OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Brief and initial research

This brief is set in two parts. The first focuses on the research element of my brief as this must be extensive and appropriate both visually and contextually. The brief asks to find a social, political or ethical issue that will then be tackled within my practical work. Once this issue has been identified I must 'tap into' the specific subject area during the research stage of the design process so I have a good understanding of how I will tackle the practical part of the brief.

The first part of this brief was based on the research I undertake and included a presentation suggesting which issue I would want my project to be based on. Prior to this, my initial research on current issues will provide me with a number of options for development. I felt it would be important to focus on an issue that I was either interested in or have previous knowledge on. In turn this will provide me with a good starting point to the brief and help me produce a project to the best of my ability. It was then important that I researched every aspect of the issue so I had the best understanding I could for my practical work.

I decided I would list a number of issues I felt were important and could be developed. This can be seen below:

Seaworld

Despite previously being a popular tourist attraction, the documentary Blackfish outlined the issue to the world and it quickly became noticed by many people calling on Seaworlds treatment of animals. Thankfully, through research I found that Seaworld have started to tackle the issue and are slowly turning their attraction into wildlife sanctuaries.

As this issue is on its way to being resolved I looked into the poor treatment of animals within zoos and found that this is still an ongoing issue. Because of this, it could work well for this brief.

Anxiety within teens

This is an issue that has been noticed more and more within recent years. Many of those with anxiety are previously unaware they are effected however this is partly down to the awareness of mental health within younger people. A campaign for this would be useful, especially within a university where the issue must be outlined.

Black Lives Matter within the UK

Last year I attended the BLM march in Leeds. Although I was previously aware of the issue, I was unsure of the facts or what the campaign stood for. Once the points were outlined within speeches on the day I had a better understanding of the issue as well as the importance of it being shared.

Guantanamo Bay

Since opening in 2002, this prison in Cuba has been outlined in the media for torturing and unfairly prisoning its occupants. This is an issue that continues despite constant coverage within the press.

Brexit

Being an issue that effects everyone within the EU, it is an issue that I feel many people don't fully understand. A campaign that explains the issues for and against Brexit would be invaluable for the younger generation who have the least amount of knowledge on the subject but may be heavily effected by the result in the future.

I have decided to focus on the cruelty of animals within zoos as this can be explored within a number of different ways and has the opportunity to impact people's opinions through a successful campaign. My next stage in the design process will be to develop my research and produce the presentation to explain my idea.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Final poster and Evaluation

Studio Brief 01 asked me to produce a poster using traditional print for an event that has already happened. As I have spent a lot of time in Leeds in the past five years, I found the beginning research element within this brief easier than most. At this stage, I found a number of events that would work well for this brief however after feedback decided I would be creating a poster for Unity Day.

As I have been to Unity Day twice, I had a good understanding of the event and knew how best to portray the celebration. I had heard from locals about the beginnings of the event however further research helped me decide on ideas for my final poster. In many ways this previous knowledge has been useful whilst producing my designs and has shown me the usefulness of primary research and talking to people involved with the event.

I decided to use screen printing as my chosen traditional print method as this may be the method I would use if the poster was actually produced. This also worked well for my own, original prints however I found I struggled with this process again because of my hand. Although there were inconsistencies in the block colour part most of my prints, I felt this actually worked well on the poster and added character to the design.

I felt my time planning was constructive to my design process and final outcome as meant I could finish the brief in time for studio brief 02. Although my broken hand may have impeded my timing with this module, my planning throughout has meant I have finished work to a high standard before the deadline.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Critique and final design

I attended a final critique to help me choose which idea would work best. Within this I was able to ask a number of questions related to my design outcomes. I left the whole illustrator file up on my Macbook so all my ideas could be seen. As everyone involved with the critique walked around to give feedback on each persons work, I was able to get a better idea on which poster idea to develop. My results can be seen below:

After this feedback I have decided to use the design below for my final poster. This will be screen printed to work with the requirements set in the brief.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Development

After my previous critique I had decided to create a typographical response for my Unity Day poster. I brought my original sketches onto illustrator and pushed these further. This can be seen below.

After producing my original sketches on illustrator, I decided to experiment further with some new ideas but sticking to the same concept. 

I developed these further and picked the two designs I felt were most successful to bring to my next critique. After experimentation with typography that was loud and eye catching I decided Druk would work best. Its typefaces vary in width and height so worked well whilst experimenting. Using orange as I did 

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Initial Sketches

Taking my research on poster design, the event and my target audience into consideration I decided to start sketching some poster ideas. I experimented with different styles including, illustrative, typographical and imagery based concepts. These sketches are seen below.













I took these sketches to an initial critique where I could better focus my ideas for this brief. After talking through my event and noting which results I felt would work best, I asked my peers some questions for feedback. These were as follows. 

1. Which technique do you think would be most appropriate for this event? (type, image or illustration) As I had a number of photographs from last years unity day my peers felt it would be good to experiment with these within different poster layouts. They felt these image based responses would appeal to a wider audience however the type sketches worked well to express the origins of the event.

2. Do you think it is appropriate to include references to how the event originated? The group touched upon this within my last answer. They felt that talking about its origins would better suit the brief and would be informative for those wanting to learn more about the event.

3. Which of my first sketches to you like the most? Although my group thought a number of my sketches worked well and should be developed, they favoured the second typographical design as felt its eye catching design would attract most audiences.

4. What colour scheme do you think would be most appropriate? My research on Unity Day said to focus on orange as it is used on the website and previous promotion however I decided to experiment on illustrator to show this critique group the different colours I could use (seen above). Despite explaining each colour within my experimentation, my peers felt the orange colour scheme would work best on posters. Because of this feedback, I will use it when my digitally create my posters on illustrator.

This critique was useful for the progression of this project. I have been able to narrow down my responses and decided to focus on developing typographical designs for the next stage. As some of my peers within the critique had attended Unity Day the previous year, they felt my current sketches worked well to represent the event.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Target Audience & Tones of Voice

Unity day is an event made for locals which brings together everyone who lives in area. A large proportion of those who attend the day are students as Hyde Park is a hotspot for this target audience. This event also attracts a number of families from across Leeds so my design must be appropriate for all audiences. As there is no promotion of the event allowed until a couple of days prior, I feel like this poster would work well as a freebie given away on the day to commemorate its beginnings. This means it must be attractive to anyone who wishes to take something physical from the event. Because of this, I must also look at how the large audience effects the tone of voice. I cannot focus too much on the destructive origins of Unity Day but more on the celebration of what the event is today. These ideas will be taken into consideration as I design the poster.

OUGD505 - Studio Brief 01 - Feedback, Initial Idea Generation and research

I spoke to some peers about which idea would be most appropriate for progression. My critique group for this liked that I had attended each of the events as it gave me a better insight into what happened and how they  should be appropriately portrayed. Although the group felt all three of the ideas would work well, they decided that the Unity Day poster would be best as I live in the area so can ask locals about the event and find out more about its impact on the community.

I decided to look into the things I could focus my Unity Day poster on. I did this using a mind map as it meant I could see all my ideas in one place.

From this I progressed by looking at more general poster research. As I wanted the poster to celebrate Unity Day rather than promote it, this was considered during this research. The first posters I looked at were minimal and contained only simple shapes This will be appropriate if I am to screen print my design as it can be produced with one layer of ink. Despite this, I don't feel the design would work as well for Unity Day's outgoing and community driven portrayal.

I looked at typography based posters as felt this may be an appropriate response for the event. I focussed particularly on eye catching and loud designs as this would work best for Unity Day.

Loud designs such as this commonly use san serif fonts to communicate their message. This works well to capture the audience effectively and sum up the nature of the event.

I also looked at more illustrative based typography posters. These varied in styles however I found the first three designs seen below that use more digital illustrations to work better.