Visual Communication in Context - TypeRadio

TypeRadio – Reflective evaluation

I wasn’t completely shore what to expect from this unit, I had only talked to some second years briefly about how they found the previous year. I was however looking forward to getting to know InDesign in more detail and learning the professional aspects to the software.

The day after we were given the brief for the new unit, we were asked to pick a designer out of a box; this was then to be our foundation throughout the entire unit. Our work and research was to be based around our individual designer, I picked Catherine Griffiths from the box. Upon researching my designer I found some really exciting and interesting work; she has a strong website with a large portfolio of work upon it. Apart from the Internet, I couldn’t really find any other articles or book to gather research from; this made my development difficult at times.

A crucial part to the unit was the transcription of our designers interview with TypeRadio. The three other students (whose designer was also Catherine Griffiths) and I agreed on specific sections of the interview to transcribe, we each had a ten-minute section each. After everyone in the group had completed their section we swapped documents so we all had an entire interview to work with.

The group poster didn’t go as I had expected it to. I had some family problems right near the deadline and felt I couldn’t offer a great deal of input. I explained with my group the situation I was in, and thankfully they were really understanding. We had a group meeting to discuss size, weights, fonts etc. for our group magazine. We all quickly came to a final conclusion of what our group magazine was going to look like. I personally wasn’t impressed with what I had produced for the group magazine, it was very rushed and not at a professional standard.

This was my favourite unit so far this year. I have enjoyed all aspects, from my design, research techniques, software and working in groups. My planning and organisation was a big doubt at the beginning of the year, but I feel as I hand in each unit I progress and am becoming a better designer for that. My diary and BlogSpot have been the biggest influence on my planning and organisation, keeping me up to date and being able to record relevant information. I feel my self-confidence has increased throughout the year and I give my opinion on work with confidence and don’t hold back. This confidence has shown in my work, I look at design in a broader, more open way, and am not so narrow minded in new techniques or styles.

Magazine spread 1

Magazine spread 2

Magazine spread 3

Magazine spread 4

Evaluation - Work experience

Over all I had an enjoyable time at Creatiscope. I gained a feel for what the "real world" is like and how design companies go about creating designs for clients. After the first day I felt I had been working there for more than a month, I settled in really quickly and got on with the task at hand.

The brief was explained to me in solid detail and I understood what I was here to do. It was to produce initial ideas for the design of a course booklet aimed at a younger generation, i.e 16-20 year olds/potential students at the college.

Creatiscope is small company that has been designing visual strategies and solutions for charity, education and public sector organizations for over seven years. They specialize in Brand Identity, Design for Print and also Website design.

The office is based in London, near Chancery Lane tube station. There is one good sized office where John and Mark(who are the only members of Creatiscope) complete the design work.

They hire photographers for any photography work and have a good relationship with printers in the area.

Fourth Day - Work Experience

Had a bit of a lie in this morning, as I didn't need to be in until lunch time. The train to Debden seemed everlasting as it was one of the last stop on the central line.

Eventually, after about 15 minutes of walking round Debden, I found the college. I began taking photos of the college from all different directions to offer a variety of shots to John and Mark. Half way through the shoot, the grounds manager from the college came out and asked me what I was doing on the premises, taking photos. I explained the situation and after five minutes of persuading he gave me permission to carry on.

It wasn't the nest day for taking photo, it was cloudy and raining for a short period of time. I captured a couple of strong images to take back to the office though.

I eventually arrived back at the office just before lunch time with 100 images or so. I presented the photos to John and Mark on the iMac. They were pleased with the photos I had captured and agreed they were perfect for the cover.

As there was no card reader in the office I was asked to get the photos burnt to a disk at boots. When I arrived back from boots I began editing my original front cover designs with higher quality photographs of the college. John and Mark asked for copies of the existing work I had done from the previous three days, so they could also begin editing the designs.

Third Day - Work Experience

Started today where I finished yesterday. Carried on with the designs for the front cover; had more images to work with today. Have been been asked to include a mix of ethnic people into the design as well as a person in a wheel chair. This clearly is to brand the college open to all races, colours and abilities. My research began on image bank websites such as iStockPhoto.

Just after lunch I presented a few cover ideas to John and Mark. They gave constructive criticism to the designs before giving me a more in depth idea to what they wanted to see. They wanted to experiment with the colour scheme more openly and use stronger imagery.

We were struggling with the small sized images of the college from google and needed larger ones. Toward the end of the day I suggested I could get the tube to the college in Debden(central line) and gather better images of the front of the main building. John and Mark were both happy with the idea, and it was agreed I would be in for lunch time tomorrow(friday).

Second Day - Work experience

Got straight on finishing off the spread sheets from yesterday, before finally presenting my ideas to John and Mark. The ideas I gathered from within the magazines were relevant to the areas of interest for the individual subjects offered by the college. John and mark were pleased with the spread sheets I had created, and we went on to develop stronger ideas for the booklet. We discussed ideas ranging from colours, styles and typefaces.

After presenting the spread sheets I was asked to move on to the initial design of the front cover; which would also span throughout the insides of the two booklets.

As this cover was only a rough, I used images from the internet to build up a working block within Photoshop to give an initial idea of what the final cover would look like.

This image is of one of the final initial ideas for the front cover. The colours are different as the image is CMYK and not RGB. When I was designing this I took existing ideas from teenage magazines to target potential students. I feel this cover is a lot more appealing to the younger generation and would certainly catch my eye. This was my main when designing for the booklet; to target potential students.

Originally Creatiscope had only offered me the two days of work experience. But at the end of today John asked me if I would like to stay an extra two days, as the project was going well and they felt I was beneficial to the pitch. Really happy with this, as I was just settling into the project today and wanted to offer more to Creatiscope.

First Day - Work Experience

The first day of my work experience! I had mixed thoughts of what work in the 'real world' was actually going to be like. The early start was no surprise really, so too the sweaty tube to Chancery Lane. I had arrived a good 30 minutes early of when I was scheduled to have arrived. No change there really, am always usually early for most things, not a bad thing I suppose.

Once I had been introduced to the two clients of the small company (John & Mark), I got straight into work. I was introduced to the brief, of which I would be working on for the next week. This pitch was to design a Full time and Part time course booklet for Epping Forest College. We were competing against four other companies for the chance to win the pitch.

Creatiscope had designed the two previous booklets, and had brought me in to help with a new design. They wanted me to come up with fresh ideas to make the new booklets less corporate and formal, and more eye catching to a potential student.

They wanted me to gather research from teenage magazines. I was given some money and sent to WHsmiths. I had taken the previous course booklet with me, as I would be able to find magazines specific to each course taught at the college.

When I arrived back at the office I started ripping pages from magazines that contained any initial ideas, or starting points. I then created spread sheets with the designs or pages to present to John and Mark.

This image is my work space in the office. On the desk are the beginnings of the spread sheets.

Work Experience!

Got a phone call today about possible work experience in Chancery Lane! One of the original companies I contacted about work experience (CRA design), didn't have anything to offer me, but forwarded my details to another company within the same building (Creatiscope). They contacted me this morning regarding work experience!

They explained that they would not be able to give me work experience on the days I originally required (27th April - 11th May), but to start on the tuesday of next week (14th April 2009). I wasn't really sure what to say or do, as I needed to check with Neil (uni tutor), see if I was up to date with my work and try to stop a pan full of bacon and egg from burning! I eventually said I would get back to them; and after checking through my work and talking to Neil, I took the work!

After excepting the work, John Grover (Creatiscope) explained roughly the work at hand and what the pitch involved. I will be taking part in the design of a full time and part time course college brochures. Am really looking forward to starting some real work and to get a feel for the working environment!

Come on tuesday!