One Hour YCN Bacardi Brief

While dealing with the FMP and the Metro D&AD brief in March, working on two projects at the same time was very challenging. Other class mates decided to enter competition briefs from D&AD and YCN and we all felt the pressure when dealing with the deadline but also generating ideas for the FMP. After my Metro work was printed, I felt relieved that the pressure of one project was gone and was happy to solely concentrate on my major project. After a few days, I realised that working under pressure can bring the best out of your capabilities. I felt motivated to look at some YCN briefs and possibly try to find a solution to a project of my choosing. I decided to see what results I would get with just an hours time for the Bacardi brief. The task was to create some posters with a flirting appeal to the audience. I feel the final results are not good enough to consider going in my portfolio or in fact entering in the competition, but I felt trying to find a solution within such a short space of time helps improve your abilities within thinking and speed as a designer .

Typographic Solutions

While developing my FMP posters, I have been pushing my ideas towards creating images and shapes with type and producing a unique look to each idea. I had come across these typographic designs while researching a blog on the Internet called Abduzeedo. Besides posting different graphic solutions, the blog also had tutorials for software’s and ideas development.

Unwanted Clothes Advertisement

This past week, as I walked past a bin, I had noticed an interesting advertisement for unwanted clothing. I was surprised in myself to be engaged with this advert as I tend not to focus on such an area when walking through a busy environment. The look and style of this ad reminded me of the Metro project I had recently completed. I feel the copywriting is written well and the location of advertising the idea is very effective.

The Urbis Museum - Closed

As my FMP is focused around the National Football Museum moving to the Urbis in Manchester, I once again made a visit to the location for a better understanding of the features including the outside area, the landmarks passed from the public transport stations towards the Urbis and the style and structure of the building. The development for the museum has now begun and I feel my ideas will be interesting to compare when the museum opens.

Noise

Today while walking through Manchester town centre, I noticed this window display in an arts and crafts shop called Noise. I felt the strong vibrant colours and illustrated characters looked surreal but also fun to engage with. While visiting the website located at the bottom of the window, I was surprised to read the company represented designers from any age or background with advice on different ways to show your work in the industry. ''Noise is not your typical arts festival. It has no physical location; the central hub of activity takes place on the Noise website and across the media - print, television, radio and online - making it the first 'virtual' festival of its kind in Europe''. I look forward to receiving their newsletter and hope to gain some knowledge and help from Noise in the future.

Dave Sedgwick

Today I made a visit to Dave Sedgwick at design agency 999. I was looking forward to his opinion on my work as I had made a great deal of changes towards my portfolio. As I arrived, we instantly began to discuss my work and the areas which Dave felt needed improvement. As I presented the Ringo Starr piece, Dave felt the colours and shape of the portrait was strong and vibrant. One change I had made for this visit was documenting my creative process of the oil print and showing this in the portfolio spread. This helped greatly as Dave fully understood the process within the design. He suggested that to take the project further, I should think about making three other prints involving the other band members of the Beatles to make a strong advertising campaign.

As we discussed the Guggenheim end sting, Dave felt the flicker book was a great way of communicating the idea. One project I had worked on over the Easter holidays was the New York Bowling logo completed last year within a group. As each member was eligible to take the brief further in our own way, I had produced some guerrilla advertising involving a bus stop creating a campaign with the logo. Dave felt the idea was fun but asked if their was many bus stops in New York. He then suggested that I may think about using the idea in the Subway. We discussed the one minute briefs and the new Ping Pong packaging I had done recently. He felt the art work was neatly finished and felt the presentation was strong and professional. Dave did however question the use of lines on the box. He suggested that recording the movement of three different real life games with the movement of the ball then incorporate that within my design would show each piece of packaging have a different style representing a real life game.

As we moved on to the Metro project, I explained the creative process within my first idea to the finished entered in D&AD. After discussing some failed ideas and how I felt certain areas didn't work, he felt the illustrated arrows and the names of each destination worked best. Dave felt changing the type to a more illustrative style and reducing the amount of arrows may communicate the idea better. We moved on to the BBC project which I had also worked on during the Easter period. I had combined the two booklets together and made the document size A6 for the consumer to place in their back pocket so the booklet can be with them on the move. As I explained this to Dave, he fully approved the changes and felt the illustrations was a great way of designing the layout.

I was anticipating Dave's thoughts on my FMP and the stage with my advertising campaign. As I currently develop my ideas within the project, he felt I am worrying to much on how the posters look. He advised that I should stop trying new ideas and stick to my original plan of communication regarding a past idea I had moved on from and recently developed more of. As I shown Dave more development work, he was happy to see my thinking process and research I had explored. He advised that I should now concentrate on making the posters look strong and also think about making the project as big as I can. Designing a flyer, shopping bag and signage were some of the things Dave suggested I should explore. As the visit came to an end, Dave was eager for me to send my finished ideas in the future.

Paul Rand Typography

As my Journal was completed this past January, I had looked at the work of Paul Rand and researched his history. I enjoyed his thinking and creative process greatly and recently, I had noticed some type posters on Creative Review blog. The use of space and colour is neatly designed and I plan to use this element within my ideas in the future.