OUGD405 Studio Brief 1 - Production

OUGD405 Studio Brief 1 - Production

These are my final designs for brief, which although struggling to make the third 6x4 design link with the other two designs, I'm happy how it has turned out and think as a set they do work together. As originally my idea of nature and patterns is typically linked to more traditional styles with subtle colours and a target audience of buyers at Laura Ashely, I wanted to move away from this and create a more contemporary approach to this. Therefore I knew I needed to make the designs more current and stylish as I wanted my designs to be aimed at an 18-24 demographic most likely to shop at places such as Paperchase, Evolution or Urban Outfitters. Using Photoshop again, I put the backing in context and added frames to them with texture on the background and shadows around the frame to make them appear more like they are hung on a wall. The wooden, traditional style links with the concept of the designs being nature, but really works as I edited the colours of these frames to bright, vibrant colours to make them more contemporary and appeal to younger audiences, just as I have done with the backing to enforce this stylish, more modern approach. I chose News Gothic MT Regular for my typeface as when I tired out serif fonts I found they were to traditional and did not fit with the overall feel of the designs. Which is why I chose this font as from my research I found contemporary designs all had sans serif fonts and it creates a bold, simplistic feel which really enforces the modern style. Overall I think the designs work although I wasn't sure about whether or not my designs were unisex and perhaps a bit feminine, but I think I have achieved creating a backing frame suited towards my target audience.

Final Critique 

I found our critique really beneficial as there was a lot more discussion and feedback from my peers. I myself found that I also contributed a lot more than I usually would and all of our feedback was relevant to everyone. Such as analysing why certain aspects work and that you should think about the context of what you are producing and who it can work for. In addition clearly analysing your design decisions, your typeface and explore a range of different approaches. You also must always think about your target audience and communicate with your audiences what you are producing to catch peoples attention to attract buyers. Feedback from my work were positive, saying that my frames suited the concept, there was an effective contrast between the use of nature and its digitalisation and that despite my initial thoughts, the frames can be unisex.