OUGD503 Responsive: Design Process 2: Sophie Price Branding

Today I met up with one of my friend's who is on the Fashion course at Leeds College of Art. She asked me if I would be able to collaborate with the rest of her group that she is working with on a project they have just been assigned. 

They have taken influence from a book which is all about secrets. They have distributed pieces of paper asking students around college to fill them in with one of their deepest secrets. Using their responses as the themes they are then going to create a clothes range. 

I really like this concept and think it is going to be really successful. The only problem at the moment is the fact that it might not be achievable in the time period over the Easter break because they are wanting it all sorted for the first week back and all have internships mainly in London.

I have decided that I am still going to work on some initial ideas and then speak to Sophie in a couple of days to see where I stand with the work. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this brief for them to turn around and decide that they don't need my work after all.

I have had a think about some initial ideas below:

As a group, they asked me to think of some words relating to secrets. I wrote down all of my initial thoughts and ideas but came to the conclusion that the more straight forward, the better. I didn't want to come up with a word which sounds over the top or too cryptic. 

I did however have a play around with some of the ideas I thought of. They said that they wanted quite a decorative font as they wanted it to have a playful feel to it and quite crafty and imperfect. I experimented with a variety of different typefaces but I think I need more feedback before I progress further with these designs. 

I had the idea of using an envelope for their branding. I mentioned to them in the initial meetings that they should perhaps create garments with pieces of material which can be folded back to reveal a 'secret' about the clothing. They really liked this idea. 

Below I have had a go at playing around with the opening of an envelop to reveal the text inside. I like the idea of using 'Hide and Seek' for their brand, however I think it might be a bit too long winded. At the moment I have designed everything in black and white and then I can include colour at a later date if necessary. They mentioned that they like the aesthetic of using brown swing tags on their garments, so I thought it might be quite effective to simply use black as it would stand out and be clear. It would also be cheaper for them to print and reproduce. 

Although the previous ideas have all been produced digitally, I have had a go at working with some hand rendered illustrations. I thought it might create quite a personal feel to the work. However, I couldn't quite reach an illustration which I was happy with. 

Over the Easter break, I spoke to Sophie about how her group work is progressing. She had spoken to her tutor who had said that she liked the idea of using the slogan 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours'. She also said that because of her group being dispersed at the moment at different locations for their internships, it has meant that they haven't been able to work on their garments as much as they would have liked to, and so I am now going to have to wait and meet up with them when they have more of a solid plan.

Evaluation

This hasn't had a huge impact on my work, as I have been able to focus more attention on the other briefs I am working on. I am looking forward to working on this brief when everything is a bit more organised and it has taught me to not put 100% of my attention on one brief at a time, and try and juggle between a few. I haven't been able to include this brief in my project report, as it isn't complete, however I am pleased that I have been able to document the progress so far and include it as development for my responsive module.

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 2 (Studio Session)

Today we had a studio session with Lorraine. This required thinking about the work we have produced and refining it and working out what we need to get done before the deadline. We had a lot of small tasks to complete and I also wrote down a few additional thoughts in the process as I found that this exercise got me thinking a lot about my work. 

I am really pleased that we had this session as it forced me to think more about studio brief 2 and the work I need to complete in time for the deadline. I am looking forward to having another crit and receiving further feedback on my ideas. 

OUGD503 Responsive - Design Process 2 (YCN Boards)

Below are my final boards for Fedrigoni and Champneys. I am really pleased with the outcome of both sets of boards and I am pleased to be able to say that I produced both of them on behalf on myself and Issy. 

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 2 (Preparing The Box)

Over the Easter period, Ellen and I went back to college for a couple of days to prepare my box for my event. When I was at home I went and bought the paint I needed to match the colours up with my publication as closely as possible. I had the paint mixed and spent a considerable amount on it, so I am hoping that once the event has been and gone, I will be able to find another use for the box so that it isn't a waste of money in the long run. 

All of the photographs are quite self explanatory. Thankfully I only needed to give each side one coat, which meant that it could be painted over a period of two days. The undercoat dried within a few hours as well which was helpful, and I was really pleased with the coverage. 

Before Easter, I organised with the student union how to transport the box to Waterstones. They kindly said that they would be able to help me with this, and that they would hire the van to take it down on the night. I was so thankful for this, as I had a brief panic about whether it would be possible or not. I am really looking forward to the event now, especially as it is something quite exciting and different to engage with, and is also very different to anything I have ever done before. 

OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 3 (AMP Poster)

For this brief we were each allocated a different film to watch. The film I was given was Terms of Endearment. I watched the film and found it really upsetting because the theme running throughout it was quite close to home and the ending was harrowing. Despite this though I could appreciate the acting and had a lot to work with in terms of creating a visually exciting movie poster for this brief.

Below are some of my initial ideas which are very roughly drawn out but they illustrate all of my current thoughts. I think it is going to take me quite a while to reach an end result which I am really happy with, however it will be worth it in the end. I am also going to make sure that I don't spend any longer than a week on this brief because we have been told not to and I can value the importance of finishing briefs on time and having a quick turn around.

This was one of my initial ideas. I thought about how I could possibly illustrate a heart separated in two, to represent the mother's heart and the daughter's heart. This is because, in the film, when the man was introduced into the daughter's life, the mother was pushed out quite considerably. I then thought about how I could illustrate a man and a woman in the centre to illustrate the controversy, and then I drew a house around the two symbols to illustrate the family home. 

Following on from the same idea, I created another illustration to show the family home and how the road from home has increased for the daughter since all of the complications have arisen in her life. I think this design is really boring though and I am not happy with the outcome at all as it isn't deep and meaningful enough for me and it doesn't exactly speak for itself, it requires an explanation, which a movie poster shouldn't need.

I also came up with this idea, showing a road running through the centre of the heart to illustrate the thoughts of the daughter who is torn between mother and lover. I don't think this outcome is obvious enough to the audience though and it is somehow too deep to understand at a first glance without an explanation. 

I then carried out some further research into the film as I felt as though I needed more of a focal point to work with. I thought about the film and all of the key events in it and realised that one of the most important continuous themes running throughout the film was the phone calls between the mother and daughter. 

I then found a section in the film and took a screen shot so that I could see what the phone looked like and the details on it. I then imagined how I could use an illustration of a phone to illustrate the film. By doing this I could perhaps place the letters inside of each of the small circles to spell out the title of the movie. I am going to develop this idea and see where it takes me. 

I decided to experiment with an illustration of a phone but not in such a literal way. I like the idea of incorporating a heart into the design to show the love hate relationships running throughout the film all the way through. I tried to do this by placing a heart in red at the bottom of the phone but I don't think it looks very professional. I also don't feel as though it says anything important about the film really. 

One thing I am certain about at the moment is the use of cream and black with a touch of colour. This is something which has come from being influenced by the research I carried out. I am definitely going to use this colour scheme for my final design no matter what else changes along the way. 

I experimented with using a bright red. I enlarged the heart and tried to put it at the top of the phone instead, with a wire hanging down from the top of the poster. I think this is a vast improvement but I am still not convinced it is strong enough as a design. 

I then experimented with using a sans serif font in uppercase below the phone and also drew some rough circles around the edge to give the phone a bit more definition. 

Experimenting further with this layout, I placed a small heart in the centre at the top of the phone. I have decided that there is something about this that I really don't like and I don't think it works well. I also don't really like how linear the whole design is as there is a lot of negative space surrounding it. 

Here I have dropped the phone down a little bit further to see whether this made any difference, but I think it is more to do with all of the space in the background than anything else. Perhaps when I incorporate text it will make a vast difference.

Rather than having the heart on the phone, I have decided to see what it looks like behind the design to give it a bit more impact. Along with the text the design has improved dramatically but I am still not satisfied with the outcome. 

Reverting back to my initial idea and combining it with my latest thoughts, I have come up with the following movie poster design. I really don't think it works now that I have tried it, but it is something which has been in my head throughout my development so I thought I should try it to be able to move on and make progress.

At the end of Terms of Endearment the daughter found out that she had breast cancer. I thought it would be relevant if I incorporated the ribbon into my design somehow. I draw it out and placed it in the background of the design. 

Although I quite like how there is now an added angle and a bit more of a balanced effect, I still feel as though it needs more work and development. 

Using an image of a telephone wire, I experimented with incorporating the twist of the breast cancer logo into the shape of the telephone wire. I feel as though this has given my design an added dimension and I am really pleased with the outcome of this idea.

I decided to draw my own telephone wire out to make sure that it is a bit more accurate and neat looking. I think this works really well and I feel like I am finally making progress towards my final design outcome. The line along the bottom is only temporary for the time being, as I am not sure whether or not it is relevant. I am going to get some feedback on the design though and then take it from there. 

I had a crit with an industry professional who is a character artist and has experience within the graphic design industry. He said that he really liked the overall layout of it but that the angle was a little bit too sharp and that I should experiment with moving the image over slightly. I have therefore decided to make some further progress with a selection of different layouts. 

Final Few

During my development process, I saved a lot of my final ideas in a folder. These final ideas aren't in concrete but they demonstrate how I reached the final outcome. 

When I asked for further feedback, I received a valuable suggestion, to include all of the small print information at the bottom of the poster as this makes it more realistic. It also demonstrates my understanding for what needs to be included on a film poster, linking back to the primary research I have posted of the photographs of the Superman and Iron Man screen printed posters.

Below is my submission to AMP. I am really pleased with the outcome and I am looking forward to getting it printed in time to hand in after Easter. I am going to get it printed at A4 scale and A3 scale so that I can also submit the larger version in the future. 

Once I had submitted my poster, I heard back from Simon straight away. I was really pleased to receive this feedback and was grateful that he had been able to take the time to send a personal reply, which I am sure he has done with everyone. I then noticed that he had posted my work to the Facebook page before adding it to the website which was quite exciting.