With the year progressing in a way where industry professionals came in to set new briefs, and with live brief opportunities arising, many briefs were cancelled. 

Reasons why these briefs were cancelled is tagged under the tag 'Cancelled Brief'

• Brief 01 — Madison
• Brief 02 — Sentimentality
• Brief 03 — Style at 30 Thousand Feet
• Brief 04 — Svpply
• Brief 05 — Calendars In A Digital Age
• Brief 06 — Lähde
• Brief 07 — Traveling
• Brief 08 — Currency
• Brief 09 — Stack Magazine
• Brief 10 — DR. ME
• Brief 11 — Ditto Press — Confusion with this being a separate brief to 'Design Publication'. 
• Brief 12 — The Faculty
• Brief 13 — Something More
• Brief 14 — Intern Magazine
• Brief 15 — Yearbook
• Brief 16 — DBA
• Brief 17 — Welsh & Jefferies

+ Design Publication

The most stressful and rewarding year of my life. 

Throughout my degree, my aim was to develop a skill set each year. 

First year I learnt exactly what Graphic Design is, as well as beginning to use Adobe Illustrator & InDesign. Second year I felt my skills in branding were something I pushed. This year, I am so glad I went to Slovenia and learnt about type design, as it's shaped this year significantly. 

My first brief of the year was Madison, which taught me more about designing typefaces and universal typographic characters. This also taught me to look at letters closer, and developed my eye for identifying and using typefaces. Working on the metrics of the font also taught me about kerning, something I have utilised over all of my branding briefs. 

Working so close with type has also helped me improve my layout of type, which was put to use with the 'Stack' brief, where choosing an appropriate headline and body copy typeface was key. The same could be said for my Design Publication, and the Photography Yearbook. 

Unexpectedly, my interest in web design has vastly improved nearer the end of the year. Working on the 'Welsh & Jefferies' single page was a challenge, but definitely helped with designing the 'Svpply' website, which was considerably much more complex. There is much more to both of these than the way they look, and I have learnt the correct way to design websites for coders to work on. This will work when i'm working in industry at a studio significantly. 

I loved the variety of branding briefs worked on this year, working with a variety of audience. The range can be seen from branding a library, to a DJ night, to a tailors, and to the North of England as a Northern Powerhouse. All of which used custom type design to create an identity that was entirely unique. Although I have spent a significant amount of time working on creating typefaces, I love the idea of implementing custom typefaces into branding projects, something quite rare in industry. However, beautiful examples can be seen by Build, a studio I would love to work at in the future. 

Type design was further implemented in my design publication, where the potential for 20 or so future typefaces has been created. With Times Modern Swash fully developed, I intend on selling the full typeface in the future. There is also a huge scope for the other typefaces to be developed and sold, a great way to earn money on the side. 

At the beginning of the year, I wanted to work on as many large, portfolio pieces as possible. I now feel that quite a few of my briefs will be great to show off at interviews and to clients, and i'm confident that what i've learnt this year will all be used in the future but at an industry standard. 

Below is an ISSUU document, containing my final boards for 'The Faculty':





                                                                                                                                                             

Evaluation

With this brief being live, one obviously strength was working with a client. Sam was also a complete stranger, which I find is actually easier than working with someone you already know. As a client, he was very easy to work with, as he put together a substantial brief with enough detail to work with. As the project progressed,  it became clear exactly the type of logotype Sam wanted, which really helped with the design process.

With my new found love and close eye for typefaces, it was fun to create a custom logo form. Creating typefaces has also taught me to work out better spacing between letters, which obviously helps with a logotype.

Seeing the final product used as part of the club nights was also really rewarding. Obviously a lot of the time with client work it’s used without you seeing, but I love the fact that I can watch videos on YouTube of people having fun whilst my logo is used in the background. This has also further reinforced that I want to be a graphic designer.

Below is an ISSUU document, counting my final boards for Welsh & Jefferies: 



                                                                                                                                                            

Evaluation

Certainly the most intimidating brief of the year, for two reasons. 

Firstly, this was a BIG live brief. Welsh & Jefferies are a highly reputable tailors on Savile Row, so I was under a lot of pressure to do a good job. The task was even more challenging as the brand needs a refresh, but still needs to hold a certain heritage and tradition. The project itself was extremely large, with both a website and a full rebrand creating such a large project. 

Secondly, this is my last substantial brief of the year, so I really wanted to 'smash it', ending the year on a high note. 

Although quite scared to begin the brief, visiting the tailors for regular meetings really helped. Not only could I gain an understanding of the brand in full, but also conversing with such a large client in person also broke the ice. Originally, all the tailors wanted was a website revamp, but I feel that meeting up in person helped push for a full rebrand. 

Designing their website was also a real challenge for me. I started this brief before my 'Svpply' brief, so I had very little knowledge on creating websites in a manner that helps with coding. Luckily enough, the coder I am working with on the website is a good friend, who explained to me exactly how the website should be designed for him to work on. 

Although the final printed collateral is yet to be printed, and the full website is not coded yet, I feel this project is already a fantastic portfolio piece. I gained a huge understanding in an industry that was completely alien to me, and the outcome shows this full understanding. I would love to work with retail clients more often, and in more specifically, I hope more fashion brands can be my clients in the future. 

Below is an ISSUU document, containing my final boards for DBA:

                                                                                                                                                       

Evaluation

By far one of the most challenging briefs of the year. The simple reason behind this is that there was no defined audience. Branding the North as a second capital should appeal to the whole of the UK. This meant that there were no assumptions that could be made for age, sex, social class or anything.  As a group, I think we worked well as a whole. I felt like I took the lead on a lot of decisions, but this is down to being in a group with people who felt unsure of their ideas. This system worked well, as it meant we always had a direction to go in.

Initially, we struggled to come up with a unique concept, and spent days and days attempting to create something that wasn’t too ambiguous and did not fit into a cliché. I’m glad we did not settle, as presenting out concept to DBA was made much easier.

It was great to work on this live brief from DBA, and the pressure of winning an internship with one of DBA’s studio’s was a great incentive. Presenting to the designers was scary at first, but after breaking the ice, explaining our ideas was easy. It was really good to hear such positive feedback on my input to the group project by the industry professionals, and great to have such positive feedback overall as a group.

Below is an ISSUU document, containing my final boards for the Yearbook: 




                                                                                                                                                             

Evaluation

This brief was enjoyable mainly because it gave me the chance to collaborate with other designers in the class that I had not worked with before. As a group we get on really well, which makes the whole process much easier.

A huge motivational factor of this brief is that it’s live, and our final product will be printed at mass. I love the idea that people will take away books we have designed and treasure them, maybe even frame one of the pages with a full image on.

Although disheartened that we did not win our proposal for the BAGD Yearbook, the second best option was Photography. This is because they supply the book with such beautiful images, our design input is mostly transparent.  Meeting up with Photography once a week has worked well to keep on top of progress, and the group of students that are part of the Photography team are fairly organised.

One major issue we have had is that deadlines were set for students to submit images and text, which has not been kept to whatsoever. Of course this was bound to happen, and is also something hard to place a cap on, as it would seem harsh to not allow someone to be in their own Yearbook.  By OUGD603 submission, the publication will be nowhere near finished. However the deadlines for the book to be sent to print are quite some time away, and I am confident the publication will be finished by then.

Below is an ISSUU document, containing my final boards for Something More: 



                                                                                                                                                             

Evaluation

When informed that I was going to be branding a library, my mind completely locked up. Being such a boring and lifeless place, initially I saw this as a brief I was going to hate and produce an outcome that reflected my dislike of the brief.

All that was needed was a different approach. This brief made me reconsider how a library could work internally, as oppose to just the aesthetic and obvious branded collateral. By contrasting the library with something so different (a bar / restaurant), it opened up possibilities that would not be available before. It made me consider how both could be used hand in hand, such as loyalty cards that encouraged returning books on time, with drink and food bonuses.

Taking inspiration from neon signage gave a refreshing aesthetic that would be very uncommon in a library. Creating the iconography and signage for this also taught me more about working with image, creating softer and consistent curves.  Being able to use type software also helped me edit an existing font to use (Las Enter Revised).