GDE740 W2 | Workshop Challenge

Visual Responses

ANIMATED TYPOGRAPHY

I thought that animated typography could be an interesting way to engage with my target audience for this project. Its interactivity and motion could be leveraged across digital spaces including social media.

COLLAGE

Looking to the Guerilla Girls for inspiration, I thought collage would be a compelling execution to respond to my creative brief.

ENAMEL PIN

Given their popularity, my project’s target audience, and the current global approach to giving voice, enamel pins is a viable art form that can gain quick interest and buy-in.

ILLUSTRATION

The power of illustration to evoke tone, mood, feeling, and message serves as a strong execution to convey message to my target audience.

TYPOGRAPHIC POSTER

Using hand-tooled typography can keep messaging strong, but also simple without losing the clever .

Mood Boards

Building off of the visual responses, I’ve created five mood boards across the different visual outputs of each execution.

ANIMATED TYPE

COLLAGE

ENAMEL PIN

ILLUSTRATION

TYPOGRAPHIC POSTER

REFERENCE

Ambrose, G (2014) ‘Design Genius. The Ways and Workings of Creative Thinkers (Links to an external site.)’, London, Bloomsbury.

GDE740 W2 | Lecture Reflection

Ideas, Craft, & Content

CREATIVE PRACTITIONERS

This week our creative practitioners were asked:

• How do you visualize and develop your initial ideas?

• What are your point of reference?

OFFSHORE

Offshore referenced their “Migration Journal” project collaboration. The meeting of two minds leveraged sketch, discussion, questioning, and perspective to develop their initial ideas. They look to visual reference collections, production methods, hand sketching, computer rough concepts, design testing across the unique flow of a given project.

Depending on the project, they use research, set references, and various creative expressions: photography, sculpture, writing, architecture, painting, and music to serve as points of reference.

HEY

Vernonica Fuerte first uses sketch and lists of ideas, as well as playing with type to get started on a project. She is inspired by city and locations, being open and aware, looking and questioning. She says that clients can also serve as inspiration. Problems can be inspiring. She likes to “go deep” to best understand the full of a given project. She also finds inspiration in her peers.

BOMPAS & PARR

They do “lots & lots” of research. They use words to write it all down, begin with sketch, and then move to computer and other multimedia platforms to gel their ideas and thoughts. Finding two words that can be connected together, such as “Lava Barbeque”, which are compiled in an ideas log, serve to bring new ideas and meaning. Collaboration with other creatives and makers is also a reference and inspiration point for Bompas & Parr.

WERKFLOW

They usually start with a script and look too technical approaches within the gaming platform to explore ideas. They set their visual style and tone by creating a “visual bible,” ensuring consistency and continuity across makers. Music is an important part of Werkflow’s methodology and reference. It helps to establish mood, sense of place, and time.

REFERENCE

Falmouth University (2018). Ideas, Craft and Context | Podcast Videos. Application and Interactions GDE740 19/20 Part-Time Study Block S1 (Falmouth, UK: Falmouth University)

GDE740 W1 | Workshop Challenge

Self-Initiated Project

CREATIVE BRIEF: women for women

OVERVIEW

Create a campaign that engages women for women. Provide a compelling narrative to inspire working and non-working women to appreciate the value of "better together" and aim to break down the societal mores associated with unproductive rancor and the unhealthy way women act on an otherwise healthy feeling of competitiveness through a series of storytelling, opportunities for engagement, and ultimately, a point of pride (wearable).

Within the last decade a shift has taken place regarding women in the workplace and women in general with regard to equality and social constructs. The #MeToo movement and Women’s March has underscored this sea change.

This project’s aim is to create a campaign that capitalizes on the momentum of the aforementioned movements and leverage both legacy and start-up platforms to engage deeper, more productive connections and support for women through a point of pride piece.

WHAT SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE IS THIS PROJECT TRYING TO ACHIEVE?

Show the value of female camaraderie and support.

WHAT SINGLE THOUGHT SHOULD THE AUDIENCE COME AWAY WITH?

Women can be better together.

TARGET AUDIENCE(S)

• Primary: Adult women ages 20+ up

• Secondary: Youth women ages 12-18

• Vehicle audience: Human Resources Departments, Employment Agencies, Youth Organizations

PROJECT CRITICAL CONTEXT

Leverage the brand recognition of NOW (National Organization for Women), the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States and the business approach and baked in community of The Wing, a startup brand that creates spaces all over the world for women to work, gather, connect, and thrive on their own terms for the target adult audience. Partner with Girl Scouts of America for the youth population. Will connect both adult and youth women together, but span generations from young through to mature.

ANTICIPATED OUTCOME

A system of collateral and communication tools for organizations to implement greater opportunities for women to connect and support one another. These could include (but are not limited to):

• Point of pride and kinship

• Swag / Poster

• Social media creative

• OOH

• Microsite

• Printed collateral

WHAT IS THE TONE?

Inspirational, strong, warm, inviting

WHAT IS THE CALL TO ACTION?

Join the movement, get connected

CREATIVE MANDATORIES

Create a piece that becomes instantly recognizable by other members or piques the interest of women to get involved. It should convey an inviting playfulness, but also confidence.

TIMLELINE

Four weeks that include four phases:

• Week One: identify subject for self-initiated project

• Week Two: research and exploration

• Week Three: assess findings, implementation

• Week Four: initial campaign designs and plan for rollout

ASSETS

All to be created

POTENTIAL BARRIERS AND/OR CONCERNS

Timeline to launch final system is tight (less than four weeks). A phased approach of deliverables is likely most practical.

SUCCESS METRICS

Membership, web, and social analytics

RESEARCH

Straight Ally symbol for LBGTQ community - denotes a safe place, safe person.

Pussy hats from the Women’s March

REFERENCE

Phillips, P (2004) Creating the Perfect Design Brief: How to Manage Design for Strategic Advantage. (New York: Allworth Press)

Falmouth University (2018). Brief Analysis | Podcast Videos. Application and Interactions GDE740 19/20 Part-Time Study Block S1 (Falmouth, UK: Falmouth University)

GDE740 W1 | Lecture Reflection

Brief One: Self-Initiated Projects

A self-initiated illustration series using ink and digital water color.

LECTURE REVIEW

Our first brief this course looks at self-initiated projects. We hear from practicing designers who answer the following two questions:

1. How do you identify subjects for self-initiated projects?

2. How do you structure and plan the production of self-initiated projects?

OFFSHORE

Christoph Miller explains how he maintains a list of ideas and themes and is perpetually looking for ways to insert self-initiated projects into his work. Structure and scale vary by the project’s framework and available resources — this can include grant or personal funding — which has an impact on any project’s approach and viability.

HEY

Vernonica Fuerte looks to client-declined ideas as a source of inspiration for her self-initiated projects. Perhaps she really enjoyed a concept that was not selected by a client, but is still interested in pursuing. Otherwise, she will work from a clean slate. She uses the same approach when engaging on self-initiated projects as she would client work in that she allows for a set period of time for exploration of ideas and creative pathways.

FROST COLLECTIVE

Vince Frost’s passions are what typically drive his self-initiated projects. He tends to either work on them individually or depending on scale and scope, employ members of his team at Frost Collective. He is keenly interested in projects that can give back to the community in some way, provide opportunities for new or furthered connections, or even new business opportunities for his agency.

BOMPAS & PARR

Sam Bompas subscribes to the ethos that everyone has creative ideas and experiences, and further, that they are not limited to the population set called “creatives.” He employs a set approach to all of his projects — self-initiated or client driven — that follows six unique phases:

1. Initial outlines

2. Scoping

3. Budget

4. Timelines

5. Identify a team

6. Design phases/implementation

WERKFLOW

James Stringer of Werkflow’s keen interest in music and its connection to video games along with his interest in 3D design has kept his attention on a unique self-initiated project: Sovereign, a video game. He found designers with common interests from his community and youth to apply their skills on this project. It had originally stemmed from a previous idea. From there a script was developed, focus group testing with appropriate target audiences commenced. In this case, it was teenagers, to glean key insights about how the project was (or wasn’t) effectively coming together. The initial phase of the project — a teaser trailer — was developed to be previewed key events to secure interest in funding the balance of the project. Once funding was secured, the team regrouped on how best to develop and execute the remainder of the project which included budget and timeline reviews.

BRIEF ANAYLSIS

WHAT IS A BRIEF?

A brief — often called project brief, or creative brief — by its simplest definition is a written description of a project that required some form of visual design. In depth explorations of the various ways in which briefs can be designed and developed reveal a myriad of inputs that serve as a road map and guide for a designers, clients, stakeholders, etc. to follow and revisit throughout any design project.

FORMAT & LENGTH

The format of a brief can take many forms. The most common use either a narrative, bulleted list, or presentation approaches. The length of the brief is determined most often by whichever information is required to effectively produce the desired outcomes. It is to be as useful as possible to yield effectiveness.

STIR-FRY

In Creating the Perfect Design Brief, this week’s research literature, there was an excerpt from Kim Zarney’s The Core Creative Concept in Branding: A Streamlined Approach. It was helpful to have things put in terms that make it seem simpler; Zarney compared the ease of creating a brief to the ease of creating a perfect stir fry. It just depends on what you intend your end product to look and feel like, and if you have those ingredients READY. Not just available to you, but ready to add in as soon as you begin. Things will go much faster if you write down and have a good idea of every section and then worry about the wording and professionalism of the thing in its entirety when you have your main points down.

INGREDIENTS: ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF THE BRIEF

Project Overview: What are we doing this project? What are the results we want to achieve? This section clearly articulates the scope of the project, business needs, and the objectives of the project as well as the desired outcomes and ownership.

Category Review: In this section it’s important to review the various category implications of the project including:

• What industries are involved?

• What products are appropriate for review?

• Who is the competition? What are they doing well? Where are our opportunities?

• Pricing and promotional considerations

• Brand perception

• Industry trends

• Overall company business strategy

Target Audience: This section should be as detailed as possible. To say your target audience is “women” is grossly insufficient. Demographics should be outlined to include: geography, culture, age, income, insights, gender, etc.

Company Portfolio: includes your organization’s or clients brand position.

Business Objectives: are important to consider to ensure that the project is in alignment with overall organizational mission.

Project Scope, Timeline, & Budget: This outlines how the projects will be confined as well as critical detail by which the project will be successful. It enables the project to be broken into discrete parts and phases. The various individuals or teams needed to complete the project are outlined in this section as well as who will be providing necessary approvals, implementation, and measurement tactics.

Research Questions: This section helps to inform the overall project to ensure the approach is sounds and founded.

Appendix: This section serves as a catch-all for any information that doesn’t fit neatly into the aforementioned sections.

REFERENCE

Phillips, P (2004) Creating the Perfect Design Brief: How to Manage Design for Strategic Advantage. (New York: Allworth Press)

Falmouth University (2018). Brief Analysis | Podcast Videos. Application and Interactions GDE740 19/20 Part-Time Study Block S1 (Falmouth, UK: Falmouth University)