End of module evaluation

Looking back over my original rationale there are areas that I have worked on and put into practice, as well as some aspects that I didn't cover. This is a good and bad thing as it means I can take this module and learn from it when going into my final major project module.

I wanted my main focus to be on typography and to produce work that involves layout designs working both digitally and with hand crafted processes. My strongest brief that covers all aspects of my rationale is the Catherine Alliott book cover brief. I learned a lot more about Illustrator when I was working with the hand drawn designs and really enjoyed the start of the brief where I just filled a whole sketchbook with hand drawn typography ideas and experimented with different medias. Putting those type designs into the context of a book cover was also a learning curve as I was working with a complicated grid that took quite a lot of time to get right. I also improved on my Photoshop skills when practising putting the designs in the context of a bookstore. I was really pleased with the outcome of this brief, but because I enjoyed the development stage so much, it meant I spent too long focusing on this brief and had put the other briefs to the back of my mind. I thought this wasn't going to be a problem and put action plans in place to get me back on track, but I feel like my other briefs never got the chance to really catch up to the level this first brief is on.

This time management issue meant that I was always playing catch up with my other briefs as well as my expectations so I am not as pleased with some of the briefs that I was initially really excited to start. An example of this is the Type Goes Wild brief. Again it was an opportunity to get involved with hand drawn typography with quite a broad nature theme that I thought was going to open up to be a strong brief. However, it involved a bit of research time at the start and after working on some development ideas, I struggled to really get into it. I like my chosen typography design at the end, but ideally I wanted to produce my own map, leaflet and printed guide that I could add the typeface to, instead of applying it to the existing wildlife park materials. This could then have helped me produce more designs that show my type layout skills on publications and printed media.

The Make up Artist brief, however, stretched out longer than I had anticipated but this was due to it being a client driven brief and the client was quite busy and in no immediate hurry for proposal ideas, so didn't always get back to me when I hoped. This was something I can learn from in the future, that with live briefs, you have to allow for set backs. In the end it was a simple identity brief but I expanded it out to propose more of a range of products and options that the client was really pleased with. I got to experiment with stationery design and learned a lot in the process.

On the other hand, my live placement brief was a lot shorter and it showed me what I can do in a day, even with tight guidelines from the client. It meant I didn't produce an amazing piece of design for my portfolio, but I got to work with what was given to me by the client and simply experiment with layout. This was a really enjoyable 2 days and I can take a lot from this in terms of timescales.

The menu brief ('Anyone for Dessert?') was one that allowed me to work with layout of quite a text heavy inside spread, but also encouraged me to try a print process like foiling that I have never used before. However I would have liked to have practiced on more of a range of stocks and processes to see what other options the menu covers could have had and to help me develop more skills and understanding of print.

Going into my final module I want to ensure I stick closer to my rationale and work at creating design layouts for publications, for example, design hand drawn typography and produce more quality printed outcomes to really show what I enjoy.

Final Type Goes Wild boards

Posters for boards

I think this typeface definitely works better than the zebra type and my other ideas and I really like it on the signs around the park. If I had managed to design the printed materials, this brief would have more depth and portfolio pieces. I plan to work on this typeface and not let this brief go to waste by printing the full typeface range large scale, perhaps screen printed to give it a more hand crafted, natural look to match the theme of the type.

Final park signs

Twig type in context

Ideally I wanted to design my own leaflet and guides to be able to apply the typeface to, but due to lack of time now, I am just proposing what it looks realistically within the existing park materials. I don't think it shows it off well enough as I would have liked it against a lighter background and with more space to enlarge the typeface to see the hand drawn twig detail. This context doesn't do it as much justice as I imagined.

Twig type II

I'm really pleased with this design so going to test it out on the Wildlife Park and see how it looks.

Twig type

I haven't ruled out the zebra type style but I also liked my earlier sketch of twig type and wanted to develop it a bit further before I made any decisions. I found this alphabet I'd already designed and thought I'd give it another go. I like the idea of drawing the letters not photographing them, as the brief is to design an illustrative typeface and I think this simple idea might be better than a patterned type. Drawings to come.

Less than 3 weeks to go!

Here is my Still to do list. I think it is manageable as long as I stick to it.

Here's how I have timetabled it, as realistically as possible:

Letterforms

I thought again about the typeface and tried a different approach. Creating a different design for each letter began as a good approach, as then I could get across everything the park has to offer. I could carry on with this idea, but seeing it on paper, it really didn't work as a legible typeface for the signs. As an individual piece it could, but it is important in this brief to work in the context of the park.

Zebra colour

I don't want it to look too tacky and camouflage-like but I quite like the idea of adding other colour into the stripes so that visitors aren't mislead into thinking it's all about the zebra. The other colours can represent the wildlife, nature and other animals such as the lions, etc.

Zebra type II

Experimenting with visuals for signage around the park:

In context as mock ups for now:

Text might be a little difficult to read from a distance but it gives the idea of the type's purpose whilst I'm still developing more ideas.

Zebra type

Working in illustrator, I feel much more sure of this brief now and I have a lot to do but am pleased with the way it's looking. This new idea below takes on a zebra pattern style with the hand drawn outline. I want to explore more ideas, but for now I want to put this to use and start playing around with mock ups in the context of the wildlife park's materials.

I decided to use the zebra pattern as even though the park has many other animals as well as the zebra, its current logo and signage uses a mini zebra image so it was a good place to start.

I began working on silhouette images from my animal photographs, but I came to a standstill when I realised I didn't have enough well known animals to put on each letter they begin with, and if I just placed them anywhere and there was a lion on the letter P, for example, then people would probably wonder why.

Images on every letter would also look quite busy on the signs so I tried to just have the odd few dotted about but I really don't think I should go any further with this idea. I don't feel as comfortable focusing on the imagery and it definitely shows. I think I need to work more closely on the type and find a simpler way to make the typeface work, rather than just sticking images onto it. Definitely a lot more work to be done.

Another idea I had was to re-create the zebra pattern on the lettering, so maybe that will be more successful.

Further typeface ideas

Much improvement from my early ideas. I have decided it would look more effective choosing a hand drawn typeface like the one below and just drawing the outline then work on the patterns digitally. I think this will definitely help speed up this brief and get some worthwhile designs out of it.