BAGD yearbook proposal; Student page.

One of the tasks I was set was to create my own version of what a student page would look like based on the folding concept we had all agreed on. Kirsty C also created her own student page so we would need to keep referring to each others in order to make sure they look the same or similar. We took inspiration from some designs that Sophie had done during the christmas period in terms of the style of the pages and where things were placed. The blue page is the one that would fold into the middle of the double page spread and then that can be opened out. We decided to go with the idea of each person choosing their favourite colour as both me and Kirsty had considered this without even having a conversation about it and felt it would work really well. The three words on the page will be chosen by each student to describe the course and their experience over the past three years. The page on the other side of this will give each student the opportunity to choose two of their favourite projects to showcase and will include the title of the project and a short description of what it was about. The layout of these images may vary depending on whether a student decides they have a couple of good shots from a single project. For the bio page for each student everyone will be photographed in a way that they feel best represents their personality and will cover the whole of this page with a section of white background left at one side where the text can be placed. The text will include the students name, what type of designer they are, for example branding and the relevent contact details. To make the bio unique we have come up with 20 questions relating to design and each student can choose a maximum of 5 of these to answer. We've made the questions quite fun so that they will be interesting to read.

We also need a PDF version of the yearbook so we've changed the idea slightly to fit more with this. Instead of having an induvidual page for the three words, I suggested placing them in a bar at the bottom of the bio page because this still works as these are things each student is saying. This change also means that the bio page will come before the work so there is no confusion about who's work is who's. 

BAGD yearbook proposal; Student pages paper mock-up.

This is the intial paper mock-up from student pages we came up with after we met up after the christmas break with the various ideas we'd come up with. We all liked the idea of having this fold out concept as a way of revealing each student and their talents and with folding in this way it meant it was still practical because the book wouldn't then become too long. It also condensed the amount of paper used from some of the original ideas we'd considered. This format gave each student a chance to really showcase themselves because it gave them more pages than ever given before in previous years. We all began designing to this format and then I realised it wasn't going to be practical in terms of the fact it would need to be A1 to fit onto a page and seemed like a lot of paper wastage when really each student profile could be condensed and more practical. Basically, this original format was probably going to cost a lot of money when sent to print and although in the early stages this isn't a massive concern, it still needed to be considered. 

We then came up with this second idea where each student would have three pages and still in a fold out format. The design means that the pages would fold out from the center so seems better considered and neater. Visually when designed this is probably going to look a lot better too because each students design will compliment and be consistent. 

BAGD Yearbook proposal; Initial layout ideas.

Before the christmas break we all agreed that we would go away and come up with our own layout ideas based on what we had discussed so that when we returned we'd have something to work with as a starting point. These are the layout ideas I put together on the basis that each person would get one page each but this could be easily adapted so that the designs became a double page spread. Although we had discussed this idea of folding things out, for the time being I decided I'd leave to this to one side and concentrate more on the layout of the content. I wanted to keep my design ideas as simple as possible because I feel it's more important that the yearbook has a focus on content. The page designs are based on a student profile and in particular my own. With the little image of me this could be an idea in itself that everyone draws their own character in their personal style or alternatively this could actually be a photograph. The concept behind the colour choice is that each student would pick their favourite colour to be placed in various forms on the page depending on which layout we decide to go with. This makes the design quite fun and mixes it up visually and can also reflect personality from each student. 

BAGD yearbook proposal; Third meeting.

7/1/13

Content needed for proposal boards: (concept, content, specifications)
- concept, design direction
- sample layouts (printed and photographed)
- cover design
- proposed branding
- production decisions
- stock decisions
- print processes / finishes
- typeface, colour

Things we need to consider / some ideas:
- How will the work be photographed?
- How will we photograph the people?
- How can we make everyones own individual personality stand out?
- Will pages be vertical or horizontal or a mixture of both?
- Each person could give three words to describe the course
- How will the content be organised? We need a more interesting system than alphabetical.

Answering the questions on the brief:

What do you want to say about the course, your time on it and the people you have met? 
1. We've worked hard, but we've had fun. Everyone has a sense of humour and gets along despite totally different skills.

What do the rest of the year group, staff etc. want to say? 
2. Everyone could describe the course in three words which are placed on their page. Tutors and visiting professionals also have space to give their opinions. Each person choses a colour which they like the best / represents them, which will be the flood colour for their page.

What makes this course/year unique and how do you communicate this through the selection, organisation and communication of content?
3. We are fun. We have a variety of personalities with a diverse range of skills, and this is shown through the interactivity of the pages content.

What is the underlying visual concept and why is it appropriate, innovative and current?
4. The visual concept is folds, colours, and fun. It also shows our love of paper, as is relevant to what is going on in design, as it was inspired by GF Smith.

The message is what?
5. Work Hard, Play Hard.

Who will want to know and how will they find out?
6. Potential students, employers, friends and family, industry. It will be seen online or in physical form at the degree show. 

[examples of others mock ups]

- Arrange a photo shoot where we take a photo of each person
- Each person should have a page that folds out either horizontally or vertically
- Pages could be perforated to include business cards
- Photographs of people and bio could be on the top, which would be in black and white, and you open up for individuality and colour
- Each person chooses a different colour 
- Decide how many projects each person submits
- Reasons for typeface (Trade Gothic): modern, clean, simple: text 9pt and header 21pt
- Fold down instead of folding to the side 
- Could include a perforated note page at the back for people to write down their thoughts
- Including business cards would make it too thick
- Information that needs to be included on bio page: contact details, specialism, pick 5 questions out of 20 to answer.

Cover Ideas:

- Scratch card
- Laser cut with colour underneath or foiling blocking. Cover would be black with laser cut text, the information would need to be screen printed white on to the spine
- Photo in the back inside cover

Mock-ups needed: covers, how an individual person example would look, tutor profile
Individual jobs: sophie - covers, claudia - arranging file, writing concept, tutor pages, kirstys - individual profile pages

After the meeting we realised a few problems with our design. Each person would be getting 5 squares, which wouldn't fit on to the a2 sheet, so would end up only two people fitting on to an a1 sheet of paper, which in reality would make the book too thick as well as costing too much. 

So we played about with changing how the folds open, and worked out a way we could keep the same theme, using less paper. Now everyone gets three sides, and you can fit four people on to an a1 sheet. Each persons three words are on the top page, and the background of this page is their chosen colour. Inside, you open up to see their photograph in black and white (where they are posing in a fun way), with a white background so their bio can be on the same page, and on the other page, you see examples of their work. This allows a different person to be shown on the left and right hand sides of the page.

BAGD yearbook proposal; Second meeting.

13/12/12

Ideas for Graphic Design yearbook pitch:

- Business card including for each person, either in a slot on their page, or a tear out section at the back with all the business cards included
- Each person has a mini profile alongside their work with information about them and possibly their logo
- The theme is work hard, play hard - with a side of humour, for example a funny photograph of each graduate
- Focus on paper folding, fold out sections etc. Look at GF Smith examples (as shown in visiting professional lecture, 7/12/12)
~~N.B. The design also needs to work in PDF format ~~
- Represent each person's style, different to last years use of signature, each person could draw a caricature of themselves
- Each person answers interesting questions that relate to graphic design that give an indication of their personality, for example: 'If you were a typeface what would you be and why?' and 'If you were a pantone colour what would you be and why?'
- Move away from the traditional format of a DPS per person, to make the format of the book more personal, such as splitting the pages up in to diagonal spaces
- The yearbook should reflect our personalities as the class of 10-13, with examples of what makes each student proud of themselves.

For next meeting: Sunday 6/1/13, each person should have done a small amount of research and a mock up example of how the spread could work.
Print slot is booked for 3xA2 for Tuesday 8/1/13 3pm.

*Notes taken for everyone by Claudia Griffin

BAGD yearbook proposal; First meeting.

18/09/12

I met with my collaborative patners today to discuss the brief for the year book we'd like to pitch for. We bounced around a few initial ideas and things to consider and also wrote the brief as well as we could at this point. I've made a few notes on the things we have discussed. 

Team
Kirsty Alderson
Kirsty Cave
Sophie Wilson
Claudia Griffin

General considerations
Photography
Printers
Stock
In depth interview/profile
Screen printed element or general special finish
Highlight local elements related to the course
Achievements

Other considerations
Research course information
Communicate with the tutors for delivery of the brief
Time management within collaboration
Consider sustainability and processes when printing
How much is within the budget?
Design process and outcome

Mandatory requirements
Discuss specifications with the tutors

Deliverables
Year book 
Design boards

*Notes taken for everyone by Claudia Griffin

FMP briefing.

- 50 credit module
- Statement of intent for the 1st February.
- Minimum 100 hours of research and planning; substantially weighted in the outcomes. 
- Complex problem solving, show you fully understand the conceptual side of Graphic Design.
- Focus on specific areas of design personal to you. The body of work must work as a whole. 
- Project journal; planning, draft of briefs and plans etc. Document all organisation. 
- Need to provide a whole bibliography. Initial research goes on the statement of intent. 
- Anything unreferenced is plagarism. 
- Need six significant briefs including design context. Mini briefs allowed on top of this. 
- Yearbook proposal is seen as an additional brief. 
- OUGD303DC OUGD303DP are the labels for the seperate posts on the FMP blog. 
- Design context brief will just relate to my personal Graphic Design interests. Who do I want to be compared to? 
- Where are you going? Who are you speaking to? as part of design context. 
- Studios can be included in design context. What are their specialisms and how did they get there?
- Initially don't consider the fact that the design context element is going to have an end product. 
- There are websites on the bottom of the brief on moddle for where the publication can be made if nescessary. 
- Will it have chapters and what will the general content be? 
- Identify ten pieces of design context that represent me and my practice. 
- With the FMP consider the relationship between product, range and distribution. 
- Think big and extend things as far as possible for them to be significant. 
- Consider doing briefs together and not just one after the other. 
- Make defined decisions about briefs, so outcomes and timescales etc.