OUGD602 PPP Module Evaluation

PPP has been more of a self discovery than a module this year, which I suspect is the point. However, I have been wrangling with how I want to work once I graduate. I was convinced for sometime that I wanted to set up as a letterer, freelance. This came from my visits to independent creatives such as Roger Grech and others I interviewed for my COP project. I understood that it is a difficult way to set up but it appealed to me not to have a boss, and to do the work I wanted. Through my work experience at vernon street and multiple collaborations as part of my extended Practice I found that although I love lettering, it is more important that I work with other people,  in a collaborative environment. I don't think it matters whether this collaboration is with the client or other designers but that interaction is something that I have found I need to enjoy graphic design to its fullest. This is something that has formed the centre of my self branding which is constantly striving to be tactile, human and approachable.
As PPP has helped me understand this I knew the kind of Job I wanted for myself strata out of College. I have applied both for a junior designer position at the studio Six Design and in the design department at Leeds University Union. I have an interview for the LUU job and am currently past the interview stage and doing a trial brief with Six Design. I don't know which, if either will come to full fruition but things at least look positive and I know what I want from my career for the moment.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Design Strategy Evaluation

Throughout the year my external engagement has been a fairly consistent theme of my practice. My first contacts being ones initiated for my contact of practice module, soon blossomed into incredibly inspiring people to know. Especially talking to practitioners such as Phylecia Sutherland got me thinking about how I work and how I want to work in the future. This was reinforced by my viewing of 'Made You Look' a documentary style film about in depended Graphic Artists and how they work. I saw a hard working but fulfilling life style which really attracts me. However, my exterior engagement ale illuminated the reality of working in the creative industries. I have made a number of applications to jobs that interested me and I am currently doing a trial brief for a junior designer position in a Leeds based studio. Through the interview, and my work experience assisting at the Vernon Street evening classes I have found that, yes I do love working practically and I find that very rewarding. However, it is the mix of people I get to work with, talk to and learn from which is really what drives me in Graphic Design. 
Through Job applications and the college organised portfolio tutorials I have really stated to understand the art of presenting my work, of telling a story but in a concise and confident way. This has allowed me to feel fully competent in my Job applications.
It would have been nice to get some work experience in studio so that I could figure out that environment in greater detail. However, this was not for lack of trying and I do feel that the evening class assisting was exactly the right experience for me to do at the time because it is and was a type of job worth considering.
Overall, I feel that my external engagement has not only helped me gain confidence in my design ability in a real world context but also has informed my extended practice briefs, in the way that I approach them.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02/01 Development of Printed Portfolio

Today I had a portfolio tutorial with Lee Goater. I got a good amount of constructive feedback. Mostly it was about spreading out the content in a way that told the story of interacting with each piece of design as well as the story of the work I have done on each project. I have reworked my print portfolio into the version you see below.

OUGD602 PPP Brief 01 Self Branding Final Outcomes

Final Outcomes Include:

-Business Cards

-Stamp

-CV

-website

-Portfolio 

-Promotional Sketchbook

Evaluation:

Overall I am content with the outcomes for the self branding brief. I have created all the things that I set out to. The brand its self was developed over a much greater period of time than any other of my self branding designs in other years. This has meant that the continued appeal of the design has been through the test of time and I still feel that the logo and its surrounding design choices still represent me both as a practitioner and a person. the bright key orange stands out no matter the background which is ideal for a stamp. Using a stamp to re create the logo gives it a sense of tactility which is perfect for communicating the way in which I work. One unintentional change was the stock choice for the sketchbook cover. Although the finish is not what I envisioned it actually creates a nice contrast to the Bier Gmund stock as well as clearly connoting the fact that it is a sketch book, more informal and casual.

At some length I considered a more complex and creative format for my CV. However, through the applications that I have made to jobs throughout this year it has become apparent that a simple single side of A4 is the most practical and accommodating format for a CV. It means it can be printed out on a run of the mill printer (at the employers end) and shows an ability to be a bit more concise and straight to the point which perhaps my other work lacks.

In particular I am happy with the over all continuity of the theme of tactility and craft. It is communicated everywhere, from the logo to the stock choices and this is what makes it succeed when other self branding designs have not.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 DR ME Personal Promotion Brief

The work I produced for the DR ME extended Practice Brief is very relevant to PPP because it is a mailer intended to promote my self and my work. I created a fun mix of the old botanical designs which inspire me so often with a ver modern look at digital work in vectors and bright, pastel colour usage.

The back of the mailer was a fairly simple affair. Allowing space for a personalised message depending on the studio and lining up the 'Muses of Graphic Design Skills' to ensure a positive and funny finish to anyone's interaction with the piece. 

Evaluation:

This was the first brief that involved my home pint set up. It was a challenge technically to achieve the colours that I wanted but the colours are something in particular that turned out perfectly. The harmony of the two colours, their ability to contribute to and support the dominance of the type is well executed. The type its self could have been better had more time been spent studying and developing the actually calligraphy, rather than drawing out the letters. However, the result of this is a lot more of a rounded version of blackletter, which suits the purpose of the design (communicate myself as a designer and person) than what can appear more quite aggressive and angular as a full blackletter. It would have been nice to turn the poster design into a little pack as perviously mentioned and planned. However, as the design developed, it felt unnecessary and overcomplicated to do so, the design should and can communicate all that is required. If I had the chance to re do this brief I would have looked at stripping back the design a bit, reducing it down to what makes it function. However, there could be two sides to this because 'stripped back and minimal' arguable doesn't communicate me, more what I need to focus on achieving more as a designer.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Digital Print Set Up

Having recently been gifted a photographic printer I have spent some time working through the technicalities of colour matching and bought some stock specifically for this printer.

It Involved some recalibration of screens but I now have a great set up. Not only for submission but for design and presentation boards when freelancing after graduation. I have used this set up to print finals for three briefs in extended practice and it has not let me down yet.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Reflection on Live Brief Letters by Louise

As Part of my extended Practice I had a very successful lettering brief in which I was asked to create a lettered logo for Louise Fletcher. I really enjoyed doing war I love most and Louise was really happy with the finished cards and has agreed to do a client review for my website.

Evaluation:

I am really pleased with the finish of these business cards. The layers of paper make the weight and tactility of the cards communicate value and make them items in themselves that someone would want to keep. I do wish that I could have made more cards. However, the imprecise nature of both screen printing and finishing by hand meant that I should have allowed a wider margin for error. For the most part the printing was fairly standard in terms of success rate but because I had not allowed extra paper (the client couldn't afford it) naturally the final total was a little bit lower than expected. Registration was the main issue, mostly because of shifts in the true grain on the bed, difficult to have foreseen or done anything about really.

The colour matching of this project in particular is something I am really happy with. It took a lot of gentle mixing but I think this is a skill that I learn't well during the GF Smith brief and came in hand here. The colour on the screen print is almost exactly the same as the digital colour that Louise approved. Because I had less control over the stamp ink I was concerned about the colour differences. However, although the ink is a little darker it does harmonise with the cards, creating a sense of cohesive design even if it doesn't match exactly.

The client response was really positive and Louise has agreed to do a review on my website which is great and return to me when she needs anything else done!

I also created an invoice for my freelance work for the first time which was a really useful thing to do at this stage. Simply establishing how I will store and number such things is useful. 

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Two Job Applications

I recently (today spotted two job opportunities that I thought it was worth applying for. The first was an internship, paid and a year long with the Leeds University Union, a similar job to the last one and what they asked me to apply for . I put together basically the same application with a few tweaks for the role change and sent off the application.

I also applied for an opportunity promoted by the SU. A Junior Designer Post at Six Design. I cut down my full portfolio to the more clean and commercially viable briefs and sent over my current CV as well. This has resulted in an interview! The interview went really well and I am waiting to hear back as of yet. However, every if I do not get the job going through the process of application and interview was really great experience.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 01 Self Branding Creating the Promotional SketchBook/ Calling Card

s perviously mentioned John suggested that I turn my lettering sketch book into something that I give to studios and prospective employers upon calling. As such I have scanned in the pages below and edited them slightly; just to smooth them out. I am looking at a perfect bound book because it allows for both single sided paper and no constraints on pagination. I will be using my logo stamp on my elittlebeth design stock for the front and back cover, with a blank page in the front for message or note.

Book Binding:

The single sided prints and the number of pages meant that perfect binding was the best method for this book. To reinforce the spine I used a carefully trimmed piece of cloth after thorough sanding down of the paper edges to create a good surface for the glue. Using double sided tape on the edges of the binding kept the outer cover really neat and free of any warping.

For the cover I wanted to use my brand paper bier gmund wiezen. However, the GF Smith paper samples never showed up. Instead I went down to Fred Aldus and bought some 'Mountain Craft Paper' which had a similar speckled finish but with a much darker overall tone, which helped differentiate the book as a sketchbook. I also included a simple page of dotted lines at the from to allow for a message to the relevant studio or person.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 01 Self Branding, Setting up the Website

I have changed over from six to square space, mostly because people suggested it to me. 

I was simply playing around with the structure of the home page when I accidentally used one of my old instagram images as a place holder. It suddenly gave me the idea for the tag line 'Being design from little hands' and the way I could separate all the things that I do into:

Chalkboarding

Graphic Design

and lettering

These sit across my homepage like so and offer something about me before people instantly see my work.

From there it was a simple matter of uploading images. The result can be found at elittlebethdesign.work

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Visit Roger Grech Meeting

I met up with and interviewed Roger for my context of practice research, the result of which you can find here.

http://b-taylor1316-dc.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/ougd601-cop-3-dissertation-research.html

However, we also talked at length about his professional practice and he gave me a lot of advice about how to get into the very b=niche fields of craft processes.

We talked about the fact that it would be a good idea to stay up in Leeds because there is so much going on in terms of niche craft businesses that are growing. He also said that getting a minimum wage job for a while straight out of college and just spending some time making contacts and work experience would be a great way to get into the scene. This is because you don't have the pressure of having to take the first job you can get and you can find something more suitable for you through the contacts you make in a more relaxed and open way.

I question this a little however, because doing a minimum wage job can make you desperate to do something else, but I do see his point. Once you get a job it starts to dicta the direction your career is going in, so be careful what job you get and don't take it out of fear of not being able to make ends meet.

He also said the best way to learn is by doing, as he did. This again reinforces the idea that I should get work experience in a workshop, hands on environment, rather than a design studio.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Visit Phylecia Sutherland

I interviewed Phylecia via email for my Context of Practice research. The results of the interview can be found here.

http://b-taylor1316-dc.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ougd603-context-of-practice-03.html

However, I also went to visit her again to talk to her about her practice and how things have changed since we last talked.
It was great to see how she worked again and I can really see the attraction of working from home in your own space. Just being the master of what you do creatively is really appealing after being in education for so long.

We talked about some recent work that she has been doing and I had a moment of reflection on whether I could exclusively work in one market the way she does. I can see that  it is really rewarding, and that you have way more of a budget when working in the luxury market of weddings. However, I kind of fundamentally disagree with the idea of a big wedding ad I don't know if I could consistently work in a field I disagree with.

However, I think that what Pylecia designs is great and there is a possibility I could work with her after I finish for the year. I have been thinking about the different available markets for lettering and chalkboards and weddings is definitely an option. I am going to follow up the visit with an email suggesting this once I have set up my online residence, so she can see what I do properly. I may even send something in the post, as I know she likes tactile print, to suggest the idea of possibly suggesting me to clients that want chalkboards. I will also make the offer of helping out. To see if she needs a second pair of hands (pains hopefully) to do all the menial jobs while she gets on with the important stuff. This, much like any future interaction with the print project, would be helped by some workshop style work experience.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Studio Visit, The Print Project

As part of my context of Practice research I organised a visit to Nick at the Print Project. The COP related Interview can be found here.

http://b-taylor1316-dc.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/ougd601-context-of-practice-03_0.html

However, we also talked about a wide range of things to do with professional practice in a discipline as niche as letter press. We found there were a number of similarities between lettering and letterpress in this respect.
We talked at length about how a small business can be feasible and how some of his favourite bits of work are workshops when he gets to travel and work with people completely out of the design world. I talked to him about my recent opportunity to run lettering workshops at deer shed festival and he highly suggested it. Even for self promotional purposes, he said that he makes a lot of contacts in those socially relaxed environments. So, I think I am going to do it.

We also talked about the fact that he is looking to take on someone else part time as the number of jobs increase. I followed this up after the interview with an email to ask if there was any chance that I could apply to be that person. He said that although he had already hired someone for the position, they may not be around for long and since he had met me I would be in with a good chance if the other person left. So, he said he would be in contact if he ever needed any help in that environment.

This really got me thinking about how I would feel working in that messy mechanical environment and I think I would love it. I came away so enthused by everything that Nick said and I could be so happy actively doing work with my hands everyday. I think I should look into work experience that might help me get towards this goal.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Reflecting on Work Brief 06 Triptych Poster Evaluation

I have loved working on this project. Not only because of the freedom  of the brief but also because of the speed at which it needed to be done. This fast paced working makes me make design decisions without dallying, which I find actually makes the decisions better. I enjoyed playing with the idea of distance legibility and how this came from the context of the piece. Although I intended the the secondary layer of type to be less legible at a distance, this could be seen as the weaker part of the design. The issue being that on all reproductions, including photographs, the poster is smaller than in real life, immediately making part of the type less legible. This is something I perhaps should have considered during the design stage. However, I will include a full scale print of the poster in my submission, so that it can be viewed as intended. I feel that the consideration of the audience in this brief made it really strong. Thinking carefully about the content and how it addresses the people that walk past the poster daily gave the design a structure and purpose that it wouldn't of otherwise had. The choice of words also created structure for the typography. The tone of voice is matched and enhanced by the typography creating a visual and tonal juxtaposition that increases the effectiveness of the design. The colour decisions were dictated by the posters to be put on either side of it. This came from discussions with the designers creating these and  good communication throughout. When looking at the three together it does create a strong sense of togetherness and harmony that none the less allows for the individual styles of the designers at work. If I had a chance to work on this design further there are two things that I would address. One would be the interweaving of the two ;entering styles and how this could be increased to enhance the design. Also because of the two tone nature f the design and its sharp edges, this could work really well as a screen print. If I get a chance I will try and screen print this design.

Find the design Process here!

OUGD603 External Brief DBA Type and Colour Development

As detailed in the last post it was my job to try out slimming down the letters from the original vectors. 

As you can see the change was fairly drastic and i managed to remove about a third of the stroke width without any ill effects on the glyphs. I know there are a few issues with the 'e' and 'r' because they are shorter more self contained letters they actually need less width and line weight to seem the same. However, I will do this if and when the rest of the group feels this is a direction we want to go in.

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We had a meeting on Monday morning and agreed that this lighter approach was effective and it was worth refining the 'e' and 'r'. So, I did this and then the colour experimentation ensued.

We when through numerous options inspired by an orange that Melissa came up with in here developmental work, mixing it with a relaxed grey so as to be calm and not too over worked in respect to colour. However, we soon felt that the orange was too construction like and had a vibe of easy jet to it which wasn't what we wanted to communicate. So, we returned to the blue tones that we like at the beginning of the project but this time with an eye to making it bright and friendly. 

We wanted to apply the colour only to 'loop' because of a conversation during the crit stage of the project. In which we talked about the way that 'hyper' creates a tech heavy exciting impression, while 'loop' is the playful open side that makes it approachable. Applying the colour to this section increases this and makes the overall impression more friendly.

This bright sky blue is what we landed on with a tonally similar grey to sit beside it. Once we had decided on this we also agreed on the mock up areas that we wanted to cover. These were:

- a top up card

- a website/app to buy tickets and top up the card

- signage

- infographics fro the interior of the pods to make the technology friendly understandable and approachable.

We divided these up and I am to develop the application of the brand on the top up card.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Reflecting on Work Freshers Campaign Evaluation

I think a great measure of the success of the design is the number of applications it has easily been put to. The logo looks great on the freshers guide, tote bags and badges, not to mention the banners and events list. However, something that could have been done better for this project would be colour management. To a certain extent this was because we couldn't afford the luxury of a spot colour or pantone match but the difference in orange between the print and the totes bags is possible the most offensive part. This is mostly because I had no control over the buying of the tote bags. So I think the best way to maintain continuity would have been to create more comprehensive brand guidelines in repeat to colour management.

Working with precision was a real learning curve but an incredibly useful one. The main thing I learned is never to assume they know what they are doing. Always check they understand what you mean and never deal only through emails. Despite the trials o this project in terms of the complexity of print, I now feel confident organising such a complex and demanding order. A useful skill.

Something that in retrospect I feel possibly could have been improved would be the interior folding of the guide. This is because I feel it was too complex to fold back up. I still have no idea how I could have made it more simple without loosing content, but that is what I would change.

Overall, the guides and the campaign have been very positively received. I have had nothing but good reports back from the SU and the Freshers said was the most highly attended yet! 

Find the design process here!

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 02 Assisting at Vernon Street Print Room

Today I assisted in the print room during the evening classes for the first time. There will be six sessions in all each developing the experience of the students from idea to printing.
It was a fantastic start and the group is a great mix of people and ages which means a lovely chatty atmosphere throughout the class.
I think I made myself useful, mostly cleaning up and exposing screens but I definitely feel confident enough to advise and help the students. Even though it was quite a long, late night it was a lot of fun and I think I would like to continue assisting if I can get paid to do so.
I have found that meeting new people and working with a variety of people really excites me. Something I should probably reflect on before I dive into freelance solo work.

Notes:

In the second week I was able to really help people with their digital file prep and get results that everyone was really happy with. Kirstie also suggested that I look into the West Yorkshire Print Workshop because ether are looking to take on a letterpress technician. I called the up the next day and the main technician will be contacted next week, (she is not in on thursdays and fridays).

Third - I was working more in the area of the beds this time as more of the students were ready to print with the files and images that we prepared last week. It was great to see the experimentation that people went with and how the relaxed freedom of the environment meant some really cool stuf was produced


Fourth - This was more of a mixed session dodging between the computer prepping files for people and helping with the actual printing as well as coating and stripping screens both with and for students. What I really learnt here was the balance between showing someone what to do and letting them do it. It was really great to see the students improve.

Fifth-
Mostly my time was spent helping people mix inks for print as a number of the students are well into the printing stage and want to start experimenting with colour. Through the briefs I have done this year I have found that I have a back or mixing colour and I really enjoyed working with the students on their prints.

Sixth-
Was quite a rush. everyone was trying to finish their work before the end of the session. We had a number of people printing free of the beds and this was something completely new to me. However, it mostly worked out really well. Kirsty showed me the ropes and I soon got the hang of it. The main skill being the clean lift of the screen off the paper.



Condensed Report-

Throughout my time at vernon street I have learnt a lot about how I like to work as well as the screen print process and workshop environment. I really enjoyed simply working with a number of people. Getting to know them and help them achieve the best work they could. I find the idea of working as a technician very appealing. However, I think this is something I can get from working in a studio. Through this work experience it has occurred to me that I collaborate with clients when I work for them, and each brief is a chance to learn someone and something new. More than anything I have reaffirmed the fact that it is the people that I work with rather than what I am doing that makes me love a certain type of work. This is why I feel big corporate studios in London are not for me. 

I have also decided that I will go on working as an assistant during the evening classes at Vernon, because it is a wonderful supplement of mess and ink in-between a lot of staring at screens. More than anything I have found that I have a worrying propensity for teaching, in this particular instance. Although, it is not something I am going to immediately pursue in my career, I have started to think about how I would do so in the log run. So, I have signed up to teach a lettering workshop at Deer Shed festival to test if this might be a direction In which I wish to go.

However, I am also aware that this work experience didn’t exactly challenge me it was comfortable and familiar. This is why I think I need to pursue a design studio environment (just not like split) that pushes me, because I need to be challenged to be happy in a Job for a substantial time.

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 01 Self Branding Online Portfolio and PDF

OUGD602 PPP 03 Brief 01 Self Branding Creating Stamp for Back of Business Card

When it came to creating the back design for my business cards I based the typographic layout around the structure of the letterpress prints produced earlier in the year.

However, experience with stamps meant that I knew that there was a minimum type and line weight that would transfer well from a stamp. So, there had to be a balance between the size and weight of the type. Source Sans Pro was used to stick to the confines of the brand developed. Capitals were used in order to achieve and information hierarchy that again would register well when stamped. 

landscape format was also considered. Asjking my peers was the best way to gauge which format would be best. I gave a number of people a business card to turn the way that they would naturally. This was illuminating, the number that turned it to a portrait back was the same as those who kept the card landscape. I decided that because the front of the card is landscape the back should be too. However, it would need to be the other way up than the front so that they can be flipped horizontally and  be the right way up. This is something I can experiment once I have the stamp.

I have also spent some time purchasing custom email and URL so that all the info on the back of my business card is accurate and appears professional.

In preparation for the stamp, I bought some stock from Fred Aldous (Colour Plan Mandarin) the closest I could get to the orange of the stamp.

I also cut my logo paper (Bier Gmund Wiezner) down to my slightly shorter than average business cards (40mm x 70mm). By using spray mount ad a big book I stuck together all 4 pieces of paper for each card.

They turned out beautifully and the paper isn't far off the ink at all.

Although there were a few issues with positioning the back stamp correctly on such a small piece of paper the cards turned out really week. The weight of the stock in particular is really effective in communicating tactility and hands on processes.