Handin tomorrow!

So hand in is tomorrow at 12pm. I can’t believe it’s all over, it’s been the fastest year of my life. I’ve worked really hard and kept to my schedule, I believe I have improved from first semester and produced work of a high standard. I don’t think there is anything more I could have done so fingers crossed I get a good result.

This was my timetable for this semester

PDP

I found this semester to be challenging yet enjoyable. The most important skill I have developed from first semester is my time management. As we were independent and choosing our own briefs I had to work toward my own deadlines for the first time. This was a good thing and a bad thing!

Good in the fact that I got to choose the briefs I thought were best for me, and bad in the fact that it was totally dependant on me to divide time appropriately between the projects. To help with this I made a schedule and then every week I made a plan of what I wanted to have done by the next week. This was very helpful as I was able to tick certain things off my list see that I had accomplished something and I could see the projects moving along.

It has always been important for me to get feedback from other creative people and listen to constructive criticism. I am an open person and will listen to other people’s opinions, and take these into consideration when developing my work. This was crucial in this semester and I was constantly asking peoples views, not just tutors and classmates but also people outside the university so I could get an unbiased judgment.

Semester Two

VIC 505 I project

I believe I showed my creative skills in taking an existing logo and showing it in different ways to imply emotion. I remember a workshop we did in first year where we had to use letters in a picture to tell a story. Essentially that is what I have done with these posters.

I began this project by “over thinking” the design and bastardised the logo to the point were it was unrecognizable. However after talks with John and the group I was able to rectify the mistakes I had made. I also developed my communication skills by going out and talking to a range of students from different courses, (as the paper was being aimed at them) I had to constantly remember that this paper wasn’t just being aimed at students from the art college, but to students from all over the campus.

That is why I decided to take a more simplistic approach.  I feel that by showing the logo in its most simplistic form it has more impact on the viewer. I kept the text quite small as I wanted the viewer to focus on the image of the logo and how it is placed on the page. I believe I have created posters that work on a number of levels. They are easily read at different sizes and I think the emotion is delivered across by the simplicity of the ‘i’.

Channel 4 project

In this project I showed my logo development skills and text hierarchy in the TV ident/screen designs. I spent a lot of time on researching the market that this TV station was aiming at. As it was for the over sixties I only thought it wise to interview a number of sixty plus people to see what programs/TV stations they watched regularly. I was quite surprised at the fact that the majority of people I interviewed enjoyed watching similar programs to myself.

They enjoyed programs such as The Killing, Grand Designs, CSI etc. When I asked them if they felt pressured into watching certain types of programs now they were a certain age the majority of them said they didn’t really feel that old anyway, and that if it’s interesting to them it doesn’t matter when it was made so long as it was quality TV.

These interviews also helped me with my logo design as I created my 64 logo based on information which I obtained in these interviews. When I asked them what type of music they liked a lot of them said they enjoyed listening to the Beatles. I then looked at some Beatles songs and there was a song called When I’m sixty four. I thought this would be a fun and clever why to tie in everything that this new channel was about. It’s for the over sixties hence the name, it’s a title to a Beatles song (so they’ll get the link), and the song came out when they were in there youth so they will remember it.

The logo went through a number of changes before I finally settled on a black/white version. I had originally added colour however when I talked with class mates and John they thought it was in danger of looking too similar to the original channel4 logo. I also researched colour psychology and what certain colours mean. I thought black and white were strong colours to use as they both portray glamour, emotional safety, purity, cleanness and simplicity. That is what I want everyone to think about when viewing my logo.

This project also allowed me to be very creative when it came to film work. I was stepping out of my comfort zone, as I hadn’t done a lot of work in film or after effects before. I filmed a number of possible idents before I settled on a shadow ident. It tied in well with the white logo and had a slightly creepy feel to it. As it was a tester campaign I wanted to give a sense of the types of programs that may be shown on it.

It looks like an escape and the 64 is like a torch searching for you, the noises in the background sound like a person being chased but we don’t know what they’re running from. I was really pleased with the final ident. I could imagine it working as a real life working ident.

The style guide for 64 also marries well with all the other design work. I used a grey background for the screen to reflect the grey foreground in the shadow ident. The logo also appears on screen like a shadow with a program running behind it before it settles. You can also see the hierarchy of text on screen in different scenarios.

VIC 504

Self-promotion

I wanted to put my own individual stamp on my self-promotion work. The one thing everyone notices about me is my ginger hair. Another word for ginger is redhead, so I thought I could use this in my design and call my business “redhead graphics.”  It pretty much sums me up. I used photography as the medium for the design as I wanted to keep it simple and use myself in the promotion work so people would know who, I am and what I’m about.

With regards to hierarchy I tried to keep text minimum so the viewer is not overwhelmed with information and they get the message fast without being bored. I developed a website for how I want my work to be shown, I hope to get up and running soon. I’m also on Facebook and BlogSpot so you can check me out online. I have also designed letter faces and compliment slips.

I thought it would be a fun and unusual way to hand out my business cards in a little box with a ginger biscuit. I have kept it simple; it’s a white box with an orange circle on the front (like a biscuit) that says mmm… there is then a quirky message inside the box encouraging the viewer to contact me. I thought this would be a nice way for the public to get introduced to my work while they’re having a cuppa tea.

Progress made in this semester

I have spent a lot more time in the studio getting feedback from my classmates, which has helped me become less isolated and also allow my work to develop faster.

Skills to develop

No one is perfect and I am constantly learning, I believe I have improved most of my skills since first semester, however I would like to continue working on my time management as it will be one of the most important skills to have when I go into the world of work. I am constantly working on my communication skills and know that it’s important to listen to constructive criticism. I believe that this skill really helped my work develop this year.

Final thoughts

I have found the entire final year to be challenging yet very enjoyable. I know everyone always says that final year is the worst year of your life but I have found it to be the most creative and driven year I have had in University.

The first semester helped me find what I wanted to focus on most for final semester. The one thing I wanted to get out of this year was great portfolio pieces so I would have a strong body of work to show when I go to job interviews. I believe I have created a varied range of visual interesting pieces, which I am proud of.

I set up a blog and used it as a daily diary, showing my progress through second semester. This helped me keep tract of my progress and allowed me to see my work develop over the semester.

I believe that as second semester has progressed my work has become a lot more structured and well thought out. I have worked well to my own set deadlines, and my time management has really improved. As I spent more time in the studio talking with my classmates and getting feedback from tutors it has made me a lot more confident in my work and my communication skills. This has made me more self-assured and independent, which I hope will help me later when applying for jobs.

Finished box with card and biscuit

box template

box

Finished website

Web measurements

I've sent off my business to get printed so hopefully I should have them by next wednesday. They are getting printed in Northside, 350gsm silk 85mmx55mm.

Finished business cards, letter and compliment slips

letters/compliment slips

I've been working on letter faces and compliments slips also. I tried some of them with opacity of 80 and 60% however as the all the pieces have a light grey background the text is readable anyway so it doesn't really need it.

Facebook

I have set up a facebook page for my graphics work so you can now find me at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Redhead-graphics/413676651998522

Business card

This is the idea I have for my business card. The text is Helvetic Bold. I have kept the information short and sweet so I don't bore the viewer. I think I'll leave a bit more space between the information and break up the mob number so it's easier to read. I also need to make the text all lowercase. But apart from that I'm pretty happy.

Name

I wanted to put my own individual stamp on my self-promotion work. The one thing everyone notices about me is my ginger hair. Another word for ginger is redhead, so I thought I could use this in my design and call my business “redhead graphics.”  It pretty much sums me up. 

cover

Dull

Bright

This is the image I'm going to us throughout the campaign. It was a bit dull and my hair didnt look bright enough so I increased the Hue saturation to give it a bit more kick.

head

I was thinking about a business card idea. I thought it would look visually interesting to have my face on one side and the back of my head on the other. The solid mass of hair would then allow me to place text on top of it and still be readable.

new picture

The facial expression is better here, however I showed it to a few of my class mates and they said they preferred the hair messy, like an explosion. I think I also prefer the hair more wavy so I'll reshoot this again today.

Changes

My thoughts were current, it's too busy with the text and image. I tried to make it less intrusive by cutting off one side of the face and using negative space on the left. However with the signature on the left also it cant really breath.

I then removed the signature and placed text a blue strip to see if it would give a freshness to the peace. I used the colour blue as my eyes are blue, however this piece isn't working, I think my eyes need to be opened, and its also quite dull with the grey background.

This is working a bit better. I made the background white and placed a photograph with my eyes opened which is more interactive with the viewer. However I don't like the blue strip now, and I don't think it's eye catching. I need to take more photographs.

Experiments

I think I could make the work more personal by adding my signature into the design. I'll see if it works, it may look too busy with the photograph.

Self-promotion work

This image isn't going to work. I had photoshoped a different picture on top of my hair but it doesn't look right. I need to get better photographs. However I will use this one to experiment with.

64 ident final version

Last class

I had my last class with John this morning, can’t believe we’ve only 2weeks left until hand in! This year has flown.  I showed John all my finished material. He thought the new Identity guide looked well and he was happy with all the backup information. I showed him the ident video one last time incase he thought there were any last minute changes that needed to be made, but he said it was fine. The music, video and text all sat well together. I’m happy John asked me to change the background colour of the guide from white to grey. Both the guide and ident now look like they are one.

I asked John if there was anything else the project needed, and he just said about showing how the items would look on ipads, tv etc. but I already had that done and showed him all the finished advertising which he was pleased with. Now all I have to do is print of my finished pages for my folder.

This leaves me with 2weeks to focus on my self-promotion work. I’ve been working on some ideas for my business cards/compliment slips. I want to take more photographs and work on cropping techniques. I now also need to start developing a website to show my design work. John said I can continue to email pdf’s of my work and he will give me feedback which is great.  

How it looks on TV, Ipad and Bus stop/billboard

Transition 1, 2 and 3

Identity style Guide finished

This is my completed Identity style Guide.

Plan

I'm going to work on my new Identity style guide for the next few days. I'll post it all when it's finished.

6 sheet bus stop, and 48 sheet billboard

I’ve tried a number of different lines for the billboards and bus stops. I don’t think the text looks right stacked on top of each other. It doesn’t flow well, the others lead your eye over to the logo. I don’t want to be really blunt and just say “for the over sixties channel4 presents…” plus I think it’s too long for a billboard statement. The version I think I’ll use is “Channel 4 presents…(for those of a certain age)” I think it’s a subtle way of saying its for an older audience without offending anyone. I may also use the line “Channel 4 introduces…(for those of a certain age)” as we are lunching the new station. 

Background colour

I showed John my layouts for my identity guide and wasn’t sure about the white background he thought it was a bit too empty and didn’t have enough punch to it. So I did a few different versions with black and different tones of grey. John liked these a lot better. He said they had more impact and really brought out the colour in the text and programme running behind the logo. I decided to go for the bottom right version which is 75% grey. I thought the black was too heavy and the other two versions were too washed out. 75% grey seemed to be a happy medium. I will now use this background colour throughout my brand identy. The grey background also ties in well with my ident video which has grey tones throughout.

John was happy with the sound and video quality of the TV ident. He told me to work on the text layout and sound (I removed the voice over) which I did and he seems quite happy with it.

Indent progress

TV Ident: Final version

This is the final version of the TV ident. Here I here done some screen shoots to show how the video flows and merges in with the logo. I have tried a number of different text layouts to see which version works best. The first version was too long and too much information to read at once. The second version was better. As it’s a teaser ident I only need the basic information (date and URL). However I did like the date and URL lined up, but I thought the date was too big. So for the last version I made it smaller and lined to the left with a rag on the right. I lined it up with the base of the 4 so the eye would follow the text over to the logo. I think this text version works the best.

Garage Band

After I was happy with my ident video I started working on what sounds would suit it. At the start I was going to use a static sound, however after playing it over the video it didn’t feel right, and as the video lasts for 28seconds the static sound gets a bit boring. The video had a spooky feel to. It looked like there was a torch looking for you, like there was someone are something hunting you down. So I then decided to try and make it sound like someone was getting chased. I then seared for footprint running sounds, dogs barking and running, wind blowing and heavy breathing. I then organised them in such a way so it sounded like a man was being changed by dogs and hiding from them. This fitted in really well with the video and I was able to play around with the levels of each sound so it sounded like they were coming from different directions and increasing/decreasing at different stages of the video.

After Effects

When I selected the video I wanted to use I brought it into After Effects and flicked it the right way round so it was reading as 64. I then selected the part of the video I wanted to use and made it fit the stage. I was then able to bring my white logo in and make it merge into the last part of the light logo, before it moved off the stage. I had to play around the angle of the logo first so it merged smoothly into the sequence. I didn’t want the text to look out of place so I gave it a slight blur as it appeared on the stage and then let it slowly come into focus like the logo. John said that I didn’t need as much text as I had in the first version. As it’s only a teaser I only need a date and maybe the channel4.com/64 URL link so I took his advice and it looks much better. John also told me that the voice over wasn’t necessary and the noise of the wind, dogs and the chase was enough.