Movie: a journal of film criticism. Issue 8

Background

Professor John Gibbs, head of the School of Arts & Communication Design at the University of Reading was in need of a new design for Movie: A Journal of Film Criticismissue 8. Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism is the successor of Movie the print journal which was published from 1962 to 2000. Currently it has been digitally designed for online reading. The scholarly journal is a rolling publication meaning articles are published throughout the year. The purpose of this journal is to publish work that is concerned with the aesthetics of film and television style, analysis, theory and practice of evaluating film and television. Movieissue 8 not only includes written articles but audio-visual essays and interviews. John Gibbs aspired a new layout for issue 8 that complexly integrated film frames and text more than the previous issue; it was felt that editorial decisions of the previous issue lost the traditional design and feel of Movie.

I have always imagined myself working in editorial, hence why taking on this opportunity dealing with text, images, layout and attention to typographic detail was of interest to me. Being able to explore a detailed relationship between film grabs and the text was just one of my interests within this project.

Restated brief

The restated brief for this job was to complexly integrate the film grabs within the text effectively. This was to provide an experience for the reader with integrating the film grabs in the moments analysed within the text, which is what made the layouts of the traditional issues so great and pleasant to read.

A designer prior to me created the previous issue in 2017, this meant that I had to adapt my design skills into an existing template which I was critical of. Being critical of the existing files was not only important to improve the design but to also gain a sense of control over the work.  Appropriate files and design guidelines were provided on aspects such as page layout, grid, typesetting, images and cover design. This gave me an insight into the justifications from the previous designer as to why certain editorial decisions were followed the way they were. However, it was necessary to analyse and critique the files in order to make improvements on the design and integration of images to fit in consistently with the traditional issues.

The initial meeting with my client gave me the opportunity to clarify things, making sure we were both on the same page of thoughts. At this point in time there wasn’t a confirmed deadline as it was unsure whether or not the journal was going to become a rolling publication. As the process depended on the authors confirming they were happy with the layout design, it was quite a lengthy development of anticipating responses and keeping up to date with emails and communicating regularly.

Research

I began my research by analysing the old Movie print journals for inspiration. My client had advised that they wanted to achieve the integrations of images and text that was accomplished in the print journals. I viewed a range of journals to gain an understanding of the desired style my client wanted. Overall, the print journals had a consistent, memorable style throughout its layouts and typesetting, creating a type of brand identity for the well-known journal.

Features that stood out were:

• prominent opening articles
• boarders
• outlined type
• varied scales of images depending on their importance
• insignificant white space
• columns

 

My client mentioned that a lot of the feedback for issue 7 involved conflicting opinions about the use of white space across the issue. I had suggested to my client that white space isn’t always negative space and it can actually be quite an effective element if used fittingly. Although, from observing existing print journals it was evident that white space wasn’t particularly considered throughout the designs. Nonetheless, I had advised my client about exploring ways in which white space could be used effectively within the forthcoming issue. After suggesting my thoughts, my client clarified the editorial board wanted a different approach to the previous issue in order to meet my client’s needs. It’s important as a designer to suggest your own creative thinking as this develops your flow of thinking.  The purpose of this issue was to achieve a well-integrated relationship between images and text across the spreads, therefore, to meet my client’s needs this had to strongly be thought through with reading each article to appropriately place the images.

Design development

The design aspect to this project was quite straight forward because of the existing template. This project was heavily reliant on the research, communication with the client and organised files in order to be a success. The design development process involved working within InDesign. It was important to appropriately name and group styles together to avoid confusion as publications consist of many different articles and pages.

Along the way there were some broken elements within styles that had to be altered, while ways of working had to be adapted as using someone else’s files was a new skill to develop. Once I had read through the articles, I judged where would be best suited for the provided frame grabs to be integrated. Once I completed my first draft, I sent it to my client for feedback. Considering my client was happy with the layout, this would be sent for further feedback to the authors of the articles who would then get back into contact with my client.

From taking on this project, it most definitely taught me how to use features I wouldn’t have considered to use before. The table of contents (TOC) feature in InDesign can automatically list the contents of publications, magazines and books. For this to be a success it consisted of creating, applying and formatting styles for the TOC. Generating a working TOC creates a chain like system for the next designer to use straightforwardly. Whether or not I would use features as such again, it was beneficial in learning how to use the TOC feature as another client in the future may choose this way of presenting the contents.

Movie issue 8 received loads of positive feedback. This was quite a rewarding feeling as loads of effort was put into this project in order to make my client happy and I am delighted this was achieved.

Feedback from members of theeditorial board said:

‘it looks fabulous’, ‘it all looks very good’, ‘the integration of the images with the text is excellent, and captures something important about Movie’s traditions of close reading’.

Comments from the authors were also positive as they said:

‘Thanks very much for this – looks terrific!’, ‘this looks really good. Please convey my thanks to Martha’.

Communication

A respectful and professional relationship between my client and I was developed. Regular contact via email and face to face meetings were conducted when necessary. My client was easy to reach which made communicating flow easily. My client had always informed me of editorial board meetings and deadlines in order for me to leave plenty of time to have everything prepared and ready for these important meetings. The communication skills developed through this project have made me more confident in approaching my clients and improved my articulation and tone of voice. This will be beneficial in developing professional relationships within industry and with clients.

Reflection

This project had its challenges. One of the main challenges was to produce the TOC as the template files didn’t include a completed plan. On the other hand, this forced me to learn and improve with the feature instead of just dropping it into a template. The other challenge was developing the skill of working within someone else’s files and gaining insights as to why they may have done certain things differently. However, having the skill to adapt will be useful for the future working in industry.

I felt as though I had met my client’s needs in achieving what they were looking for. The overall project took much longer than expected, however this was due to making it a rolling publication which meant more authors were submitting their articles towards the end of the year. Although, I was happy to continue working on this project, solely because I really enjoyed it. From this project I have truly learnt a number of things. From professionally communicating and maintaining contact with clients, to realising how important and useful it is to have organised files, ending with reading interesting film criticism articles as well. To have a read of the full journal click here. 

 

Background and initial briefing
The Ephemera Society is a non-profit body devoted to the collection, conservation, study and educational uses of handwritten and printed ephemera. A handbook is produced annually, including the list of current members, their interests and institutions, and is sent out to all the members of the society. My brief was to use the existing style of previous copies of the handbook to create the 2018 edition. The style and layout should remain the same, while the colour of the front cover was to be changed.

Expectations vs reality
From the brief, I assumed this would be a simple task of replicating the layout and stylesheets of the previous handbook, and inputting the new text into these. However, there were obstacles that meant that the process was more complicated than I first assumed, making the job more complex, but ultimately allowing me to gain more from this experience, in terms of altering briefs and reasoning with clients. In the future, therefore, I will be more willing to have my expectations confounded as I believe that can make the final outcome more valuable for myself and the client.

Font
The font previously used in the handbook was Apollo MT (TT). This became an issue after realising that this exact font was not available on Adobe Typekit or on the typography server. As well as this, its replacement, Apollo MT Expert, is not an Open Type font, and differed slightly from the original. With support and advice from my supervisor, I began searching for a similar typeface in terms of density and physical characteristics. After sending several options to my client, we decided on FreightText Pro for the body text throughout the entire document, a clear and legible typeface with a similar weight to Apollo, as well as slightly more interesting serifs and tails on each letter, adding visual interest to a spread of text.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other improvements
Oldstyle numerals
With FreightText Pro the new body text for the book, there was a lot more choices that could be made in terms of how the text was differentiated. Unlike Apollo MT (TT), FreightText Pro has both lining and oldstyle figure options. This initiated the discussion with my supervisor on which figure style is deemed more appropriate for each scenario where numerals are used, and what rules should be put in place to ensure typographic consistency.

The use of numbers throughout the text:

• House numbers
• Postcodes
• Phone numbers
• Numbers within email addresses
• Dates (years)

Oldstyle numerals are arguably better in continuous text, as they sit comfortably within lower case and draw less attention to themselves compared to lining numerals. This is why it was decided that phone numbers, as well as numbers within email addresses, should be set in oldstyle figures. Postcodes, despite not always occurring in continuous text, also suited the use of oldstyle figures, as this made it sit more quietly within the overall address. House numbers on the other hand, were set in lining numerals, as these are arguably one of the most important parts of the address, therefore need to stand out. This also suits typographic convention, as it is usual for house numbers to be lining. Dates (years) were something that was a little harder to decide on, however, as the dates existed mainly as markers for important events (The Pepys Medal and the Ephemera Society Award), I felt it was best to keep these lining to help them stand out. Also, as the dates were on top of each other in the form of a list, it was more successful this way rather than having descenders interfering with the line below.

A challenge within this decision making was deciding the treatment of foreign addresses. As they differed in format from English addresses, it was sometimes hard to tell which part was postcode equivalent, and some addresses had other numbers that English addresses do not have. In these cases, it was necessary to research into typographic conventions for different addresses in the world. Overall, all numbers except for house numbers were in oldstyle numerals.

In this case, the issue of the font not being available, and its replacement being outdated, allowed for a lot more thought to be put into the typographic detailing of the spread. This meant that specific pieces of information could be highlighted, improving readability and the ability to pick out specific information throughout the book.

Optical symmetry
As the member entries are quite short, and list-like in appearance, it created a strong sense of space on the right-hand side of each page. This made the spreads look uneven, so the margin on the right pages was increased from 13mm to 15.5mm to allow for more optically symmetrical design. This was a change from the previous handbook, which used the same sized margins across a two page spread.

Using InDesign effectively
It was vital to use tools within InDesign efficiently, to ensure accuracy and avoid errors throughout the document. As this was my first document with over 100 pages, for the first time I could appreciate the convenience and necessity of these tools, in creating a book free of errors.

Find/Change tool
Despite using this tool previously, it was fundamental in the completion of the handbook. My supervisor showed me the GREP function, which I was unaware of previously, only using Find/Change for searching for specific words within the document. This was a vital tool as the whole document was full of multiple tabs / double spaces, used in the clients original document to show differentiation between different parts of text. This was also used to replace some hyphens incorrectly used with en dashes.

Column breaks
Before this project, I manually used returns as well as altering the text box to change the break of the column. This became problematic during feedback as the smallest change could alter where the column break needed to be, which had a knock-on effect throughout the whole document. Supervisor feedback advised the use of the column break character which made the rest of the project a lot more straight forward.

Personal review using feedback from supervisor and client
Overall, this project ran quite smoothly, especially at the start when restating the brief and agreeing the schedule with the client – “From our point of view you were good at communicating and keeping us abreast of the progress of the project which made us feel confident the handbook was in good hands”. For a while at the beginning of the project, I was running ahead of schedule, which gave me more time to focus on the small intricate details of the book.

Throughout my project, my supervisor was confident in my abilities, pushing me to improve the handbook typographically and spatially from the previous edition. Despite this going against my instincts, as the client wanted the handbook to stay the same, the changes in margins, typeface and typographic differentiation have greatly improved the legibility and usability of the handbook from the previous version.

However, despite the main success points, there was a small miscommunication at the end of the project, where I found it hard to manage feedback from my client and supervisor. Whereas my client pointed out small mistakes where things were in the wrong style, my supervisor had bigger plans, including changing the margins for optical symmetry, and altering the spacing which would affect the whole document. This occurred very close to the already extended deadline, meaning I struggled to complete these changes in time. This resulted in me sending the client a “finished document”, which they approved, only to be given more changes by my supervisor. This concerned my client and caused me stress, as I felt I had let them down.

From this miscommunication, I have learnt not to be too hasty about submitting a final version of a document to the client, and instead, to take a little more time (if the deadline is flexible) to ensure the document is correct, and approved by my supervisor, before sending it through. Luckily, my client was very understanding, and despite their concern, were happy with the final printed handbook.

“The only hiccup was near the end when an out of date file was sent to us for review which caused some confusion and consternation, but this was quickly corrected. We were delighted with the outcome”.
Malcolm Warrington

Final outcome
Overall, both myself and my client were happy with the final print of the handbook. This project has taught me to consider a brief more openly, thinking around it and how to improve upon it, rather than see it as concrete initially. The setbacks and miscommunication errors that occurred in this project gave me a more realistic expectation of a project in industry, and prepared me for more challenges in future projects, as it is rare for a task to run smoothly from start to finish. Problems will always occur, but sometimes fixing these problems can make a finished project even better than expected.

Background
Each year, Penguin opens their Student Design Award competition, which provides participants with an experience of dealing with real cover design briefs first-hand. From the three possible book categories I chose Children’s, the selected book being Wonder by R. J. Palacio.

Brief
The brief was to redesign the cover of Wonder, to bring the book to new readers as well as ensuring it remains a ‘must-read for every child’. It must ‘encourage children to pick the book up and buy it for themselves and should also engage adults to want to buy it for them’. Specific criteria for a winning design were outlined as follows.

The cover needs to:

• have an imaginative concept
• be an original interpretation of the brief
• be competently executed with strong use of typography
• appeal to the broadest possible audience for the book
• have a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from other books that it will be competing against in the market
• be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops

The book
Wonder is a book which follows the journey of August Pullman, a boy who was born with a facial deformity, who has been home schooled for his whole life so far. The book follows the different points of view of August, his sister, her boyfriend and his classmates, as August ventures into mainstream schooling for the first time. Themes of isolation, personal growth and friendship are explored as August slowly is understood by those around him and is seen as more than the boy with the deformed face.

The existing cover
Several versions of the cover already exist, due to the release of the film based on the book. The most famous cover, featured on the left, has a simple hand drawn feel, with hand lettering for the title and author name. The face on the cover is incomplete, showing only one eye, which perhaps hints at the facial deformity of the main character. However, the ominous face, which looks slightly to the left, creates a subtle feeling of unease. This causes the reader to fixate on the face, which highlights the staring that August faces on an everyday basis.

As this cover is so iconic, I feel it is important to veer away from an overly simple design, as well as the face of August. However, depicting one of the main themes or ideas of the book, in a way that does not give away much of the plot, is important, to grab the attention of the reader.

Research and ideation
Before I started research, I attended a session with Fraser Muggeridge, which explored ways to help the ideation process. He explained the importance of sketching and experimenting with texture to create compelling covers. I first started by reading the book and watching the film, sketching and writing down ideas and quotes as I did so. I wanted to portray the main themes using metaphoric imagery or illustrate a cover based on a specific quote. The tagline from the cover ‘You can’t blend in when you were born to stand out’ is a key part of the plot, so it was important to consider this when brainstorming ideas. Other quotes that stood out to me as I read the book were as follows:

• ‘The only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way’
• ‘When I was younger I used to wear an astronaut helmet everywhere I went’
• ‘All those eyes are like compasses, and I’m like the North Pole to them’
• ‘The universe is a giant lottery’
• ‘One in 4 million’
• ‘The ocean sound that was always in my head had been getting louder’
• ‘It was drowning out people’s voices like I was underwater’

Initial ideas
Based on the tagline, I considered the blending or contrast of colours, to represent the themes of fitting in and standing out. The ideas of crowds, ripped paper, shadows and silhouettes also instantly came to mind. After delving more into the book and the film, I then thought of metaphors and images that depict these themes, such as a weed which grows in the roughest conditions, or the idea of the ugly duckling. Some quotes directly led to ideas, such as compasses to represent the staring of people, or a lottery machine to indicate how rare the condition is. Based on these ideas, I created mood boards, before sketching out 6 different ideas inspired by imagery examples.

Design development
I then began the design process, translating my sketches into colourful and textured illustrated works. Illustrator was mainly used for creating the base illustrations, while Photoshop was used to add texture and depth through shadows and light. Finally, inDesign was used for the typographic detail and to create the overall composition.

During Real Job meetings, I was pushed to make the colours more vibrant, and to ensure that my covers were suitable for the target market. In particular, my compass design lost its vibrancy when printed, which highlighted the importance of multiple proofs of the design, even though the final deliverable was to be submitted as a PDF. Proofs were then printed to show at the following real jobs meetings.

Final stages
After attending several meetings and working on the vibrancy and detail in my illustrations, I decided to focus on the compass design for the competition itself, as the lottery machine is perhaps a little bit niche and may cause some confusion. James, my supervisor, was happy with the overall style and concept, which allowed me time to fully explore compositional elements, including the title and text position, to ensure they stand out when the cover is viewed at a smaller scale. Another point discussed by people in the meeting was the vignette around the cover, which seemed to be less favoured. I explored ways around this that still allowed for the text to be legible, including: adding a row of darker compasses on top of the existing layer, creating a black border in the shape of an astronaut helmet to make the viewer feel that they are in August’s shoes, and finally, creating more intensely shadowed compasses at the borders of the covers, which are dark enough to house the text. These designs allowed me to experiment with the placement, size and colour of the title, as well as the positioning of the tagline and authors name.

Finally, I chose the design with the more asymmetric appearance, as this adds more flair and interest to the final cover. I then also explored the other cover design, to use as a portfolio piece, using a crop of the lottery machine to reduce the white space and symmetricity of the cover.

Final covers

Reflection
Overall, I am happy with the appearance of the cover designs and am proud of what I achieved in around a month, less time than I have had to complete other cover design projects. My supervisor also remarked on how my Illustrator skills have improved dramatically since the start of the course and felt that both of the covers would have been suitable to submit. Creating vectors with smooth and unbroken curves is a skill I have developed through this course, and I was happy that my improvement was noticed. I also feel that the covers suit the target audience but remain suitable for the subject matter of the book.

Looking back at the requirements of the brief, I feel that my concept is both imaginative and an original take on the brief, as it focuses in on a specific quote in the book that other entrants may not have read / thought about. The colour schemes fit the darker nature of the book, as well as looking gender neutral in palette, which is important when trying to market the book to a wide target audience.

In order to test the book against its competitors, to see if it has a clear point of difference, in addition to standing out on a book shelf as well as at thumbnail size, I mocked up the cover on Amazon, and also Waterstones website, to see if my design met these two criteria. On Amazon, I feel that the integrity of the design holds up even at small sizes, and when directly compared to the other books, I feel it stands out due to its subtler typography and composition. However, using dark tones and shades of blue is quite common in books for this market, which may either highlight the success of the colour scheme for the age group, or indicate that it may be too similar to other books around it. In order to explore this further, I feel that it would be necessary to physically mock up the book and place it on a shelf within a bookshop, to see whether it stands out or recedes backwards when compared to other covers.

With more time, I would love to physically make these two covers, as well as exploring print finishes that could give these designs an extra pop. I think that adding a spot varnish to areas of the compass design, on the compass points for example, would help the staring ‘eyes’ stand out more. On the other design, I feel that spot gloss or white foiling on the astronaut helmet would help this stand out more from the other yellow. After submitting my chosen design, I still have doubts surrounding whether I chose the right variation or concept to submit, as I liked several variations as well as the lottery machine concept. However, I feel that both concepts tackle the brief differently, which will form a useful addition to my portfolio going forward, especially as my dream is to work in the publishing industry specialising in design for children.

Mock ups  

Background

This is a project to design for the Reading Assembly. The Tate Exchange includes responses, workshops, talks and events, where you can join the conversation and collaborate in art making. This year the theme of the exchange will be ‘Movement’. The Reading Assembly is going to hosts some activities during the period 1 March to 3 March. The Reading Assembly was looking to create a printed programme for these events and activities.

The design aims to promote the activities held by the Reading Assembly and inform the audience on what activities are happening on the day. These programmes will be distributed and placed around the Blavatnik building during the three days events are happening. The Reading Assembly asked for the visual design of the leaflet to be consistent with that from last year in order to build a more consistent branding across time.

Design process

After some sketches, I created a few initial designs that have similar structures and visual design to the leaflet made for last year’s events but with a different way of organising information. The designs’ physical structure is a tri-folded A4 sheet. One side of the leaflet consists of essential information about the event and a brief description while the other side shows the detailed programme of the three-day event. After further consideration regarding the user scenario, I think the design was not suitable since the folded format may hinder the chance of visitors’ engagement as not much content was shown on the cover.

We decided to look into a more direct physical structure that would allow visitors to have a brief idea of the program through a first glance. The information is organised the same way where there is a side for promotional purposes with essential information and a brief description and another side for the detailed program. However, since the programme will not be folded, visitors can clearly see ‘Movement’, ‘Reading Assembly’ and, ‘Tate Exchange’.

The Reading Assembly is happy with the overall visual design of the leaflet. However, it was noted that the hierarchy of information was not quite right. They reflected that ‘Movement’ was taking too much attention and that it should associate more closely with ‘Reading Assembly’. My supervisor also flagged the importance of designing according to the genre of information so visitors can know what kind of information they can get from looking at the visual design.

With these feedbacks, I reconsidered the hierarchy and genre of the information and created a new design with a more functional purpose that communicates information effectively without unneeded elements that may distract or overpower the aim of the document.

 

 

In this final version of the design, the programme across three days are displayed in the form of a time table at the centre of the leaflet. This allows visitors to understand that this document shows the timetable of a particular event at first glance. Further information on the organisers and sponsor are also clearly displayed at the top and bottom of the leaflet. The final layout of the design only takes up one side of the sheet, which helped reduced cost and a higher quantity than expected can be produced with the original budget.

Overall, the design changed a lot based on the focus of the leaflet. In the earlier versions of the design, more emphasis was put to the promotional purpose of the leaflet. It aimed to be more eye-catching to attract visitors’ attention. However, after receiving feedback from the client and my supervisor, the focus of the design shifted to being more functional and transparent. The final design is definitely a more suitable and effective solution to the aim of this leaflet. Here are some images taken from the event that shows the design in the real scenario.

Reflection

Reflecting on the experience, there is definitely some room for improvement. The design of the leaflet shifted from trying to attract visitor’s information to being more functional. I believe that with more time, I could have done a better job at getting a balance between the two. More exploration should be done to find a solution that can create a higher visual impact to attract visitor’s attention without sacrificing the effectiveness and clarity or information communication.

This is a very valuable experience for me as a design student. Not only did I gain a chance of practising design thinking and skills. I also learnt a lot in terms of client facing and communication, print and production and project management. It is exciting to see the design go into the print and production stage. I learnt about how to prepare files for print and things to keep in mind during the process. Through this real job, I had a better understanding of the role of a designer. There is so much more to the process than the actual design. For example, copy editing played an essential role as the design developed into later stages. Under the guidance of my supervisor and the permission of my client, we made changes to some text in order to create a better information structure and flow.

Project management and client communication are some of the biggest challenges I faced in this job. This job was completed in one week from our first meeting to print. During this week, most of the communication with the client was through e-mails since she was not available to meet in person. We frequently communicated in the week so that the design can progress at a quicker pace to meet the deadline we set. This situation proofed that communication and planning is the key to making sure a job can run smoothly and effectively.

In the end, we are delighted to see that the leaflet worked effectively as a lot of visitors came into the venue with the leaflet in hand. The design created a positive impact, bringing more visitors to the event venue to participate in the activities.

Background

The annual ASSETS conference explores the use of computing and information technology to benefit older adults and those with disabilities, such as visual impairments, hard of hearing and other sensory impairments. ASSETS 2018 was chaired by Dr. Faustina Hwang, a professor of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, with a specialist interest in designing technologies for older people and people with disabilities, at the University of Reading. The main purpose of the conference is to provide a place for professionals in the industry to share their current research. The conference is organised by SIGACCESS, a special interest group focusing on accessible computing. The conference location differs internationally each year, and therefore the branding changes each year making it specific to each location.

Restated brief

The brief was to brand the ASSETS 2018 conference held in Galway, Ireland, in October. The visual identity produced will reflect the location of the event and intends to integrate both the subject of the conference and its location. This branding will be used throughout the ASSETS 2018 website and a range of printed materials. The client has a focus bringing ease of use and accessibility to computers, and it is therefore important that users can interact with the logo and flyer with similar ease. To allow for easy interaction for those with visual impairments, it would be appropriate to explore textures and Braille for use on printed flyers. Furthermore, colours and levels of contrast need to be taken into account.

Deliverables

• Logo and brand guidelines
• Web banner
• Poster

Secondary deliverables

Although these deliverables were not originally outlined by the client, the adaptability of the branding has been displayed by this merchandise which was later added to the brief.

• Tote bag
• Movie tickets
• Drinks tokens

Research and ideation

Initially, we began meeting with Faustina, as her broad knowledge of the field gave us an insight into designing with a high consideration for the needs of those who are less able. Due to the nature of the conference, a large proportion of the audience are those who experience accessibility impediments, and therefore the main focus of research before designing was to explore potential techniques and other considerations for inclusive design. The client promoted large areas of contrasting colour, bold outlines and minimal intricate details for those who struggle with visual impairments, such as colour blindness or otherwise. Faustina introduced us to swell paper and its benefits to visually impaired individuals. Swell paper is a material which, once heated, creates an embossed surface area allowing those with visual difficulties to interact with the printed design using their sense of touch. An example of this printing technique in use is shown in the figure below. In addition to this, seminars run by our supervisor were also very beneficial in making us aware of the consideration that we needed to have in designing for a demographic that has specific requirements. She showed us glasses that mimicked the effects of different visual impairments as well as more physical impairments such as arthritis, which was particularly helpful in demonstrating what design decisions would work and not work in regards to more diverse design.

Further research was carried out through analysing previous ASSETS conference branding through exploring the relationship between the event and the conference location. As a response to this, it was important that the branding reflected an iconic landmark in Galway, Ireland. Through looking at previous conference branding, it became clear that many of the conferences have been held in America, meaning that we were keen to ensure that the contents of the brand were unique to Ireland as much of the audience were likely to be unfamiliar with the area.

Design development

Logo

We started with the logo design, as this would inform our design decisions on all the other deliverables. This took into consideration all the suggestions from our client regarding both the location and the specific accessibility requirements. As well as our own research into illustration styles and typeface decisions. The initial logo development shows our exploration of the iconic features that are unique to Galway. These include the Galway Hooker, the Long Walk at Galway peninsula and the Claddagh Ring.

When reflecting on our initial designs, it became evident that intricate designs, such as the Galway Hooker, had scalability issues, meaning that it was unclear at small sizes, as well as being inaccessible to audience members with visual impairments. From this, we decided that the housing along the Long Walk was iconic of Galway. Its simplicity and lack of intricate details meant we were able to implement contrasting colours and bold outlines to adhere to the special requirements of the conference demographic. As seen in the figures below, small adaptations were made to the logo in line with directions from the client. We provided the logo in both colour and black and white, to allow for flexibility of use by the client.

Web Banner

The web banner is intended to be an extension of the logo design, utilising the row of houses as a motif that stretches across the width of the desktop. The repetitive nature of the banner also adapts to the responsive nature of the website. The banner is also where the computing element of the conference is integrated with the location of Galway. As the water is made up with the same pattern as found on a circuit board.

Poster

The client requested that we produce a poster which provided the key dates for submission deadlines for the call for papers as part of the conference. The poster will be seen at associated conferences, work offices and presented online. In order for the poster to be fully accessible by all conference attendees, we were required to adapt the digital version of the poster to allow blind individuals to have full access to the information that was presented. This came as a challenge as our supervisor had not encountered this process before and therefore could only give us minimal advice. After much research, it was found that the poster required tagging using Adobe Acrobat, which enabled blind users to have the contents of the poster read aloud by their device.

Tote Bag

Due to the client’s satisfaction with the originally briefed work, we were asked to produce additional merchandise which was used to help with the promotion of ASSETS conferences in the future. We supplied the client with four initial design for the bag. The client favoured the full-colour logo, however, after consulting with other chair members, it was found that funding limitations meant that the client required the design to use black only in order to reduce printing costs.

Movie ticket and drinks token

Similar to the tote bag, these were requested due to the clients satisfaction with the branding, these were made up of elements that had been previously established on the other deliverables. For example, the banner features along the bottom of the movie ticket and the drinks token makes use of the logo. As well as all the text being set with the same typographic styling.

Reflection

Although there were some challenges over the course of the job, which was inevitable since this was the first real job for all three of us. However, this process has definitely informed how all three of us went on to approach future jobs and projects.

The most notable challenge faced was communication between us and the client, especially when one of our members went on study abroad to Australia, due to the difference in time zone. However, upon explaining the situation to our client, she was very understanding and accommodating, which on reflection is a testament to how important the maintenance of communication between designer and the client is when undertaking a job. In this situation we also benefited from intervention from our supervisor who helped us remain on track, reminding us when we needed to make certain communications with the client.

However, overall our design for the logo and other deliverables was met with praise from the chair of the conference for that year, which was a very rewarding outcome to the project.

‘I just wanted to say how much I love this year’s ASSETS logo. It’s beautiful, cheerful, simple, clear and evocative of Galway, as is the whole website theme. I think it’s the best one we’ve ever had. Really well done. Thank you!’

– Shari Trewin, SIGASSESS Chair

Since it meant that we were successful in our aim in creating an inviting and accessible brand for the event. The branding being further complimented by the logo being featured on a cake.

 

by Emma Chard, Charles Parish and Jessica Downie

Background:

Introduction:

The project was initiated in the first semester of 2017 by two groups of second year geography students who required a brand identity, presentation design  and logo for their water management companies as part of their module project. This brand identity was to be translated to their presentation template design and throughout the presentation itself. This job was taken on so as to improve my skills within the world of brand identity and logo design as well as a first step into the world of work and the designer-client-audience relationship.

 

Briefs:

Group 1 were researching into, and set to propose to an external company, the use of herbal leys as a means of flood prevention. Therefore, they asked that the general branding was to be based around greenland areas and water and the logo was also to contain similar imagery. They also asked for a presentation template design that was to contain more realistic imagery like rivers and houses. The logo and presentation design needed a professional and clean feel whilst still putting across the area of focus and research of the group.

Group 2 desired a brand identity that focused solely on water and protection of animal and human life. Again, the imagery presented to me was fairly realistic and didn’t fit the general consensus for a corporate brand identity and logo.

 

Response to briefs:

Whilst the imagery proposed by group 1 & 2 was useful in providing further ideation for the overall branding, both the imagery and desire for professionalism and clean design conflicted. A compromise was then met whereby the areas of research were put across within the logo and branding, but within a simpler design style so as to maintain professionalism.

 

Design:

Logos:

After researching into the external company for more information on audience and gathering all of the mood boards, I began designing initial concepts for both logos. After presenting the logo for group 1 to my project supervisor, I was advised to stick to solid colour rather than gradients due to the gradients being somewhat outdated for corporate identity. Although my clients took a liking to this design, they agreed that maximising professionalism for the external company was of upmost importance. therefore, solid colour was taken forward for their brand identity.

 

 

 

My clients also really liked the abstract design as it put across ideas of land use and flooding through the more abstract, clean design approach that we discussed earlier on in the project.

Initial concepts for group 2 presented little in terms of protection of animal/human life. After consulting my supervisor, a suggestion was made to incorporate aquatic life into the logo. My clients also felt that the logo was missing a key aspect of their research and welcomed the addition of aquatic life.

 

 

Presentation templates:

 

 

 

An issue that I ran into when incorporating the presentation template into the presentation itself was general placement and interaction with the images and text that my clients had already added. I presented figure 4 to group 1 and agreed that the addition of the template shown in figure 3 would be lost and also obstruct the text. Therefore, a decision was made to remove the template from pages with larger images and text that ran into the area of the template. However, overall group 1 were pleased with the simplicity of the design as well as its clear connection to the logo.

 

 

 

 

Similar to group 1, the presentation template design was removed from slides that contained large images that extended to the bottom of the page. Both groups also suggested that the template be removed form slides with diagrams and tables. In doing so, there would be less of a distraction from the information itself.

 

 

A suggestion was initially made by some individuals within group 1 to add the company logo and name in the corner of each slide, acting as the presentation template design itself. This caused somewhat of a friction between the group members who could not come to an agreement on the matter. This experience brought out an opportunity to improve my communication skills. A decision was made to keep the logo and name to the first slide as constant re-enforcement would become tiresome for the external clients and somewhat obnoxious (figure 8).

Final steps:

In order to provide a complete, smooth experience for my clients, the Microsoft powerpoint fils were tested on multiple projectors, as well as the projector in the room that they were presenting in. A tip that has been promoted greatly by my supervisor was to make sure any files being shared to my clients were accessible and fully functioning so as to prevent any problems from occurring.

 

Reflection:

My first encounter with real clients and a real job environment was insightful and extremely helpful. One learning point to take away is that preparation and organisation is key when working with a larger group of clients. To assume that your opinions and ideas will somehow be translated to each clients minds in the same way is foolish. Perhaps one client member cannot make the feedback session? If so, how will you be on top of that? Simply put, when working in the world of work, you’re not simply a graphic designer, you’re a manager, co-ordinator, communicator, translator etc. Your job does not stop after you exit your adobe software on a Friday night. I managed to deal with this issue by contacting each individual group member separately, a well as a group and working through the feedback sessions so that everyone was on board with the current situation. This worked well on occasions where the next goal was clear and obvious. However, it felt short when the specifics and intricacies of each feedback session needed to be expressed. For this to occur, it was important that I had the entire group with me. It was also apparent to me that the amount of time spent working through the typographic capabilities of other software packages (powerpoint) was minimal. The simpler the software, the more complicated the design of the typography and sense of hierarchy became. This did mean that a little extra time in Microsoft powerpoint was needed to understand its capabilities. 

 

The brief

Publicity was a real job within our department and consisted of myself, Laura Marshall, Elliot Ellis, Jess Downie and Jason Yung. As a team our task throughout the year was to increase awareness and attendance of events happening in the department. Our roles were to achieve this through promotional posters placed around the department, and depending on the scale of the event even some areas of campus. Events such as guest speakers and past alumni talks were held and scheduled to link with our current projects and give career advice for the future. Blog posts of each event included photography, friendly, positive articles of the event and speaker interviews. The blogs were a reflection of the event from a student’s perspective and aimed to be as accessible as possible to those interested in what happened. Knowledge on promotion and social media was a useful tool throughout the job on order to engage with the audience on a closer level and make each event as well known as possible.

Re-design

One of the first major talks was given by Fraser Muggeridge and is where I initially attempted a redesign to the poster layouts. Sketches of possible layouts were drawn to highlight the speaker and their work. A new design was attempted to refresh the aesthetic of the publicity promotions, which would in the following year become ‘Baseline Shift’. An alternate version was also proposed to accommodate space for multiple speakers for an event. A low-poly style was trialed to bring a contemporary feeling top the designers and their work. For the posters to be a success, each one had to be recognisable as an upcoming event within the department from the design alone, and using the theoretical knowledge on how to create a series of similar designs helped portray that. This was a main goal for the project and benefitted the users greatly. We explored lots of possibilities so that we could come to an informed decision on which design would be the most appropriate.The proposal was unsuccessful however, as the feedback suggested that even though each speaker should feel unique the posters should be focused on reproducibility, with each poster needing a fast turnaround in order to generate maximum awareness for the event. This meant that a simpler layout in the long term would be more successful for the goals of the project.

Learning and Experience

Bruno Monguzzi gave an inspiring talk about his career and life as a Swiss Designer during our time on the project. As a team we brainstormed and discussed that the poster should be a tribute to his design work and reflect his style neatly. This was a challenge as we did not want to negatively imitate his style of design or replicate it too closely. Also our goal was to not stray too far from the original poster layout to maintain a level of consistency, even for a special event. Several concepts were produced from different areas of the team and reviewed by our client and supervisor. They agreed that the use of 3 languages to reflect the style of Swiss design further was an appropriate approach. Also, the considered margins and limited colour palette furthered this theme. The positives from each poster were then taken forward and displayed around campus.

We also had the privilege of seeing him for an after talk interview where he discussed semiotics and his philosophies on design in depth. He explained the different processes of him receiving a brief and the technical terms behind each stage. This was something I valued greatly as we all got to see how international clients worked as well as see the level of complexity some briefs can have.

Will Stahl-Timmins from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) also visited the department for an event and led an interesting discussion on the Information designs he creates and its actual use within the NHS. This sparked some interest in the field for me personally and I was fortunate enough to turn his visit into an internship working alongside him. It was a great example of how guest speakers can inspire students into areas of design they may not have even originally considered.

Organisation and Teamwork

Staying organised within the project was crucial to keep on top of upcoming events and making sure enough time was given to advertise each one. A message group helped us stay in contact and quickly respond to each other regarding new information or deadlines. We divided our tasks initially and planned to rotate occasionally, so each person in the team would be responsible for some part of the event at each time. The template created consisted of the department’s traditional red circle displaying the information, with a featured image taking up the majority of the poster. Once a template for the main event posters had been agreed, they were distributed amongst us so that any member could quickly produce one at a moments notice. Throughout the process we also kept in contact with our main client, and due to the nature of the project, communicated with several other clients and supervisors in charge of organising each event. This project was made easier due to our freedom with how we wanted to pitch each event publicly, but conversely this meant we had little time to experiment with each event, as they were often so close to each other.

Reflection

Overall, whilst this project mainly consisted of testing and experimentation in terms of poster design, role allocation and how the department handled guest speakers, it provided the foundation for future publicity teams to enable them to know what elements of the procedure where successful and which others that needed streamlining. Hearing notable speakers that you would not normally get the chance to was a fascinating experience to learn from, allowing us all to understand design in the industry from different perspectives and cultures. I am pleased that I spent my time working in a group to achieve goals that aren’t normally a focus within straightforward graphic design, and over the process I had discovered that good communication with the client is essential to producing the best possible outcome, and the best ideas can formulate from mass conversation and brainstorming to meet a better solution.