Final Major Project Evaluation:
For my final major project I stated that I wanted to focus on the uses of type and layout with a main focus on image. Looking in to design for publication such as book cover design for large publishers like Penguin. Through out my final major project I wanted there to also be a main focus on all things print and the uses of the different print processes, as this is also a large part of my overall design practice. Looking in to design for publication will allow me to combine the uses of both type and image so that I can also improve my layout skills. I also wanted to investigate more into brand identities for small independent companies and to continue to experiment with print processes. Within the final major project module I also aimed to work a professionally as possible, which meant a quick turn around of my work, consideration of audience and context, appropriateness of print processes and finishing’s.
The final briefs that I handed in for this module are, Puffin Classics re-design, Fairfax Singers brand identity, Postage stamps, Proverb Posters and Paper product – wedding invites. I intended to do the British Music Experience brief but found it wasn’t appropriate for my design practice.
For the Puffin books re-design I initially took on the competition brief set by Puffin to re-design the cover for Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland. However this brief then expanded to a whole set of books, from the children’s classic range selecting 5 from that range to re-design. As a whole I really enjoyed this brief and got to look in to the uses of processes such as foil blocking with the heat press, to highlight areas of the text on the covers. Although within this brief I tended to fall in to the trap of changing little bits of the book layouts and not making design decisions early on. However I was happy with the overall final designs and put the books in to context by creating in store banners and promotional book marks for them. It was also suggested to me to look in to ebooks and other applications other than just the book itself.
The Fairfax Singers was a live brief that I took on and it was a paid job too. The Fairfax Singers are a local choir and they wanted to update their stationary and logo. The turn around for this brief was quite quick but it was just the decisions on their part I had to wait for. I produced several presentation boards to show them my designs and then they would give me feedback on which ones they thought worked best and then I would take those ones further. The initial brief was to create just a logo for them but it turned in to letter heads, business cards and promotional posters for their up and coming events. I learnt a lot from this brief and found out that it is very hard to please people sometimes when you’re dealing with a group of people.
The postage stamp brief allowed me to work with a slightly different format to apply illustration to. With this brief I was able to work more with illustration and colour creating a range of products.
For the proverb posters brief I initially wanted to have the posters as a screen-printed outcome. Within this brief I was able to experiment more with the process of screen-print and the uses of different stocks. Also this brief was centred around type and image as I wanted to improve my skills within layout.
For my final brief I chose to do paper product using the theme of a wedding to create wedding invites, thank you cards and RSVP’s. This was a quick turn around brief and I didn’t want to spend too long on as it, so I benefited from this as most of the time I don’t spend enough time on making design decisions.
