OUGD502 - Self Branding update

Previous branding:

At the time I really liked doing my self branding because I felt that it was the first design that I had done that really represented me. Combining the design and illustration elements to the business cards gave added interest. However looking back on these designs and my illustrations they almost feel a little childish. This is something that had come up at the time when I created them. The mixture of colours while eye catching and bold feels a bit over done. I think for my updated branding I would like to strip back these designs to the bare bones in order to make the identity a lot more professional looking. 

Also for my promotional materials such as my concertina CV I think that I will create something less expensive as this cost me quite a bit to print last year. Yet I still like the concept of doing something that is out of the ordinary and a little bit unusual. 

Updated branding:

I have kept the symbol that I created for my level 4 self branding as I feel it represents me as a designer, showing clarity and friendliness. I have stripped back the logo to just the mark rather than having a combination of the mark and text. I have also changed my typeface to one which is much more sophisticated to show my professional progression as a designer. However I wanted to add a bit of playfulness into the design, so I’ve used a simple colour palette of black and a neon colours to make the identity pop.

For my collateral and promotional materials I really wanted to experiment with traditional print methods such as letterpress and screen-printing. So I wanted to laser cut my logo in order to use it like a woodblock type and print it onto a thick grey board. This would give the tactile quality that I try to give my work to my business cards. However I decided that this would be too difficult when I could screen print instead and create more cards at once rather than printing them one at a time.

When screen printing the business cards I decided to use colours that you couldn't ordinarily use with digital printing so I chose a colour palette of white and neon pink and orange. To further emphasise the traditional process I mixed these colours together to create a gradient with the inks. The final outcome is really effective, especially on the grey board stock as they are sturdy and tactile, feeling more luxurious than a simple 300gsm paper print.

For a promotional pack I have stuck to digital platforms for now as I think this is where I get most of my business and it makes sense to have a sort of hub for all of my work to act as a portfolio. If I had more time to do PPP I probably would have created a CV of sorts to send off to studios like Rabbit Hole or Split Studio in Leeds to possibly get some work experience.

However I am really pleased with the business cards and updated website that I had created. I feel like it gives me a more professional look rather than just looking like a student. I do feel like I didn't spend enough time on my self branding but at the same time I am pleased with what I have come up with. 

OUGD502 - Picturesmith - Papercut and Stop motion animation

"A team of pencil-drawing, paper-cutting, glue-sticking, LEGO-building, camera-clicking creatives. We are directors, animators, illustrators, writers, editors and photographers, and we love playing with ideas.
Our creative process maintains focus on innovation, craftsmanship and attention to detail – from ideation through to execution.
We’ve been making stories with pictures from our studio in East London for brands around the world since 2007.
And our philosophy is simple – to make well crafted stories."

While researching for my responsive brief and looking for papercut design I came across Picturesmith who are an animation studio in London. Then I realised that they were the company who had done all the animations for D&AD for the student and professional awards. I watched their showreel and was very impressed, it almost makes me want to try out stop motion animation like this. 

Even stills of the animations are beautifully composed and created. They must make some many different paper cut models for each animation. The use of the paper sculpture adds a texture and feel that could never be replicated digitally. 

It is especially inspiring how smooth each of the animations are - they must have to produce thousands of frames to make it this way. Most stop motion animation has that signature jerkiness with it from where the frames skip but with these animations being so smooth it fools you to thinking that it is actually a video. 

More at:
http://picturesmith.uk/

OUGD503 - Study Task - "Me"

We passed round a piece of paper around the table in order for people to write words that they associate with our personalities. This way no one would be scared to be honest. 

The Perceived me:

• hard working
• passionate
• speaks out
• always positive
• professional
• happy
• young
• open minded
• welcoming
• always concentrated
• cardigans
• outgoing
• hardworking
• vegetable
• vegan
• funny

I was quite surprised at how positive all of the things that I got back were. I thought that people might be honest and put some things like "picky" which is definitely how I see myself. It just shows how your opinions of yourself greatly differ from people's opinions of you, which boosts my confidence a little. 

For my resolution I decided to make up my face using the words that people had described me as. This represents a sort of mask that people see, when I feel only I can see the real me.

OUGD502 - Print isn't Dead Magazine

I recently subscribed to Stack magazines and I love the anticipation and the surprise of the system. This month I recieved the "Print isn't Dead" issue 4 and I absolutely love everything about it. It has many interviews from some of the heroes of print like Anthony Burrill. Though I don't enjoy designing editorial like spreads I do appreciate when they are done well like in this magazine. Also the use of the neon inks all the way through makes it feel different to a normal magazine. I suppose it is trying to show off all the print methods that can be used that wouldn't be able to be used digitally.

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 1 - Creative Report - Development

As soon as I got the answers through for the creative report I knew what colour scheme I wanted to use. The classic Snask pink with a navy blue to compliment it, as has been used in previous Snask designs. The particular colour that I chose for the background was based on a GF smith stock colour called "Candy Pink" which I thought was very fitting as Snask is Swedish for sweets. 

I started out with the design being quite abstract with inspiration from the one of the magazines that I had looked at that combined bold boxes with patterns. I liked the idea of using this to separate up the text with patterns to make the page more lively and fun as I feel like this reflects the nature of Snask. 

I also decided to duotone all of the images that I was given in order to make them look more effective on the pink stock that I had already chosen. Also I really like the contrast that it provides and adds a bit of extra interest than a normal full colour image. 

For the front cover I knew that I wanted to play around with the idea of a half cover so I created a design that would work with and without the half cover on top of it. So the title of the publication would always be visible when the cover is "closed". I also added the imagery here because they were so small in size I didn't want to make them pixelated so to add a highlight to the front seemed to make more sense to me. 

After looking back at the double page spread again I realised that with the rectangles and patterns the page felt really cluttered and it was taking away from the interview rather than adding interest to it. So I decided to strip it right back to just the text. Also I found a great script that contrasts with the font that I used for my favourite quote from the interview. In my opinion the spread looks a lot better for having room to breath. Once I had decided on this simplistic two column layout I filled out the rest of the spreads.

I readjusted some of the boxes and patterns on the first page as well as adding a pattern to the front of the half cover. I was initially going to have a title on this bit but I don't think that this is necessary with the text underneath the half cover. 

I also drew a small portrait of Fredrik to add that extra bit of tongue and cheek to the publication to further represent the nature of the studio. I wanted to make the portrait look like one of the old victorian silhouettes in a fancy frame. I can only hope that I have done his face justice!

I reordered the layout of the second double spread to accommodate the new changes as well as highlighting some more quotes that I found interesting throughout the interview. I feel like this breaks up the big blocks of text nicely too. 

I had to make a few final changes to get the pagination of the booklet right because the number of pages has to be a multiple of 4. I added a sort of finishing line to the publication which I think works really well and I feel like it was a spark of last minute genius!

I also added a small introduction about the man himself as well as why he has inspired me to interview him for my report. If I was to remake this publication I would probably make the layout a bit more consistent and spend a bit more time arranging the type. I feel like there could have been a much better way of presenting it but I didn't know how else to do it. 

OUGD502 - Taking Care of Business - Presentation and Evaluation

Presentation Slides

 

Overall I was really pleased with how we pitched our studio concept. I felt like we came off as quite professional and had thought quite a lot through. However I wish that we had looked more into where to actually find the start up costs and into grants.

I feel like my performance within the group was not as good as it could have been. I didn't do much for the presentation other than compile the research and provide designs for it. I feel like I could have been a lot more active in creating things for the pitch as well as getting our USP perfect. Although I did find it fun working with other people who are like minded and want to do the same sort of design as me. I felt like the rest of my group definitely pulled their weight and more, especially Daisy who kept in contact with us and helped us even after she had gone back to the Netherlands. I would be up for continuing with Roots but I feel like the others don't want to continue. But doing this brief has definitely made me rethink what I want to do after I graduate, I am now leaning more towards a career in traditional print rather than in a regular design studio.