From the beginning of this brief I was skeptical about taking it on and what would actually be involved within it. I didn’t really know much about the course, which didn’t help when I first started out working on the brief. To get around this I had to find out information about the course and investigate into the students work to get a better understanding of DFGA. After doing this I felt much more confident about working on the yearbook and started to create some visuals.
The reason that I chose to take on this brief was because a lot of my work throughout the year was print based, with this being digital it provided a different media and project type within my portfolio, I also wanted to show that I could work on something other than print.
The interactive element of the document was a learning curve within Indesign, I had to research into this online and find out how to create the interactive button and links. I found that exporting PDF for interactive media was a lot challenging than I first thought, this did bring up complications within the production of the PDF document, but by working with the DFGA course tutor we managed to create a solution.
The most challenging part of this brief was working with the students on the course; it is a very diverse course and has a lot of different personalities within it. This caused some problems with the content I was given from them, in particular the descriptions within their biography. It took a long time for me to receive the content from students and tutors which was frustrating, as it hinder the production of the yearbook.
I feel that the design of the PDF answers the brief and showcases the work of the students in a well considered manor, providing ample space for them to display their work and show the user there own practice. This I feel is the most important part of the brief and the most successful, as I have managed to create a consistent design throughout that works for all students and all types of work given to me to fit within the yearbook.
I feel that within the brief time management has been a key focus, I think that on my part I have kept the brief running smoothly and kept up with the designing of the yearbook and the schedule to which it had to be done by. I think that the disadvantage was working with the DFGA course, as they didn’t have good time management skills and kept the brief from moving on at the pace I would of liked it to.
Overall, even though this was quite a stressful and frustrating brief due to the constant wait to receive content for the yearbook, it has actually been quite enjoyable. I have liked working outside of my comfort zone and working on a purely digital brief. This has shown myself that there is more you can do than just print and still have interest within it. As a designer working for the DFGA course, I believe I have designed and created a great document that showcase all the students’ work and highlights the DFGA course in the best way possible.
Design Context Publication
The design context publication was a great brief to work on, as it was designing about myself and creating a product that communicated and contextualised my own practice.
From the start of the brief, I had my idea for the publication that was to show the two sides of my practice. I think this publication was great way to inform people what I really was interested in within one product.
As a designer that loved editorial design and books in general this was right up my street and getting stuck into the publication was inevitable for me. I wanted to create a visual guide to my practice showing the influences and inspiration I had looked at throughout the year. I feel that this was the most important element of the publication and it was the focal point of the whole brief, looking back at the printed product now, I do believe that I have achieved this.
Creating a layout which worked throughout the whole publication wasn’t what I wanted to do, thinking back to this, I was glad that I chose to create bespoke layouts for each of the pages, as the product now has a great combination of layouts, making it more interesting to read and look it, but the fundamental part of it is that it still all look consistent throughout and creates a visual style throughout the publication.
I chose to use the colours of my branding within the publication, as it was about me, it made it relevant to both my practice and to communicate me as a designer. If I was to change anything it would possibly be this element, I like the fact that is it relevant to my branding, but it is too much of the same throughout the publication, I would of liked to introduce more colours or a colour for each of the sections, to make it more visual and interesting when reading through it.
I feel that the strongest element within the brief and publication is the content, I have selected the content around each of the categories within the publication, but also within each page, the content is chosen on similar colours / themes. I think that this makes the layout and pages of the publication much stronger in the design and in the communication of the product. Also adding the body copy that is research from my dissertation, gives the publication some depth and understanding, this mixed with the images and layout of the two combined creates a publication that communicates me as a designer, but backs this up with the information and informs the reader of that. The combination has truly worked well in my opinion and makes the reader understand my practice.
The final element to the brief, which is another strong point and something that may not be seen at first, is the use of the letterpress letters on the front cover. These were done within the print room and were a great way to get hands on within the brief. I like to bring in printed elements within all my briefs, as it is something I enjoy to do, along with improving my skills, but it also adds to the products as it gives them the physical feeling of print and adds to the value of the product. The process was a fairly easy one and didn’t take much time, meaning I was still on track and kept up with my time management within the brief itself.
Overall I feel that this has been a very successful brief, I am confident with the publication I have created and believe that this is probably one of the best publication is terms on the understanding through the content of it. I think the execution of the design process and layouts within the publication are to a high standard and work well for the both the content and to communicate the ideas within it. When looking through the publication myself, I can see the relation of the imagery and articles within my own practice.
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