Newspaper // Day 7

In the morning we had a group crit. The year group were divided in two and left to crit work blind with only the presented materials for reference. We left out our final front cover along with the prototype of the full paper. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we were praised for the improvements we had made since the prototype.

Crit Feedback:

Logo is vastly improved from earlier in the week when still a sketch. Really great works well, you have targeted the market perfectly.

Sponsored advertisements & layouts working really well. Design is engaging and looks how a newspaper should visually.

Very cool logo - Works well with hot pink - Simple with negative space.

Concept is strong and layout is clear + formatted well.

Visually  would be interesting to see the U shape line up with the B in Ubergine.

Image wise - Hot pink again is very strong

A few things to consider here, we were interested to see that the pink was refereed to as 'hot pink' on more than one occasion, this has prompted us to find a more purple shade of pink, which will hopefully strengthen the link to the Aubergine.

In the afternoon, we wanted to finalise the layout of the inside pages. Reacting to the feedback from our self-initiated crit earlier in the week, we knew that particular focus had to be put on filling the pages, stylising pull-out quotes and restructuring the sections.

 We made sure that the copy and images were formatted to fill the entire page and square off at the bottom. This was the reason given in the crit for our technology page layout looking better than the others. Using a base structure, we produced a few different layouts that are shuffled from page to page.

Tomorrow, we have a full day to complete the newspaper and prepare it for print. the black boxes we have left for additional content such as diagrams, statistics, social media or adverts. We would also like to design some some full page graphics to break up the text of the newspaper.

Dr Me Workshop

We were set a day-long workshop brief by Dr. Me to pair up and design our own flags that could represent something about ourselves. Part of the challenge was that we were assigned a partner at the start of the brief and could not choose who to work with. I was pleased to be paired with Seb, who is next to me alphabetically and who I have not had a chance to work with since first year. After exploring some initial concepts, our chosen theme was to make a flag which showed the process of our collaboration in making the flag ie. to conduct the day workshop as if we were trying to develop as many individual ideas for what a flag could be to us and combining these to create an outcome that makes the collaboration process more transparent.

Our first idea was to join our half-faces to make one on the flag and show each of our ideas for the brief with a distinct spit down the middle. Through this we wanted to demonstrate the very different approaches that Seb and I have to the design. After taking photographs of each other's faces, we selected the best versions and I tried a few different methods for attaching them. While I was able to get them matching up fairly well, after experimenting with the joined faces we both realised that this was probably not the best direction for the brief and instead focused in on creating a flag which was essentially a large design sheet which would demonstrate the concept more clearly.

Initial experiment using photo manipulation

At this stage of the day, we worked separately to fill an A3 page with ideas that we could think of to answer the brief. We had agreed that we wanted to make the contrast between our two design sheets as clear as possible. So while Seb worked on his minimalist sheet, I brainstormed as many ideas as it took to fill the entire page, using diagrams and sketches to show my thinking. I was pleased with the effect as it contained loads of different approaches that could be taken with the brief, across a range of different topics. I liked the idea that somebody in the exhibition space could look closely at the flag and notice a tiny detail that has been blown up to the 1m format.

In doing this, we wanted to reflect our different attitudes to design through our sketches and handwriting. Seb wanted to communicate order, organisation and space by neatly drawing his design sheet to a grid and using a ruler to make connections between points. Here was his design sheet:

In contrast I wanted my sheet to be exciting and crowded and so proceded to quickly generate as many ideas for what could go on a flag as I could. I used quick sketches, notes and connections to fill as much of the page as I could. The contrast between the two sheets is just what we wanted to ahcieve. 

In combining these, we decided that we would both prefer a white-on-black chalkboard effect as a white flag is associated with surrender while the black flag is an anarchist symbol and we prefered this as a solution to the brief and foudn it to be the more visually interesting approach. In our first attempt at putting this together, we each had one half of the flag to ourselves:

While we liked the effect, we decided that it didn't really communicate the idea of collaboration as well as it could. We experimented with laying the two sheets ontop of each other, and this created a stranger image and made everything more cluttered and raw. It also related better to our concept of representing all of our collective possible solutions to the brief directly on the flag.

Flags need to be submitted by 1st December to be entered into the exhibition, so after some trouble trying to print online, we were able to book a slot in digital fabric print and produce the flag full size and inexpensively.

We were able to get the flag hemmed and sent off in time to be in the flags exhibition. Neither of us could make the exhibition at Islington Mills but we could see our flag on the dr me instagram from the night. 

Indie Game // Style Guide & Research Book

Here are the completed style guide and research booklets. They are designed to give an overview of our work on the game as well as the research we conducted that informed the project. 

Newspaper // Day 6

Today our aim was to completely remake the front cover of our magazine in response to yesterday's crit feedback. This process started with the logo, which we felt needed to be finalized at this stage of the project. We were undecided on whether to base the logo on our prototype or to replace it with a nicely typeset logo. I worked on the former option, while look was focusing on producing something new.

After scanning the handdrawn logo and isolating it from the drawing in photoshop, I cleaned up the vector in illustratoe to create a cleaner version that didn't loose the thick marker appearance of the original. 

In the end, we decided that the realism of the paper had to exist somewhere. Serious branding would help to offset the joke articles and strengthen the idea of the brand as a proper newspaper, rather that a kind of zine. This was the final logo we decided to go forward with:

We felt that it was a strong and distinctive display face which was both elegant and minimal. The umlaut U made a distinctive mark that we could push forward into promotion and other elements of the paper. It would be ideal as an avatar for social networks.

 We went through many many revisions of the front page and came towards a final structure in the afternoo:

This was our final design of the day

We had trouble deciding what image to use to illustrate our article, experimenting with photographs and illustrations to see what fit best. In the end we decided to include an illustration as it gives the newspaper some additional character and creates a harmonious layout above the fold that will catch potential readers' attention. Here are some elements from the spread:

Here a

 

Header:

We kept this intentionally simple, using the same serif font as the body copy. Inside the newspaper issue 1 will be replaced with the 'U' logo.  Page numbers are printed in full.

 

Top bar:

In our protype this information was squashed into a block and looked too cramped.  By including a small bar, we help to frame the logo and clearly communicate what can be found in the magazine. 

Advert:

I worked on producing an advert that could fill the space in the bottom left of the cover. This was a realisation of an idea we had in the research stage of the sprint, in which the lottery advert would change from live like a VIP, to live like an MP. It fit the theme of the artcicle so it felt like a worthwhile idea to include.

TBM Flag // Briefing and Initial Research

Brief:

Context 
On the 18th of September 2014, Scotland will vote for independence.
In one day the economy, culture and identity of the UK could irrevocably change forever.
A culture and identity that is most evident in the Union Jack — that symbol of nations united.
Whether it is flying from the turrets of Balmoral or badly printed on an overpriced mug in a London gift shop,
the flag is an icon that is recognized worldwide.
What will happen if we remove the Scottish saltire?
Forget the Olympic logo, this is perhaps the most difficult and potentially contentious design problem we've
faced in the last decade.
But it's also an opportunity to redefine the identity of Great Britain to redefine the future.

Brief or Tasks 

Pre-empt Scotland's independence from the UK and re-design the Union Flag.


Preparation/Research suggestions 

- Research the origin and elements of the current flag.
- Consider reproductive implications of your design. Can a child draw it?
- Think about what modern Great Britain represents.
- Pre-empt negativity. E.g. Scotland/Tourist trade/Political parties.

Evidence – for this project students should submit

- Evidence of research and understanding of the political implications of the re-design.
- An ability to fully explain all design decisions in depth.
- Examples of the design working on other national flags.
- Examples of the design working in context.

Mandatory Requirements 

- One new UK flag design.
- Ongoing evidence of all design development.
- Presentation boards articulating the selected research development, resolution and contextualisation of your
working practice and methods.

Initial flags of interest:

Newspaper // Day 5 - Master Crit

The aim of today is to gain as much feedback on our prototype as we can with a view to act upon this and produce a well-considered and polished product. We designed the prototype in just 5 hours on Friday, and felt that it was most important to have a physically constructed newspaper that people could flick through. We wanted the crit group to look beyond the details of the design and help us evaluate what is and isn't working and where we should be investing our time for the next week.

Feedback:

Page Numbers

Date + Additions

The source

Pullout quote -> Bigger, frame it

Headlines -> Look at leading -> too far apart

Central aligned is fine. 

Mix up the images

4 stories per page looks better

Watch the blank space

Sports needs to go at the end

Space between bottom of the page and content

Newspaper // Design Sprint Day 4 - Prototyping

DAY 4: Prototyping

The aim of today was to take our plans and realise them as a physical prototype that we could bring to the crit on Monday. Taking yesterday's full-size mock-up, we digitized the front cover. We need to work really time-efficiently today, so we used the scanned logo with a view to cleaning it up later. We also quickly established a typographical style and layout that we could drop content into. At the same time, content was sourced to suit the different sections of the newspaper.

Looking at Fonts in Use, we came across a typeface that suited large, modern headlines and offset the body serif well.

Today was really rushed, and we felt more and more pressed for time as the day went on. It was hard to break out of the mindset that everything had to be perfect and instead focus on the goal of completing a presentable, rough-and-ready mock-up within the timeframe.