My Monotype Brief for D&AD was a very long-winded process. Taking over 50 hours and thats just for the animation! Due to the depth of the project I had to deepen my knowledge in applications. Learning the basics of coding was interesting and a skill that I would like to progress on. Creating an animation was not enjoyable due to its long-winded nature however the final piece is always rewarding, I like creating life through motion graphics in my work. I took this brief to take advantage of creating my first piece of ethical design. At the time Brexit was going on and Trump was running for president I wanted to voice my opinion, taking the First Things First manifesto into light. I enjoyed building a campaign, I found the marketing side of the brief very interesting to under-go. Overall I was happy with the final animation and brief, I believe I created a very typographical-led emotional,informed campaign based on a misunderstood notion in our politics and society, that works to leave you with insight and perhaps change original perception, with typography and motion graphics.
COLLABORATION BRIEF
My main collaboration brief was a curveball in my studies. I understood and faced a lot more problems than I anticipated. I was collaborating with an illustrator who is completely different in style and approach. This was all new to me in figuring out the most productive way to work with my partner. What I did love about the process was having the advantage of constant feedback throughout the project on every level of progression. The idea generation and working together to produce the animation was very enjoyable. Clashing with ideas going to and fro with which idea we should or should not make. Clashing with styles and finding new ways of working. These were processes I enjoyed throughout the brief. We managed to communicate regularly and merged our individual skill-sets to create something unique. The problems faced were aspects such as not having much of an in depth take on the course. Little to no research, not real deep context provided. This wasn't something you could put a blame on due to the nature of our studies. I have learnt to produce designs with depth and context, spreading a message. He is much more free-minded and a free approach due to taking an illustration course I would imagine it's much more free flowing and creative. This causes issues in the developmental stage and general process. As I would normally have a more in depth way of tackling the brief I tried his methods of interacting with a brief. Overall I believe it is interesting and you could probably get away with it in a less concise brief such as this but with more complex ones I am not sure it would. But the main reason this was so problematic was trying to convince my partner to develop the idea further, everything else could be solved with enough communication.
PINEWOOD BRIEF:
My second collaboration bar brief was much different. It was refreshing from the normal procedures of my working routine. Taking a more hands on approach to my work, rather than just working purely computer based, working with different materials and textures. The biggest bonus from this brief was working in a professional environment. Being able to communicate with other practitioners in different creative disciplines was enlightening. I learnt a lot about professionalism, and appealing to the demands of the employer, through constant communication and feedback to ensure the job was being done correctly. It also helped me refine my cross-disciplinary approaches. It was a much better way of collaborating in the workplace than the other collaboration brief. This was mainly due to everyone having clear concise roles to achieve. All aiding each other with their own specific skill-sets. This was less apparent in the student collaboration brief and general less organisation. This brief felt like you were bringing more to the table personally. But I should ask myself why? I could have persisted more with my wishes and urge my partner to create more time to collaborate. I should have installed the knowledge gained from this brief into my other briefs. It's only once I have finished a brief I earn knowledge through self reflection.
LINK TO PRESENTATION
I have mentioned in the past presentation brief that it was my intention to take the skills I have learnt in my time here to not just use for Graphic Design purposes but other creative outlets. It is my goal to work in a number of creative practices, not just a singular defining role.
SMALLER BRIEFS
I did not face any problems in this brief, it was efficiently executed. I find the topic interesting on the post Brexit world. Seeing how design can been altered by this new shift in politics is an interesting concept to delve in too. I believe I have achieved the requirements of the brief, by creating a design that presents a positive vision of the post-Brexit UK world. Amongst all the backlash right now my design works to create a sense of unity and ‘britishness’ to the design. A design with relevancy, and following the design trend of minimalism, creates a stylish elegant product. The colours are subtle and aesthetically. Through thorough research of the British colour chart, and understanding British typography I have successfully implied the British culture in my design, whilst providing a statement. Overall a very successful redesign with modern values of design implied. United Kingdom nationals can once again feel pride and self-confidence in their own nationality when travelling, just as the Swiss and Americans can do. National identity matters and there is no better way of demonstrating this today than by bringing back this much-loved national symbol when travelling overseas. I don't know if I have learn't much from this brief being perfectly honest. It was more of a task seen of interest which could widen my portfolio. I have a much deepened knowledge of British design in particular typography.
PENGUIN BOOK COVER BRIEF
The main knowledge gained through this brief was understanding buyer psychology. Developing insight into colour psychology to engage consumer purchase. This knowledge is not just relevant to book covers but every facet of advertising. The advertising industry is the main controlling concept in the study of Graphic design. It has taken over the true purpose of graphic design. This is in direct relation to my COP2 essay. So understanding consumer purchase is key to becoming a successful graphic designer and businessman. I would like to be an entrepreneur at some point in my career so this sort of knowledge is valuable to my prospects. I chose To Kill a Mockingbird because I have read the book as a child, so it would be the much more relatable/suitable decision. I suffered from finding a final solution to this brief. Creating many experimentations until I was satisfied with a decision, which wasted a lot of time, this was the only problem I faced in this process. On average, a person spends 5-8 seconds on an interesting cover. The front cover elicits such a powerful response that a potential buyer has the gut reaction to flip over and read the back cover to see the full work of art. It is more likely the reader spends more time on the back cover so if you manage to convince the reader to flip the book over and read the content you are more likely to make a sale. That is the purpose and power of a book cover design and I feel I have done that, whilst still understanding the needs of what penguin are asking in the brief:
- have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
- be competently executed with strong use of typography
- appeal to a contemporary readership
- show a good understanding of the marketplace
Overall the main principle learnings I have taken from Responsive module is the ability to take initiative and work within a professional environment. I can directly link all of them as learning experiences, each to their own merit. Through these briefs I have deepened my practice on time management. Certainly collaborating has broadened my cognitive understanding. I would like to understand coding more, as I believe it will be an important skill to have in the future, it is also a well paying sector in the working industries. I have seen some graduate internship jobs going for as high as £40,000 a year. So this is a potential prospect. Which is another major point in my learnings from these briefs. I have shown my true direction in these modules. In the future I do not see myself in one specific role. I don't want to label myself as a graphic designer because there are many other creative outlets I shall pursue. Which I made a huge point of in my presentation. These briefs were an example of this. I do not have the same skills as an interior designer but in my interior design brief I used my skills as a graphic designer and put it to a different practice. Which also can make my style in this sector unique, and separates me from my competitors. In this brief I have discovered future prospects through self discovery, really taking control of my learning and drawing a creative path to follow into next year. I don't think I have a distinctive style which I prefer as I would like to be as versatile as possible as a creative. This brief showed my versatility, and strengthened it as well as teach me to revaluate my social skills and perhaps next time to enforce my ideology further, instead of shying away from a conflict of interests.
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