Category: Real Jobs

13 June 2019

TY2ED Copyediting project

Background

In 2017 a new format was created for in-class tasks for Part Two which incorporated the University of Reading’s branding. Applying this same template to other areas of the syllabus was needed to help standardise and update worksheet in different modules. The key module where resources were in need of updating was Introduction to Editorial Design, which includes the focus on the importance of copyediting and proofreading and creating specifications for editorial work. The issue with current material for the tasks surrounding these elements were that they were outdated and were not fully relevant to the current students. The handouts were also in need of further copywriting to help the students understand the task that they would be assessed on and engage with how the task is relevant in the wider design context. The explanations of assessed tasks needed to be more in line with how the Department’s pedagogic approaches have more recently evolved.

Restated Brief

The Department would like a series of tasks for Year 2 students to be updated, taking inspiration and clear guidance from the new Inclusive Design worksheet. Taking copy from the original task sheet, rewriting copy and creating new copy, the new design should be easy to follow whilst creating a relevance of information for the students and a level of engagement.

The main points of focus are:

To create a series of worksheets for the Introduction to Editorial Design Part Two module, including the copyediting task and specification task
For the both the copyediting task and specification task the worksheets will be uploaded to the online Blackboard system as well as some sheets being printed for class use.
Each document should be engaging, well-structured and relevant with a balance between an interactive experience and clarity of instructions. The copy should also ensure the students understand why the task can be applied to everyday practise.

The worksheets should work alongside the University of Reading brand guidelines and in a similar style to Inclusive Design worksheets. The copyediting task should be set up in three documents including an introductory sheet to be uploaded on BB, a task overview and the task itself. The specification document should include an introduction about specifications, top tips and analysis of past specifications, including helpful visuals.

The key deliverables therefore are:

Design and update the copyediting task and specification task of the Part Two module Introduction to Editorial Design, each being A4 two-sided worksheets for electronic and print use.
The copyediting task should follow the document structure of:
- 2pp of handout that can go on Bb
- 2pp of instructions
- 2pp of actual task that they mark up and has names of both pairs plus actual mark

Process

Having taken the same Part Two module only a term before, the material and experience of the module were very familiar to me and it was an exciting opportunity to bring my own feedback to the design brief. For both sides of the brief the main focus was to update, develop and add additional copy to the worksheets to be more appropriate and engaging for the new Part Two students. The first three months of the project focused on the copyediting task.

Research in response to feedback

To ensure I designed a document with both clarity in the visual design and written copy I spent time revising my knowledge and understanding of copyediting. I used documents already in place from the module resources and other modules, as well as spending time with the teaching staff of the module itself and similar modules to gain more information on common mistakes and extra copy for the worksheets. As the worksheets are intended to encourage more student engagement I spoke to peers and other students about their experience of the tasks and areas for improvement.

Copywriting

In considering the concept of gamification for a more interaction experience, I identified that the structure and copy of the worksheets, and choice of text for the task itself could be a way of bringing freshness to the task and a way to draw links with other modules. The first part of this was to therefore gather multiple sources to add more detail and examples of the application of copyediting and proofreading in potential jobs in the future. By comparing sources about copyediting I was able to build coherent and thorough copy for introducing copyediting and proofreading and the process of how to best approach the skill.

Having gathered the information for the overview of copyediting and adding in original copy about the task structure I began to focus on the assessed task and the piece of text used required for students to copyedit and proofread. Looking at the Part Two’s Design Thinking module the text choice could introduce important historical designers or design historians, building a bridge between the modules as well as drawing attention to influential and dynamic graphic design writing. Texts that were explored included First Things First manifesto, an extract from an article with Ellen Lupton and The Crystal Goblet by Beatrice Warde, which was the decided text for the task. In line with the BSI guide, I used the symbols outlined and common mistakes that students might make with their work and applied these to the chosen text. I added mistakes such as using a different typeface for a word, adding unneeded line breaks, the wrong use of em-dashes, incorrect capitalisation and the colour of a word from black to registration. Having added 60 errors, I marked up the document using the correct margin symbol and in-text symbol for the mark scheme.

Initial ideas for the copyediting task sheet, including First Thing First Manifesto 2000.

Initial ideas for the copyediting task sheet, including an interview with Ellen Lupton.

Document format and graphic style of illustrations

Ensuring my InDesign file was set up with the character and paragraph styles in line with the Inclusive Design worksheet I also began working on a similar graphic style for the illustrations for the new worksheets. Sketching, scanning and editing in Illustrator, I hand drew small cartoons to bring more playful and student-based quotes as well as adding visuals that break up the body text; integration the text with the illustrations was an important consideration.

The use of headings and subheadings was essential and made successful by the typographic hierarchy already in place. Negotiations with the copy to retain and copy to cut in accordance to space on the page and amount of information to provide to students was a careful consideration and one that was supported by my supervisor. Once the content was placed illustrations were used to bring engagement, secondary levels of instructions or subtle guidance and a break from the amount of written information. The working document, having been determined by a previous visual identity, went through small changes during feedback, usually just movement of information or rewording content to keep it concise.

The inclusive design worksheets, the visual model for this brief.

Specification

After completing the copyediting task, the second task of the brief was to focus on the specification task in the module. Understanding the tone and desired appeal from the copyediting task I was confident in creating illustrations that would assist the document, with my supervisor expressing her like for my first attempts as they were ‘nice and lively’. With the template in place on InDesign and a collection of new illustrations the substantial project of writing, sourcing and editing copy to create a new document for the task began.

Copywriting

With my own understanding of the project I put together a first attempt of the copy that may be of relevance and assistance for students. I spent time researching academic writings and syllabus documents that might help shape this, but the majority of the writing was taken from my experience and others about what we wanted to know and helpful instructions for the assessment. As with the previous task I spent time talking to tutors who were involved in teaching the module. Working with less of a firm structure it meant that I was aware of the feedback and input of a secondary person with reading through my own writing and structure. It was reassuring to receive my supervisor’s encouragement, saying ‘You’ve done a good job and are talking about the right kinds of things’. The development of my own copy was refined and added to by my client, bring a more clear and concise voice to the process. Further content and revised writing were sent from my supervisor via email which I was able to place and typeset in my template. With hindsight it is my hope that I did still play a key part in generating ideas for the writing.

‘Thank you for all your work on this,

you’re doing a great job’

Jeanne-Louise, supervisor and client

Copywriting and use of visuals

The copywriting of the main document took a considerable amount of time in the design process, but a firm priority set by both myself and my client was ensuring the use of visuals and their annotations were a key strength to the document. Having spent time talking to my supervisor and peers it was generally agreed that, whilst past specifications had been provided, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the examples would be of benefit. For my own project I had spent time comparing and contrasting past examples in order to take each one’s strength and use the structure, content ideas and document layouts to ensure my own specification was to a high standard. With this in mind I collected screenshots from specifications that I felt were most helpful in discussing areas of interest, making key notes on each one that could be included in the document, ready for feedback and points to consider from my supervisor. I was clear on the layout of these pages, large visuals with defined text boxes for short points for consideration and more detailed advice. I was able to put these together ahead of confirmed content and I thrived in using my own conscientious approach to my learning to this part of the job.

Final design

The final designs of both the copyediting task and specification information were both delivered on time despite coming at a busy time in the term and over the summer holidays. Both documents provide a standardised approach to the tasks, in line the University of Reading’s brand guidelines and the Part Two Inclusive Design worksheet and bring additional content to help student engage more with the task. The task resources also show a greater emphasis on the wider context of the taught skills in industry and the expectations of students in the deliverables. Published on Blackboard as well as provided as print outs in briefing and assessment sessions the documents are intended to be easy to navigate and follow on screen and printed. They work as a set in the Part Two syllabus material, creating a consistency of material for students.

The copyediting and proofreading document, uploaded on Blackboard for student use.

Page one of the copyediting and proofreading task giving an overview of what copyediting is and the process involved.

The mark scheme for the copyediting task, which I designed and marked up.

Page one of the specification resource introducing students to what specifications are and why they are important.

An example of the visuals and annotations included in the specification resource, uploaded on to Blackboard. Previous specifications from the module are annotated to provoke students to think about what they want to include in their own work and how this can be done successfully.

Reflection

Whilst the two stages of this job were working in line with an established visual identity, working to a template, the end results were two functional, informative and consistent documents that are aimed to improve resources for students. Having been asked to take on the real job because of my interest in the task it was a great opportunity to bring my own experience and initiative to feedback. I approached the brief with my own aim of wanting to help implement change in content and energy of existing and new documents for the module. This was also paired with my previous experience as a designer, before starting the Graphic Communication course, which was particularly relevant to the copyediting task. Creating collateral for a brand and website blog content the importance of copyediting and proofreading is a key skill that the designer should see as part of their own job, not just creating a visual identity. I was able to draw on this knowledge and understanding of the skill to make the content as tailored as possible to those in Part Two.

With experience in how the skills can be used and an interest in assisting the resource development I was efficient with my communication and response to feedback with my supervisor, putting the job as a clear priority in my schedule and to work at all times to the design schedule agreed upon at the beginning of the brief. I enjoyed bringing my input of copywriting for both documents to the brief and whilst at times the copy was changed and developed by my supervisor, I learn a clarity of writing style in the process that has helped my own report writing in later modules. The amount of copywriting for the specification document and the new initiative of the whole document has created a piece of work I am proud to discuss with employers as it fills a gap in the resources that students were clearly asking for.

Comfortable with working with a supervisor and client this second real job helped me implement some of the more refined lessons I learnt from my first real job.

Combining face-to-face meetings and intentional email correspondence I worked on being realistic with working to deadlines to ensure that meetings and emails were constructive, with suitable work to show and discuss. Delivering the brief at a busy time of term for my supervisor I was even more waring of ensuring that I was direct and purposeful with her time and emails with queries that I might have. The pace, communication methods and clear direction in the relationship between me as the designer and my client and supervisor was naturally developed.

‘This has come a long way

so thank you for all your hand work’

Jeanne-Louise, supervisor and client

Unfortunately, at the end of the project, time was running short and I was disappointed that the job had a very quick wrap up, with my supervisor doing the final proofread. I always like to finish a job to the highest standard, ensuring that I as the designer have proof read for myself and had a final sign-off with good time. Whilst this was clearly done for the copyediting task the nature of working in the summer holidays and the time pressure of getting the resource uploaded on Blackboard as soon as possible meant that the project took an abrupt end. Part of this attention to detail at the end of the project I would have also liked a little more time to fully assess and improve the finer details of the typography of the document. Looking again at final designs more refined typographic attention could be given to the design, including using a baseline grid to keep captions and main body text more aligned.

Aside from this whilst both myself and my supervisor/client were happy with the final designs the true success of the pieces can only really be measured by the students themselves. Having received some practical revisions for the copyediting task, such as the change in time allowance of the task, I would like to aim to do a focus group about how the material was received and how small alteration could be made to improve the documents again moving forward. This brief was a unique experience of creating something that can directly improve resources of modules of students who follow after me and whilst the finer attention to the design should have been more attended to the true success of the job was creating an informative and more dynamic resources to assist students with their assessments. It is my hope that these designs have helped at least some students engage a little more with their tasks in hand.

The final copyediting worksheets.

27 February 2019

QVI Chiropody Clinic Promotional Material

Group members:

Bryony Horne, Cherise Brooker and Lauren Quinn

Clients:

Cherie McBride, Ann Westgarth and Deborah Jenkins

This reflective report aims to explain the process and how the team tackled the brief, presented design ideas through to coming up with a successful design solution to the QVI Chiropody Clinic brief. The report will explain in detail the full process and present the final visual outcomes to the brief.

Allocation:

From meeting with JL we spoke about possible questions to ask the client at our first meeting, and the expectations of the brief. Also in the meeting as a collective we were able ask any questions we had regarding our first meeting with Deborah, and possible alterations that could be made to the existing branding of QVI. This was extremely helpful as it allowed to get a better understanding of what the client is looking for and how we will be able to meet their needs.

We discussed how to go about suggesting ideas such as additional colours to their current colour palette and how to work towards making the poster inclusive for all the audience (both the over 60s and the carers or health workers). It was also useful to be encouraged to take previous website options with us to the initial meeting with the client to work out what they would prefer from their website.

Going forward we have discovered some obstacles which we did not consider before. Different trustees within the charity have conflicting ideas about what designs would be appropriate so we must put forward a range of developed ideas to gain feedback and make sure to include trustees as much in the design process so they are more likely to feel tied to the design process and therefore appreciate our designs more.

Briefing:

Once we met the clients in a meeting, it became clearer to establish what they realistically wanted from this process. We gave them some opinions on deliverables and they made some changes, such as the dimensions of the appointment card and they also decided that it was not necessary to have a ‘hand out’ as well as a leaflet. At times is was difficult for the clients to agree amongst themselves which made the process slower, however we think we were successful in organising meetings with them, which lead them closer to deciding as a collective.

We had to get them to realise what they actually wanted to get out of the design process. They changed the outcomes from the initial brief so that we had get rid of the idea of a postcard sized information handout and merged it into a larger appointment card with the necessary information on the back. This was done through us generating ideas and gaining feedback from the clients as they were not 100% certain on what we could deliver to them.

This process ran smoothly with all parties communicating on what was required and the deadlines the needed to be met throughout the most part. One challenge that we faced as a collective was

after the briefing session, the trustee that briefed us, didn’t fully communicate with the rest of the staff and left gaps in the communication and knowledge of what was needed as the requirements were altered but not fully communicated with all of us. One key aspect that we found to be tricky when designing for QVI was the clashing of ideas between the trustees and the clinic manager. At some points throughout the process this seemed to slow our progress.

Research:

We compared our deliverables to similar surgeries to make sure our aesthetic suited the market and was familiar to potential and current patients. Based on this genre research, we were able to make successful designs and make improvements such as larger font (for older patients) we also took inspiration from other organisations; we established a colour palette for the deliverables and made them coherent as a set.

Promotional Material:

For inspiration we looked at other clinic logos as a comparison to what sort of style the client was after, we researched colour schemes surrounding teal, blue, white, green as clinical but approachable. We also looked at typefaces and did research about the best legibility for the elderly target market. We also looked at other appointment cards, leaflets and posters to see what our designs would be up against in the real world and how weak their original design was in comparison to their competitors.

Website research:

Our first meeting with the clients for website designing was successful, we first went and did research of competitor chiropodists both nationally and locally. Screenshots of various webpages were displayed to the clients where they then explained to us from looking at the various examples what they liked and what they disliked and if we could potentially carry certain areas over into the design of their website. From this we then started sketching up some screens of the webpage when they were present to make sure we were clear of their vision and what they were after.

Design:

Once we had established a ‘house style’ the production process ran a lot smoother as we had decided on a logo, motive, typeface and colour palette. All of which were saved in Adobe library so artwork could be dragged and dropped into InDesign. We made small changes to deliverables based on regular feedback from the clients, who made adjustments, based on their opinions, for example, the QVI ladies liked the circular shapes in the logo and asked if this could be incorporated throughout the printable deliverables, which helped them link to each other.

Promotional Material:

We began by looking at the the poster and working through different ideas. We began working on feet images and trying to develop our own digital versions using Adobe Illustrator and combining a fingerprint image to a foot outline. We decided to go for a more realistic approach and as it would reflect the clinical side of QVI. We came up with the dot aesthetic for the clinic as we wanted to use

geometric shapes to keep the design clean and sharp and the colour scheme made the design approachable and friendly.

Website design:

The design process overall went smoothly throughout the whole project and feedback was received and worked on in a quick efficient way. We first started building the new website through a programme they used previously called Yola however, this website builder was extremely difficult to use and was very old in comparison to alternative web design providers out there such as Square space and Wix. Our next step was researching various new builders and confirmed prices with the clinic. https://www.queenvictoriachiropody.co.uk

Please see attached images below of the new improved promotional material for QVI Chiropody:

Production:

From working on the QVI project, this was a key opportunity to gain self-knowledge of what was needed in order to make the clients happy and be successful. As our first real job that was taken on suited us perfectly as it contributed to what we see ourselves doing as a career in the future which is branding related work. From taking on this real job we found that it ran smoothly throughout and there was strong communication between everyone throughout the most part, as we frequently went to the clinic and able to get feedback from customers of the clinic themselves and were given a survey to help inform our designs further to suit the needs of the users of the branding items required.

As we used InDesign, it was crucial to check the document before exporting to print PDFs and also export with the correct settings. We learnt that discussing the print finishes with the clients was important to finalise their needs. On this particular real job, the client out sourced the printer so it was important for us to give the printer strict instructions so that the deliverables were correctly printed/assembled. I feel like this is a vital lesson to learn, and it has made us aware of things that can possibly go wrong in an authentic work situation, which now we feel prepared for.

We learnt how to ensure that all the files are ready for press and to check multiple times for any errors in the PDFs. We had multiple design solutions which meant we handled different manufacturing methods from print to digital and large 3D format which meant we could gain experience with all of these. We also learnt about the design constraints surrounding each of these and the practicality that is involved in producing them for a client or manufacturer.

To conclude, throughout this process collectively we found it to be a successful project. As a collective we met all the criteria set by the client and found working with a real life design brief allowed us to gain a wider idea of what will entail when working with clients after we have graduated and go out into the world of work. Once we had produced the final design solutions we received positive feedback from the clients and were happy as we exceeded their exceptions of the final product due to the low funding the clinic had to due being a charitable organisation.

24 May 2018

Question Journal

Background

Gareth Mills from the English Department at the University of Reading and Tabitha Stanmore from the University of Bristol set out to create an academic journal entitled ‘Question’. The main purpose of this journal was to present work created by PhD candidates, in collaboration with the South, West & Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWWDTP). The journal will include scholarly articles from humanities courses, as well as some poetry, photography, and paintings. Gareth came up with this idea after noticing that there are currently not any magazines or journals that showcase this type of work that are accessible for the general public. This is why they plan on making the first copy free and available in universities and in bookshops such as Waterstones. The content of the journal will be from PhD candidates from 8 UK universities, including the University of Reading, University of Bristol, University of Bath, University of Southampton, and University of Cardiff.

Restated brief

The brief was to design the first edition of Question. This included creating a logo and visual identity, which will be implemented in both print and digital forms of the journal (including on a website and social media), as well as designing the physical product and sending this to print in time for their launch on November 6th 2017 (a date decided on towards the end of the project). Our clients plan to bring out two editions of Question per year, therefore we needed to create template files with layouts that could accommodate a wide range of content, including academic articles, poems, and images, for future editions as well as issue one.

During our initial meeting with the client, we established several preferred features of the printed product. These features included:

matte paper is preferred over glossy paper;
a question mark should not be used on the cover but rather perhaps as an occasional detail within the journal;
dark blue and cream colour scheme (for the first issue);
the journal should have a tone that is somewhere between formal and informal – it should be accessible for everyone but still needs to maintain a certain level of formality due to the content;
the format at this point was not finalised, but we had agreed on a page size of slightly smaller than A4.

We also agreed on a series of outcomes for Question. These were:

A logo and visual identity
An abbreviated version of the logo for social media
Design and templates for the magazine cover
Design and templates for the printed magazine

Research and ideation

We began this project by looking for inspiration through existing magazines and journals. As Question was such a new and unique idea, it was challenging to find similar publications. However, we looked to stores such as MagCulture and Magma and found many great examples to inspire us, including Cereal, Delayed Gratification, Fare, Makeshift, Migrant, Woven, and The Outpost. These publications all held strong brand identities, and their covers were engaging and effortlessly clear about what the magazine’s purpose was.

A shelf displaying a selection of magazines, including Woven and Fare (Magma, London).

From here we needed to make some decisions about Question’s visual identity and the physical product; its format, stock, and any printing finishes. From very early on, despite the client saying they originally wanted an A4 page size, we thought it would be much more suitable to the type of publication if it were smaller than A4, even if only slightly. This smaller size would make the journal easier to handle physically and make the pages seem less daunting as they would contain complex essays. The purpose of Question is to make these pieces of work available to the wider public, therefore we needed to consider this in every aspect of designing it. With this there came an opportunity to create a nicely designed product in a market where, typically, little attention is paid to the design. The client was happy to agree to this new format after hearing our thoughts, and we settled on a page size of 200mm × 280mm.

Design development

Branding

The client had informed us in our initial briefing that they would like a mortar board included in the logo. We tried out a couple of designs using this idea, but immediately felt as though it was too predictable (perhaps even corny). We wanted to create something mature, sophisticated, and instantly recognisable. The most successful mastheads from the publications we looked to for inspiration were the ones that followed a ‘less is more approach’, giving quite a simple but bold typographic logo.

The most important thing for us during the branding phase was finding “the right ‘Q”; it was essential that the typeface that we ended up choosing would have a unique ‘Q’ that we could then adapt to use as an abbreviated logo for the journal, for purposes such as social media icons. We sent a selection of typefaces to our client, to which they said they liked the Baskerville and Goudy Old Style fonts best. We decided to go with Baskerville, because of its capital Q, and also its wide availability making it easier for the client to use consistent branding for things such as Question’s online platform.

Question logo initial idea generation, including mortar board concepts

Question masthead typographic logo ideas

From here, we knew that the masthead needed a little something more. We thought of combining the Q and a question mark, so took the dot from Baskerville’s question mark and it just happened to fit so perfectly beneath the curve of the Q tail. The Q was now strong and distinct enough to stand alone as well as part of the whole masthead.

Final logo designs, both full text and abbreviated versions

We chose the typefaces Charter and Proxima Nova to accompany Baskerville. Charter was chosen for its large x-height, therefore making the content easier to read and more accessible. Headings and running heads are set in Proxima Nova Condensed, and introductory paragraphs and captions are set in Proxima Nova.

Question’s body typefaces: Charter and Proxima Nova

Front cover

After settling on the logo and journal format, we started to come up with ideas for the front cover template. This was probably the most lengthy process of the whole project. We started off with some wireframe ideas before receiving images from our client, and then worked with different images to find the most flexible solutions, so that the template could work just as well for future editions. There were a few occasions where it was agreed that we had reached a final cover design, only for that to be changed – either by us knowing that it wasn’t the best design we could come up with, or by the client saying that others were not fully satisfied with it. There were a lot of people to impress and we wanted to always be thinking logically about how the journal could work as a series in the long term.

Eventually, our client decided on this cover design and we stuck with a deep blue for this issue’s colour – something we had agreed on from the first meeting. While at the time this was not the design we hoped they would choose out of the ones we created, we believe it suits the tone of the journal well, as it shows both text and images that give a taste of the variety of works that Question includes. It is easily customisable and provides a solid template for future editions.

Cover template idea

Developed cover design

Final cover design for Question Issue 01, titled ‘Beneath the Surface’

Final stages

During the development stage, we had not yet been given a submission date for the final deliverables, nor had we received all of the final content to be put in the journal. This set us back in terms of making progress as we could only work with the limited content we had initially received from our client, and did not yet have a wide enough variety of work to see how they would fit in the templates we had created. We explored various layouts for typesetting the articles, focusing on an accessible and sophisticated design. We designed pages with wide margins to achieve this, and our client was happy with this design.

We were then suddenly given everything on a Tuesday (17^th October) and told that we had to have the finished files sent to the printers by that same Friday (20^th October). This is likely due to an earlier miscommunication where we promised an initial draft of the journal by this date. This was a deadline that we knew straight away wouldn’t be physically possible to achieve, given that it concerned formatting a 100 page journal almost entirely from scratch (minus creating the templates and designing the cover), print-testing it, and presenting it to the client for a final check before sending it to print. We knew that we just had to be honest with our client about the impracticality of this deadline, so we spoke to them and agreed to reschedule the deadline to the following Wednesday (25^th October). Through communication with the printer, we were able to push this deadline back as far as possible for the delivery of 1000 copies on November 1st.

We worked on the journal for that week by delegating articles to typeset and finishing other elements in the journal – including contents page, title pages, and endnotes – and made the Wednesday deadline to send it to print, which was received with much praise from our clients.

“You are amazing! The overall look is fantastic – it looks really clean, professional and frankly beautiful. Thank you both so much for all of your hard work, I know it’s been frustrating at times and that you’ve been working flat out over the last few days. It has definitely paid off, though – you’ve created something marvellous.”

– Tabitha Stanmore, Question

Reflection

We regularly communicated with our clients as best as we could, through a mixture of face-to-face meetings, emails, and phone calls. However, we often found ourselves waiting around for replies and had to try to use that waiting time as efficiently as possible, although admittedly we didn’t always know how to productively achieve that without essential client feedback. These periods of waiting would have been better put to use sourcing content from elsewhere – as we had an idea of what the client wanted, even if we didn’t have the exact files – so that we could have tested the templates we created and saved ourselves time at the end. This potentially costed us more opportunities for trial and error in the design phase, as we had to design quickly and instinctively in order to meet the deadline. Though in the last week we found ourselves with a pile of work on our hands, we were able to work efficiently whilst maintaining quality and attention to detail.

The allocated budget for the project was not made clear to us at any point, as SWWDTP was ultimately paying for the production. We suggested print finishes like an embossed cover and a spot colour to be printed throughout, but were deemed too expensive. The quote from the printer was higher than expected, and our client was able to negotiate this with SWWDTP. We would have hoped to have these conversations earlier in the project, as some of our decisions were not the most cost effective, such as our decision to have large margins and thereby increasing the page size. In future projects similar issues could be avoided by insisting on establishing a budget earlier in the process.

We received a lot of positive feedback after the journal was printed and sent to various universities around the UK. To see the journal that we helped to create be spread so far and admired by so many people was an incredibly fulfilling experience. We are both immensely proud of what we have created, and feel as though we created a really positive working relationship with our clients during the process, who were full of praise, encouragement, and trust from start to finish.

“The overall setup is leagues ahead of other journals in overlapping areas of interest. It is the best looking academic journal I’ve ever seen. You’ve really done an incredible job and I can’t credit you highly enough for it. Even the endnotes (notoriously ugly) look great.”

– Gareth Mills, Question

Emmeline Hewstone & Sigrid Dalland

24 May 2018

Anna Fran Designs: Branding a DIY Craft Business

Background

Anna has been creating and selling handmade items in Sydney, Australia for the past few years. Recently, she has officially registered her business, Anna Fran Designs, and now needs a brand to reflect who she is and what she is selling. Her main items include hand-dyed fabrics and clothing, cosmetics bags, dog bandanas, and felt figures, which she often sells at weekend markets.

Restated brief

We aimed to create a cohesive brand identity that could portray Anna Fran Designs in an accurate, professional, and fun manner as Anna continues to broaden her customer base beyond friends and family. This visual identity can then be used across her social media bases, particularly Facebook and Instagram, where she regularly advertises her products. She also planned to create her own website where customers can directly buy her handmade items (she previously only had a blog).

Anna asked that her brand reflect the two main sides of her business – hand-dyed fabric, and superhero themed items. We then looked to create something that both resonated with this, but also with the fact that Anna runs a local, independent business producing handmade goodies. She also said that she would prefer the colours purple, pink, and blue to be incorporated in the design in some way.

We agreed to create these deliverables for our client:

Logo
Logo stickers
Business card designs
Banner image for Facebook

Research and ideation

There are many businesses similar to Anna Fran Designs that are thriving through platforms such as Instagram and Etsy. Notable people that Anna has sourced inspiration from include:

After looking through all of these online presences among countless others on Etsy, we have noticed certain features that we believe make the businesses appear stronger and more appealing. These include:

Consistent photography – most people have a specific ‘style’ of photography, which enhances the overall appearance of their profile.
White or lighter backgrounds immediately make the product the main attraction.
Natural scenery enriches a photo and profile, even if not every photo contains a product, it provides a variety of positive things to look at and enjoy.
A personal touch: a lot of posts are not just solely about the products, but also getting to know the person behind the work. The majority of people behind these creative businesses are working alone, so it reinforces the fact that they are their own brand and sole driving force.
Logos put onto products helps to keep a brand identity alive so that they become identifiable among other similar products. This is seen in Ellison Lane’s Instagram posts, and more famously with Cath Kidston’s range.

The target audience for Anna Fran Designs is pretty wide – anyone who enjoys handmade items, or people who buy them as gifts for others. Most customers are likely to be between 20 and 60 years old. These people are likely to hold values such as supporting local businesses and appreciating handmade, locally sourced items, therefore this gave us some ground for how to appeal to them. For instance, a stamped logo, or one that is in Anna’s handwriting, can give a sense of an authentic ‘organic’ business, as opposed to a more polished, ‘corporate’ looking logo. A stamped logo also means there is flexibility of colour, so Anna has the freedom of choosing and changing the colour as she pleases. This will help to emphasise the ‘uniqueness’ of each of her products, because each label can look slightly different.

Design development

The logo

After beginning with numerous sketches and ideas being thrown around, we started exploring different typographic styles, mostly using existing typefaces, but also creating handwritten style logos. Of the ideas shown below, the first felt much too ‘corporate’, and too refined in the shapes of the letters and the clean-cut image it conveyed. The next concepts became more reflective of the crafty nature of Anna’s business. However, they still lacked the strong presence of a logo.

Initial branding concepts

We decided that the best reflection of a local crafty business would be to go down the handwritten route. We also chose to focus on the logo stamp idea, as this was something our client was really keen on pursuing. After researching logo stamps and seeing that they were often circular – and this would indeed suit Anna’s desires for stickers to put on her products – we developed digitally handwritten logo designs that could fit on a circular stamp. Whilst this wasn’t technically using the client’s handwriting, it still created a sense that it very well could be, and immediately turns thoughts away from any kind of corporate business due to the rounded bubble-type letters. We refined this idea until we reached a logo that was both practically suitable for a stamp, and also as a logo to stand alone when featured in profile pictures online.

Anna then ordered two sizes of this stamp and used them to print her logo on bunting (to be displayed on her market stall), stickers, and bags. She also expressed that she was pleased with the flexibility they brought, as she could use any colour inks, and mix colours together to create interesting patterns within the stamp.

Logo development

Final logo design

Anna’s stall at Balmain Market, Sydney

Bunting displayed on Anna’s stall, printed with the logo stamp

Sheet of logo stickers ready to be stuck to Anna’s products

Business cards

For Anna’s business cards, we came up with the idea of making a selection of different ones – all following the same format but containing different leading images. This was to reflect both the nature of Anna’s range of unique handmade goods, and the range of customers that her goods appeal to. This solution meant that her customers, whilst enjoying the freedom of picking their favourite handmade item, could also enjoy the choice of which business card appealed to them most. It emphasises the idea of custom goods tailored to individual preferences, even if that only stretches to the question ‘which colour do you prefer the most?’ We discussed with our client the likelihood of an extra cost that would come with printing four separate business card designs, and she agreed that despite the cost it was a good idea to continue with.

We asked Anna to send over a selection of high quality images of fabric that she has hand-dyed, from which we then picked the four best and most different designs to feature on the fronts of her business cards, along with the logo. These images showed the hand-dyed fabric, but also each held their own colour scheme. This aspect subtly hints at the colour schemes associated with superheroes – each have their own undeniable identifying brand, almost always consisting of bright explosions of colour. Around this point there was then a fairly long period of slow communication, due to all parties having other commitments causing work on this project to take a back seat in our lives.

We created a quick design just so that Anna could have something, but it was by no means anything substantial, and the only real interesting part of it was the front. However, due to poor communication and time limits, Anna had to send this design to print as she had several big market events coming up. This wasn’t a design that we were overly proud of, just because it lacked the fun and charm that was so essential to the Anna Fran Designs brand. However, we understand that it was the only choice she had at that time, so she had to make a decision on her own terms in order to get her business cards printed in time.

Initial business cards design – only the blue version was printed for the first run due to money restrictions

Once we had a little extra time, we designed backs of the business cards, inspired by other craft businesses’ cards that we had seen online. This new design, using the typeface ‘Terfens’, was now more interesting, but also a fun way of effectively communicating everything a customer needs to know about Anna Fran Designs – the website, social media, and email, all in one easy-to-follow diagram. Our client was pleased with this new design and said she would print it for her next run of business cards.

The new design also allows for a variety of printed options – the coloured prints are accompanied by text that matches the stand-out colours of each design. It also allows for black and white printing; we thought one way to really appeal to Anna’s customers would be to use recycled card for the business cards. These could then simply be printed one-sided with black ink for the information, and then her logo can be stamped on the other (shown below). This gives both Anna and her customers several of options to choose from, sparking interest and excitement when visiting her market stall.

Final business card designs for Anna Fran

Business cards concept using purely black ink and recycled card

Social media

Anna used the logo we designed as the profile picture on Anna Fran Designs on both Instagram and Facebook, as well as on her own website (annafrandesigns.com). In addition, she has posted updates of her use of the stamp, which have been received with a lot of positive praise from fellow Instagram users. We also created a simple Facebook banner design using a photo of one of Anna’s dyed fabrics. However, we figured it would be best to show a photograph of some products on display at her market, so it would be better to get professional photography of this set up in order to capture the essence of Anna’s stall to feature on her Facebook cover photo.

Instagram posts showing the logo stamps being used with different coloured inks to print onto materials

@annafrandesigns on Instagram

Anna Fran Designs Facebook page

Reflection

Anna has received largely positive feedback in response to her new brand identity. We believe that we have created a logo that is extremely flexible and therefore suitable to be featured amongst her colourful creations – one that can stand alongside them and not get lost amongst the noise, but rather simply reinforce the brand and the creator behind these products.

The job as a whole took much longer to complete than we anticipated it would, and this shouldn’t have happened as the deliverables were very straightforward, but we can only really accept fault in the delays and learn to improve our time management skills from this. Additionally, this would have meant ideally coming up with many more ideas in the later stages – particularly for the Facebook cover photo, as by the end we simply ran out of time and had to just create something, even if it wasn’t the perfect solution. Not all of our earlier design ideas for the logo and business cards were included in this report, as they were scrapped for various reasons.

One thing we have learnt from this project was to not be afraid to look to other people’s work for inspiration. It may sound a little silly, as this is what all designers tend to do, but through fear of directly copying others’ ideas we were hindering our progress. In fact, the right solutions for Anna’s branding were already scattered around through various people’s work – we just had to find the right elements and fuse them together to create something that perfectly portrayed Anna Fran Designs.

Emmeline Hewstone & Ziana Azariah

24 May 2018

Typography promotional banners

The brief

The department of Typography & Graphic Communication asked for two banners that will identify key areas of the department. The topics for the banners are Inclusive Design, and the Real Jobs scheme.

Each banner needs a striking headline along with a short piece of informative and engaging text. The objective was to appeal to prospective Graphic Communication students, but also their parents. They need to be memorable, inspiring, and interesting enough to spark conversations, inviting our visitors to learn more about what we can achieve. These banners would then be displayed in the Department for visitors to view during Open Days and portfolio review days.

Research and ideation

I started by sketching ideas then transferred them into digital mockups. These designs were intended to be fun, simple portrayals of the Real Jobs and Inclusive Design schemes. My client, after reviewing these designs, suggested that we use photography for the banners. Her ideas for the Real Jobs banner were fairly flexible; mainly just asking that I include real examples of students’ work from the scheme in the photographs. For the Inclusive Design banner, my client asked that I included photographs of students wearing simulation glasses and gloves – accessories used to imitate what it’s like to live with visual impairments or arthritis. She initially sent me some pictures that she had taken of students interacting with these items, however they seemed a little out of focus and not quite right to be blown up to such a huge scale. We would therefore need photoshoots for both Real Jobs and Inclusive Design shots.

First layout ideas for the banners

We set up a photoshoot trying to get images of students acting out meetings that could be used for the Real Jobs banner. At that time, we didn’t have the simulation gloves or glasses, so just took pictures for Real Jobs. I mocked up a few designs using the photographs we took. The client said that the photos didn’t really portray the scheme enough, and there wasn’t enough emphasis on the work, so we had to do another photo shoot. She also mentioned that, while the University brand guidelines should be adhered to, we could use them more flexibly than I was currently using them in order to fit the needs of advertising a Graphic Communication course (stressing that the banners should look creative). At first this feedback was slightly confusing to me, as I wasn’t sure where the line was on how creative to be whilst still sticking to the strict guidelines of the University’s banners templates, but I gained clarity after asking for more specific guidance.

An early design for the Real Jobs banner, featuring a photograph from the first shoot

In this initial stage I also contacted DPS, who would be printing the banners, and got quotes for how much these would cost to print. This needed to be factored in as the Head of Department would have to consider the costing when approving the job for print.

Design development

Photography

We did another set of photoshoots – now including the simulation glasses and gloves. The results were much better than before, as I used a zoom lens this time which created a greater depth of field, helping the photographs to look more dynamic and pull the viewer in. In this photoshoot I took more control, having a clearer vision and therefore knowing the types of photographs we could get and how to achieve this. I had a lot of fun conducting these photoshoots and this is something I have realised I would like to continue with more somehow in the future. My client was very satisfied with these new photographs.

Students wearing simulation glasses and gloves whilst using laptops, showing one of the ways the Department teaches about inclusive design.

Students wearing simulation gloves

Students discussing a Real Job (designing booking forms for Wynkyn de Worde)

Illustrations

After brainstorming on how to make the banners look more representative of a creative course, I proposed to my client that we include three icon-style illustrations in circles at the base of the photograph, which she responded enthusiastically to. This was in-keeping with the University’s design rule of ‘threes’ (separating banners into three columns and three rows), and worked nicely with the first bit of copy given to me for the Real Jobs banner (‘Real clients, real challenges, real achievements’).

Creating the illustrations was by far the hardest part of this job. I am by no means a strong illustrator, and found it difficult to create a consistent style which managed to both get the message of each illustration across clearly, and use the same or similar colour palettes as much as possible. In addition, my client and I struggled to come up with ideas for the Inclusive Design banner as easily as we did for the Real Jobs banner. These were concepts that were more difficult to portray to people unfamiliar with the subject.

For Real Jobs, I proposed that I illustrate a handshake for ‘Real clients’, a mountain to illustrate ‘real challenges’, and a trophy for ‘real achievements’; all fairly straightforward concepts. My client, after seeing them, felt that the mountain was too metaphorical, and not quite representative enough from a design perspective. We agreed that perhaps a graph would be a better solution. However, after creating this illustration, I felt that the mountain was the better option; it shouldn’t matter much that it doesn’t directly represent ‘design’, because it is still a designed icon that represents challenges, and does so more universally than a graph might.

Developing ideas for the Real Jobs banner. My client pointed out that, from an inclusive design perspective, we should not use capital letters for any of the text (mainly referring to the Inclusive Design banner, and therefore applying it to this one as well as a rule of consistency). We also decided that there were perhaps too many unnecessary colours going on in the illustrations, so I stripped them down to only what they needed.

Final illustrations: representing clients, challenges, and achievements, for the Real Jobs banner

For the Inclusive Design banner, there was a lot of back-and-forth about what the illustrations should involve. We knew from early on that we wanted to include the gloves and glasses, but struggled on what the third icon could be, and what it could represent. We suggested a representation of hearing impairments, like illustrating braille or a hearing aid, or a guide dog to represent visually impaired people, or a mobile phone showing large text. Eventually we decided to include a non-latin character, as this would reflect the Department’s focus on typography and specialist research into non-latin typefaces.

Design development for the Inclusive Design banner. My client pointed out that it would be more effective to connect with an audience if the simulation glasses were illustrated as being worn by someone, rather than just floating on their own. She also emphasised that, when illustrating people in any way, it is important to portray racial diversity so that the banners don’t unintentionally send the wrong message.

Final illustrations: representing simulation gloves, non-latin typefaces (using the Devanagari character क), and simulation glasses for the Inclusive Design banner

Final designs

Final design for Inclusive Design banner (the colours have faded after being exported – they are supposed to be more vibrant)

Final design for the Real Jobs banner (the colours have faded after being exported – they are supposed to be more vibrant)

Reflection

This was probably the most challenging Real Job for me. There came a lot of moments during it where I felt like I wasn’t the right person for the job (particularly with the illustrations), and that it would have been better executed by someone else. I think this also was largely to do with the fact that the banners were intended to represent the Department, and that brought with it a lot of pressure to do it ‘right’ – even more so than most other design jobs I have completed. I felt throughout that the job would have been more efficiently fulfilled if it was a collaborative effort – I felt strong and capable with the photography, format, and typography, but believed the illustrations should have been created by someone more comfortable with creating groups of icons. I mentioned this to my client, but in hindsight I should have tried harder to communicate what I thought, and then made more of an effort to find a suitable illustrator to help out.

That being said, I have learnt a lot from this job, including how to conduct and take charge of a photoshoot, to be assertive in the decisions that I feel passionate about, and that communication and honesty with the client really is key to producing the best possible outcome.

24 May 2018

Mrs Myrtle Events Signage

Our Client

Mrs Myrtle is an independent events company based in London, a small business enterprise which offer their clients a styling service for premium events. Each private occasion is tailored specifically to the requests of their clients, based on their specifications and requirements for high end events. The company was established by Jenny Hodges, who is also a stylist at Fabulous Magazine in London. Her company specialises in meticulously planning the intricate details of memorable experiences. The predominant quality of the company is their ability to source the best materials in order to produce the finest possible outcome for their consumers. This what gives the company a distinct identity and separates their work from other competing companies that provide a similar service.

Bespoke Works

As our portfolios are distinctively illustrative and hand-rendered, they demonstrate a confidence in the creation of imagery and lettering produced by hand. Our skill set indicated a correlation with the company’s ethos of fine, high quality, handmade features/props to be commissioned for private events. The client was looking to employ individuals who could produce typographically lead, illustrated signage. Upon the initial communication with the client, she emphasised how much she valued the commissioning of bespoke artwork, made directly by hand. We immediately felt an enthusiasm for this project as the client made a direct acknowledgement of our abilities and showed an appreciation for the skills required; she recognised this artistry is a rarity.

Deliverables and Specifications

The client requested two A0, tailor-made signs for a Gatsby event, and a Vintage American event. This bespoke service was requested by Jenny’s two clients and encouraged by herself and her team. This type of sign is an immediate affirmation of the premium events that the clients are investing a significant amount of money into the production of. The client and ourselves shared a common understanding that a digitally produced sign would not have the desired effect. The company wanted a hand-lettered display illustrated to reinforce the theme of each party. The clients wanted an integrated composition, they were particular about the standard of calligraphy required to be drawn free-hand for each sign. After our initial first meeting we returned with inspiration boards based upon the content they required. This outlined the typographic distinction of each colour theme and appropriate iconography. We also presented the client with a number calligraphic experiments in order to develop our skills in this field of hand-lettering.

Alice Kearley – Deliverable 1 – Gatsby Sign

Design Features

The client specified that she wanted the typographic elements of this particular sign to be decorative with large capitalised text and the smaller copy in the design to be written in a hand-written calligraphic style typeface. This sign combined both vintage, but specifically 1920’s typography indicative of the art deco style; though the client had an idea of the visual effect she wanted to portray, the final decisions about the design of these typographical features were left up to myself to design an overall outcome that replicated a 1920’s style cinematic typeface. These typographic styles are reminiscent of the art deco and art nouveau posters from the 1920’s and 1930’s. The thought-provoking aspect of this project was to replicate this style of writing but through a hand-written format; the client and I discussed particular features of this design, as the art deco style typefaces come in many different variations with a number of varying letterforms. She wanted the lettering to be similar to a style we found together through our research, this style of typographic treatment leant towards a more art deco style, specifically with decorative letterforms. I achieved this result by carefully choosing the placement of the lettering of the signage; it was incredibly important that the design featured an asymmetric layout, evocative of the art deco film and cinema posters of the 1920’s. The content of the design featured several different challenging elements in terms of the copy. The client specifically requested the information she needed the sign to include, and this was decision was mine to make about which typographic treatment would be allocated to more important information on the sign. Despite carrying out a fair amount of research into different styles of art deco typography, I did eventually create my own style of letterforms that consisted of a combination of these typefaces; this was not my intention, however the result was just as effective. The client explained that the design would be presented at the Woodland’s Park Hotel, Cobham. The location of this event was a sophisticated, high-end event, therefore it was appropriate to present the artwork in a gold decorative frame, supported by an easel. The client also made it very clear that the purpose of this signage was to function as a welcome sign to guests arriving at this event. Presumably as the guests were all familiar with the Gatsby theme, therefore the typographic details of this sign played an important and significant role in the idea of the event itself.

The Client’s Request for Copy:

‘Welcome to’
Sandra’s 40th Gatsby Birthday Celebration
Illustrations
14th April
Woodland’s Park Cobham
Additional decorative features

Production

The production of this sign was the most significant learning curve for me, in terms of learning how to produce a sign using specific materials, and practising the techniques of free-hand, bespoke calligraphy on such a large scale. It is fair to say that the production of this sign was challenging in some ways, and certainly required thought, practice and preparation. As the designer, I ensured I had thoroughly planned how I would begin this making process, so that I was able to produce a final result to the best of my ability; to a high standard suitable for the client’s high quality demands. The most challenging area of this production was to calculate the measurements for the each part of the text placement. Having discussed this layout with the client, I was aware that she wanted certain elements in the sign to be more significant than others. For example ‘Sandra’s 40^th Birthday, Great Gatsby’ would be the most prominent text in the sign. I began by planning out a very rough sketch of this layout in an A4 format, and then from this calculated how much I needed to increase the text by in order for it to fit onto the A0 sized sign. This did work successfully, and I realised that this was an important stage in creating a balanced layout where the scale of each letter was increased accordingly. This step meant that less errors would occur later in the process when transferring the calligraphy by hand onto the sign. This planning process gave me a clear idea of the scale of each letter, so therefore I could plan the placement of each word onto the sign. The writing process was certainly the part that took the most time. Though I had decided which styles of typography the client wanted, I had to write this perfectly onto the board – this ended up being a very trial and error process but luckily as I had practised these skills before producing the final outcome, I managed to create this hand-lettering correctly the first time. Lastly, I decorated and finalised the design by using my illustrative skills to produce my own drawings of 1920’s cocktail glasses. This supplemented the design of the signage and finished the overall result very nicely. Overall, I feel that the experience was incredibly positive and I learnt a great deal not only about my skills in calligraphy and illustration, but perhaps more importantly the benefits of preparation and planning. Gaining as much knowledge as possible about our client was definitely one of our strengths, we ensured that we formed a good relationship with the client, and kept a continuous level communication with them.

Eloise Williamson – Deliverable 2 – American Sign

The American sign was to be situated at the front of the SO Bar in Richmond, London, where the event was to be held, as an immediate indication of the themed party to potential audience members. The sign wasn’t defined as wayfinding, but to brand the event within its theme, using the provided content styled appropriately to imply its message. Upon the first meeting with the client, they specified to what extent the sign was to be hand-made, as the quality of its creation and the consideration would also define the premium expense of the event. As the events theme included extensive use of colour in addition to its bespoke qualities, the client specified the design was to be hand-painted in addition to the use of calligraphic markers. This requirement was an exciting change, yet daunting and challenged my illustrative abilities. The client composed the layout design to be based upon my inspiration boards as proposed in the second meeting, the sign would imitate the impression of a vintage metal American signage, which was framed with a circular and striped structure to hold the lettered content. There would be three typographic distinctions which would organise the information, ‘Happy 13^th’ ‘Birthday’ and ‘Ellie’, each typographic choice was outlined by the client and varying in the dimension of each letterform, a characteristic of American signage and design. The colour themes were decided upon, based on vintage pastel colours and off white with the Starfire 98 car, fully illustrated on the sign as a reoccurring iconographic feature throughout the event. As the event catered for a younger audience, the client required the design to be almost naively considered and illustrated to conform to the likes of its audience. Typography which indicates American thematic qualities derive from letter-pressed type which have worn surfaces and geometric LED type which are metal sky signs advertising Motel or Diners, this was research I considered throughout the process. The dimension of the typography is often indicted by a darker backdrop colour to reinforce the most important content and in this case, it was the name ‘Ellie.’ The compositional space was also a consideration to allow for the information to be legible and read without being overwhelmed by unnecessary content. The materials were sourced by myself as singular emulsion colour paints, the A0 board and the varnish enamel finish. These materials were considered to ensure the sustainability and professionalism of the signage. There were additional attributes that had to be organised and left to our responsibility to complete the outcome the client wanted to achieve. The vintage easel was located and hired from a props company, which I had to fix together per to the sizing of the Gatsby artwork to sit upon, in addition to applying a finish to the wood surface to look additionally worn as the client wanted it to fit in with the vintage style of the event (this adjustment was first allowed by the props company). I located the ornamented frame for the Gatsby sign which I sprayed gold with a varnish finish/enamel for the Gatsby sign to sit within. Additionally, a smaller clapper board was required to be made and illustrated for the American Signage

OVERVIEW:
While the style of this signage wasn’t my personal preference, this artwork was produced to meet exactly what the client had required using the specific content specified. The chosen typographic styling, colours, finish and naivety was catered to its younger audience and to meet the specific personas of this project.

The Clients specifications:

– A fully illustrated sign using the given content

– Well composed execution of information, without overloaded information.

– Appropriately styled to the required theme

– Well executed bespoke hand-lettering and illustrated design

– ‘Happy 13th Birthday Ellie’ and Fully illustrated Starfire 98 Car

– Hand-painted as required (due to this quality the events company’s clients were paying for)

– The varnish enamel finish

Client Feedback
The client contacted me via a previous client, admiring my menu designs and signage for another company, I have also produced work for her as the sign designer of her company over the summer of 2017. Due to the short turn around, a concentrated amount of work was undertaken to complete the signage to client’s requests and specifications for each event deadline. Although this isn’t best for us as busy students, it is of the interest of the client for us to work to their requests. The events company was extremely pleased with the outcome of the signage, impressed with the hand-painted outcome and typographic stylisation. Their clients were also sent the sign and got in contact with a great response to my final work. I have been allocated 2 upcoming design jobs with the same events company following shortly and the possibility of a regular position designing with them. Overall, a very positive response to my artwork.

Final Deliverables

Vintage Gatsby Blackboard Sign

Vintage American Sign

Alice Kearley & Eloise Williamson

24 May 2018

Large Classroom Education Toolkit

Introduction

With this real job, it was made clear right from the start that it would be an intense project, as our client – Katja – needed it to be invoiced and sent to print within a month of the original brief. Being our first true real job, this really put the pressure on and informed many of our design decisions throughout – making us work with efficiency and speed, as well as quality.

Brief

To summarise our brief, our client had requested us to design a folder which contains around 35 sheets of information, varying in size of paper sized A4, A5 and A6 for lecturers to use in aiding lecture planning activities at The University of Reading. Different sizes of paper were to be used to denote different complexities of activity ideas.

The brief also asked for a ‘premium’ and durable feel to said folder which would remain clean and solid after much usage. It was at this point we questioned the budget, to which we were told any expense would be covered. Whilst this opened many opportunities to the way in which we could craft the folder – it was also quite a daunting prospect to potentially be designing something worth a lot of money and that would be costly to produce.

Response to brief

The originally requested folder – an ‘A4 plus wallet’ – which we quickly realised would not fit the required content. Therefore, being quickly changed to an A4 plus ring binder.

Throughout the briefing session, our client kept referring to the folder as a ‘paper wallet’. We found later after discussing the project with our supervisors and DPS that a paper wallet would no be suitable. This is because the material would be short lived and unable to hold 35 sheets of paper.

To remedy this and create a more durable folder, we proposed the usage of a 4 ring binder to hold the sheets in to our supervisors. Whilst our supervisors agreed with this change, it was still our job to return to our client and convince her as the designers in the room that this was the better option. Our client was very understanding of this, and it felt good to have a client respect our design expertise and decisions.

In this meeting, we also proposed to our client that we used the University templates as a basis for design. This template enabled our designs to be ‘on brand’, creating a consistent design which would be in keeping with other pieces produced by the University.

Examples of documents produced by the University of Reading, a brand that we had to follow and design within the templates and guidelines for this project to work quickly and efficiently.

Our client seemed slightly reluctant to this to begin with, but we explained that it would be a good compromise to make sure that we could hit the tight turnaround deadlines and make sure the overall design was still of the highest quality. From this experience we learnt how to express our thought process and ideas by having a professional and formal discussion. This has helped us understand how to approach this problem in the future.

Our final part of responding to the brief was to get an estimate together for the agreed materials to be produced. We found that this was a much harder process than expected due to the complexity of the different sizes of paper and varying suppliers of the ring binder – but working with Geoff and DPS eventually arrived at a figure. This figure came out to around £3000 for the requested 300 copies of the folder, and although we were told “budget didn’t matter” at the beginning of the real job, we still needed to run it past our client. This figure came as quite a shock to our client and so it was our job to meet with her to explain the current costs as well as how to potentially reduce costs. The solution we arrived at was to print a third of the amount of folders, as well as to use a lighter stock of paper and source the folders from elsewhere – leading to a reduction to a much more comfortable £1500.

Design

After receiving the templates and waiting on the copy for the document, we worked alongside our supervisors to amend the templates whilst using the University’s brand guidelines, but still created a ‘new’ document so to speak. This process taught us both a lot about working within brand guidelines, and paired with the large expense of the project made the project feel very live and ‘real’.

The first draft of the adapted University templates to match the document to our needs. These created space for the copy to be received at a later date and gave us a starting point to design from.

These initial template designs were received well by our client and supervisors, this is because they were partially derived from a template so there weren’t many major problems. The most noticeable changes (shown below) were present in the cover, where a more ‘exciting and colourful’ cover had been requested and within the folder where small changes to the typography and typesetting were required.

Once copy was received, we were able to add this content into the templates, as well as update the document cover to be more colourful and exciting.

Once these changes were finalised, we both worked together by splitting up the necessary tasks to efficiently work as a team, typesetting the supplied copy into our templates. This process was completed in a matter of days and we contacted our client throughout to update them, as well as query about any errors or parts of the document we were unsure about. This style of work massively aided the speed of the design process and we were both impressed that we could typeset such a large amount of content in such a small time.

Before thinking about sending the document to production, we had to check in with our supervisors – who raised a few small amends with the document – the corrected document was sent to the client for sign off. This process went very smoothly as our client had seemed happy with our work throughout and this did not change in the finalisation process. It was then our job to go through the document to make sure it was set up correctly for print, as well as the files being properly set up and ‘clean’. During this process, we liaised with DPS and decided it was best for us to create a mock-up of the document so that we were both in agreement of what was being produced. This practice proved helpful on both sides as DPS could understand exactly what was to be printed, and we were able to check that the document would print properly.

Images of a production run ‘Large class education toolkit’ including sample pages from various sections.

After delivery of the final product, our client got in touch requesting an interactive version of the document to be used online. We did not have much time to do this and so most the interactive document was lifted from the print document, with links and a clickable contents page added to an interactive PDF. Given more time, it would have been interesting to work on a truly interactive version of the document, but we learnt that it was better to work efficiently on this project as opposed to trying everything possible during the design phases.

Reflections

As a first experience of a live – and expensive – design job, this Real Job taught us a lot as a trial by fire. The main learning point being a quick turnaround of a project, where all parties involved are highly responsive and involved. Balancing speed with quality of design was difficult, as it meant having to swallow your pride on some aspects and not being as experimental as usual.

Having professional compromised discussion due to conflicting views with our client was something we had to self-teach. This was a great learning experience as it has prepared us for such conversations in the future.

We also found the estimation and production phase to be a steep learning curve, as we had to come to terms with a complex production, as well as managing cost and our client’s expectations during the production process.

24 May 2018

A to Z of Ephemera Exhibition and Website

Brief

The Centre for Ephemera Studies at the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication planned an exhibition titled “A to Z of Ephemera” for their 25^th anniversary. In addition to print deliverables such as posters, exhibition captions and decorative alphabet labels, the clients also wanted a simple visual system and a website to bring the ephemera to a broader audience and to create an online presence.

Deliverables

Our deliverables included high quality scans of the items, a website design, a consistency between print and online channels and assistance with setting up and design of the physical exhibition.

Initial steps

The very first stage of the project was to scan each item from the collections into an external hard drive. In order to preserve the intricate details of the objects, we had the scanning resolution set to very high (2400dpi). As a result, each scan took a minimum of five minutes up to 45 minutes to scan, process and save. Having both the A3 and A4 scanners running simultaneously really helped me completing the task much quicker. Most items were scanned in within the first three days after the project began.

Website process

We started by researching specific platforms we could use (Cargocollective versus WordPress) and the costs that would be involved with either one. Initially we explored basic dark and light themes that had features such as “You might like” and a “highlights” section. This was partially due to the assumption that we would customise an existing template, so I was working within typical website layouts and functionalities. Caroline was introduced to Mark Barratt, who would help with the website.

We were initially using Europa as a typeface for the entire website, but later realized that the two weights it had (Light and Regular) were insufficient to support the entire website as a whole. I switched to Open Sans as it is a clean, sans-serif GoogleFont that is easy to import into the website template, which also has enough variations to differentiate the information in the exhibition.

It became apparent fairly quickly after that, that a cookie-cutter template would not work for the website the client had in mind, so we started again, trying to come up with something more interactive and fun to use. We tested and mocked up the hover-states and visual appearance of the “Instagram-like” page that featured the items in an alphabetical grid. We also considered the use of decorative letters, colours (one, and many) in the website.

Using GoogleAnalytics with Mark, we decided on the full-width dimensions of the website based on the most common desktop browser sizes and also had insight into most-commonly used browser platforms.

During this time Kash also completed the bulk of the image processing and scanning – a total of nearly 200GB of data. We had also begun to think of the necessary cropping, exporting and resizing of images for the website and testing out different crops. The main challenges of this task was to make the objects on screen look as close as the ones in real life in order to give the audience an accurate impression of how the items look like in the physical exhibition. We had to take various factors into account such as the lighting of the environment and how the content would be displayed while adjusting the colour and the brightness and contrast settings as well as how these changes would look on different computer monitors.

Exhibition design

Finally, both Kash and I helped with setting up the physical exhibition. We helped Michael Twyman copy edit the captions, which were still not finalized. Several last minute deliverables were added including a video for the 40-inch TV screen, an A3 welcome poster and an opening poster to be mounted onto the side of the display case (113x59cm). Our final work for these last minute deliverables were based off Kash’s ideas and initial executions, as we worked together and shared ideas.

We decided to print them on self-adhesive vinyl, which looks more aesthetically pleasing than pinning paper on the boards. We printed a grey background colour matching the boards so they would blend in with the wall. Getting the accurate colour was not as easy as it seemed. Several colour test strips were printed in order to get the closest matching colour possible.

As the initial opening date approached, the website’s functionalities were stripped down to the minimum, providing a simpler user experience. The website required final fine-tuning such as including the dimensions of the objects, changing some of the navigational features, and including the decorative letters that we had installed in the physical exhibition.

Overview of exhibition

The design of the website and the physical exhibition and posters informed each other. The website determined the typefaces we used for the captions in the exhibition, the inclusion of the decorative letters in the physical display case as an opener was eventually integrated into the online experience as well.

Introductory material and context in a display case

Exhibition space in the department

Decorative letter on vinyl

Colour matched vinyl

Key takeaways

The exhibition overall was well received and the website brought a new perspective to the ephemera due to the high quality scans and the interesting crops. Additionally, the png format of images allowed us to play with the rough and imperfect edges of the items thereby bringing out the age and physical quality of the ephemera on the screen. The zoom functionality of the website also brings a new dimension to the experience that is not accessible in the physical exhibition.

Despite that, there were still several things we would like to change and correct. If we had more time, we would have come up with a new brand identity for the exhibition. The current monochrome approach does work well and consistently with the website, but it is not very effective in terms of drawing attention.

Working in a team with a partner who has significantly different focuses of the project forced us to clarify messages and think about what was really necessary for clear communication.

“I signed up to web design because I wanted to be challenged and to expand my portfolio. This Real Job was intimidating at times as I was thrown out of my comfort zone. But I am now more confident in my web design skills and communicating with a web developer. I also realize that much of my role involved communicating between the various stakeholders, while forming my own design opinions and decisions and including them into the messages at the same time. Above all, I realized that working with people who are passionate about the subject matter makes the work much easier and quicker as a whole.” – Caroline

“During the process, there were times when I felt overwhelmed by the conflicting feedback and sudden demand from the client and defeated and embarrassed by the blunders I had made. However, I believe these experiences will help me prepare for the real-life work environment where these situations would often appear. Working on a large-scale project like this one was great fun and I really enjoyed almost every second of it. It was fulfilling and rewarding and helped improve my technical and social skills in many ways. I now feel more confident of presenting ideas in front of clients and expressing my disagreement on some of the things they say. I must acknowledge the time and effort the whole team had put into this this task which led to the success of the exhibition, I would certainly not be able to achieve it all by myself.” – Kash

24 May 2018

Incognito Radio Events and Web design project

Context

Incognito has cultivated a revolution in Reading’s quiet underground music scene. Springing up from a radio studio, Incognito Radio is the central hub for artists and music lovers to come together through the club events and radio podcasts they provide.  

“Incognito Radio is a collective that works to promote music and culture through whatever means possible. We work in radio, events, publishing and are always pushing for new opportunities to give music and art a platform. From our series of flagship parties with some of the UK’s most exciting DJs and performers to our pop-up events that empower young people to play and listen to a culturally diverse range of genres; we are determined to showcase fresh music in a variety of settings, confidently balancing accessibility and artistic integrity.” – https://www.facebook.com/pg/incognitoradioUK/about/?ref=page_internal

Incognito Radio were looking to strengthen their professional image and branding to help tie together all of their social media and event campaigns under a more coherent image and website. Being an urban, electronic music brand, Incognito already had a substantial vision and image that they had developed for themselves and it was our job to strengthen and develop this to help them grow in the future whilst still keeping an essence of authenticity.

Our design team consisted of Hector Penrose, Callum Bendelow and Jordan-River Low. We all provided different skills and areas of expertise throughout the project. As a group, all 3 of us were familiar with Incognito’s events and music scene before accepting the real job and we had organised the project ourselves. We were also familiar with the co-founders of Incognito before the project so this instantly put us in a more casual situation which we will discuss in more detail later.

Goals

Develop the existing amateur, expressive identity but with a stronger structure across all mediums to tie social media sites, website and promotional material together under consistent branding
The ‘big picture’ of the brand should be considered to make it more recognisable and consistent for the long run. This will also help other designers understand the guidelines in the future to keep consistency
Editable website for purchasing tickets, looking at past events and contacting incognito with social media links a hub for everything they do. It must also be editable for future expansion such as a live radio section
A more structured social media promotion template for Instagram posters, Facebook event banners considering both content and layout

Deliverables

Social media and poster templates for future events. Including Facebook, Instagram and a printed poster. PDF and Indesign files
An editable website to act as the online hub of Incognito. It must be editable for future expansion – they have provided us with a detailed specification for this
A logo icon to be used as the Facebook and Instagram profile picture keeping with the branding of the existing logo. JPEGs and PNGs
Brand guidelines document on their overall image and promotional approach to help improve consistency and strengthen their brand and future – ‘big picture plans’. PDF

How the project evolved

Early on in the project though we came across some difficulties regarding a cancellation of an event which we were designing a poster for as this interfered with our schedule. The clients then requested that we design a different poster and logo for something else that wasn’t initially agreed on and it didn’t adhere to the brand guidelines. This problem arose because of the casual relationship we initially had with our clients. We sorted this out by referring back to the brief, explaining that it wasn’t in the contract. This showed the importance of the restated brief and we also realised the necessity of maintaining a professional client relationship throughout the duration of the project in order for tasks to get completed to the highest of standards.

Throughout the project, our main way of communicating between team members and with our clients was through Facebook instant messaging group chats and a private Facebook page where we would arrange meetings to discuss progression and show our work for feedback in a more informal way. However for final submissions we used email to contact our clients in a more formal manner. This also meant that each person had a backed up copy of the work. We also set up a Creative Cloud file that all 3 of us were all connected to where we could post updated work. This enabled each team member to edit the final documents and show design ideas during the making process. It also meant that we were all working on the same final file so each of us had identical copies of all of the work in one accessible place when working from home. This online basis for exchanging ideas between each other was essential as the website side of the project ended up going over schedule and into the summer holidays. However, through the use of our Facebook group page, email and Creative Cloud files we were able to to stay in regular contact with each other to ensure we were all connected on every stage of the design process.

We started the design process by deciding on the brand guidelines which would then govern the rest of the visual design of the other deliverables such as the website and poster templates. The guidelines cover everything from brand identity to logo usage and colour schemes. By starting the project with designing the brand guidelines, they acted as the foundation for the other deliverables and the future image of Incognito.

Examples of the brand guidelines

After confirming the overall visual identity we moved on to develop the Instagram and Facebook icons. To do this we simply took the ‘INC’ from the existing INCOGNITO logo in order to stick with the existing logo they had already developed. The ‘INC’ formed a compact square or circle shape to then be used as the profile picture for social media accounts such as Facebook and Instagram.

Logo and Icon

After confirming with our clients that they were happy with the brand guidelines and image we had developed, we applied the visual principles to 3 event poster templates: Facebook, Instagram and print. This was to provide guidance for the content, format and style of future promotional material to keep consistency in their image and identity across all mediums. These templates are also featured in the brand guidelines.

Facebook, Instagram and printed poster templates

Once all other deliverables were finalised we started planning and designing the website. We began by going straight into Photoshop to quickly mock up templates and work out the navigation and user journeys. We then moved onto high fidelity mock-ups and here we were able to apply the visual identity from the brand guidelines. The content and specification for the website was provided early on by our clients which massively sped up the whole process.

High fidelity website wireframes

After meeting as a group on a regular basis and constantly keeping in contact with updates on the Facebook chat we finalised our wireframe design with our clients in person and then moved on to coding.

Due to the nature of the coding, Callum was mostly responsible for this process due to his experience. Hector and Jordan were in charge of visual design and helped with coding where possible. Here we learnt how to use our strengths and weaknesses to maximise efficiency within the group.

The coding process ended up taking longer than initially expected and the website side of the project ended up extending into the summer holidays. A new deadline was negotiated for the beginning of 2017 Autumn term. However after leasing with our clients this was not a problem as they were in no rush to get the website live and would have rather have it designed to the highest of standards. We therefore kept in contact with our clients over summer using the Facebook Group chat, Skype calls and screen shares which worked very successfully. Here we learnt that although a project may have set deadlines, it is always important to be flexible for unforeseen events. Please go check out Incognito’s website! http://www.incognitoradio.com/

Overall the project ran smoothly but the problem with using Facebook messenger is that often you could return to your laptop with 100 unread messages between 2 of the group members and then have to read through all of them. For finished work and more official correspondences we always used email to stop this from happening. Facebook was later used for quicker feedback on screenshots of unfinished work and for the purpose it served us well. However in the future we wouldn’t use it as a mode of contact between clients as it reduces formality and structure to the communication. It possibly worked well for this project as we were already familiar with our clients.

How the project was received

After handing over the final deliverables to my client we received an email of thanks. It was satisfying to know that the final outcome was well received and even more so to see the deliverables put to use throughout their social media platforms and on the newly launched website. After we finished the project, all 3 of us had already made plans to stay in contact with Incognito for future design jobs and the website would need future maintenance and editing to keep it up to date. This shows the overall success in our relationship with the clients.

Reflection

On the whole our project was successful, it made us realise the importance of working on a project which we were passionate about and with team members we got on well with as this meant that we could produce work to the highest of standards. Despite not meeting our original deadline of finishing everything by the end of the 2017 summer term, we instead learnt how to re-negotiated the deadline with the clients to have everything done for the beginning of the 2017 Autumn term and this enabled us to produce work to a much higher standard. It was also very rewarding knowing that we were also helping out a student run business and for a cause we are all part of and passionate about. As well as learning technical skills such as wire framing, writing brand guidelines and the process of coding a website from scratch and getting it online, overall the real job project taught us the importance of being mediators and negotiating design differences with team members to meet in the middle and combine ideas. It also taught us the importance of meticulous planning before approaching a design project with a client, however when difficulties did occur we learnt how to negotiate timeframes so everyone involved was satisfied. Finally we learnt the importance of having a healthy relationship with our clients that balances a professional and open correspondence. The main thing we learnt from this project is that even when working for friends and family it is important to maintain a professional relationship in order to keep the structure and standards of the project high.

The success of the project and our relationship with the clients is emphasised through the fact that they have asked all 3 of us to become the design team for Incognito Radio as a part time job next academic year. This is very exciting as we will be able to improve on the branding that we have begun to develop for them throughout this real job and see Incognito Radio grow with our input.

Please go check out Incognito’s website! http://www.incognitoradio.com/

24 May 2018

Entre Playas Signage Ibiza RJ00216

Designing Entre Playas’ signage was my first independent design job at The University of Reading. From the beginning of the project I understood that it would be a tricky task to take on as the final product would be situated abroad in Ibiza. This meant that throughout the project I needed to consider aspects which normally wouldn’t be a problem such as: the difference in climate, erecting the job in a foreign country and the location the sign would be manufactured.

Unfortunately when I first received the real job my schedule was extremely busy and as a result of this I had very little contact with my client. After many months I decided to speak to my client and arrange a new start time for the job when I was less preoccupied and had more time to focus on the project. This is something that I regret not doing sooner, I have now learnt from my mistakes and understand I need to be honest with the amount of work I can handle at one time. My client was extremely understanding and told me that the job was in no rush to be completed.

The Brief

The initial brief was to design three premium outdoor signs which reflect the Ibizan culture as well as representing the community within Entre Playas. The client wanted the signs to require minimal maintenance and be able to attach on various walls. One of the fundamental aims was for the signs to be visible for drivers and passers by on foot, considering back lighting which is already installed on two of the properties wall entrances. The signs were to replace the current outdated signage at Entre Playas and fundamentally enhance the community, adding value to the properties.

As my client lived in Kent face to face meetings were not possible, therefore I arranged to communicate via Skype, email and over the phone. This was something that did not phase me as I am confident in using technology to communicate.

Target Audience

To begin the process of creating the three designed signs I needed to understand my target audience. My main concern was the thoughts and perspectives of the residents at Entre Playas in Ibiza. In order to understand their views I asked my client for their contact details and devised a set of interview questions for them to answer. This was extremely beneficial as I was able to grasp the likes and dislikes of the original sign of 6 Entre Playas residence as well as receive insight to the changes they would like to apply to the new sign.

After collecting my data from the 6 interviews I devised 3 user personas – all three of different ages and with different views. This research helped me to understand that the main issues with the original sign were that the type size was too small, the style was not in keeping with the surroundings and the material used was not suitable for the climate.

Research

The research process for this real job was crucial as I wanted to ensure that the designs I produced were in keeping with the atmosphere of Ibiza, the climate and the price budget. In order to understand Ibiza’s character I researched the branding of various successful hotels, beach clubs and restaurants on the island. It was interesting to see how each created a modern, premium and stylish character through typography and logos.

This research was beneficial and helped me to understand the look and style I would introduce to the new signage design at Entre Playas.

It was vital that I researched examples of how signs can be produced. A mood board was devised to highlight various sign elements which could be applied to my design such as the material used (stainless steal, glass, wood), lighting (illuminated signs, lighting backdrops), shadows (reflected from the light) and dimensions (flat type, 3D type). The material which would best withstand Ibiza’s climate was stainless steel as the material is extremely resistant against weathering. As only two of the sign locations have available electricity mains I wanted to produce three signs which could be seen both illuminated and not.

Typography was the fundamental aspect of my real job, in order to produce a professional legible sign I researched various typefaces on Myfonts, Typekit and Adobe, where I found a great range of fonts which I thought were suitable for the new sign. To create three diverse designs I chose to research sans-serifed fonts, serifed fonts and hand written fonts. I wanted to include one of each into my designs to give the community of Entre Playas three various designs to choose from. Due to the nature of the course I have previous knowledge about typography, therefore choosing suitable typefaces was straight forward.

Sign Express, a sign company in Reading supplied me with a sample of a stainless steel 18cm high letter ‘K’ which I could use to experiment with. I decided to measure the gap between the wall and the letter K to understand how shadowing would effect the overall design. I measured the K at three distances from the wall: first at 2.5cm away, second at 1.5cm away and the third flat against the wall. These three measurements created different shadow outcomes, the best outcome being 1.5cm away from the wall -creating interesting shadow but not effecting the legibility of the character.

My research was sent to my client within a powerpoint presentation for him to read through. The powerpoint was created to communicate my findings with the client and help him to understand my thought processes throughout each decision made during the project. This real job has helped me to understand that constant communication with your client is a vital aspect of creating a great professional relationships as well as producing successful designs.

Design

When given the initial brief my client asked me to explore the idea of incorporating a logo with the sign. In order to investigate this further I developed thumbnail sketches of primary logo ideas to enhance the Entre Playas signage. This soon developed onscreen, vectorising the logos and comparing them with various typefaces which I had previously researched.

I showed my initial designs during a Real Job’s meeting and to my supervisor. Both meetings were beneficial as I collected positive and negative feedback about the designs. My classmates in the real job’s meeting suggested that I continued to experiment with the two wave logo as they believe reflected the name of Entre Playas. My supervisor also suggested that I avoided interrupting text with logos as it distracts the reader. Before sending my initial designs to my client I applied the feedback which I was given from both meetings. Throughout the process of my real job I began to understand the importance of showing my work to various people. There fresh outlook helped me to overcome problems and highlight issues which I wouldn’t have done myself.

After my clients feedback I further developed the typefaces and logos which he liked best. Further development helped me to uncover areas which I had not previously thought of such as layout, stroke and character spacing.

With the help from the Real Job’s meetings, my supervisor and my client I finally produced three final designs. Each design conveys a different typographic style but they all equally reflecting the modern and sophisticated character of Ibiza.

I created three mock ups with my final designs to show to my client and the residents of Entre Playas. This was a great way for myself and the client to visualise how the final product would look.

Production

The location of the site of Entre Playas played a difficult role in the production of the signage. My client wanted the signs to be manufactured in England to avoid a language barrier when discussing the work with manufacturers. This had its positives and negatives, although I was able to meet with the manufacturer in person the manufacturer was unable to see the actual sight where the sign would be implemented. To help the manufacturer understand the signage area I produced a guesstimate of the area size, this was from mine and my clients previous memory of visiting the site. I attached the measurements of the site as well as the height of the type which my client asked for (20cm tall). This was helpful as it allowed me to visualise how large the sign would actually be.

In order to produce the signage designs I contacted Signs Express, a company recommended by the university. I had a meeting with the centre manager Ian Richards who showed me the materials and application tools which could be used for my designs. Ian suggested stainless steel as the signs material and showed me various finishes that could be used. He also suggested using a large paper stencil to ensure that when the signs are erected in Ibiza the characters stay in the right position. Meeting with the Ian was extremely beneficial as he showed me various examples of signs he had produced in the past. With the materials and colours in front of me I was able to visualise how my signs were going to be created.

After agreeing on materials and size with my client Ian sent me three specs including their quotes – one for each design. I was then able to send my client these figures which he would then reveal to the community at Entre Playas. My client explained that the three sign designs would be put to a vote and which ever design is most popular would be manufactured.

final reflections

This real job taught me a lot in a short amount of time. Throughout the job my time management skills improved dramatically as I had to juggle various modules whilst working on the real job. This is a great strength as it will benefit me when I am working in the design industry. If I were to repeat the job I would have been honest with my client from the get go and expressed to him the heavy amount of work I had on when originally given the job. Although this was unprofessional of me I am glad I made this mistake as I now know to avoid it from happening again. After my initial mistake my relationship with the client was extremely professional and our conversations throughout the job were productive and fluent.

Throughout the job I felt it important to presented my work in a professional and accessible manner as I was unable to meet with the client in person. Presenting my work in a formal way really helped me to illustrate my thought process and ideas as well as communicate effectively with my client.

Contacting manufacturers and testing material was a steep learning curve, as I had to research and understand the restrictions each material used would create. After understanding which materials were best to use I then had to manage the cost of the product and our client’s expectations.

I really enjoyed working on this real job as it has exposed me to areas of the design industry which I have not previously visited. I will be staying in contact with my client until the signage has been put in place at Entre Playas, and I plan to visit the sight once the signs are erected.