‘I am, We are…different by design zine’ issue 4

Real Job: Georgina Wade, Lydia Hall and Taria Khan wrote and designed the fourth issue of the Typography and Graphic Communications’ ‘I am, we are… different by design zine’.

Background:
The ‘I am, we are, different by design’ is a zine created by students from the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication. The zine aims inspire a conversation by showcasing a diverse set of perspectives on design practice from students, alumni and design practitioners. This student-led project advocates for diversity and how to design with an inclusive mindset. We all got involved with the entire process of the zine, from planning and interviewing, to writing and designing. The opportunity to collaborate and learn from a variety of different creative perspectives we an inspiring part of the project to us. Seeing as this would be the fourth issue in the different by design, it made sense to continue the zine being A5.

Audience:
The zine is particularly aimed at those who have an interest in the creative field and would like to be educated in how to become an inclusive designer. The main audience would be those associated with the Typography and Graphic Communication department, such as fellow students and tutors but also prospective students.

Figure 1: We planned out the pages to craeate visual rhythm and visual difference.

Research:
The first task was to come up with topics that would suit the next issue of the zine. Coming up with the content proved to be a lengthy process, therefore as a team we brainstormed a variety of different topics we could potentially include within the zine. We created a mind map and came up with a few articles which we were very interested. We wanted to ensure our topic choices were diverse, yet still focused on diversity and inclusion. Initially, we looked at a variety of popular and current topics happening across the world, including the BLM movement or the Russo-Ukraini war. Additionally, we began looking at wider topics such as mental health, focusing on post pandemic mental health and the effects caused by the pandemic. Alongside our diverse range of topics, we wanted to showcase different artists and designers. Whilst also looking at a range of popular and current diversity topics happening across the world, we also wanted to include topics that were personal to us.

Figure 2: We planned out the pages, and assigned the articles

Interviews:
The first interview stage involved looking for a range of designers which specific interests to our zine topics about diversity and inclusion. As a group, we were each assigned one interview topic each to follow up and research. Since all our interviews featured our interviewees work, it was important to have the ethics approved before conducting our interviews. Our initial contact with our interviewees was conducted over email, enabling us to arrange our interviews online through emails or zoom calls. Our interviewing process allowed us to develop our own professional skills due to the professional nature that comes with conducting interviews. As well as giving us first-hand insight into diversity and inclusion about our chosen topics.

After collecting all our interview content, we then set about writing up our articles. All our interviewees had provided us with a wealth of information to work with, especially the Sky interview with Aanand and the ‘Design Can’ interview with Sabine. Copy writing the information to fit the zine proved challenging to us to ensure all out topics fit into the zine. By copywriting the information down it enabled us to consider our audience more and how they might engage with the zine’s content.

Copy Writing:
After one member of the team left, we had three people, we all spent the entire summer and autumn term collecting data for articles. For all the articles we read appropriate books, articles and other online resources to help us understand what we wanted to show to our readers.

Designing:
We started our design development stages by looking at the previous zines, focusing on the individual styles within each of the zines. This enabled us to get a better understanding of how we might create the potential style and layout of our zine. We eventually decided that each article would have its own personality, which each related to the subject of the article, whilst still also being consistent to the rest of the zine. By ensuring that each article had its own theme, it enabled us to demonstrate a diverse range of article designs throughout the zine. Additionally, this also enabled us to experiment with a range of different design methods, such as designing with an inclusive mindset through colour blindness, as well as culturally through Pakistani truck art and Urdu.

Typography:
Our choice of main text typeface was Halyard, as it was already being used in the latest issue to help created a sense of branding amongst the ‘Different by Design’ zines. By using existing paragraph styles from the suggested zine layout, it helped create the typography consistent throughout the zine. Each article then had a heading typeface which was related to the content, this allowed each article to have it’s own personality.

Grid:
Lydia provided the group with a grid layout, that was to be used for all the articles. Since the design of our articles were all different, it was essential that our page layout was consistent. One challenge that we faced was caused by the nature of our topics, it was important that our page layout didn’t appear rigid. Our grid system was an A5 page, that consisted of 6 columns with a 10pt gutter. The left and right margins were set as the default (36pts), with the top and bottom margins set to 39.638pts and baseline grid set at 12pts. By having these column widths, it enabled us to have more flexibility with image size and column width for each of our articles.

Figure 3: The 6-column grid which underlies all of the pages

Interview sticker:
To help differentiate the interviews and book reviews from our other articles, we created different coloured stickers at the top right-hand corner of the zine to help the reader find each of the interviews easily. The interview stickers are blue, and the book review stickers are pink.

Example 1
Below are some of the developed spreads, from the first version to the final product.

Example 2
Below are some of the developed spreads, from the second version to the final product.

Figure 9: Printed spread of ‘Extra Bold’

Production:

The specifications of the zine:

A5 portrait booklet
36pp text prints 4/4 on Edixion 120gsm
4pp cover prints 4/4 on Edixion 250gsm
Saddle stitched
1000 copies

After Rachel and Eric had approved the zine, we created the press ready pdfs and sent them off to print. Geoff, our in-house print technician, was incredibly helpful in this stage of the project and suggested to make a few minor changes, such as changing the photos from RGB to CYMK. We were really excited to receive his email saying that the printed zines had arrived, there’s nothing quite seeing the printed object which we had written and designed!

Reflection:

Taria:
We felt like if the zine had some kind of branding which would make it consistent to all the past and future zines. For example, we had troubles with the typeface if we had consistent branding it would limit the errors.

George:
Being part of this team helped me build on my communication and teamwork skills, enabling me to learn how to become more responsive and learn about methods such as ethics approval, which will be useful for the dissertation module. Having more freedom to choose and explore our own topics of interest for this zine was something I really enjoyed, as this is a unique opportunity on this course therefore it helped me to stay more focused and involved in the project. The challenges I faced were mainly focused on the Russo-Ukrainian poster, as this is something very personal to me therefore, something I really wanted to perfect.

Lydia:
I really enjoyed being on a wonderful team of designers and collaborating with my peers. With a zine about diversity and inclusion it makes sense to have a team of people with different backgrounds and experiences. This project was different to others in the sense that there wasn’t really a hard deadline, while this was good in some aspects, I did struggle to motivate myself and to move the project forward. I have learnt that creating those deadlines for myself and the rest of the team will help to keep the project going.

Manuel Bravo Project

Overview

The client for this project was the Manuel Bravo Project, a free legal representation for asylum seekers and refugees based in Leeds. The organisation recently had a rebrand of their logos and letterheads, causing them to look for new physical outputs to help enhance the new branding. There are two different branches of the Manuel Bravo Project – In-house and Outreach. They are aiming to look for ways to appeal directly to these different target audiences.

Restated brief
The client originally requested two leaflets to appeal to their separate target audience; In-house and Outreach. However, we suggested to help raise further brand awareness, therefore by having a physical banner, it would be a useful output for the organisation can use at charity events to help draw in new support and clients.

Due to the organisation’s two branches, our client wanted us to incorporate the different brand colours within the leaflets, to ensure the correct information is being received. With their green colour symbolising the Outreach audience, and red for the In-house casework audience. Our client has distinct target audiences – clients who are often new to the country with limited English, corporate/funder audiences who need to know a bit more about our background, and volunteers/partners who we recruit to help them with their work.

Final deliverables:

2 A5 2pp leaflets
2m portrait banner for physical use

Research

The first stage of the project began with research to understand the Manuel Bravo Project. We used information provided by the client as well as their website to gain a thorough understanding of the charity’s background and its mission, vision and core values. We identified that our main target audience was those who spoke minimal English and therefore knew our designs needed to cater to this. However, we also recognised a secondary audience such as volunteers and donators, so we wanted to make sure our design resonated with both demographics.

During the research process, we analysed various charity leaflets for inspiration. We noted that many of them tended to be overcrowded with information, potentially overwhelming for the readers. This was something we needed to avoid especially with our primary target audience. We aimed to structure the leaflets in a way that prioritised clarity and ease of understanding, by focusing on hierarchy and simple messaging.

Designing
We commenced the design process by experimenting with various leaflet styles through sketches, considering different layouts. After visualising each exploration, we opted for a simple double-sided A5 leaflet design. We felt this choice was best suited for its intended target audience, as there was no complexity of what pages of the leaflet were to be read first. Our client agreed with this decision and during a feedback meeting with him, we further discussed his favoured options for text and image placement.

On the front of both leaflets, we highlighted the charity’s mission, vision, and approach as well as a concise overview description. For the back of the leaflets, we tailored the content more specifically to each branch of the organisation – In-house representation and Outreach services.

Furthermore, to address the main target audience, we thought it would be useful to enhance the accessibility of the leaflets for those whose first language isn’t English. We proposed the idea of a scannable QR code translator on both leaflets for users to access relevant information and resources in their chosen language.

The banner was designed after the leaflets were finalised. Initially, we struggled with how to represent Manuel Bravo in a banner format. The real jobs meeting was extra helpful during this stage of the design process as tutors and peers helped us refine our banner design. We focused on maintaining consistency with the leaflet designs by carrying over key design elements such as typography and illustration style. One of our illustrations was adjusted to sit perfectly on the banner and it was able to fill in white space that we initially struggled with.

Meetings with the client and the real jobs team helped us guide our design decisions to create the most effective designs. The client was helpful in providing minor tweaks for us to change throughout the project.

Imagery
We created engaging and unique illustrations to present on the front and back of the leaflets. The illustrations allowed us to depict diverse characters. The characters on each leaflet wear the corresponding colour attire to reinforce the differentiation between the different branches of the organisation and to maintain brand consistency.

We opted for illustrations over photography, as the organisation wanted to move away from the photography direction. Having previously used images of Manuel Bravo himself in promotional materials, it felt inappropriate to them to plaster his image all over their outputs and social media. Our illustrations provided a more respectful alternative and maintained privacy and sensitivity.

Figure 4: Initial line drawing illustration

Figure 5: In-house front page illustration

Figure 6: Back illustration for both leaflets in the In-house colour palette

Figure 7: Outreach front page illustration

Copy
While specific body copy was not provided to us by the client, we took the initiative to select words that we felt best represented the Manuel Bravo Project’s ethos. Drawing from our research and understanding of the organisation, we chose messaging that we felt was most important to display and we are confident that our banner design will help Manuel Bravo Project raise awareness and gain additional support.

Final outputs

Due to the client being based in Leeds, we weren’t able to see the deliverables go to print. To reduce printing costs we, sent our client print-ready PDFs of each of our deliverables. To help the client we also provided them with rough estimates of the print production costs from CPS. To help the client visualise our leaflets and banner designs, we provided him with mock-ups to showcase the final deliverables in their potential environment.

Figure 11: Mock up of finalised leaflets (front)

Figure 12: Mock up of finalised Outreach leaflet

Figure 13: Mock up of finalised leaflets (back)

Reflection

Although the designs of this real job are simple, we wanted to ensure each of the deliverables were easily accessible and understandable for the client’s target audience. Therefore, by providing the client with the option of having a QR translation code, it gave the client’s target audience a quick and efficient understanding of what their organisation does.

The job did come with its challenges, with the client’s recent rebrand, and no printed documents prior to our deliverables, the client had only been provided with RGB-coloured logos. This meant that when the documents were to be printed the colours would come out slightly different. To prevent this, we decided to create a CMYK colour conversion for the client to use in future output designs to ensure all future printed materials match our deliverables. This will ensure their branding remains consistent.

Additionally, due to the client’s excitement about their rebranding and utilising their new logos, it caused a delay when providing us with other materials that we needed such as the body copy. They initially weren’t sure on the copy for these deliverables, which created some delays as we struggled to format the leaflets with the missing text.

Another problem faced was incorporating their new logos. The client sent us versions of the logo that weren’t useable in our outputs as they hadn’t been sent in a high enough quality. Eventually, the main In-house logo was sent to us in a high-quality format, but the client couldn’t seem to provide the same with for the Outreach logo. This meant we had to use the In-house logo he sent to recreate the Outreach logo. At the end of the project, we sent this new logo for them to use in all future designs.

Figure 15: Initial Outreach logo provided by client

Figure 16: Final Outreach logo created by us

Creating leaflets and banners was a new experience for both of us. This real job was invaluable and helped us develop new skills that we can take forward in similar future projects. We also got to experience real challenges that we may face in the industry.

Student-led Department Instagram 2023/4

Introduction

This real job involved creating weekly posts of the departments events and students’ projects throughout the year. This year we wanted to change the perception and aim of the Instagram, by broadening the design content for prospective, current and alumni students. Previously, the account has focused on events and design-based posts, however this year we wanted to boost engagement through trending posts, such as; Spotify and Barbie, as well as informative posts, such as; tutorial reels and Adobe shortcuts.

Our goals
The main goal we wanted to achieve when taking over the department’s Instagram was to create a broader design community. We felt it was important to broaden our online community, as it would help boost our engagement and further the creativity of account. Additionally, we also wanted to showcase the department to prospective students by creating a more engaging feed. To do this, we created a wider variety of content ranging from informative posts and current Instagram trends.

Updating the account

Rebrand
We decided that the Instagram would benefit from a small rebrand. This is because we felt this would help the feed look more consistent and part of one identity, as we had a varied number of design posts. We also changed the profile picture to the TGC logo, adapting it to each season or holiday e.g. Christmas, Halloween, Easter theme. This is because we felt this better represented the department than the previous profile picture of the yellow doors that no longer exist, and would be potentially confusing to prospective students.

Profile picture
Within this rebrand we were able to improve our feed layout, as our feed looked very one dimensional due to only showed design-based posts and the occasional photos of the department. As a team, we wanted a more varied and personal feed and to achieve this, we began to post more ‘in class’ posts of student’s progress work and final deliverables, to help the account feel more connected to the people in the department. We also introduced posts that gave tips such as the Adobe shortcuts series as we wanted to create the sense of community, as well as posting digital mockups of final work. The improvement of these posts has helped increased our engagement.

Posting schedule
One of our goals was to continue posting consistently and to post more varied content. To do this, we created a schedule each month on an excel spreadsheet which allocated a post to each team member. We found this strategy was successful as it helped us be organized and make sure that we weren’t posting similar types of content. One problem we faced with this strategy was that sometimes team members would forget to post their allocated content. A solution we found to this, was to schedule the posts earlier on Instagram so that the post would still go up in time.

New content

To increase our post insights and better our follower engagement, we researched into current Instagram trends and related them to typography and graphic design. Examples of this include; creating a yearly ‘Spotify Wrapped post’, a ‘Barbie post’ and conducting interviews with our lecturers to find out ‘designers icks’. Out of these three posts, the post that was the most successful was Spotify Wrapped which earned over 130 likes, reached 1,351 accounts, 188 non-follower accounts and 3 comments.

We also introduced more informational posts to our feed. This is because in our research we found that informational posts help followers feel like they are part of a community. We felt that these posts would be helpful for current students, designers and people who are interested in graphic design and typography.

The informational posts we introduced are:

Tutorial reels
Tutorial reels were one of our posts with the highest level of engagement, as it reached over 1000 non-followers, with a total watch time of 5 hours and 18 minutes. These posts consisted of quick design demonstrations on different Adobe software’s that can benefit our followers’ future projects. The tutorials were aimed at current student followers, and aspiring designers.

Adobe shortcuts
This is a post that showcased some basic shortcuts for Adobe software’s. This post had a high level of engagement as it reached 89% of non-followers to our account and had many impressions, meaning it was accessed through home, profile and hashtags 2086 times. The reach is the number of accounts that have seen the post. These posts were aimed at current students as well as designers within the industry.

Reading list
The idea behind this post was to share what we felt were important design books that all designers should have a look at. This post also had a high level of engagement, with 198 account interactions through likes, saves and shares.

Figure 3, 4, 5: Examples of reading list post

Q&A stories
These posts on our story brought a sense of community as it allowed us to talk to people. Although these posts did not have the highest level of engagement, it was still rewarding to be able to talk to people and answer their questions about design, the department and our course.

Engagement and following

The most successful posts have been the reels we introduced, providing the audience with short, informative illustrator tutorials, with the ‘how to merge type and shapes in illustrator’ reaching nearly 2,000 accounts. This shows that reels were incredibly successful in boosting the Instagram accounts engagement, due to the wider accessibility Instagram gives to reels throughout the platform. This accessibility has enabled the Instagram account to reach 69% of non-followers, helping to boost the accounts audience reach. Further to this, since December 2023, the reels have boosted the interactions by 320%. Further to this, the following has grown by 70% over the last 3 months.

Figure 8 & 9: Accounts engagement between December 2023 – March 2024

Our thoughts

Being part of the department’s Instagram team has enabled us to get experience with understanding what makes a post engaging. We learnt that reels were the most engaging type of posts for non-followers due to Instagrams pre-existing algorithm. Whereas, the most engaging post for the current followers were the regular posts. By creating a consistent balance between the two types of posts, we were able to boost the accounts interactions and engagement levels.

As well as this, we consistently posted and maintained a monthly posting schedule which allowed us to introduce new types of posts. We felt this was important as before we took over, the posts were mostly submission/process posts and we felt it was important to offer informational posts that would help designers and students. Including informational posts has helped create a more varied feed and increased engagement with our followers.

What we learnt
This experience of running the department’s Instagram account has taught us how to effectively work together to run a design team, the importance of group collaborations on new design ideas and problem solving, and lastly it improved our time management skills as we created a posting schedule for when the account would gain the most follower interaction.

Shark Outfit Generator

I was partnered with Daisy and the 3 things she said about herself were;

She likes sharks
She likes shopping
She likes chocolate

My initial ideas were having a robotic shark for a personal shopper, chocolate on tap in all shops and edible clothing made from chocolate. But for my final idea I created a ‘Shark Outfit Generator’. The idea is the shark eats you, acting as a walk in wardrobe filled with every clothing item and style available, helping to dress and style Daisy.

Labyrinth book narrative

For this brief I chose the word Labyrinth.

I cut out different shapes and sections on the pages, each page representing a different chunk from a labyrinth maze. As the chapters went along, I cut out more and more sections, making it harder to the reader to turn the page, trying to correlate the number of chapter to the number of maze pieces.

Each page had it own individual shape, which made the pages more fragile and easily tearable causing the reader to be more cautious as they turn the page, much like in a labyrinth. I started to block out some of the text but realised this made it easier to see where the next maze sections were. Therefore, I stopped making it more complex too read as the the text lines up with the sentences behind.

Circus Poster

My chosen piece from the collections today was this circus poster. I was drawn to this poster because its helpful…but also not. It only gives generic information such as what they have to offer at the circus, but not specifics such as times and location. Therefore, making the poster unhelpful for public planning to attend. However, in the image below it shows a blank space below the title. I think this is where the timings and dates would have been placed but due to a circus constantly being on the move, it’s cheaper and easier to leave the space blank until needed. Another noticeable point in this poster is the size and shape of it. The image above shows the poster is a vertical rectangle. This type of shape would have been used firstly to reduce cost, but also for space on walls or lamppost to advertise. As the bigger the poster, the more likely it was to be cover by something else, therefore creating a poster this size helps to reduce those chances.

Further on to the poster being cheaply made, a lot of the print hasn’t managed to transfer properly. The image below shows an inconsistency in the blank print around the red letters. For example, on the letter T in tiger, there is a consistent black boarder around the letter. However, with the rest of the word there is a lack of black outline around the letter, compared to the word above, ‘Norna’. I think much of this is due to the poster being cheaply and quickly made. Hundreds of these would have been printed and they were only needed for a short amount of advertising time, so a small inconsistency in the print wouldn’t have meant much.

Due to the poster having no date or location, it makes it difficult to date the poster black to a specific time. The colours used are red and black, which were the favoured colours used in typography during the modernism movement, which helps to date it back to 1930s. Further to this, the image below shows that the circus was mainly made up of animal acts, which are now banned in the UK due to animal welfare. These types of acts were more popular and allowed around the 1930s, helping to date the poster back to the early to mid 20th century.

70s logo

For this brief we had to pick a theme to develop ideas for upcoming logo type trends. My chosen theme was 70’s retro.

I first created a moon-board to start looking a different colours and shapes involved with the 70s. The retro 70’s theme also has a very warm toned colour palette, which is something I knew I wanted to incorporate into my design. I noticed there were a lot circles involved within the theme, along with a lot the fonts had rounded edges. I started experimenting with different bold ‘bubble letter’ type fonts, however as I started playing around I began putting the logo into different shapes. Once I put the type into the circle, I started playing with the leading, seeing how the type looks both up close and dispersed. For my final logo design, I decided to fit the text close to each other within the circle and use the warm toned colour palette.

If I could change anything about my design I would have space out the lettering a bit more, as the two Gs are very close to each other. I would have also added a ‘S’ to George, making it ‘Georges Designs’, making both words 5 letters to equal out the colouring.

Blue Letterforms

For this brief we had to look at different letterforms around campus with a running theme. For my theme I chose colour, my chosen colour was blue.

Each of the letterforms had a different function, ranging from instructing such as the ‘paper only’ bin and the blue roundabout sign. I also looked at different perspectives, thinking about how each sign is viewed. For example, for the pedestrian and cycle pass sign I angled the camera down and head on along with the Oreos in the vending machine. Whereas, for the big E and T on the wall in the typography department, I changed the perspective as this is how these letterforms are seen as people walk past.

Fault in our Stars & Penguin

This is my Penguin book cover created using James’ online tutorial. I used Gill Sans font instead of the Gills Sans Nova font James suggested in the video. Unfortunately I had some trouble inserting the small orange lines upon and below the authors name, therefore I had to miss out this step however I enjoyed doing the rest. I enjoyed learning about paragraph styles and thought this video was a good introduction to InDesign, a software I had only previously used once. If I could change anything about this cover, I would change the cartouche at the top of the book. I think I could have rounded the black a bit more instead of leaving it a little pointy.

For my second book cover I chose John Green’s ‘The Fault in our Stars’. I chose this book because it’s such an iconic cover that everyone knows. This book design was also similar to the Penguin one as it involved creating circles to build up the cloud, similar to the cartouche from the Penguin book, a step i thought i needed to improve on. Unfortunately, I could find an exact match to the font used on the original cover which is chalk styled. So instead I went for a similar child-like style to try and fit the theme.