1st Small Brief - Penguin Random House:
This brief was an excellent introductory brief that I set for myself for brief 01 of responsive. It was challenging but very enjoyable as it allowed me to be as conceptual as I wanted but still provided me with quite strict constraints to work within. I undertook a lot of visual and conceptual research for this brief which I found engaging. I feel that this brief really helped me to realize, refine and push my individual style and aesthetic, helping me become more tentative to things such as layout, composition and typographic treatment. I feel that I could have perhaps produced a wider range of initial design ideas to choose from, but in hindsight I was trying to complete this brief rather quickly in order to move onto the next one, so I didn't spend as long as I usually would generating initial concepts. I also should have made more low quality mock-ups as I went along, I shall definitely do that when I undertake another brief of this nature.
I continually sought feedback throughout the development of the design, and I feel I really benefited from listening to what people had to say. I believe my final design answers the brief in a conceptual, imaginative and sophisticated way. I felt very content and confident when I submitted my design to the competition.
2nd Small Brief - 32nd Chicago Latino Film Fest Poster Competition:
Overall, I found this brief really enjoyable as it was so open, allowing me to explore conceptual routes rather than strict, functional ones. I managed my time effectively throughout this brief and made the most of feedback opportunities. After taking people’s opinions into consideration, I decided to enter four different final designs to the competition, which I feel was a sensible number. If I were to do this brief again, I would look to spend more time coming up with a varied range of initial designs, because my final resolutions do look quite samey. However, with each design, I made sure the type was legible and the hierarchy of the information was correct, paying close attention to the specific deliverables. My favourite conceptual design is the red poster. In the background, I used the film reel illustration to spell out the letters 32 to remind people that this is the 32nd film festival. I was trying to be as playful and inventive with type here and I think it paid off. All of my outcomes are very bold, contemporary and different from the rest of the competition. Unfortunately, none of my designs were selected by the judges, but I am very proud of what I produced, and that is important to me. I certainly feel that my poster design skills have evolved thanks to this brief, and I will definitely enter it again next year.
3rd Small Brief - Secret 7":
I thoroughly enjoyed working on Secret 7” again this year and I feel I approached it in a completely different way this time around. I took a far more conceptual approach to it rather than being literal and functional which I think worked out well. I feel I was very experimental throughout the project which is an improvement from last year. I also felt a lot more confident presenting my ideas to crit groups and tutors and definitely valued feedback a lot more this year. I wanted to see if I could complete the brief in a week. This time frame meant that I had to generate a number of ideas very quickly which I think benefited my design process. I acted on impulse and made quick aesthetic decisions.
I decided to submit four very different designs for John Lenon’s ‘Imagine’, because I really like this song and had a lot of fun experimenting with digital collaging techniques. I submitted several other designs for the other two songs, but I feel my concept and final outcomes for Imagine were my strongest. I felt really confident submitting these designs to Secret 7”, but again I was met with disappointment. I thought that my designs this year were much better than level 04, but unfortunately they just weren’t what the judges were looking for! This hasn't knocked my confidence, and I shall definitely be trying my luck again next year.
Main Individual Brief - D&AD Monotype: Activate Your Cause:
I very much enjoyed and benefited from working on this quite intense D&AD brief. I believe I put in a consistent amount of effort and it certainly paid off, because I received some really positive feedback once everything was finished. I did spend a lot of time working on this brief; I began in November and completed it in early March. Ideally, I would have liked to have had it finished by February at the latest, but I don’t like or enjoy rushing my work, nothing successful ever comes from doing that so I am happy that I ended up spending a substantial amount of time really refining and polishing my concept and the aesthetic of the campaign’s collateral. I believe I approached this brief in a way that a lot of my contemporaries wouldn't have thought of.
I value my conceptual thinking brain immensely, and it certainly delivered within the context of this project. I set large goals for myself within this project in terms of the amount of work that I aimed to produce and I managed to produce everything I set out to a very high standard. I did a lot of experimentation and generated a range of ideas to work from which I felt gave me an advantage. I benefited massively from feedback, applying what people said to achieve an aesthetic that could be widely accepted in terms of audience. I have developed my typographic skills hugely thanks to this brief and I look-forward to completing briefs of a similar nature in the near future.
Collaborative Practice Brief - Saucy Fish Co.:
Overall, I found the collaborative practice an enjoyable experience. It definitely helped me to become better at managing my time, working to small self-set deadlines, discussing and evaluating a range of concepts and listening to and really valuing other practitioners creative concerns and interests. Individually, I feel like I put in a consistent amount of effort and engaged with every group meeting that we arranged. I feel that I contributed well in the idea generating stage and had a lot of input in generating the final design resolution. Considering that I didn’t really see myself as a packaging designer before undertaking this brief, I feel that I know how have some basic skills and interest in this area of design and will definitely look to expand and broaden the skills I have acquired from completing this project. As a group, I feel we gelled really well from the start and had a lot of fun collaborating together on a weekly basis. This brief was ridiculously vague and open which provided us with a number of problems to solve. I am very proud of the way we chose to approach and tackle these problems and I believe we produce packaging that would definitely attract a younger demographic of customers which was the main concern of this brief. I would definitely be open to collaborating with the girls as we worked so effectively together and shared similar creative visions.
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