OUGD503 - Up Yer Sleeve - Final Critique

I brought some experimental images of my 3 finals (seen above) to a critique for feedback on which would be the most appropriate idea for development. I again showed my group the youtube song I was given so they had a good understanding of what I was working on. Each idea was at a different stage of development however I made sure my peers knew how each would progress to a final cover.

I decided to ask my peers within this critique which idea they felt was most appropriate, from which I found varied results. Conceptually, the group agreed that the folding heart idea would work best but as this idea was still in initial stages it was hard to see whether it would work as well aesthetically as the other ideas. Despite this, some members of the group felt this idea was the most appropriate adding how they felt a black background would work best however it would be good to experiment with white also. We agreed as a group that the photos should seamlessly merge together so the final cover designed looked less like a contact sheet and more like one photo.

I showed my peers the inspiration used for this idea as well as my experimentation as the idea couldn't be seen in its final form. Although all my crit group liked my illustration and use of colour to represent the upbeat nature of the song, they felt this had been done before. I therefore decided to dismiss this idea for this brief.

I received positive feedback about my typography response however I feel this is partly because this was the most complete idea. They liked liked the idea of using a grey background with contrasting colourful type as felt it represented the song well however suggested experimenting further with foiling and other traditional print methods. Although the group was swaying towards this idea, I didn't feel it would work as well as the other two in consideration.

Despite deliberation within the crit group, I have decided to progress with the folded heart idea, taking into consideration their added points for improvement. I feel this idea could work well as a more ambiguous response which could in turn help my chances in doing well within the competition.