Studio Brief 2 - Interim Critique

Studio Brief 2 - Individual Practise - The Leeds Library Book Cover

Interim Critique 

Having developed my initial ideas into sophisticated concepts I felt confident in resenting these to a group of students during the interim critique for this brief. We were accompanied by second year graphic design students for this critique which I found extremely useful to gain their opinions as they were vocal and gave really insightful feedback based on their experience on the course so far. I started by presenting the original book to the group, explaining the context of the book and the my opinions towards the design of the original cover. I presented my three concepts to the group of students explaining the concepts behind these designs and the how this informed my design decisions. 

DESIGN 1 

I presented the concept behind this design and asked the group what they thought of this design. The reactions to this design were extremely positive with comments including 'I love it, it so contemporary' and 'this has a super strong context which will work well'. I then asked if they could suggest any ways in which I could improve this design, this is where I the second year students were able to help, they suggested multiple improvements  founded by design principles they had learnt in the second year for example they suggested the the design would look more effective with only one boarder surrounded the text which I agree with in retrospect and will consider this if developing this into my final concept. They liked the text size and felt it worked well in comparison to the mosaic segments balancing the design well. When asked about my colour choice I showed them the image from the library from which my inspiration was drawn a couple of the students said how they liked the yellow in this image and that I could look at incorporating this into the design as a yellow and green colour scheme would give stronger connotations of ecology and environmental design.  I am happy with the response to this concept and will take on board this feedback if  I choose to develop this design into my final concept. 

DESIGN 2 

I explained the concept behind this design stating the inspiration and how this has informed the design decisions of this image. Similarly to the first design there was a largely positive reaction to this design with students saying they loved the pattern and felt the colour choice was 'spot on' I further explained that the yellow would be produced in gold ink when screen printed which received positive feedback, one of the second year students had previously worked with the gold ink so was able to give me a good insight of how the final resolution would look by showing me examples of his work that featured this gold ink. There was no real negative comments towards this design however it was stated I could use the typeface used throughout the Library signage (DIN Mittel Neu) as a more informed use of type within this design. 

DESIGN 3 

I again explained the concept behind my final concept and referenced these to the design process I went through to create this sophisticated design concept. Students said they liked this design and thought was engaging and aesthetically pleasing however I got the impression it was subservient when compared to the two other designs due to the intensity of positive feedback received regarding the first two design. When I asked for feedback they liked the concept however felt the colour of the typography was inappropriate and made it difficult to read especially from a distance. I agree with this feedback and would strive to rectify this in order to create a successful outcome if I chose to develop this into my final resolution. 

I received a host of other invaluable feedback from the second year students for example they advised to not go too small with the typography as this will not reproduce as cleanly when screen printed. In regard to screen printing they advised me to put crop and bleed marks on the positives when printed as this would make it easier to align the different layers of the screen and would make the finished design easier to crop. I then asked which design was the groups favourite I feel the overall favourite design was DESIGN 1 due to its highly contextual design and bold aesthetic. DESIGN 2  was also popular with the group but based more towards the aesthetic. I have decided to carry design 1 forward into further development and to ultimately produce as my final resolution to the brief as I feel the concept is far stronger and will the suggested changes I feel it will produce a strong aesthetic that when matched with the innovative concept will produce a really high quality resolution to the brief that I would be happy to exhibit within the public domain.