OUGD603 - WYS - Time plan

After outlining this brief, the next stage in production is to create a time plan. Although this will be an ongoing project throughout the year, we hope to have our first editorial complete by the new year so more client based editorials can be produced later in the year.

This time plan is based on what Ben and I have decided what we want produced for this brief by the end of the year and will make it easier to work on other briefs at the same time.

OUGD603 - WYS - brief

Last years collective brief saw my housemate Ben and I look at starting our own creative business. Our aim was to help young creatives in the production of their own editorials by offering them a package which would see the project from start to finish. Over summer we have been able to refine the idea and focus on how we can get the project up and running and are now in a position where we can progress more rapidly.

Below shows how we would make the process of editorial production easier for creatives and help us progress in our design careers.

Meeting with the client

This is where we can have a 1 to 1 discussion about the clients work, what they would like within their editorial and the different options they have for production and distribution.

Editorial design

Using notes from discussions with the client we will create an editorial piece that works as successfully as possible for the given brief. Throughout this process we will have contact with the client so they have control over their final product.

Production

This stage in the design process of the editorials we create will give us the opportunity to expand our contacts within the design industry. We hope to create a number of relationships with different printing companies making it easier for us to produce work in the future.

Distribution

This stage will also help us to expand our relationship with shops such as village and colours may vary however we hope to sell the editorials we create further afield in places sure as Manchester and London. We will also sell editorials on our own website.

Promotion

We want each title to be shown on our Instagram which will hopefully gain popularity as more editorials are produced. A show will also be put on for each editorial where they will be available to purchase and also for prospective clients who may want to talk to us about their own ideas.

There will be a number of things we hope to produce for this brief that will set us up for future development of the business. This includes:

Creating an appropriate identity that is recognisable and can be used across a number of different platforms

Setting up social media that will help us to promote ourselves successfully for our ideal client (instagram, behance and facebook)

producing an online store where the editorials we produce can be bought

establishing a relationship with a printers and distribution source

producing our first zine which will kick-start the business and show what we can do

As this brief has a considerable amount of work, Ben and I decided that it would be more manageable to split the workload up into separate 'mini briefs' enabling us to concentrate on completing each specific part of the project within a time frame.

The first of these mini briefs was to produce a strong identity with a recognisable visual presence meaning our audience can quickly identify that the work has been produced by WYS.

Together we recognised that establishing an identity that is effective in attracting the appropriate audience was important to produce at the start of the project so it could be used consistently throughout the work we produce.

The deliverables we decided to produce for this include:

Logo
logotype & thumbnail style

Website
giving users the opportunity to learn more about the 'usiness' and gives credibility to what we are producing.

Online shop
this can be included within the website however is essential so the audience can buy the products we have to offer.

Business cards
used for networking

email footer
giving credibility to the clients we email

social content
the best way for us to reach our target audience and show off the work we produce.

promo pack
it was decided that a promo pack would be produced to send out to peers and potential clients to give information about our business and help promote the idea. Within this would include

postcards
featuring the work of the creators we are working with

stickers
everyone loves free stickers and the work well as free promotion

posters
for promotional use

info leaflet

so context can be given to the promo pack

Research will be one of the most important elements within this brief so the next stage in the design process will be to extensively look at different projects which could help influence our end result.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Production

I decided to screen print my poster as this is a process that could be used if the posters were actually made for the event. This process is also appropriate because I used only two colour within my poster making the screen print quick and easy to produce.

As I have broken my hand I knew this process may be difficult however I have experienced doing it so wasn't too difficult with the help of the print room assistant. With my injury I found it difficult to pull and flush ink on to the paper so I was left with prints that had inconsistencies within the large blocks of orange colour.

The top black layer was easier to print as I didn't have to put as much pressure on such a large area of the squeegee. I had produced a large quantity of prints after my first layer as I tried to get all the ink to fill in the block colour, this meant I had room to experiment with the position of the paper beneath the screen. After several attempts I produced a print that I was happy with and could be used as my final outcome within the exhibition.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Evaluation

This studio brief asked me to create an outcome based on an issue I felt needed to be addressed. I wanted to make sure I had a range of ideas throughout different aspects of the brief. I was able to do this by carefully exploring each subject during the research stage of my brief. Once I had established my focus on the treatment of animals within zoos I researched various areas including the guerrilla marketing techniques of companies and charities, how other designers have responded to this issue and other modern and eye catching poster design.

The research I did lead me on to the design of my poster which I again had a number of ideas which I developed within my design process. These were explored further after informative feedback helping me to produce the experimentation I did on illustrator. These critique's I took part in were important for the production of my final outcomes as helped me pick up on things I may have missed or could improve on. The final critique was most important as gave me a better understanding of how my intended target audience would react to my campaign.

Collaboration was an important part of this brief as I was unable to illustrate myself. I feel my organisation within this brief enabled me find an appropriate illustrator with ease as I did not have to rush the end of my project despite the time this process took. As I had already established what illustrations I needed and how they would best work within my final designs, working with Nenah was an easy process as we were able to comfortably communicate with each other and produce the final outcomes. This is something that I am glad I have done within Studio Brief 02 as finding and collaborating with professionals in this way is something I will be doing in the future. As working with Nenah on this brief was successful, I may also get in contact with her if I am in need of an illustrator in later projects.

My last critique showed me the success of my final outcomes which I was at first unsure of because of how much they had changed from my original sketches. I used pastel colours across the poster series which is a colour scheme I am unfamiliar working with but felt it was appropriate for my campaign. Its consistency throughout the final outcomes made the series more recognisable and brought the project together into a more complete campaign.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Final Critique

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the final critique because of a hospital appointment for my hand. Because of this, I decided to ask some peers for feedback on my final designs. This included questions specific to my designs.

1. Do you think my final campaign is appropriate for the intended target audience? The use of pastel colours and the san serif typeface chosen was found to work well for these posters. My peers felt the audience would start reading the poster only to find out about my campaign so was effective.

2. Do you think my guerrilla marketing style of distribution is appropriate for my issue? My peers felt that using stickers as well as the posters within my campaign worked well to spread the issue. Posters 

3. Do you think there is anyway I could have improved my campaign? The majority of people I asked felt I could have been more experimental with guerrilla marketing. Suggestions included being able to tear stickers from the posters or making the outcome so it interacts with my audience

4. Any other feedback? Everyone I asked feedback from seemed to like my response to the brief and felt it worked well to grab the audiences attention and inform them about the issue. One peer noted that an informative editorial may have been appropriate to work alongside the campaign and better inform the audience about animal welfare in zoos. This question's responses were informative and could have helped develop my project further if I had more time.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Distribution and Final Mockups

I decided earlier in the brief that I would distribute my campaign using guerrilla marketing. I would want my posters to be tactically placed so they best influence my target audience. Because of this I would put in places with a large amount of tourists such as city centres. They would also be placed in the area around zoos where those visiting would see the campaign.

Stickers would be given to people out in tourist hotspots and outside of zoos. This gives people the opportunity to either keep the stickers for themselves or sick them around the zoo. As part of the campaign, these stickers could be purposely stuck around enclosures for best effect.

I also decided to mock up some t-shirts for volunteers to wear whilst giving out stickers and posters to the public. This was influenced by some of my original research and felt it could help influence people's opinion of zoos.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Poster Production

After receiving the illustrations back from Neena I was able to develop my poster designs further to better suit the results. I also decided to place the illustrations and slogan onto stickers. This is something I had the idea of doing earlier in the brief as felt it would work well to incorporate within my campaign. These stickers could be given to my target audience as they enter/leave affected zoos giving them the opportunity to keep for themselves or to share the message with others as they're stuck in various public places. These developed designs can be seen below Neena's illustrations along with the stickers.

I edited some of Neena's designs in illustrator a little to better suit my ideas.

There were a few things I wanted to develop within my poster design. I first looked whether the illustrations would look better on a white background as they didn't stand out as much. This worked better as the illustrations were easier to see. I also felt the posters were too simple. I added a fold in the bottom right of the image and a + to show that it is an issue that is ongoing and has no sign of stopping. 

I pushed ideas further on my design adding lines across the poster to show how the animals are trapped. The designs below are my final developed posters.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Poster Experimentation

My first step in my poster production after sketching my poster design ideas was to bring my ideas to illustrator. I first experimented with type and colour. I wanted to use a san serif typeface as felt this would be most appropriate for my younger audience. My experimentation using my chosen slogan can be seen below.

I wanted the colours of my poster to differ from other animal welfare posters looked at in research as felt the serious ideas they portray did not keep my intended audience interested in the issue. Because of this I looked at using bright and pastel colours.

I mocked up my poster sketches using the typeface I had chosen and different colour schemes I had looked at. Within these I felt a space for the illustration.

I have chosen to develop my poster idea for this brief. I have already experimented in my chosen illustrations in sketch form however, because of my broken hand (noted earlier in the brief) these aren't at the standard I would have hoped. Because of this, I have reached out to students on the illustration course at Leeds College of Art to see if anyone would be interested in collaborating on my final outcome. Within an hour I got a response from . After looking through her work, I felt she would be appropriate for my project as she often works in line drawings and has examples of animals within her work.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Poster Research

I decided to look into posters appropriate for my brief. Through sketch form I had a number of ideas of how I my posters would be designed however I felt my final outcomes could be improved with more research in this area. 

I first looked at more minimally design posters as they are more likely to catch my audiences eye. I also looked for posters that used bright colour effectively as feel it will also be more attractive to my audience.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing can work well to reach a large audience for a low cost. Through feedback and experimentation of my ideas, I have found this to be an appropriate way to communicate my message to my audience. I have decided to look into guerrilla techniques and examples of campaigns using them.

I first looked into how to how to produce a campaign successfully and found in an interview with Entrepreneur magazine, several guerrilla marketing agency experts divulged that good guerrilla marketing is…


“…unauthorized and disruptive” and “sticky.” – Brett Zaccardi of Street Attack

“…brand activation that isn’t 100 percent permitted by the city, event or establishment.” – Adam Salacuse, Founder and President of ALT TERRAIN

“…is a state of mind. It simply isn’t guerrilla if it isn’t newsworthy.” – Drew Neisser, CEO of Renegade Market

I looked at how charities have created guerrilla marketing as this is similar to what I will be doing within my own project.

I also looked at how companies have used guerrilla advertising to promote themselves as felt it could be useful for my own project.

Vegans protesting meat eating have also created a number of successful outcomes using guerrilla marketing. This can be seen below.

This research has been useful for the development of my designs. Although many examples of this type of advertising interacts with the audiences, some focused on being eye catching, shocking and in the right place at the right time. This is how I would like my posters to work. If the posters are placed near zoos and attract the audiences that visit zoos and help change their perception, I feel this will help them to be successful. I feel that stickers would also work well as guerrilla marketing for this brief. Being less noticeable and less likely to be taken down, these stickers could be placed around zoos so directly effect my target audience.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Poster ideas

Although I have previously experimented with the design of my posters during the developed ideas part of the design process, I felt it would be important to explain this in greater detail so my final response is more justified.

My posters would be eye catching, informative and appropriate for my audience who would previously have gone to the zoo including families and other young audiences. These were my main aims when developing three different design ideas for the posters.

I took to my research to help with my slogan and informative paragraph. After considering different options I decided on 'Still want to go to the zoo?' as it questions the viewer on their visit. Within the paragraph I wanted to mention a number of the problems identified earlier in the brief. This included how the enclosures are often unfit for the animals they hold and how they do not add but rather decrease the life span of endangered species despite. I also touched on how zoos think more about the people who want to view the animals than their welfare.

I wanted 4-5 different illustrations to go on each of my posters. For this I sketched some ideas based off my previous research on the conditions in zoos. 

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Time Plan

Over the Easter break I unfortunately broke my hand which in turn impeded my work as I struggled to write and type. Although I could have had an extension for OUGD505, I decided that I wanted to finish this module on the same deadlines as my peers. I therefore produced a time plan so I could make sure I my submission was on time and to the best of my ability. I did this a week and a half before submission as this is the time I gave myself for the project.

Monday
Poster research
Start sketching ideas

Tuesday 
Guerrilla marketing research
Choose three ideas to progress with

Wednesday
Poster experimentation and development
Critique

Thursday
Production of posters (illustrator)

Friday
Final Critique

Monday
Create mock ups for campaign

Tuesday
Finish blogs and start design blogs

Wednesday
Finish off project

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Progressed ideas & critique

After sketching 10 different ideas I picked three to develop further before bringing to the first critique. I felt these ideas would work best as they were well informed by my collated research and heavily influenced by my own experience with seeing animals in zoos. My developed ideas and more detailed sketches are seen below.

Idea 1: bus stop zoo

Idea 2: illustrative posters 

Idea 3: blog of images showing cruelty within zoos

After developing my three ideas, I brought them to a critique for further progression. Within this I was able to ask a number of questions about my designs that would help me with progression. As this crit involved peers walking around the studio, looking at work I was able to receive feedback from a large amount of people. The questions I asked and feedback I received is as follows:

1. Do you think my focus on the younger generation as a target audience works well for my project? Some peers agreed with me and felt the focus on a younger audience would have more of an impact than aiming on an the older generation.

2. Which idea do you think best communicates my message in a striking and eye-catching way? Overall I found that peers liked my guerrilla poster campaign and felt it would be the most effective when interacting with my audience.

3. Which idea do you think people will best respond to in a positive and constructive way? The bus stop idea was found to respond best with my peers because of its guerrilla marketing ideas. This idea works west to interact with the audience however, from the outside of the shelter it may be difficult to understand what I am trying to explain.

4. Do you think my printed or digital responses will be most effective for my target audience? Despite the interest and popularity in online campaigns, my peers felt a physical response would better suit my chosen brief.

This feedback has pushed me towards producing an outcome for my 2nd idea as I feel it will be most effective in getting my concept across to my audience. My next stage in the design process will be to research further to help influence my campaign as it is developed and mocked up digitally.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Further research & Initial Ideas

I found my initial research informative and useful when understanding how I would progress with the brief. I decided to look at how other artists and designers have responded to this issue as felt this could inform or influence my final design work.

I found campaigns from companies such as Peta and WWF to be useful as the conceptual posters produced were effective and straight to the point. The eye catching and outspoken designs are similar to what I hope to produce within my own project.

The illustrative designs below are aimed towards a younger target audience however the message is clear and stays the same. This may be a good way to produce my campaign as the younger generation may then see the importance of the issue and keep these opinions into adulthood. 

I liked this illustrative response as it works well across various media. It is appropriate for both a younger and older audience and its message is clear.

After this research I started to sketch some initial ideas out in my sketchbook. I wanted a number of varied ideas at the start of the project as this means I can develop my brief in the most appropriate way. Because of this, I sketched out 10 different ideas and made sure each other differed in concept and design.