OUGD404 Studio Brief 02

After being briefed on the second part of this module, I am feeling confident in myself to produce a book with content that I can choose. Having the openness with a brief is something that I have looked forward to with the course as I have highlighted in previous projects that doing work that I enjoy means that I feel more confident with the work that I am producing as well as having a range of ideas to experiment with for a brief. Although doing projects that I have not necessarily had a wide interest in, it has shown me alternative routes and methods to design. From learning these skills I am able to apply them to briefs that I am more confident and have a greater interest in, such as producing a ten double page spread book.  

Presentation Template

From what I have learnt in design principles I have produced a grid layout in InDesign for my design boards and presentation. The documents will allow me to place the images onto the inDesign pages therefore making the process of putting design sheets and presentations together much simpler!

For the design boards I have kept more of an equal balance of text to image, working with a three and two column template. This can be changed to suit the content without having the vastly adjust the design. Having a continuos design of the brief title, code and my name in the top left and right corner makes reading the sheets consistent as your eyes follow the same pace layout each time.

For the presentation template I have focused on having a more imagery based design. This gives the audience something that is strongly visual to look at whilst listening, rather than reading text that I am also saying. Text would be added when appropriate and depending on whether it was being used along side myself speaking or alone. My main influence for the template is the Country Living magazine. The layout of the magazine works around the strong photography that each double page spread maintains as well as having paragraphs or short sections of text. The text is either an article or a short description therefore providing context to the imagery. I have added a heading to the design to add an context to the page as well as helping me when presenting. Having these features increases my confidence as they are little helpers that are there distinctively when presenting. These are areas that have been highlighted to me from the first presentations that we carried out when starting the course and I have found that they make the experience a lot less stressful therefore I feel as though I come across more confident in the presentation. 

Letterpress

After having the letterpress induction, I felt that it was something that I needed to practise over time so that when it became relevant in a brief I would feel confident to produce a successful piece of work with minimal mistakes being made. To experiment with the process I decided to print my own christmas cards. This gave me something fun to do but would also be something that I could give to my family and friends so that they can keep up with the work that I am doing. As letterpress is a very precise method it took me some time to get the layout and fixing of the stencil correct. However after a few attempts I was able to complete some successful prints. 

After sending my mum a copy of the above picture, she ordered me some stamps to print some more cards for her. 

The stamps were from Noolibird and through ordering the stamps we were able to be in contact with Nula, the designer and company owner. Through this contact and the kindness of Nula, she has said that if I ever have a design that I would like made into a stamp, she would be happy to do this for me. This is a great opportunity and I am thankful to my mum for this contact! I hope to keep in contact with Nula and work with her in the future.