Brief 1 - Shake 'N' Vac - Brief

Brief 1 - Shake 'n' Vac

Brief

To change perceptions and revive the fortunes of an established brand. A brand that might have lost its way and lost its audience.

Background/ Considerations

This is a collaborative brief. In industry nothing is made by just one person. Whatever agency you are in, you will be working with other creatives. As art directors, copywriters and graphic designers you need to work together in a service of great creative work.

Shake ‘n’ Vac

-       They’re going to see it eventually.

-       It’s still a thing.

Mandatory Requirements

-       All media must be thoroughly thought out, designed and written.

-       An opportunity to work with people who will either bring your ideas to life or give you an idea to make beautiful.

-       Think of the audience you are going to target and this will give you an idea of how to approach the brief. How can you bring an older brand which has lost its way to a fresh, contemporary audience?

Deliverables

-       Produce a campaign which consist of three elements of your choice.

-       These elements could range from an Adshel, print advert in a magazine to social media advertisements.

EP3 - Statement of Intent

Statement of Intent

The themes I will explore through carrying out a number of different briefs, there is a main focus on design for children and within this design for school and education. Other areas of Graphic Design which will be explored are packaging, branding and advertising, with a focus on Illustration through a number of the briefs also. Therefore from this the main subject matter to be taken away from this are Children, Education, Art and Food; bakeries/restaurants. Lines of enquiry to help achieve my potential and maximum enjoyment from the work I produced consist of; What makes good design for children? Why isn’t art important in schools? What so I enjoy making/designing? What are my interests outside Graphic Design? 

Research will consist of audience feedback and engagement, looking at existing design and contemporary design, mood boards, photographs, looking into trends and most importantly contextual research. Practical development focuses on mainly digital design, incorporating this with illustrations, a focus on colour and looking at physical development such as paper stocks, dimensions and printing. Contextual and theoretical references that will be touched upon and explored are learning/teaching theories, branding and packaging, gender and colour theories.  

Documentation and recordings of work will consist mainly of my blog, but also photographs, mock ups and final physical pieces. Reflection and evaluation will take place throughout the different briefs, constantly reevaluating work and gaining feedback and responding to this. Project management will consist of a working brief tracker, to track the pace and where I’m up to with each brief. Setting personal deadlines and working to these, leaving enough allocated time for each of the briefs. Using calendars and daily/weekly lists and plans to organise work, briefs, collaborations, client meetings and feedback crits. 

Tell me a Lie

OUGD505: End of Module Evaluation

When evaluating each of the briefs within the module, firstly looking at Studio Brief 01 this was good to step out of the cliches of graphic design and was a chance tossup away from the screen and Adobe and experiment with using hands on techniques which other briefs have not always necessarily allowed for. Also the brief itself was interesting to be able to look at music, something which interests everyone and able to pick a genre which was interesting and allowed for lots of in depth research finding out new and intriguing information. The final design itself, although it wasn’t perfect, it successfully represented and celebrated the genre of music, by using the bright colours and the stronger concept and meaning behind the design. The prices of batik was hard to do on a budget and without the correct tools or materials. The final object is also successful in another aspect that it took into consideration the idea of context and where the music industry sits today, a s tote bags are extremley popular and are quite often sold as merchandise at concerts and in music stores. Overall Studio Brief 01 was interesting and great to do something much more innovative and think outside the box with so many possibilities. 

Looking at SB02, it was very useful and interesting to explore an issue and topic which was stimulating and thought provoking for me. SB02 allowed to explore graphic design in a much more compelling and serious way, thinking how much power it has to make a change in the world when given the chance. It was great to critically engage with research and explore different options to provide a solution to a problem, thinking big and much broader than usual briefs and projects. Evaluating the final outcome itself, it worked successfully and produced a solution to the problem whilst still taking into consideration the limitations and possibilities of the design. The most important aspect was to use technology in a way which didn’t completely defeat the object of the brief, but used it in a different, more innovative way which still engaged the target audience. The most important realisation of the brief was that technology is here to stay and it would be impossible to completely get rid of it. it was at this point that more realistic and successful solutions were thought of. The design was successful at producing a product which hated as the solution to the problem, then the range and distribution came in the form of promoting the software, which also managed to use technology in a clever way reaching out to the right audiences in the right places. The range consists of the brand as a whole, which was consistent and had a strong identity. It was also interesting to look deeper into the ethics of design, the distribution of design and how design can provide solutions to problems. To improve it would have been better to provide a prototype of the app and get children’s and parents opinion, to see what they think and to see if it has a place in the market.

Looking at what I have learnt in this module, one important aspect was the power of design and if it’s done properly it can provide solutions and answers to problems and make people aware and communicate these issues and solutions successfully. Another aspect is the ethics of design and how different people can take these into consideration when designing or put them to one side, also the social side of design and how important it is for communicating to people. Learning about how the most important thing isn’t the solution or the design itself, its how to get the design out there and how best to communicate it out to different target audiences. Managing time has also been an important aspect, and how to delegate time to each brief depending on how important and how much works needs to go into each of the projects, especially when having multiple modules on at the same time. The time was managed well, although maybe more time on this brief would have given time to create a prototype and ask opinions to see if it would work or if people think it solves the issue.

Overall this module has been the most work and academic in terms of research and critical engagement with research and design together. SB01 was much more laid back and allowed for experimentations which weren’t necessarily elements of graphic design specifically and allowed to try different techniques and work with different materials. Whereas SB02 allowed to focus on the importance that graphic design can have. Both briefs turned out successfully, but both do have room for adjustments and improvements or further developments, however this cold have been done with more time and resources.