OUGD406 Speaking From Experience: Evaluation

EVALUATION:

I think that over all my work for this brief was good. I feel that i created a decent amount of work for the time period provided. My work developed as the weeks progressed and my end result had strayed from my original brief slightly, however i think it serves the purpose and if i was a first year student i would be pleased to receive this. I also increased the work load adding a publication after it was suggested from one of the crits that i needed enough work to show for the whole period of the brief.

I think that the downfall of my project was time management, unfortunately i didn't plan my time sufficiently enough and consequently didn't get to try as many different techniques as i wanted to. Saying this, i think that the method of production i chose suited my end result. 

OUGD406: Speaking from experience Crit

CRIT:

In prior preparation for the crit we had to produce a set of design boards outlining our concept, method of production and method of distribution. We had to present our initial ideas to Simon and 3 of the 3rd year students as well as a selection of our peers.

FEED BACK:

The general feedback that I received from the crit was positive. Everyone like my ideas. One of the 3rd years mentioned that my design boards above, looked like news paper articles, and maybe I should think about creating a publication to go the posters. This was something i had consider to make sure i had a decent proportion of work to show for the final submission. I think my crit went well, i need to start designing and generating ideas. Taking some designs to the crit would have proved more beneficial as i could have gained feedback from the content of my work, not just the concept.

OUGD406: Communication Is a Virus Evaluation.

As a group what problem did you identify and why in response to 'drink tea'?

We identified what tea is associated with, mostly relaxing after a days work, a pass time that fits in with the lifestyles of working professionals who need that down time. As well as this tea has a reputation for represented a British 'stiff upper lip'. We wanted to change that by creating this 'tea is cool' ethos and incorporating into the lives of students and young professionals.

What methods did you use to gather your evidence to prove this was a problem and what forms did it take? (primary, secondary, qualitative, quantitative)

When doing research into other brands of tea, almost all the websites tried desperately to capitalise on the British theme, the use of Union Jacks, London Buses etc, a theme which in my opinion is extremely overdone. When looking at some of the tea brands on sale in Harvey Nichols, a few more tried to appear natural and pure, a concept that I was quite interested in implementing but that wouldn't contribute to the 'tea is cool' idea.

What methods of research did you find useful and why?

Our secondary Research proved most useful given that we were trying to do something completely different to all the existing brands. This made it easy to see what other brands had done and almost do the opposite so that we wouldn't fall into a trap of being similar to any other brands. It was the secondary research that contributed to our decision to make our own brand, since we'd seen nothing that was in-keeping with our theme.

What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful?

Spending more time and actually documenting primary research could have really helped us decide how to make our brand fit the target audience perfectly, enabling us to have more success when it came to making the brand viral. Actually talking and documenting students and young professionals interest in a new brand of tea aimed at them would have helped us identify what areas required more attention.

How did you manage the workload as part of a group?

For the first time in any group I have been the workload was split very well. Initially we struggled as we were still coming up with a concept and plan for the first week, delaying us starting on the actual practical side, but once we had the idea clearly laid out we listed everything that needed to be done and assigned people to different areas based on their strengths. It was fairly evenly distributed and when someone was struggling more under their load others did help them out when they had the time. As a result, despite setting ourselves quite an ambitious project and therefore the workload being quite high, we were able to finish it effectively with everyone's help.

In spite of the success of the branding design and production, we were side-stepped by it and became so distracted by making it perfect that we didn't spend the amount of time on promotion that we could and should have, meaning that we didn't fit the brief as effectively as we had the potential to.

OUGD406: Design Is About Doing crit and evaluation

For the secret 7" live brief crit we had to create 5 final record cover designs as well as at least 30 thumbnail sketches of original ideas. we were assigned groups and had to crit each others work. I found it really interesting to see how other people had interpreted the brief. I displayed my ideas and explained them to the group, they came up with some useful feedback over all, but I am still undecided as to which final design I will pick.

Feedback:

• Add colour- The group expressed that they thought the design was a little bit flat and using coloured photography rather than black and white could really add some dimensions and interest to the design. Another way that it was suggested that i could add some colour is by adding tints and tones of a single colour.

•  Add a frame- One person in the group said that although i had tried to keep my design simple it was a little too simple. To improve this they said i could try and add a frame or border to the design. I will experiment with this, however i think it may detract from the cover.

• add new textures and layers- this will add new interest and dimensions to the cover.

Over all i think i have gained some decent ideas and useful feedback from this crit. I didn't find it as useful and other crits that we have had as my group were quite quite quiet. I think over all i have worked well in this brief. I have tried to work in a different more illustrative style in order to challenge my self and learn new skills. I am relatively happy with my final designs but still need to improve them over the weekend before the submission on monday. I need to make a final decision on what design to chose before I continue.

Final evaluation:

This is the final design I chose for the secret 7 submission. I took the critique from the people in my crit and decided to add colour. I am really pleased with the outcome. I think the simple design works well and suits the genre of music that i am designing for. I really enjoyed this brief. It was the first live brief i have participated in, it was exciting and challenging at the same time. I tried to use new and different techniques such as cut paper and illustration to challenge my self, although i discarded the illustrations i am happy that i experimented with them. I like the juxtapositions between the busy colourful forest and the crisp clean lines and negative space. Over all i am happy with how i worked in this brief, i kept to the time limit and created a design that i am proud of.