Pressision Print Visit/ Friday 25th January

On Friday 25th January me and some of the Geek Table made a visit to Pressision Print in Pudsey. They showed us around and told us how everything worked and of course showed us some sexy print. The visit was very useful and good for research for my FMP. Its also good to know that if we need any help or need more research we can always pop back and have another look.

UK Greetings Card/ Developing a concept

After trying to think of an idea for the UK Greetings card brief for YCN for a week now, I have finally come up with an idea that I am happy with and want to develop. The idea came from my love of Origami and a new love of which is my boyfriend. I have decided to create cards for Valentines Day as this will be my first and I am very excited. I know its very commercial but at the same time I love being soppy and romantic. I am going to create little love notes that can be an alternative to the very typical Valentines Day card. The concept is to have a dye cut message inside an Origami love heart that can be sent or given to people. I just think its more exciting than giving a card. The beauty of them aswell is that they will be hand crafted, so made with extra love!

Here's one I made earlier^^

This is a general idea of what I have in mind. The brief is going to be extended into a bigger range of products to make the brief more substantial.

Origami Heart Research

http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-secret-heart.html

For the UK Greetings Card from YCN 2012/13, I have been looking into using my skill of Origami to develop a concept for my range of greetings cards and products. I am going to be making greetings card based around Valentines Day. The reason for this is that its coming up and this is going to be my first ever Valentines Day I share with my boyfriend and im feeling pretty loved up. The cards wouldnt necessarily have to be just for Valentines Day, they could be little messages you send to people throughout the year to let them know you love them.

This Origami heart will allow me to add messages on the inside which at the moment are going to be little removable cards. I guess the heart will play more of an envelope role rather than the card itself.

Simantha Fox/ Lego posters

http://www.behance.net/simanthafox
http://www.simanthafox.com/


Simantha Fox is a designer from San Francisco who takes a focus on Art Direction, Advertising and Creative Direction. I really love this piece of Lego advertising that she has designed. The idea is so simple but it works so well. She has captured Lego's main selling point in the fact that you can build anything with Lego. Nothing is impossible. I am going to be creating a campaign based on building dreams and nostalgia so this has really helped me to think more simply about my designs and making them effective.

Nick Yates/ Lego Figures Publication

http://www.behance.net/nickyates

Nick Yates is a Graphic Designer from Manchester. He created this publication about Lego Men and how we collects them. I love the simplicity of the design and the huge focus on the little figures. I think its funny how he mentions the fact he is probably too old to be playing with Lego still. This fits in perfectly with my concept of the nostalgia of Lego.

Rastere Yes/ Lego Type

http://www.behance.net/rastereYes
http://www.rastereyes.eu/


Rastere Yes is an Estonian designer who has a focus on Graphic Design, Advertising and Multimedia. He created some type using Lego which I thought was very clever. The shadows of the bricks created the letters. It is a very clever way to use it, I really love this work because its playful. I am wanting to create a campaign for the YCN Lego Brief that reflects on how fun Lego is and all of the things you can do with it.

Time Management

Open publication - Free publishing - More briefs

Here is a time management plan for me to stick to throughout my Final Major Project. I am pretty determined to stick to it so I dont get stressed out. The plan has been set week by week so hopefully it wont scare me too much, but enough to get my arse in gear! 

Organic Breakfast Brief

Open publication - Free publishing - More briefs

I have decided to change one of my briefs to this one as I feel it will be more fun and I will get more out of it. I am replacing the Make up branding and packaging for this brief as I do feel I chose the other brief just for the sake of it. This has sprung from doing my chocolate branding and packaging brief last module, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I think packaging has become a huge interest since the last module and I want to further develop my skills and interest in this area of Graphic Design.

Greetings Cards developing a concept

I am needing to start the two YCN briefs now so that I can ensure I leave myself enough time to get the most out of them, these include the UK Greetings card brief and the Lego brief.

I need to pick a theme for the cards brief, initially I was going to continue with the theme I used in OUGD301 for the same brief, but then realised I cant submit the same or similar work twice. What I was thinking was to come up with a concept that wouldnt be an easy option, like birthday cards. So the idea is to come up with little messages that can just be sent whenever, like cards saying hello or how are you. Just to make somebodies day. I dont think there is a huge market for this type of card and there is a lot of scope.

I am going to have to come up with a solid concept and design approach for the greetings cards, along with a brand and identity so that I can produce POS and stuff for it.

The first thing I am going to do is come up with some card content ideas to see how I could make my idea work in an interesting way.

Lego developing a concept

After having a group tutorial to talk about our briefs and any initial ideas I spoke about the Lego brief and the initial ideas that I had. The kind of concept that I wanted to aim for was something about building dreams, someone then said they thought Lego was very nostalgic. Due to the fact that Lego has been around for so long, most people played it when they were kids.

I want to try and create a campaign aimed at adults and take a look back at them as children to what they used to build and has it made them into who they are today. You can literally build anything with Lego and the only limit of it is your own imagination, I want to try and get this across and get adults to feel like kids again and enjoy Lego.

My boyfriend has a load of Lego at his parents house from when he was a kid, so we went round and got it out. There was a big box full so we tipped it out on the floor and started to build. He's like a big kid and loves playing with Lego. He had some instructions on how to build things so I had a look and built a helicopter. I didnt stick to the instructions too closely as I wanted to use my imagination. It took me nearly two hours to build it. I think the best part was finding all of the little pieces, the noise, although quite loud, is very comforting.

I mentioned to his mum that we should have a Lego party which at first everyone laughed at, but after thinking about they seemed to think it was a good idea. A few drinks and a night of building and acting like a kid again, what adult doesnt dream of this??

His mum took some photos of me and my boyfriend playing with the Lego and some of my boyfriend building his Lego VW Camper van I got him for Christmas, with his brother.

Aled Lewis/ Greetings Cards

http://www.behance.net/aled

http://www.aledlewis.com/

Aled Lewis is a London based designer with a focus on Graphic Design and Illustration. He has a collection of very quirky cards called Toy Stories which I love. I think the best thing about them is the fact they are so light hearted and random. In terms of my UK Greetings card brief, I am wanting to create a range of cards that are fun and that dont take themselves too seriously.

ZimandZou/ Paper Art

http://www.behance.net/zimandzou

http://www.zimandzou.fr/

Zim and Zou are France based designers with a focus on Paper Art, Graphic Design and Art Direction. Their work is truly beautiful! The colours and the craft of their designs is perfection, I love how they use bright colours that arent realistic for the ojects. It must have taken so much time, patience and skill to create these designs. I have always had a passion for paper crafting and I hope that one day I will be able to build the skills to make something incredible like Zim and Zou do.

I will be following Zim and Zou on Behance to ensure I keep up to date with their most recent works.

Kimberly Mann/ Greetings cards

http://www.behance.net/KimberlyMunn

http://www.mapleandbelmont.com/

Kimberly Munn is a Graphic Artist based in the USA, she has a strong focus on Illustration, Art Direction and Graphic Design. I found Kimberly on Behance after looking for greetings cards. I love her collection of charming designs that are all hand crafted. They are much like the type of work I would like to create for the UK Greetings cards brief from YCN. She uses a lot of traditional printing methods within her card designs which gives them a more personal touch.

Proposal and Rationale Draft Two

Open publication - Free publishing - More brief

Proposal and Rationale Form Draft One

Open publication - Free publishing - More brief

Geek Table Collective brief initial ideas

The Geek Table Collective brief initial ideas:

We had our first group meeting on Monday morning (14/01/13) and we talked about what the brief was going to be about and what our aims were. We came up with the fact that we need to each write our own individual briefs so we can state what we each want to get out of the brief and its purpose.

The biggest thing that came out of the meeting was that we are going to set our self mini briefs each week to work on and then on every Monday morning we are going to get together to crit each others work. The point of the briefs may be for an end of module exhibition that we could organise.

We also talked about the opportunities the brief could bring up, in the fact that we could possibly contact professionals to submit work to our exhibition or create a piece of work to invite them to view our work.

Paper Crafting brief initial ideas/ DROPPED BRIEF

Paper Crafting brief initial ideas:

I had a few issues to begin with with this brief as I wasnt sure what I wanted to do. I just knew that I wanted to do something that used paper and was exciting and fun. At first I had the idea of making 1000 Origami Cranes using different paper stocks, but I soon realised I was crazy. 

With that idea I realised that it wouldnt be practical and I also dont actually know what id get out of it apart from aching hands.

I then done some research through looking at paper crafting books from the library, I came across one that was filled with amazing installations made of paper. So I then thought it would be really cool to make a paper installation. But at this point in time I couldnt think of a context for my work in the big wide world. I spoke to the girls about it and they mentioned shop window displays, which then made me think of Harvey Nichols window displays which are beautiful!

So hey presto I think I am going to make some shop window displays. I came up with the idea of making 4 sets of displays that will be based around the concept of seasons. I will continue to develop ideas and also talk to my peers and tutors about my ideas to see what they think.

Make up branding initial ideas

Make up branding initial ideas:

I am wanting to explore packaging for this brief and I feel it is something that is very important. I am also needing and wanting to create a brand that stands out from the existing market by applying some amazing design skills!

 I have been thinking about creating a new brand of make up for 18-24 year old girls but I am still unsure of the type of market I am wanting to aim at. Whether its going to be party wear or day wear, I think it would be good if I could make a make up range, so  a day and a night wear to broaden my deliverables.

I want to have fun with this brief and create packaging that really stands out in a shop environment. I am not sure what the pricing of the make up will be yet, whether its going to be a high end product like Mac or something more affordable like Barry M.

FMP Brief compilation PDF

Open publication - Free publishing - More briefs

Here are all of my current FMP briefs, I have updated them since the last posts. It is easier for everyone that they are in  PDF together.

Enjoy.

Year Book Proposal Pitch

Well today was the day that we pitched our Year Book proposal and it didnt go down as well as we could have hoped. (To start with we couldnt even open the door to the studio!)

A design flaw was noticed straight away which we hadnt really thought about, this was the fact that the double page spread fold outs would leave a lot of empty space that we would have to fill with content. This would be very difficult because we would be potentially filling space just for the sake of filling it. This would not only bore people and not make sense but it would also make the book very thick and costly. We did consider cost when we designed the layout but didnt think about the extra space created.

The front cover and the concept was liked but the way in which we had executed it hadnt been thought through well enough. To be honest I dont think we will get the Graphic Design Year Book but I do really hope we get the opportunity to work on another courses Year Book as it would be great practice.

Final Major Project Briefing

Today we had our FMP Briefing! Scary stuff. I made a few notes throughout the briefing to help me remember some important pieces of information.

• The most important is that the module is a 50 Credit module which means it makes up 50% of Third Year. (This kind of made me feel a bit better because I let myself down in the previous module, this is my last chance.)
• My statement of intent needs to be in by February 1st.
• I need to think about the duration of my briefs, when am I going to start them and when will my deadlines be.
• There is 11 weeks till Easter which is a big date for my diary in terms of getting things done.
• I need to re think some of my briefs, we've been told that we need at least 5 substantial briefs that are challenging and show a conceptual and practical understanding of Graphic Design. Some need tweaking and adding to.
• I need to make sure I pick briefs that show who I am as a designer.
• I need to buy a new folder for my project journal to keep all my paper work.
• I need to start developing work now rather than waiting for the submission of my Statement Of Intent. This will just include developmental work to see if things work.
• I need to start researching for Design Context, this can include looking back on my Design Context blog from the past two years.
• Anything not referenced will be counted as plagiarism.
• The deadline for this module is Wednesday 29th May at 1pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Past years have done between 5-10 briefs for FMP.
• The Year Book proposal can be counted as a brief as long as I develop it enough to make it fairly substantial.
• In terms of Design Context I need to start looking at things that are relevant to my practice and who I am as a designer.
• The Design Context brief needs to be made into some sort of product, which could be anything from a book to a website.
• I need to start contacting studios again as i've not done it in a while. It needs to be ongoing.
• Things to consider for the Design Context include studio visits, interviews with designers and images.
• In terms of Design Practice I need to consider Product, Range and Distribution when it comes to writing my briefs.
• Fred mentioned the fact that we cant submit anything again from the last module. I am going to be extending a brief from OUGD301 so I need to think about how I can extend with new designs and make it a substantial brief (Natures Little Critters). The brief is a YCN competition brief so it would be nice to submit it.
• The module is 50 credits which means at least 500 hours of working time.
• The preparation and proposal form must be taken to tutorials with me.
• On the proposal form I need to state who I am as a designer and my interests in a sentence.

PoppyandRed/ Greeting Cards

PoppyandRed/ Behance
poppyandred.com

I first came across PoppyandRed on Behance after looking at Greeting card designs. I particularly loved their hand rendered text and imagery as it added a very personal touch to the cards. These cards are for Christmas so they have a running theme to them. The patterns and bright colours make the cards stand out from other designs.

Lego YCN Student Award Brief 2012/13

Natures Little Critters Brief

Geek Table Collective Brief

This brief will be fully written once the group has had their first meeting.

Swatch Brief

Year Book Brief

Year Book Meeting Three notes

Children's School Range Brief

Year Book printed mock PDF

Finalised Year Book PDF mock

Lego/ Initial ideas

With the YCN Lego deadline coming up in March I figured it would be best to start to think of ideas now rather than wait till the module officially starts as there is os much to do.

The brief is fairly open which is a good and a bad thing, it means I can do what I want which means I have to choose something and make it amazing (thats the hard bit). With such an open brief I need to think what it is I want to do as well as what is the brief asking me to do.

Lego is such a huge brand and they have been around for years, they are very popular and the promotional work they already produce is set to a very high standard. My challenge is to think of something that hasnt been done that will be exciting, inspiring and fun. Lego is so popular with children, there must be some in every house hold, but adults also like to play with Lego, so its things like this that will help to narrow down any ideas I may have.

I bought my boyfriend a Lego VW Camper Van for Christmas which he was over the moon about, he loves Lego and has tons of it from when he was a kid.

Below is the creative challenge taken from the Lego brief on the YCN website:

To create a campaign for the LEGO Brand that distinguishes LEGO from all the other construction toys in the toy market by highlighting the benefits and points of difference of LEGO rather than the detriments of our competitors.

The campaign should encompass the LEGO brand values and take advantage of LEGO’s heritage and strong brand equity within the UK.

Mission: Inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.

Vision: Inventing the future of play.

Play Promise: Joy of building, pride of creation.

Brand Values:

• Imagination
• Creativity
• Fun
• Learning
• Caring
• Quality

They say how they want a campaign that makes Lego stand out and they state their mission, vision, play promise and brand values.

ADD PICTURE OF INITIAL IDEAS SHEET

One of the biggest things that came out of idea generating was that with Lego you can build anything, there is no limit. People usually say that 'the sky is the limit', but with Lego thats not the case. With Lego, children can build their imaginations, if they imagine up some weird creature or amazing new land then they are breaking the boundaries of play and their imagination. That is the beauty of children and Lego combined. Competitors limit themselves with what you can build which then limits a childs imagination, a brand value of Lego's is imagination, which I think is the most important.

I went to meet my boyfriends family and his cousin who is six has a lot of Lego, he was building a house and it looked amazing. He then started to build these monsters which are Lego and asked us to join in. It saddened me that I couldnt build one due to lack of imagination. The boys were away with it building crazy creatures. It just goes to show how important exercising your imagination can be, and maybe this is something I need to focus on.

Julien Vallee/ Paper Crafting

MTV One

Tangible High Touch

http://www.behance.net/jvallee

http://www.jvallee.com

Julien Vallee is a designer and director from Canada who focuses on Motion Graphics, Art Direction and Installation Design. I found his work after looking for paper crafting on Behance. After looking at one piece for a while I realised where I had seen it, on MTV. He creates sets with paper, art directs them and also creates motion graphics with them. His work is very inspiring and goes to show how creative you can be with paper on such a large scale. I would love to do something like this for FMP but unsure how to go about it at this stage.