Interim evaluation.

Overall the start of the year has not been as successful as I had first planned when coming back after the summer but slowly has improved in the last few weeks. Better late than never. It has highlighted yet again that my time management and motivation at times is too poor and having completely changing my dissertation idea has hindered the 603 module massively.

Notepads
This was the first brief which I completed and the first live brief which I was given. It was a short turn around opportunity which had a specific audience that was a new challenge but a good opportunity to test out some print and foiling skills. The clients were people that I work with part time and because of this friendship I was given free reign on the design and formats as long as they were suitable for the job. My final concept was a series of small notepads that could be used for a variety of roles and were specified simply by a variety of related sayings. These sayings were all similar with slight differences according to their use and the feedback received was positive and caused a good conversation among us in the office because they could all relate with the individual terms. I was pleased with the finished foiling and feel it gave the simplistic design added interest without being too garish and distracting which suited the audience and context. Although the colour scheme isn't exactly navy and white of the company it was close enough to please but could have been re worked with better stock for the front covers. I am disappointed with some of the perfect binding because it is beginning to fall apart after only slight use and this may need re doing after Christmas for final submission.

Christmas postcard
This again was another quick turn around brief set by Lizzie and I was pleased with the outcome as I felt it completed what the brief asked for. My chosen song suited typographic style as it allowed me to look at layout and lyrics. The finished design is simple and legible which is suitable for the small format which it needed to be printed onto. Looking back I am disappointed that I didn't investigate a variety of lyrics and just went with my first idea, although it did work it was limited. If I had enough time I would have expanded the brief and range but with Christmas approaching it feels pointless and I don't want to be working with Christmas designs at Easter. At the time I had collab work to be developing so made this priority and moved on from the postcard.

Dr ME
This was a live brief which was also a collab and quick turn around which at first seemed challenging but by the end became enjoyable and a good opportunity for experimentation. The outcome which me and Josh developed had a visual aesthetic which was very different to that we would both normally produce but we were equally as pleased with and enjoyed the process. The concept which we worked on was linguistic pairs and how collaboration of two things are only seen when both elements work as one. The creation of the icons using paper and tearing was a different technique that we both took time to grasp and was unsure to begin with if it would be successful or not. Once scanned, laid out and re coloured digitally the whole visual became so much better and I was pleased with the final outcome. Re colouring allowed us to create the checkerboard visual and emphasise the concept of two opposing things coming together to make one. I am disappointed that I am unable to see the flag in context at the exhibition after going through the trouble of printing and mailing it.

Elmwood
Again this was a brief which I hadn't planned for at the beginning of the year because it was only briefed a few weeks ago, this was my third live brief of the year. My chosen profession to brand was accountant. I struggled with the concept massively to begin with, experimenting with the obvious, and looked at various solutions until I was finally pleased and ready for the interim crit, even if it was at last minute. For the crit I presented two ideas but it was clear that the concept of 'account-ants' was much stronger and created the friendly, fun approach to accounting I wanted to promote with the brand. Upon feedback from other crits I kept the strap line of 'strength in numbers' because it was the most appropriate for the ant visual and the meaning of them but developed the actual visual looking closer at ant structure. My final concept was to display the ant queen as the queens head on the coin which the ant would then carry. It was simple iconic visual that would work suitably at different scales ready for the different applications and be quickly understood. Although this is very different to the traditional accountant branding I feel this is exactly what the brief asked for. For the actual submission to Elmwood I will explore further applications and use of the brand that are more appropriate but have run out of time for this module submission.

Coeliac type 
Towards the beginning of the year I was approached by Mike wanting to collab on a type based project after how well we worked together last year during the responsive module. After some thinking I realised that I would need a display typeface for my coeliac publication next year so this was an opportunity not to be missed and he agreed. The concept was to create a typeface that would be suitable for a young audience but also convey a visual representation of the disease. The final typeface we designed achieved the concept we set out but from feedback we both realised that it could be used for other areas outside the health sector so this is the approach we took to the specimen booklet and font name. 'Involved' font, in my eyes, was a success and I am excited to use it now within my actual publication. Some areas will need improving though before final module submission in May because the printing and binding of the final specimen booklet wasn't to the standard which we hoped for and effected the final quality of the visual. We also ran out of time to package the booklet and posters and create the stickers.

78violet 
This was an individual brief which I had wrote at the beginning of the year but fell massively behind its original schedule due to the inclusion of the other briefs and because of this it isn't fully complete yet and some more promotional material will need to be developed in the new year. After seeing how well the experimental and different approach to aesthetic took with the Dr ME brief I thought this would be another opportunity to try something different to the norm. As the band is changing its image and name with the re emergence into the industry I felt it was fitting to try using experimental visuals. The final concept for the logo was to represent the two individuals coming together to create a third voice by laying the third word across the two numbers above. This concept is mimicked in the CD packaging by the two parts coming together to form the whole cover. The visuals are based on experimental photos of flowers with reference to one of their singles lyrics. I am disappointed with the lack of progress on this brief so far but know it couldn't be helped because of the demand of dissertation research.

Coming back after Christmas I hope to finish and alter all the elements which I have outlined for each of the briefs at the speed at which I am finally working at now before moving on with anything new. Upon reflection I can see that the initial 8 briefs which I had wrote I haven't completed much of them because of live and collab briefs which have popped up instead. These are briefs which I will have to start and focus on and also have further collab and competition to look forward to in the new year.