Today we had a final crit session for the first brief of the year. We were asked to discuss the main concept behind our design and then ask specific questions to the crit group in order to get as much as possible from the session.
I took along several printed out mock ups for critique. Genera; feedback was highly positive and people said that they liked the folding technique employed. They commented on the overall aesthetic as being fairly successful, but not quite realised, something was missing. I explained to the group that I wanted my design to reflect the strict design processes taught at the Bauhaus. People said that they got that impression from my work but the typesetting let the design down. I centre aligned my content, and the feedback I got on this was that it should really be left or right aligned to fit the modernist aesthetic that I was attempting to achieve. That was probably one of the best things I got from today's session. I went away and immediately improved on the typesetting and I am pleased with how it is currently looking. The group said that if I am going for a modernist aesthetic it has to be on point otherwise it could cheapen the overall feel and finish of the printed design.
I wanted to get people's opinions on my font choices and colour theme. People appreciated my use of Futura and my headings which are set in Bifur. They said this type combination works very well in emulating a distinctive modernist style, General feedback on the monochrome approach was good, Again people suggested I consider printing onto coloured stock, perhaps red or orange. I think that will be a great thing to experiment with when it comes to actually printing the finished design.
Simon suggested I look at the artist and designer Jan Tschichold for some further inspiration on pattern, layout, type and colour combinations. Tschichold's graphic design is something I find very inspiring and he mainly worked in monochrome plus one colour. I am going to research him in a little more depth in order to take my design further.
Regarding the size; people said that printing on A3 made the leaflet feel too big and the fold then distracted from the content. I took this on board and I think I am going to print my finished design on A4 to allow it to feel more like pocket leaflet rather than a fold out poster.
As I am planning on printed the back of the leaflet using a lot of black ink, the crit group suggested I consider screen printing the back to avoid cracking of the ink. I hadn't even thought that far ahead but I am glad that they raised that point and it could indeed become an issue when the design goes to print. I will consider screen printing but I have to factor in time scales and very soon I will have another brief to be working on, They also suggested perhaps inverting the design on the back so not to use up as much black ink and to avoid cracking.
All in all I found today's session very beneficial. It made me realise that I need to be more confident in myself and have faith in my abilities, as the crit group only suggested minor tweaks that needed to be made. I am pleased with how I have worked and managed my time this week and I am fairly pleased with how my design in shaping up,
No comments:
Post a Comment