PledgeMusic // Submission Boards

Indie Game // Submission Boards

Philosophy// Submission Boards and Evaluation

This has been an interesting project for me. It is my third completed brief of the year and has used very different working processes to the other two. I decided to work with Hannah as she is skilled in hand-lettering and I wanted to experiment with combining this technique with motion graphics to produce something different to either of our usual work. I enjoyed this brief, and appreciated that by adopting a subject that neither of us had much prior knowledge on, we were able to start from the perspective of a beginner and actually learn about a topic outside of design. The skill here was using design to communicate difficult concepts in an appropriate and simple way. We took a long time experimenting with mark-making techniques that would create the right tone and effect when projected. This was a new approach to working for me as I don’t often get to work hands on within a brief. For the animation, we decided to make the aesthetics as stripped back and minimal as possible. This created a much stronger outcome and fit the tone of curiosity and wonder in the original book. This is also the first brief that I have had to use the college sound booth to record a voiceover, and I felt like this detail also made a huge difference to the final animations. 

North Bar // Submission Boards

Hungry Sandwich Club // Submission Boards

Here are my individual submission boards for the project:

Nescafe Azera // Submission boards

Here are my submission boards for the project:

Foodpreneurs // Submission Boards

Dialogue // Evaluation and Submission Boards

The brief itself was very straightforward, and I treated it as a day brief, keeping both of the submissions simple and print-focussed. My work was paired with a French designer I was unfamiliar with, and it was great to be introduced to their work in this way. For my entry, I knew that the brief was loose and I wanted to take the opportunity to make something slightly experimental that would translate well to print. Using old geometric design software that I had at school instead of the Illustrator I was familiar with created unusual shapes and patterns, and I was able to make an optical illusion which created different tones through the overlaying of shapes. I was glad to also have had a small hand in the event by helping to produce the website.  It was great to see the whole class rallying behind Nathan and Eve’s event, and the best part of the process was seeing everyone’s submissions on the night and trying to recognise who had done what.

100 Bears // Submission Boards

Nescafe Azera // Evaluation

I enjoyed working with Sam Hoh again for this brief, and I thought that we worked really well together for this project. Taking on the Nescafe YCN Brief, we and to overcome the challenge of producing a ‘product innovation’ for the instant coffee brand. We bounced ideas well and used the design sprint method to understand the needs and expectation of coffee drinkers in the UK, settling on an alteration to packaging that allowed consumers to dispense an exact shot of coffee by twisting the carton. This met the aims of the brief by providing a solution that is novel, more convenient and more precise than other delivery methods. 

As part of this brief, and due to limitations in design style to Nescafe guidelines, we were both interested in using the copy to sell the product and push the brief. I really tried to focus on creating a distinct tone of voice for the product e.g. ‘instant coffee with a twist’ and felt that this made a huge difference to our delivery and presentation. Sam is very knowledgeable about advertising, and this was useful for me as we were able to consider techniques such as ambient advertising and organic social involvement that made our submission much deeper. While it was tempting to mock-up the packaging digitally, I was pleased that we decided to craft it ourselves, ordering recycled poster tubes to imitate our format and using paint and stickers to create a convincing mock-up of the packaging. This photographed really well and helped to demonstrate the viability of our idea a lot more than we we would have been able to without this. As this is the last year we can enter, I wanted to make sure that we had a strong entry for YCN and feel that for this submission we have done our best to hit every point of the brief and more. 

Hungry Sandwich Club // Evaluation

We were advised to write one brief that could run for the length of the year and could be revisited as skills and direction changed throughout the year. This long and thin brief for me was the self-branding and promotion of a collaborative studio practice with Andy Foster. This has been an important brief, allowing each of us to contribute individual strengths and skills to develop an overarching and revised body of work that is focused on public presentation, audience and tone of voice in relation the the current Graphic Design Industry and represents an attempt to define my place within it. Last year, I found it extremely difficult to brand myself and create a website that I was happy with as a representation of the kind of work I was producing. This year, as my practice has become more defined in digital delivery, I have found this brief a useful outlet for exercising skills such as design strategy, web design, animation, typography and copywriting to create outcomes that speak to my strengths as a designer. Andy has complimentary skills such as concept development, image-making, physical production and finishing which have enhanced the outcomes of the brief and led to a stronger combined presentation of the brand on and offline.  

Foodpreneurs // Evaluation

This brief came as an unexpected opportunity at the end of the year as me and Andy were asked to design some live event branding for Food& and Northern StrEats. I enjoyed this creative challenge, and found it to be a great brief as it had a really specific audience and context that we could use as a basis for our design, but was open enough that we were able to challenge ourself to do something new. Iconography is something I wish I had done more of this year as it has become an essential skill in the modern graphic designer’s toolbox and demonstrating it in a portfolio can be a big boost. I was really pleased with the full icon set we were able to produce as part of this project and found the use of the icon grid to be a really interesting and advanced way of working that produced great results.

I enjoyed the challenge of trying to select appropriate typography for the brand. The brief required type that struck a balance between minimalism and character, using typography to communicate the street food industry’s traits of professionalism and friendliness. I felt that I worked well with Andy on this project, as we were able to separate roles well to work more efficiently, working with the same objective and combining our separate elements to create the full brand. 

We produced a pitch of the brand for the client received positive feedback on the design. I look forward to continuing with this project after the course and applying the brand format to future events. 

Newspaper // Submission Boards

Jaypee // Submission Boards

This was a live brief set by former BAGD student Jonny Packham to redecorate studio 3 collaboratively with Jaypee, Andy, Tanni, Hannah, David and Natalie. We all had to pitch an idea for a section of the space. Keen to add more vinyl work to our portfolios, I wanted to collaborate with Andy again in pitching for the window space. Andy has strong image-making skills and was able to establish a graphic format that we could both work to to create the set of characters based on the tools of designers. I enjoyed helping the others to paint the studio as this took me away from my usual studio practice and I was impressed at how the combined digital illustrations could be applied as a mural through projection, sketches and painting. This was not a process i was familiar with and it was interesting to be a part of. Through applying the vinyl, I learnt the importance of using application tape to make sure the vinyl was applied evenly, as this is something that we did not do in our Colours May Vary brief. I think that the lessons I learnt in that brief really improved the quality of design and application of this one. It was really gratifying to see the end result of everyone’s approaches to the brief combined in one space. 

Waterstones // Submission Boards

Pledge Music // Pitch Site and analysis

In order to send over our work on the Pledge site to the company themselves, we took our initial pitch boards and created a website that would display the features in a simpler format:

We started with a really direct and straightforward introduction building on language used by the company now and highlighting the core strength of what a reimagined PledgeMusic could be. 

Next we introduce the new format for displaying projects that we call the Pledge Card. It was important to introduce this concept early on as variations of it run through the whole of the new site and it forms the backbone of the redesign, giving a uniform look for the display of information across the site which did not exist before and introducing a much needed call-to-arms 'pledge' button that users can recognise throughout, reducing the number of clicks to create a conversion from a user. 

Here we demonstrate the variable home page formats, something which we felt was desperately needed to feature particularly high-profile artists which are not celebrated in any way by the current format. The video box is particularly important to our project as it allows the artist's journey to become the focus of the site and not the rewards, something which our design sprint revealed to be one of the strongest differentiators between pledge and its competitors. By putting the actual video with the artist telling their story on the homepage instead of just the photograph, the first interaction that a user has with the Pledge project can be more personal, direct and more likely to convert. 

One of the biggest issues that we identified with the project page was a complicated video box. Considering how vital it is to every project we needed to make 4 element really immediate: The number of pledgers, how long the project has left, it's progress towards target and finally the pledge action button. By removing the clutter, icons and giving space for the video to breathe on the page were able to simplify the project page and once again let the artist speak for themselves. 

One of the most important changes we made to the original site was by removing the kickstarter-style sidebar and using an expandable card format which flip left and right to reveal multiple content (images, text, video) in a much simpler way. Another important change was to highlight by colour which rewards were exclusive to pledge, something which creates excitement around the service itself and encourages more artists to create exclusive content for their campaigns, something that is mutually beneficial to artists, pledge and fans. 

Finally, we save one of our strongest features until the end of the presentation. The biggest new feature that we developed in the design sprint was in response to the separation of separate posts by the artist during the campaign. This blog format didn't celebrate the artists progression and journey as a whole, instead focussing on individual updates. We wanted to move all of these updates and milestones into one section which would allow users to scrub through everything that has been posted from the very start of the project to the present, with key points indicated by a marker along the timeline. We felt that this would be best a good way to end the pitch as it ties the journey theme of our redesign with the general UI designs and leaves a strong impression of the core values of the design. 

After the pitch, we included the interactive prototype we had create using the Marvel service, which ties together prototype images with transitions to give a better approximation of what the final experience will be like. 

Foodpreneurs // Extras

We mocked up a vinyl display on the venue window which we piched to Food& as a possible application. We felt that it was important, even at this early stage, to consider the real world context of the brand and how it could be applied to the events. 

We also produced a simple flyer layout for the event:

Foodpreneurs // Development

After we had established the two design elements, we had to develop the final composition of the icons. We felt that it was important to give consideration to way that the colours were mixed. We liked the arrangement of changing colours by row, but felt that it is was much more visually interesting to mix the colours icon by icon:

We played around with moving the type to different parts of the grid, and found that it worked best when it sat above the icon grid.

We knew that the brand could be used at lots of different scales and formats, across print and digital. To make this format adapatable, andy worked on creating a grid structure that would avoid colour clashes and obvious duplication. 

Applied on a huge scale:

TBM Flag // Submission Boards and evaluation

I found creating a reimagined UK flag to be a much more challenging brief than I had initially expected. Flags have so much meaning and heritage that cannot be changed from their traditional formats, standards and colours that it becomes a really hard design challenge which produced both some really unusual solutions and some plain variations. The short deadline of the interim crit and submission hand-in made this even harder, and neither of us were particularly happy with the outcomes we had developed in the time-frame. I did however find it a really interesting challenge that required a lot of research and got me to consider audience and heritage in a completely different way to most briefs. For attempting this brief as a project, I think that if Scotland left the UK the flag would remain the same as patriotism, flags and icons mean so much and so many different things to different people that any new solution would meet huge criticism. It was interesting to see how many different solutions had been created in the class for this, and I feel that I have learnt just as much during this brief from other people's projects that were informed by different research and angles than I did from my own.

Foodpreneurs // Iconography

We were both keen on representing the variety of offerings available in street food through simple and varied iconography that could be used to create a dynamic brand suitable for the venue and audience. While I worked on the typography for the brand, Andy had research into icon grids and absolute geometric contructions. He found that by developing an icon grid, designers had a basis that ensured that designs could have visual consistency across a range of icons. We wanted to carry this level of sophistication and professionalism to our project and so Andy developed a icon grid and illustration style that we could use to produce our food icons.

This was the illustration style we chose to use for the icon set. Andy made initial icons and began to expand and develop the range to make them as visually consistent as possible.  

After I had finalised the typography I helped Andy by producing icons for the set in the same style. 

Here is some of my development:

These were the icons I contributed to the final set:

Combined we created a 36 icon set for the brand:

Foodpreneurs // Typography

The brief asked us to focus on clean typography as a core element of the brand. While Andy worked on creating an illustration style for the brand, I focussed on exploring options for appropriate type to form the Foodpreneur logo. As it would be used commercially, we had to balance licensing costs against other deciding factors.  Here were my favourite contenders:

Soleil is €50 or £29.62 for a print licence and available for $16.99 to host on web through fontdeck

This worked best in the thinner weights where it shares similarities with Avenir. 

Another possibility identified was Garage Gothic, which could be bought for $40 / £23.68 with a web licence for $20 a year. This worked best in capitals and had a chunky but runded feel that could fit the brand ideals. 

Sofia Pro uses an absolute geometric makeup which fits our aim to promote the friendly, humanistic aspect of the street food trade. It costs $35 or £20.72 for print

Brandon Grotesque is a fantastic font which is rounded but maintains strong and distinct characteristics. It costs $40 or £23.68, and $20 for an Adobe Typekit web licence. 

From here I began to play around with different options. I found that brandon grotesque worked really well in uppercase, and fit the collection of letterforms well.

I tried to find a way to introduce variations in colour but found that this wasn't really working. 

Here I tried to emphasise the network of food traders through connections that cross over the logo. 

However, I found that it worked best to really strip it back and use a neutral colour which could contrast the coloured logo. I used simple lines to accentuate food within the logo and imply a burger or sandwich. This felt like a more subtle approach appropriate to the brief. I experimented with different thicknesses, as too thick looked too much like a 'burger king' style of logo and too thin didn't sit well with the chunky type. 

After striking the right balance, I created a colour palette to use with the icons Andy had been working on. As street food is known for it's bright colours and flavours, I wanted this to be reflected in the brand colours we used. This came together really immediately and the neutral coloured type sat really effectively against the brighter colours. 

As the icons were so structured in their construction, having been created with an icon grid, I felt it would be best to organise them neatly in a regular form. Andy agreed, and after some development, we settled on a format that we both liked:

Foodpreneur // Points of reference

We sat down with the client and discussed a visual direction for the brand. These are examples of contextual references that were agreed. It was discussed that the brand should make use of clean typography and use supporting imagery to provide a friendly tone and character. The client liked subtle use of colour and favoured design that used simple shapes and constructions to create brand elements. 

We really liked the way that this simple, angular logo was contrasted with the looser coloured shapes. 

This project made really subtle use of colour and line to create an approachable brand

The simple, unordered shapes also made the brand look playful and inventive. This is the kind of approach we would be looking to take with this brief. 

Again, really simple typography is used for the logo, and looser, coloured illustrations have been used to give the brand it's flavour. 

This branding for open studio used subtle manipulation of the typography and used the salmon pink as a highlight colour to contrast the black and white core elements. 

This was our favorite example, as the simple characters fit the brand name so well and the one colour approach suits the outline stye of illustration. 

Foodpreneurs // Design Sprint

We started the brief using a one-day design sprint. I have used this methodology in one form or another for most of the briefs this year, and have found it to get more and more useful as a way of approaching design briefs without any assumed knowledge and ensuring that, within a collaboration, both designers have the same understanding about the audience and context for the design. I have found that this thorough research and concept development stage leads in turn to more effective design/development later in the project.

 We agreed that it would be best to use the sprint approach for the research stage of the project. This allowed to gain a stronger understanding of the context, audience and client expectations before we started the design stage. We started the day by going through the brief and outlining possible research areas, we then structured these into 5 minute research sprints. We wanted to primarily research into NorthernStrEats, successful street food startups, types of food, possible brand applications and ideas for associated imagery.

Northern StrEats:

'Norther StrEats is an organisation set up by food traders for food traders. We aim to provide a service, to push the word, to let event organisers know that the times they are a changin', that the Great British public are fed up of being served overpriced, rubbish food.'

The site gave a great introduction to what modern street food is, and does a really good job of creating excitement around this food in the North as much of the activity in street food has been centred around London. 

'Back in the day and not so long ago what did street food say to you? It said, kebab vans, burger vans, chip vans selling low quality, high priced food. It filled a hole, emptied pockets and most people who purchased came away feeling unsatisfied and cross with themselves for eating such rubbish. Local councils granted permissions to cater for what they thought was a requirement but due to rubbish, complaints and health worries those councils now take a dim view of street food traders. Say ‘street food trading’ to a councillor and their immediate thought is of the picture just painted.'

This quote really sums up the real change in commercial and consumer attitude towards Street Food. No longer is it about producing low quality food for the lowest price possible, now street food enthusiasts value fresh local ingredients and rich flavours and are not afraid to pay for them. Foodpreneurs needs to capture this kind of spirit as a brand. 

 NorthernStrEats also acts as a network group as they 'support each other, pass on work opportunities, negotiate pitch fees, organise street food events and keep in touch with festival organisers about their food offerings.' This makes it so important to a profession known for being friendly, adventurous and hard-working. 

Through our research, we identified these key qualities of street food traders that should be communicated in our brand:

Passionate about food

Source locally and sustainably 

Hard Working

Theatrical 

Specific

interact with the public

Work seasonally 

Some examples of the information that was found during this process:

-If you Google Street Food Traders UK, you will find 11,000,000 results

-2.5 billion people eat street food every day, with the most popular being Mexican Burritos. 

-The average cost of ‘street food’ is £4.25 per head, while the average cost of a restaurant meal is £18.45. 

Successful street vendors:

Fish&

Senor Churo 

El Kantina

Bundobust

Belgave Street Feast:

The Foodpreneur event will be held at Belgrave Music Hall and Canteen, a venue that has actively encouraged and supported the growth of street food in Leeds through it's rotating food residencies and the monthly 'street feast'. Our design should fit within the Belgrade aesthetic of clean typography and simple colours.

We ended the sprint with brainstorming rounds of ideas for street food associated imagery and possible extensions to the brief we could use to enhance the event in June:

Wrist bands

Projection - Animation

Window Vinyl 

Posters

Ticket 

Postcards

Lightbox

Laser Cut 

Baloons 

Banner

Viral Video