Final Crit 16/5

After showing my work and comparing with other students at this stage, it's obvious I've got quite a lot to do. This will take a great deal of time and project management and will be a very hectic 13 days.

Here is my Feedback from Kirsty & Mitch:

Progress Surgeries: The Current Situation & Scrapping A Brief

Although the progress surgery was essentially a laid back catch up to see how everyone was doing, I thought it was useful in defining my progress in the FMP up to now, and how I will approach the final 4 weeks.

Here are the main points that came up during the talk with Amber and my peers:

• The expansion of my typeface can be considered a separate brief to my nordic music collective if I produce the relevant promotional material. An idea that we discussed was my perception of my typeface in the form of a publication - how I would use the font and pointers to using it correctly. A more complex specimen book, if you will.
• Extend 1 or 2 briefs until it is exhausted. It will look good in your portfolio and will show a complete understanding of design range and distribution.
• Read over the module description to make sure you're ticking the right boxes.

I thought I would state here that Brief 5 - What is hereby scrapped. I haven't started the brief, and I have the opportunity to create some typographic posters in other briefs. I think I would get more from focusing my attention on other briefs. I have enough to successfully complete the module anyway.

Crit Feedback 17/4

Overall, I am happy with the feedback. I found talking things through with my peers, rather than silently filling in a form helped the most. Here are the main concerns:

• More primary research is definitely needed.
• Expanding the range of the Nutharc typeface - more promotional material needed.
• More scope for the Activ project. Push the product and distribution through ads/propose a launch event.
• Including more photography within my projects.
• Think about design for screen as well as for print.
• Consider the audience more.
• Personal colour palette could be limited, expand colour spectrum.

+++

Following the crit, we had a sheet to fill out and scan in. I opted to type my thoughts up as my handwriting can be diabolical at times.

Strengths

• Typeface is looking strong with a good range of glyphs.
• I have a product in the form of a font that I can market and sell.
• The Activ campaign is a piece of design that can go in my portfolio and shows my capabilities at a commercial scale.
• Iconography has improved.

Areas of Improvements

• More work needs to be done in researching and idea generation for 3 briefs.
• No real action plan at this point.
• Activ brief could be pushed further. Last of my priorities, brief is finished as far as I'm concerned.
• Need to start experimenting with stock choice and printing processes.

Action Plan

• Push my Nutharc brief forward to create a set of deliverables that celebrate Nordic music.
• Research more animals, create more icons for Endangered.
• Get more movie scenes, icon up these scenes.
• Finalise the yearbook.
• Create typographic experimentations for the Bad Predictions brief.
• Collect relevant photography & images for all briefs.

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.

Crit Feedback

Questions

1. Does the icon publication (brief 4) look better spaced over a DPS or one page per puzzle?
2. Do you prefer the horizontal sequence of the icons or vertical?
3. Is my blog clear & easy to follow?
4. Do you think it would be better to represent the item how it stereotypically looks, or how it appears in the movie? e.g The pinny on the children's puzzle is how it appears in the film and may be unclear.

In general, the feedback was good. I am honest enough to say that I should probably have more work done at this point, but at the same time I am constantly investigating my design context, and my dissertation has had to take priority over the past couple of weeks.

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.