Designing a publication to exhibit a client's exhibition as part of her Ph.D. is one of the greatest projects I have ever completed!

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Group collaborations: Generating ideas-Logo, branding, PowerPoint palette, website

Individual jobs:

(Kaylee) Website images, Diagram for ‘intervention’ services, ‘What we do’ and ‘An Evolving market’ illustration.

(Holly) Our services illustration, Website pictograms.

(Kory) Our Reach layout

 

Introduction – What was the brief?

During the months of June/July 2021 were assigned the brief of creating three deliverables: A logo, matching branding and fonts for a PowerPoint (to help our client explain the meaning and branding of our products to others) and a website for the company: The School Outreach Company. The School Outreach’s aim is to help disadvantaged students, and those labelled under the BANE category, from across the UK develop interview, work and communication skills. The school Outreach helps students, primarily from secondary schools, develop connections with big conglomerates such as virgin media and Google. The company gives students opportunities they would likely not receive after leaving school. Our aim was to connote the themes: social mobility, inclusivity and recruitment through the deliverables.

 

Research & Design Process

The main themes the client wanted us to connote through the deliverables were: social mobility, inclusivity and recruitment. Our first deliverables we began to work on were the logo and PowerPoint branding. Individually we researched these themes and found visuals we thought best represented each. From these images, we created our own initial sketches for the logo; trying to symbolise all the themes in one sketch as best as we could. For the branding of the PowerPoint layout and logo, we used the same process when deciding on a colour theme.

Figure 1: Research pictures

 

The Logo

When discussing the logo with the client, the client gave us a few example images he wanted us to base our ideas off of. An example image was the ‘BP’ logo. From this we decided to base our sketches off of ‘circular’ and ‘round’ shapes, whilst connoting unity and diversity. In the final iteration of the logo, we connoted ‘diversity’ through the colour scheme. Each semi-circle of the circular shaped logo, is a different colour; this represents the different themes the company represents. ‘Unity’ is displayed through the placement of each shape; the shapes placement and closeness signify how the themes and clients are brought together by the company.

 

After individually researching and collecting pictures related to the themes: inclusivity, recruitment and outreach, we discussed our ideas as a group. During this group discussion, we discussed: how the essence of the logo should be represented? What different levels of abstraction, and different shapes should be used? We further sketched the logo through the workshop as a collective group. In our original individual sketches, many of our concepts revolved around ‘people’ as when we thought of the themes (inclusivity, recruitment and outreach) a common denominator was the ‘people’ and our audience: students. We drew multiple versions of the sketch with people as the main element, whilst trying to incorporate the circular design into the concepts. However, after further deliberation, we realised this did not conform to the client’s original idea of the logo.

 

Figure 2: Concepts based on the theme of inclusivity

Figure 3: Concepts based on the theme of recruitment

Figure 4: Concepts based on the theme of outreach

Figure 5: Refined sketches – After meeting with client (By Kaylee, Kory and Holly)

Figure 6: Sketches from group discussion

 

The Branding & PowerPoint Layouts

The second deliverable we created was the ‘Branding and PowerPoint layouts’ for the client. The client needed PowerPoint layouts so he could create presentations explaining the objectives of the company, the layouts needed to follow the same theme as the logo. We used the logo designed for the company in the PowerPoint templates. Similarly, to the process of creating the logo, we each individually sketched out layout ideas then came together as a group to discuss them and narrow down the most successful concepts. The client provided us with information each slide needed to contain and an idea of what the current presentation layouts he was using looked like. Using this information, we created sketches which connoted how text, titles and images could be laid out. We created a variety of sketches to test where the company logo appeared more appropriate. The top right corner seemed like the best choice as the logo will not block any text or images. From these sketches we created a variety of digital layouts using the colour scheme, type and logo we had already created. From this we created a design which used different colours placed on the side of each page to represent the different themes of the company. Next, as a group we discussed which concepts worked best and which we thought the client would like the most. After the client confirmed he was happy with our decisions, we moved onto the next deliverable: the website.

Figure 7: PowerPoint/Branding slides

 

Website design

 Our website is aimed at 3 groups of people. The first is Hiring organize. The second is Student or parents. The third is School or teachers. Users can choose their identity to enter the corresponding content by clicking on the website. These three pages are composed of 6 parts: About us, Our reach, our service, Client’s and Testimonial, Resources and contact us. People with different identities will show content corresponding to their identities after clicking on them. For example, for schools and teachers, when they click on the ‘our reach’ interface, they will understand that TSoC can bring high-quality companies to students and also bring some activities to students. Bring them confidence and motivation. But if the object is parents or student, there will be no content that brings activity to students. Interviews have also been inserted on some pages to let the customer understand what effect TSoC has brought to customers.

Figure 8: Website Homepage Concept (By Kaylee, Kory and Holly)

 

 

 

 

Figure 9: Website Our Reach Concept (By Kaylee, Kory and Holly)

Figure 10: Colour test for website (By Kaylee and Holly)

 

Website pictograms/Icons & Independent work (Pictograms & Illustrations by Holly)

As some of the group had more experience with website building, they played a more major role when creating the website. However, we still collaborated together and supported each other when designing the deliverable. My main role when creating this deliverable was creating pictograms which represented different sections of the website. The client gave me example images of pictograms he liked, from here I designed a variety of pictograms in the colours which matched the branding: red, purple and yellow. Before showing the client the initial digital sketches, I discussed with the rest of the group which concepts were the most successful. From here we limited the concepts down to a few designs from each group we thought represented each topic the best. I then had a meeting with the client to discuss the pictograms. From here, we eliminated the designs he disliked and further developed the concepts he preferred using his feedback. By the end of the process, I had developed: 17 yellow pictograms, 12 red pictograms and 6 purple pictograms. This part of the project helped me develop and expand my technical skills when using illustrator.

 

Later in the project, when the website had most of its content and was near completion, I created an illustration for the ‘Our services’ page. I read through the content the client had gave us for the page and tried to link them to a common theme in order to create one main illustration instead of multiple. The theme I felt connected the content ‘our services’ and ‘what we offer’ was unity. After multiple concept drawings and feedback from my group, I settled on a design which conveys two hands shaking with three arrows at the top going in different directions; the arrows are in the brand colour. The arrows represent different services the company offers.

Figure 11: Yellow pictograms in black outline (online concept, version 1)

Figure 12: Red icons in red outline (version 1)

Figure 13: Yellow M & V Icons in outline and full colour (version 1)

Figure 14: Purple icons (version 1)

Figure 15: Yellow icons (version 5)

Figure 16: Red icons (version 5)

Figure 17: Purple and M & V (version 5)

Figure 18: Yellow icons (Final version)

 

Figure 19: Red icons (Final version)

Figure 20: Purple and M & V icons (Final version)

Figure 21: Our service final version

 

Independent work (Website image by Kaylee)

 According to the needs of clients, I try to choose suitable pictures for the website to show the effect. When people browse the website, the pictures in the website can help people understand the content of the page. For websites, pictures are very important because their role is to attract users’ attention. They can transmit complex messages in the blink of an eye. I found some free and paid pictures. We constantly filter and replace photos through communication.

Figure 22: Picture selection stage

 

 Independent work (Diagram for ‘intervention’ services by Kaylee)

 I made a diagram of intervention for the website. When making the diagram, I used the colour palette provided in the brand guidelines. Because this diagram will be used in conjunction with the website, I used the same colour as the brand. I use Sequential palette to make this diagram. After some modifications to the diagram, I changed the colour of the pattern uniformly to purple. This is more consistent with the colour of the brand. Through the diagram could explain the concept helping people up to level up. When I drawing the diagram, let everyone at the same level of height. Use different numbers of boxes to represent student needs. Different height with different boxes means different students have different requirements. At the same time to use colour to indicate different levels.

Figure 23: Sketch of intervention diagram

Figure 24: Digital version 1

Figure 25: Final version of intervention diagram

Figure 26: Our services final version

 

Independent work (‘What we do’ and ‘An Evolving market’ illustration services by Kaylee)

 For these two illustrations, the sketches were done by me, Holly and Kory. We have drawn three different plans. The purpose of this illustration is to allow users to better understand the text when browsing the web. When I communicated this illustration with a client, we chose one of the options. The client also gave me the details of the illustration he wanted. I draw the digital version on the computer based on these feedbacks. Finally, I choose the colour according to the colour wheel of the branding guidelines.

Figure 27: Sketches of ‘What we do’ and ‘An Evolving market’ illustration (By Kaylee, Kory and Holly)

Figure 28: Digital version 1 (Without colour)

Figure 29: Digital version 2

Figure 30: Final version

 

Independent work (Diagram for ‘intervention’ services by Kory)

 The independent work I do is to modify our reach pages that we have done. I need to modify the original light blue part and the text next to the map and determine whether to add a map. After reading the page information provided by the client, I know what the page needs. The content is mainly about what kind of benefits TSoC will give to their customer groups. Like for the school, what they bring is the best choice for students. And to increase their confidence in students. It is almost the same for parents of students and customers. It is very interesting that I found a exactly the same thing in his description called: Gatsby Benchmarks. This word is very unusual in ordinary life. So I think this must be their outstanding part. So I went online to check the meaning of the word and made a design about it.

Figure 31: Our Reach with Gatsby Benchmark

 

I replaced the text in the middle with the definition of Gatsby Benchmarks and showed it in a mind map and problem-centric approach. I believe that most people like me are not very clear about what Gatsby Benchmarks is. It will be very clear and clear to show it through a mind map. Through this picture, the customer can know what TSoC can provide them. The light blue background and the white mind map can highlight the content very well. But after discussing Izzi, I feel that this part is not very important. She still hopes to keep the blue part of the car full of text. And I want me to adjust the text ‘National Network’ next to the map.

Because TSoC is a national company, it is not a global company. So highlighting this part will bring some benefits to the company but also some disadvantages. But in the end, we still decided to highlight this part. I made two versions of the draft design. The first is that the blue part is not changed. The second is to turn the blue part upwards like a card.

In the first type, I put the blue part in the middle of the map and enlarged the map. Because these things are accompanied by the map, I think if you put them on top or below, they will not change much with the map. The second one I do is similar to a card. After dragging down, the text will be overlaid up like a card.

Figure 32: Our Reach with national network card motion

Figure 33: our reach with national network inside map

The final version did not adopt all my changes. The content of the change is to change the original blue part of the content from dot by dot to paragraph. And removed the following content. This makes this page look much cleaner than before.

Figure 34: Our reach final version

 

Reflections:

Reflection on project (Holly)

During this real job, we had lots of time to perfect the design and meet the needs of the client as effectively as we could. As a team we worked well together, some of us had more significant roles in this project than others due to more experience. However, we all individually contributed large parts to the project (such as illustrations) and overall worked well as a team. Personally, this project helped me develop my communication and technical skills. At the beginning of this job I was hesitant to speak up but as soon as the project continued, I felt I contributed to discussions more. The job gave me a better insight on how to work with a client in a professional setting.

 

Reflection on project (Kaylee)

This time Real Job was a special experience for me. Before this Real Job, I had never done this kind of work for clients. It is also my first contact with design work. Enriched my resume in personal experience. In The School Outreach project, we have been working in small groups. In the group, I am mainly complicated to provide ideas for each step of the design and draw some illustrations. Projects that work in groups usually require excellent communication skills. I think at the beginning of this project, I lacked communication. But after everything is on track, everything is fine. In this project, from Logo to Branding to PowerPoint Palette, and finally to making an entire website. It can be said to be a big project. From this, I learned how to communicate with customers and after making a version, we will meet in a group to discuss which solution is more suitable for use. In terms of design, we often need to conceive an idea in a short period of time, and then draw a draft. Then choose which one has more potential for development. This also allows me to experience that design is not an easy job. We need to consider what customers like, not what we like. Sometimes we find it a version we really like it. Customers don’t like it that much. Group work projects really help me to work on mine communication skills and design skill. Group work projects really help me to work on mine communication skills and design skill.

 

Reflection on project (Kory)

 Through this Real job, I learned a lot of things that I felt I couldn’t learn in university. I learned:

• How to communicate with customers in a professional setting.
• How to work well in a team whilst collaborating on a design.
• And how to meet the client’s needs by combining our own ideas with theirs.

 

From this experience, I also realised that the client’s ideas cannot always be achieved the way they would like them to be. As designers we must advise them of possible or even more suitable ways a design can be achieved while still meeting their needs.

 

Trello Link:

https://trello.com/b/7kGuxHtj/rj00514-the-school-outreach-company

The School Outreach Company Website:

https://school-outreach.com/

 

submitted on behalf of Kaylee, Holly and Kory

Overview

Longhaul is a growing brand which specialises in creating prolonged energy release food for athletes. Owners Staale Brinchmann and Amelia Watts found a gap in the market for savoury foods as other brands in the market have focused on sweet flavours. Our project – undertook by myself, Alex Ganczarski, Ro Dicker and Liselot van Veen – consisted of redesigning food pouches for their 4 existing flavours, creating a template that could easily be adapted to more flavours in the future.

Restating our brief

When this Real Job was advertised to us, we were expecting to provide an update of their logo and tag-line design, pouch designs for 4-6 flavours and advertising graphics and templates. However, after communicating with our client it became clear that they were happy with their existing logo design, but wanted to rework the tagline and intended to use the pouch designs themselves as advertisement to present on their social media platforms. Thus, our tasks became:

1. Rework the tag-line
2. Create an adaptable template for their food pouches, presenting completed examples for their 2 flavours currently on the market, as well as examples without the full copy for 2 flavours that are currently in the testing phase

As a result, the job was a lot smaller than we anticipated. We used this to our advantage as it meant all 4 of us could work together to bring a broad range of pouch design ideas forward for our client.

Understanding the market

A few of our client’s closest competitors are Clif, Tribe and Science in Sport. Staale identified that Tribe’s branding aligned with the way he envisioned Longhaul’s branding, with its vibrant landscapes and sense of being outdoors. This provided us with the challenge of drawing inspiration from Tribe, while standing out on a shelf with its own identity. Our client was also very keen to not include any images of food, an aspect with bothered them about their existing pouch designs. This encouraged us to think outside of the box. While looking at these competitors we noticed a few trends; the name of the brand being highest in the design’s hierarchy, the use of bright colours to stand out on shelves and key words on the front such as ‘protein’ to entice users.

Refining their branding

While our client was pleased with their existing logo design, we worked to improve its application. The existing version included a red symbol against a blue background which decreased its overall legibility. Due to cost implications, we could not introduce any more colours to the logo to fix this problem. To stay within our client’s budget we tweaked their existing colours by first testing different shades of red against the dark blue to see if we could get it to stand out more. In the end, we chose instead to swap the colour of the text with the colour of the background as the red stands out much more against white.

Initial sketches

We began the design process by each doing a set of sketches to present to our client and learn which direction they wanted us to go in. We struggled a lot with moving on from Longhaul’s existing pouch designs, with our early experiments consisting mainly of rearranging the elements from the previous design.

Developments

We found our ideas became a lot more broad in our digital developments as we could then play with colours and layering. One of the biggest challenges we faced was representing the wide range of sports that Longhaul’s pouches could be used for as they provide energy for any endurance sport, such as marathons, cycling or hiking. It was more difficult to work as a team when we reached the digital stage and found we all took vastly different approaches.

Drawing inspiration from competitors in the field, we experimented with bright colours and searched for ways we could advertise the nutritional benefits of the pouches. In our attempts to make those stand out however, we lost a sense of hierarchy.

To no avail, we spent a great deal of time trying to make a typographic solution work. As we were struggling to figure out what imagery we could use a typographic design seemed ideal, though in practice it did not have the desired affect. One reason this did not work is it competed  with all the other text elements. However, communicating wit our supervisor we began to work more effectively with hierarchy.

While the typographic experiments were unsuccessful, we realised we liked the appearance of the mountain and found it was very useful as a tool for aesthetically dividing up all the cover copy. This prompted us to further explore mountain imagery. After a meeting with our client and looking back at our research on competitors that the name ‘Longhaul’ should stand out the most, acting as further advertising for the product when other athletes see someone using it.

Communicating with our client, we then developed their favourite versions of the design. To divide up the workload we shared the chosen design documents and each made our own tweaks. One thing that really helped us visualise the packaging was creating mockups for our designs which we presented to the client at each of our meetings.

Reworking the tag-line

Throughout the course of this project, we went through many iterations of tag-lines as our client was unsure which words would best advertise their product so we tested many variations to see which ones were received well. In the early stages of the project, they were very keen to promote the slow release energy of their product so our early experiments primarily focused on this aspect. Our client gave us many key words to work with such as ‘performance’, ‘endurance’, and ‘prolonged energy release’. However, later in the project Staale and Amelia saw the value in promoting their natural ingredients and were also set on including the word ‘fuel’ based on how competitors were advertising their products. This became difficult for us as our client wanted too many words for what was supposed to be a short tag-line, and we struggled with including as much as we could but also making clear who the product was for. After experimenting with options such as ‘performance fuel’ and ‘endurance fuel’ we eventually decided on ‘sports fuel’ to make it known that it is a product for athletes.

The final design

One consistent idea that stayed with us throughout the project was the use of mountain imagery to echo Longhaul’s logo. You can see this experimented with in my initial sketches and it eventually developed into the polygon mountain range we settled on.

The back cover

When it came to designing the back cover, we experienced delays in our project due to Covid19’s effects on our client’s business. While we were awaiting feedback from our client on the front cover designs, Alex took the initiative to move forward with the back cover as the front cover was almost finalised. To make it cohesive with the front cover he repeated the mountain texture. Aligning with Longhaul’s need for a sense of identity we were able to ask our clients for their signatures, adding a personalised touch to the brand.

Technical preparation

Once our final designs had been approved by our supervisor, Rob, we were ready to send our files to the client. We had expected to send off print-ready files but 2 of the pouch flavours had still not been completed by the end of the project. We agreed with our client to clean up our inDesign files for another designer’s use in the future once those flavours are completed. We packaged the files along with guidelines for another designer to use. We realised at this point that some of our colours needed to be switched to solid CMYK or Pantone colours to print correctly, though this was easily rectified.

Reflection

Given the size of our team and the reduced workload from our restated brief we expected this project to be completed swiftly though in the end it took nearly a year. This was due to difficulty establishing contact with our client on occasion when Staale took out of country visits, as well as the issues caused by Covid19. We also needed to contact Gualapack at one point to understand the printing specifications as our client was unsure. Overall I am pleased with the designs we came up with and believe they match the image Staale and Amelia envisioned.

‘We have been extremely impressed with the designs that you have all put forward & are very happy with the final results. So thank you for all of the hard work!’ – Amelia Watts

‘It’s been a pleasure working with you all and I’m very impressed and pleased with the final result.’ – Staale Brinchmann

Background

This branding project was for a new and upcoming module established by Daniela Standen, which will be part of what the University of Reading will soon be offering in the new academic year approaching. Our goal was to deliver a visual identity for the client which would essentially promote this new module.  Our challenge was to make sure that collectively the final deliverables worked together using the same visual identity to promote and communicate across what the Global Graduates module has to offer for potential and existing students. By taking part, they have the opportunity to improve and extend the asset of skills they already have and take part in activities outside their subject to become a better citizen and stand out to future employers.

Brief

Both me and Hanorah worked on to create a cohesive brand identity across the three deliverables we agreed on with our client Daniela.  We knew that to achieve this, we had to remind ourselves of the existing brand identity of the university itself to ensure this cohesiveness was implemented throughout all the final outcomes, whilst echoing the visual identity of the university. The set of deliverables agreed on were:

• A set of postcards for each sub-module (x4)
• A website banner (for the page corresponding to this programme on the university’s existing website)
• A social media graphic (to be posted on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter)

These final outcomes were to be displayed ALL digitally, with the exception of the postcards which were to be printed as well to be handed out to new students during Welcome Week.

Research

User personas and needs

Establishing our target audience and generating ideas with them in mind was our first step. These outputs should promote the Global Graduates module to existing, new and global students and increase interest in taking part in this extra-curricular programme to build and enhance skills outside their degree course and academic development. We used the existing identity of the university and the brand guidelines provided by the client to ensure that the final outcomes echoed the identity of the university itself, whilst also bringing in a fresh and innovate design to distinguish the module. This approach ensured we targeted the user effectively – to have a professional design, whilst also keeping it fresh and engaging to attract the young people.

Visual references

To give our client some design overview of what the final outcome could potentially be like, we decided to produce some mood boards for each deliverable. This got both parties to begin to think about appropriate genre, graphic style and typography treatment.

 

From the feedback we got from our client, she preferred the simpler designs (mood boards 3 and 4) We noticed a set of features used by both of these visuals alongside images we found for inspiration (for the other deliverables) which made them successful:

• The background image has the most drama (instantly catches the audiences’ attention making them want to read the information.
• Theme of photography and editing – a consistent style in terms of the imagery used and the way the images have been edited is a common theme. Experimenting with different depths and densities of the hue, saturation and the luminosity of an image can transform the images from looking dull and boring to them looking mesmerising and appealing to the younger audience.
• Consistency of typefaces and sizing (use of the typeface Effra with minimal tracking)
• The use of the different weights in the typeface differentiates the types of information which helps the audience navigate through the information better.
• The use of white as the predominant colour for the typography acts as a nice contrast with the background colours.
• The use of the university logo (typically placed on the right-hand corner – mood board 6) endorses the identity, again helping the audience to distinguish where it has come from.

Design developments

Postcards

We had to produce a series of postcards which had a consistent visual identity across all, however still being differentiated by the different sub-modules. Our aim for our initial design (version 1) was to try and get all the elements (typography, imagery, logo) on the page. Although this design concept is neat, it was too simple, so our supervisor instructed us to add more innovativity to the design. As well as this, having this same background on all four postcards could make it seem as though they are all the same, when in fact they have different pieces of information behind them. When these are placed on a table at a welcoming event, students can easily assume this too and not pick them up. In light of this, we decided to edit the image we found on Pixabay, using Photoshop, inspired by the mood board we had made previously (mood board 4). After experimenting with different filters and luminosities, and changing the hue and saturations  of the single image, we were able to compose four alike, yet different graphics which really helped make a big turn in our design developments (see graphics below).

Postcard 2 shows a different layout of the elements with a more visual appeal. The timeline of the graphics draws the reader in and makes it more exciting to read as they are being guided through the postcard. We transferred the contact information at the back as the client wanted all the attention to be on the heading and slogan. We acted upon our feedback given by our supervisor to do something different with the slogan as the words had the ability to be manipulated in a way to be of more appeal. After capitalising the slogan and separating the phrases, we decided to increase the weight of the words “connections”, “horizons” and “global citizens” Accentuating these words intrigues and engages the audience as they want to have and be all these things. In the final outcome of the postcard (version 3) we also took out the anonymous icon graphic as it leaded towards the design getting overcrowded. We had to remember that when printed, it would be A5 and seeing all of this on such a small card can overwhelm the reader, leading onto them potentially showing no interest at all.

 

 

 

 

Website banner

We began the website banner by taking inspiration from the existing page banners from the university’s website and implementing a similar style (website banner version 1) The red box around the heading was something we saw which came up quite frequently, however it did not collaborate, or work well with the design of the postcards. After we removed it, there was still something missing – we did not want to just replicate the design of the postcard onto the banner directly, it had to be a bit different. Therefore, we added a new element (shown in website banner version 3) with a left alignment and a lower opacity of the fill so that the background can show though. This enabled us to place the typographic elements easily also following a left-alignment. We decided to change the slogan as we thought that by writing a sentence would connect to the reader more and would act as an invite to the web page.

Social media graphic

Designing this deliverable was different as social media platforms need media which is firstly visual and secondly it needs to be easily read and accessible to readers. After completing version 1, we saw that it was difficult to read the small text due to the colour and how it sat on the background. We had taken the idea to surround the heading with a rectangle from the early stages of the website banner, however after being advised that we should use the same heading as the one on the postcard here too, this idea was not possible. Version 2 was also done in the early stages just for idea generation purposes as we felt as though giving the client more ideas to choose from was ideal for a better final outcome. This idea shows typographic manipulation; we wanted to make the shape of a globe, suggesting ‘global graduates.’ However, this idea was dismissed due to the heading we had to change and due to the fact how the white text did not sit right on this background either.

After further experimentation with the background and ensuring it shared the same visual identity as the postcards, we landed on our final idea (version 4) We thought that by introducing a background colour to the smaller text increased the legibility making it easier to read on a platform such as Instagram. All the elements here are left-aligned which cleans the design up, compared to the previous designs we had made which had multiple alignments which sometimes made the design messy and all over the place. We were advised by the client to change the university logo to the coloured-fill as it represented the university better in this context.

Reflection

The series of designs we produced received positive feedback from the client and their team. We believe we have created a series of deliverables that work well as a set, but also fit their current theme on the website through the pink shape on the left (website banner and social media graphics). Our client was so pleased with the work we had completed for them that they made an additional contribution to the Real Jobs fund, which we were extremely proud of!

This job as a whole took a little bit longer to complete than we anticipated it would, however, we were told at the start that the submission date was flexible if the print deliverables were sent before July to work with the printing date. But, the digital submissions could be flexible. We feel as though because our project was over the summer, it was difficult as some people had been out of the office for the summer break. But this was all a learning experience for us, which has prepared us for the real world.

 

Background

Red Emerald is a new business that aims to advise and support leaders in universities, colleges and government bodies on internationalisation strategies and activities. For example, supporting university students in achieving their goals to engage in an international experience indirectly through university staff. Red emerald also advises international students and their parents, wanting to study in the UK or UK students wanting to study/work abroad. The company with hold conferences with government bodies for which they will supply reports and other reading materials.

Restated Brief

Our aim was to create a brand identity for Red Emerald, that would appeal to the company’s broad target market. The brand needed to be consistently identifiable across all design outcomes whilst complimenting the different formats required. Competitors currently in the market mostly have a typographic logo, with a fairly muted colour scheme. The few that have a graphic logo reference a globe illustration, which our client wanted to avoid for individuality.

What we agreed to design:

• Logo
• Business cards
• Letter & Report Template
• Presentation slides template

Communication and Schedule

We were able to keep in touch with Charlene for the most part throughout the project, but there were times where we would not be in contact for a while due to the success of the business. This meant the proposed schedule was delayed; however, we kept our supervisor and the Real Jobs team up to date by attending Real Jobs meetings and staying in contact via email.

Delays in client meant that we could not meet the original deadline date for the project, we felt her feedback was crucial to creating successful outcomes that satisfied her expectations. However, the extended deadline allowed us more time to contemplate and make improvements to each of the design outcomes, so we do not feel that this had a negative impact on the work produced. An extension date was never finalised between the client and us, but our main priority was to ensure the client was happy with the final design outcomes. More consistent communication between Charlene and us may have enabled us to finish the project on time.

Research and ideation

Red Emerald currently has few competitors. In our initial client meeting we looked through some of their logos and discussed why we thought they were or were not successful. This helped us later in deciding the approach we wanted to take to our own design work. Most of the logos used a single block colour which was extended throughout their branding material, while others chose more intricate designs that featured shading to create a 3D effect. We also considered how each brand had a slightly different target market which led us on to identify the different user groups for Red Emerald and create user personas to represent these.

We explored some of our design ideas by creating mood boards. We took two approaches to this, the first explored the more blatant theme of creating a brand related to the individual words in the name: ‘red’ and ‘emerald’. On this board we explored different emerald cuts and shades of red, combined with a contemporary approach to typography using sans serif fonts.

On the second board we explored a subtler approach covering a floral theme as our client informed us that red emerald is also a plant. On this second mood board we looked at floral fonts that also incorporated a vintage aesthetic as this was something the client has also expressed an interest in. 

Design Process

Logo

The client had a lot of input in the design of the logo with regard to their own ideation. In our initial meeting she provided us with a few sketches which we later used to brainstorm an array of initial sketches for further development. Charlene had expressed interest in using a floral theme throughout the branding which we found quite tricky as we needed to ensure that the logo was not gender oriented, so the nature of the business was not misidentified. We created a range of initial sketches on paper and then Adobe Illustrator to explore the possibilities of combining aspects of both of styles explored on our mood boards. A range of graphic elements were explored in this stage of the design process including; textures, colour gradients and shadows, but initial feedback led us to decide that block colour logos had the most impact. Block colour also did not compromise the legibility or clarity of the logo when adapted to different scales for the required documents and interfaces.

Charlene always kept us up to date with feedback she received from her colleagues regarding our ideas for the logo. To ensure Red Emerald presented a brand image that was appropriate to be presented to Government Organisations we quickly veered away from the original classic vintage style with serif typeface and moved towards a more contemporary style with a sans serif typeface. Floral elements no longer felt appropriate and we required a deeper exploration of the emerald cuts and shapes associated with them. This enabled a clear direction for ongoing development.

We explored typographic logos using the initials of the company but later decided this could be confusing for clients so we concluded that having the full name Red Emerald alongside the logo image would be more effective especially while the business is establishing itself.

Combining the text with image was one of the most challenging aspects but also helped to determine which was the strongest design. The design chosen provided us with a diamond graphic that fit comfortably alongside the name of the business and presented a corporate aesthetic which met the client’s needs.

Business cards

We initially took a more personal approach to designing the business cards and considered styles and patterns that Charlene had liked from our first logo designs. While dismissing the floral theme for the logo, we considered there may be an opportunity to incorporate it into the business cards to achieve this. However, we later decided, based on feedback from our supervisor and client, that while this was a valid experiment the outcome was not successful.

Developing the business card design involved exploring the possibility for a variety of layouts both portrait and landscape. As the project progressed, we began to think more about how the business cards could tie in with the other design outcomes. We ended up with a faint polygon pattern behind the logo on the front of the business cards which was then used on the report and letter template. The final business card design allowed for two text layout options on the back, one displayed the information that Charlene has available to her now and one shows the information that the business will have in the future once it is set up. The client decided to get the business cards printed using an external printer, so we created the appropriate files to enable her to do this. We discussed a variety of print finishes and in the end we chose a spot UV finish for the logo.

Report template

The primary function of the Report was to present information to a range of clients by aesthetically supporting the written content without distracting from it. We discussed with the client the kind of content that would be in the report to establish what components we needed to design. It was agreed that we would supply a range of paragraph styles to support hierarchy within the text and create a style for tables and charts, along with a colour scheme.

The final report template allows the client to add an image to the front cover or keep the logo watermark as shown. The paragraph styles present a range of heading options using fonts that are available on Microsoft Word and Apple Pages on multiple devices, to avoid complications when the template is being used by Charlene’s colleagues.

Letter template

The letter template was one of the last outcomes we designed, it was easy to create a successful design once the final logo had been confirmed. The polygon design used in the business card was recreated in the form of a banner which was positioned at the top of the page to help form the consistency in the brand that was required. The main difficulty with designing the letter template was that it introduced typographic restrictions as we had to consider the traditional layout of a letter and consider that most of the information would ideally sit on one A4 page. As with the report template, the letter template included types that are available in Microsoft Word and Apple Pages on all devices.

Slide show template

When designing the Presentation, the first consideration was to ensure coherence of the branding we had carried through the other documents. Using the red from the colour scheme and inspired by the geometric pattern used in the diamond graphic of the logo we began to create some slides incorporating the chosen serif typeface for the brand. In our first drafts of the Presentation slides the font was too small when we considered that presentations generally don’t contain large bodies of text and must be legible from a longer distance.

Progression of the design in the other documents, gave headway to the development of the Presentation, elements such as the subtle watermark and red polygon pattern on the business cards were brought in to keep consistency throughout, as well as the logo. We were unsure for a while what the best approach to the presentation slides was, so we had a range of options for the client to choose. From our Supervisor’s feedback we decided there was too many variants of slide backgrounds, and this surplus of choice was unnecessary as well as confusing for the user who really only needed one maybe two options. Peer feedback also implied that the all red background was too overwhelming on the eye, especially when considering the slides are likely to be presented on a large screen. The slide backgrounds that were decided on was a combination of the watermark and banner which influenced largely to mirror the report design.

The final important changes made, included the placement of the logo which needed to obtain to the agreed bordering space outlined in the brand guidelines and secondly it had to be exactly the same size and placement on all the slides. The watermark felt too opaque and infringed upon the editable presentation copy, so the transparency was increased to amend this.

Reflection

This project has given us a great insight into the design process for creating a brand identity. In each stage of the process the challenge of brand consistency presented itself which often meant that we had to rethink the logo or the fonts we were using. Better analysis of who we were designing for and what the company’s main activities are, would have helped us make more informed design decisions. We had a lot of ideas at the start but there are some styles we didn’t explore, and we could have created more initial sketches that potentially would have helped us decide on a final logo sooner.

 

“It has been a real pleasure working with both Aoife and Hannah. They have both been incredibly helpful with their thoughts, ideas and creativity. I have appreciated their suggestions being both creative but also academic in what works and what doesn’t work from a design learning perspective. They have always been willing to make changes and trying to come up with solutions that both work from a design perspective and what works for me as a client. They have always been quick to respond and have been very patient (as I haven’t always been able to respond as quickly!).

Their design work has been received very positively from the small market research I did as part of the development process. Comments received included ‘clean and bold’ ‘love the colours and how simple but affective the logo is’ and ‘It represents you really well…it will be attractive for your markets” – Charlene Allen, Managing Director of Red Emerald.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Background

Young adults with a learning disability may struggle to go to university, not due to a lack of skills but due to confidence issues. Being a student studying Graphic Communication is exciting and where you experience unique things that are not known to people who aren’t students. Opening these young adults eyes to the graphic design world and life being a student, hopefully will build their confidence to be bolder to taking new opportunities.

Restated Brief

Objectives

The aim of this Real Job was to write and present a talk that explained my passion for graphic design and being a student. This needed to be presented in an engaging way that would trigger enthusiasm within the audience. I believe I was successful in achieving this as the students were responding to the presentation content throughout and some asked questions at the end.

Deliverables

The deliverables of this project were somewhat unique for a Real Job as the design work involved using a template that the client provided. The outcome of the project acted as the deliverable, this being the presentation slides. The presentation lasted 30 minutes and needed to cover the topics that were agreed and discussed with the clients. The content of the presentation was: Myself & Design, what is design that including examples of a film poster project, infographics, data visualisation and pictograms. These topics were chosen as they were able to be related to by the audience despite having no background knowledge to graphic design. The film poster project being specifically relatable as the films chosen were well known. There was discussion of a hand out however, considering the time restriction this was agreed not to be included.

Schedule

Due to the project being presented in the Easter holidays the client was flexible with the date of the presentation. I had the choice of three Fridays (the day that sessions were scheduled), my presentation was scheduled for the 17^th April.

Process

Initial contact with the client

The initial meeting with the client was via Zoom so I was never able to meet the client face to face. However, the meetings were very relaxed and efficient as the client was clear with their objectives.

The client and myself maintained good communication, although we could’ve perhaps set a certain time each week to touch base because it was such a short project, there wasn’t time for mistakes. On the whole I felt this worked well. The client was clear with what she wanted to achieve and this was all outlined well in many exchanged emails. Overall, I felt that I worked with the client in a professional way where their vision was achieved.

Research

My audience were mostly adults aged 18–35 with learning difficulties who did not have the opportunity for university or further education, this being due to self-confidence problems. Every Friday, sessions are run for them to gain insight into a specific field that differs each week opening them to more opportunities. I needed to ensure that the presentation was appropriate and simple to understand, not bombarding them with too much information. The appropriateness for the audience was a way to manage the success as was measured by the engagement and enjoyment of the audience. To make the presentation engaging, I made sure that I covered a few topics in depth to fully explain to the audience the different processes and examples of graphic design, providing consistent structure to the presentation.

Design and Development

After deciding the content that I wanted to include I had to organise this in an appropriate and methodological way. Despite being given a template by the client I still had to design the slides so that they appeared intriguing yet clear to my audience. One challenge I did face was ensuring that the script was coherent to the slides and that everything I spoke about was demonstrated on the slide. To create a clear structure of my presentation I added an introductory slide that acted as a contents page to inform the audience what I will be speaking about. This helped me to create sections within my presentation ensuring that I spent an equal time on each topic. Conforming to a template was useful as it ensured that the students were familiar with the format and were forced to focus on what was on the slide rather than a new design.

Trello

Trello allowed me to organise and present my ideas effectively. I now have a better understanding of Trello so I am now able to use it more efficiently. Throughout this project I was able to upload developments of my work, explaining the rationale behind my decisions. I altered the checklists on Trello to suit my project, this helped me to manage my time well and to ensure I had achieved the requirements of the client. The Trello board also ensured communication with my supervisor so that they also were able to monitor my progress.

Final Stage

Feedback

The instant feedback that I gathered after completing the presentation was that the students asked some questions throughout showing that they were engaged. One student also stayed behind on the call to ask me some feedback on a website he had created, where he has put together a gaming portfolio to show to possible jobs related to gaming. The client also phoned me the following week to provide me with some feedback, she felt that my presentation remained professional whilst ensuring interaction with the students. It was also mentioned that reading from a script can sometimes make engagement hard but this was fine as I was able to come away from the script in order to speak directly to the students. Overall the client was pleased with my presentation and she felt that the students benefitted from my Student 101 greatly.

Reflection

Time Management

This was my first Real Job that I have completed so far. I feel as though I learnt many things this term, where I had to manage many other projects alongside this having to make my own decision as to when to prioritise different work.

Communication Skills

I found it insightful presenting to strangers where I was able to convey my passion for graphic design. It definitely benefitted me working on this project alone as it became a personal journey through the presentation where I essentially had the chance to showcase some of my favourite projects. This project will definitely help me when I have to present in the future whether this is at university or in my professional career as this was the first time I presented to strangers.

COVID-19

The deadline had to be met as the client and her students were relying on me to deliver my presentation on a specific date. The initial plan was for myself to come to Reading in the Easter holidays and to present in person, however due to Covid-19 this was changed to a Zoom presentation. I was initially unfamiliar with the software, however after doing practice presentations I felt more confident.  Zoom did not restrict or limit my presentation but the challenge of engaging the students became harder as it was a greater challenge to give a talk that engaged people who were not in the same room. To try and help this I asked questions throughout the presentation at the end of each topic, rather than waiting till the very end where I opened them up to asking questions.

Personal Journey

Retrospectively, the outcome of my final presentation was pleasing and I was encouraged by the response of the students. I really hope that this benefitted the students and that I provided them with some confidence to explore graphic design and further opportunities in this field. My eyes were opened by one of the student’s website that he had designed by himself in his free time, seeing his passion was very uplifting as I became aware that I had pushed him to be confident enough to share his work with me. I thoroughly enjoyed this project working with the client and supervisor, where the final outcome was not just impactful on the audience but also myself. This unique project was quite refreshing taking me away from physical design work, making me think about why I am really passionate about graphic design.

 

Background

Longhaul Endurance is an up and coming brand, which aims to provide athletes with high quality performance food. Co-owners Staale and Amelia both saw a gap in the market – most foods manufactured for the athlete on the go, did not come in savoury flavours, and often were full of highly processed chemicals. Being athletes themselves, they wanted to provide a natural alternative which provided a great quality energy source on the go. I was allocated this project in a team of 4 fellow students, consisting of myself, Alex Ganczarski, Liselot van Veen and Louisa Ellis.

Understanding our project better

We began this project by organising to talk to our client, so we could get a better understanding of their aims for their business, what kind of message they’d want to put across, and why exactly they wanted to rebrand. From here, we were able to restate the brief. The client from the beginning was keen to reinforce the idea that their product was unique, and that it was important that the branding expressed their aims to create all natural food, without the crash of sugary alternatives. Another important thing to ascertain from our initial meeting was the proposed audience for this product. The client mentioned that they target those between the ages of 35 and 55 – predominantly those who participate in endurance sports, hikers, or those who enjoyed the outdoors. This meant for us, we needed to create something reasonably clean and professional, that might appeal to that audience. The client also indicated in the meeting that they believed that their current tagline: ‘Prolonged energy release food’ did not represent them as effectively as they would like, and they really wanted to reinforce the ‘natural’ side of their brand.

Research

In our research, we focused on competitor brands with a similar focus to that of Longhaul Endurance. One particular brand that our client identified that they admired the visual style of was ‘Tribe’ pictured below.  As pictured, ‘Tribe’ employs vibrant colours and textures in a ‘landscape style’ particularly in portrayal of outdoor adventure and hiking. Other brands that could be comparable such as ‘G Endurance’ and ‘SiS’ give more of a clean, clinical sense, potentially more aimed towards gym users, and those who focus on building muscle. From the research, we determined that it would be useful to echo some of these themes in our design process. However, one issue we faced straight away with this idea is that Longhaul focuses on a variety of endurance athletes, rather than a particular focus on one discipline.

We also had a look at the existing materials already available for Longhaul, and discussed these with the client. They emphasised that they already felt their logo was representative of their brand, and felt professional. They also explained that their budget is quite small, and making drastic changes to their logo would increase their printing costs tenfold. We did try some initial colour changes, and how we could try to minimise the costs of printing – however after further discussion with the client and their printer, we came to the conclusion that we should leave the logo as is, and focus on the visual design of the pouch.

Design process

We began the design process by individually brainstorming and sketching out our initial ideas for the front of the pouch. From here, we pooled our ideas and met to discuss which ideas we believed had legs. One particular idea I had was using ‘leading eye’ to draw the eye to the pouch in form of a running track.

From our initial sketches, the next stage of progression involved development digitally. By this stage, our client had provided us with all the EPS files and copy necessary to start working effectively with their existing brand.

Digital development

Again, after developing them digitally, we took the time to assess the designs as a group – this helped us to compare and understand which of our designs we felt worked well, as well as which designs we could exclude from the further development process. Below are four different concepts that we narrowed down our concepts to. In retrospect, as a group we agree that we did produce too many concepts at this stage – basing our decisions on having one concept per person, rather than choosing just a couple concepts that we felt were strong enough to progress.

Our client kindly offered to send us some samples of their pouches – we had a copy of the dimensions of the pouch, but we found it hard to visualise how the design would fit on the pouch, and any potential things we needed to be careful of when designing the pouch. From meetings with each other, as well as our client and supervisor, we were able to work out a couple of layouts we felt worked well to balance the hierarchy of information effectively. We found fairly early on that a space that worked well as a container for information was the same triangular shape as in the logo. From attempting to arrange the information within the triangle, we decided to extend this approach to the outside world. We felt that mountains naturally mirrored the shape we were looking for, and therefore began to focus our strategy on how we could represent mountains in our designs.

Our experimentation of using the triangular shape as a container for information

From here, we wanted to continue this exploration into mountains, as we felt the simple triangle wasn’t enough to show the rugged, textural nature of a mountain. Below, we have further examples of how we incorporated further illustration into our design to create this depth of detail.

Finally, after much exploration, we decided that a polyart style of illustration provided a great balance of rigidity, depth and fun to really emphasise the nature of the brand, and the colours we chose we believe really reflect the savoury, nutritious product within the pouches. We presented our client with this as a proposed outcome, and they seemed to be very impressed.

Our client said: ‘The use of a mountain is very well aligned with the brand image we want to portray. The design works well as a concept that we can apply to new product ranges. It is both clean and eye catching.’

Continuing our design to the back of the pouch

Unfortunately, this project was stalled for a couple of months due to the effects of Covid-19 on their business. The image below compares the existing packaging with the final iteration of our proposed design.

Concluding adjustments and design sign-off

The final part of the design process finally took place when we were able to regain contact with the client. From here, they gave us some helpful feedback to make the adjustments to the designs that they wanted to their design, and we refined our work down to print ready documents using the artworking techniques. Prior to requesting signoff with our supervisor Rob Banham, we had a conversation with him regarding any further considerations he felt we should make – particularly in regard to the print production of our work. From here, we did attempt to contact gualapack (the printing agency that Longhaul used for their work). They were somewhat helpful – however there were some issues with a language barrier to bypass!

 

Technical preparation

Finally, our designs were signed off by our supervisor Rob, and the design was effectively ready to send to the client. Despite our best efforts to retrieve all the copy for the project, the client was not ready to provide us the ingredients for their two new flavours. Therefore, in another conversation with the client we decided it was worth us simply packaging our indesign files, along with information and a short guide as to how future designers should attempt to adjust the work – in the file transfer to the client was all the information, images and copy we had used, and the documents were ready for final production. This means the final details, alongside additional flavours can be added providing a further scope to our client.

Reflection

Although the final deadline well surpassed our original deadline, I’m relieved that we were able to complete the project and create the client a design that they felt represented them, and were proud of. I feel as if our team worked fairly effectively together, and all contributed a sufficient amount to our progress. I would say I’m overall happy with these designs – however there’s a chance we were too broad with our approach too late on in the project – we may have benefitted by having more time to refine our final ideas, particularly for the back of the pouch.

Final feedback from our client

‘It’s been a pleasure working with you all and I’m very impressed and pleased with the final result. So thank you for all your efforts, and for your patience during these lasts few months.’ – Staale Brinchmann, Longhaul

‘We have been extremely impressed with the designs that you have all put forward. We both wish you all the best for the future.’ – Amelia Watts, Longhaul