OUGD504 - module evaluation

Final evaluation   

OUGD504 - Design Production

Over this term we have done many different briefs, they have taught us new techniques, continued to develop our original skills and have helped us experience what it will be like in the real world as a graphic designer.

This module focused on the production aspects, how you would create in the real world, this is what each project was mainly about. Looking at it at University level and then at professional level and considering the components of mass production.

Our first project was the leaflet, which was the design process, it made us think about our own practice which reminded ourselves how to get from your brief to the final. By recapping on this design production it assisted us for what we needed to do for all the future briefs we would be set.  We used it several diverse ways in graphic design for each project; first was a logo, second was a book, third was a digital design, different mediums of graphic design to present our ideas and styles.

For the logo task we had to find an existing company on Kickstarters and either make a logo or rebrand a logo.  Any Flannel was the chosen company as it is a clothing business meaning you can be much more versatile with the style you proceed to use, it had an existing logo but it could have been improved this also made it more intriguing to choose. Their company morals seemed to have a recycled, ‘helping the planet’, hand made feel to it, so the first product was hand rendered script as this seemed in keeping with the brand.  However when in a crit, peers thought it needed to be manlier as the company target audience was mainly aimed at men.  Secondary research was needed, observing more corporate companies lead to choosing a font that appealed as strong and masculine. Trees were added as a silhouette behind the type to link back to the eco-friendly ethics Any Flannel have acquired. A series of casual street posters and stickers were created to have more ways to advertise the brand.

In the summer we had a task to take photographs of the alphabet through different everyday objects, the aim was to focus on the type.  All of the photos were generated in a fishing shop (Johnson Ross Tackle) looking at their different products and varying typefaces they had.  This was a good decision as it was all in one place and fishing logos are very unique from many other logotypes, also it would be different as no one else would do something in this area. Once all the images were collected, the research on publications began looking at different aspects; stock, font, size, layout, binding and print method.  The fishing books that Johnson Ross Tackle held weren’t motivating, hence another reason to choose this field, as it has clearly not been done in an imaginative way before. The inspiration came from specialist photography books found through research on the Internet and also in The Village Bookshop in Leeds.
The first idea was photos with writing to accompany each image from A to Z, however after creating this, there was a realisation that it was repetitive as every page was the same and so it was scrapped.  Moving on from that concept, the next idea was more unique, it was more relevant to the research into high end publications and it included the name of the store which gave it a personal meaning to that company, instead of just an alphabet.

The third main project we were set was to create a website medium design.  We had the designers come in from Only studios in Leeds to give us a brief (one they had done the past for Sony), the idea was to chose an artist that had a new album coming out and to make a campaign to create the hype for their upcoming release. The aim was to get fans involved to pre-order it and big it up through social media. For this I chose Steve Angello. As an artist they built the anticipation with the release of a couple of songs, some artwork and music videos (each that tell a story for every song).  This meant there were several elements to work with when making the website design; songs, artwork and videos. This brief was the most challenging of them all as it was a whole new set of skills to learn and has a totally different type of design than any other projects have before. It made it the least favourite of the briefs set because it was so alien.

Overall this module has helped me understand different processes you use when producing a project in University but also in the real world.  I have learnt skills that have helped my realisation grow on the expenses and aspects that contribute when creating for mass production. There have been many hurdles but I have overcome them and it has improved my understanding and techniques in graphic design.