VIZCOMBOBULATE

I finally got the final version of the PDF finished last night - and then designed the front cover today;





Again, it would have been useful to have had this done in the days of the group crits, instead I've just gone with what I wanted - in the hope that it suits everyone and feels relevant.

I decided on calling it 'Between us & them' because of the theme of us working for live clients. And also because, although the response was good - I didn't get any serious answers from my 'give it a name' forum discussion.



Although my favourite silly name came from James Robinson who came up with 'VIS-COM-BOBULATE'.

Despite the deadline for submissions being yesterday - I am still receiving them into my email account which allows me to work at a steady pace and keep busy and focused. The deadline was just there to get people motivated in time. Its getting to the point now though where I need to be chasing those who haven't responded to my group email, facebook group invitation and facebook messages. I have received 18 submissions so far though! Another 20 to go before the Friday deadline! - Heres how I'm keeping it old school and keeping track...



Those who have not yet responded - prepare to feel my wrath!

Home made crit

I arranged to meet with my tutor today to run through my layout so far and get some advise from a pro. I found this so useful as I have missed the compulsory group crits with this brief being set quite late. There are a few things I will change about how I'm setting up my layout - but I feel rather re-assured that I'm moving in the right direction after hitting a brick wall last night. This has left me feeling just as enthused and excited about this project as I was to begin with.

I also invited a bit of peer assessment with those who were sat around the studio today. Feedback was good - some of those assessing it had work in my mock layout which sparked some interest. But its always hard to tell if my peers are just being nice or are genuinely liking the work without Graham around to spark some brutal critical feedback!

A very usefully spent afternoon though.

Had a pretty good response from my attempt at getting the message out to everyone about what they need to submit and when by (today)...



...which has meant I have been able to make some progress with getting the work into the layouts. Here are the 8 pages so far...










After a pretty long slog - I wanted to check my progress and converted the pages into a PDF to check their flick-ability... and its rubbish. It could be to do with me sitting in front of this layout all day. I've been reading about layouts using text in notes and handouts in my type journal. I've been fighting off widows & orphans, keeping columns narrow (but not too narrow), keeping my point at a good size and I've been lining up images with the text.

Hopefully I can talk to a tutor tomorrow to get some advice on what I'm doing wrong and how I could make it better.

Is it the colours?

Is it the mish mash of hand drawn titles?

Are my text boxes too different on each page? (can't be helped with different word counts - but maybe theres a way of handling it better?)

Its a shame there are no more crits left. This brief came along quite late in the project so I'm now beginning to realise how important peer assessment can be - and also receiving critical feedback from tutors.

Slept on it...

And came back to it today...



It looks like less text to read. And there appears to be less free space. The image has remained the same size. I just don't know how to make the beginning of the text look like the beginning.


Time to consult the type journal. Uh Ohhhh...

Heck!

Well the hand type works okay, but I changed the layout about to fit the text the best way around a landscape image, and keeping it similar to Richard's layout. Nomzamela has double the text that Richard does. Does it look right? I can't even tell. I've put it into 3 columns... but the first column looks wrong. But it also looks wrong when its the last column missing a few lines at the bottom. Need to play around come more with it.

T'n'T'd

Wow, I really wasn't expecting to like this, but it really... brings the page together. Maybe it has something to do with the monochrome picture? I don't know. I definitely need to try this out on other peoples layouts before I commit to anything.

Like, do I use the same style type for everyones name? Do I use the same colour? Some peoples names are harder to write than others.

Han-Jaab

Been thinking about maybe adding a hand drawn touch to the pages - with some nice hand rendered type.

In the book 'Hand Job' Mike Perry includes amongst the pages and pages of awesome hand drawn type, sections which have a little information about each contributing artist. Each artist seems to have included their own little title.






I don't think this would be manageable because A. People are busy and B. Not everybody has an interest in illustration - much of the work in this book will be from video artists, animators and photographers. I could always put it out there though...

I've had a go at making some type using a Wacom tablet in Photoshop. I've just chosen a select few names of the people I am guaranteed to received work from...

What 200 words looks like...

188 to be precise, pt 12 on an A4 lanscape page. OH CRUMBS!!

"SINGLE PAGE IMPACT!"

The brief now asks all students to submit one selected image of their work done for the Live Project brief (with a single page impact) with a 200 word max statement.
This has now changed the way I will work on this project - I was previously looking at ways of doing layouts with loads of images and a range of text sizes (but now I know its to be 200 max).

I need to be looking at new ways of creating a layout taking these factors into account.

VIS COM 2 - PDF AWARENESS SOCIETY

Now that the brief has changed - I need to get hold of the the whole year group's selected images and 200 word statement.
The tutors are helping to promote the cause whenever they can.
But I needed a way to let everybody know. As well of telling people who I have come across in the studio and out and about, I got an email together and sent it to the course administrator, who then forwarded it on to all of year 2.

(click image to read)

I have received only 2 responses through this method.

I figured almost everyone in the year group frequently used Facebook. I decided to set up a group - A lot of the people invited to join had not previously heard about the PDF - and I've realised that it is going to mostly up to me now to get the work in ready to be put into the PDF.

The group gives exactly the same message, but offers a place for discussion (I'm thinking about what the title of the PDF should be - rather than generic 'Visual Communication year 2 work'. On the group page I have set up a forum post asking for suggestions) The function to 'message all members' will be helpful when I need to give everyone a kick up the bum about the hand in.

Critters

I've been getting critical.
I've been thinking a lot about the texts we read as part of the Send & Receive brief.
I found it hard to relate the content of the critical texts to the work I was doing for the brief. It was just a bit of an experience, getting to work in a school with lovely children and cut and stick.

Its THIS brief that I feel the texts really fit into. Particularly Ellen Lupton's 'The Designer as Producer'.


"The word "author" suggests agency, intention, and creation, as opposed to the more passive functions of consulting, styling, and formatting."

End of year catalogue Level 2 Visual Communication
Its so hard to get your head around who the author is of the brief's final outcome. I will be putting lots of (unpaid) time and thought into this layout, yet placing other peoples work into it. Can I claim this work as my own? Can I put this in my portfolio? I imagine this job only becomes relevant in my portfolio if I were to apply for a job in a magazine perhaps.
What if I don't agree with some of the content I am placing in my layout?

CH CH CHANGES

I was contacted today by my client to go over a few changes to the brief.

Rather than me designing a grid for students to drop in their own work, by Monday 25th May all students must submit a 200 word statement and one image which relates to their final project, then I am to create the whole layout with the work.

Although this gives me much more work to do, its made the brief much more exciting and challenging for me. It also seems to make more sense this way as the brief is now clear and straight forward, allowing me to visualise the final piece a lot clearer.

I learnt a lot yesterday having a much around in Adobe InDesign. Now I know the changes to the brief, I know which layouts will definitely not be suitable - and I can begin narrowing down my ideas.

LAYOUT PLAYABOUT

Got to have a good play around in Adobe InDesign today, where I will be creating the grid for the PDF layout, to come up with a good resolution for a layout which...

• Has a consistent identity.
• Has a space for a sizable personal statement.
• Is stylish.
• Utilises space so lots of work can be put in, but also work well for those with few images.

Please click to enlarge! These are screen grabs so mind the pixels!

Although the text area is small here, I found it made the rest of the space quite awkward to use. The immediate focus on this page is the work, but the green highlighting the student's name diverts focus, allowing the text to be more of a starting point. This would be in the same colour and position on each page.

The space for the images on this layout is large but an awkward shape. To keep things aligned, images shouldn't go any higher than the bottom rectangle. I like the text in two columns.

Out of all the layouts I have come up with today, I feel this one works the best. On the right hand side there is a large space which can be used for just one image, or a few. I think the space for the text works well as it sits amongst the smaller thumbnails. I don't know if thumbnails is a requirement for the students work. I could do with finding out.

Although I like the idea of having the text in a nice big coloured circle like this, I think that flicking through the document it could get a bit old. Its used mostly as a way of starting a feature when you see it in magazines. I like that it still allows for lots of images. Richards images work particularly well with this idea. I'd be interested to see if it work as well with other's work though. I would also need to work on getting the text to fit neatly in the circle! Awhoops!!

I think this layout works well for photography based work as it fits landscape and portrait. This is mostly down to the text area being the size and shape it is. This could be a problem as student's statements might not be so big and the area could look rather empty. I could try less text to see how it looks.

Working with Richard's work again. His work fits well with this layout as his images are not in block format. The text are is a good size and the alignment works well. Could be a keeper!

I really need to speak to someone about these layouts. I can't trust my own judgement and need some outside opinions. I will ask my classmates who's work will be put into this PDF and also Sophie in my final crit of doom tomorrow!

P.S! I want to try doing a layout with a hand drawn feel like in 'Museum Paper'. Y'know what I mean?

GRIDS

"For some graphic designers, it has become an unquestioned part of the work process that yields precision, order & clarity.
For others, it is symbolic of Old Guard aesthetic oppression, a stifling cage that hinders the search for expression."

Timothy Samara, 'Making and Breaking the Grid'

Uh Ohhhh

The nature of this brief means that it is essential that I work using a 'grid'. I've used grids before in both Quark & InDesign, but have never understood the best and most effective ways they should be used. I've decided to do a bit of research on these things.

Q&A

Post research questions I need to ask my client Sophie re: the PDF layout...

Can each pages' layout be different?

No. Although the work submitted for the pages will come in different sizes, the students name and personal statement must remain in the same place on each page. This is to create smooth flicking without the readers eyes moving around the pages too much.

          

What work is to be submitted by students?

Only work that has been done for the 'Live Project' brief is to be shown in the PDF.

Layout Ideas

Click for a closer look!

Purple

PURPLE JOURNAL
This is a book I refer to a lot when working on publishing based briefs. I very rarely read the journals, but just like to look at the photos. Its layout it very simple and clean, which i've found very hard to replicate.