Good Is//Design Production for Print//Self Evaluation.

The self-evaluation form for the 'Good Is' & Design production for print module- reflecting on my strengths, weaknesses and areas in need of improvement with hindsight from these briefs.

Good Is//Final Crit Feedback.

Feedback and notes today from the final crit session, in which presentation boards (as previously shown on my Design Practice presentation boards- via Issuu post) and printed outcomes (thus far) were displayed for critique.

Working in a group of six (Sadie, Matt C, Sam, Ben H, Sarah P and myself) we, once again, divided into groups of two (I worked with Sarah) to give feedback to one another before the module hand in on Tuesday afternoon.

Some key points and notes taken/how I will go on to develop my products:

- Consider audience and relevance with my products

- Consider stock for outdoor advertising- weatherproof/covered?

- Emboss logos as opossed to spot varnish- too much contrast with cartridge stock

- Reinforced cartridge for box for more structural support

I actually really enjoyed today's session, and felt that I got a lot from it- and a bit of encouragement to stop worrying about my designs. Despite all that I would want to edit or change with them, they're okay- not perfect, but they do a job. Given the opportunity to redesign there would be a very long list of design possibilities I could pursue, but for now, at least, I'm on a reasonable enough target for my printed outcomes.

Design Production for Print//FINAL concept brief//rationale.

The final draft of my concept rationale- reflecting on various feedback sessions, crits, and consideration for my design outcomes.

GOOD IS... THE FILMS OF WES ANDERSON

WHY?

1// Martin Scorsese (Award-winning director of 'The Departed', 'Taxi Driver', 'Gangs of New York') is a big fan of his movies, even choosing him as the next Martin Scorsese in an Esquire Magazine Interview.

2// In his short filmography- 6 feature films, 2 short films, he has received thirty-seven film award nominations.

3// His five feature films post 'Bottle Rocket' took a combined total of £3,224,279 at the UK box office on opening weekend- great market potential.

4// Title cards are always in Futura Bold (commonly yellow)- an auteur quality praised by critics.

5// Earnt Oscar nomination for first animated film- 'Fantastic Mr. Fox', only beaten to Pixar's mega-bucks movie 'Up' for the award.

I INTEND TO (INFORM/INSTRUCT/PERSUADE/DIRECT/EDUCATE/PROMOTE TO...)

Inform/Persuade/Educate and Promote... the films of Wes Anderson.

A GROUP OF (IDENTIFY YOUR SPECIFIC AUDIENCE OR CONTEXT)

Adult (16-35?) cinema goers- fans of both art house and mainstream cinema.

...THAT (STATE YOUR MESSAGE, IDEA OR CONTEXT)

Wes Anderson's films are good.

IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS I WILL PRODUCE...  range of promotional material to advertise the (hypothetical) Wes Anderson Film Festival at The Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds from 19th-24th December 2011.

PRODUCT (WHAT IS YOUR PRODUCT)

A range of media to promote a hypothetical Wes Anderson film festival- informing my audience about his films and auteur qualities through facts, statistics, reviews, etc- presented in a visually communicative and engaging style which reflects Wes' (and his films).

RANGE (WHAT RANGE OF DELIVERABLES WILL YOU PRODUCE/PROPOSE)

- Promotional poster/bus shell advertising/billboards- promote/persuade

- Invitations/mailshots/printed programme at the event- inform/educate/persuade

- Signage and wayfinding- Eg, from city center to event and throughout event (strong identity and consistent design style)

CONTEXT (DEFINE THE CONTEXT IN WHICH YOUR PRODUCTS WILL EXIST/BE VIEWED)

Through the film festival (museum/gallery/picture house location) as well as outdoor advertising and promotion- printed marketing campaign.

Design Production for Print//Feedback Session.

In today's morning session we had a Feedback/Crit session- working in groups of six, as in a task a couple of weeks ago, we paired up and marked the opposing two group's work. Although I felt totally unprepared for the crit, and still, to be honest, a little nervous about my work's development, I was happy with the feedback I recieved- having considered a great deal- for example, colour on my design sketches being a huge priority (major drawing session at the weekend is in order)- as well as getting more work printed. In hindsight, I definitely agree with what the other two groups said in terms of quantity- I need to be more realistic, and will amend this as soon as possible by condensing my product range once more.

French Lesson II//VI.

 

Notes and text work from the second of my French lessons at LCA, between 5.30-7.30. Although it's a little stressful with Graphic Design work at the minute, and with Uni deadlines creeping ever-closer, I feel that these French lessons are giving me a great opportunity to have a bit of relaxation- stopping myself from over-working, yet still being productive, and, as a result, not feeling too guilty about it. (Images below including my note book with key words and introductions... please excuse my poor attempt of a croissant. Made me rather hungry...)
Here are the notes from today's session- particularly interesting look at tenses (to be/to have)- this was definitely a bug-bearer whilst learning at school. I feel now I am so engaged, I'm picking up a lot more, and the refresh will do me a lot of good- and, hopefully, improve my chances of work experience and industry placements- particularly in Belgium, France, or multi- national design companies.

Homework/ Extra- Cirricular work from today's session- fortunately quite easy! Just re-iterrating today's work and key phrases and text to remember. At the beginning of next week's lesson we will be going over this work to see how well we have done, and which areas may need improvement.

Design Production for Print//Crit Feedback Session.

Today's feedback session was really great- very constructive and it has really inspired me for the future development of the project and design development- taking in my design sheets, nets and of course, ideas for product development so far. These are the notes I made from Lorenzo, and the other members of the feedback session's opinions (some general feedback for the entire group also included):

- Look at other film festivals in Design Context- other launch night promotional events, etc.
- Less "tech" illustrations and drawing in design development- research the specific products (possibly shorten list for design development?) expand these fluidly and creatively- expressive drawings, natural- not forced.
- Get all designs ready to go on Illustrator before, in the drawing process, this will make it a lot more focused, and a lot less daunting. 
- Think chronologically- expected interaction. Plan for when mailshots would go out, when posters would be pasted, etc. 
-  Go drawing CRAZY.
- Consider future of my project- other venues and exhbitions.
- Work out my numbers, quantities and costings.
- Look at editorial layouts for programmes.
- What IS an event? Think national promotion, have a reason for EVERYTHING.


* Note to self: for promotion, locations could include:


LEEDS, MANCHESTER, LONDON, CAMBRIDGE, OXFORD, SHREWSBURY, GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, BRISTOL, CARDIFF, FALMOUTH, BRIGHTON*

PLAN FOR REST OF TODAY, TOMORROW AND THE WEEKEND- CHOOSE MY SELECTED ITEMS TO DRAW AND BE CREATIVE- ADD COLOUR AND BE NATURAL.

Design Production for Print//Crit Feedback Session.

Today's feedback session was really great- very constructive and it has really inspired me for the future development of the project and design development- taking in my design sheets, nets and of course, ideas for product development so far. These are the notes I made from Lorenzo, and the other members of the feedback session's opinions (some general feedback for the entire group also included):

- Look at other film festivals in Design Context- other launch night promotional events, etc.
- Less "tech" illustrations and drawing in design development- research the specific products (possibly shorten list for design development?) expand these fluidly and creatively- expressive drawings, natural- not forced.
- Get all designs ready to go on Illustrator before, in the drawing process, this will make it a lot more focused, and a lot less daunting. 
- Think chronologically- expected interaction. Plan for when mailshots would go out, when posters would be pasted, etc. 
-  Go drawing CRAZY.
- Consider future of my project- other venues and exhbitions.
- Work out my numbers, quantities and costings.
- Look at editorial layouts for programmes.
- What IS an event? Think national promotion, have a reason for EVERYTHING.


* Note to self: for promotion, locations could include:


LEEDS, MANCHESTER, LONDON, CAMBRIDGE, OXFORD, SHREWSBURY, GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, BRISTOL, CARDIFF, FALMOUTH, BRIGHTON*

PLAN FOR REST OF TODAY, TOMORROW AND THE WEEKEND- CHOOSE MY SELECTED ITEMS TO DRAW AND BE CREATIVE- ADD COLOUR AND BE NATURAL.

Design Production for Print//TEAM PRINT STUDIO VISIT.

Today, eleven of us from the Graphic Design group travelled up to Beeston to visit 'Team', the lithography printers to take a look around the studio and learn a little more about the printing process. Needless to say (see picture above...) we were a little bit enthusiastic. 

(Please note Baljeet's crafty nail work)

Arriving half an hour early (why be prepared when you can be overprepared, hey?) we sat in the waiting room area, and took a good nosey at some of the publications they had on display- and the print finishes- with some great examples of flooded Spot UV Varnish (where the page was varnished, leaving a contrast to the matt typography) along with some creative book binding and foil blocking.

Greeted by Simon from Team a short while later, we started our tour of the factory/work space- in a sequential route, from reprographics to print finishes. We started in the reprographics area, and were shown their timetable structure- a huge calendar chart which spread over two walls with each finish or process labelled- an efficient and proven method of organisation which ensures they can stay open for twenty-four hours a day, all year (except the Christmas holidays), providing flexible and constant business opportunities.

We then went on to see how the seperation plates were made for the lithographic printing process- in cyan, magenta, yellow and black. An interesting production method, where the aluminimum plates are processed through a computer-programmed machine.

We then moved on to the printers themselves- and examined how the paper was "knocked up" into position to ensure perfectly aligned registration in the printing process through a consistent number of units for each job. It was fascinating to see how air pressure and "suckers" were used as a grip and lock device to aid this process, along with the ruled stoppers. (Please excuse my nontechnical language...)

We also took a look at the inks- putting our inkjet cartridges to shame...

We took a look a look inside the ink reservoirs in the printers, and it was fascinating to see how the rollers worked with the plates to distribute and transfer the inks. The print technician discussed how he programmed the printers to measure the amounts of ink transferred and alterations through keys as well as the computer-aided technology.

The lithographic print technician then demonstrated working on a proof- a printed brochure from Betty's tearoom in York. He was discussing how the CMYK gamut has affected the colour production- particularly from the image of the christmas pudding against the dark background. 

We then moved over to to the print process finish area, where applications such as UV Spot Varnish, and trimming. It was interesting to see how the utilised their old screenprints and exposing unit for the Varnish process- a finish I was particularly interested in finding more about.

Moving into the finish (folds, bind) area, we were shown some samples of work for clients- and the palettes of printed media to be shipped out. This great paper sample booklet was from GF Smith- with all of the paper squares hand-glued on my Team in the post-print production process.

I have gone on to contact GF Smith in request of paper samples, and, hopefully, will see a positive 
response soon.

One of the major factors that inspired me, and made me choose 'Team' as a first choice visit was their fantastic client network- one being Italian London-based paper retailer/stockist, Fedrigoni.

I hope to take a trip down to their showroom in the near future to learn a little more about their company, and their stocks available (hopefully, again, getting my hands on some free samples!) . This print job was for the new product order method being introduced- whereupon you can order from twenty-five sheets- not just the business palette loads they previously offered.

And lastly, for the final unit tour of the building- and the final part of the printing process, where special finishes took place- foil blocking, spot varnish, die cutting and box making. It was fascinating to see all of the processes they offered within the company, which, undoubtedly is of great appeal to their client base- hence such impressive names as Stella McCartney for Adidas, Reiss, Grafik, JJB, and so on.

I was truly inspired by the visit, and amazed to see all of the facilities available for print (even spot colour and white ink digital printers- my mind...is blown), and has confirmed my passion for the design production process ever more. 

A particular inspiration, which I would like to pursue- the Stella McCartney range for Adidas was printed on lightweight 40gsm bible paper- a soft, uncoated and extremely fine stock. I think the stock would represent my Wes Anderson film festival promotion that I am currently pursuing in my Design Production for Print project (see my Design Practice blog for more details) which would reflect the consideration and subtlety of his films.

Before leaving, we were kindly given a print finish prospectus, which showcases the print finishes and processes available- as well as an innovative photographic project in which the more mundane or disregarded instruments of print were literally put on a pedestal and glorified for their usefulness and essential need in their print production process.

Really, so happy about the day- I feel like I've learnt so much, and have been awed and delighted with what is available in the print industry- the opportunities are endless. I'm definitely going to pursue more visits like these- a really brilliant day.