Progress Crit With Andy - No More YCN

As I have yet to speak to Andy at all during the FMP, I thought it would be good to get his insights into my projects and my ideas. The main concern, at this point, was the YCN Royal Court Theatre brief, or Brief 1. The deadline is next Thursday, and I have yet to have a solid idea or concept.

Andy explained that I was appealing to theatregoers, without having a clue what theatre and Royal Court is about. He suggested that I needed to dedicate a few weeks into researching the subject, gathering content and brainstorming initial ideas - something that I just cannot do in this time period. Other commitments, such as the Yearbook and the Prospectus brief have been occupying my time, and I simply don't have the interest in the subject matter to really drive me to explore the range of the campaign and push the project as far as it can go.

So, I could dedicate the next 9 days into producing some mediocre work that hasn't been pushed to its limits, or I could forget about the brief and focus on other projects that are well worth my time. At this point in time, I can't be wasting 9 full days on a project that I'm not interested in or proud of the outcome - I need to draw a line in the sand now before it's too late. Therefore, I have cancelled the Royal Court brief and I will focus on the D&AD Department of Health brief, which is due in 2 weeks. I have explored this project a lot further, and I also have more time to produce an outcome that resolves the brief, and one that can be put in my portfolio. I only need one competition brief in the FMP, and this one will grant much better work.

This will be my final post in the 'Brief 1 - Royal Court' tag, which will be replaced by the brief that explores bands from the 5 Nordic countries - really pushing my existing typeface produced in the first module onto other mediums to give it context and range.

I will write this brief properly in the next few days.

Generating Content Ideas - Royal Court

This is a very difficult brief, in terms of content. There are limited resources online that outline exactly what goes on behind the stages of Royal Court's plays. I decided to narrow it down:

These videos highlight the events that go on behind the scenes - focused on the young and upcoming talent. This is the audience that I want to appeal to, as I think it has the most scope for generating interest and inspiration. After all, it is the future generation of playwrights that will produce material for many years to come.

By pointing the young who have interest in theatre to these events, they may be inspired to start writing themselves or to push themselves to achieve more. It will give the publication more purpose than just informing, and gives me a narrower audience other than general theatregoers. And after watching a handful of videos produced by Royal Court, it is apparent that a large chunk of their audience are young - something that surprised me.

As I mentioned before, I am considering creating a hot dog fold. Here are initial folding tests both A2 folded down to A5, and A3 folded down to A6. The A6 is more mobile and could fit in the average pocket, whilst the A5 variant would be able to hold more information. At this point, I believe I will make it short and sweet - communicating the vital information to the reader.

Receiving Images From Siobhan

After browsing through the website of Royal Court Theatre, it was clear the photographs weren't suitable for print - they were way too small. To create an effective publication that would maintain interest in the readers, imagery would be vital. It also helps to illustrate the story that I would be telling the readers.

In order to fix this, I sent a general email to the Royal Court Theatre, enquiring about the availability of high quality photography for my project. Siobhan got back to me, and kindly sent me three images for me to work from:

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First Proposed Briefs & Phil's Feedback

Another possibility is a collaboration with a student from Fine Art or Fashion, in terms of branding & promotion, which is yet to be decided.

Phil's Feedback

The target audience needs to be specific in Brief 2 in particular, I need to get a focused audience and be more specific before moving forward.

Brief 5 & Brief 7 could be combined into one, but at the moment they are too similar.

Overall, I think I need to pad my briefs out and give them a bigger context in what to exist in. For example, for brief 5 I could add an event and the branding for that event for my typographic posters to exist in.

Before I deal with my statement of intent, I will sit down and brainstorm each brief to ensure that I have gone into the finest detail, and to make sure they're completely clear to someone who would pick it up with no background information.