The Brief

Evaluation

I have had mixed feeling throughout the self written brief, at moments i have loved it and other i have hated it to the point of almost changing. I originally chose to create for children because i had recently done a brief which involved illustrating for children and i had so much fun doing it, not just creating but learning. I felt i had enough time in 5 week to exhaust this topic and expand on recent skills i had just developed whilst still being able to enjoy what i was designing. However because of this i didn't go into the brief totally open minded about the style of illustration i wanted to produce, which could have been a massive down fall in the material produced.

I new what i wanted from this self written brief, but i struggled to narrow down exactly what i wanted to produce. With so many different options i had in mind, all relating to children somehow i eventually decided on educational material, i feel this was definitely the best option for me for my first self written brief. As i wanted to explore different possibilities in the production process, i was limited to the content i was aloud to illustrate dependent on the topics for each subject i chose. This had a positive affect on my work because generally i go all out producing random things that don't necessarily make sense and this aloud me to focus on one area.

Although i new what i was producing and what style i wanted it to be in, i had no idea really how to present this and lay it all out so it worked together successfully. This was definitely the area i struggled with. I am still not 100% happy with the layouts i have used for the final but i feel they are the most successful of all the elements i produced. This came from constantly taking feedback from crits and tutors, constantly changing and taking into account their opinions as well as my own. The smaller illustrations and type work by themselves such as the back of the Que. cards, but when i comes to filling a large space and putting lots of information/illustrations together is when the overall piece doesn't seem to quite fit right.

I feel for the first time this year i never let things just be, i was constantly striving to make things better, to make them work. Even though not every attempt was successful, i do feel the attempt and the ones that did had a really positive affect on my work. For instance i throughout had a problem with the type faces and didn't feel they were working quite right together, when i eventually found one that did work this transfered across to the other pieces of material i was producing and instantly had an impact on them and the quality they held.

I have mixed feeling with the work i have produced, i feel its to average level which i am happy with because although the outcomes aren't 100% perfect i have learnt a lot in the module which i think is necessary for me to take forward into year 3. Even though i feel this way i am pleased to say for the first time ever people who i don't even talk to that much have commented on my work mostly i might add the book covers, i think the choice of stock helps this but still i feel its an achievement alone for people to say this. I wish now i had printed the A1 posters on the same stock as the quality would have been to a much higher standard.

Final Boards

Feed back

I got some really positive feed back today which encouraged me in believing what im starting to produce really works. I also realised i should start to structure my boards with a similar theme to my work, why did i not think this before? Anyway i have redone my boards and they work much better they are far more engaging, i have asked some of the people in my crit group to gain a bit of feedback before printing and they all feel they work much better than before, even i can see they are more interesting.

First Board drafts

After my crit today i realised these boards really were not working and it probably was one of the most helpful crits that some of the previous ones we have had. I realised there was far too much going on, they were too cluttered and busy especially board 3. The second improvement is my work doesn't even fit these boards, they need to follow the theme of my work much more, even simply by changing the type face. So im going to have a re think and re make my boards following the advice given to me in the crit and see how they are working then.

Finished print products

revision cards

book covers

posters

Final book covers

These are my final book cover designs, i have changed them all so the type faces match across the range of materials i have produced, this looks so much clearer on the book covers that the previous type face, definitely an positive improvement across all media. I have also change the colour to teh science booklet as some one mentioned it was too similar to history so not they all definitely have different but fitting colours. Im really happy with the prints they look especially fitting with the gloss paper.

development of revision cards

Earlier when i first produced some revision cards, i mentioned how the type face i used didn't work at all, the more my work has developed in this brief i have picked up new things, solving different problems in different areas. I just found a new type face for the posters, which i have transfered onto the que cards, and straight away i can see that they look so much better and fit in with the theme i have developed. I have also changed a second thing in the que cards which isn't completely visible on these images, but i have changed the bite size symbol to the collage fish to link in with the rest of products.

further poster development

I think this poster was surprisingly the hardest to do, i really struggled to pick what to illustrate and then what content to put on it. With this i found the layout really hard to figure out, there is a lot to put on the poster but hard to scale it all with it being too confusing, then having too much empty space. On a plus i think the idea and illustrations work well just not how i have laid it out, feed back from a crit will hopefully help figure these problems out.

I have changed the type faces to the ones i mentioned on my previous post, this works much better, its so much clearer and i feel it actually looks like its fit for a classroom now. Surprisingly i like the literacy one the best, even with no illustrations on it, im still not 100% happy with the layouts but for me these are good, i feel in time the more i work on this area i will achieve much better ideas.

poster development

For some reason i completely forgot that i had created a colour and style already so why didn't i transfer this across to the posters as well. I had a rethink and looked at the subject information properly to decide what content i would include, determining the style and layout. The first literacy poster, is working much better the link colour helps the text stand out from the page, using the orange collage texture with the solid green. The only thing im not sure about it the content type face, the 3D lettering works for the titles but not for the groups of large amounts of text, something plainer and simpler sticking with the child like qualities is needed.

This layout works really well and including the illustrations makes is so much more interesting and engaging. Again as i mentioned earlier the type face doesn't seem to be working hear so i need to look at new type faces and change this. The type face i have used for 'physical processes' is working really well and could perhaps be the one, its still looks and crafted and fits in well with the whole look of the poser.

Posters

Now i have decided on the content of the revision cards and the colour and themes running through them and the book covers i have finally started the posters. These are intended to be A1 classroom posters, keeping in with my aim of illustrating information in a more interesting way so children want to pay attention to them and don't get bored.

I decided to start with the Literacy as this would be the least illustrative and hold the most information so would be the hardest to make interesting. The poster above really isn't working It just looks boring and uninspiring all together. The text at the bottom just disappears into the background so i need to look at changing this to start with.

This second layout is even worse, the type was hard to read on the first poster so i thought about including a box similar to that on the back of the book covers, but there is not enough information here for such a large amount of space. On the positive side the white inside of the main part of text helps make it stand out and focus your attention, the colour blue doesn't work because it fades into the background however if i transfer this onto the orange type it would work much better.

Development of revision cards

As i mentioned earlier i was going to have a re look at the backs of revision cards and trying to link them to the book covers. Below is what i have come up with, i think they work really well and im please with the end result. The vector shape working with a collaged background within a solid colour looks really good and i feel the small addition of the collage will create just enough interest to the children to see what they are all about. Finally not just the link of colours but the small bit of text placed underneath completing the individual subjects ties it all up, im quite pleased :)

Show & Tell feed back

The show and tell was good to get a mixed view and different opinion, it was good to get the chance to look at everyones work but not everyone new what the work was etc as in some cases id not seen anyones work before now.

Following on from the crit im going to take the advice from some of the comments, it was a really good point someone made about changing the colour of either the History or the Science book cover as they both look quite similar. The second point i need to consider is the web aspect i haven't shown any of it as yet so i need to crack o with this.

Proposed web background

I have chosen to run with this idea, although there are not as many different choices to choose from because i have been a busy bee and these took me a while to make.... i did no from the beginning i wanted to keep them really similar to the book covers, so i have chosen to follow a similar layout. This will help the children make the connection between each subject and product. I am still not convinced this idea works, but i haven't got much time left i want to get some feed back from people first and then make any amendments if necessary.

What i feel is working on the web layouts are the orange banner across the top, this is a much more interesting banner than the current one they are using. I like the use of simple illustration working along side this. I also feel there is a strong connection with running the colour of subject through each product, this works really well and keeps the subjects up beat and different. The current pages are all the same style and colour and look so uninspiring.

The areas i am still unsure of and i need to develop further are the layout of the content, as i mentioned earlier i have struggled with this are and find it difficult to position things out. Im not sure if this is too formal, it doesn't quite suit the child like type faces and imagery used, perhaps if i draw the shapes i am going to use so they have a more hand crafted feel to them like the other aspects of the web page.

proposed web ideas

The current web pages are all the same style layout and color, I don't want to take this forward with my layouts, they look really dull and uninspiring, which you don't want when your trying to 'learn'. I have tried to keep a similar style and colour theme through all the products which I feel is really helping to bring all the different aspects together. With the webpages I still want them to have a hand rendered feel, but this is much more difficult as it is an on screen item and iv never really designed for on screen.

This is probably my favorite so far, the layout and different aspects working together seems to be the best so far. I do feel it has something missing from it though, there is something not quite right. I really want to get some feedback on these designs to help me progress and develop them.

This one just doesn't have enough on it, where is all the information? the type faces just don't sit right. I this ill have another go an feeding more information into the page and see how that works.

One word horrendous! why well everything about it the layout is the main issue, this is really proving to be a weakness in my work this module.

revision cards

I have just playing around with different colours to see where this took me and found the bright colours are working much better such as the blue shown above. Taking this into account i am going to redesign the back of the revision cards and individualise them similar to the book cover colours and to each subject.

Mistake - subject change!

I have just realised i keep calling this subject geography, when in fact it is science woops! but also whilst im here i have noticed that the word science doesn't stand out very well so im going to look at this perhaps fill it with white, it will look much better and stand out from the background. I have found it quite difficult figuring out the layout of these book covers, even though i have struggled and not completely satisfied with the products i am producing there are small elements within them that i really like, i have decided this is one area im going to look at further in my 3rd year as laying out designs to complete the package/story is a weakness to my final products.

Possible final book covers

So i have finally created some book covers, front and back that i feel work really well, i have given them each an identity in the form of their own colour, they all follow the same layout, yet each are for different subjects and they all look different. I have changed the bitesize logo, its much smaller and less significant on the page, this works much better as is doesn't take over the page as much as it did before. I have also removed the bitesize type from the front of the cover and put it on the back this works much better with the layout and again doesn't take over, it only needs to be a small part of the design. Instead i have replace this on the front with the BBC logo this looks much more professional and ties n with other bitesize revision sources.

There are areas i am not sure on and would like feedback on before i finalise them as finished products. The first being the colours, do you think they all work? Im not sure if i should change the geography colour as it is so similar to history? The second is the type, does it work for the explanation box on the back page or do i need something similar? I have used the same type throughout, but i feel i have used it too much and a second less fussy type face would work much better.