Real Job: Our students asked if they could build and manage an Instagram account for the Department. https://www.instagram.com/uortypography/ @_timwatkins @UniofReading
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Wayfinding and cross-cultural design with Joan Zalacain and Zofia Szostkiewicz
Highlights and insights from Joan and Zofia's all-digital signage project in Mecca.
A visit from DK
Karen Self (Art Director), Michael Duffy (Managing Art Editor) and Kit Lane (Designer and alumni of the Department) joined us for a day of workshopping, portfolio reviewing, and mock interviewing.
Reading Museum Donations Board
Real Job:
Tom Green was commissioned to create a new donor board for an event at Reading Museum.
See more on typography.network
Good essay writing: techniques, tips and characteristics
Rob Banham explains what is expected of a high quality essay for Graphic Communication and Typography BA, and how university essays are different to A-level essays.
UX insights from visiting graduates
Graphic Communication and Typography graduates, Carmen Martinez, Neil Linford-Relph and Aman Verma, share their experiences of UI and UX design.
David Pearson: What makes a great book cover?
David Pearson's experience in real life book cover design, and how his experimentation with different design methods helped create exciting and unique book covers.
Lula & Gabrielle
Background:
Mona Jibril and her business partners wanted to start a company that would provide a high quality line of nightwear and lingerie for women aged 40 to 65. They registered their business under the name Lula & Gabrielle and now needs a brand identity to reflect what they are selling. Their items include nightdresses, dressing gowns, underwear and pyjama sets.
Restated brief:
We are aiming to create a cohesive brand identity for Mona’s company. This will hopefully portray Lula & Gabrielle in a professional manner but also in a way that older women would feel connected to this brand. Their visual identity would be used across their labels and packaging for their products as well as on their website and also possibly on social media in the future.
Mona had asked us to create a brand that included a sense of relaxation and high quality material. She asked us to include soft colours and a feather in the logo as a sense of softness that would reflect the material used on the products.
We agreed to create the following deliverables for our client:
- Logo
- Business cards
Research and ideation:
As there are many companies doing exactly what Mona is trying to achieve, i.e. Autograph, M&S Collection, Jasper Conran and Debenhams, Lula & Gabrielle has a high chance of succeeding in this ecumenic climate.
Some of the companies Mona has sourced inspiration from include:
- Victoria’s Secret
- Boux Avenue
- Agent Provocateur
We then looked at the logos for these companies, as well as the others named above, we noted various features that would make their business seem more appealing. These included:
- Script typefaces
- Feminine colours
- A minimalistic logo
- Sense of intimacy and elegance
As Lula & Gabrielle is aimed at older women, we wanted to make sure the logo would be legible from a distance, although this proved to be hard due to the inclusion of a feather motif. The customers would hold a great source of value to the product they would be purchasing which means that the logo and brand identity all together has to prove that all of the products are elegant and worth buying.
Design development:
The logo
After sketching out several feather designs and other various logo ideas, we began exploring typography. We agreed that a script typeface would be more appropriate for the age range of the customers and soon began exploring different ways of incorporating the feather with the favoured typefaces.
Initial Logo Logo Designs Oval Logo Simplified Logo
We initially though that having the feather behind some of the type would make the type harder to read, especially for those hard of seeing. We soon conquered this issue by having the ampersand the only thing in front of the feather so that ‘Lula’ and ‘Gabrielle’ would still be legible. This became Mona’s favourite of the logos we had created and therefore became the final logo for her company.
Business Cards
For the Lula & Gabrielle business cards, Mona had stated that she wanted to keep them as close to the logo as possible. We wanted to make sure that the business cards reflected the company but also the two main people behind the company’s name, so we made sure the typography we used reflected their feelings towards Lula & Gabrielle. Although there is very little colour on the business cards, we believe that once the brand is established, the logo will be known very well, with or without colour. As there was little colour in the logo and business cards, there was not much to worry about with the cost of production.
We created several ideas for the business cards before we got to the final design. This was mainly to do with the typography being used for the information.
Mona had wanted us to try and have all of the information on one side and the feather logo on the other, but this seemed too busy and tiring for many people to read, so we discarded this idea and went on to create minimalistic business cards.
As we narrowed down what our client wanted and did not want, we were able to create the final version of the business card for her and her business partners. The new design was simplistic and easy to read but also included the brand identity of the company, which was the main aim.
Reflection:
Mona had given us mainly positive feedback for her company’s brand identity. We are unsure if these are currently in use, or if the company is still around due to the fact that we have had no contact with her and also we cannot find the company online anymore.
We do believe, however, that we were able to give our client a flexible logo which suited her and her company’s needs at the time and also was able to stand out amongst other companies that were considered her competition.
This particular job took longer than we thought to complete due to troubles with meeting the client and gaining feedback as she was very busy, but we are now astute in time management and hopefully this will show in the future.
Not all of our designs were featured in this report due to some of them being thrown out or being lost along the way.
From this project, we have learnt that we should be able to ask for more feedback or clarification on feedback instead of spending time trying to understand what the client may have meant. We were able to gain this understanding eventually, thus creating the brand identity for Lula & Gabrielle.
Coral Hoeren & June Lin
I am, We are Different by Design
Background
In the beginning of part 2, myself and other students that ranged across the three-year groups started, alongside staff, the I am, We are Different by Design group. The group set out to create a sense of diversity and inclusion within the department as we felt this was somewhat lacking. We aimed to do this in a range of different ways, this specific reflection however relates to the process and creation of the first edition of an annual zine. As a group, we received funding from the university’s Partnerships in Learning and Teaching (PLanT) scheme to create this zine and send it to print in order to distribute it across the university. Our motivations stemmed from believing that the zine would be the best way for us to communicate our opinions and also it gave us all an opportunity to use out graphic design skills learned on the course.
Brief
Our brief was to create a zine (mini magazine) that showcased work from current and past students within the school (Art, Film and Theatre and Typography). This included sourcing content, conducting interviews and designing the entire zine within a short time. Our production time was quite short as we all had different schedules (due to the different year group scheduling) and the moment we got funding to the deadline for production being quite close to each other.
We planned for an A5 dimension as it allowed for more content to be included and more copies to be printed and distributed. Additionally, we collectively decided on a matte finish to ensure durability over time. Due to the nature of the content we aimed for the zine to look fun and exciting and like a celebration of the diverse work that is created at this university. Our main aim was to showcase this and allow for people to see and read about work they normally would not be exposed to.
Research
For inspiration and research, we looked at different zines and magazines. The tasks were delegated between us so some of us researched typography whereas others researched layouts etc. Although somewhat useful, sketching out themes and ideas served more effective than looking at other examples as we were creating something that closely reflected the content used throughout.
Communication
Throughout this project, we all communicated through Trello, Facebook and with weekly group meetings that always took place on a Wednesday. This was due to the fact that this was the only day where we all had time to meet for a couple of hours at an appropriate time. Having weekly group sessions was really useful as it added to a sense of community we were all lacking, but also made it easier to collaborate and bounce ideas off of each other.
Process
Our process started with discussions concerning who and what we wanted to feature and why. Our featured contributors needed to be engaging with diversity in some kind of way as that was what we aimed to showcase. At times this was quite challenging considering we didn’t want to interpret certain works in the wrong way if they weren’t intended to be about diversity and inclusion (but instead merely personal projects – so diverse by default).
In order to compile and design content, we interviewed individuals across the school as well as researchers and graduates. In order to do this we needed to do research and get ethics approval beforehand. This process of conducting interviews was very useful as it allowed us to explore and develop our professional skills as we had to be respectful and professional in our data collection.
The interviews we conducted allowed us to create articles and spreads showcasing a nice range of work showcasing projects that explored diversity, identity and inclusion (as hoped). Some examples of works that we featured is artwork representing equality within visual arts as well as more researched based content focussed on assisting medical staff.
The cover design of our zine featured a motif of camera lenses – this represented seeing things from different perspectives and capturing these. The range of colour used reflect inclusion and add to the fun and inspiring aspect of the zine. Overall, I can say we were collectively pleased with the outcome and reception.
Feedback
After completion of our zine, we received a range of positive feedback.
“We are very inspired by the whole project and how we can expand it to other departments. The zine turned out so well!” – Lisa Woynarski (School diversity lead)
Encouraging words like this have led us to be even more motivated to continue to do this kind of work, which we did having recruited members in this year (and hope to continue to do so throughout the years).
Conclusion
In conclusion, this project was one of the most fruitful and beneficial personal projects that I have been involved with throughout the three years of my time at the university. Getting to know members from different year groups allowed for us all to experience diversity and a sense of community in a way that isn’t very common. I am grateful to staff members that allowed for this and encouraged it as often times extra-curricular activities may seem overwhelming or big commitments. We were never made to feel like we had to attend the session, or we would get into trouble. Due to this, it seems we were more inclined to get involved because that pressure was lifted. Additionally, being able to create collaboratively whilst not being marked gave a different perspective into what and how design work can be (considering in most cases this is paid work that doesn’t always serve the designer themselves). Now being at the end of my journey here I really encourage other students to get involved with groups and communities such as these, and if in the future I am, We are Different by Design doesn’t exist, I hope our efforts can inspire others to undertake their own projects within the school.
Soil Science Diagram
Background
The Soil Science project was a university-lead project which required several flow charts and tables in order to explain information and educate individuals about soil science. The diagram designed in this Real Job worked alongside various other diagrams and were given to the audience as a handbook for a conference. The client I was working with on this Real Job was Alison Black, a research professor at the University of Reading, in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication.
Restated brief
The Real Job had a very quick turn-around time, of just over a week. Because of this, my supervisor decided it was not an effective use of time to create restated briefs to present to the client, and so this stage was ruled out of the project process.
Deliverable
The deliverable in this Real Job was a diagram handing a group of information about soil science. The client requested that all text was given in 12pt regular Arial, and that the diagram was able to print on one side of an A4 page, ideally filling two thirds of the page.
Research and ideation
The client was able to provide me with the existing diagram which needed to be redesigned in order to allow the readers to access its contents easily, with little confusion. My supervisor had previously redesigned an existing diagram and was able to suggest to me what the client expected. Once given the diagram to redesign I looked into different methods of expressing information. This included tables, flow charts and various other diagrams. Due to the stepped stages of the information in the existing diagram, I decided that producing a flow chart was likely to be the most effective way to style the information.
Design development
Due to the short turn-around of the Real Job, there was not a large amount of development with the design. I met frequently with both the client and my supervisor which meant that development was carried out whilst putting together the initial designs for the diagram. The client was very pleased with the designs that I was able to put forwards and issues were resolved quickly. Due to the diagram being used in a handbook for the conference, it was important that the design could work both in CMYK and in greyscale in the instance that the client needed to print in greyscale. The first design shown to the client is given here.
Outcome
The client and I quickly came to the final design and were able to agree on final touches that needed making. I provided the client with PDF, JPEG, PNG and Ai versions of the file so that they were able to place it in to almost any document that was necessary. The final outcomes, in CMYK and greyscale are shown here.
Reflection
Working in close proximity to both the client and my supervisor gave the Real Job a sense of achievement and it meant that I was able to react immediately to feedback I was given by both parties. The project, however, did not come without its challenges. Unfortunately, my MacBook was stolen during the process of the Real Job, meaning that I was briefly without any means of completing the work for the client. Despite this, I was luckily able to borrow a laptop and accessed my files online, meaning that I was able to quickly and seamlessly resume the job for the client. I personally feel that I was able to handle this situation with maturity and prioritised the completion of the job in order to satisfy my client, which is a largely significant factor in producing a successful piece of design for the client. I received very positive feedback from my client throughout the project, for presenting a quick and effective solution to the problem and remaining keen and enthusiastic about the Real Job despite the challenges I was faced with.