.
• Possible learn new techniques and mediums of practice from each other as we work together.

Below I've written up our collaboration brief and the details in which we are going to do this brief. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks e are able to start on this brief even though we have scheduled it for April, as I know she is also quite busy and has exams and her dissertation to work on. 

Thoughts & Reflections:

As I've written up the brief by myself, I've sent Adeline an email to confirm if she's okay with it or if theres anything else we can add, delete or refine so that we're both on the same page. In addition, it's also possible that the brief can manifest into something much bigger than what we are initially planning, therefore I may have to come back to it in the future fir refinements anyways. 

I also think it'll be a really fun brief to work on and will further help me refine my publication design skills as well as a good addition to my knowledge to the medium.  

Extended Practice Brief #5: Initial Collab Conversation [Ruban X Graphic Design Collab]

I got in contact with a Photography student (Ruban) last month for a collaboration. We talked via Instagram DM about some initial plans and what she intends to work with me on as part of her PP module and my Extended Practice module.

She's travelling in Thailand at the moment, however when she comes back next month we are going to meet up and discuss plans for how we can expand the collaboration and the collateral that we'll be producing. Right now I'll probably be producing rough sketches or drafts of the ideas that we've discussed in the messages so we can have a start for when we discuss in person.

Extended Practice Brief #2: YCN UKGreetings [Initial Ideas]

"Products that help connect people"

Theme Ideas:

• Events - Holidays e.g. Christmas, Valentines Day, Congratulations, Sympathy Cards, Birthdays, Mother's/ Father's Day
• For Teenagers 15-20 years old 
• Comedic and relatable ???
• Millennials ???
• Use Quotes ???
•  Have a motif - type, colour, pattern, layout 
• Narrative throughout each products 
• Single Illustration 

Main Ideas:

#1 Idea 

• Friendship Greeting Card 
• Possible friendship quotes
• Illustrations could be centred around objects/ food/ places/ inanimate objects etc.
• Single minimal illustrations?
• Monochromatic colours? restricted? – modern and sleek, contemporary 
• could be suitable for 'mature' 'older' audiences OR millennials

#2 Idea 

• Photography Cards 
• Landscape? Buildings? Sceneries etc. (along this theme)
• Magazine/ Editorial/ Postcard like layout
• Publication layout?
• "I MISS YOU" cards or 'SEE YOU SOON'
• something sentimental 
• brutalist serifs or sharp sans serif 
• minimal soft colours or minimal pop colours

#3 Idea 

• "MUNDANE ITEMS THAT REMIND ME OF YOU"
• Illustrative
• Colourful 
• May be nostalgic???
• Pale colour palette, traditional, classic type? Retro or handmade? handwritten, 'real' penmanship for a more homelier atmosphere

#4 Idea 

• 'Thank you' cards
• colourful patterns
• bring and bold colour palettes (complementary??)
• related to something like music, fashion, hobbies, entertainment etc. 
• metaphors, puns

Extended Practice: Live Brief [Final Video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuV2BmJ1p_I – Any Song (Zico)

I decided to the dance video idea as it fit with the concept that I wanted to do the most which was something that's quite personal but still can be relatable with other people. Also, something that for entertainment as opposed to something serious as I don't feel like such hard and heavy subjects can be talked about and be given as much needed attention in 60 seconds.

As I said in my previous blog, it was also fit with the timing as it's something that's fresh and therefore rawer and something that people can can learn more about. Looking at the actual challenge itself, it looks quite candid and 'home made' as it's done with a phone for Instagram/ social media purposes; as well as danced with friends and edited in a quite a rough/ vlog/ phone style.

Deciding to get a friend to do it with me as well, gave the video a bubblier and 'interactive' atmosphere as I thought it might be quite boring if I did it alone too. Also, we decided to shoot the video portrait, meant for Instagram (IGTV) uploads to fully use the features of the app as well as take advantage of the best layout we can use when showcasing videos in relation to the usage nature of Instagram. Furthermore, I also used type and colour that similarly match the type, layout and colours used in the original music video, in order to be coherent and directly suggest the relation of our video to the challenge.

Unlike the original challenge videos, I put 'bloopers' and the learning process that we did in order to complete challenge, compiling them in a quick and comedic way through video clip layouts and quick editing in order to fit the 60 secs practically, but also portray our purpose and 'narrative' to the audience. To add to the narrative as well, I added 'Take numbers' to give context to the clips indicating time and roughly where we are in terms of learning the choreography, which also gives an indication of how long and what time we took the 'final video.

In addition, making the beginning clips black and white also subtly indicates it's the 'past' as well as create a 'former' or 'gone by' atmosphere setting the tone for what's to come next in the video and making the audience anticipate for the result. Also, by switching the colour to normal indicates it to the audience that they are now watching the final product, as well as with the aid of the edited audio as opposed to the raw sound from the 'bloopers' sets the tone for the video overall. Moreover, to further boost interactivity with the video I also added relative hashtags such as '#anysongchallenge, #zico' which also take use of the features in Instagram to benefit your account.

Official Single Cover
(Any Song – Zico KOZ ENT)

Thoughts & Reflection:

I definitely underestimated how short 1 minute is for the content that I wanted to put in the video, as there was so much more clips that I wanted to use to give more context for the final video to be more impactful as well as to make the entire video more entertaining. However, due to the 1 minute restriction it did also made me think hard and properly of which clips to chose and the flow of each clips to create a funny and climaxing/ anticipation for the end result of the video. Overall, I quite satisfied with how it turned out and I did actually upload the video to my Instagram IGTV to see its results and interaction between my peers and audience, and I'd like to say it got quite good responses therefore I think I achieved the purpose of the video that we made and actively participated in the challenge as well, contributing to the interactivity towards the trend.

Extended Practice Brief #2: YCN UKGreetings [Research]

Research:

• Retail publisher for greeting cards and 'social expression' products in the UK.
• Owned and interconnected with a wide range of companies within the UK and internationally = more audience demographic can be reached, more opportunity to be more experimental
• Designs are very illustrative, lots of focus on handmade drawings, patterns, very light and cute designs, traditional, illustrative type, kind of retro.
• Wide range of products so will give me more room to design different works that will work best in a specific product.

Competitors: 

• KIKKI.K – clean styles, modern sans serif heavy designs
• modernist, minimal 
• varied sections - they also offer a wide range of products that would suit a wide audience
• products are not restricted to just cards and gift dressings but also planners, gift sets including travel cups, stationary, books etc. 
• products are desirable as they serve their purpose but at the same time are also aesthetically pleasing to look at. 
• Though products are varied the aesthetic and styles used are appealing – audience is 'set' they know who they are selling to (demographic, age, hobbies, likes etc.)

• RIFLE PAPER – Pattern heavy designs, especially on the gift wraps 
• very coherent designs 
• very 'handmade' designs 
• illustrative heavy 
• feminine designs, playful and colourful 
• centred around animals and people
• quite traditional in a way 
• also targets specific audience perfectly - also has a demographic targeted  

Styles: 

• Very illustrative, bold and bright colours
• Very handmade type
• Universal styles 
• reaches broad audiences
• Although, it does look a bit old fashioned which may make it look less appealing to younger and trendier audiences, in comparison to its competitions. 

Design Requirements: 

• [2x] Greeting Cards – 173 x 210 mm
• [1x] Notebook Set Boxed – 110 x 132 mm
• [1x] Giftbag – 267 x 330 mm
• [1x] Pattern for gift wrap – Pattern patch sample
• [1] Notepad Cover

Thoughts & Reflection:

Most of the existing designs created by UKGreetings are very traditional in a way that they are kind of old-fashioned as well. Thought they are colourful and illustrative they tend to have a very 'old' tone and vibe to them in my opinion. In comparison to some brands in the existing market place, their designs don't quite follow the trend therefore I think it the modern and contemporary design is what I'm going to focus on when I drawing ideas for the greeting card designs.