Product/Range/Distribution; Re-written brief & rationale.

After the workshop we were asked to re-write our brief based on what we had learnt and whether our decisions had changed. My brief is still quite similar to the first but is worded better so the idea could be understood fully. The outcomes are more clarified at this stage too so it is clear exactly what I plan to do. We were also asked to fill in a rationale sheet based on the workshop as we'd essentially just written it. This has helped me understand whether I am getting the full potential out of my brief and have covered all areas.

Product/Range/Distribution; First brief.

Based on the four briefs that i've chosen as my favourites from various competitions I have written my own brief. I've taken elements from the CSS brief and also the D&AD but overall my brief is mostly heavily based on the D&AD brief because this is the one I could imagine myself enjoying and gave me most opportunity to explore the things I enjoy. The bit I did take from the CSS brief however, is the fact they'd like the designs to be illustrative and this is the direction I want my brief to take. I didn't want my brief to be exactly like the D&AD one so tried to put my own twist on it. The problem I discovered to write my brief is that Little White Lies' main focus is on art-house films therefor limiting their target audience to those with this interest. I want to open this magazine up to the larger potential audience that it could have by using mainstream cinema to do so. By creating a limited edition series this means that it would be a one off and if it were successful, the magazine could look at releasing issues that are more often based around mainstream cinema. The target audience as a whole is people who have an interest in film and the industry. This brief will probably be re-written at least three times during the module based on decisions I make and how they may change. 

PPD study task six; Spreading the word pt 2.

As a starting point for my online presence I created an email address simply for anything design related. This means I can link up accounts I may make showcasing work on things such as twitter, facebook and behance so that any emails I may get off the back of those don't get mixed in with my every day emails. I can also include this sort of information on my business card and it seems more professional to have something specifically for design related elements. The email I created is kirstyaldersondesign@gmail.com.

www.behance.net/kirstyalderson

I created a behance portfolio as a way of cataloguing my work as this is a huge creative network and may lead to me making new contacts. It's such an easy site to use once you get the hang of it and you can keep track of how many page visits you have so you get an idea of whether the work you are creating is interesting to other people. There is the option to comment so you can get feedback on work which could inform future projects. Another reason to create this was that it can easily be linked to social networking platforms and the link can be passed on to potential clients/studios so they can easily access your work too. This is the first time i've ever set anything like this up so i'm quite nervous for the response but looking forward to updating it with new and exciting projects!

www.twitter.com/kirstyaldo

I already had a twitter account but I have applied my branding to it and i'm hoping to make this a bit more design focused because as you can see it's currently like a 'dear diary'! I do already have creative contacts here and i'm hoping to build my contact based on it even more through the use of behance. It's a great way of keeping up to date with what people in the industry are getting up to and also to promote yourself. Also seems drastically more professional than facebook. 

PPD study task six; spreading the word pt 1. (My website)

Scamp I drew for my website design in a workshop with Lorraine. This was the inital idea I had when thinking about my website but upon reading feedback about it being a bit unbalanced I decided to change it slightly when I began experimenting with my proposal digitally. 

With the image on the right the idea is that you would click on a picture that would then take you to a page with a range of photos from that brief and an explination of what it was all about. This is so that people wouldn't have to scroll forever more to find specific elements. 

I kept a minimal number of pages because I felt the most relevent things in the ones i've included. Tried to add a bit of an illustration twist on the design due to this being one of my passions. Wanted to keep my website design quite minimal so its in keeping with the rest of the things I've created and also won't take long to load. It's not overpowering and I find it quite easy on the eye and simple to navigate around. The idea of having everything in the center is just something I find pleasing from a design point of view because it looks balanced and neat. 

Final proposed pages for my website. I've only proposed one for one piece of work to give an idea of what it would look like as all will be of a similar layout. 

PPD study task five; Making your mark.

I found a font I liked the look of online that I felt represented me as a designer really well due to it's hand drawn nature. I then took the font and tailored it to look exactly how I liked. These are the initial sketches I had for font ideas and how I was going to lay my name out. Initially I just want to use my name because nobody is likely to know who "KA" is and on its own it reminds people of Ford KA. 

I then decided it would be really relevent to have a logo because this can be applied to certain elements such as profile pictures on social networking and still be seen where as my full name can not. The two together make a lot of sense because they are the same style, I just added a unique twist on the intials to make them look a bit different and more exciting. These are the digital versions of my branding. 

Business Card

Initially experimenting with layout and where to include to relevent information on my business card. Again, using blue as with the creative CV as this is my favourite colour so is 'part of' me. Due to my full name being able to be larger on the business card, it actually works in blue. Also exploring the idea of having a plain blue back to my business card, again in keeping with the design of the creative CV in terms of a minimalistic look. I feel my business cards might look quite good with rounded edges with being quite plain at this stage of my design ideas. Justified left also looks better because you read from left to right. 

Experimenting with the possibility of pattern but not sure because theres no real reason for it to be there. 

Satisfied with this layout because it utilises the white space and my name will be the first thing the client sees. 

Could print a range of different colours to reflect my personality and add a bit of variety to my simplistic design. 

Logo could also be included but I feel this doesn't look as good and it doesn't need to be there as my name is clear on the other side. 

Letterhead

Could have a blue back to match the business card and also include the logo so when the letter is folded this could be a unique 'stamp' clients will recognise.

Just experimenting with general layout but justified right works best as there is so much information on a letterhead, it brings balance to the whole design. Although at the moment it doesn't seem to balance out perfectly, once an actual letter is written it will look fine. I also realised having the 'stamp' where it is would work because the letter would be folded the opposite way so the clients address would be seen through the envelope. 

Compliment slip

The compliment slip didn't take much experimenting as I took the design from the letterhead but applied  it to a different format.