Feedback Jam: Book Sleeves and Web Design

Greg Bunbury, Josefina Bravo and James Lloyd joined together for Week 9 of Spring term provide their feedback and tips on students current projects, Real Jobs and personal work, offering advice on how to improve and enhance designs for upcoming deadlines and submissions.

 

American Revolution, Legal History and Politics

Matt from Part 2 shared his current project for the Design Practice module where he is designing a ‘collection’ of books taken from The Oxford University Press’ A Very Short Introduction. With 700 titles to choose from, Matt selected American Revolution, American Legal History and American Politics. His very distinctive focal points, connected all books together with the torn documents treated in the same way in terms of placements and size. He received feedback on this link and tutors questioned whether they need to be handled in the same way or if they can still be impactful with slight differences so that they are all not so uniform. James then showed examples of existing book covers with visually similar designs that are also different. He was advised of the potential ethical issues of ‘tearing up’ historical documents – however this was counter argued for the visually aesthetic look of the piece which was made more of a statement than a solid document and was therefore offered a variety of ways to still hold this effect, such as rolled up or folded paper. Matt was praised for his strong ‘American’ colour scheme and legibility of all three sleeves but was warned of an odd title placement which is quite close to the margin.

Part 2 student, Matt’s book sleeves for TY2DP2 project.
Examples shown by tutors to highlight similar yet different design across a series.

Film, World and Early Music

Also preparing for the submission of the same project, Jasmine showed her book jackets for her selection of Film music, World Music and Early Music. Tutors and students enjoyed the connection between the elements of Jasmines designs, however Greg offered a suggestion to standardise angles of the instruments to create uniformity between the set and so text can sit in the same yet legible way. James suggested that the piano works best and advised Jasmine to consider different instruments which work in the same way as the piano and designed with the same dimensions and the design for World Music appears more realistic than the others. Josefina commented on how the client details were positioned well, such as the barcode and how each page works well when stood alone.

Part 2 student, Jasmine’s book sleeves for TY2DP2 project.

Planets, Stars and the Black Hole

Again, with the same project, Tristan showed his book sleeves for Planets, Stars and the Black Hole to create his collection. Josefina stated how there was good visual impact in the three and how it was interesting to add all three on the inside flap. Greg offered advice to separate the authors name from the publisher as it could appear as misleading being too close to each other and James suggested editing methods within Photoshop to create further definition.

Part 2 student, Trsitan’s book sleeve for TY2DP2 project.

The Village Florist

Next was Part 1, Jony who showed his mobile web design for the Integrated Design module which required two working features using a prototype for an existing website that needs upgrading. Jony chose the The Village Florist and went through the pages of his file explaining how the features would work. Tutors enjoyed the way there was many ways to navigate to one place from a variety of different points such as the burger menu, links and actual clickable images but suggested how the website needs to look more like a website rather than an app in terms of placements and layout. Jony learnt how to connect an element to a certain part of the page instead of just to the top.

Part 1 student, Jony’s web home page for TY1INT project.

The Washbox

Similarly, Mathew showed his website prototype, for The Washbox, a laundry service in Reading, and had features of collection and delivery as well as a walk in facility. Mathew explained the navigation of a user on his website well and was advised by Josefina of the cluttering of elements on his homepage and how to prioritise entry points for different pages with methods such as colour. James suggested the use of alternative imagery to grab the users attention instead of the existing one.

Part 1 student, Mathew’s web home page for TY1INT project.

Conclusion

Drawing the session to a close, students expressed their gratitude for tutors who offered advice on ways to improve their current work.

‘I liked seeing other students work to gain inspiration!’
‘Feedback from different people with different experiences; a chance to show the tutors the work I wanted feedback on but might not have shown otherwise.’
‘Greg, Josefina and James’ advice was really helpful as they’re not all tutors I would usually see.’
‘It is very valuable getting feedback on my word as well as hearing feedback on others!’

Feedback Jam is a great way to gain different perspectives on both professional and personal work and is extremely valuable to being open to constructive criticism and and considering tips on how to progress.

RFT Poster for a Father with two Children

I have designed a film listing for Reading Film Theatres Autumn 2017 programme with my chosen user being a father with two children both under the age of 10. To accompany my choice of user, I have chosen a hierarchy which stands out in order of importance, in this case which is the age rating next to the title as the most significant, followed by the date, location and time along with how long the film is in bold which is another extremely important factor for this specific user. At the end of each film listing, I have incorporated the director and actors which I believe is the least significant pieces of information for this particular audience. I have used the colours red and black upon white which compliment each other well and is clear to understand, with both a serif and sans serif typefaces.

Letterforms

Being given half the typeface, I had to draw the other halves of the letters to what I expected them to look like, taking into consideration, the curves, thickness and the sizes of the ascender and descender as well as the overhang of certain letters for the word to be visually aligned.

Copying letterforms

On the second task, being given certain letters of a particular typeface, I then designed other letters in the style of this such as a, c, b, d, u and f, following the form of the existing letters and how they curve varying in thicknesses and size. I have also learnt how letters work to be visually aligned, with the use of over hangs and ascenders, however the letters could be shaped slightly better, to provide a more accurate reflection, especially the serifs on the upper side of the U, I have learnt how they only form on one side, rather than across the stroke.

RFT flyer for a Swiss Professor

I have created a film flyer for Reading Film Theatres Autumn 2017 programme designing for a visiting professor working in Reading who is originally from Switzerland. To design accordingly with this user in mind, I have organised the order of type in a way of importance to the audience, with the title and age rating first alongside the closed captions/subtitles or audio description symbols as well as the country of where the film is based to give the user a much clearer understanding of which film would be suitable for them. Below this, I have used the date, time and location lastly followed by the cast and director which I think is of least relevance to this user.

Circus Poster

In Emma’s collections session, the circus advertisement really caught my eye, as the shape was odd in comparison to modern posters however the style of writing and colours remain quite similar. It’s interesting to see the development of posters from what they used to be to now and the hierarchy of importance for each aspect, however in this poster, there is quite a large proportion of empty space, which could have included the dates and times as it does not appear to. e there. The images are simple illustrations demonstrating the age of the work, and the lack of technology that was created at the time. The amount of typefaces used however show how they could be new designs so want to show it off. Overall, I like how unique this poster is in comparison to regular shaped ones and how the colours compliment each other well, however it is quite misleading to the eye as everything is of similar size so is difficult to understand which is the most important.

The Tiger Who Came To Tea

I have designed a book cover for my favourite childhood book ‘The Tiger who came to Tea’ in the style of the classic Penguin books, using InDesign. I have kept the cartouche as well as the logo and the same type face of Gill Sans seen throughout the original covers as well as the overall layout. I have however, changed the background to reflect the tiger, and have used colours to resemble the colours seen on the original over of the book; including, blue, purple and pinks. I like how this as turns out as it reflects both the book and the Penguin style, however, if I had more time, I would draw a tiger to replace the penguin logo to be of more relevance.

Noise

After choosing my I chose the theme if ‘Noise’ with was a story of siblings who were forced onto the streets through a window of their house due to hearing noises in smaller sections of their home. I began by altering the book accordingly, with a house cut in the middle and a window in the beginning and ending covers to show their escape route, which ties in the stories, beginning, middle and end.

Information Signs

Instructions, Information and Warnings

Looking around the environment, I chose to obtain pictures of information signs and compare and contrast to one another to see their significance. I noticed how the signs were mainly made using the primary colours; red, blue or yellow, as well as green in regular shapes such as circles to give orders and triangles to give warnings. The text upon them were in a sans serif font in either black and white which enabled them to stand out and portray a clear message effectively to the audience.

The Great Gatsby

I have recreated the classic Penguin cover, using InDesign, to practice my skills and gain some new ones by learning to draw different shapes as well as adjusting the leading, tracking and kerning of characters to reflect the original. I like the overall outcome, however if I had more time, I would redraw the cartouche shape to be more accurate and seamless.