Space Bar live brief review

We were asked the design a brand for 'the space bar', which is situated on newcastle college campus. Currently, the space bar is quite unused, only really used by a small crowd of students that attend there regularly. They wanted a brand that would make them stand out and more known to students on campus.

What i enjoyed about the project

i enjoyed this project as i have loved working on live briefs during my first year, i think it is great practice and experience to have, working to a real clients brief, with the possibility of having your work published or made for real.

What i didn't enjoy about the project

I didn't enjoy having the possibility of renaming space bar, i didn't want that responsibility and found it very hard to generate a name for the bar. 

Problems i encountered

Since i had already branded the bistro restaurant, i wanted to make something completely different to that design and unique to space, but i found it quite hard at first to generate ideas. Also, i liked a few ideas i had for the name 'warehouse', but after receiving feedback, i decided the name wasn't suitable and ended up sticking with 'the space bar'

What went well

I thought my symbol worked quite well for space. It was very simple and subtle but i think would work great as a stamp that could be used for events held at the bar. I also think my stationery set looked modern and worked well with the symbol.

What didn't go well

After i had created the symbol, i found it hard to fit the title of the bar in with the symbol. In the end i put the title small next to the symbol, which i thought fitted quite well.

New Skills acquired

Having only a short time period to work to, i thought i created quite a few outcomes within a short space of time, which is something i would have never been able to do in previous years in graphics. I think my overall idea generation is becoming better as grow more confident in my design abilities.

New Knowledge acquired

I now know that i can work to a short deadline and still produce good work, which is something that makes me more confident and will help me with working for other clients in real life situations.

Time management

I thought i managed my time well throughout the project, and had everything finished a few days before hand in, which gave me time to reflect on my design and make a few slight changes.

Editorial Project

We recently completed an editorial project. We were all given a different subject to base our designs on, creating a double page spread with a follow on page. My subject was based on Social Networking, and i decided to explore the obsession with the popular networking site 'Facebook'

What i enjoyed about the project

I enjoyed this project as i have never tried editorial design, but have always been interested it, so this brief gave me the opportunity to explore something new.

What i didn't enjoy about the project

I didn't enjoy leaving the project for a week to focus on something new, because i felt that this stopped my motivation for my idea so i struggled to finish it.

Problems i encountered

Although i am getting better with using InDesign, i still found aspects of it hard when it came to my editorial design. I thought that the arrangement of body copy was difficult to do and the document at first was hard to set up.

What went well

I think the photograph i took worked out really well. I was very pleased with the quality, especially after completing the editing, and considering i have no photography experience, i thought it turned out nice. 

What didn't go well

I accidentally lost the file for my photo so i had re-edit it all again which was a pain to do. Also, i found it really difficult to get the arrangement of my title to look right, but in the end i thought it looked good and worked well alongside the photograph.

New Skills acquired

Throughout this project many of my IT lessons helped me a lot, especially with the basics of setting up an editorial piece through InDesign, also i learnt about different file formats that can be imported into InDesign.

New Knowledge acquired

I think i am now more confident in using indesign, and i have gotten used to the different shortcuts when compared to illustrator, and the file formats for imported images.

Time management

I thought i managed my time well throughout the project, and actually finished a week early. 

Week plan 25/4/2011

Monday - Finish IT essay


Tuesday - update blog with tasks and missed projects


Wednesday - work on logo for manors day centre 


Thursday - Find a live brief to do and start thinking of ideas


Friday - Continue with ideas for live brief

Franko B exhibition

I recently went to an art exhibition held at the new globe gallery in Newcastle. The gallery was quite empty and new, but they were just setting up the rooms so that was expected. I donated money to the gallery and will soon recieve an illustrated certificate for my donation, which i will post here, but it looks very nice!

So the main show at the gallery was based around Franko B. He was a bit 'different' to say the least, but i have seen his work online before and it did sound interesting. However i was left a little dissapointed by the show. I didn't really understand the idea behind it as he swung back and forth on a gold swing for an hour, while being completely naked. However, his tattoo's were cool so it wasn't all bad. I didn't stay for the whole show as i found it a bit tedious, but here are some pictures and a video from the event!

exciting ;)

Something i've been working on...

After finishing my editorial design early, i had some spare time to work on an illustration i've had in my head for a while. Im quite happy with the outcome although i'd like to go back and maybe thicken out the lines, but i like the 'hand drawn' style. Also, where the hair meets in the centre i've noticed it creates a beetle shape, reminds me of a scarab beetle.

Newcastle College Bistro

A while ago i posted my project review of the Bistro restaurant logo and stationery set that i designed. I just recently found out that my design has been chosen to represent the restaurant which is very exciting and is going to be very good for my portfolio of work! 

Live brief opportunities

I was recently shown some websites that offer live briefs for students, and with my final project of year 1 coming up, and being based on live work, this will be a great help. Also some of these briefs give the opportunity to get my work published which will be great to add to my portfolio. I will look through these briefs and decide which one i would like to do.


Here are the websites:


http://awards.ycnonline.com/briefs/


http://www.dandad.org/awards/student/2011/categories


http://www.northerndesigncompetition.co.uk/categories/graphic-design.php


http://www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk/would-design-students-be-interested-in-seeing-real-briefs/


http://www.rosesdesignawards.com/

BlueBridge logo live brief

We were asked to design a logo for a record company that the music part of newcastle college are setting up. Here are my favourite two solutions that i created

Presentation on graphic designers

Seb Lester


         •website is simply laid out with headed sections, showing portfolio

         •Sections split between Type & lettering and art & illustration.

         •Small blog section which shows when he gives talks, as well as updates about work.

•Trained in graphic design at Central St Martins

•Was a senior type designer at Monotype imaging for 9 years

•Now works in London

•Developed custom typefaces at Monotype for clients such as British Airways, Waitrose & H & M

examples:

  

Wim Crouwel

•Founder of the design studio ‘Total Design’ in 1963

•Designed the type face ‘New Alphabet’ along with ‘Fodor’ and ‘Gridnik’

•Regarded as one of the leading designers of the twentieth century

Jonathan Barnbrook

         •Very busy website filling the full page with snap shots of work

         •Overlapping layout, which reflects Barnbrooks style

•Jonathan Barnbrook is a british graphic dsigner and typographer.

•Borin in luton in 1966

•Trained at Central St Martin’s and Royal College of Art

•Made typfaces such as Priori, exocet, false idol, infidel etc.

•Company called Barnbrook specialise in producing innovative books, corporate identities, Cd covers and custom fonts.

Peter Saville

•Born in Manchester

•Attended St Ambrose College, then went to Manchester University

•Became interested in the music scene and commissioned the first factory records poster, also designed covers for Joy Division, as well as other record sleeves

•Ability to identify images that epitomize a moment