Out of all the brief that I have completed this year, WYS has been my main priority, the reason that I focused so much on this brief was that Rob and I have finally figured out what we want to do after graduating from the course. By making it our main focus this year we have been able to use this time to really think about the ins and outs of the idea. We spent a lot of time throughout the year developing and defining the overall idea so that we could be more confident in ourselves to continue WYS after university. This is why it took us such a long time to complete as there were many things that made getting to the point a challenge. Although it was a challenge I feel that taking our time to think about the idea properly should benefit us in the future as we are fairly confident that will we be able to stick our plans.
We were able to take full advantage of university resources. We attended business workshops that have been able to help us think more about the business side of our business idea. Without this, I don’t think that we would have pushed ourselves to get to where we are now, because of the business workshops we have also shown our interest in the Duke Studio graduate scheme which we know will bring WYS to life if we are able to get that. As we have thought so much into all the aspects of WYS this has encouraged us to speak both industry professionals and business people about the possibilities of our idea and how we could develop it further to make it work better.
Doing this brief has also helped me to learn new skills, before starting this brief I had no experience using a Risograph printer and if it wasn’t for this brief I wouldn’t have learnt how to use it. I will now be looking to use a RISO wherever possible which will help to continue developing my practice after leaving LAU. I also was able to learn how to fabric screen-print which is something that I a wish I had learnt a long time ago as now I know how to print t-shirts, again this is something that I also want to continue doing once leaving.
WYS has taught me a lot about collaboration, it is at the core of what we do and I think that it one of the most important things I have learnt this year it really helped to push my practice as working with other people helps to set the bar higher than you may normally want to put it. Working alongside Rob has also been a challenge but I feel like we have now got a better understanding of how to work together and we are able to produce work that I don’t think I would have been able to do without him. This is the start of a partnership between Rob and myself, we help to motivate each other and can we can equally share workload and have a range of strengths between us which helps to make us a good match.
The identity that we have created for WYS will not just be a university project we have designed all of our outcomes so that they are ready for the real world after uni, throughout the brief, we have had in mind that we will hopefully oneway be using the identity to its full potential. We have also considered the ease of production for all of the elements so that we can easily reproduce them on a tight budget as we may not have the recourses we have currently at university. Other elements of the identity such as the Promotional pack have been designed to help us meet new people as this is one of the most important things for WYS to achieve.
As well as completing the overall identity for WYS we have been able to link it to other briefs that we have done this year (research project and photography yearbook).
The whole project was influenced by research, from the end of Level 05 we have both been interested in zines and indie publishing and we have used the year to help develop further research into the ins and outs of the industry to help figure out where we belong. This approach has made our final outcomes well considered and appropriate for real-world use. As well as being influenced by our research we have also been able to really figure out who is target audience is and whether the idea is profitable and from the feedback that we have received so far, I am confident that we have will succeed.
I don’t feel that we used our social media as well as we could, if we had used the social media properly throughout the year we could have worked on building an audience before leaving. The reason we didn’t do this was that we spend a lot of time making sure that we got the basics right first which is important, we are now that we have more time we will start to build our audience on social media.
This year we also set out to make as many books as we could, sadly we didn’t end up making as many as we had hoped but we have used this time to help us think about lots of ideas for upcoming projects and also learn new skills. We could have also used this year to test run our first exhibition for WYS but as we did not want to rush into things we had to put it on hold so that we could then considerate on more important aspects of the brief. As of yet we still have not added any stock to our Big Cartel shop because we have been very busy with other things but once we have more time we will be figuring out how we can sell the product we want to sell properly, using professional printers etc. Overall I am very pleased with what we have managed to achieve throughout this project and I am now excited to use what we have learned and spoken about for the last year into action.
Sunday, May 13, 2018
OUGD603 - END OF MODULE EVALUATION
Throughout the year this module has taught me a lot about myself as a designer. There were many times where I have surprised myself with my design abilities I think this is down to having a much better direction within my work. I have been able to identify with designers and studios that have similar interests to myself and I think this has helped me to realise where I belong within the design industry. At the start of the year, I had no idea that I would be where I am now in terms of knowing what I want to do after university. This was all been down to WYS, it has pushed me in a new direction in previous years I have always said that I was interested in editorial design but by starting WYS this has helped me to learn about a whole new side of that and I am no very passionate about this and can’t wait to get more involved with it after graduation.
If you had asked me at the start of the year if I had a style or a way of working I would have said no. But over the course of this year I have been able to produce a range of briefs and looking back on them I feel that I can see a style starting to develop and the more that I design now I get better at finding out what my style is. I don’t particularly want to have a style for myself but I like the fact that the work that I am producing feels more considered I put this down to undertaking the research stages of the brief in more depth which helps to get a better overall design.
A lot of my briefs this year have involved collaboration. This has shown me how important it is as a design to be able to collaborate with people as a designer in the real-world we will be forced to work with lots of different people and I know feel that I work best when I am able to collaborate with others. It helps me to stay on top of my work as I never want to disappoint while collaborating I can let myself down but I don’t like letting others down when working on a project. I feel that I am also able to take a range of roles within a group if needs are I am now confident enough design and person to lead a group to get the work done.
One thing that has been a large improvement from previous years is my time management. I don’t know if this is down to me carefully considering my time better or just enjoying the work that I am producing more so there for the time that I spend on it has increased which means more work gets done. That was one of the main things that I wanted to set out to achieve this year as I have bad with managing my time before. It was also important to learn this before leaving university as when working for someone else or working for myself I need to be on top of everything that is going on so I don’t get left behind. As well as time management a key skill that this module has taught me is how to be more professional, whether this is talking to clients or just being mindful of others I feel that I have learnt how to work in a professional environment. I am now very eager to put what I have been learning for the last three years into practice as well as now have time to explore my practice even more.
If you had asked me at the start of the year if I had a style or a way of working I would have said no. But over the course of this year I have been able to produce a range of briefs and looking back on them I feel that I can see a style starting to develop and the more that I design now I get better at finding out what my style is. I don’t particularly want to have a style for myself but I like the fact that the work that I am producing feels more considered I put this down to undertaking the research stages of the brief in more depth which helps to get a better overall design.
A lot of my briefs this year have involved collaboration. This has shown me how important it is as a design to be able to collaborate with people as a designer in the real-world we will be forced to work with lots of different people and I know feel that I work best when I am able to collaborate with others. It helps me to stay on top of my work as I never want to disappoint while collaborating I can let myself down but I don’t like letting others down when working on a project. I feel that I am also able to take a range of roles within a group if needs are I am now confident enough design and person to lead a group to get the work done.
One thing that has been a large improvement from previous years is my time management. I don’t know if this is down to me carefully considering my time better or just enjoying the work that I am producing more so there for the time that I spend on it has increased which means more work gets done. That was one of the main things that I wanted to set out to achieve this year as I have bad with managing my time before. It was also important to learn this before leaving university as when working for someone else or working for myself I need to be on top of everything that is going on so I don’t get left behind. As well as time management a key skill that this module has taught me is how to be more professional, whether this is talking to clients or just being mindful of others I feel that I have learnt how to work in a professional environment. I am now very eager to put what I have been learning for the last three years into practice as well as now have time to explore my practice even more.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - EVALUATION
Producing this yearbook has been a great experience for my practice and I am glad I was able to work with Rob throughout the brief as this has shown me how well we can work together on something without it being overly difficult. This is perfect real-world practice for us in relation to WYS. It has shown me that we would both be able to work together well enough to produce work for clients like we have done with the yearbook.
Although we lost the Graphic Design pitch which was a slight setback I'm happy that we were given then opportunity to produce the Photography yearbook as I feel that this actually suited our practice better as we are both looking to work more with artists/photographers in this way in the future.
The brief itself is something completely different to anything that I have done before, working with a real client and having to please them was a challenge at times but this is how the design industry works we were very good at talking through any conserns and keeping up with deadlines that the photographers set for us, although we did have to set up towards the end to get them to speed things up as we went a long time without any content. Having one on one meeting with Evlouation Print was also a very valuable part of the process as it showed me what was possible with the £2000 budget (which isn't very much when you're trying to make it something special) but I feel that we have been able to produce the best book possible with what we had at our disposal.
Throughout the project, we have had remain as professional as possible which meant organising meetings and making sure that everyone knew what was going on at all times as well working with people we may not have chosen to work with, it was important to have a good working relationship with everyone at all times.
The project itself did stretch over a long period of time which did make it difficult to manage alongside other work, however, when we were working on this brief we worked at a very high intensisty to get the work done to the best standard as possible. We want this book to be to the highest of qualities as it will be a great way to show future clients/collaborators what we are capable of.
Some of the more challenging parts of this brief was working as a three. It was very useful to have Jen on our team at the start when doing the Graphic Design pitch but becuase the brief went on for so long it wasn't always easy to get stuff done and as Rob and I live together it was easy for us to get the work done together, however Jen was a vauble asset to our team and we wouldn't have been able to deal with all the meeting etc. without her as she was very good at talking to people and getting things sorted which is what her role was meant to be as project manger (but this role to was taken away by the Photography team).
Overall I am very happpy with the final outcome, I am disappointed that we could not show the final product for submission but there are certain stages which the book now needs to go through until it can get printed. I will be looking forward to the final print and am excited to see the book once it has been professionally printed as this would be the first time I have produced anything on this scale.
Although we lost the Graphic Design pitch which was a slight setback I'm happy that we were given then opportunity to produce the Photography yearbook as I feel that this actually suited our practice better as we are both looking to work more with artists/photographers in this way in the future.
The brief itself is something completely different to anything that I have done before, working with a real client and having to please them was a challenge at times but this is how the design industry works we were very good at talking through any conserns and keeping up with deadlines that the photographers set for us, although we did have to set up towards the end to get them to speed things up as we went a long time without any content. Having one on one meeting with Evlouation Print was also a very valuable part of the process as it showed me what was possible with the £2000 budget (which isn't very much when you're trying to make it something special) but I feel that we have been able to produce the best book possible with what we had at our disposal.
Throughout the project, we have had remain as professional as possible which meant organising meetings and making sure that everyone knew what was going on at all times as well working with people we may not have chosen to work with, it was important to have a good working relationship with everyone at all times.
The project itself did stretch over a long period of time which did make it difficult to manage alongside other work, however, when we were working on this brief we worked at a very high intensisty to get the work done to the best standard as possible. We want this book to be to the highest of qualities as it will be a great way to show future clients/collaborators what we are capable of.
Some of the more challenging parts of this brief was working as a three. It was very useful to have Jen on our team at the start when doing the Graphic Design pitch but becuase the brief went on for so long it wasn't always easy to get stuff done and as Rob and I live together it was easy for us to get the work done together, however Jen was a vauble asset to our team and we wouldn't have been able to deal with all the meeting etc. without her as she was very good at talking to people and getting things sorted which is what her role was meant to be as project manger (but this role to was taken away by the Photography team).
Overall I am very happpy with the final outcome, I am disappointed that we could not show the final product for submission but there are certain stages which the book now needs to go through until it can get printed. I will be looking forward to the final print and am excited to see the book once it has been professionally printed as this would be the first time I have produced anything on this scale.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - EVALUATION
This brief has been one of the most interesting and fulfiling briefs that I have undertaken this year. Firstly not only did I get to broaden my knowledge of the history of zines and learn about why people produce them and the culture that surrounds that. I also enhanced my knowledge of printing (getting things ready for print) mainly within the photocopier as this is something that was totally new to me before starting this brief.
I am very happy with the overall outcome of the final print and this was now made me want to produce more zines using this technique. Although there were slight quirks within the copy process this is all part of the DIY process which helps stick to the origins of zine making. Not only was it very easy to produce it was also very cost effective, each zine cost about 50p each to make. I am also pleased with the overall design of the zine I feel that it is appropriately designed to fit the DIY style and the collage of images flows nicely from page to page as well as the images clearly show the history of the Converse shoe from old to new which works well with the (dis)organised layout of the pages.
As we set out to make these zines a part of WYS I would be happy to sell/advertise them on our site/Instagram as I feel that they would be a great start for our first zine series. This would also mean that we get to make more similar zines in the future about a range of topics and it gives us the opportunity to experiment more with other print processes like RISO.
The only improvements that I would have wanted to make would have needed more time, if I had more time with this brief I would have looked at extending the zine and making it more personal as I would have rather taken images as this makes it more original.
However, this is something that I could possibly do in the near future as part of WYS.
I am very happy with the overall outcome of the final print and this was now made me want to produce more zines using this technique. Although there were slight quirks within the copy process this is all part of the DIY process which helps stick to the origins of zine making. Not only was it very easy to produce it was also very cost effective, each zine cost about 50p each to make. I am also pleased with the overall design of the zine I feel that it is appropriately designed to fit the DIY style and the collage of images flows nicely from page to page as well as the images clearly show the history of the Converse shoe from old to new which works well with the (dis)organised layout of the pages.
As we set out to make these zines a part of WYS I would be happy to sell/advertise them on our site/Instagram as I feel that they would be a great start for our first zine series. This would also mean that we get to make more similar zines in the future about a range of topics and it gives us the opportunity to experiment more with other print processes like RISO.
The only improvements that I would have wanted to make would have needed more time, if I had more time with this brief I would have looked at extending the zine and making it more personal as I would have rather taken images as this makes it more original.
However, this is something that I could possibly do in the near future as part of WYS.
SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - FINAL ZINE
"CHUCKS CHUCKS CHUCKS" - Final zine
Scanned in version of the final print for digital purposes. I thought this would be the best way to present the zine digitally as it shows it off the best - I thought this was more appropriate than taking pictures of the book as you would lose some of the aesthetic from the zine.
SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - PRINTING/FINAL
Final Design (mockup)
To get a feel for what the final design is to look like I created a digital mockup which shows it flicking through the pages. This helped me to see whether the pages work well once away from the InDesign, which it did seeing it in this format made me rethink the place for some of the images so I went back and fiddled around with them until I was happy with it.
Printing Process
Stage 1 - Photocopying
Before printing, we both decided on paper to use for the zines. We wanted to use standard G.F. Smith Colorplan paper but we thought that this wouldn't have been true to the DIY aesthetic that we wanted the zines to have. Instead, we found so bulky newsprint paper which has good texture on it which again adds to the overall style of the zines. For the front cover, we used some standard 100gsm coloured stock which gave the book some structure as the inside pages were rather flimsy.
To produce the final copy of the zine, Rob and I decided that we should use the university photocopiers to reproduce the zines, this being true to the DIY culture of zine making. This is also the first time myself and Rob have used these methods of reproduction within zine making so the process was trial and error.
Front cover - £1.50
Newsprint - £2.00
Once we understood the settings to use on the photocopier it was easy to scan in each master page on to the selected paper, this was added to the manual tray so that we didn't jam the printer. The same was done with the covers. I was really impressed with the outcome of the print from the photocopier - as it is 100% Kyan this means the image appears as lots of very small dots which is similar to RISO. The photocopying also means that not every page is accurately placed so there are some quirks which again adds to the DIY aesthetic. I can also see how easy it would be to do a large print run as all you have to do is put in how many copies of each page and then it fires out the pages, this is something that I will be doing more of in the near future.
To get a feel for what the final design is to look like I created a digital mockup which shows it flicking through the pages. This helped me to see whether the pages work well once away from the InDesign, which it did seeing it in this format made me rethink the place for some of the images so I went back and fiddled around with them until I was happy with it.
Printing Process
Stage 1 - Photocopying
Before printing, we both decided on paper to use for the zines. We wanted to use standard G.F. Smith Colorplan paper but we thought that this wouldn't have been true to the DIY aesthetic that we wanted the zines to have. Instead, we found so bulky newsprint paper which has good texture on it which again adds to the overall style of the zines. For the front cover, we used some standard 100gsm coloured stock which gave the book some structure as the inside pages were rather flimsy.
To produce the final copy of the zine, Rob and I decided that we should use the university photocopiers to reproduce the zines, this being true to the DIY culture of zine making. This is also the first time myself and Rob have used these methods of reproduction within zine making so the process was trial and error.
Front cover - £1.50
Newsprint - £2.00
Once we understood the settings to use on the photocopier it was easy to scan in each master page on to the selected paper, this was added to the manual tray so that we didn't jam the printer. The same was done with the covers. I was really impressed with the outcome of the print from the photocopier - as it is 100% Kyan this means the image appears as lots of very small dots which is similar to RISO. The photocopying also means that not every page is accurately placed so there are some quirks which again adds to the DIY aesthetic. I can also see how easy it would be to do a large print run as all you have to do is put in how many copies of each page and then it fires out the pages, this is something that I will be doing more of in the near future.
Master pages - £2.00
Finals - £3.00
Stage 3 - Cutting and Binding
Finals - £3.00
Stage 2 - Pagination
- While printing I made sure I sorted out each page into the right order so that they could then be folded and bound. It was important to keep them in order at this stage as it would have taken a long time to reorder the pages after.
- As the zine is 20 pages long this meant that there were only 4 pieces of paper to order not including the front cover.
- Once printed I then folded each page by hand as the folding machine was not in use making sure that it was as accurate as possible.
Stage 3 - Cutting and Binding
- Once I had folded all of the pages I used the bookbinder (stapler) to accurately staple all of the pages together.
- I used a majority of standard staples but I also found some hocked staples which add makes the binding method slightly more interesting, I liked the final outcome of these ones the most.
- The pages weren't all flush so I used the large cutter to make sure all the pages were neat and tidy to finish it off.
Friday, May 4, 2018
SELF PUBLISHING - RESEARCH BRIEF - ZINE PRODUCTION
Sketches
As I already had a good idea of what I wanted to do at this stage in term of the layout, I used sketches to help me figure out how images could be arranged on the spreads. I found that I would only be able to have around 3/4 images on a page which I thought was good as there is a good balance of having a series of images over a spread and having too many images. This something that my grid system will help me with went designing on the computer as everything also needs to considered correctly rather than just being placed where ever.
Use of grid system
Using this 10 x 15 square modular grid system it has allowed me to appropriately add all of the content on to the pages - the grid makes everything equally spaced out which is important with the type of layout style that I have decided to create. The layout style that I have designed is influenced by other photo essay zines which layout images in this sort of style. As the zine is a photo essay this is also another reason for a large number of photos on the page is it needs to show a collection of images together to help tell the story of Converse.
The Beginnings
The zine beggings with the images of the original Converse shoe, Chuck Taylor and the early days of the basketball culture that was created by the shoe. You can see from the images how the shoe started its life as a sports shoe and how they were used at the time.
Basketball (The height of Converse)
The second spread moves on to the height of the Converse in basketball - the images show some of the best NBA players of the time sporting the shoe. As this was a very good time for the shoe I wanted to shoes being used in the best way possible. The layout highlights some of the best moments for the shoe at this time and shows how much of a stable the shoe was for the athletes.
Celebrities/Films
For this spread, I wanted to show how the shoe has been worn by almost every major celebrity over the last 50 years. As well as being featured in many Hollywood films, which shows how important the show has been throughout popular culture, as many people would be influenced by the major celebrities that have worn the shoe.
Music Icons
Throughout the history of Converse, different music icons (Kurt Cobain, Robert Plant and Ramones) have sported the Converse which had made the shoe even more popular among the many subcultures surrounding the music. This spread shows how influential the shoe was when worn by the big rock stars of the time which also shows how important the show is to the subcultures that link to the different music icons.
Skateboarding
Being one of the biggest subcultures to date the Converse has been a staple part of the skate scene since the very beginning. The spread documents how the shoes are still popular today and lend themselves perfectly to the skater look. Within the pages, I have shown some of the most popular skaters of today still wear the shoe and how important the show is to this subculture.
Now (Collaborations)
For the last spread, I wanted to show how far Converse has come in terms of creativity and style. Over the last 10 years, Converse has seen a much-needed return to mainstream culture with the likes of Tyler The Creator collaboration with the brand to release this own version of the iconic One Star which has been a huge success for Converse. The spread also shows how far the shoe has come from the original basketball shoe and helps to round up the history of Converse through images.
Front cover
As the zine is going to be part of a series for WYS Rob and I have decided on a style for the covers. Each zine that we produce will use coloured stock that best links to the subject of the zine. In this case, I will be using red paper to represent one of the most iconic colours of the Chuck Taylor shoe. From analysing the shoe for some inspiration I was able to pick up on some small details that I thought might make the cover more interesting.
- Three stars from the heel cap
- "CONVERSE ALL STAR" typeface (Super Clarendon - closest match*)
- The more contemporary Converse logo typeface (replica on DaFont)
- Iconic Converse STAR in a circle
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