End of Module Evaluation | Final Major Project

¬My original statement of intent focused on typographic based communication in the fields of editorial design, type design, web design, moving image and interactive media. It was my love for typography, shaping, styling, and manipulating letterforms that steered me in this direction. This is something that still stands today. Something else that has still stood is the way I develop work. In the original SOI it stated that I would work in two ways, one being to show my skills on a professional practice basis, skills that would potentially get me a first job. Secondly there was a much more experimental, almost personal approach that had more concern with building character into the alphabet to make engaging typography. What I have learnt now is that these two work in harmony. The less controlled type design approach is given a form of context through the ways in which it is executed through. This has potential to be across print and digital.

It was important for me to cover both print and digital forms of communication. I came to this conclusion through understanding where design and advertising is moving, but also by talking to people on work placements. It is only now that I realise I always favour print. However I am still conscious of digital, which is evident in the advance level software workshops I have completed, these being in Dreamweaver and Flash. There were small parts in the E numbers and football hooligan promotion that documented this, plus my website which has been built on Dreamweaver. So even though the digital has not featured heavily in my work I still feel it is a part of what I can do. A point made in my SOI was to be well rounded in terms of software and application to various media channels, and this is something I achieved by incorporating the workshops.

The approach to designing and thinking towards an outcome has changed dramatically. Prior to the final major project I was less concerned with researching and finding out. I was much more interested in designing. It was only when I started to think more about what I wanted to achieve with my work, rather than diving straight in, that the work became more interesting. A great example of this was with the E Numbers brief. It wasn’t until I did the research that I could inform myself of the materials I had to work with. It was the finding out of what is in some foods that became the starting point of styling the typography. This researching and finding out needs to become fundamental to future practice. Not just for a given brief, but in general. Within editorial design it is important to understand where the font originated, this way conscious decisions can be made. I am not trained within true typography design, which is why it is vital to know what and where a font was made for.

Another approach change has been within the designing process. The designing and evaluating have become two separate things rather than going on at the same time. This allows the work to become more experimental in it’s approach. Its then after when you have a wide range of possibilities that you can think what is and is not working and for what reasons. An example of this was with the layout of the football violence publication. I would produce 30-50 spreads, print them out in a booklet and then see which ones were responding conceptually to the brief but also fundamentally to typography.

A major influence on the final major project has been the design context. It is only now that I am learning and continuing to do so, about the areas I wish to work among. It was the research into editorial design that continued to add to my bag of questions when working with type. Previous to researching editorial I was too naive to think that everything should be designed with huge white spaces, tidy type set to a corner e.t.c. However when working on the 5-A-Day Recipe book and the Football Violence publication I was trying to make each page interesting, rather than being generic. This was various parts stand out to the viewer with the aim to engage with the pages oppose to just flicking through. An example within the 5-A-Day publication was the layout of the recipes. I used an order of 3 to a double spread, some large and some small. The idea being the small ones would seem easier and the larger more challenging. The reader then appears to have that choice. This process was also though about with the Graphic Design Yearbook, using the same grid but having a rhythm sheet that broke the visual order of the publication up. This was important, as not to bore the reader with the same page after page.

Time management. This will be the one thing I continue to keep up with. When I get the balance of planning and doing I am clear about my objectives. I think the balance comes with how long I actually plan for and in what detail. Giving a specific allocation to how long I should spend on a brief, start to finish is fine. It is the hour-by-hour planning I cannot arrange and manage. There is an element of the unplanned with my experimental type work that I cannot stick to within a timetable. On the contrary, this has all been in a college environment. Working freelance, when having to give a price for a specific deadline then time management and budgeting will be essential. I hope in this case I don’t feel too pressures to produce and in turn loose the creativity. This is something that will only come with experience.

To summarise the final major project module has informed how I want to function. It is only now, within the past couple of weeks that I am realising the strengths and pitfalls in my work. I can only hope that the way I work is suitable to an agency. One of the main things for me is to keep on learning. The design context got me excited about design, the finding out of how people work and how their methods conflict with others. It is only myself that can start to test these now, wherever that may be.

Final Changes | F**ligan

Ok. The book has been proof read twice now after noticing a few grammar problems yesterday.

Whilst doing this i decided it would be great to relay everything out to suit a new point size. I like to make things hard for myself.

It was a change that needed to be made because of the size of the publication. You read a novel close to your eye, so the point size can be smaller. However, with the F**ligan publication you read it further away. So-taken up more time, but in terms of legibility-it needed changing.

F**ligan | Muting The Ident

The crit made me aware that the hooligan ident doesn't need sound. There was practical and conceptual reasons. In an office environment you don't want aggressive swearing coming from the speakers and also most people don't have the volume on.

Also within the printed publication i have worked with type and minimal image to communicate aggression. This is how i themed the ident. In this case the ident communicated enough anger through video alone. 

Final Crit | Assess F**ligan

The crit focus today was on the F**ligan publication. What needs doing to the publication and where to take it, were the main talking points. Suggestion points,

• Use for a newspaper
• Promoting of the publication
• Can it be given out at football matches?
• How does the guardian sell/advertise a publication?
• Drop the sound on the ident/ web ad.
• What is within the publication that can used to promote it?

The main focus to take forward is the pace of the publication final and also its promotional. With that i need to look at the ways in which a newspaper would promote an up-coming feature. I have the web ad already, its the print promotion i need to focus on.

There are elements within the publication already that could adapt. These being the pull-quotes, the symbol use and also the stock its printed on. 

The other consideration is audiance interactivity within context. A bus stop poster will have more information than a billboard. Likewise a metro platform ad will have less info than inside the train. 

E 913 (Evaluating)

The Sheeps Wool

I had managed to get some wool posted over from Keswick, little did i know most of the sheep are black. Before anyone decides to call me a 'sheepist' i though it would be more recognizable to people when in the white/dirty cream. Anyway i had the idea to photograph the wool from above. The one below is the most successful, this is the angle i will pursue, but with white/dirty cream wool.




After a couple of shots i realized the off-putting, shocking nature was not being communicated at this angle. It was only when you get up close that you understand firstly what it is and secondly how dirty/shitty the wool is. When getting close up you start to understand the nature of what is being presented, it has the negativity am after.





This has set me back, but it part of the testing process that i need to go through. The main points of focus need to be,

how does it fit within the context of a billboard?
will it arouse interest?
does it communicate dirty, mucky filth, shit?

Evaluation of E Numbers

This project is going to get much more attention now i have decided to put the hooligan project to rest. Some of the points i need to address are,

Context of what it is i am producing,
Who will i be speaking to,

I got a good response from the experimental type work i have been exploring, so these could be used as posters to support and direct my audience to the catalogue of e numbers. The eye catching nature will be the initial introduction to e-numbers i would potentially encourage further investigation. Again i need to decide where the audience will be interacted with. There could be potential environment features that could be used to drive this forward. This image below shows a potential way of doing this,

Subscript2





I have decided the deliverables need to be digital and print based. This allows me to inform a larger audience.

Research i need to carry out
The research i need to do now is within audience and context. Who is it and how can i reach them?

Evaluation of F**ligan Advert

After working on some initial ideas for the advert i decided i am going to put it on hold until i am entirely sure what my publication will be. The idea was based on taking the symbols from the publication and representing them using video. It is not nessaserily type in moition, more type as motion. This could be extended upon by the video showing all of the symbols i have been working with.

The music and video really slow the whole thing down, to me this is getting the viewer to properly engage with the advert and take it seriously. I will experiment with some punk/anarchy music but i think this will be too jokey and encouraging of the video footage i am using.



My design practice is about developing work using only type and not image. In this case i think the video becomes the type.

Evaluation of Football Hooligan Publication

I potentially have some new leads with the publication so the idea of extending it into a series of 5 or a larger handout is possible. Instead of outlining what the new developments of research are going to be, i will first see what i get back from the contacts i have emailed. These being the Leeds City Police, Phil Hay (sports writer at YEP), the guardian sports desk and i am currently trying to get in touch with Russel Brand to get a statement or quote from him.

So for the moment the publication will be put on hold, allowing me to develop the e-number brief and the other nutrition related briefs. I don't want to develop the Football Hooligan idents any further without have the publication resolved to work from.

Some of the key things to think about now for this brief are,

If it is going to be a series, then what approach am i going to take. Is there going to be a strong opinion put across or will it be based on providing an informed account of football hooliganism. Also if it is going to be something inside of a program at a match then how does the viewpoint change. For example, this might be a tragic story from an officer or family figure warning of the dangers of hooligan activity.

Crit Review. 18-03-09

This was the ultimate, uba, organizing, planning crit that has made me recognize where i have been going wrong. I think the problem has not been with the designing, more to do with organizing of what i am going to be designing, giving myself deadlines and working to that. At the start of the Football Hooligan brief i had all sorts of ideas about how i could arrange type in relationship to research images of violence. It has given me some really interesting and informed work, but now i have come to a point where i need re assess where the football hooligan project is going and how much more time i am going to allow to it.
These were some of the comments from the crit.

Football Hooliganism: Publication

The publication could be something given out everyday over a week

This would allow me to incorporate my other research that i have missed out in the latest publication.

The publication works strong enough on its own, without attatching it to the guardian newspaper.

It could possibly be an option for me to take parts from the two above and produce my own series that document the areas of research i have gathered. This will potentially allow for me to include some of the interview that i will hopefully receive from the emails i have sent out.

Look into the publications you receive around the football stadiums, it could be that you design it to suite one of them.

This would be an excellent idea as it informs my design context and gets me thinking about designing editorally for different audiances.

Football Hooliganism: Advertisements

The feedback on this was to promote the publication oppose to attatching it to a made up T.V series. So i am going to stick to this direction. However i am not going to work on this anymore until i have the publication resolved. This will then give me the most informed foundation on which i can build the advertisements from.

E Numbers

I asked people to respond to the outcome of the E numbers brief. I was interesting in knowing whether it should be print based or done through a micro-site.

A micro-site would be good enough but a pocket book would be even better.

I have come to realise this would be the best way of reaching my audiance. The micro-site could be the extension of many health related organisations websites. This would leave the printed version available in a supermarket or health practice.