Design Practice III//Emailing Jessie.

Being away from Leeds for the week working, my work has hit a little bit of a stand still, but, fortunately, I've managed to still keep on top of my emails and be in regular contact with Jessie, in particular, in regards to content for the development of the design outcomes.

Throughout the weekend, when I'm back in Leeds and throughout next week I intend to really focus on my design work and get as much done as possible for the ever- impending deadline within the next six weeks. Time to get a move on.

Design Practice III//Ballet Society Hoodie Mock-Ups.

After an email conversation with Carys, President of the Ballet Society, today, I designed another quick mock up variation of the hoodie design- proposing the brand mark logo on the front left-breast of the hoodie, with the traditional college-style type on the back of the garment.
Whilst waiting for feedback, I'm going to start looking into screen printing (which would, most probably be more cost effective than embroidery for the double-print design) along with embroided label manufacturers and potentially making card tags for each of the hoodie design to expand upon the range of branded materials produced for a more considered and robust project outcome for a professional, high-standard design resolution.

Design Practice IIII//Ballet Society Logo Amendments.

Another quick amendment for the Ballet Society logo today, instead changing 'University of Leeds' to 'Leeds University Union', as requested by Ballet Society President, Carys.

Due to the demands of my working day whilst I'm on a placement at a studio this week, I'm a little frustrated that I won't be able to move on with my work with more pace, but hopefully next week I'll really step up my work and product outcomes to look to resolve all of my projects within the next three weeks, consequently giving me enough time to print and document all of my design outcomes effectively and to a professional- standard outcome.

Design Practice III//Contact From The Natural History Museum.

A few days ago, I received a reply from the administration at The Natural History Museum in regards to a honeybee/hive photographic request I had originally sent to the wildlife department to help support my FreeBees Honey Project. 

Despite since dismissing the project at this point of the year (and within the Design Practice III module), it was great to hear back from the museum, and despite the £60 admin fee being a little pricey at this point (considering it would be used for student, and not commercial use), it was really interesting to find out about the potential opportunity for future projects and contact, and something I will certainly keep in mind.

Design Practice III//Finalised Ballet Society Logo.

Yesterday I received an email from Carys, the President of the Ballet Society, confirming the finalised choice of the ballet logo, the shoe design with the treble clef ribbon, which I was really pleased about, as, personally, I also felt it was the strongest design in regards to the criteria and overview of the brief.

Today, I've also spent time working on researching embroiders printers within the UK to hopefully get a quote (which I hope to arrange over the next couple of days) to get the hoodies designed as soon as possible- links as shown below, along with unit price breakdowns.

Although work will be difficult to produce over the next couple of days, whilst I'm currently working on a design placement (see my PPD blog for more details), I hope to progress along with both the printed and digital design outcomes as soon as possible.

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WHITTAKERS EMBROIDERY

120 UNITS @ £8.50 each [inc. embriodery] (40 x S, 40 x M, 40 x L) + 20% VAT = 

£1,124 inc. VAT (Before P&P)

BLACK CAT EMBROIDERY

120 UNITS @ £12.50 each [inc. embriodery] (40 x S, 40 x M, 40 x L) + 20% VAT = 

£1,440 inc. VAT (Before P&P)

- More expensive, but good quality Gildan hoodies, consideration of balancing budget and quality

ACORN PRINTING

120 UNITS @ £14.80 each [inc. embriodery] (40 x S, 40 x M, 40 x L) + 20% VAT =

£1,776 inc. VAT (Before P&P)

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Design Practice III//Ballet Society Finalised Logo.

Really excited this morning to see a response from the President of the Ballet Society, Carys, to find that she was keen to develop and use the ballet shoe/ribbon design for the finalised logo, which was also my personal feedback, and from the feedback given in the peer group crit last week, was certainly regarded as the strongest design, which, of course, I'm really pleased to now be able to push forward and focus on the design and produce outcome for a range of both digital and printed collateral for the live branding brief. 

Over the next couple of days, in balance with the placement I am currently working at, I'll work on developing and making a few refinements to the logo for a finalised design to hopefully be approved as soon as possible. 

Design Practice III//Correspondance With University of Leeds Ballet Society.

A quick email sent to Carys, the President of the University of Leeds Ballet Society today, as I unfortunately haven't heard from her in regards to the finalised logo selection sent on Tuesday, and this week was initially intended to make the refinements of the logo before submitting to print on Tuesday (the 30th) of next week, so, unfortunately, as a result, my time management has had to been compromised.

Hopefully contact will be made as soon as possible so I can make a good progression in terms of my product outcomes.

Design Practice III//Ballet Society Logo Refinements.

In response to the feedback delivered in the peer crit yesterday, I've returned to work on the Ballet Society logo development- making a few minor changes to the shoe/clef version, which was voted as a favourite (which I agree with, but unfortunately am still yet to hear feedback from the Society President, Carys), to make the ribbon a little thinner, which I think works well, and could still easily be translated over a range of printed and digital design outcomes, including the embriodered/screen printed hoodies, which have consistently remained a key consideration in terms of the boldness and weight of line in regards to the logo design.

 

Design Practice III//Jessie Leong Photo Business Card Images.

This morning, I downloaded a selection of images Jessie had uploaded into our shared online Dropbox in order to start putting together her photographic business cards (in balance, the photo cards becoming her industry/interview cards, whereas the photo cards will be used in networking instances).

Through the selection sent (around 20), I will work on putting together a variety of layouts and balancing the text with the images I feel work most effectively in balance with the brand logo, creating a range of image cards that will be proposed as almost being 'collectables', like a contemporary networking trading card. For future design developments, see my Design Practice blog.

Design Practice III//Contact with Jessie.

Just a quick message of correspondance to Jessie as unfortunately we didn't get the opportunity to carry out our meeting yesterday post- crit, due to Jessie's work commitments. However, I've sent along images of the progression in regards to the printed acetate letterheads and an overview of the feedback given from the crit, and look forward to developing more design outcomes in accordance to her product range over the next couple of days and throughout dissertation/reading week.

Design Practice III//Peer Group Crit Feedback.

The various feedback received today from this morning's peer group crit session, along with my five questions I posed to the groups for specific feedback in regards to my design development.

As well as having my own feedback given, Francesca and I worked together to offer feedback to others, and it was fantastic to see the wide variety of work being produced to such a high level, and wonderful to see the progression in concepts and skills development from Level 04 in our first year. A particular favourite project, for me, was Luke O'Brien's work for Cape Town burger bar, '30 Burger', with an innovative concept and brand development, which I'm really looking forward to seeing in it's final conception.

In terms of my own work, I was really pleased with the feedback given, as it was constructive and directly focused in my design work- and I really appreciate the time given, with clear insight and focus on my progression through the briefs.
Generally speaking, the ideas went down well, with suggestion for a few changes, particularly in consideration for stocks/colours/brand logos (as found on the sheet) which I will explore intensively over the next couple of days, and now I'm really excited to hopefully progress with my design developments at pace, and start to look at getting some of my print and digital outcomes produced and finalised shortly.

Design Practice III//Mock ups for Crit.

Various mock ups and printed designs prepared for the crit session tomorrow. Despite feeling that I really don't have half as much to show as I would have liked at this time, I know that my blog evidences the development and efforts I have gone to in regards to my branding projects, and, in particular, with balancing three live briefs with collaborative industry clients, which, I have found, at times, has significantly slowed my progress.

Along with a few simple print mock ups, I prepared a sheet with a brief insight into each project, to sit alongside the original briefs and my documented blog work in order for the crit groups tomorrow to be able to get an instantaneous insight into the project, and hopefully be able to offer more feedback as a result. Definitely a few things to change and consider, particularly in terms of stock, with the mock ups, but I'm looking forward to hearing the opinions of others.

Design Practice III//Jessie Leong Photography Letterhead Mock-ups.

Although, of course, I will transfer over all editorial designs for my projects to InDesign, as appropriate, in the following weeks, today, I made a very quick mock up of a proposed letterhead design for Jessie Leong Photography, primarily for the purposes of the peer crit, but also to get some more feedback from Jessie herself, and to hopefully pick up more pace in terms of producing design outcomes.

Printed onto acetate, with a clipped white satin paper backing sheet, the stock will remain consistent with Jessie's business cards, though a thinner stock (at 0.1mm as opposed to approx. 0.5mm) in case the letterhead would need to be folded into a specifically sized envelope, although A4 envelopes are also due to be branded and designed for this purpose.

Also, a margin is to the left of the letterhead is left to pin a business card to the letter, or any additional photographic or paper-based media, such as compliment slips/postcards, etc.

Design Practice III//James Maxwell Architecture Business Card Mock-ups.

Despite accidentally printing James' proposed business card designs scaled up from their actual size, in preparation for the crit session tomorrow, this gave me a good opportunity to create some mock up designs, and to see how effective the duplex techniques and concept of the five inter-locking cards would work.

Using a combination of 250gsm Arcoset and 240gsm Sirio White Fedrigoni sample papers, I printed the cards from home with a sandwich of Sirio White between the two Arcoset sheets to create the white-border duplex effect that James and I have previously discussed, and potentially aspire to in the finalised print outcomes.

At this stage, I'm happy with the initial developments, and look forward to hopefully generating some really positive, but, most importantly, constructive feedback in the peer crit session tomorrow.

Design Practice III//Jessie Leong Photography Business Card Experiments.

Sort more acetate print experiments for Jessie Leong Photography- adding the black borders around the cards, as initially suggested by Jessie in our last meeting. Personally, I don't think the border particularly adds anything, and the thick borders are particularly distracting, but, again, it could be something to discuss with Jessie, but really I'm hoping to progress along with the branded outcomes as soon as possible now. 
In the next meeting I have with Jessie on Thursday, I'll be sure to take along the thinner cards to see what her opinion is of the design.