OUGD603 - Year Book - Initial ideas

To help make the year book stand out, we decided that the branding must be conceptual and work well for both the yearbook and graphic design exhibition. With this in mind Ben and I set out to create an idea each to work on. The concept I came up with was named 'Moving Up' and incorporated pages which could be pulled out and placed into the front cover. After creating some initial sketches I developed some of my ideas on illustrator. The moving up concept came from how each student on the course are progressing and moving forward after uni, it is consistent throughout this idea, using arrows to symbolise this and being able to pull out student work so if the reader wishes, all work could be stuck on the wall.

I experimented with a number of sans serif typefaces. We had decided that we wanted the identity to be simple and contempary so it would work well with the work produced by everyone else on the course.

I developed some sketched arrows which could be used to represent moving on within the logo. 

Vertical type was added to front cover ideas adding to the 'moving up concept' as type reads up the page. Further developments for the front cover 

The layout I produced for this concept involves everybody's work on a postcard. These will be perforated, enabling them to be pulled out where they can be placed in the front cover or kept separately if the reader wishes. In turn this could be valuable for potential employers who can take the cards of students they are interested in and contact them using details on the back.

We came together with the concepts we had come up with and decided to progress with the 'moving up' idea. Ben and Jen brought more ideas to the concept, adding a 'American year book' style page with a quote and photo for each person in the year. This part of the publication would be more significant to the students on our course and helps become something the are more likely going to keep. Ben also suggested the addition of a poster included within the year book which the reader can pull out and stick on the postcards from inside the book. This way the reader can create their own poster with whosever work they wish. A mock up of this will be produced for the presentation

After deciding that we would present my Moving up concept to the class, we started developing the idea further, changing the content pages and adding the ideas discussed in our most recent meeting. The final layout shown in the presentation can be seen below.

Contents Page

Name isn't included on postcards, meaning readers refer back to the contents page to find out whose work they are looking at. Alternatively the students contact information will be on the postcards.

First Page

A sort introduction is given about the year book and corresponding exhibition before moving onto the student postcards.

Student Pages

Each student has one page containing two postcards meaning they can include two projects within the year book. The postcards will show a photo of the student's work on the front and information about themselves, the project and their contact information on the back.

The below photo shows how the postcards can be pulled out for further use.

Arrows linking to the 'Moving Up' idea can be used to break up content in the publication.

American style year book photos will be included at the back of the book. This is more for sentimental value for the students. Categories such as class clown, most likely to succeed will be included as well as a quote from each student. This is all included so it becomes a Year Book that everybody in the class could keep to remember their time at LAU.