Evaluation

After printing the final resolution I have been able to reflect on the designs/resolution to the brief. Through modification to the design I have been able to ensure that the resolution is appropriate to the brief that I wrote, therefore to the specific audience. Although I used digital print the resolutions have not come out as high quality as I would have wished. I would have liked to reprint because of this however as it is now the day before the hand in, there is not time to do this. Once again, this is something that I need to plan further in advance so that I can test print in Digital Print a week before the hand in, rather than using other printers. However, if I were to hand these out to students I would ensure that the designs were reprinted to a high finish. 

My time management with this brief has lacked as I have struggled with managing numerous modules and briefs at the same time. This has been something that I have previously been able to manage however have lacked with this brief. However, I have been able to learn from my mistakes and therefore will not make them again in the future. It is also important that I remember the intensity of completing a brief in such a short time so that the resolution is completed to a high standard. 

Final Resolutions

Digital Print:

Due to the double sided printed not being 100% accurate, the designs have not printed to a the highest quality that I would've hoped for. A way round this in the future would be to send away the designs to a company that deals specifically with post card prints. However, the resolutions are still fitting to the brief that I wrote and will be beneficial to Level 04 freshers. As the only print appointment that I could get was the day before submission, I was also not able to photograph the final resolutions in a studio environment. This is a skill that I have developed throughout the year and I am disappointed that I have not been able to do this for the final brief/module. 

Designs - Typography

For the more typographical design I have used Anthony Burrell's style as my main inspiration. Through a discussion with peers I had a couple of ideas for the wording of the design. This design will mainly focus on University related quotes/subjects. Something that I picked up on through the discussion was the lack of knowledge on how to cook and how now they cannot eat certain foods as they were eaten too much in the first few weeks of university. This is something that the students will be able to relate to and will link to the advisory topic of gaining information of a specific recipe of their choice. 

Bold type:

Calligraphy experiments:

After experimenting with the two different typographic styles I have had a feedback discussion with some peers. The aim of this feedback was to determine whether both or one design in particular are appropriate to the brief as well as being visually appealing to the audience. The overall comments were that both designs are visually engaging and appropriate to the brief. It was also said that these designs would be appropriate to Level 04 freshers as it will be something that they will be able to relate to. However, the calligraphy style type was said to be more feminine rather than gender neutral. Neutrality was something that I wanted to achieve with this approach to the design therefore I have chosen to print the 'bold type' designs. 

Designs - Traditional

After reflecting on the feedback session and completing another set of sketched ideas I have now began gathering the content required to produce the designs. I have firstly completed the traditional designs using watercolour. This is a method that I am continuing to practise therefore decided to complete the designs in this way before digitally manipulating them.

Once I had completed the designs with watercolour I then scanned them in to the computer. This will allow me to sharpen the quality of the design and to fix any areas that have been smudged or where there is a lack of accuracy. This will also mean that when it comes to printing the designs I will be able to print multiple copies for the set of prints. 

I chose to digitally render the type for the second design. This will mean that the result will be sharp and produced to a high quality finish. This is something that was not achieved with completing the type with watercolour as the quality was not guaranteed however is still something that I am going to practise. 

Designs - Photography

The idea behind the photographs is to capture particular areas of the university that are 'fun' and 'interesting'. Sending a postcard with these images on will provide the audience with a visual of elements of the university and would be a starting point to the note.

Using the photographs as the front of the design, I have mocked up some designs. I will then be able to gain feedback on the designs to determine which is the most successful. 

Sketches 2

Taking into the consideration the comments that I received in the feedback session I have completed another set of sketches to demonstrate my idea process. 

To try and make the resolution more of a tool to gain advice I have thought about adding simple sentences/sentence starters to the back of the post card. This will hopefully influence the audience to send the post card to receive specific advice, such as a recipe. 

Some of the feedback comments also pointed out that the designs were very feminine. I have therefore chosen to complete a set of designs containing; a feminine decorative design, a geometric design, a humorous design and university related quote design. This will then be able to be given to any student and they can use the post cards how they wish. It was said in the feedback that if they did not want to send the post card it would be something decorative to pin up in your room and to be used when they wish. This is another side of the design that I have taken into consideration when producing the pack. 

Mr. Bingo - Hate Mail & Anthony Burrill

It was suggested in the feedback that I look at Mr. Bingos theoretical project. This is not something that I have previously heard of and I have enjoyed looking into alternative routes to take my resolution in. 

Trendland.com:

'Mr Bingo is an alluring artist who uses his craft to provide a new form of comedic entertainment.'

'Having won £141 pounds in a bingo game, Mr Bingo’s everlasting love affair with doodling translated into his current occupation as an illustrator who integrates profanity between his audience and himself to cultivate a “wonderfully offensive” (The Huffington Post) masterpiece.'

' ‘Hate Mail’ arose from a brief intoxicated stunt, which resulted in him replying a fellow tweet with a funny obscene message on the flip side of a postcard. From there, this practical joke merged into a successful project that has branched into the “400 Hate Mails” and now the release of his book “Hate Mail”.'

From reading about Mr Bingos Hate Mail that appears to have accidentally happened over a simple Tweet, it is really inspiring to see the publicity that can be gained from sending a simple 'hateful message'. Of course, the postcards are to be taken in a humorous way and not to be taken personally but they add an element of fun with staying in contact with friends. This is something that I would like to consider with my designs and could perhaps be part of the set that I aim to produce.

Another artist I was told to look into was Anthony Burrill.

This is an artist which I could use for a more masculine design or in terms of inspiration towards a more of a quotation design. 

Reflection

Taking into consideration the comments made I have rethought the idea of the  postcard to make it more suitable to the brief. 

Making the subtle changes to the design such as adding 'ps - can you please send me the recipe for _______ ' would be an a way of gathering information. This could also be adjusted to gather advice. I am going to experiment with adding this element to the design, as well as looking at a more masculine design. 

Feedback

For this feedback session I wrote out three questions to structure the responses that I would be receiving. This also means that I can gather the relevant comments to progress with the designs and to determine whether it is fitting to the brief that I wrote.

1. Can you suggest an alternative method to produce the type? (I thought about using a pen in the vinyl cutter to produce a clean line)

- For the tone of the work and the personal aspect a handwritten look could be really strong

- Letterpress is traditional + personal so would work with the tone of voice and purpose

- I think that the illustration/calligraphy approach is suitable to the tone of voice and purpose, although you may want to scan them in and print digitally for a high quality finish

- some masculine designs would be nice, for girls and boys

- I really like the hand written aspect of postcards and this could really help with homesickness 

I am going to look into alternative methods to produce the type. This will depend on the facilities that are available in the week that I have left to produce the designs. Digital print would be appropriate and produce a high quality design however I would like to use more traditional print methods as this is an area that I would like to better my practice in. 


2. Would you have sent a postcard/did you in your first semester at uni?

- I haven't but I think that it is a really useful idea and a more artistic and personal response to communicating 

- I like the idea of a postcard but feel you could consider the audience and how current postcards are, I sent a letter to my sister

- I did not but if I were given a nicely designed one I definitely would have

- The design is very gender specific so I would not send the design you have firstly come up with but if this were adjusted to suit a more male audience I would 

This gives me confidence that the resolution will be appropriate and used by the audience. The aim of the brief is to make the transition easier therefore if the postcards helps with this then I have fulfilled my aim!


3. Does the postcard resolution fulfil the brief I wrote?

- I think looking into the idea of being advisory and more specific to students

- Don't feel that the postcards are advisory or 'gain advice' however I like the design and think you could easily adapt them to suit this area of the brief

- It may be worth expanding the idea to get postcards from rather than to parents and friends to get advice, recipes, etc

- Look at making the quotes more university related

Taking into consideration the responses to this question I am going to note down some ideas to how I can make the postcards more advisory or to be used in a way to gain advice or information. This will make the resolution more suiting to the brief and fulfil the purpose. 


4. Are there any other of the sketched designs you think would be appropriate?

-  Look at Antony Burrell

- I like the geometric shape postcard designs as well as the three light lines. repeating the design is eye catching and may be more appealing to for the male audience 

- You could do some research into Mr. Bingos theoretical project and how successful that has been 

From the responses I am going to do some more research into different styles that I could use for the postcard, not forgetting that I need to 'use a process that you will enjoy'. This will hopefully lead me to a design that would appeal to both male and female or to having two separate designs as I do not want the response to this brief to be gender specific. 

Research/Watercolour Designs

Sketches:

 I took inspiration from Instagram to produce another set of sketches. I have also looked at my Pinterest feed. From this I have found a watercolour style that I have been wanting to experiment with. I firstly experimented with a few different flower styles in my sketch book and then worked with a post card template to complete a design.

The purpose of the post card is to keep in contact with friends and family. This would hopefully make the student feel more settled and at home in Leeds.