OUGD603 — Brief 06 — Capital North - Boards

Evaluation:

I found this brief extremely challenging during the time it was set and completed. The group I chose to work in consisted of Abigail Nelson, Sophie Abell, Laura Tomlinson and Danielle Yearsley.

To begin with, I thought the idea was really exciting and there was a lot of scope to push the project as a whole as the opportunity of briefs like this aren't every-day ones. I feel like we made a bad decision to work together as a team because we each had a lot of other projects happening that took priority over this, such as me and Laura were hard at work on the yearbook, and I was also developing work for Restrap and Tokyo Fixed which were more important to me. As a group we failed to meet up regularly or push each other to complete tasks on time. There was a lack of motivation and we weren't working very well together as a team which ultimately made the work suffer.

We eventually pulled our fingers out and got to work on our own jobs within the brief once I had developed the logo and visual identity. Issues that followed were that people refused to come in and work together when we had the time and therefore when all the work came together, everything looked disjointed and different. This really emphasised to me how important it is to work together even on individual jobs as it keeps the visuals consistent and finalise as one piece of work that functions cohesively.

If I was given more time on the brief of another go at completing it I would make sure that the team working with me would be in working on it together as well as dedicate a lot more time and attention to the brief as a whole.

Considering the circumstances our presentation went very successfully even though none of us were very confident with the work. We got some really good and motivating comments from the DBA team and put a lot into perspective for me about working in groups.

OUGD603 — Brief 06 — Capital North - Presentation

The presentation went really well. We aren't the most confident speakers as a group but we all felt prepared and comfortable to discuss our ideas and the process to finished outcome.

In regards to feedback, they told us that the concept was fantastic and that we took a bold approach that no one else had thought of. They liked the logo but told us that it was not dynamic enough by itself and would of needed several variations for different sizings to keep it's clarity. Their favourite part of the presentation and work was the idea behind the trains and that the rest of the visuals should of followed suit with them.

This was a very rewarding brief and has given me more confidence to speak in front of professionals as well as work in a team to develop something further than I would usually be capable of.

OUGD603 — Brief 06 — Capital North - Train Graphics

With the logo completed, my next task was to illustrate trans that would run along the route. I felt that rather than having one train that presented all four cities, it would be a more interesting outcome to have four varieties of train that ran the same transport route, but advertised each city independently, but at the same time, possess the same branding.

Everyone really liked the trains, we also had the idea to animate them with after-effects, so I gave the files to Abi as I haven't got the software or know how to use it.

OUGD603 — Brief 06 — Capital North - Logo

We all had a go at developing the logo to reflect our concepts, and later, I was chosen to develop it further.

We all liked and felt like the original logo I designed was a strong look that represented the combination of cities and the upward rising of them all in unison. It felt corporate but not boring, and it made an impact.

I later had an idea to push this further towards the 'escapism' concept. Using a combination of an upwards mono fade and halftones, the logo itself would 'escape' upwards to symbolise the people's possibilities up here.

After a few goes, I managed to find a good balance of fade that didn't leave the logo illegible at any size.

Once this had been achieved, the idea was pushed to make that escapism concept even stronger by allowing the halftones to escape away from the logo's frame.

Upon receiving feedback, everyone was very happy with the final outcome and it was ready to be implemented among further works to show context and brand.

OUGD603 — Brief 06 — Capital North - Concept

When we first started the project, we made the mistake of jumping straight into trying to figure out what it'd look like. I'm not quite sure why as I have never done that before but as expected, it didn't work (and also never looked good).

When DBA came to see how we were getting on, we went on to explain how 'the north is up, and the top is always the best, etc'. It sounded so bad when we explained it and they thought the same. We were given some mentoring in regards to how to execute the planning and figure out what needed to be done.

This method helped us close in on what actually mattered about the brief and where we needed to place our concentration.

In regards to audience, even though the brief said everyone. It clearly isn't. So who are they?

What is better/worse about the competition (London). And what is/will be better about the north to make people want to come up here to invest into businesses, try a different quality of life, etc?

Abi spoke to Simon in our tutorials and they discussed this brief and Simon said it would be silly to try and compete with London because at the end of the day, if people want to go to London, they will. 

With this in mind, we got together as a group and discussed it, it was clear that it would be silly to attempt that, so why not just try to capture the people that do not like London/are unhappy with their lives in London or just aren't interested in the stress, busy surroundings, ignorance and expenses that come attached to our capital?

This felt like our calling so we began our concept based on that, the escapism of everything bad about London but with all the benefits of it.

OUGD603 — Brief 06 — Capital North - Idea + Ref boards for Team

As a team (Abi, Danielle, Laura, Sophie, and I) we decided to do some independent idea, concept, and style development. By the time I had a spare chance to think it over, I was really tired so I put together a board of reference and direction and mocked up a very quick (5 min) logo to show the direction I was thinking about.

Upon presenting, the group all shared the same view points which was a good sign. Sophie had worked on concepts and came up with a really great idea about working with the idea of the north being the top of England, the top usually being the best.

We all decided to spend a couple of days independently developing this concept and coming back together to present it and decide where to move from there.

OUGD603 — Brief 06 — Capital North - Brief