Manifesto Review

Manifesto/ Statement of intent review, I made the presentation based on the progress I had made since the first presentation of the year reviewing the briefs I had done and the briefs I had changed. 

First Collaborative Meeting

17/2/15

As I set out at the start of the year, me and Lizzy where going to collaborate on a travel based brief. And so we decided that we should start now, now that first semester had finished and we had one less module to work on, as well as this we both have placements this semester and so starting earlier gives us more time to work on it and more room  if there is error.


Meeting Preparation

I researched into what other people had done in relation to travel...

https://www.behance.net/gallery/20828081/Not-just-another-guide-to-Cologne

https://www.behance.net/gallery/1031959/Wanderlust

I really liked this project above, it almost matches what I envision we will be doing, I also like the look and feel of the work too.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/23603375/Kyoto-tourist-attraction-Icon-design

I then looked at two competition briefs as I remembered they where both travel companies

Airbnb- D&AD
Top Deck- YCN

I thought that we could either try these briefs or adapt them into our own brief taking the bits that we liked.

I also brought this newspaper along, I really liked the format and the feel of it, I thought if Lizzy agreed then we could maybe try using this or a similar format. 

Meeting

We discussed our initial ideas 

I showed Lizzy the briefs and the things I felt where important or we could use from them, we felt that the briefs both where asking for a very digital response and I didn't feel like this was appropriate for me and Lizzy wanted to steer away from digital. 

We wanted to incorporate art and into the brief, art + travel.

I felt that my interest lied within the architecture, sculpture etc. 

We also discussed that art from the past would be more appropriate as most of the time it is part of the culture of the place, whereas modern art may be too un coherent to the place and then we would be focussing on the art and artists rather than travel.

From this we also decided we wanted to be focussed on city breaks, as in the city is where the most landmarks are and art etc. And from our own experiences we felt like this was true too. 

And so we decided to pinpoint main buildings/landmarks of the cities to the traveller, and this is usually the art or where the best art is. 

Our audience would be 18-30 year olds, male and female, sophisticated individuals, looking to learn and immerse themselves in culture, they want to be independent on their trip but don't want the hassle of arranging the flights and accommodation. 

We also drew from the company of the competition briefs, airbnb (which I have used) is a company that has host and guests where you can let someone rent your place and you can go to someone else's. This has a focus on hospitality and accommodation, not something we wanted to focus on. 

Top Deck is a company that arranges the whole holiday, travel, accommodation, trips, events, food etc. We felt that this was more along with what we wanted. 

Again from our own experiences we felt that having everything planned for you in the day/night isn't ideal and you end up with a guide and not much independence. 

We came to the idea that our company would offer inspiration in the form of a quarterly magazine showing a different city each quarter. For continuity purposes a city may be featured multiple times at different points in the year or if there is something new happening in conjunction with art in that city which would be a sub-feature of the issue, or for instance if it is a different season, for instance Budapest in summer will be very different to Budapest in winter, where there is a huge focus on christmas and christmas markets.

We also decided to use the format of the newspaper I had found we really liked the way it looked and how ergonomically it was. 

I drew around the newspaper and and A4 piece, we looked at how we could keep the sizes similar, I drew the ratio of the paper, to make the newspaper the same width as an A4 sheet, however this would make the publication to tall, and then to cut an A4 sheet down would be costly and wouldn't work in the real world. 

Lizzy pointed out that it would actually be better to have a different size when we photograph anyway and so we decided to do this.

From this we chose some formats 

Magazine- 30x17cm
Postcards- 15x17cm
Luggage Tags- 15x8.5cm
Letterhead- A4
Envelope- 1/2 A4 (height)


We also made other choices

Colour: Orange, Black and White 

(we chose orange as it is associated with creativity, and we felt that it was warm and inviting)

Stock: Brown and off-white (a more natural feel like the newspaper) 

We also wrote a list firstly of cities we thought where art related:

Paris (France)
New York (America)
Istanbul (Turkey)
Barcelona (Spain)
Amsterdam (Holland)
Milan (Italy)
Rome (Italy)
Athens (Greece)
Tokyo (Japan)
Cairo (Egypt)
Marrakech (Morocco)
London (England)

We then looked online to see which cities had been voted for as the best for art, this way it wasn't on our preconceptions 

Venice (Italy)
Salsburg (Austria)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Vienna (Austria)
Budapest (Hungary)
St Petersburg (Russia)
Santiago De Composeta (Spain)
Sienna (Italy)
Luxor (Egypt)
Krakow (Poland)
Berlin (Germany)
Florence (Italy)
Chicago (America)

Others that we had listed did appear too in the lists online and so these became definite choices. 

Rome (Italy)
Istanbul (Turkey)
Barcelona (Spain)
Paris (France)

We then chose another six, so that we would have a starter company with ten cities. We ruled out America as this is an expensive place to go to especially from a UK based company, we wanted an element of realistic-ness. We also ruled out African and Asian countries and stuck to mainly European countries, expanding to the eastern side of the world and further down the world. (We also didn't have cities from the same country as this would be an easy expansion, we wanted to offer a variety firstly)

1. Rome (Italy)
2. Istanbul (Turkey)
3. Barcelona (Spain)
4. Paris (France)
5. Prague (Czech Republic)
6. Vienna (Austria)
7. Budapest (Hungary)
8. St Petersburg (Russia)
9. Krakow (Poland)
10. Berlin (Germany)

We then arranged a to do list:

We firstly needed to work on our corporate side, branding the company. 

We need to...

• Name the company
• Logo 
• Identity
• Philosophy
• Mission Statement
• Typography 
• Colour(almost decided)

We are going to meet the 27/2/15 and by that time we should have all of the above.

We will talk in-between if we need to clarify or show each other work. 

In the next meeting we will decide what needs to be done next. 

I think the meeting went really well we both understood each other and worked really well, I feel enthusiastic about the project and I think Lizzy does too, which is good because it means we both want to work on this.

Brief Review

15/02/11

After having a process tutorial with Simon Jones, we discussed how it would be good for me to review the briefs I had wrote at the start of the year and I should look to see whether I still wanted to do them and what I would get from doing them. As I felt a bit lost with what I was doing and doing this might help me organise my time and projects. 

Now I need to focus on the areas of graphic design I like, and so I pretty sure in myself that I am a print designer. I also mainly create editorial and publication work. I also like creating promotional materials and I also like branding and identity, these are my main focus areas and so I think to show this in my portfolio I firstly need to create some more work based upon this. 

Current briefs completed:

I looked into print and print collateral I feel that my portfolio needs a wider scope of print collateral as I have only really one project that shows an extensive range. 

And so I mind mapped what types of print collateral there is and for what sectors. 

From this I reviewed the work I had in my 'portfolio' and the ones that I would definitely include that I was happy with, and I left out projects I was okay with. And so this left me with 4 projects. 

I looked at sectors I like and wanted to show that I like through my work and I wrote them down. 

At the bottom of the page I defined what I still needed to do to improve my portfolio. 

1. Create a project with more extensive and focused brand and identity. 
2. Show a range of print collateral (e.g. I haven't made menus before)
3. And then I also wanted to show my interests in particular sectors

I wrote down things I was sure I wasn't interested in so I knew what I wouldn't work towards and then I wrote the things I was interested in. 

From reviewing my interests I wrote all the briefs I had written at the start of the year in a list and I ticked the ones I had completed and then I crossed out the ones I definitely knew I had no interest in and wouldn't gain anything from. 

I then expanded from the ones I hadn't done and then wrote how I could do these and what they related to. 

For instance I knew that the travel brochure brief 7, would show my interests in travel and then my interests in print, editorial and branding, I was now going to do this brief in collaboration with Lizzy Gosney and so this would be adapted. I also changed two others, I then wrote a list of what else I could do that I hadn't written in. 

And so my new briefs I plan on doing are: 

• A brief associated with my interest in home lifestyle/design
• A collaborative brief based upon travel
• A brief based upon a restaurant or food establishment where I will be able to explore more print collateral.

I felt in doing this I learnt about myself as a designer more and I really established what I liked and what I need to do in preparation for my portfolio and graduation. 

DS.Emotion Confirmation of Placement

After our meeting I went back to university and asked as to which dates I could got to DS.Emotion if they wanted to give me a placement, the had also said that if I needed time of for things at uni that would be okay. 

And so I looked at the calendar and saw that either the week before or the week after Easter is almost free and so I went and asked Amber which would be better she said the week before Easter and throughout would be fine as the week after Easter we will only have 5 weeks left! 

And so I emailed DS with the dates and they said that they would get back to me.

In the next few days they emailed me back and said that they where happy to give me a placement at the studio for a month! 

I was so happy to receive the good news and to be doing a month at a good studio would give me experience and I would hopefully learn a lot. As well as this having a month experience will give me a little bit more to offer to future employers etc, or it could lead to more at DS. 

I am looking forward to my placement although I am a little nervous that it is a month which might take a lot of time of my uni work but I feel gaining experience and meeting new people is invaluable and will help me, as well as this I will make up for it by working on what I need to and I have gained time back this year from not having a part time job too which has helped me massively in terms of my work and my self, which has then helped my work. 

St George's Crypt: Publication Plan

I just received this email and this means as discussed in the previous meeting that there has been a decision made upon the making of the book which I am really pleased with to be moving forwards. 

Allocation of the roles within the publication. 

For this I am a little unsure as to what this section will really include but I am going to raise this question at the next meeting or by email to clarify. 

And I am really glad that I am going to be doing this and I am looking forward to working with Sam as I know that he is also really strong with editorial work. 

St George's Crypt: Meeting 3: Ideas

4/2/15

Before the meeting I had drawn some initial sketches of how I thought the book could look and be formatted, I just went for different ideas not thinking about the cost of production or difficulties. 

I answered the questions first, which would help me to think about where I was coming from on this project and what I would and could contribute.

Questions:

1)  What subject area do you want to specialise in (see the other notes about subject areas) ? eg patnerships, clients, staff, volunteers, society/community etc

2)  What is the overlying message you want to communicate?

3)  How does your creative underpin the message you want to communicate?

4)  How else/and where else might we use this creative in the book, or elsewhere when promoting thje crypt?

Answers:

1.     Book and print design- other promotional materials if possible
2.     Change your perceptions, and increase awareness of the crypts services
3.     The book can contain formats that will 'change your perspective' print finishes and layout may also do this. Additional print collateral for other events. Colour and type.
4.     Promotional print collateral and digital (will need more support with) -infographics? a way of donating differently?

These ideas below are ideas for the whole publication and the page formats how they mights work and 'change your perspective' I thought about lots of different ways the book could work and different print finishes- achievable in reality or not.

I went onto some further exploration of how the publication could be expanded, or how ideas that have been mentioned could be highlighted. 

I really liked the idea of a plastic box that people would put in their thing to give up for the week and write this pledge on the item and then donate the money in a separate box.

At the meeting we went round and discussed the questions and I thought that most would have ideas but I was the only one who had drawn something out and I think that it would of been more beneficial if people had brought in things that they had in mind sketches or places of inspiration. 

Martell Baines wrote some very interesting notes and sent them on to all of us which I think really outlines everyones stance in this project. 

Following on from this meeting Ed, Sharon, Chris, Andrew etc are having a meeting the next day to discuss who will be doing which jobs and what else needs to be covered that hasn't been already. 

St George's Crypt: Meeting 2

In this meeting Chris Fields was filmed talking about the themes we had thought about for the publication. 

We discussed that the contents could be...

1. Day Service/ Users- Storied
2. Recent History & Refurbishments
3. Volunteers (marketing for the crypt)
4. Staff- motivations, osmosis, coming from being a service user
5. Inspirational/ Aspirational- good news
6. Training- cooking/ gardening/ opera north/ lac
7. Womens Stories (part of 1)
8. Offenders (part of 1)
9. Partnership Working (myth busting) 
10. Future- big vision
11. Introduction/ Welcome (not a soup kitchen)
12. Faith in Action
13. What to do about beggars
14. Where has the homeless come from
15. Poverty
16. Welfare State
17. Politics
18. Success- measure of success

AIM:
To enthuse the younger generation and connect
promote the crypt and their ethos
continuity and honesty
changing the view of homelessness

Need a contemporary view for the future
What is our idea of safety? in comparison

The book, posters and other promotional materials? 

Not just British, asylum seekers, refugees etc

ground rules- no violence towards any one staff or resident

Police Partnership 

Donations of consumables- food, clothing 

keywords & thoughts

Sale price of the book ?? 
needs a call to action- just giving link?

the idea of us giving up something non-essential, what can we do?

What stops us from donating to humans over animals

who is your god? who is your rock? who would you turn to?

it takes 1month to completely break down

could tie in with corporate appreciation event and world homeless day in October. 
Ideally completed by July.

Page count needed

All of this information was discussed at the meeting some of the notes are thoughts of my own. I felt like at this meeting we where beginning to get into the actual design of the book and it made me think about some ways in which the book could be more interesting and how it could be designed. 

In the evening we all received an email from Ed Rider who is managing the project between us and the Crypt. 

This meant that I could start designing the book which I was really excited about and I wanted to get the project moving and for us to really get an idea of what each others roles would be and how involved I and Sam Cook would be in the design on the book, as we had put ourselves forwards as the graphic design role. 

I was also excited for the fact that we would be using images and text from various sources and I had never done a live project like this, I think that it will increase my awareness of what can be achieved and the organisation of a charity design project. 

St George's Crypt: Meeting 1

After submitting my form of interest, a few weeks later I received confirmation that I was invited to the crypt and that I could be a part of the project, which I was really pleased about. 

21/01/15 

At the initial meeting we met back up with Chris Fields, but we also meant Andrew Omond who works at the crypt and will be supporting Chris and the Crypt's input of the project.

We where given a tour of the crypt and initial introduction to the crypts history and where it is now and how it operates.

I learnt a lot from this trip and it was very useful information, it also changed some of my thoughts about the type of people who used the crypt, for example the fact that the crypt also supports people who are on a very low income where they can barely afford to live. 

We arranged a meeting for the following week. 

St Georges Crypt Interest Form

To apply for the opportunity we where sent a form where we had to express our interest and send through a few examples of our work. 

The main question of the form was:

Why do you want to collaborate on this project?

I was really interested in this project as I have a strong interest in editorial and publication design. Also I like to do work to aid social causes and believe this is a thing that everyone should do. I would also like to join this project as I feel that it would be a really good and changing experience. As well as this I would like the prospect of working with different creatives and professionals.

I felt that this summarised my interest well and my dissertation ties in with this theme as it looks at design for a good cause, and I believe that this is. 

I also included some images of work I felt that would show my editorial skills, and my knowledge of print finishes and formats.