Photography Student Victoria Kathryn Branding Live Brief - Final Outcomes & Evaluation

 

Final Outcome
The outcome for this brief is branding for photography student Victoria Kathryn. The branding includes a logo design, business card designs and a promotional mail pack design. The concept for branding was inspired by Victoria's use of colour and shapes, and her focus on sustainability. The logo design is made up of an icon and text. The icon is a play on the shapes used within Victoria's photographs to create her initials 'V' and 'K', and within a circle to subtly represent a camera lens. The text within the logo uses the typeface 'Interstate' in Regular and Light weights. This sans serif typeface was chosen due to its minimalism, and the way it visually complements the icon design. The business card designs utilise the clients' Victoria's photography on the back, and presents the logo design and her contact information on the front. The photography used for the business cards were derived from Victoria's series about sustainability, and includes 4 photographs, 2 of still life objects and 2 of living plants. These 4 photographs were chosen to allow Victoria the choice of tailoring which business card to hand out to who. The front of the each business card reflects and hints at the photograph on the back, by extracting one shape and colour. This was done to create a connection between the front and back design of the business cards. The logo design on the business card is large to draw the audience's attention, and inform them Victoria's name and the service she provides. The contact information also uses the typeface 'Interstate' in a Light weight, to uphold cohesion across all branding materials. The promotional mail pack design includes 5 of Victoria's photographs and one business card, inside a envelope-style folder. The photographs are also taken from the clients' Victoria's series about sustainability, and are printed on 'Museum Heritage' paper stock to give them a rough texture and enable vibrant colours. Each photograph print includes a white boarder to frame the photographs in a professional manner, as well as Victoria's logo design and contact information. This was done to enable each photograph to act as a promotion for Victoria, even if separated from the original mail pack. The business card is inserted into the mail pack via a small see-through tracing paper pocket. This was done so the business card is neatly presented, and also available for the audience to view even whilst still inserted in the mail pack. The envelope-style folder is a net design printed on A2 in 'Digi Wallpaper' paper stock, to make it sturdy but also easy to fold. The net was designed in a way that gives the folder height, allowing the photograph prints to fit snuggly in the mail pack. The design is mostly colourless, to reduce the use of ink and make it more sustainable. A design inspired by the colours and shapes within the clients' Victoria's photography is printed as a background for the photograph prints. This was done to give the mail pack an unexpected pop of colour, as well as to reinforce the branding and make the mail pack unique to the client. The promotional mail pack is closed shut with a sticker of the logo icon. The materials used for the production of the initial mail pack are not sustainable, but ideally for future reproductions recycled paper would be used. To reduce initial printing costs for the client Victoria, a universal front cover design for the business cards was also created, so that it could be used together with all 4 back cover photographs. This universal business card was printed on paper stock made from recycled cotton t-shirts.

Evaluation
The brief was to create branding materials for photography student Victoria Kathryn, which reflected her practice and showcased the focus on sustainability that is present within her photography. I believe the final outcomes have been successful at meeting the aims of the brief, because the concept for all branding materials has been inspired by Victoria's photography, and the designs considered the use of ink and recycled materials. The concept for branding was inspired by Victoria's use of colour and shapes within her sustainability projects. All three branding outcomes, the logo, business cards and promotional mail pack, utilised colours and shapes in a way that created a branding identity, and makes all outcomes cohesive and representative of Victoria's practice. The design of all outcomes also considered reducing the use of ink to showcase Victoria's focus on sustainability. The logo design is minimal utilising simple lines and thin typography line weights. The business card designs also use thin typography line weights, as well as reduced opacity of colours. The promotional mail pack is mostly colourless, with only branding identity and net guidelines present. To improve the outcome for this project, I believe I should have found and printed the promotional mail pack with the appropriate recycled paper stocks and even inks. The final outcome pictured is only a mock-up version created using non-sustainable paper stock. Although my client was happy with the structure and texture of this outcome, when created using recycled materials the outcome may be very different, which may affect how the mail pack is presented and how my client responds to it. Also, I believe I could have developed the design of the promotional mail pack folder further. Although it succeeds at using less ink, it only does so because it is quite a simple and plain design, which also makes it slightly boring. To improve, I could have explored more sustainable design and production techniques that would have allowed me to make the mail pack design more visually engaging. Nonetheless, I believe the final outcomes for this brief have been successful because not only did they communicate clearly who my client Victoria is as a photographer, and her focus on sustainability, but they also made her very happy and created a photographers branding identity that is unordinary and meaningful.

Time-management 25/02/19

Last week was the 'Creative Convos' week, where we had industry professionals come in every day, so I did not have the chance to update my weekly time management plan. However, last week was quite productive as we completed the End of Year Show branding brief, and I also completed the 'Conscious Creatives' brief. I am fairly happy with the outcomes of both those briefs so am confident that I will be submitting them. Completing those has also given slightly more confidence, and I am more motivated to keep working on all my current briefs. This week's focus will be the Penguin Book Cover, this is because the deadline for it is next week, and I feel like I have neglected it a little bit so far. I will also attempt to catch up on my blogs, this is constantly within my time plan but it keeps getting pushed aside, so I will continue to mention this in my reflection every week until I get it done. Looking at my list of briefs, I now have 14 in total that I am working on/planning on doing. I am happy with this because it gives me a little more room to change my mind and submit only the briefs I am most happy with.

End of Year Show 2019 Branding Internal Collaborative Brief - Final Outcomes & Evaluation

Poster Design

 

A6 Leaflet Design

Horizontal Print Ad Design

Print Ad Designs

Social Media Countdown Design

Brick Folly Design

The final outcome for this brief is the promotional campaign for the Leeds Arts University End of Year Show 2019. The final outcomes include a poster, A6 leaflet, print ad, social media countdown and brick folly designs. The concept for the branding of the exhibition is inspired by the Apollo 11 mission and the famous first words on the moon, and aims to hint at the theme from a minimalist point of view. The 'moon' that is present within all branding material was inspired by topographic maps, and contains simplistic contour lines that aim to communicate the moons surface. The typefaces used throughout the exhibition branding are 'Rakesly' for the titles and 'Sk-Modernist Mono' for the body text. 'Rakesly' was chosen because of it's strong and bold visual presence, and 'Sk-Modernist Mono' was chosen because of it's legibility and youthful tone. Typography was a main focus throughout all branding material as it was key in communicating the concept and information about the exhibition. The colour scheme that is present in all branding materials communicates a mature and professional tone, which symbolises the graduating students seriousness about entering their industries. The poster design includes the exhibition name, university, and starting dates. This was done because the poster would only be seen by the audience at glance in passing, so it contains little information for them to absorb. Whereas the print ad and leaflet designs contain also the location and duration of the exhibition, because those would be seen by the audience in a more relaxed setting and allow them to absorb more information. The poster, print ad and brick folly designs are all very similar in layout, however, the A6 leaflet design is slightly different. The leaflet design tells more of the concept story by including a white line that connects the exhibition name 'One Small Step' to the secondary name 'One Giant Leap'. This design decision not only reinforces to the audience the concept and the Apollo 11 mission inspiration, but also introduces a more interesting visual element that can later be used across other branding materials such wayfinding, exhibition guide and etc. The social media countdown design utilises the visual language of the exhibition branding, and showcases how it can be applied to create promotional and news updates about the exhibition.

Evaluation

The brief asked to create a concept and promotional campaign that would reflect the essence and purpose of the end of year show - to showcase the hard work and talent of exhibiting students. The concept needed to be creative and eye-catching, as well as attract the people from industry to attend. I believe that our Apollo 11 inspired concept was successful at meeting these brief aims. The connection we made between the mission to the moon and the lives of graduating students is creative because it is unique and unexpected. This would make the exhibition branding more memorable, and therefore more likely to attract industry professionals. I believe our adaptation of the famous first words on the moon, and the use of layout, have been the most effective at communicating our concept. Within the design of the A6 flyers, the line connecting the phrase 'One Small Step' on the front, to 'One Giant Leap' on the back, creates a moment of mystery and anticipation as the leaflet is turned over. This reflects the hard work and the emotions of graduating students, as they all exhibit their best work and sit within that moment of anticipation before the leaflet is turned, not yet knowing what is on the other side or what they will do after they graduate. The repetition of the 'moon' throughout the branding of the campaign I believe has also been successful, because not only does it reinforce the Apollo 11 inspired concept, but it also acts as a symbol for the large potential that graduating students have. Although the concept for this brief was very well-developed, I believe the execution could have been stronger. The 'moon' that has such a strong message, could have been made more visually prominent and striking, so that there was a higher chance the audience would notice that message. The use of the line within the design of the A6 flyers I believe was effective both visually and because of it's message, and could have been implemented across more of the campaign material. Also the design approach to the various individual campaign materials should have been more considered, and the design of each one adapted to suit better the context, format and audience that will see it. Nonetheless, I believe the final outcomes we created have been successful due largely to the unexpected and intriguing concept we had created. Even if our execution was not perfect, we met the brief aims and created a promotional campaign that is creative and unique, and has the potential to attract not only industry professionals, but also the majority from our target audience. 

Conscoius Creatives & Grow Wild Uk Live Brief - Design Development, Final Outcome & Evaluation

Design Development

After deciding that I will embrace the soft and delicate nature of the wildflowers, I wanted to portray them in a more natural and warm environment. I wanted to keep the focus on 'The Pollinators' and ensure that the audience can be clearly informed which flowers are the best for insect pollinators. To do this I started to play around with different ways of individually presenting each flower as unique and important, rather than putting them into one big composition as I had done during my initial ideas stage.

The wildflowers as stickers/individual small illustrations. This idea was to give each wildflower it's own space and it's own little world, where they would be the centre of attention. Focusing on the soft and delicate nature, I choose palates of warm and pastel colours, but also tried to keep the colours of the petals and leaves as realistic as possible. I quite liked how this looked visually, however I struggled to imagine how these stickers/illustrations would serve their purpose of communicated them as a group 'The Pollinators'. Although I wanted each wildflower to be individually presented, I still wanted them to be seen as collection of equally important plants.

The wildflowers in an informative-style simple poster. The idea was to present all the wildflowers in a very minimal and clear poster, almost like a stripped back info-graphic. Still focusing on the soft and delicate nature of both the wildflowers and my drawings, I decided to keep the poster black and white. I included the title and names of each wildflower to easily and clearly communicate the information to the audience, and chose a typeface that was cursive/ in a hand-written style, so that the poster would have a more human touch./personal feel.

The wildflowers as postcards. The idea was to present the wildflowers as a series of postcards, so that each wildflowers could get the individual attention, but so that they all could also work as a collection. I quite enjoyed this idea and thought that it could be effective, however, postcards are not as popular in the modern day as they used to be and are now used more so as collectables. This means that my project as a collection of postcards would not reach a large audience, and because I wanted my outcome to be informative, I also needed it to reach a large enough audience. To do this, I needed my project to work both on analogue/print formats and digital/online formats, and a series of postcards would only be able to work on analogue/print formats. 

I considered that the postcard idea could be informative not only in the sense that it showcased all the best wildflowers for pollinator insects, but it could also include instruction for the care of those wildflowers, so that the audience would know how to maintain them and help them thrive naturally. This would include information such as the season it blooms, bloom duration, how much water it needs, weather and environment in grows best at, which insects like it the most and etc. 

Going back to the informative-style poster, I decided to try and add some colour to it. Although thus far this was my favourite and most effective presentation of the information about wildflowers, when it was black and white I feared that it may be too boring and not catch the attention of my audience. Therefore, I tried exploring adding colour. I attempted to keep to the delicate/soft theme and used a watercolour vector brush to apply soft strokes of colour to the petals. This I believed worked quite well in making each wildflower stand out within the poster, and possibly make the poster stand out as a whole. However, visually I felt like this now seemed like an unfinished piece of work, and that the colour was too washed out making it seem like the wildflowers are not as important as I wanted to portray them as. 

Struggling with visually presenting the wildflowers as important, I went back to the stickers/small individual illustration idea. This time I stripped back all colours and again kept it black and white, but with an empathise on black in the hopes that it would make the illustrations stand out more. This was just a quick exploration which proved unsuccessful as the black colour made the flowers seem lifeless and dead, which is the opposite of what I am aiming for. 

I went back to the postcard idea once again to explore adding colour. I liked how adding colour brought some life and a positive atmosphere/energy to the illustrations. I like how individually these postcards would work really well, but also as a collection. However, once again the issue of postcards only working in an analogue format deterred me from pursuing this idea.

I also tried some darker colours for the postcards, but they did not work as well as they did not showcase the same positive energy as the softer/more pastel colours did.

Still attempting to make the informative-style poster work, I tried a different way of adding colour to the illustrations. I tried slightly bolder and brighter colours. However, I believe this took away from the delicate and soft nature of the illustrations. It seemed at this point that anyway I tried to give the illustrations more life or energy did not seem to work, bur rather took away from their original warm and soft atmosphere.

Feedback:
- The colours aren't working in the poster, I think it looks better as black and white.
- The pastel colours in the postcards are nice, and if you wanted you could simply upload them online as an illustration so it could have the digital presence you want.
- I really like the black and white poster, but I think it is missing something, it is a little plain at the moment. Maybe the type could be bigger, or you could draw more wildflowers.
- I really like this typeface, I think it works well with the illustrations because it's gentle-looking.
- I like the sticker idea, I think people would like them to stick on their laptops and such.
- The poster I think is a good idea, but maybe it should have more information on it, like facts about wildflowers or statistics.

After feedback I decided to stick to the original black and white illustrations of my wildflowers, however, from the suggestions in my feedback, I wanted to add some other elements that could make the poster more visually exciting and enticing for the audience. For this reason I decided to draw a boarder made up of plants/leaves. I thought a boarder would add a decorative and visually pleasing element to the poster, and by using only simple plant and leaf shapes, I will not distract from the shapes within the wildflowers. 

I scanned in and turned my boarder drawings into vectors using 'Image Trace' I started to play around with how the boarder could surround my pollinator wildflower illustrations. In this composition the boarder seemed to dominate the poster and made the illustrations seem secondary, as well as forcing them to sit awkwardly on the page.

In this composition I tried to create a 'curtain' for the wildflower illustrations, however this made the balance of the whole poster feel weird and top-heavy. The boarder illustrations were also still too big and drew attention away from the wildflower illustrations which should be the focus of the poster.

In this composition I tried to bring the focus back onto the wildflower illustrations by making the boarder illustrations a light grey/opaque compared to the rest of the poster. To create some cohesiveness and a connection between the wildflower illustrations and the boarder, I also added grey coloured elements into the wildflowers. This however made the whole poster seem a little sad and damning, which is not what my intentions for this brief were. 

In this composition the poster had started to come together. I decreased the size of the boarder illustrations, which brought the focus of the poster back to the wildflower illustrations. The boarder and the main illustrations now had a cohesiveness to them, and seemed to compliment each other. I had only drawn two corners of a boarder, so I mirrored them diagonally to fill all four corners. This brought a nice balance to the poster and created a more positive atmosphere as it gave the poster a sense of flourishing and blooming life. 

Final Outcome

The final outcome for this brief is an informative poster that showcases 'The Pollinators', wildflowers which are the best food source for insect pollinators such as bees, butterflies, beetles and moths. The wildflower illustrations and decorative boarder is hand-drawn, which gives the poster a more personal and natural feel. The detailed and thin-stroke illustration styles represents the soft and delicate nature of the wildflowers, and highlights their fragility within the British natural habitat. The use of a minimal black and white colour scheme draws focus onto the content of the poster by avoiding the stereotypical colour scheme that is associated with nature and graphics surrounding it. The black and white colour scheme also creates a slightly damning atmosphere, which highlights for the audience the importance of these wildflowers and their role within the ecosystem. The illustrations include parts that are completely filling in black, this not only makes the poster bolder and stand out more, but also adds to the atmosphere that it is creating. The typeface used is 'Run Wild', this typeface was chosen because of it's delicate and hand-written style, which compliments the illustrations and also adds to the personal and natural feel of the poster. The title 'The Pollinators' clearly communicates the collection of wildflowers that are being presented, and the names of each wildflower underneath educate the audience on which wildflowers exactly fall into this collection of being the best food source for pollinator insects. The illustrative boarder not only acts as a decorative element, but also juxtaposes the black and white colour scheme by adding a sense of flourishing and blooming wildlife. The juxtaposition between these elements represents to the audience that it is not too late to start implementing wildflowers into their gardens, and aiding insect pollinators in their role for crop pollination.

Evaluation

The brief asked for creative work that celebrated wildflowers or fungi, and had a focus on sustainability. The final outcome for this brief was an informative poster that showcases which wildflowers are the best food source for pollinator insects such as bees, butterflies, moths and beetles. I believe this outcome has been a success, because the content of the poster both showcases and celebrates wildflowers, as well as brings to attention a collection of wildflowers that are sustainable to the environment. They are sustainable in the sense that they support the life of insect pollinators, which are a vital part in crop growth, as they provide pollination and fight against crop pests. I believe the serious tone of the poster created by the atypical black and white colour scheme brings attention to the content of the poster, and would stand out amongst other graphics surrounding the same topic. The use of hand-drawn illustration represents the fragility of the wildflowers, which I believe creates a juxtaposing warm and welcoming atmosphere for the audience, making them more likely to interact with the information provided within the poster. The juxtaposition between the illustrations and the black and white colour scheme gives the poster a more complex and therefore unique meaning, potentially making the poster more intriguing and memorable. What could have been done to improve this poster and make it more effective was to include some facts or statistics about the connection between wildflowers and pollinator insects. This may have made the poster more adaptable to other formats than just the exhibition space, within which it's message was clear due to the focus of the exhibition being sustainability. Considering the design of the poster, although the use of black and white was effective, colour could have been explored further which would have allowed the audience range for the poster to be widened. If colour was implemented, younger audiences would find  the poster more appealing and could be educated by it as well. Overall, I believe this outcome has been a success because I was able to communicate information and share a connection between wildflowers and sustainability that not everyone may have known about, as well as do so in a visually engaging and meaningful way.


The Exhibition

My Exhibition Statement:

The poster showcases and celebrates 'The Pollinators', wildflowers which provide the best local food source for bees, butterflies, moths and beetles. Many of our fruits, vegetables and nuts rely on insect pollination to produce a good crop, as well as fight against crop pests. By bringing to attention these wildflowers, we are encouraging sustainable crop growth by decreasing the need for artificial pollination methods and the use of pesticides.

End of Year Show 2019 Branding Internal Collaborative Brief - Design Development

Poster Design

After choosing the typeface and colour scheme for our exhibition branding, as well as the way the title 'One Small Step' and the moon graphic will interact, we continued to explore with how the rest of the content of the poster will be laid out. We had to incorporate the university name, dates of the exhibition, and the university logo. Below are various composition/layout design by all members of our group, and just like throughout our whole project, we all discussed, suggested ideas and shared spoken feedback on our designs.

We explored interesting ways how we could include the copy for the poster into the design. This idea aimed to visually represent 'steps' by having the title broken up by the exhibition dates. This however visually looked a little awkward and we felt there was too much room in the top part of the poster.

We quite quickly realised that we will struggle with finding a balance between the moon graphic and title, and the copy and university logo. This was because the university logo especially, we felt did not fit into the fluidity of the rest of the poster. Nonetheless, we had to include it, so we attempted a large range of different layouts to accommodate all the necessary information. In this attempt, we felt that the text/copy was grouped too closely which made it slightly illegible and confusing.

In this layout we liked how the text/copy lined up with the grid and guidelines created by the title, however, we thought that all the information was packed too closely which made the poster visually unbalanced.

We tried various ways of making the copy/information 'slot' into the design by following the angles/grid laid out my the moon graphic and the title. However, we were struggling with creating a balance. For example, in this design the copy felt too squished to the title, leaving an awkward amount of room in the bottom of the poster.

I had the idea  that to create some overall cohesiveness to the poster, that the text/copy should also include the same colour as the moon contour. In this way, we are able to give the poster not only some cohesiveness between it's elements, but to also highlight the more important information such as the dates, and the university name. In this layout attempt, the copy/text sits a little awkwardly due to the sentence lengths, which makes the information slightly confusing to read.

In this layout, the poster again feels a little unbalanced as all the information is on one side. The text also looks to be too squished as it has no breathing room between the title and the side of the poster.

In this layout again we liked how the text/copy line up with the grid/lines created by the title, and this is something we have been trying to do in quite a few of our layout explorations. However, again the information feels to squished and seems like there's no breathing room, especially since there's quite a bit of blank space left on the bottom of the poster. 

This layout I personally liked, although the other group members disagreed. I thought that if we are struggling with finding the right balance between all the elements, then we should embrace the unbalance and even highlight it. In this layout I purposefully made all the information left side heavy. I thought this looked interesting because it was something different and unique, but it was also clear and legible enough to be appropriate for the audience. I also thought that this in a way could represent 'steps' coming from the bottom left of the poster and leading to the 'moon', which also represents our journey as students as we learn and grow and finally reach the 'moon' as we graduate. Even though I liked this idea a lot, because my group members disagreed I had to compromise and let it go. This is okay because in a group project all opinions have to be taken into consideration, and it's only professional to step down if you are the only one rooting for you own idea.

This layout was starting to feel as if it was going in the right direction. The text/copy was given enough room so that it was legible, clear and di not at all seem squished. The logo in this case however feels a little awkward as it seems to hoover on top of the design rather than be a part of it.

This layout again felt a little too squished and the information did not have enough room. Throughout this design development process, we tried a variety of layouts, quite a lot of them having only small changes made too them, and the problems with them that we had seemed to be repeating. This was only because we wanted to really perfect the poster so that it could become the foundation for the rest of the design deliverables that we needed to create. We hoped that possibly only a small change in some of these layout explorations could turn out to be the right one.

In this layout we quite liked the logo placement. At first we wanted the logo to become a part of the design, but we then realised that maybe it did not need to be. Having the logo in the corner we thought was not too distracting from the concept of the poster/branding, and in fact actually looks quite professional. In this layout exploration however we disliked the text/copy because it felt again squished between the title and bottom of the poster, as well as being slightly hard to read.

In this layout I liked how the text/copy within the poster seemed to be in a box, but was also clear and legible. The only issue we faced in this layout, and in many of the other layout experiments was the university logo. Here it sat quite awkwardly right next to the text and in relationship with the moon graphic and title, even though it was aligned centrally to them. Because the style of the university logo is so different to our branding concept, we seemed to struggle to find a fitting place for it within the poster design.

This layout we felt was a step in the right direction because it utilised the space on the bottom of the poster much better, and allowed enough room for all the information. The only thing we thought was still awkward and did not belong was the university logo. In some previous layout designs we placed the logo in the corner of the poster, which we thought was much more professional and appropriate.

This is the final poster design. After a massive array of experiments with layout of the text and university logo, we decided to in the end keep things quite simple. This is something we did during our initial ideas design phase also. Instead of trying to make something a bit different or unique, we realised that we shouldn't try and force it, and that we should focus more on the clarity and legibility of the layout. So for the final poster we put the university logo in the corner, so that it was clear and accessible to the viewer, but also did not feel awkward within the design or distract from the theme/concept. The copy/information we gave quite a bit of space, so that the information had visual hierarchy and would be legible and clear for the viewer. Using the same colour as the moon graphic we highlighted the key information within the text/copy. Overall, although we spent a large part of the project on the poster design and the design itself does not look very complex, the thought processes and discussion that went alongside the design of this poster is what makes the design so successful in communicating it's message. Each small detail within the design of this poster was thoroughly discussed by us as a group, and this poster is what became the foundation for the rest of the deliverables we created.

A6 Leaflet Design

One of the deliverables was an A6 leaflet that would promote the exhibition. I took the visual language we had created collaboratively within our poster design, and applied/adapted it to create an A6 leaflet design that fit into the branding of the exhibition, but also introduced some more interesting visual elements. 

Going back to our exhibition concept, one of the things we wanted to do was to create a sentence. The title of the exhibition was 'One Small Step', but we also wanted to have a sub-title 'One Giant Leap'. Our concept was inspired by the Apollo 11 mission and the famous first words on the moon. We thought that the Apollo 11 mission was an appropriate metaphor for our graduation because to us, graduation is just as an important and grand accomplishment in our lives just as the first steps on the moon was a grand accomplishment to humanity. That is why the title 'One Small Step' symbolises just that, a small accomplishment for each of us, and the sub-title 'One Giant Leap' symbolises a giant impact this will have for our lives. The two phrases are taken from the famous first words on the moon, which aids the communication of our concept.

 

At first I simply took the poster design we had created, and applied it to two sides of the leaflet, changing only the title/name. Although this communicated everything we wanted it to, this leaflet design felt boring, because it was so similar to the poster design. Each deliverable for the project has a different purpose and audience interaction, and this was something that needed to be considered. The same audience member may seen various materials from the exhibition, and if all of it looked the same they may get the impression that the exhibition itself would be like that. I wanted to make the leaflet design slightly more exciting and interesting visually, so that audience could be enticed and interested to come to the exhibition.

 

To make the leaflet design more interesting, I tried to play around with the moon graphic. I knew that I somehow wanted to create a connection between the front and back of the leaflet, not only to make it interesting for the audience, but also to show the connection between the title and sub-title of the exhibition. I quite liked this design as it was interesting visually to see the moon go from one side of the leaflet to the other. However, this felt a little too disjointed from the branding/visual language we had created up to this point. The poster design only contains one moon graphic, and to have two of them on the leaflet design would make the branding too disconnected overall. 

 

In the previous design I discovered that creating a connection between the front and back of the leaflet was an effective way to showcase the difference and relationship between the title and sub-title. In this design, instead of using the moon graphics, I decided to make the connection quite visually obvious and used a line. The line stems from the 'P' in 'Step' on the front of the leaflet,  and connects to the 'E' in 'One' on the back of the leaflet. I used a line because so far everything we had done to communicate the concept of our branding was quite subtle and abstract, so by adding a visual element that was quite typical and obvious created a juxtaposition that would be unexpected and intriguing for the audience. Although the line was a very strong design element, apart from that the design still felt a little awkward. The back of the leaflet didn't follow the rule of having the moon graphic above the rest of the content, which broke the balance and cohesiveness of our branding. Also, the line connecting to the 'E' in 'One' looked unnatural.

 

Considering the flaws in the previous design, I developed the leaflet and created this design. The layout of the moon graphic and the content in respects to it now followed the branding guidelines we had created, and was cohesive against the rest of the branding deliverables. The moon graphic sat above the rest of the content. The line that connects the title and sub-title now connected to the 'N' in 'One' which looks more natural and visually appealing. The sub-title on the back of the leaflet design had to shift slightly so that the line could connect seamlessly, however this only makes the back of the leaflet design more visually interesting and unexpected. By having the information about the exhibition on the back of the leaflet makes it clear  to the audience which side is the front and which is the back, which then also makes it clear that 'One Small Step' on the front is the title and 'One Giant Leap' on the back is the sub-title. The information that is included about the exhibition is slightly more extensive than that which is on the poster. This was done so by taking into consideration that whilst a poster would only be read in passing at a glance and so needs as little information as possible to interest the audience, a leaflet would naturally allow the audience more time to read it so it can contain more information that would not only create interest, but also inform the audience about the exhibition. 

Print Ad Design 

One of the deliverables was to show how the branding would work in different print-ad formats. I took the visual language and elements from our poster design and my leaflet design, and applied it to a horizontal print ad format. 

This print ad adapted the leaflet visual elements, and tried to showcase the connection between the title and sub-title in a one-sided print format. This did not work as well within this format as it does on the leaflets. Because on the leaflets the lines seemingly connect from one side to the other, the message and connection between the title and sub-title is clear. However, on this print ad this does not happen because the lines do not connect, but simply run off the page. Without having seen the leaflet, the viewer would not be able to understand that they words should connect. Which also means that it would not be clear to them which of these two statements is the exhibition title. Overall, although the connecting lines idea works on the leaflets, I found that that is the only format that they can work in.

This print ad adapted the poster visual elements. Having learnt throughout the project that simplicity is key, and again so in the previous print ad design attempt (above), I decided to simply transfer the graphics from our poster design, into a horizontal ad format. This was an appropriate and successful approach, because it ensured that the visual language of the branding within the final poster and the print ads was cohesive. The viewer would easily be able to recognise that both the poster and this print ad were for the same event. The only small changes I made for the print ad that is not present on the poster design is the amount of information. Whereas the poster is meant to be viewed by the audience simply at a glance, as they are driving or walking by it, it only needed very little information to entice the viewer/audience into finding out more. Whereas the print ad design takes into consideration that the viewer/audience has the time to stop for a few seconds as they are flicking through the print pages, and therefore more information can be supplied. Into the print ad I added the location of the university/the exhibition, and the dates range of when the exhibitions will be happening.