OUGD301 EVALUATION

After what I thought was a good start to the year, being full of energy and ready to be thrown into the thick of it and get designing again, I stopped short halfway.
This module has been what I believe to be my most productive as well as the part of the course where I feel as if I can throw out ideas without need to worry about acceptance or respect from others since I have already been accepted with open arms. 


Although I have still being rigidly using illustrator as my go to program over photoshop, my digital skills have vastly improved, mainly because when I ask for help from someone they are more than willing to help out and give me their advice which has greatly boosted my confidence not only as an individual but as a designer. The advice and tips gained from workshops and certain individuals has helped me raster items properly and consider outcomes more clearly in context to a problem or brief.


On a negative note, I do think that the recurring problem of time management and lack of variation has been the death dealing blow to my overall progress. This becomes evident if we review my rationale which explicitly states that I would be exploiting various print methods with a focus on this. I have only screenprinted and used a rather primitive (yet highly effective) method of foiling, when I look at other people's work it makes me realise that I could have juggled many more small briefs that could of kept me going and created some lovely portfolio pieces. On the other hand, in the past 2 weeks I have picked up on this and managed to turnaround 2 briefs much quicker than I had done at the start of the year, which is definitely a bonus and is down to my decision making abilities vastly improving.


I think that I have not pushed the briefs as hard as I wanted since I bogged myself down with research and was more concerned with getting them finished which blinded me to the potential and possibility each brief had.
With all of this in mind, I think I have gained enough confidence and clarity in regards to my own practice to give myself a good start for next year's FMP even if it was at the expense of my own personal practice. 
I aim to be better organised, make proper use of my diary as I did at the start of the year since it did help me greatly as I cannot fully rely on daily scrawlings and notes in my notebooks.
I need to think of all possibilities relative to possible brief outcomes as well as producing something far more considered as not to hinder the final product.
I do believe though that this has been my most productive and least distracted module/year to date, this in mind, I would like to maybe move into some collaborations both outside the course and inside the course since I feel as if my ideas have improved and matured compared to my latter years.

Manchester Book Fair Revisited.

I have been working on this brief for just under a week now, and it is becoming apparent that when I actually get myself together I can make decisions and indeed produce something to a standard I am happy with. Its just a shame I figure this out at the end of the first module.


This brief was intended as an incredibly quick turnaround but due to prepping boards and printing, it took longer than intended.
The initial sketches were scrawls in the back of one of the notorious notebooks which I then fleshed out on A3.


Revisiting this brief allowed me to flex some illustrative skills whilst giving myself restrictions which I never normally do.


Sticking to a strict 3 colour 8 tint palette turned out to be a good decision, but one that did not become apparent until two days in of tampering with the illustrations I had done.


The colour decision was boiled down from a range of colours I had selected from the various swatch books on illustrator, mainly sourced from the Russian Pop Art and Middle Ages section. This was intentional since alot of the books I was illustrating had dark themes set in an alternate universe/timeline.


I decided to source different typefaces for each book since they all have such different themes. But the decision to keep the hand drawn/illustrative style applied to the typefaces made the overall outcome much more acceptable.
This is simply because the type did not compliment the illustration.


This resolved, I still felt that there was something missing, so I sourced out some textures (something I tend not to do) and apply them, turned out they worked fantastically and gave the illustrations some feel and depth.


The logo was an instant idea to help tie the books together as a set, simply reading a book with the experience of playing a game combined together to form a booktroller.


Admittedly I didnt finish the blurb, but I just ran out of time, plain and simple. I thought I could draw and design a suitable outcome for the brief, since I had such a clear idea of what they would look like.


On the other hand I am very pleased with the outcome.

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

BOARDS ROUGH ROUGH

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

These are the rough boards that I did for the final crit, so people could at least get a feel for the composition and layout of the boards.


Got a lot of decent feedback from the crit as well, which I took on board.

MOUW Blurb

The last and most glaringly obvious task was to do the blurb for the Manual. I cross referenced writing styles from the webzines in context with the brief and decided to go for a 'user-friendly' and audience specific body copy.
Freeway Gothic was used since it is the font used in the booklets.

MOUW Promo Poster Digital Development

I had spent some time doing a few preliminary doodles of these posters until I jumped straight onto a mac.
I figured that if you bought the manual you would want a little something extra, especially since if you missed out on the promotional magazine with the free stickers you would want something to make the manual feel special.


I chose the weapons that worked best with the type from the adverts, since I figured that the type was more effective when you could read it along with the bulky imagery.


They would be printed on a stock that is similar in colour but it would be much denser and durable that sugar paper.

Future Planning Committee Initial Ideas

My initial ideas for my Future Planning Committee brief. But looking at how long I have left, I think this will most likely be on the backburner for FMP.
This brief just has way too many deliverables with too much content. Cant wait to start it though.

Almost Done

At this stage, I would say I am nearing the end of this brief. The tagline 'Putting britain back on the bap' is far too misleading from my intended campaign although it does work as a play on words for the target audience.


The imagery for the bottles and posters will still need some tampering, I'm still not quite convinced yet but I will crack it in the next few days.

Getting There

Almost got to where I want with this brief, since I wanted a quick turnaround, I am happy to say I think this will be resolved as of tomorrow so that allows me plenty of time to polish off everything else and start my other brief, which will, if I'm not careful, explode in my face.


Here is what I have been working on today, I have not done any of the other deliverables yet since the packaging will essentially dictate what the accompanying work will look like.

Had loads of Eureka moments today, after what was a relatively positive crit with Nick and Nat, it was discussed that the direction I was taking visually along with my rationale and tagline worked well. 


I chose the colours based upon the images I used for illustration purposes and have continued to use these throughout. The HEINZ brand concerning its Salad Cream products is primarily pastel/neutral/desaturated. 
I resolved the issues concerning colour at the crit, amends have been made and ran past fellow peers to confirm this, as well as reducing the opacity on the Garlic and Onion label background; which looks much better.


I had trouble with the visuals I had illustrated compositionally, but after some toying with them on the rosettes it became much easier.


A more uniform look of the flavours have been designed I believe, due to the cross section of the main flavour incorporated with the additional herb/spice/taste gives it a more distinct look. 


I think I am well on the way to finish off this brief by tomorrow, at least thats the general idea.

Heinz Crit Presentation

Sorry its awful, just had to get what I was doing today in context for my crit group so they know what I'm doing/getting on with.

Heinz Development of Ideas

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

After some time on the lightbox, the brief started to take some shape and flesh out a bit. The colours taken from the various ingredients seem to be working well, and the imagery fits within the brand without too much of a change,
This ensures that people discovering the brand for the first time can become instantly familar with the range of other products heinz has to offer.


Typeface used is Candara, as it looks as close as it can to the font heinz currently use. The real heinz font costs 40 pounds, which I cant afford and dont see the point sheling out for if I am only doing this brief for them and cannot see myself using the font in the near future.

Heinz Progress

Open publication - Free publishing - More design

MOUW Promotional Stickers

I picked some of the most desirable weapons based  upon the feedback from my peers and some gamers in my local community.
Mixed in with some of the visuals I am using for the adverts, this set of stickers would be a freebie in a magazine such as GamesMaster, OXm, nintendo magazine or other such related publications.

MOUW Promotional Adverts

These are the initial designs I came up with for the promotional material to accompany the MOUW brief. I accidentally selected a font, American Purpose, which turns out goes with the existing type I had selected for the project and looks damn good on a large scale.

So I chose to stick with it and personally I think it suits the brief also. Giving a contemporary feel to a rather extravagant subject, coupled with a young feeling typeface helps pull it together.

I recycled imagery I had used in the project since I wanted consistency, not to mention the fact the colours worked really well with what I had produced.

Although they may look good on screen, we shall see the results from the printers up here to determine if they are worth finalising.

The more developed selection demonstrates the use of existing imagery which I coupled with the niche 'gamer slang'/terminology;

+ PWND (powned) - Potentially owning/taking someone out mid-game, the 'potential' element is exclusive if the player manages to survive the onslaught from other players.

+ Bowser - Mythological being that exists in Mario games, aka the Mushroom Kingdom, similar to a dragon like turtle that can breathe fire. The evolutionary aspect rips into the fallacy of his existence.

+ Megaton - A place in Fallout 3 that you have responsibility for its existence, either you side with the elusive class and blow up the town, or you walk. Hence the 'weight' of the decision.

+ Toilet humour - This genuinely is a game (conker's bad fur day) where you take on what is literally a giant, opera singing feces. You destroy it by knocking out his sweetcorn teeth with toilet roll.

Minor Amendments

Just realised that the type and the logo were completely incorrect. I have made the relative amendments thus far, think I will be using a combination of colours that I  used on the t shirts for the sake of visual conformity.

Range of Flavours

So after I had done some more research into different "british" flavours, I started putting a list together of all the possible combinations that could be made in addition to the 'normal' taste of Salad Cream.

The first set of falvours I came up with are:

+ Mustard and Dandelion

+ Lime and Chutney/ Lime and Pickle

+ Horseradish and Carrot

+ Mustard and Juniper

+ Elderberry and Caramalised Onion

+ Onion and Aioli

+ Garlic and Basil

+ Red Wine and Juniper

I then started to cross reference a load of different recipes to confirm these were valid combinations that could be incorporated into the Salad Cream taste, while keeping in with a sense of britishism.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cranberry-Horseradish-Sauce-233274
http://www.apinchof.com/juniper1105.html
http://www.choosebritish.co.uk/ItTastesBetterBritish.html

After this bout of research, I have also found out that Leeks and asparagus are national favourites too.
Although I'm not sure if using these two flavours inclusively to my range would benefit the palette of the target audience. I do believe the following would be good combinations as well as profitable, since they are recognised as verifiable ingredients as well as being uniquely british.

+ Red Onion and Elderberry

+ Carrot and Cranberry

+ Garlic and Dandelion

Since they might not be appealing in context, I have produced an alternative set of flavours based entirely on the popularity of other products:

+ Lime and Chilli

+ Tomato and Basil

+Garlic and Soy

They all represent a sort of world cooking theme, which could work quite well, but I am not sure this is what they are after. I will assess after my crit today with Robyn, Nat, and Nick.

Heinz First Ideas

So this might be a good time to break down what direction this brief will be taking, as to make a start on it very soon considering the time constraints I have left til hand in.

The problems defined are:

Not enough people are buying salad cream; Why?

Because the brand has its roots in the past, hanging on to nostalgia is the only appeal the brand has.

Why is that so?

The majority of people who have these nostalgic preferences are of the age who have been around at the height of the brand's popularity: 80s and early 90s.

Here are some comments I got from peers on my course, as to gain some sort of insight into the flavour favouritism of the youth today. Seemed fitting since they are all the age of the target audience.

Hey man,

Salad cream, I never chose it as a condiment. I have tried it before, but it didn’t strike any chords.

Hope this helps,

Pav

Re: OPINIONS COUNT

by Jack Neville - Friday, 25 November 2011, 01:56 PM

  Salad cream is rank. It tastes cheap and goes with nothing.

Re: OPINIONS COUNT

by Benjamin Mckean - Friday, 25 November 2011, 03:46 PM

  I would usually prefer mayonnaise to salad cream, however sometimes it can be a nice change. Don’t they use salad cream in Macdonalds burgers, I associate it with this and being quite sweet. 

In conclusion I would have it in a sandwich or burger if there was no mayo but I probably wouldn’t use it for dipping anything into. 

Ben

Re: OPINIONS COUNT

by Jane Denton - Friday, 25 November 2011, 04:29 PM

  salad cream is better than mayo for coleslaw making-can’t think of anything else it would/should be good for.

Re: OPINIONS COUNT

by William Skane-Davis - Friday, 25 November 2011, 04:52 PM

  Salad cream with cheese and tomato in sarnies is mad tasty. Other than that mayo/ketchup

Re: OPINIONS COUNT

by Niall Hargrave - Friday, 25 November 2011, 05:12 PM

  it’s ok

Re: OPINIONS COUNT

by Hazel Gage - Friday, 25 November 2011, 05:37 PM

 

Salad cream is just one of those things I don’t buy. I have this idea that it tastes like vinager!

Stephanie Oglesby so84290@students.leeds-art.ac.uk to me

show details 21:47 (16 hours ago)

Mayo is better than salad cream! Salad cream is too tangy :/

Ellie

Salad cream is not something I buy, I eat mayo with everything and feel Luke I am cheating on it any time I use any other sauce.

So it becomes incredibly clear that it is 50/50 in terms of the Mayo vs Salad Cream debate, although John Watters has found a facebook page for such a topic (What a surprise!) so I will finish the rest of my research after I have looked at the page. 

Another problem then is that Salad Cream just does not appeal as a condiment of choice, so I think the logical conclusion is that there needs to be more range, just so people are more encouraged to try the brand, even if they dont like Salad Cream, they may enjoy a different set of flavours.

My research thus far has also concluded that in certain culinary circles concerning the "taste of britain" is in decline.
Basically in my previous post, the National Trust have teamed up with crack culinary pioneers to try save the taste of britain, and have identified particular tastes/ flavours in response to the importing of goods in favour of sampling and cultivating our own particular tastes that are unique to our own culture.


So maybe a range of flavours that try to put emphasis on the Britishness of the Salad Cream brand as well as highlighting the great flavours of our nation; though designed/directed in a non-extremist way.


Flavours include:


Horseradish, Chervil, Cilantro, Chives, Parsley, Rosemary, Tarragon, Thyme, Coriander, Juniper, Nettle, Dandelion, Sorrel, Passum ,Elderberries, Leeks, and anything else with a unique Anglo-European origin behind it.

Games Aid Store

I had thought about designing a seperate website/store for the various products to be viewed and purchased on, but Robyn directed me to goodsie.com which is an online store that allows you to price, process and keep tabs on transactions.
The website building tool is incredibly easy to use and I managed to get everything online and updated in a day.
I wanted a instant online presence so that the audience have an instant point of reference and have ease of access to my designs.

Workshop/Presentation

Might as well start at the beginning, I attended the brief workshop ran by Fred that was meant to aid us in kick starting a brief as a result of scrupulous thread picking.


The first question we got asked was; why are we here? 
The answers from the group came up with:


- kickstarting the brief
- Iron out any issues
- Help organise ourselves
- Discussion in a group environment
- Decision regarding concepts.


We then came up with 10 reasons why we chose the brief, mine were:


1. I like Salad Cream
2. Chance to do a brief I would not normally do
3. Potentially applied to a range of media I am not accustomed to
4. The target audience works in my favour
5. Tend to avoid competition briefs in relation to: D&AD, YCN
6. Potentially quick turnaround
7. Demonstrate I can do work for commercial sector
8. Something new
9. Got a lot of rough ideas mentally
10. I like having some fun with a brief


Then there was a talk on laziness in practice, considering the balance between busy and productivity. How being busy can lead to repetition but if you are learning and being productive you can become far more progressive in terms of your work ethic.
Taking note of some of our studio habits such as picking up a brief and going straight to the designing rather than taking time to sit back and evaluate where you are/ what you can do with the brief.


We then got asked to write down we wanted to gain from the brief:


1. A good body of illustration in suitable, commercial sellable context. Enables chance to reach out to more profitable sector.


2. Work seen nationwide/exposed positively - good for PPD and will help destroy my paranoia barrier


3. Organisation Skills - cohesive body of work so near to the deadline. (What can be achieved in time we have left)


4. Explore screen-based processes and other media applications of deliverables. Not done packaging/screen based work opportunity to see work translates across media.


5. Upbeat outcome - brighten up portfolio, different from my own work ethic


6. Flex my wordsmithing abilities, using language to convey a message; no  body copy or regurgitated information. Demonstrate that Im a fluent articulated designer.


Extra notes at bottom of page: Heinz is an awesome brand that makes/allows people to celebrate/have fun with their food. Experimentation is essential; without the faucets of food  creativity this brand would sink.




We then got asked to write questions on the brief, picking out any possible issues:


1. Are Heinz worried that the new mayo campaign sells more than Salad Cream? Is this an issue?


2. What sort of people frequently eat with Salad Cream


3. What are the most popular food combos?


4. What do people think about Salad Cream?


5. Is it a "zing" it adds to food?


6. Is it the preferred alternative condiment?


7. When people think of Heinz: just soup?


8. Is it 50% lower in fat than standard mayo market leader?


9. Are new flavours any good?


10. What sort of parent eats Salad Cream?


11. How is the brand quirky?


These questions are to be answered in conjunction with the presentation.




Then we were asked to identify problems that came up in analysing the brief:


1. Salad cream is not selling so well


2. Heinz dont know how to propagate campaign


3. They dont really know what they want


4. Heinz is lacking modernity in the brand


5. Not enough young people are "tasting the difference" between mayo and salad cream


6. The brand needs a makeover that is responsive to todays fast moving, media endowed reality.


7. Salad cream is not at the forefront of young people's minds




The wefty task ahead putting alot on hold is WHAT I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SUBJECT.


50 facts 
50 stats
50 quotes
50 opinions


This will form the basis of the presentation.




Presentation Requirements:


What am I doing?
Why am I doing it?
Answers to 10 questions
Informed delivery
Examples of HIGH QUALITY standard of design that will demonstrate a clear idea of how I will move forward with the brief.
Organised.
Treat it as a pitch


Visualise


- 10 possible outcomes for brief that are mandatory deliverables. Take into account of what we want to produce and what is needed to fulfil criteria. Full specs, treat it professionally; colours, type, pages, leaves etc


For each possible outcome:


10 variations that include:


+ colour
+ format 
+ type
+ content
+ composition
+ Dimension?/Scale?






So to clarify, the presentation format is as follows:


- Why I have chosen the brief in relation to my rationale


- What I know about the subject


+50 facts
+50 stats
+50 opinions
+50 quotes


- Answer the 10 questions 


- Identify problems
+ How I intend to address them
+ examples (10)


- Ideas
+ present