Penguin Brief - Colours & Typefaces

Selecting Appropriate Children's book Typeface

During the process of selecting and choosing a suitable typeface for my version of 'The diary of adrian mole aged 13 3/4' book cover. I downloaded a few free children's book typefaces, which looked similar to the existing winner covers on the Penguin website. Below are the names of these free fonts and I will experiment which one will be the best for the book title and the remaining text for the blurb. 

Colour choice for the book cover

When deciding a colour scheme for the book, I thought it would be a good to experiment with watercolours than using a simple block solid colours on Photoshop or Illustrator etc. I believe blending and testing with various watercolours will create a creative background for my version of the book cover. My idea, is to create a book cover which is a diary, hence part of the name of the book title. By using watercolour, it gives an affect of the diary being used as the protagonist of the book 'Adrian' uses this book to tell his story. This is why the cover will be worn and rough looking. Below are some scans of the colour testing and the watercolour pencil which was used to create this worn out cover affect. 

Penguin Brief - Ideas and Sketches

Book Cover ideas & Character Design sketches

After collecting inspiration off the internet, existing children books, book covers in general and so on. I had a rough idea on how to create and display my book cover version of 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 3/4'. Like many common children books, mostly the covers are illustrated in a unique type of style. Therefore, I decide to sketch out some character designs of Adrian Mole. By obtaining some other visual appearance based on the character, I took some of the illustrator elements and changed them in my drawing style. The most common and recurring illustration character design of Adrian Mole is a young boy, with glasses and has a brown curly rough hair. In the scans below are some of my sketches of my version of Adrian Mole, again following on with previous character design. I tried to keep some of the characteristic traits like the glasses hair etc. I experimented with some character expressions, the school clothes, the glasses shape, figure and structure. 

Within the scans of the sketches that I drew, some of the sketches have no facial features. This is because, I was following a style that Noma Bar does, by keeping his illustration designs as flat designs when I edit them via Adobe Illustrator. Most of these scan sketches will become vector shape, as it will be more easier and convenient for me to edit the colour of the characters appearance. 

 

 

For the book cover designs, I have taken some images of google as a guide on how I would like to layout the front, spine and back cover. I have already visualised an idea of making a book cover a diary, however, as the book was set in the times of Margret Thatcher. I wanted the book cover to have a more used and worn appearance, as Adrain Mole is documenting his life within the diary. Therefore, I will add a border around the diary/book, some stamp shapes, post it notes, book mark, school equipment to related to the boy documenting his story. 

Template of a Penguin book cover

Using this template, I will be able to get the correct size of a Penguin book cover template for my designs that I will do via Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. 

D&AD New Blood Awards 2017 | Chosen Brief - Hasbro Game Board Design

Chosen D&AD Brief - Hasbro, Game Board Design

I have decide to commence with the D&AD New Blood 2017 live brief, known as the brief that Hasbro submitted - Designing a game board for young adults. As a young aspiring Graphic designer student, I believe this is a suitable brief for me to tackle as the requires for this brief mentions: Graphic Design, target audience is aged at the same age group as me, and something that wants to keep the traditional ways of playing games without the use of technology. 

By reading and re-reading the brief numerous of times, I fully understand how to produce a game board that Hasbro wishes to desire. The brief also mentions creating physical forms of the game as well as an animation prototype for the judges to comprehend the idea how the game is supposed to be made. Fortunately I have a decent amount of knowledge when  creating the deliverables listed for this specific brief. 

During my GCSE I took a course called Graphic Products, in this kind of brief I created a Travel kit for children. I made this travel kit Mario themed, as Mario is very well known and popular character that all ages recognise. Within this travel kit, two side of the kit are magnetic. One side of the kit is building a jigsaw puzzle of the character Mario (Paper Mario) and the other side was a noughts and crosses inspiration, which became following the Mario theme (Mushrooms and Stars). The colour theme of the travel kit correspond with the theme of Mario (Reds, whites, blues, yellow and so on). And to keep these pieces from being missing, I used the vacuum for sheets of plastic which formed a shape of the desired box and then sanded down the edges for the lid and bottom to close. I also used vinyl sticker with a vinyl machines to cut out the logo of Mario and the details on the stars and mushroom characters. The images of this will be shown below: 

Therefore, I have an idea on what kind of materials I will need to consider for my game design board/packaging to make it look more professional appearance. 

In addition for demonstrating my board game in play, I will create a stop motion animation prototype which will be created on the program After effects. There are blogs based on my stop motion animation in my Design for Screen brief which take you to my student Youtube account demonstrating how the app operates. Below will be images of this kind of work: 

Overall, I will consider these type of techniques and use them in good use for this live brief. 

Studio Brief 01 | A Creative Strategy Brief

Studio Brief 01 - A Creative Strategy Brief

PART 1

Collect, categorise and reflect on a body of investigative research, creative references and responses to set tasks in the form of your PPP blog. You should make regular posts to your blog that demonstrate an increasingly individual/independent exploration of Illustration, the broader creative industries and general visual culture. You should use this brief as a starting point for the development of an increasingly informed understanding of the nature of contemporary illustration practices and their role in our local, national and international culture

You will need to maintain an ongoing evaluation of your individual progress in Level 05 of the programme by regularly reflecting on what you have learned, how you have developed and how this relates to your own creative ambitions. As part of this process you should post copies of each End of Module Self-evaluation to your blog in order to maintain an ongoing record of your reflective skills and analytical responses to your own development.

Study Tasks will be set and you will need to record your responses to them but you should use them as a starting point for your own independent research activities.

PART 2

Produce and present a 10 minute Powerpoint/pdf or similar presentation that reflects on your experience & response to the PPP and Responsive modules. You should aim to understand who you are as a learner and an illustrator as well as how the things you have experienced over the past nine months have affected your current aims and ambitions. You should also identify creative concerns, personal aims and professional ambitions that you intend to explore further over the Summer and during Level 6 of the programme

Background / Considerations

We are not asking you to simply produce a scrapbook of images or a day-to-day diary of what you have seen/where you have been. Keep your reference broad by searching out new and interesting connections.

Take the opportunity to attend lectures, events and exhibitions. Organise study visits to studios, galleries etc. and remember to record and reflect on all that you see.

Set time aside on a regular basis to reflect on the work you have produced and its relation to your emerging creative interests and areas of individual focus.

Mandatory Requirements

Your presentation should last 10 minutes (you will be penalised for a presentation that is shorter or longer than this).

Although the content, tone and conclusions of this reflective process should reflect your own experiences, personality and ambitions, you should aim to focus on the learning journey through the PPP and Responsive modules and how this has informed the decisions that you are making about your future. To this end you should use examples of your own work, creative skills and interest in the contemporary field of illustration & design as part of your presentation.

You should be prepared to answer questions on your presentation posed by your colleagues.

Responses to this task should be recorded on your PPP Blog and should be labelled with the module code and appropriate 'Studio Brief Number'.

Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that all work for this brief has been presented and labelled in line with these guidelines by the submission deadline. Work that is incorrectly labelled, posted to the wrong blog or is in anyway unclear or inaccessible will not be assessed

You should ensure that any material, discussions and reflections generated during taught sessions, workshop and group critiques are evidenced for assessment.

Studio Brief 02 | Creative Presence | Engagement with the Design Industry

How to Engage with Design Professionals?

For Personal and Professional Practice 2, based on the Studio brief 02 it is required to interview a minimum of three professional designer/studios. This will help develop a greater understanding on how these professional designer/studio were able to become to there current stage of securing their job and being successful. 

By interviewing a variety of professional designers/studios, I will be able to collect knowledge and information on their professional background. Hopefully, the final product for this studio brief will hopefully be documented in a publication format. This could either be a compacted publication or separate individual publication based on each designer or studio. 

List of Questions to ask Design Professional

1) Describe your creative process?

2) How do you get unstuck creatively?

3) What project are you currently working on?

4) How much of the concepting or strategy phase have you been involved in in previous roles?

5) Tell me about a time when a client didn't like your work. And how did you resolve this situation?

6) How do you stay organised when you are provided with multiple design assets, files, and ideas?

7) What questions do you ask before you begin any design project? What information is most important?

8) Tell me about a time when you had to balance multiple competing priorities?

9) Tell me about a project you've completed that has made you the most proud?

10) What rules, culture, or structure needs to exist to foster team collaboration?

11) What’s your greatest weakness?

12) Can you tell me a bit about yourself?

13) What are your strengths?

14) What kind of design software are you familiar with?

15) What is your graphic design process?

16) What have you learned from your mistakes as a graphic designer?

17) What can you tell me about your company/brand?

18) What have you done to improve your knowledge of graphic design?

19) What kinds of print media have you worked with?

20) Can you tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure and how you overcame it?

21) What qualities do you consider necessary for a good designer?

22) What kind of design projects interest you?

23) How good are you about sticking to your deadlines?

24) How long does it take for you to deliver the final product?

25) How do you think others see your work/company?

26) Would you consider yourself a team player?

27) How do you handle criticism?

28) Can you suggest some interviews or articles that inspired you for you career choice? 

29) Which graphic designers / studios influenced your type of work? 

List of Professionals that I will consider to interview

• Digital Art Ltd - Photography Studio, Dan@digitallightltd.com
• Tough Little Graphic - Graphic Design firm, Toughlittlegraphic@mac.com 
• Kenneth Anderson - Illustrator, Kenny@charactercube.com
• Sarah Gillespie - 3D Artist, Sarahjcgillespie@hotmail.com

D&AD New Blood Awards | Deciding Brief

Deciding which D&AD New Blood Awards to commence with...

Deadline for all Briefs (22nd of March 2017)

BBC Brief | Summary

Help the BBC bring Edinburgh Festivals to everyone, by using technology to capture the event for a wider audience. 

Background

The Edinburgh Festivals are respected, world renowned events. They bring together all
forms of arts, performance, science and literature.They are widely considered the largest annual series of cultural festivals in the world. August is the peak of Festival activity, when the Edinburgh Art Festival, Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Book Festival and Edinburgh Mela all take place.  More on the August Edinburgh Festivals: www.edinburghfestivalcity.com

The ChallengeUnlike other festivals and sporting events – Glastonbury, Football World Cup, etc – the August Edinburgh Festivals blur the lines between performer and audience. By their very nature, as city-wide events spread across hundreds of venues, the festivals encourage interaction between those visiting for pleasure and those actively participating. A significant number of those sat watching a comedy set, play or performance one afternoon might be taking the stage themselves that same evening. Part of the festivals’ appeal is the serendipitous discovery of the new and interesting. If an event is at capacity, it’s likely that a couple of doors down there will be another, perhaps smaller performance, something that might just be the find of the festival for a member of the audience. With this in mind, how might BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals capture the spirit of the events for those who can’t attend? Use the power of technology to help the BBC connect a global audience with the Edinburgh experience.

What’s Essential A BBC product or service using technology to connect a wider audience to the Edinburgh Festivals. Present:
• Your solution. Clearly explain your idea, how it would work, and how it makes use of available technologies.
• Your creative process. Briefly explain how you arrived at your solution and key insights from your research, and visualise your working (eg with annotated illustration, renders, animation, etc).
• An interactive prototype. This could be a clickable prototype displayed in browser, a physical product, a live platform... 

What and How to Submit
Read Preparing Your Entries before you get started for full format guidelines – we won’t accept work that doesn’t meet these specs.

Main (essential):
• Present your solution and process using either a narrated video (max. 90 seconds) OR annotated JPEG slides (max. 8). The judges will base initial decisions on this presentation only.
• Submit your interactive prototype as physical and / or interactive work. The judges will look at this if your entry gets past the initial remote judging round.

Optional:
If your main piece is video, you can also submit JPEG slides (max. 4).

John Lewis Brief | Summary

Design a product or service to connect John Lewis and busy city-dwellers, and put a British favourite at the heart of modern living. 

Background
John Lewis is more than just a high street store. It’s a much-loved part of the fabric of British society. But how can it do more for its customers? While 27% of time-short urbanites love John Lewis, they tend to see it as trustworthy, but unexciting, old fashioned and a bit pricey. John Lewis want an innovative new way to engage with this modern and demanding consumer.

The Challenge
How do you connect with an audience who are open to the brand but not enthused by it? What is it about John Lewis that isn’t clicking? Work this out and find a solution: design a product or service to bring John Lewis into the lives of time-short urbanites, and to bring them to the brand. Be true to the brand. Identify where there is potential for it to add real value to, and become an integral part of, modern living. Start from scratch or radically evolve something that John Lewis already do by bringing in new channels or taking it in an unexpected direction.

What's Essential
Bring your idea to life with a presentation that shows: 

• Key elements of your insight and solution
• How it serves both John Lewis and your audience
• How it would work across multiple channels
• The lifecycle of your product / service throughout the user journey
• Research and development highlights

What and How to Submit
Read Preparing Your Entries before you get started for full format guidelines – we won’t accept work that doesn’t meet these specs.

Main (essential):
Either a presentation video (max. 2 min) OR JPEG slides (max. 8). Optional (judges may view this if they wish): Interactive work (brand websites, apps etc); physical supporting material; if your main deliverable is JPEGs, you can also submit video (max. 1 min total); if your main piece is video, you can also submit JPEGs (max. 4).

Hasbro Brief | Summary
Invent and design a party game for young adults that takes them away from the screen. 

Background
We are living in a golden age of board games. Sales have gone up by 25% every year for four years. Crowdfunding sites have made it easier than ever for inventors to launch innovative new games. And far from killing off the board game, the digital world has made people yearn for the social interaction they provide. With 70% of new ideas coming from inventors outside the games industry, it’s open season on non-digital game design for creative types who know how to have fun.

The Challenge
Invent a party game for young adults. The game needs to be an innovative and exciting product that brings people together in the real world – offline and app-free. There’s every chance your game will get made, sold globally and become an evergreen title for many years to come (with you raking in the royalties).

What’s Essential
• A presentation showcasing your idea with clear gameplay and designs and any launch concept ideas. This is your pitch: initial judging rounds will only look at your presentation video, so it needs to do your game justice. They’ll dig deeper (and get playing) once they’re down to a shortlist for the Pencils.
• Once you’ve won over the jury with your presentation, the proof is in the pudding. A playable prototype might not be possible, but create and submit one if your idea means you can do so without too much difficulty. Otherwise, get creative to prove the concept without making it: the Bop-It video in your Brief Pack shows how its inventors did this.
• Research and development highlights.

What and How to Submit
Read Preparing Your Entries before you get started for full format guidelines to make sure your work gets accepted. Submit:
• A presentation video (max. 90 seconds)
• A demo: either a playable prototype with full instructions, submitted as physical
supporting material OR a proof-ofconcept video (max. 2 min)
• Your R&D: either JPEG slides (max. 2) or a video (max. 30 seconds)

Studio Brief 02 | Creative Presence Brief

Studio Brief 02 - Creative Presence
CREATIVE REPORT:

Building on your continued familiarisation with the creative industries and prompted by the need for even more engagement with professional contacts, you are required to seek out an industry practitioner or practice who you will base a report on.

The completed report should utilise your skills as both a creative and a researcher and make use of material drawn from at least one personal interview with an appropriate spokesperson to then culminate in an insightful overview of a contemporary industry figure or organisation. Your interview can be carried out in person or via phone, Skype or email. Supporting sessions will offer guidance regarding the approaching and interviewing of subjects

You should aim to subsequently develop a report that is engaging in terms of both its style and content. The completed report should be submitted as a digital Issuu publication posted to your PPP blog and needs to communicate your interview subject's route into industry and identify where their creative practice is currently situated.

IMPORTANT: You will be responsible for any online content uploaded and/or distributed as part of this module. Can you please ensure that all material is original, belongs to you and complies with the guidelines for online activity outlined as part of your general Mac suite induction. If you are unsure about any content that you intend to upload please discuss this with your tutor

Mandatory Requirements

Evidence of research into appropriate online social/professional/creative networks. This should include evidence of engagement with networking activities, online presence and contribution to identified sites.These should be included a links on your PPP blog- Please label them clearly

Responses to this brief should be recorded on your PPP Blog and should be labeled with the module code and appropriate 'Studio Brief 2'.

Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that all work for this brief has been presented and labelled in line with these guidlines by the submission deadline. Work that is incorrectly labelled, posted to the wrong blog or is in anyway unclear or inaccessable will not be assessed.

Deliverables

A 500 word Creative Report published as a digital Issuu publication posted and clearly label to your PPP blog.