As the first brief I completed for responsive I was intrigued by the competition to design the face of the new pound coin. One thing that appealed to me about this was to completely change the style of design that would be printed on it, and I was inspired by the newer two pound coin featuring typographic illustration. I'm not particularly happy with my final outcome and feel that I could have done something lot more illustrative than a simple geometric composition depicting the British isles. I also would have considered the placement of text a lot more if I were to re do this brief. As a competition brief it has taught me that entering briefs like this can take up quite a lot of time and have minimal chances of winning, however I'm still glad I submitted my design.
Concerning lettering and logotypes I have learnt a lot. Having completed three briefs in this area in the responsive module, I can look back and see how I progressed from the first to the last. One major thing I would improve on if I did these briefs again would be to explore the possibilities much further, as I feel that I could have exhausted the variations for each design before choosing one that I and the client was happy with. This is something I will make sure to do in the future as it only results in a much more informed and conceptual outcome which I feel the ones I have produced are lacking. This is partially down to the clients needs, which will always be an issue that must be addressed, however I want to start creating lettering solutions that have a deeper visual meaning other than being aesthetically pleasing.
I realise now that looking back at my work for Munich from a few months ago, I could have made the final outcome look far more professional than it does. The image needs more depth than just the drop shadow behind the text; this is something I can work on in future projects and plan to develop within my design work from now on. This was one of the first hand lettered logos I have drawn and my lack of experience and practice is evident especially in the final 'how many times' text. I'm happy with the solution for the logo but I definitely could have explored different ways of writing the word a lot more.
I kept an uneven outline to replicate the messy look of the Drive logo and the outcome answers the brief in that sense.
In the future I will create many more preliminary sketches and show the client more refined versions of the design to begin with so they get a better picture of what it could look like. I also want to send clients more mock ups of finished results so they can visualise what they are paying for.
These briefs weren't that specific and my only guide was from the clients showing me examples of the kind of thing they wanted. This meant I had to clarify the briefs before starting work which is a factor I could improve when working on similar jobs.
I really enjoyed working on the wallpaper brief for Feathr as it gave me a chance to create something for a different purpose, while utilising a style I have been working on and want to develop further. Matching up the design on Illustrator was a challenge, but has made me consider the production elements and practical applications of design rather than just the visual image.
I really enjoyed producing physical publications to document my photographs and time in Europe, but they lack commercial value without a stronger focus on the topics of architecture and lifestyle. If I narrowed it down to just architecture from each city the booklets may work better as a set.
The typographic covers and format of the back cover are consistent on each zine which reinforce their collective value. Although I originally included the horizontal grey line as a hint at the horizontal format of panoramic photos, it represents the journey through cities of Europe at the time, and keeping this gives me opportunity to create more photos and booklets under this brand. I have the scope to produce more A5 booklets for each city I visit in the future, if I continue documenting the lifestyles and architecture. For me this is an ongoing project to achieve a better understanding of self publishing and book design which is something I am interested in doing in the future.
Throughout this brief I have furthered my experience of how similar photo books are created and sold by speaking to individual self publishers and visiting/ speaking to book stores. I’ve learnt a lot in the area of book design and production and feel more confident in my knowledge of editorial design.
While working on the presentation of our solution to send to D&AD, we found filming in the studio was better using the correct lighting equipment which picked up on the print finishes and colours well. Collaborating with film maker Rees helped us achieve the best quality footage and allowed us to work together with another student at the college, increasing our collective area of expertise.
Contacting print studio Pressision was the first time I've dealt with a professional company concerning printing my own work, and our communication with James has increased my awareness of what needs to be considered when designing for print. It also gave me an understanding of how much it costs to produce publications with select print finishes such as embossing.
Throughout all the briefs I worked on in this module I have targeted my interest in lettering and editorial work. I feel that I've improved enormously since the start of Responsive and it's given me an insight to how I can commercialise my hand drawn lettering work which is something I want to capitalise on as a designer. Photography and editorial design have also been a key part of this module for me and I plan to take the skills I have learnt in these areas forward in my practice in to third year.
