OUGD504 - Web Interim Crit

For this crit we were put into groups and had to present our website concepts, wire frames & potential coding, talking through the way in which the website was going to work & navigate.

I showed the three wireframes for my pages as well as the half finished website, which had all the images on but no written content.

Content shown:

 Feedback was generally positive, with people liking the simplicity of the design and the use of vector images instead of photographic images.
The only slightly negative feedback I got was about the colour chosen, more on the reason on why I chose the colour as there was not much significance to it, or a related reason to use it for the content. It was suggested that I change all the colour to black as some people felt it would be more striking.
However I think that colour choice is down to personal preference at the end of the day and I certainly prefer having the green colour over black.
I found this crit useful as it affirmed my ideas on this brief and gave me some useful suggestions and other people's insight into how well the website worked and put across the content & concept.

OUGD504 - Visiting Lecturer: Evolution Print

Evolution Print are a Sheffield based Print House which uses Litho Print and Digital Print

• Aluminium Plates and Full Colour Prints that can produce 1500 sheets an hour
• CTP Computers to Plate System
• Single sheet of cut paper of different sizes- SRA2 (The size of 16 A4's) to B1 (720x1020) - must leave a 2cm bleed around the work
• Won't print anything less than 70gsm and go up to 450gsm
• Don't do a spot varnish or laminate
• Binding is out of house
• Use 3 paper types: Gloss, Silk and Uncoated
• Uncoated gives a hands-on organic feel - doesn't give a sharp image
• Gloss and Silk is sharper and usually for corporate
• Uncoated bulks up heavier in stock than in Silk - gives a hands-on quality

Differences between Litho and Digital Printing:

• Litho is better quality - more expensive
• The maximum size for a Digital print is 2 pieces of A4 (SRA2) which is very limited
• Digital inks are powder based so you can feel the poster on top of the surface
• Litho uses vegetable inks
• Litho allows you to use an extra spot colour
• Digital is a full colour process

Digital Costing Charge

• Click charge means a charge per sheet
• 5 to 10p for black and white or 30p for a colour sheet on just one size
• Litho is cheaper to print on a large scale

Litho Costing Charge

• Litho has an initial fixed cost based on Make Readies (£60) 
• Plate Costs for a Full Colour (£100)
• Make Readies include getting the inks to the right levels and printing 200 practise sheets to get the prints to the right standards

Printing Methods

• Work and Turn - one side printed and then you turn it & print same
• Sheet Work - one side printed then completely different on the other side (8 Plates more expensive)

Printed work for:

• Judge Gill
• Pete McKee
• Manchester City Football Club
• Lee Goater
• Activision
• Design Republic
• Manchester Modernist

Basic Mistakes made by Graphic Designers before Printing:

• Bleed - 3mm include Crop Marks and Trim
• Separate all Designs individually
• Don't send books as spreads, send as single pages - send as PDFs & as original artworks
• For books, send covers separate
• If Spot Colours are not needed, set the to CMYK.
• Foils/ Separations/ Perforations - Set as a Spot Colour and Overprint so it can clearly be seen on the file
• Use correct image sizes and at 300dpi

• To save money when making a booklet, work in either a set of 8 or 16
• Using just 1 or 2 colour is less expensive
• They use cylinders rather than tins for ink so they can be reused and have less waste and water used
• They do work for charity as it is their corporate responsibility
• The inks and plates used are bought from local supplies but the paper isn't 
• Coloured stocks are available

OUGD504 - Visiting Lecturer: GF Smith

Paper Merchant

• 120 year old independent British brand
• High Quality and well Respected

Specifications

• Think about the product and consider the stock before
• 1 million hand-made envelopes a year
• Printers buy from GF Smith, Designers buy from printers

Products
Black & White or Colour
There are 4 paper types available:

• Colorplan - 50 Colours, 8 Weights and 25 Emboss Texture
• Smooths - Creams, Whites and Blacks
• Textures
• Specials - Wood Pine, Metallics, Fibreglass Inspired

Factory Services

• 4 Paper Machines Half a Mile Long
• Handmade Envelopes
• Cut Sheets to Size
• Packaging Prototypes

Beauty In The Making Exhibition - Showcase of work, live envelope making & paper making

After this we were then given the opportunity to look at their types of stock & some of the work that has been produced for them by Made Thought for the ColourPlan range. They made a creative way of displaying the stock choices.

http://www.madethought.com/#!

OUGD504 - Progression Crit

Design for Print/Design for Web Crit 2

For this crit we were put into groups of six and also had a tutor (Lorraine). Like the last crit we were given a few minutes each to talk through our two briefs and talk about any queries and concerns we had, as well as getting feedback in terms of the concept/design ideas.

Design for Print
For this crit I brought along my new concept for helpful information for new students at LCA, producing a couple of print outs of the flowcharts I have been creating, and talking about the supporting material which will go with them.
Overall the group was positive about my concept, a lot more positive than in my last crit. They thought the concept of flowcharts was an interesting one and was genuinely useful, especially if they were to be put in the right places, near the technology/processes they are associated with.
I was told to think more about the supporting materials and the form in which these will take, maybe thinking about something more interesting than standard booklets/leaflets.

Design for Web
I also brought along my new concept for the website, looking into the evolution of the alphabet instead of into hand drawn type.
I got a positive response to the minimalist layout design and simplicity of it, however it was mentioned that it is hard to know exactly what the website is about, so a small description or 'about' section will be useful to include.
In reference to content, it was said that I need to focus it down and read over the research and pick out the important points to write about and make it relevant and worth knowing instead of just writing content for the sake of writing it. It was suggested that I look into why the alphabets are the way they are and why people needed the alphabets in their times.

Overall I found this crit was a lot more positive than the last and did help me in reaffirming that I had made the right choice changing both of the ideas in the way I have. The feedback was constructive and definitely something I will consider when designing further material for both briefs.

OUGD502 - A Design Strategy: Session 2

Networking

• Sharing and gaining information that helps us gain something
• Our scale of professional existence - expand yourself
• Start to get to know people
• When contacting people, have a reason and a plan
• Your network is whoever is beneficial to your practice
• We network so people know you and your work exists
• Getting to know your 'peers' in the industry
• Advice
• Mentoring
• Feedback
• Visits
• Placements
• Collaboration
• Employment
• How do you get in contact?
• Investigate Yourself - Find your Voice
• Contact a Blog rather than a Website
• Above all, give yourself a reason to speak with them

They want to know

• Why are you contacting them?
• What do you want from them?
• How do you want them to respond?

We should consider

• An identity of some kind
• A different CV- what do you like? what floats your boat?
• A position to contact them from?

Task 1
Investigate a list of methods you can employ to contact other creatives, studios and agencies.

• Email - quick communication - potentially good for a couple of quick questions
• Letter - more personal form of communication - shows the time has been spent to contact them
• Skype - face to face, even if they're on the other side of the world
• Promotional Pack/CV - an interactive and more visual way of contacting
• LinkedIn - Professional social networking - allows to meet other professionals in the same field and others
• Behance - Most up to date work, their likes, appreciations etc.
• Blogs - most up to date work, a clear personal touch
• Visits - a much more face to face type of communication. A clear interest in their working life and how that applies to me as a designer.
• Exhibitions/Fairs/Events - meet a larger amount of practicing professionals at once.
• Invitation to College - Invite them to see your environment and how you work. Allows feedback on work, portfolio and advice.
• After lecture - interest and enthusiasm. A face to face conversations. Questions about their work.

Task 2

The second task to was to pair up and write a list of positive and negative points about each others practice.

I paired up with Charlie for this.

Charlie's list for me:

Positives

• Computer Wizz
• Helpful
• Patient
• Loads of experimentation
• Making typefaces
• Organised
• Actually enjoy socialising with outside college
• Is honest with me and my work - criting it
• can have a right chat with

Negatives

• Won't print by choice (hand rendered print)
• Ideas development
• Doesn't like research
• Will do design sheets after the work
• Doesn't appreciate a good high 5

OUGD504 - Peer Interim Crit/Study Task 7

Design for Print/Design for Web - 5/11/13
In this crit we were put into groups of about 8 and given a couple of hours to go round and talk about our project concepts and design decisions, and then criting each other. In our group we decided to talk about Design For Print first as we thought this brief was more important for the minute, and then do a quick crit for Design For Web at the end for those who wanted it.

Design for Print
I presented my initial ideas for my brief, which was to create a book containing all the information a new designer would need to know about designing for print and information on how to design for print, with tips and illustrations to show print processes etc.
I showed my initial design ideas, showing the two completely opposite ideas I had for the overall aesthetic of the book; the first being a more playful & hand drawn aesthetic which largely played on screen printing, with packaging that highlights this. The second is a completely digital look with a very clinical & clean approach.
Overall the reaction to the first idea was positive, especially for the packaging, however it was commented on that I hadn't narrowed the research down because I hadn't chosen a specific audience. As I had gone for a broad audience, it is hard to narrow the research down, so I had planned to make a book including everything.
At the time I didn't think this crit was successful as it made me question every design decision I had made until this point, however in hindsight it has had a positive affect because it has made me think a lot more about who this will be aimed at, why, and what they would need it for.

Design for Web
I presented my plans for a website on hand-drawn type, and like the crit for print, audience was brought up again. Who would want to go on the website, and what would they expect/want to find on it?
Initial thoughts were that they liked the layout design I had done for the homepage, but needed to think more about the content I was using on the website and why I was using it. To do this I need to go back to my research and look over it, research further and decide exactly what needs to be included and have a good reason for it.

OUGD502 - A Design Strategy: Session 1

1. Consider your First Year and what you feel were the highlights in your College Career so far as Graphic Design is Concerned?
I think that the highlights of my year were in the skills I learnt and how quickly I learnt them. I have always been quite a fast learner, so to have the software inductions quite early into the year gave me the time and ability to improve my skills in these programs and be able to use them to produce a good result for each brief.

On top of this, I think that the highlight of my year was definitely creating the Speaking For Experience book for the OUGD406 last brief. I found that this brief was completely self driven and with the idea that I could do whatever I wanted in a way that I wanted to.

2. Document of your PPP Blog, the main events of your Summer Break. Reflecting on your Summer, what is your most memorable event and why?
I have to say my summer was fairly uneventful. I spent the majority of it just relaxing and catching up with friends who I hadn't seen in a while as they are all away at different universities.

I also started my driving lessons finally, which I suppose is my most memorable event because I took to it quickly, starting at the end of June, and am aiming to pass my test by the end of the year.

3. Have you made any Contacts over the Summer that you feel could be helpful over the coming year or so and what outcomes do you feel achieved? How did you meet/ contact these Contacts (methods used or how it happened)?I have a contact who is the owner of a design company - PFComms in London. I did a couple of days down there last summer, however didn't do any this year. I probably should have done, but didn't take the opportunity. In terms of making new contacts, I haven't. I did start looking into studios around the country for ones that I am interested in and might want to visit.

4. If you didn't make any contacts, why? (Working? Holiday? Commitments?)
I'm not particularly good at talking to new people, so this fear definitely held me back. I also think that I would be better speaking to designers when I am in my second year and am a bit more experienced in the field and know what I'm talking about/doing a bit more. I think confidence in myself as a designer would be key in these kinds of situations, and I don't have that yet.

5. What methods of contacting creatives can you think of?

• Email
• Letter
• Phonecall
• Skype
• Visit
• Behance/Linkedin/Social Media
• Speak to visiting lecturers
• Spend a promo pack
• Design events/exhibitions/fairs
• Inviting them to college

6. What would you ask these creatives?

• What do you look for in a graduate?
• What do you look for in an undergraduate for a placement/internship?
• What are the most important skills to have when trying to find one of these?
• How did you get your first job in the industry?
• What do you look for when given a brief? What interests you?
• What sorts of projects do you enjoy? What kinds of projects do you take on?
• Do you prefer large jobs or quick ones?
• Can I visit?
• If the visit goes well - Can I have a placement?
• How should I best promote myself as a designer?
• What other studios are you like/Who else do you know that I can get in contact with?