Evaluation:
The DR ME brief was a really good break from the current studio happenings that I feel everyone present benefited from. This however was a drawback too that at the time felt frustrating to take time out of what I was already doing, this was because of a looming deadline I was working to and this brief felt like it got in the way of that.
I didn't let these feelings get in the way with the opportunity of working in a collaboration with Dan Everitt where we combined ideas, aesthetics and concepts to form a response each but with the other being present and engaged in the process of it, allowing feedback, idea development and playing with the outcomes.
Brief 01 was the 12" vinyl sleeve design where we took the opportunity to experiment with collaging as that was the dominant practice involved at DR ME and something neither of us have ever tried. We listened to the music and began throwing around words that felt fitting to the theme before going to the library and spending a while exploring books and scanning them in. I found this process very difficult as it wasn't something I was used to, and even though it was a good idea for both of us to try something new and different with some guidance from visiting professionals, I don't feel like it benefited my way of thinking or my practice in any way. I really struggled to work with bits of imagery cut out and brought together as I am so used to creating my own content that moulds itself to the given brief. In the end we decided to put forward Dan's response as it felt much more fitting to the music and evoked a scene and presence that unfortunately mine didn't.
For the second brief, I felt like I was more in my prime. I enjoy making posters, especially when it is music related because there is usually a very awkward amount of content that needs to fit in a legible format at the same time as jumping out and grabbing the target audience. Neither of us had heard of the band before so we gave them a listen and even though it was to neither of our tastes, we tried to show the music in the visuals. I enforced this with hand-rendered typography contrasting with a sans-serif typeface, bright colours and a manipulated photograph of the front-man's face. I was really happy with this outcome as it communicated their music very well in my opinion and was fun to play with type again.
There wasn't much time to complete the final brief so while I was already in a type-focused mind-set I decided to draw some motivational hand-rendered typography that read 'Develop Yourself' this was a relaxing way to finish the day and outlet some creative juices.
The day-brief as a whole was very useful in giving me the chance to play with a different way of thinking and doing but I found that neither worked very well for me. DR ME were very interesting to talk to and shone light on a lot of different ways of thinking in pressured situations which I will take away with me and remember in future scenarios where there isn't much time to effectively create a developed concept.
If I was given the chance, I don't think I would do it again or change anything I did, it was helpful in some ways but I didn't enjoy it in the moment much and didn't feel excited about the work I was doing for it.
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