OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Reflection of Work

Initially, when I designed my work for both studio brief 1 and 2, I had it in mind that my target audience and area of distribution would be in Waterstones. However, now that I have had my stall at Waterstones, I have had time to develop my idea further and include all of the swimming safety materials. So this has helped me to come to the conclusion that instead of being sold in Waterstones, all of the products would be distributed as a government awareness scheme (not for profit) and so it would have to be reproduced as cheaply and as easily as possible. This has had a considerable impact on a lot of the decisions I have made along the way, printing being the main subject.

If I had designed these products for a high end market who required life long materials then I would have had to consider foiling and other methods of finishing. However, due to the fact that it has been designed to be mass produced, it is important that I keep it all as simple as possible and not over complicate matters. This is why I used Flexipress printers for all of my work as I wanted a consistent print job which is reasonably priced and doesn't involve any extra costs afterwards. I am really pleased I made this decision, as it was expensive enough to purchase all of the little extras, for example the buckles, the webbing and the keyrings to name a few. 

As my brief developed into a not for profit range of products distributed by the government, I decided that I would tie all of the materials together using a consistent theme. I thought that it would be relevant for me to have some sort of file to use for the swimming safety sheets. This would also be used to provide the recipient with room to store all of the items and keep them all together. 

The idea now is that all of the products would be distributed to schools and rest bite care and they would be given all of the materials to then pass on to the children and their parents or carers to use at home as well. 

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 1 and 2 (Whole Collection Summary)

All Products

Keyring

The keyring was designed to distribute at the book stall I had at Waterstones. It is related to road safety as it is to be attached to car keys to raise road safety awareness. The design of it is really simplistic so that it fits in with the rest of the branded materials. I also didn't want to overcomplicate the design as this wouldn't be well suited to autistic children as they would experience sensory overload.

Road Safety Flash Cards

The road safety flash cards are quite self explanatory. They have been designed to be used by autistic children to help them understand the rules of the road. To keep all of the flash cards together, a red band has been used with a buckle on it to represent a seat belt. This is to get the children used to fastening their seat belts when they get in a car.

Swimming Safety Flash Cards

The swimming safety flash cards are to be used prior to going swimming. The idea of them is for parents or teachers to give them to their children or pupils to educate them about what they should and shouldn't do when they go swimming. Both sets of flash cards are only starter sets and so they would be extended given the time.

Swimming Safety Lanyard

I also developed the flash cards and printed them out at a smaller scale to attach them to the end of a lanyard. I laminated both the full sized flash cards and the miniature ones to protect them and keep them clean. Once again, the red webbing and buckle has been used to maintain consistency across the whole range of products.

Poster

The poster was designed for the Waterstones stall. I wanted to inform my audience about the cost of the products which were for sale on the night. I also wanted to try and make it clear what it was that I had produced.

Autism Publication

The publication was produced for studio brief 1, but it is also relevant to be used for studio brief 2 as well. I have therefore incorporated it into the second brief as well. The glasses were bought to allow the recipient of the publication to understand what it feels like to experience sensory overload. It is more about the concept of the glasses than them being scientifically accurate, as the professional glasses which are available are much more expensive.

Red Folder

I bought the red folder to demonstrate the way in which the products would be distributed to the children. I have decided that all of the products are provided by the government and they are not for profit products. They would be distributed to schools and rest bite care to then give to the children for them to use at home with their parents or on their own. Inside the folder there are several colour separators which would be for each range of products, for example the blue separator would be used for all of the swimming safety materials.

Coloured Pencils

The coloured pencils are just an additional part of the branding. They have been secured together using the red webbing to once again maintain consistency. The pencils would be for the children to use to fill in their swimming experience forms after they have been swimming.

Rubber

The rubber is self explanatory, it is simply to demonstrate the breadth to which the range could stretch to. It could be distributed in shops as well to raise awareness, in places like WHSmith.

Spinning Top

The spinning tops are an ideal way of interacting with autistic children and getting them to engage with a product. This toy will help them to get used to red, amber and green and it will also enable them to have some fun with the products which will make the collection memorable. 

Air Freshener

The air freshener is another way of extending the range of products. I actually bought an air freshener and cut it up so that I could glue a strip in between the card with the traffic lights and text on. I wanted it to be as realistic as possible and not just a proposal. 

Sensory Flash Card

I experimented with creating a sensory flash card. This would be produced a bit more professionally if it was to be mass produced in shops or distributed from schools or rest bite care to the child's home. I am really pleased with the outcome of this design and think the corrugated paper works well to add another sensory dimension to it, giving the same impression as a seat belt texture.

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 1 (Further Development)

Below is all of my further development. When I had my work printed at Flexipress, they printed it off on a variety of stock for me to start with so that I could choose the most suitable for my final pieces of work. Below I have photographed some examples of my work when it has been constructed, showing how the ink has cracked in some cases, as the stock was too thick to fold without this happening to it. 

I experimented with folding the concertinas inwards, but it didn't work very well, so I am going to have to dismiss this idea and have all of the concertinas pulling outwards.

Before having it all printed professionally, I decided to print out some examples myself to make sure that there weren't any mistakes. I found a few and have written on the work to remind me to make the changes before sending the final artwork. 

I also had a go at printing the work to scale on my A4 printer at home just to check that it is all legible and that all of the images are sharp enough. 

I also experimented with stock. Printing out all of the designs against different coloured stock worked quite well, but I think the colours would just be too bright for an autistic child to comfortably read and although it is designed for the carers and parents, it is still important that all of the key pieces of information are taken into consideration when designing, as I want it to be representative of autistic children as much as possible. 

I had a sample of flash cards printed out on a gloss paper. Although I love the finish of this, I think that the matte finish would be more suitable and durable in the long term. 

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 1 (Crit)

Below is the feedback I received on my publication. I am really pleased with the feedback I have received as it is very constructive and will help me to make progression with my work. 

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 1/2 (Presentation)

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 1 (Crit)

Below are all of the questions I wrote out in my crit to get some feedback on. I have also scanned it all of the feedback I received which I was really happy with and found it very constructive. I am going to take all of it into account when I make some further progression with my work. 

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 1 (Boards Corrections)

Today we had a workshop where we were asked to present our boards to the rest of the group and then give written feedback on each one individually. I felt as though this was valuable time spent although we could have done with longer to present our work as we only had a couple of minutes each. I will take into consideration the feedback I received when designing boards in the future.