Responsive- Design Process 2: Study Task 1

Preparatory Task:

In preparation for the first session, we have to research into 5 Possible Briefs that we are interested in possibly working on so we could get an insight into the type of briefs that are available:

1 & 2: The Penguin Design Award

"Penguin Children's Prize" (2014) by The Penguin Design Award
Penguin Design Award (2013) "Penguin Children's Prize" [Internet] Available from http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/puffin_brief.php (Accessed 30th October 2013)

"Penguin Adult Prize" (2014) by The Penguin Design Award

Penguin Design Award (2013) "Penguin Adult Prize" [Internet] Available from http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/penguin_brief.php (Accessed 30th October 2013)

The reason I am interested in the 2 Penguin Briefs is because I am a fan of reading and books which gives me a great opportunity to try and design for something that I love. I haven't done any type of book front cover design before and feel it would give me a chance to be able to see whether I like this type of design. I want to use this Module to try things I haven't done before and this is one of them. I felt that by doing both the adult and the child, it would give me the chance to design for a range of different audiences using a variety of visuals.

3: TigerPrint Competition

"TigerPrint Competition- Christmas Icons" (2013) by TigerPrint

TigerPrint(2013) "TigerPrint Competition- Christmas Icons"[Internet] Available from http://designcompetition.tigerprint.uk.com/page/CONTESTS/contest/ChristmasIcons (Accessed 30th October 2013)

I have selected this brief as it would give me the chance to produce work for a potential commercial client, in this case, M&S. I've not produce professional cards before yet either so that would allow me to continue the theme of trying new things and seeing if I enjoy it. Plus, the theme seems quite fun and seasonal so I can see myself having some fun producing work for this brief.

4: Student Design Awards

"Innovation Is Giving" (2013) by Student Design Awards

Student Design Awards (2013) "Innovation Is Giving"[Internet] Available from http://sda.thersa.org/en/challenge/rsa-student-design-awards/phase/ideation-phase/track/innovation-in-giving (Accessed 30th October 2013)

I selected this brief as it would juxtapose the fun previous brief, giving me the chance to work in a more serious brief. The fact that it is an award rather than a competition gives it a more serious tone and would come across as working towards something rather than producing work for a competition. This is due to the amount of work that is asked for it, such as extensive research, documents and scans.

5: Typoday 2014 Poster Design Competition

"Typoday 2014 Poster Design Competition" (2013) by Typography Day

Graphic Competitions (2013) "Typoday 2014 Poster Design Competition" [Internet] Available from http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/graphic-design/typoday-2014-poster-design-competition (Accessed 30th October 2013)

This brief gives the opportunity for me to produce a poster for an event rather than a competition which would allow me to produce work for a real world setting. Not only this but I don't usually take part in doing any typography so this would allow me to try it out and see if it becomes successful.

Studio Session:

For the module, we need to do a minimum of 5 briefs which are to be substantial as well as 1 brief which can be done over a longer time period (a few weeks)

We had to identify as many points as we could about we wanted to get out of this Module:

• Trying something new every time
• Finding an area of design I want to focus on
• Being quicker at producing work for briefs
• Gain confidence at making work for a larger, wider Audience (Clients and Competitions) who are going to see my work
• Being successful at something because of my Design Ability
• Be able to present my work in a Professional way to people in the Industry

We then came up with a list as a class of conclusive things that we would get out of this Module:

1. Sense of Time Management and Discipline
2. Understanding "Realistic" Time Scales
3. Effective Professional Communication
4. An Award/ Prize/ Fame
5. How Not To Get Exploited (Including Getting Paid)
6. Work on a Range of Briefs
7. Identify Individual Practises
8. Brief Analysis
9. Creative Compromise
10. Exposure
11. Portfolio Development
12. Building Contacts and Opportunities

We had to identify as many points as we could about why live and competition briefs are going to be useful to us:

• Show us what it is really like in a Real World Situation
• Get to see what its like to be a Freelance Designer making work for yourself
• Get to see/mix with other designers/ students who are in the same boat as you, learning from each other

We then came up with a list as a class of conclusive things we would find useful out of taking part in live and competition briefs:

1. Improving Professional Design Skills
2. The 'Challenge' of a Professional Brief
3. Commitment to being more than 'just a Student'
4. Developing Clearer/ More Effective Working Practises
5. Real World Benchmarking (Judging Your Own Against Others)
6. Professional Responsibilities
7. Gain Confidence
8. Gain Contacts
9. Professional Feedback
10. Professional Experience

We then had to list the reasons for why we had chosen the 5 briefs we had brought with us to the session:

Tiger Print:

• Producing Work For A Potential Commercial Client
• Allows for Experimentation due to the Content and Fun Nature of the Brief

Typoday:

• Never worked with Type outside of College Briefs before
• Event instead of a Competition
• Puts work in a Real Life Situation

Both Penguin Briefs:

• My personal Area of Interest- Books and Reading
• Can be quite Imaginative and Concept Driven
• Never done a Book Cover before

Innovation Is Giving:

• Potential help someone with my Ideas (Ethical)
• Serious Tone of the Brief
• Quite Expansive in regards to Research and necessary work to present

We then came up with a list as a class of conclusive reasons as to why we chose the Briefs we did:

1. Brief seemed Straight-Forward
2. Short and Simple
3. Try new things out of your Comfort Zone
4. They're Free To Enter
5. An Interest/ Familiarity with the Content
6. Ethically Motivated Design
7. The Prize
8. The best Brief that was available
9. Creative Scope/ Freedom
10. Range of Problems
11. Client Basis could be Big Brands/ Popular Names

THE MAIN CRITERIA FROM THE BRIEFS ARE WHAT YOU CAN GET OUT OF THEM!

From these questions, we were then given a Dead YCN Brief from last year and put into Groups where we broke down one of the briefs. I was in the group given he task of breaking down the Fedrigoni Task:

Fedrigoni YCN Brief 2012

After having a read through of the briefs, as a class, we decided that that the YCN briefs seem very detailed and full of information due to being well written, with specific instructions and content deciding that these were particularly good briefs.

Following this assumption, we had to analyse the given brief using a series of 8 questions:

What is the Problem?

Fedrigoni feel like they are perceived as being unaffordable and there is a misconception about not being accessible to Print companies

What is the Brief asking you to do about it?

Create a Tongue-in-Cheek campaign that will break these misconceptions and raise the profile of the Brand

What is the Brief trying to Achieve?

Trying to transform the brand of Fedrigoni

Who will Benefit?

The company as well as potential clients/ customers

What Is The Message?

That Fedrigoni is an affordable brand which provides good quality products

Who is the Audience?

Designers and Printers across the UK

How Will the Message be Delivered?

Fun, Tongue-in-Cheek approach using Humour in the form of a campaign

Can you Foresee any Problems with this?

• The campaign in unspecified- unfocused brief
• Do we have to produce something or do they want a concept for a campaign?
• How do they want the work delivered?
• Tone of voice is inappropriate for the target audience
• Contradiction towards use of paper- allowed to ask for samples or not?

What we learnt from this exercise is that, although it is suppose to be a very good brief, it is in fact very confusing and unspecific. Also the reason behind the briefs are that the companies are loosing money and wanting our help to get the message across that they are the best to get more money and benefit as a company. For this, it is important that we always read the Terms and Conditions as we could have a great idea and it could be used by someone else without us getting any credit for it. This session defiantly opened my eyes to the fact that, just because a brief looks like its been all written doesn't mean that it is.

Study Task:

For the next session, we have to find or select a brief that is going to take us a few weeks to do and has scope for development. It also needs to be something we are interested in.

I decided to select the National Trust Brief set by D&AD for the D&AD New Blood Awards 2014.

D&AD Brief for National Trust

I am a member of the National Trust and have personal experience in regards to being a visitor of several of their South-of-England sites so it is something that I have first-hand experience in.

Upon selecting this brief, we have to answer these questions from it:

1. Why have you chosen this Brief?- I have chosen this brief because I am familiar with the brand and the work that they do so I already have some interest in it. 
2. What do you want to get out of this Brief?- I like the fact that I will be trying to help a campaign which is keeping the History and Culture of Britain alive for years to come. In a way, it makes me feel like I am giving back to the community by trying to help making it more appealing to a new generation.
3. What do you want to do/ make/ produce for the Brief?- I'd like to do a new Logo, Brochure and Membership Cards.
4. What do you need to do/ make/ produce in response for the Brief?- An Integrated Campaign to a UK nationwide audience of 25-40 year olds using relevant communication channels such as Print, Digital or Experimental.

Then go through the Brief and answer the 8 Brief Analysis Questions:

What is the Problem?

The National Trust feel like they are perceived as being for old people and would like to be made relevant to the modern visitor.

What is the Brief asking you to do about it?

Reposition the National Trust away from it's current perceived image and re-establish the importance of place in our lives.

What is the Brief trying to Achieve?

Trying to transform the brand of The National Trust

Who will Benefit?

The Trust as well as the Visitors

What Is The Message?

That The National Trust is the driving force behind rebuilding modern societies connection with the outdoors

Who is the Audience?

25-40 year olds nationwide across the UK

How Will the Message be Delivered?

Create an Integrated Campaign which stands for a positive impact on People's Relationship with Nature and Beauty

Can you Foresee any Problems with this?

• The campaign in unspecified- unfocused brief
• Do we have to produce something or do they want a concept for a campaign?
• How do they want the work delivered?

Alongside, come up with some Initial Ideas/ Concepts/ Thumbnails Drawings and some Conceptual/ Contextual Research (See Design Context Blog)

For Primary Research, I looked at my Membership Pack which is the latest design as I am only a new member. Inside it has a Handbook, Map, Magazine and Leaflets which is packaged in a folded card box with a handle.

Packaging

Leaflets for Individual Locations

Map

Magazine

Handbook

Membership Pack Contents

As you can see, the Design of the Pack is very rigid and gives the appearance of being things that you would find slotted into a middle-class, broadsheet newspaper rather than of being a strong, unique identity for a British Institution. This appearance manages to alienate a large percentage of the audience as it appears quite uninteresting to a modern viewer as the layout is quite old-fashioned and presented in a purposeful yet dry way.

BWA Design are a brand consultancy who deal with a lot of National Trust reports and information who have tried to develop it over the years:

"National Trust Annual Reports 07/08" (2008) by BWA Design

BWA Design (2008) "National Trust Annual Reports 07/08" [Internet] Available from http://www.bwa-design.co.uk/en/NationalTrust_annualreports_08_09.php (Accessed 13th November 2013)

"National Trust Visitor Engagement Materials for Cotehele Property" (2013) by BWA Designs

BWA Designs (2013) "National Trust Visitor Engagement Materials for Cotehele Property" [Internet] Available from http://www.bwa-design.co.uk/en/NationalTrust_cotehele_print.php (Accessed 13th November 2013)

When they first started developing work for them, it was very brown and dark in colour with a layout that came across as quite uninspiring as it is quite fixed and lots of text which seemed to either take up a whole page or was non existent. Clearly the brand is catering for a specific audience with the magazine showing either young children or families within its pages.

"Attingham Pack Visitor iPad Kiosk"(2012) by BWA Design

BWA Design (2012) "Attingham Pack Visitor iPad Kiosk" [Internet] Available from http://www.bwa-design.co.uk/en/page_1452.php (Accessed 13th November 2013)

National Trust Annual Report 2012/13 Print"(2013) by BWA Design

BWA Design (2013) "National Trust Annual Report 2012/13 Print" [Internet] Available from http://www.bwa-design.co.uk/en/page_1461.php (Accessed 13th November 2013)

By comparison, a few years later with The National Trust attempting to change its mature perception, it has gone to producing Web reports as well as iPad interactive information points to make it more relevant to a younger audience. The use of more info-graphics and bold colour is to make it more relevant to a modern audience and the one colour print is being considerate to the environment by making it a more efficient print.

I decided to make some Spider Diagrams to brainstorm the brief that had been provided:

National Trust Brainstorm

I brainstormed what National Trust meant to me in regards to first impressions, perceptions, audience and thoughts over how I could change this.

What The Brief Wants

I then brainstormed specific areas of consideration mentioned in the brief so as to think of possible areas I could focus on.

Initial Design Sheet

These made me start to think about some possible avenues I could go down for ideas. I made a design sheet to be able to get some cohesion in regards to possible ideas. I have found it quite hard coming up with concepts based on the brief as it stands currently so I would like to see what I can do with it when we approach