OUGD405 | END OF MODULE EVALUATION

Although I was satisfied with what I achieved on the last module, I really wanted to start to improve and progress with my responses to briefs. This module was excellent as it pushed me to record my process towards the final outcome; something I perhaps didn’t do to a higher standard last time. Since the module is called ‘Design Process’, it is obvious what it entails, and I knew that I would be focusing on my experiments and development during a brief. For this brief I felt I was a lot more organised as I was more familiar with the course and the facilities, along with my growing passion for design. 

I felt as though I managed my time well throughout, made lists and kept up to date with blogs on most occasions. I think I could have pushed further to try different ideas for brief one, but I improved on this area as the briefs went along as I started actually noting down what I was doing. I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone too (trying to use more colour!) and also trying out different methods. Brief 3 was definitely my favourite, I hadn’t made my own booklet before, and I felt really pleased with how I had experimented with layout. I found Brief 4 very challenging, but this may have been to do with the research topic I chose as it was difficult to identify a problem and then find a way to resolve it appropriately, however I think what I did produce shows my improvement throughout this module compared to Design skills.

Overall it’s been extremely fun and challenging in places, which is all part of developing yourself and being creative.

OUGD405 | STUDIO BRIEF 3 | FINAL PRODUCT

Our booklets had to be stapled and printed in the print room so this restricted me in terms of full bleed. I have included a lot of full bleed images and pages, so I decided to staple and trim it myself.

I chose a thin stock as I didn't want it to look too bulky and firm, I also like the look of work printed on thin, matte paper.

Here is the final publication. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I wanted some pages to be quite messy and edgy, I didn't really feel the need to use a grid system for this. I think if it was TOO minimal and clean, it wouldn't reflect how chaotic a serial killer's mind is. If I could do this again I think I would have the back page as the cover as it's my favourite, and I think it looks more interesting than the one I chose. I also think the stapling could have possibly been more on the spine but it does give it a bit of an edgy look.. although I'm extremely pleased with my work overall.

OUGD405 | DESIGN BOARDS

BRIEF 1 / frame

 BRIEF 2 / research

(in folder)

BRIEF 3 / page layout

BRIEF 4 / design process

OUG405 | STUDIO BRIEF 4 | FINAL CRIT.

The final crit today would have been easier to present if I had a digital version of my work, as since we were in the seminar room it was a little daunting to stand there with nothing to read and pass my work around the room, but it's something I need to keep building on and improving.

However I got some really good feedback on my work, such as how the colours do convey the subtle sense of  danger, along with the imagery, without being too scary or possibly putting people off attending the lecture.

It was said that in order to improve I need to be able to back up what i've done and explain why clearly. I think I have experimented a lot with this brief and been able to justify and elaborate on most of the things I've done which is an improvement from the last module.

OUGD405 | STUDIO BRIEF 4 | DEVELOPMENT AND FINAL PRODUCT

The final tweaks I made to this design was putting into half tone, I thought this represented 'TV and newspapers', quite relevant to a serial killer. I used half tone a lot throughout these 3 briefs and I really love how it looks. My three designs are also pretty grey so this matched well, along with the colour scheme. 

I also made this background grey using part of the scan of my hand, the background part. I think it compliments the illustration and the use of black and white text. The mustard banner pops out so I think this will effectively grab the audiences' attention.

I like the use of brushes and my own scans in this design, it looks very arty and 'messy' which is a style I think I'm very familiar with and enjoy. The central layout looks very appealing and readable. I like how bebas looks mixed with letter gothic. The only thing about this design is that it could look a little bit funny having Jeffrey Dahmer's floating head just there, but regardless, I think this is my favourite of the 3. 

The tagline thats included in all of the designs is "bring an open mind" which may not be how everyone feels about serial killers, however this whole brief is about educating people and not demonising them anymore than they already are in the news. I also didn't want to come across as though I was glorifying Dahmer, so I thought this tagline was nice and neutral. 

As for the location and demographic for this brief, I think it would be targeted at young adults/adults, possibly at university. I wanted to appeal to those who aren't just morbidly interested in serial killers, so I didn't want to scare people off, but still have the same tone. I think the yellow colour connotes a subtle sense of danger, but also looks nice. I think the posters/leaflet could be appropriate in order to attract different types of people to learn more. I also think they'd look nice stuck to a notice board, and could visualise them on ones around universities. I think the next step forward would be to produce a larger scale one, possibly A3 or even A2. That would have been really nice to try, as I would imagine them on the poster stands you see around city centres, pasted on them.

I could imagine an A2 version on one of these.

Overall I'm very pleased with my work, and even though I did struggle coming up with a problem and response to the brief, I'm still pleased with how it turned out. 

OUGD405 | STUDIO BRIEF 4 | EXPERIMENTATION

I decided on choosing Durham University for the location of this hypothetical talk; the reason for this is that one of my close friends does criminology there and was able to tell me the room number and where abouts it was, which makes it a little more personal and authentic. I also researched people who have previously done a talk about serial killers and found Dr Kathy Charles, who's name sounded pretty legitimate. 

At first, I started messing with textures on photoshop, and whilst placing one, my entire file glitched and produced this:

I have no idea what happened, but it looks pretty rad, and mental. I like how the colours reflect a TV with no signal. This 'accident' lead me to want to try out using very bright colours to see if I could achieve this type of image.

This was the first idea I came up with, and looking back at it retrospectively; it's crap. I tried to experiment with different colours and add 'collage' like brushes and scans. I also wanted to try and incorporate geometric shapes, similar to those in my research. I think this could work better with different colours and a nicer image, my hand just looks disgusting. The idea behind the colour was to make it less 'creepy', as this was the aim I was going for. I don't think I did this effectively, I think it looks really bad! The only part I like about this design is the black ripped edge, as I love anything that looks 'arty' and messy. I think after this design I wanted to abandon the vivid colours, I don't think it reflects the message I want to portray.

 Here I tried it out using red and keeping the design a little sparser. I still didn't think it was striking enough and was very mediocre. I like the colours together though and the silhouette of the trees achieves that level of eerie-ness paired with the red.

Here I have messed with my scanner and chose to scan my hand. It was a bit of a spontaneous decision but I always work in this way and I think spontaneity is pretty fun. I felt like the image of my hand looked a lot cleaner and professional than my last designs, and I liked how it looked like it was pushing against the screen. I also used my scan of the ripped paper just see see how it turned out but it's pretty boring. There's nothing contextual on it or anything to signify Jeffrey Dahmer.

I started fresh, after having a break, and decided to find a new angle I could take it. 

 Here I scanned in my illustration of bones, as Jeffrey Dahmer used to collect some of the bones of his victims... I think this looks creepy but the fact that it's illustrated softens it, as it isn't as realistic. I think they do look quite striking and interesting, but they definitely look a lot more subtle than a real skeleton. I experimented with the ripped paper and inverted it. I prefered it with a light background rather than black as the shadows are darker and more visible. I tried this colour theme after reflecting on my research, especially the design work for 'The Dahmer Files', and there's something about this colour that makes me think of the word 'retro', and Dahmer's case is quite dated now. I feel like yellow is just a colour that conveys him, I can't quite justify why this is but maybe it is because of the fact I think it's a pretty retro colour and he wore giant 'retro' glasses.

Here I've experimented further with my hand image, and incorporated the mustard colour. I wanted to create around 3 posters, possibly of different sizes, so I thought they should work as a set. I think this looks really cool, especially the one with the mustard yellow accents. Again, it's quite subtle and sets the right vibe without having to use a load of blood and guts. It also looks professional to suit the name 'Dr Kathy Charles'.

 Here I took some inspiration from perezramerstorfer. I liked how the head was just floating in the middle and felt it would be appropriate to use an image of Dahmer in one of my designs. Here I used some of the sharpie scans that I did:

I made each of them into a photoshop brush so I could use them freely. I like the 'collage' effect as I've mentioned before.

I experimented with a black background but felt it looked too dark and didn't match my other ideas.

I liked how the title text looked set to each side of the poster, however I like the one with the white background that was centred as it just adds extra focus to what it's actually communicating. Looking back over my work I do also like the 3rd image as the text is easy to focus on because of the white banner and it looks a lot cleaner.

The fonts I've chosen to use are bebas and letter gothic std. Letter gothic std reminds me of typewriters and, again, I personally think it looks pretty retro, but can also appear modern and not dated, thats what I like about it. Bebas is a very nice font that's easy to grab people's attention and looks excellent mixed with letter gothic.

These experiments have helped a lot in discovering the colour scheme that worked the best, and seeing what fonts to use. I struggled finding a solid idea at first but with perseverance I felt I produced some suitable work towards my brief.