The project brief for the graphics topic told me that I was to create a campaign for an action based around climate change. After some hard thought and deliberation I decided that I will work on waste, and how us humans should be more aware of the things we are throwing away. I decided that I will target this by telling people how they can make their lunches at home instead of buying them when they are out. This will save the person money and save the environment from trying to cope with the waste that comes from the packaging from the shop made lunches many of us buy. My target audience throughout this topic was the Ravensbourne demographic. I thought about how Ravensbourne is surrounded by many restaurants, cafés and shops. My assumptions were proved after I carried out a survey asking the question, 'do you bring or buy your lunch'. A large majority of the portion of Ravensbourne students that were asked told me that they bought their lunch. This was my largest, most helpful piece of research needed for my campaign. I was most looking forward to learning new techniques and being introduced formally to graphic design. I was restricted for this project as to what my outcome of my campaign would consist of. The restrictions were that I had to produce two A2 posters, one being in black and white and only having text, and one being in colour with text and image. The third and final outcome for this topic was lot less restricted. We could design anything that would be suitable for the target audience and help in the communication of out campaign.
I have looked at Jonathan Barnbrook and Alan Fletcher as inspiration and research for my work. I looked at Barnbrook especially when it came to picking fonts and layout, and I looked to Fletcher when it came to picking colour variations. However my biggest piece of inspiration for this topic of work was the huge 40 ft 30000 tonne rubbish mound that is located near my house. The fact that this is so close to home is tragic and actually makes me quite angry. I wanted this to be the main force behind my work. One of the most striking piece of information about climate change that I found out is that there have already been animals being extinct due to climate change. I didn't know that it had already gone this far. I also found a piece of information that closely relates to my action, and that is that 1 in 7 people are going hungry yet 1/3 of all food is wasted. This information was shocking to me and I was intrigued to find out what simple tasks we can do to help the situation. As I have previously said, I conducted a survey with my target audience and found out that the majority purchase their lunch everyday, but more shockingly, they did not realise what was wrong with that. From taking part in workshops, I learnt a lot about type and layout. I was particularly interested with layout to begin with as I love putting things together and finding out what combinations have the best effect. However once I got into the type workshop, I realised just how integral different versions of type can be on the effect of a poster for example. I took what I learnt from these workshops to ensure that my posters were easy to read, striking, and as effective as I could make them.
To ensure that my ideas were finalised in what I thought was the best possible way for the target audience, I went through multiple different processes using new techniques todo so. To begin with I took part in workshops as mentioned, to ensure that even before I began topical planning I had good graphic knowledge to back up my designs. This was critical as without it I would not have made graphically effective posters. Secondly I worked on many thumbnail sketches to ensure I was trailing as many combinations of ideas as I could think of, to make sure I had a powerful campaign to back up my action. After completing these thumbnail sketches I finalised these ideas on a bigger scale, before going forth and using software such as, Photoshop and InDesign. I was given good and helpful feedback all the way through this project which I was very grateful for. I was first told to include more photography of which I did, as well as making sure I had more colour variation, which I worked on.
For resources in my research I used documentaries such as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's titled 'Hugh's War on Waste', which saw Whittingstall battling why us Brits waste so much food. I also visited Somerset House in London which was hosting the AOI Illustrator Awards. Both gave me key information towards making my campaign, one from the topical (climate change) point of view and one from the graphic design point of view. Both as helpful as each other in my opinion. I learnt about fusing and other ways to link your text and images together effectively. In my opinion this was extremely helpful, as I was unaware that there were so many different ways to do so, it was interesting to learn about these and I will be sure to include them in future pieces of work of mine.
If I were to complete this project again I would make sure that I focused on my time management, as although I did complete what the the brief asked, I do feel that I rushed towards the end to ensure that my outcomes were printed. I would have spent less time on the elements that were not topical and focused my time on beginning research and designs earlier. I think my organisation was good and it allowed me to find connections in my work quicker than if organisation was lacking. I would have experimented more with ideas rather than just going with the first few that I liked if I were to go back and re do it. This would have ensured that I was left with the most powerful poster to back my campaign. This project allowed me to become slightly more comfortable with using Photoshop and InDesign, which two months ago were completely new to me. I would like to gain more confidence in this software however because it is brilliant software that will allow me to progress at a higher level here at ravensbourne.
To ensure that my ideas were finalised in what I thought was the best possible way for the target audience, I went through multiple different processes using new techniques todo so. To begin with I took part in workshops as mentioned, to ensure that even before I began topical planning I had good graphic knowledge to back up my designs. This was critical as without it I would not have made graphically effective posters. Secondly I worked on many thumbnail sketches to ensure I was trailing as many combinations of ideas as I could think of, to make sure I had a powerful campaign to back up my action. After completing these thumbnail sketches I finalised these ideas on a bigger scale, before going forth and using software such as, Photoshop and InDesign. I was given good and helpful feedback all the way through this project which I was very grateful for. I was first told to include more photography of which I did, as well as making sure I had more colour variation, which I worked on.
For resources in my research I used documentaries such as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's titled 'Hugh's War on Waste', which saw Whittingstall battling why us Brits waste so much food. I also visited Somerset House in London which was hosting the AOI Illustrator Awards. Both gave me key information towards making my campaign, one from the topical (climate change) point of view and one from the graphic design point of view. Both as helpful as each other in my opinion. I learnt about fusing and other ways to link your text and images together effectively. In my opinion this was extremely helpful, as I was unaware that there were so many different ways to do so, it was interesting to learn about these and I will be sure to include them in future pieces of work of mine.
If I were to complete this project again I would make sure that I focused on my time management, as although I did complete what the the brief asked, I do feel that I rushed towards the end to ensure that my outcomes were printed. I would have spent less time on the elements that were not topical and focused my time on beginning research and designs earlier. I think my organisation was good and it allowed me to find connections in my work quicker than if organisation was lacking. I would have experimented more with ideas rather than just going with the first few that I liked if I were to go back and re do it. This would have ensured that I was left with the most powerful poster to back my campaign. This project allowed me to become slightly more comfortable with using Photoshop and InDesign, which two months ago were completely new to me. I would like to gain more confidence in this software however because it is brilliant software that will allow me to progress at a higher level here at ravensbourne.
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