InDesign 3 , Year 2

Presentation Skills

The aim of this workshop was to compose a standardised template to use when presenting work to clients. This would be useful as it saves time on creating one from scratch on every project that you receive and also gives your personal representation a sense of professionally , for example if somebody sees your presentations they can tell its yours by the personalisation and consistency in design.

We were to design the template in to sizes , one in A3 as this could still be presented on a screen but can also be printed to hand to the client as a in hand copy. The other template would be 1920 x 1080 pal, RGB , this one would be specifically for widescreen display when presenting to a client on a digital screen.

Personally , even though the task was simple , i struggled to get my head around it as i like to personalise my presentations depending on the client , i felt that a standardised presentation made it feel very generic. I do see the positive sides of creating a template as it saves time , looks professional , and can keep to a theme that represents yourself or design firm and will be recognised by clients , however i feel that this would be best used if i was an established designer. Which at the moment , i am not. 

One thing i found interesting in a guest lecture is that when designing for clients one firm used to make a top trump style card for each client to remind them what they wanted , this included a character designed after them , facts such as the brief , colour schemes , moods , interests and outcomes for the project. i feel that this would be useful as it constantly reminds you what you need to do in a fn and creative way.

When designing my presentation i chose to keep it relatively simple and straight to the point , i didn't want to bore the client and wanted to portray my designs quickly and clearly but also in a convincing and friendly way. I chose an accessible and clear typeface with different weights so i could order  show my information in order of importance. I used the typeface Roboto as it has many styles that can be adapted to suit different clients and create different atmospheres.

The key headings that i chose to include in my template were;

Title page , This included project date , client and other necessary information 

Introduction , This would deliver a brief overview of the project to the client to help them understand my chain of thought

Initial designs , These next few slides would include multiple designs which i feel were good but not quite the strongest 

Final design , The design i felt was best would be brought forward 

Refined design , these next few slides would show variation of this logo and how it could be changed , e.g. colours or slogans added.

Product Placement , Show how the logo will look on advertisements , packaging and other point of sale products.

Final review , Time for feedback on the designs and any additional information the client may require.

After Effects 3 , Year 2

Hand Drawn Effects

This process and production focused on creating a hand drawn effect within illustrator , this is an effect i have seen done many times before and is very popular in music videos and short animation , i like this style as it can be adapted to many formats and is also very common in music videos and tv advertisements. Just for One Day by Johnny Kelly is an example of the style we were attempting to get across in our own animation , i like this style as it is simplistic yet very effective and aesthetically pleasing , i like how the simple line drawings flow into each other smoothly creating an easy to follow timeline within the story.

I began by drawing the same drawing 3 times over , this was to get the old style flicker effect when animating our work. after drawing my character i scanned my work in and edited the scan accordingly. once edited i proceeded by importing my jpegs as a sequence , this was made possible due to saving each jpeg as 001 002 003 so the software knew the order of the sequence. once in the composition i changed the settings of the footage so it became a main piece and not just a composition , i then had to loop this sequence 50 times to keep a constant flow of the imagery. i then used the stretch tool to slow the loop as it was originally too fast. Then i drew over the original drawing using the pen tool , i made sure i drew over it in a similar way to how i hand drew it so the path would reveal the original drawing in the same way. Once the path was created i used Generate > Stroke , then edited the settings of the brush size and colour so i could see the path covering the original drawing. After this i selected the set to reveal option which revealed certain steps of the drawing at different parts of the clip. finally i added the multiply effect to the composition removing the white background and allowing me to add a textured background for extra effect.

After finishing this animation i experimented with spherical effects , to do this i created another drawing similar to my last character that would fit the sphere. once i had my animation i added a white background and pre composed my two clips , then i added the CC Sphere effect and toggled the setting to remove shadows to allow my image to be wrapped round a transparent sphere.

After finishing this animation i experimented with spherical effects , to do this i created another drawing similar to my last character that would fit the sphere. once i had my animation i added a white background and pre composed my two clips , then i added the CC Sphere effect and toggled the setting to remove shadows to allow my image to be wrapped round a transparent sphere.

Self Publishing 2 , Year 2

Physical Typography Workshop

This workshop involved us using different typefaces to create different styles of prints using only the type. we had to portray a certain mood and feel about the print. this was similar to the indesign workshop however this was all done physically instead of digitally. i enjoyed doing physical work as it is more hands on and different effects that can't be accomplished digitally can be achieved physically.

We looked into designers such as Anthony Burrill , whose work i had previously seen before. Brill used large typefaces and vibrant colours to portray simple messages to the audience. Brill uses classic methods of printing presses to create his prints , a traditional technique which isn't as common. this gives his work an authentic and unique feel.

The 3 fonts we were given to work with were: Gill Sans , Courier New and Times New Roman. we then had to cut out the individual letters and construct an print that contained one of the following phrases we were given , these were;

Lets go dip it low then you bring it up slow. 

What you gone do when I appear?

 Started from the bottom now we’re here.

I’m missing more than just your body. 

Haven’t had a dream in a long time. 

The first phrase i chose was 'Haven't had a dream in a long time' i chose this phrase because its a smiths lyric and i like the smiths. For this print i cut up the word dream and made it larger than the rest of the text. i cut the word dream up because i feel that dreams are hazy and hard to remember , also with parts of the letter missing representing losing the ability to dream.

The next print had the phrase 'Started from the bottom now were here' i placed the lettering of the first half of the phrase at the bottom of the page , then changed the positioning of the second half of the phrase to give the poster personality as if the type had moved by itself and was constantly changing. 

Studio Project 2 , Session 2

Greenalls Gin Moodboard

I have decided that i will take part in the Greenalls gin brief which is:

We would like you to choose quintessential British moments that have lasted through time and are still relevant today, and bring this to life in a contemporary way through a piece of creative that has Greenall’s at its heart. 

I feel that this gin has lots of potential and is flexible what you can design , i have previously looked at branding and advertisement for alcohol before and enjoyed doing so therefore i feel that i will be able to partake in this better than some of the other briefs.

My ideas for this project include producing posters for different eras in Britain and highlighting the key moments in the eras and linking them to greenalls gin.

illustrating one key photograph or event and adding gin to the situation 

photo manipulation , adding gin into photographs to make it look like greenalls gin was present.

Seminar 4 , Year 2

Presentation Feedback

This seminar focused on giving feedback from our essay presentation. Personally i feel that my presentation went very well. key things points that i was praised on included:

-Time Management
-Conversing using my own notes and not reading off the screen
-Good use of referencing

We then discussed as a group and found out that most people lacked on time management skills , however after previous praise this did not apply to me.

Things i was to improve on were:

- Layout of my slides , there was no theme or feel and was very basic
- keep my points relevant to the context 
- speak fluently 

Indesign 2 , Year 2

Typography and Layout 2

for this workshop we set out to create a series of posters using typographic styles to communicate a certain feeling to the audience. we were given different sets of rules to follow for each poster and had to design them as quickly and as effectively as possible. our first session focused on how typefaces can effect different mood and now this session focused on bringing this into practice via a series of briefs

Brief 1:

An established acoustic night that has been running for over 10 years, wants to attract a more student led audience and new acts. “Acoustic Club” is a laid back, respected night for gigging musicians, novices and people who play every week or every now and then.

Not just one type of music is played, so we need to look at something that is representative of acoustic sound and the variety of the people who play here. Capturing the laid back mood is important and that it is an open mic format. 

i chose to use the simplistic shapes to create the body of an acoustic guitar , the bar plays varied types of acoustic music therefore i used to simple but recognisable shape that wasn't bias to any specific genre. i ordered the type with the venue being the biggest as it is important that the venue catches your eye , then the event title , followed by location information. this is because the first largest type should attract the audience enough to read the rest of the poster.

Brief 2:

The Hudders eld Craft Beer Expo 2017 takes place for the rst time next year! Featuring the best independent
brewers from all around the UK, this new festival will aim to attract beer lovers from around the North of the country — we want to look cool, friendly and fresh. 

For this design i stuck to two colours . i picked the pale orange colour as it is a very common colour in beers and ales. i layered the orange type upon the main text as it felt like it was filling the text like a glass. i attempted to create a bottle out of type however i felt that it didn't look very effective and was a very common idea amongst the group. if the poster was a final production i would have the orange part printed on by a letter press to get a craft hand made feel to the poster.

Brief 3:

A poster to advertise “Wilson's Republic 6: ”; a design network for Hudders eld. The audience for this are very

design literate, and you need to attract them whilst also creating something that ts within the style of the previous event posters.

The overall theme for the evening and talks is: "Resilience". 

The concept for this design was that Resilience means to bounce back or change to suit conditions. i chose to use a red ball , the colour of Wilson's republic , to depict this. i chose the 3 different size balls to show the motion of the ball bouncing like a burst image.