Background

Georgina Rivers has been in the nail and beauty industry for over 18 years and is a qualified educator, teaching courses for Cuccio ltd and Sallys. She has recently opened her own training academy here in Reading, Berkshire. She has also created her own brand of nail products called GeorgiaBella nail systems. 

Our brief was to create a new visual identity for the client to be incorporated across both a website for the academy, as well as other printed and digital deliverables to aid and boost her business. 

Deliverables and responsibilities 

Due to this job having a large amount of deliverables (some added later in the design process), we decided, once set on overriding visual guidelines for the project, that it would be best to divide them up so that we could focus well on a few of the deliverables each. This was an instrumental and successful factor to working in a group on this project, we all knew what to focus on and could give each other strong feedback throughout the design process. In this report I will focus on the design process as a whole but with a focus on the deliverables that I worked on which were the Certificates, Business cards and the GeorgiaBella logo. 

Primary

• Digital visual identity guidelines (including academy and GeorgiaBella logo)
• Responsive website with additional sections for academy and new aesthetics section
• Social media guidelines / rework (Instagram)
• Social media advert (animation)
• Mail Chimp advert

Secondary

• Business cards (mock up additional)
• Certificates (mock up additional)
• Fliers (mock up additional)

Research and ideation

 The project began with us all focusing mainly on the web design aspect of the job as this was the main request from the client. We began this project by looking for inspiration through existing nail and beauty web pages, there is a lot of competition within the market for our client so it was important that we understand how to create a unique but successful branding and website for her. One common theme we noticed when carrying out our research was the use of pink within the field (figure 1). The client had requested that she specifically wanted to stay away from pink and wanted to continue using the teal colour she was currently using on her existing website. She also wanted to continue using her existing logo which was a monogram surrounded by a box. As a group we discussed these choices and decided that in order to create a fresh look for the clients new academy site that we would have to make some changes. After carrying out some research and exploration of colour (figure 2) we decided to slightly change the colour scheme by darkening the bright teal colour to a darker one, the client was really happy with this change and felt that it reflected the classiness and professionalism of her brand. 

(Figure 1) Logo Moodboard  

 (Figure 2) Colour Exploration

We also brainstormed ideas for how to develop the monogram logo by exploring ‘GR’ in different typefaces. (figure 3). We found the box around the monogram problematic because it did not apply well in situations such as social media profile pictures and banners which was going to be a big aspect of the clients launch of her academy. We therefore decided to remove this box and slightly alter the typeface used with the monogram to create the polished logo. As a group we were keen to explore typefaces in greater detail as we knew the importance of type in reflecting the feel of the brand. The client was hesitant to diverge from the typography she was already using on her existing website but we still wanted to present her with different ideas. It was my task to focus on researching and exploring typography at this stage and I wanted to explore typographic hierarchy to get an idea of how type would function across the different deliverables we were creating (figure 4). One of the members of my group, Alex, suggested that I came up with three levels of varying intensity of typographic suggestions for the client (mild, medium and spicy). This approach was really useful as it allowed me to reassure the client that she still had the option to stick with the typographic branding she was already using but it also allowed me to explore other avenues so that we could decide as a collective which would be the most effective for the new brand. I would definitely use this approach again on other projects, particularly if it involves a rebrand as clients can often feel attached to their old brand and the design features within it so this approach allows you to respect the clients wishes whilst still being able to explore alternatives that the client may end up preferring.

(Figure 3) Monogram exploration

(Figure 4) Typographic exploration 

Design development

After making these initial changes with the brand colours and logo we felt, a long with the client, that we had a good starting point to create a new website and other deliverables within the new brand guidelines we had created. Each team member worked on prototyping the new website in Adobe Xd which again helped us to solidify the brand identity. We then began to work separately on our own deliverables.

Business cards

When creating business cards for the client I wanted to ensure that they encapsulated the values of the brand. As done with other luxury/ designer brands I created a pattern out of the monogram which the client was pleased with. Originally we were to have two separate cards for the salon and academy aspects of the business but the together with the client we decided that it would be more effective to have just the one card. The cards feature social media handles alongside the appropriate social media handles. After feedback from our supervisor, I changed the social media icons to be black and white as they were distracting from the Georgina Rivers branding. I was shocked at how much of a difference this made to the overall professionalism of the business cards, this is something I will take forward in future design work that incorporates social media logos. 

(figure 5) final business card design

Certificates 

Designing certificates for the client was probably the most challenging aspect of this job for me as   we struggled to reach a design that the client was pleased with, leading to around sixteen different certificate designs over the course of the job.  Due to the pandemic and busy schedules on both our and the clients side it was often difficult to meet in person which lead to a lot of feedback being given over email, this in turn made communication less clear and made it challenging to understand what the client truly wanted for this deliverable. This was definitely a huge learning curve for me and with help from our supervisor I learnt some key skills in communicating with a client. Some key tips from my supervisor were to create a summary after every client meeting of what is expected of me and then to follow this up with the client via email to check that I hadn’t missed anything out and to also give them an opportunity to add any more feedback they had forgotten to mention at the time. This then ensures that the client and the designer are in sync with each other and avoids disappointment or frustration due to miscommunication. 

(Figure 6) Final certificate design

Reflection 

Overall I learnt a lot over the course of this real job in terms of dealing with clients and working in a design team. There were some challenges a long the way with the main issue probably being communication amongst the group and with the client. This real job taught me how important communication between the client and other designers is. Communication issues across the project (due to various reasons) also lead to issues of time management and frustrations for both the client and the design team. Dealing with these issues as a group with help from our supervisor has now given me some great strategies to prevent this from happening in future jobs. For example when communication was becoming stunted causing our progress on the job to slow, we were advised by our supervisor that we commit to a meeting with the client, the same time each week. Although a simple step, and one not always adhered to, this did have a huge impact on the progress we were making. Having a time slot that everyone expected and could prepare for each week meant we were much more organised as a team and could progress the job with regular feedback. 

As a whole this job has been challenging yet fulfilling at the same time. I feel it has improved my ability to work with a client and has taught me new skills I look forward to practicing in future work.

Brief

‘Fairground fonts were designed to be persuasive, to get people to take action but in a fun and eye-catching way. They also have their roots in pop art and popular culture of the era.
Taking inspiration from the fonts you see at the fair, how would you re-imagine a different business with a fairground font? It can be as mundane as possible or an everyday item – from selling shoes to selling a service. Or perhaps you can reimagine a modern-day brand with a fairground font.
In your chosen medium, whether that’s a sketch by hand or a computer design, show us your idea as a square PNG file, 2000 x2000px, with a few paragraphs of text (supplied separately) to explain the idea if needed.‘

The brand I chose to redesign in a fairground font was Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. My goal was to recreate their Dairy Milk logo utilising a combination of their layout/colour ideas and then the fun designs of fairground fonts.

Research

I began this project by researching fairground fonts and displays, mainly by Joby Carter, and also a brief look into Cadbury’s Dairy Milk branding since its release, noting down key design/visual elements within both the fairground displays and the Dairy Milk branding.

Fairground fonts

• 3D ‘block’ on letters
• Shadows created
• Bright, unique colour schemes
• Unique accents on serifs

Dairy Milk

• Brand purple
• Text layout (‘Cadbury’, ‘Dairy Milk’, subtext)

Design

Concept

My initial idea was to follow the general layout proposed by the current Dairy Milk branding and introduce the fairground typeface ideas to it, including the serif paint brush stroke accents.

I continued my ‘sketches’ on illustrator. Utilising typefaces to make up the letterform bases so I could visualise how each design might work. I continued developing layout option 01.

Development

Arch

Something I’d noticed in my research is how rarely fairground typefaces sit on a perfectly horizontal baseline, they often sit on some form of curve or arch, setting them apart from standard computerised typefaces. This led to me implementing a curved baseline into my design something to bring a better visual distinction and more interest to my rebrand.

Creating this arch along the bottom gave me space to fit a tagline into my design, something the current Dairy Milk branding features underneath their main text too. I aimed to fill out the width of the arch, if possible, as I worried that too little text would sit awkwardly underneath rather than feeling cohesive with the text above. The goal here also was to bring some of the history of Dairy Milk into the design, this led to ‘since 1905’ being a key part of the tagline.

Drop text and colours

This visual block consisting of ‘Cadbury’, ‘Dairy Milk’ and the tagline formed the basis of my design and layout, so I began developing details and involving colours. A key detail in many of Joby’s fairground fonts is the drop text that sits, often in a different colour, behind the main text and functions purely as a visual highlight/accent.

I tried two options for colours initially, one inspired by Joby’s unique colour schemes, utilising more bright and playful colours that wouldn’t commonly be used together, and the other using a similar colour scheme to the Dairy Milk/Cadbury brand colours.

The drop text I attempted to present in a similar way to some of Joby’s work, I used an outline on the main text to separate it from the drop text, allowing the drop text to function as its own feature.

3D block

Another thing many of Joby’s fairground fonts feature is a 3D block that makes up the text, allowing Joby to play with lighting and shadows and how that would interact with the 3D block.

I tried a 3D block with my own design and found that the visual texture this gave the design seemed to work quite well and fit the theme.

In a feedback session a few things were suggested, one of them being to revisit the light source/focal point and how that interacts with the 3D block. It was also suggested that I attempt to bring in the ‘theme of chocolate’ into my design, because of this I looked back at actual, physical Dairy Milk chocolate bars.

In an attempt to implement the theme of chocolate into my design, I was inspired by the nature of the individual chocolate chunks on a Dairy Milk and added a bevel to the 3D block, this added a lot more texture and visual detail to the design and I think helped quite a bit with the overall visual.

Brush serifs

After it being brought up in a feedback session and having already thought about trialing it I began adding brush strokes to the serifs of the main text in my design, this is something that is very common amongst Joby’s work and quite a staple of painted sign text around fairgrounds.

In the previous versions of the design I’d connected the block serifs on the ‘A’ and ‘I’, I carried this over into the new brush serifs however after some peers and I looked at this further I couldn’t get it, visually, to a point where I was happy with it and decided that it would be better to drop the connection and have each letter separate.

The brush stroke serifs created a lot of visual density on the top and bottom of the letters which was fine, except it made the middle of the letters feel quite bare in comparison. To counteract this I went back to my research and looked at options for things other fairground fonts used to add features to the centre of letters, I added brush flicks to the centre of the letters as accents because of this which seemed to balance the letters and make the visual density more consistent.

After getting the brush stroke serif concept visual working on ‘Dairy’ I then looked to adding the same style to ‘Milk’ underneath, though this word being on a curve meant that some of the serifs may end up slightly more difficult to get right initially. I noticed, also, that in many of Joby’s fonts he makes a feature of the ‘L’ kick, so I attempted to implement a similar element in design.

spacing

In a later feedback session it was noted that some of the spacing in my design is a little tight. Specifically the spacing of the text above and below the main display text and the spacing between characters within ‘DAIRY’.

I attempted to allow enough space between each character so that none of the serifs would overlap another serif’s 3D block, doing this seemed to give each character enough space and allow everything to not look too cramped, I then rescaled ‘MILK’ underneath so that the text still lined up on either side despite the character difference.

I then revisited the spacing above and below the main text, something that was suggested was to move the bottom text off of the shadow made by the 3D block and to move the ‘Cadbury’ upwards so that the dip of the ‘y’ still fit into the gap between the ‘A’ and ‘I’ but allowing the name to still have it’s own space and not be clashing with the text below it.

Final changes

A couple final changes I made were to fix the shadows on the right hand side of the main text as they were getting cut off for some reason and also in feedback it was mentioned that I should reduce the amount of text in the tagline underneath and scale it up so that it fit the space better.

Finished visual

Overview

True Food Organics, originally named True Food Co-operative, is a zero-waste, organic food and grocery store based in Emmer Green, Reading. It is run by volunteers from the local community and they have been encouraging others to choose a more sustainable lifestyle since 1999. With their decision to rename their store they decided it was time for a complete rebrand to bring their store more up to date. 

Deliverables

A logo that is scalable so that it can be used in numerous places including:

• A storefront
• Tote bags
• Website
• Receipts

Design Process

Client meeting:

To start our process, we met with our clients to introduce ourselves and get to know them better so we could figure out what they were looking for.
The clients wanted a logo that was:

• Circular as they felt this represented the sense of community in their store
• A 70s/80s themed colour pallet 
• Illustrative
• Sense of homegrown food

Research:

We began our research by searching for existing organic branding, particularly in a circular shape as requested by the client. This was to help guide our ideation and ensure we were creating a logo that stood out. Most of the existing branding contains a leaf which is very typical in representing organic brands and is also what was in the client’s existing branding. Because of this, we wanted to ensure that we came up with concepts that did not include a leaf as we wanted to find a new and memorable way to represent organic brands. However, we also understood that it is a very recognisable symbol, so it should still be explored. We put a small mood board together that also included a potential colour pallet for their brand. We sent this over to the client when we sent our restated brief to make sure we understood exactly what they were looking for. Once the mood board and restated brief had been approved by the client, we started the design process.

Initial sketches:

To start, we created some simple designs by hand and on illustrator that incorporated the brand name and some imagery. We split this so that Yasmin was looking at trying to find a new and inventive way to use leaves in the logo and Hannah experimented with other elements such as hands and other fresh produce. After feedback from the other teams who attend the Real Jobs meetings and our supervisor for this project, we were advised to experiment more and develop our ideas to a near-finished stage before sending our ideas over to the client.

Developments:

First, we developed the ideas we initially came up with so that colours had been applied and text had been set. The feedback from our supervisor was that some of the ideas were more like illustrations than a logo so we went back and simplified them so they were more like icons. We also ensured each illustration had text along with it. We experimented with the layout and hierarchy of the text and how they could work in relation to the illustrations. We were initially unsure if the ‘organics’ part of the company name was on the same hierarchy or lower on the hierarchy as ‘True Food’ as you can see from our experiments below. It was later decided that it was best to keep them on the same level in the typographic hierarchy. Our supervisor liked the carrot design and the leaf design but we were advised to experiment with simplifying them. She also asked us to experiment with a couple of new ideas as she felt we were not quite there yet with a solution. These experiments can be seen below. The carrot again was a strong contender and we liked the bold serif typeface that we had found but it was decided that the illustration style and typeface did not match. So we were now tasked with finding a way to of making them have the same aesthetic. The collection of hand-drawn illustrations in an ‘o’ shape was also well-liked since the sketchy style helped get across the idea of organic and homegrown that the store represented. It also had the circular shape the client was looking for.

Further exploration:

There were 3 concepts we decided could be suitable logos for our clients from the previous experiments. The first was a bold, 2D carrot illustration. [fig.  We thought this would be a great option for clients to see that was a little bit different to what the other logos look like and shows the client another direction they could go in. We were undecided on whether the carrot should be leaning against the text or sitting upright. Since both worked well, we thought it would be best to present both to our supervisor and client. The 2 circular concepts we went with were a solid ‘o’ shape made up of illustrations of vegetables and an ‘o’ shape made up of fresh produce but also symbols that represented the store sold such as shampoo, toothpaste and the classic recycle symbol. For the solid ‘o’ shape we experimented with a range of illustration styles including simple outlines and solid 2D shapes.

Final logo concept:

After developing our designs and with feedback from our supervisor, we decided on the hand-drawn vegetable logo with the typeface Giulia. We settled on this font as we felt the handwritten style it had, fit well with all of the hand-drawn illustration styles we had produced.  To send to the client, we produced a large colour pallet as many colours were used in the vegetables and this gave the client a wide range of choices. As well as the 2 illustration styles, we showed the client the logo in black and white as well as colour so they could get a sense of what a single colour could look like as well as multicoloured.

Reflection:

As this was the first time either of us had been tasked with creating a logo and completing a Real Job, we felt that our outcome was effective and fitted the brief the client gave us. However, once we sent it to the client, their feedback was that, although it did fit their brief, they were unhappy with it and did not feel involved in the design process enough. This was unfortunate for both sides. Miscommunication between ourselves and our supervisor on what was appropriate to share with the client is what lead to this outcome. Although we did try to keep in contact with the client to reassure them that we were working on the project and that we were waiting on approvals but it is clear we should have done this much more often. We apologised to the client and then put together a PDF showing our whole design process to see if they were interested in picking up an earlier concept. We also tried to reassure them that this was not intended to be the final design and changes and feedback were expected to be made. There was unfortunately no response. While this was not the outcome we wanted as we both felt we worked very hard on this project, it has taught us a lot about working with clients. Next time we will ensure we have a range of ideas to send to a client and keep them involved in all design stages. Although there was a real sense of disappointment, it has created a motivation for us to learn from this experience and try again.

Overview & Goals

The supplied brief was to document a live theatre performance by Jamal Harewood, an artist who creates audience-led participatory events that focus on ideas of identity and race. Our client outlined how important it is to him, to hold performances that are playful yet allow for a unique experience that promotes discussion from each individual. Jamal communicated that he wanted our documentation of his upcoming workshop to be translated into a piece of design that encapsulated the entirety of the experience. 

Goals

In our initial meeting, we supported our client in selecting an appropriate media for the documentation. Ajoke and myself, suggested an a5 booklet that would be designed using a design service accessible to Jamal. This was an important element as the client wished to be able to document each workshop commencing over the course of the year.

• Offer attendees an opportunity to revisit their experience at a later date and remember their pledge made at the end of the workshop
• Create a way for the client to document future workshops independently which in turn creates a source of revenue

Objectives 

To document the upcoming workshop and gather a diverse range of audience definitions of the term ‘Freedom’ which will be relative to each of their personal experiences (e.g: Education, Secuality, Religion)

Deliverables

1. An A5 Booklet. Submitted to client as a PRESS READY PDF documenting 27th January workshop 
2. Booklet Template. Amendable Canva template for upcoming workshops
3. Blog Prototype. Designed in cohesion with booklet layout for client to implement onto their website  

Research and Ideation

Prior to the documentation or ideation process, thorough research on our client was completed in order to understand his ideologies and background. This would allow us to understand Harewood to the best of our ability which in turn, allowed for us to showcase his identity within the deliverables. After conducting the necessary research, we attended the workshop and created a manuscript based on all verbal communications and physical activities witnessed in the room. Due to the fast paced nature of the workshop, we had to collate and organise your notes ready to share with our client for approval. This text would then be ready to be translated into body text for the booklet. 

After the approval stage, we began ideation of the booklet aesthetics. It was important to acknowledge the overall ambience the booklet provided to the reader as it was necessary to represent both the workshop as well as the clients identity. Together, we brainstormed various ideas that considered the cover as well as the contents pages. Due to the complexity of the workshop which included different themes for various amounts of time, we decided to visually represent the experience by dividing the booklet up by theme.  This would allow attendees to relive the experience and non-attendees to gather an understanding of the ambience. To create a clear, mutual understanding between ourselves and the client, a sketch of the booklet layout was created and proposed to the client.

Development 

Colour

This colour palette was provided to be used for the upcoming booklets documenting future workshops. As discussed with our supervisor, using a colour palette allows for a cohesive set of booklets. Additionally, these colours will be used on the corresponding blogpost as demonstrated in the prototype.

Typography

Booklet

Cover – Collectively working on the cover, we derived a range of concepts which we narrowed down to two contenders with the feedback provided by our supervisor. Selecting the covers that obtained the best elements allowed us to pinpoint elements we both believe compliment the cover well and combine them to create a single cover proposal. In order to present the client with multiple options, from the single cover, we experimented with a variety of compositions which handled the typography and visual elements in differing manners. In presenting this to the client, we used the feedback to further combine compositional choices from each proposal and solidify this into one. Over the course of several weeks, we perfected the cover to the clients desire which hosted the colour palette and typography that would be implemented within the core of the booklet.

Theme Introductory Pages – As previously discussed, the seven themes from the workshop were a key element to be used to create clear narrative within the booklet. Therefore, the idea of pictograms to introduce and represent each theme was implemented and created using Adobe Illustrator. Sketching ideas for the pictograms allowed us to ensure we had a cohesive set before illustrating them digitally. The cohesiveness was further ensured by using the same point size for the lines. To enhance the clear introduction of each theme, we derived concept for theme introductory pages. The recto page hosts the theme name, number and decorative element using the approved colour palette.

Body Text – In designing the body text pages, the main goal was to link the decorative elements plotted throughout the booklet into these particular pages. An additional goal was to use immersive language in order to engage the reader in order to further reflect the ambience of the workshop. Using advice from our supervisor, experimentation of placement allowed us to consider various layouts that compliment each theme. Within each theme, the placement of the body text differed in order to separate an create an experience for each theme.

Theme Design Pages – To conclude yet compliment the experience of each theme, visual representations of each activity of the workshop were created either in an illustrative or photographic manner. During our ideation phase, brainstorming multiple ideas for each theme allowed us to select the best concept for example:

Theme 1: The sun shines down on anyone who? – the activity required attendees to use the aforementioned line followed by an item of clothing, feeling or ideology, therefore, illustrations of these three areas were used to conclude this theme.

Conclusive Page – During our time spent working with the client, we were able to learn a lot about his personality and the passion he had for this project. Therefore, we wished to implement an ending page to the booklet with a quote directly from Jamal Harewood. This allowed the reinforcement of the sense of identity relevant throughout this book which was further enhanced through the background brand pattern derived from Jamal’s logo.

Cover Finalisation – In discussing the finalisation of the booklet, our supervisor advised us to bring the element of Jamal’s logo, onto the front cover as it had become a consistent element located throughout the booklet. This gave the opportunity for the cover to communicate the duality of the workshop as well as the clients identity. We found in the finalisation of the booklet that Canva was difficult to navigate in terms of saving a PDF with crop and bleed. When we did succeed in exporting the PDF with the print set up, we found the bleed was inconsistent which meant we had to quite a bit of refinement. This was something that we could have avoided by making sure we had a full understanding of how Canva works in the print aspect and having to use certain settings to control the bleed.

Web Prototype

Our client outlined to us that he would like a digitised version of the booklet that will be accessible via his website. With this understanding, we had a conversation with our supervisor who recommended we create a prototype rather than working directly with his website. This was due to a variety of factors; the site was in maintenance and the logistics of us going into the back end of the website. With this advice and once the booklet was finalised, I created the web prototype using Adobe XD. This stage was a simple process in terms of directly referencing the booklet using all of the now made illustrations, photography and confirmed typography, however a challenging area was the formation. During the booklet design process, we were constantly considerate of the layout and construction as this influenced the tone and perception of the booklet. We wanted to ensure the same tone was presented by the prototype despite having a very different user experience. I began by creating components to ensure consistency in the implementation of the typography due to the various areas of text such as the theme numbers and headings. We created a sense of rhythm and flow in the booklet therefore, I constructed the prototype to use the same attribute by having a pattern to connect one theme to the next.

Prior to sharing the development with the client, we discussed various areas with our supervisor who recommended the adjustment of certain areas to ensure a cleaner presentation of the blog for easier consumption by the reader. Once completed, we were able to present the progress to our client who was very content with the final blog and felt it truly reflected the booklet.

Visual Guidelines

Throughout the process of creating the deliverables, we were mindful of our client being a non-designer who wishes to be able to amend the booklet for the documentation of future workshops. The consideration of this began right at the beginning when we decided to use Canva as it was the most non-designer friendly software available to our client. Our supervisor suggested we further the support we were giving the client in this area by supplying him with a visual guidelines document. This would allow the client to gain a full understand of the deliverables and how to use them. In the document, I discussed the branding side of the booklet and prototype by providing HEX values of the colour palette alongside the fonts we used and how they were implemented (for example, Garet was used for for headings, open sans for body text). Furthermore, the guidelines document provides instruction on how to amend the Canva template for future workshops including changing the design pages, colours and text.

Conclusion

This Real Job has been a great opportunity to develop skills in a wide variety of softwares and applications including; Canva, Adobe XD, Illustrator and Procreate. There were many areas of design to be explored which made the experience fun and an introduction to a lot of new areas of design. Throughout our experience and communications with our client, he shared how we were able to bring all of his ideas to life and go above his expectations. He further explained, despite having vague ideas in certain areas, we were able to capture what he was trying to communicate and produce visuals for ideas he had no visual ideas for.  Due to the nature of Canva, the print exporting tools did not allow us to create a PDF with the ideal colour settings. Canva unfortunately did not let me export the booklet using Forga colour and could not be converted using Adobe Acrobat tools so I have relayed this to the client to be mindful of during the print process. In future situations where I may be positioned in a similar circumstance, I will consider other softwares.

In reflection, this job took longer than expected which I believe was due to the knowledge we had on the client not having a deadline for the deliverables. We take full responsibility for the long time period to solidify the deliverables and despite creating our own schedule, we sometimes took longer to finish certain roles and responsibilities. This would be due to many factors such as underestimating the longevity of a design or an increase of workload. For the future, I would ensure a stricter approach to the schedule is adhered to and to be considerate of how long some designs take compared to others. I look forward to potentially being able to work with the client in the future on his upcoming endeavours in performing thought-provoking, audience-led workshops.

Background
Oyster outcomes LTD is a consultancy business which offers several different services. These include multi-disciplinary management, governance and assurance, coaching, mentoring and coach supervision, mental health and wellbeing consulting. The idea behind the brochure, was to advertise digitally and through print, the services that Oyster outcomes can provide. Embedded in the brochure are recommendations from previous clients and key characteristics of the business that promotes engagement from clients. The brochure will be both a digital and printed, advertising on the website, through emails and as handouts to future clients.

Restated brief
Oyster outcome is a relatively new business and will be reaching its third year in the beginning of April. Oyster is looking for a way to format and promote their specialities in the form of a brochure/ leaflet, to cater to their possible future clients to promote what Oyster outcomes has to offer with their services. The broad aims of the project were to communicate what the business has to offer. Further, to promote Oyster outcomes in a way that targets their audience in the public sector, commercial and charities, and any prospective clients. As for production, the objectives include producing a square size brochure, ideally with a high-quality thick paper. Alongside this, will be a digital format of the brochure, to be exported and used for the website and website distribution. Initial research involved looking at the website provided, understanding their previous design approach to their website and branding for insight to a possible similar approach to leaflet. It was later decided, through the development on this project, that a printed version of this brochure would not be printed through the university, but rather externally after submission. Included in the submission, would be a PDF of the full brochure for email and website, and a PDF ready to print for both the covers and interior pages for the brochures to be printed after artwork handover was sent over.

Research and ideation
Audience

As I began the project, I used several sources as a way of inspiration to begin our design process. I use several previous existing brochures to do this, looking at brochures that are similar to the topic of consultancy. Through research many businesses, similar to Oyster outcomes, don’t over complicate the design, and prioritises the information over images. This allows for a professional approach that was necessary to the audience I was catering towards. Though observing the way of the production of print was necessary, these decisions weren’t necessarily in my control as later in the production it was later decided that my submission was strictly digital. Alot of my ideation was determined by what appearances the business used in their advertising thus far. Alot of my inspiration for the brochure was from the Oyster Outcomes website.

Colours and type
During our first meeting, we were introduced to the branding guideline. This included the colours, fonts including type settings, images to and any logo variations. This set my approach to the project early on. This was helpful in order to satisfy the client and ensure that the brochure is consistent with their website as well. The colours were different shades of blue and a serif typeface throughout the branding guidelines.

Content transformation
Through analysis, its noticeable that many of the brochures used very limited text, however the provided text copy from clients was extensive. Later agreed with the client, many texts were minimised to enable an easy read and allow the brochure to appear less intimidating. It was easy to discuss with the clients to change this part of the brochure, explaining that in order for the brochure to become more appealing, change in text was necessary. Mutual understanding was essential in order for the design process to be easier to manage with this change, and for it to be beneficial for their brochure.  This was changed through trial and error, overall vastly improved the look and feel of the brochure.

Design development
Oyster Outcomes has a heavy ocean theme throughout their website. They wanted this to be included in the design of the brochure as well. This was slight issue in the design process, though they have used this theme in the website, once the design process began, my supervisor highlighted the problem of it complicating the topic of consultancy, and would be confusing to future readers as the images they were interested in using gave connotations of a holiday feel to the brochure, instead of the topic of consultancy. In my mind, I wanted to approach the design in a more mature, sophisticated, and timeless approach. Though elements of the ocean theme could be incorporated, it was necessary to find the right balance of both themes in order to not confuse readers and clients.

A lot of the design process was somewhat restricted with the branding guidelines that they had requested. This included colour choices, branding logos, picture inspiration, fonts, and brochure sizing. This very much helped guide me in the right direction in order for my clients to be satisfied with the final product and match the website visuals. However, this limited my experimental abilities in the design process.

This was one of the final completed versions of the brochures. At this stage, it was sent to the clients and they were very satisfied with the design. However, many changes were made to the design after my partner in the project could no longer continue working with me for the project. There were many flaws in the design, the design did included in the design were a little too overbearing for the text and was lacking consistency. The next developments would need to be able to highlight the text correctly and promote the good recommendations from previous clients well.

In the next stages of the design most of the elements were changed. I focused on categorising the text and colour better to highlight the separate sectors of the business. The type size and grid was changed in order to promote legibility. I limited the use of the ocean aesthetic photos to help promote the correct topic of consultancy. In replacement of this, and with the consent of the clients, I implemented the use of different imagery including work spaces and welcoming employees to help encourage a welcoming feel to the consultancy business.

Final stages
During the development stages, there were issues regarding communication between me and the clients. This set me back in terms of meeting for the final stages of the design which slowed down the process over. Included in this was the deadline of this real jobs was to be extended due to the work load I had to take on independently after my partner could no longer participate in this real jobs.

During my final stages, small changes were made to my design from my supervisor to ensure everything was correct in my brochure. This included small tweaks to leading, alterations of navigational devices, and finally, ensuring all my documents were print ready for the client to continue with. I had help during the final stages of my process, when it came to preparing the print ready documents including bleed marks for the correct documents etc.

As we will not be printing this off through the University, the brochure is still intended to be printed independently, therefore I printed the brochure off to ensure the sizings are correct and legible and the colours print correctly too.

Reflection
As this was my first real job, there were many first-time experiences in this process. Unfortunately, there were problems with communication via email. Though I did continue the work as far as I could during these responses I received, it was still a reoccurring issue. I feel as though a lesson on my first real job, is that often you are on a different schedule as your client, they may be far more relaxed when it comes to estimates deadlines than you are yourself especially as a student with very limited free time. When continuing in the future, to avoid this from reoccurring, a simple follow up email and/or calling the client may be a better approach in some circumstances in order to find a better way to communicate with them.

Another reflection I would say, that was a particular problem in this project would be to ensure all participants in this project keep an up-to-date shared folder of all content to ensure both parties have all the same contents. This was a particular problem after my partner left the project and attempting to gain required documents wasn’t possible at times. Regarding future real jobs, it’s extremely important for all participants to have a shared folder to include any progress in the work. In this case, unfortunately some of the documents I could not acquire, and many documents were recreated.

A final reflection for my project would be the importance of balance between designer and client. Many for their ideas they may be firm on, however at times their ideas may not be what’s best for the success of the project. As a designer there is a better understanding on what makes a successful design, and to have a mutual agreement and level of understanding in order to continue the design for both designer and client.

In summary I am pleased with the final look of my brochure. Though there were some issues during the process, I am happy with how it turned out, and I am sure it will reflect well on the business. The clients are happy with the brochure turnout aswell and are happy to recommend me in the future as well as potential work opportunities after university.