OUGD301 Self Evaluation

Final Design Boards

Photographing Products

Francesca and I took out lights and set up our own photography studio today to take pictures of the products I have produced for each of my briefs in order for these to then be put onto my design boards.

Final Crit

All in all, my crit feedback was very positive. There were a few changes suggested but they will enhance the presentation of my work, so I am going to ensure that I make these changes.

This crit was also a good opportunity to see everyone elses work and boards, so I can use inspiration from these to improve my own work.

Hope:: Pressing the plate

Today I went down to Vernon to press my copper plate into my Hope business card designs and swing ticket. Before I went, I pre-cut these to size so that I could simply position them onto the plate and press them in the correct place. I took one of design with the black type on it and one without. The one without would be blind embossed and I had the tricky task of lining up the type correctly to the design with the black type present. On pressing these, I became evident that the blind embossing was much more effective; it was clearer to see compared to the black and I didn't have the problem of lining the type up within mm of accuracy. The cards with the Hope type printed were incredibly difficult to embossed in the correct place and did not look as professional as the blind emboss.

I think I am going to use the blind emboss, however, I do not like it with the 'clothing' type written beneath it. So I am going to remove that type, a write 'Hope clothing' on the reverse of the business card instead. I am going to print the reverse type on the same stock as the front and mount both onto white mountboard to create a duplex effect. Hopefully, this will give it a much cleaner finish and look far more professional.

Back to the hydraulic press in Vernon tomorrow then.

Hope:: open/closed sign

As part of the Hope print collateral I am design an open/closed sign to be positioned in the shop window.

Within this, on the closed side, I wanted to include the opening times so that people know when they can come back, which should give Hope more business.

Hope:: Business Card reverse

I have been playing around with the type for the reverse of the business card. I am going to go in and use the hydraulic press down at vernon street on Monday (as long as im not still ill) to emboss the front of my Hope business card. I will test different stocks, but I am hoping to use white mountboard for the front and cream stock for the reverse. However, this is all going to depend on how well the different stocks press.

Nevertheless, I need a design to print the contact information on for the business cards.
I have considered the information which needs to be present for a small clothing boutique to be::
(in it's correct hierarchical position)

Logo, Name, Telephone, Email, Website, Address and Opening hours.

This will allow the customer to contact the boutique by any means necessary to them.

I am not entirely keen on this yet, but it is the basis which I can now work upon.

Drop shadow

I have added a drop shadow to the product images. I want the images to have a white background to give the sense that they are fresh, clean, high end products. However, in doing this I wasn't sure if the white box would sit better against the neutral tones with a drop shadow behind it.

This effect makes the products seem to become 3d (ish) and more prominent. This could mean that the customer is more drawn to the product and that Hope gets more sales, result.

HOPE:: 'clothing'

Although I do not want the 'clothing' type to be above the 'Hope' type in it's heirarchy, I do need to make it more prominent as it seems to get lost quite a bit into the background. To highlight the 'clothing' type a little more, I have added a drop shadow to the type...

...this seems to have done the job and given the type a subtle uplift.

Hope:: App

I have altered the size of the logo on the first two pages in order to make it bigger and more visible. I think previously it was too small and not obvious enough. I didn't want the 'clothing' part of the logo to be as prominent as the 'Hope' type, but somehow they both seem to get lost against the other components so making the logo bigger will hopefully eliminate this problem.

Hope:: App design

I have been working on the Hope app design, as before I had only applied the logo to show how it would work on the device. I have now created three different pages, I have tried to keep these pages in line with the branding of the other Hope products....

Hope:: range

I want to extend my range of deliverables for the clothing boutique, so I am going to propose the design of an open/closed sign, receipt pad and loyalty card. I think the loyalty card would be a good idea for a small clothing boutique like Hope; if they were to offer a percentage off the customers 5th and 10th visit, it would give customers the incentive to return. An open/closed sign and receipt is a necessity for any small store; especially seen as Hope currently use one with their old logo on it.

Fourth crit boards

These are my crit boards to show the proposed digital designs I have been working on so that my peers can see this as well as the physical products I have brought in to the crit.

Hope:: Proposed Web design

I have also mocked up the proposed web design for Urban Tease onto devices, again to see how the designs work in context.

I wasn't sure if it would be clear to the user that they had to click the logo to enter the next screen, so I tried adding in an [enter] sign at the bottom to direct users. However, I think seen as there is nothing else that the user can click other than the 'Hope clothing' logo it would be sufficient and clear enough to leave it as just this type.

Making the copper plates

Today I went down to Vernon street to pick up my copper plates, they were soaking in a solution which I needed to leave them in until the blue film was removed.

I then washed of the solution in the sink, blotted my plates dry and I was ready to go!

I took the copper plates home so that I could line up the type in the correct place and mark it with masking tape so that I could position every other postcard in the same position when I came to press them all.

Vernon:: Copper plate

I went down to Vernon street today to make a copper plate for my Hope branding and the type postcard for inpress. It was a fairly lengthy process but Neil helped me through it and I learnt a lot (could definitely go down and do it again).

This was one of the last stages, where the copper plate had been exposed to my image with UV lights; I had to use a sponge to remove the excess and reveal the copper plate.

I have left it with him to soak in a solution overnight so it will be ready for me to pick up tomorrow.

Hope:: copper plate prep

I have prepared my artwork ready to go and get a copper plate made up at vernon street tomorrow. I was unsure as to whether I should have 'Hope clothing' debossed, or just 'hope' or just 'clothing'. Essentially, I need to try and test it but it a little tricky when I need to make a copper plate to do so. So, I have decided to use just 'hope' as it will emphasize the brand name; I can then play around with how to interact the 'clothing' type with this.

I printed the business card and swing ticket to check the size of the type was going to be sufficient, as I will be using the same plate to deboss both of them, the type size needs to work across both printed materials.

Hope:: Business Card

As I want to create a copper plate to emboss the business card I am going to keep the size of the type on the business cards and swing tickets the same. I have considered how I can use the colour scheme (beige, black and white) to its advantage.

I know need to consider how the type will sit on the back as this may effect my choice of colour combinations.

I am also considering having the 'clothing' type debossed rather than the 'Hope'. I can then print the Hope in black type, which will allow it to remain high in the visual hierarchy, and then blind emboss the clothing so that it is still present but not so high up in the visuals hierarchy. Maybe.

Hope Web Design

Today, I have been working on the website design for Hope Clothing. I decided to work on this first as it provides an instant method of delivery for the clothing store and allows me to develop an identity for the clothing store straight away. I wanted to use a neutral colour scheme in order to keep a bespoke feel about it, as I had decided to use a sans serif typeface which could have made the brand too informal if I wasn't careful.

These are the three pages that I have designed to show the inital page when you visit the website, the homepage and how the products will be presented in the online shop.

I am happy with this design of the website and can now begin to consider how these designs can be applied to the stores print collateral using the same colour schemes.

Drop in at Vernon

I want to go down to Vernon to get a copper plate made up so I can emboss print collateral for my Hope brief and type for my inpress postcard. Looking at the drop in timetable I can and am going to go in Monday 3-4.30pm.