Design Practice: February 2014

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Study Task 3: Jackson Rising

Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to this session in uni. So when I completed the task, I was at the disadvantage that I had missed the proper briefing for it. However, I completed the task from home following the brief as best I could.

Task
Background:

Understanding the needs of specific layouts for specific jobs is key to your development and practice. There are many times as a designer that you will have to consider differing formats for layout due to clients’ needs and also the need of information.

This task is a practical task that will highlight layout skills and understanding of application of text, point sizes, columns, margins, gutters, image, page size, bleed, scale, format, pagination, fluidity, audience and composition.

You will be given dummy type / text / images to work with during this task that is studio based. You will be given instructions per layout requirements and also a context to help you decide how information should be positioned and organised.

You will be expected to add your own design flourishes upon these designs, where appropriate.

You will share visual representations of your work with a partner / small group.

Layout 1 – Minimal Text / image: A5 Flyer

Layout 2 - Text Heavy / Imagery: Concertina spread (10x A5 pages)

Extended Practice:

As soon as you have completed your flyers and brochures, you are expected to extend the range of design across platforms. Suggestions are: Poster / mail shot / tickets and appropriate mediums.

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Jackson Rising Brief 1

Background:

This simple layout will ask you to utilise a short amount of body copy, title, date, and location. The minimal amount of text allows for the simple use of single imagery and the type to serve as the main visual elements.

Brief:

You are asked to produce a simplistic flyer design for Jackson Rising Exhibition at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art – New York) using the instructions below.

Specifications:

Format: A5 – Portrait
Title: Jackson Rising
Sub-Title: Curated by Jenny Dowd
Date: August 3, 2014 - August 31, 2014
Copy: Four artists met at an artist residency at the Ucross Foundation in 2013, now they come together to inhabit at MoMA, New York.
Location: MoMA, New York.
Contacts: info@jacksonrising.com // www.jacksonrising.com // www.moma.org
Image: Jackson Rising ident / MoMA logo / NYU logo
Use of two colours only: Black and white

(Use embedded InDesign file and follow grid.)

My final outcomes for brief 1 are shown below:

Background:

This text/image heavy layout will ask you to utilise body copy, title, date, and location, heading, sub heading, imagery, indexes, highlighted quotes. The amount of text allows for the use of imagery and the type to serve as the main visual elements.

Brief:

You are to layout and design a 10-page concertina folded brochure for a forth-coming exhibition titled ‘Jackson Rising’ at MoMA, New York. All images, copy and branding are included. You have to create a visually stimulating layout that showcases the artists’ imagery but does not sacrifice important information in this process. The images and information must flow harmoniously and offer a taste of what is to be expected during the exhibition.

Branding elements must be kept to black and white. Images must be unaltered and in colour.

Considerations:

Headings, headlines, body copy, grid, type, colour, image sizing, bleed, margins, flow, audience, narrative, language, purpose, size, external print methods, preparing for print, stock, distribution.

Specifications:

Format: A5 x10 – Portrait – Concertina spread (front and back).

Title: Jackson Rising - Curated by Jenny Dowd

Dates: August 3, 2014 - August 31, 2014

Location: 11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019, United States

Generally, I found these tasks really helpful. It has encouraged me to work with grids more within my own work. I also enjoyed experimenting with different layouts within the given grid in Indesign. I enjoyed focusing on just the editorial element of design in this brief as it gave me a lot less distraction and time-wasting on perfecting the content as well as the layout. I was pleased with what I managed to achieve in a small space of time. In future I would really like to develop and practice editorial development in my own work as I feel I am still not very good at it.

OUGD505: Publication Progress Crit

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For this crit, we were asked to bring in our mockups and developments for our 16 page publications. As I was still deciding on the order of content, I had not yet finished designing my full 16 page document. For this crit, I brought the pages I had done so far, along with a few of my development ideas.

During this crit, we presented our publication ideas one at a time in small groups. This was beneficial as it gave us the chance to explain our thought processes, avoiding confusion for the rest of the group. As opposed to previous anonymous crits, where our work has been left to speak for itself, this was a good opportunity to ask each other questions.

The second task of the crit was to individually feedback to the rest of our group using the sheets provided, as well as any personal questions we needed advice on.

My 3 questions:
1. Is the layout clear and easy to understand?
2. At the moment, I have only considered using two colours - red and black - do you think this will work effectively, or should I include more colour?
3. Is this concept useful?

My feedback was both useful and constructive:

Strengths

The layout is clear and consistent, through the placement of headers and content. There is a strong theme of circular shapes through the type and aesthetics which works successfully and is understandable.
I think these two colours would work successfully and consider off-white stock to nice tones.
The concept is interesting and unique. You've demonstrated how braille is beneficial to both blind/non-blind people.
Two colours would work well... try others as well as red.
The concept can lead to quite an exciting interactive book.
The layout is simple, clear and easy to follow. I would perhaps stick with two colours as you don't really need to add any more. Unless the colour has a purpose, then I would just leave it at two.
The Concept is useful and can be applied to a wider range of information.

Areas for improvement

Possibly look into photography or vector-based imagery to make the pages stand out. This may be done through your idea to emboss.
Develop your layouts further by possibly arranging the next in different ways and the design of the front cover.
Illustrations (simple) might break up white space - keep flat, don't emboss.
Consider pages and embossing... if a page backs an embossed page, can it be used?
Produce more mockups and see how it feels physically.

Considerations

Consider certain parts of embossing as doing it maybe a task. Also experiment with stocks as some of the embossing might fade away after time and wont be legible.
A sleeve with an embossed pattern would be appropriate for your work. Possibly a bright red or gloss black to make it stand out. Also a small title title to explain what the book is about for people who don't know the context of it.
Look at other books about braille.
Consider including what/where it is used/helpful. - Facts that people may not know for example bumped floor at traffic lights.
How each braille will be embossed - you need to allow time to experiment.
What will the packaging look like? How will it work/interact in relation to the book?

I was really pleased with my feedback. Considering I wasn't very organised for this crit, it helped me to get a clearer sense of how I wanted to produce my publication.

Thursday 13 February 2014

OUGD503: Collaborative Project Rationale/ Concept Statement

After discussing how we were going to differentiate between Russian and English to express the bilingual element of Dressing the Screen, Jamie remembered this poster produced by Stefan Sagmeister. We liked the way this poster took a 3D approach to dividing one concept into two. This started the basis of our thought process for ways to display our Russian & English translations alongside one another.

In terms of our own work, we thought the posters could be used as a form of way finding around the exhibition. The Russian translations could be placed on one side of the poster (left for example) and English on the other. This could help to avoid less chance of crowding at each way finding point. It would also be an effective way to help people understand if they only spoke English or Russian.

This then led us on to think about ways we could lead people around the whole exhibition. We figured that is the translations were colour coded for English and Russian, we could use this concept throughout. One of our initial thoughts was to have a colour code key at the entrance of the exhibition, explaining that one colour represented Russian and the other English. Following on from this, to guide visitors around the exhibition we would place the relevant coloured tape or string around the exhibition floor. The whole route would be the same for both languages, but split off to separate directions each time visitors reached a point of information. The information would be displayed in the style of Sagmeister's posters shown above.