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.