OUGD501 - Studio Brief 03 - Research Proposal (Initial Preparation of a Dissertation)

Based on your Level 5 Context of Practice work produce a 10 slides ISSUU presentation following the format below. This presentation will act as your Context of Practice 3 Research proposal and will guide your research and reading over the summer. 

Your research will be based around one of the following themes / questions:

Question 1: What is Good? - To what extent does Social Responsibility impact on the role and function of Graphic Design?

Question 2: To what extent do the individual politics of professional practitioners impact on the role and function of Graphic Design

Question 3: In an era of globalization, to what extent do contemporary Graphic Design practices reflect core British Values?

Question 4: To what extent do Technological developments in production and distribution impact on Graphic Design ?

Question 5: To what extent does Aesthetic ‘Style’ reflect the context, audience and/or function of contemporary Graphic Design?

Question 6: To what extent has Graphic Design constructed our understanding or view of historical events and perceptions of truth?

Your ISSUU presentation must include the following:

• 250 word introductory statement/rationale
• 5 relevant/related subjects
• 5 relevant quotes
• 5 relevant books
• 5 relevant websites
• 5 relevant images
• 5 relevant contextual references

Your proposal should focus on the development of a body of theoretical, contextual and practical research around an individually appropriate theme or subject relating to your selected question.

Background / Considerations

Context of practice 3 is an extensive research project that includes a 6000-9000 word dissertation and a related body of work. The CoP 3 module is intensive and is submitted in January therefore, students that have found the most success in the module have committed to a substantial amount of preliminary research over the summer period. This should include all relevant reading needed for the project as this is the most time consuming task.

The questions above are designed to reflect each of the core CoP themes but these are also indicative and will likely develop and change as you work through the project. Your CoP 3 project question/title will be an evolved form of this original question.

To commence the research part of my dissertation powerpoint slides, I decide to do question 3: In an era of globalization, to what extent do contemporary Graphic Design practices reflect core British Values? Below is a link to my 10 slides ISSUU presentation of the Context of Practice 3 Research proposal.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 2: Module Evaluation

OUGD501 - Overall Module Evaluation

For the overall OUGD501 Module of both studio brief one and two I found both equally challenging and interesting. To begin with studio brief one based on research and producing an essay.  The essay question that I first decide to choose was ‘How important is style to Graphic Design for successful advertising, particularly on social media platforms?’ the question and the first draft of the essay was too restrictive on research and finding study cases, mainly because of the essay focusing on styles/trends. Therefore my tutor gave me a structure on how to write an essay as my essay jumps to the next paragraph and has not a lot of links. This is when I changed my essay question to ‘Is Graphic Design important for successful advertising, and how has this evolved since the last decade?’ with this question my research was much boarder to collect. Despite this my essay did not relate to any reference of the evolution in the last decade. There I had to change my essay question to ‘How important is Graphic Design to enable successful advertising in today’s digital environment?’ which most of my essay included how graphic design can assist successful advertising in this digital age. The collecting of contextual / theoretical research was quite difficult to find as my essay topic is about the early stages of the digital age. Nevertheless I found some examples online but the research covered only a small amount of it.

Next studio briefs two, the visual investigation brief. When commencing this brief again I found this hard as I made it challenging for myself. For instance I based my physical work on a concept, which was quite restricted for the generation idea stage. My ideas were to similar to one another thus not enabling me to explore further other designs. I also asked my peers for some help but with the issue I stated it was hard for them to think of other ways of establishing a solution of the problem. In the end I decide to go with an idea of creating an app that allows online users to control/restrain the amount of online advertisements on social media platforms. I enjoyed design this app layout, function and designs on the iPhone due to its similarity to the very first brief that I did at the start of the second year ‘Design for screen’. Unfortunately I would of made a shortstop motion animation clip to highlight how the app works. But my MacBook would not allow me to render the clip. Instead I made some mock ups of poster designs and physical poster designs.

In conclusion, I found COP2 very intense and challenging pieces of work. This is also due to my incident of fracturing my ankle and missing a lot of studio time / development work. It was also challenging to balance other module briefs. In addition I was quite unorganized with my time keeping of essay work and development work. I also had a difficult time on thinking what to base my dissertation on.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 02: Final Design/Evaluation

Final Design of the app, Apptise

Below are images of the final printed designs of the Apptise posters. I tested these poster designs on cartridge paper for a test on how good the quality was. Then I had some thin smooth quality paper and some smooth card paper for a more poster display effect. However from the cartridge paper print outs the designs of the three posters were too stretch so I had to edit this problem. Another problem occured as the thicker card could not print out the design on the paper material. This would of jammed the printer, nevertheless the other poster designs turned out well on the thin smooth paper. There is also a difference between the resolution of the poster prints.

 

Evaluation
In conclusion studio brief 02, visual investigation was quite challenging to execute especially base on the issue concept I chose to design for. The issue that I chosen was quite board, however I aimed it the brief based on advertising online specifically on social media platforms. So finding the contextual research for the brief was difficult to find, specially the theoretical research based on this issue. The generation idea was more complicated and to the ideas that I listed down were too similar to one another.  Even when asking some of my peers if they could think of any ideas which are different from the one I created they even side the issue brief that I chose was quite restrictive. Nevertheless I was able to find the most popular and requested design by letting my peers vote which idea that they would believe is appropriate for the issue. For the designing the app pages and layout I sketched out a few logo designs of the app and how the app with function. The app is supposed to assist smartphone users with any of their social media platforms account to restrain the amount of advertisements they see in a day. As advertising is a very board matter the design icons were endless and it was hard to create new logos. In the end I choose the one with a abstract world/globe shape with an computer mouse. Then the chosen typeface for the logo was Tahoma, even though the typefaces I experimented with were all very similar and sans serif. In majority of app design sans serif typefaces are the most appropriate to use for the design for this certain issue. 

Next the colour scheme of the app I did some test of the apps login/sign in page most of the colours were very pale and subtle. I believe this colour approach was a good as it has a friendly and welcoming appearance to consumers. In the end the most popular colours of the app was the green blue colours. In colour psychology blue symbolises trust and green implies good therefore making the app visually look open. The wireframe of the app was straight forward and easy to comprehend, however with feedback from peers the I should add a search bar, more setting functions etc. When it come to the final design of the A3 posters I took inspiration of existing app poster design via the internet and Pinterest. When fitting them on billboards and bus stop my peers noticed that my poster design looked too stretched so I sorted the problem. Many of my peers recommend that I should also create a short stop motion animation based on how the app would function on a phone. I would do this but my after effects could not render my video. But overall I believe I completed this brief decently there were any trials and errors on the research and design process. Nevertheless it was good and challenging to fix the solution. 

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 02: Production / Distribution / Reception: Production and Distribution Considerations Part 3

Outline, justify and explain production methods and considerations. Consider how how production methods interacts with communication. Outline, justify and explain distribution considerations - how will your design be distribution to the best attract the right audience? You must also demonstrate an awareness of how your designs will be received by your target audience - this may mean “testing” your work in context or talking to consumers in focus group. 

Distribution 3 - Short video advert online (e.g YouTube)

Thirdly the production methods and considerations of establishing my app design (Apptise) which also interacts communication would be using Youtube as advertising the app in a short video clip. This could be of form of a 30 seconds advert before the actual video the viewer clicked on. This communication would be similar to attract the correct audience like the app for university students called grammarly which corrects students essays, emails, summaries etc. They also include a person voice explaining how the app says and functions. The video will be in a non stop motion animation this will include flat designs for the visual atheistic. Almost all app short adverts videos will include a direct link to the app to be downloadable on the app store. Plus with the use of cookie data the phone can record what the phone user has been looking at - thus linking them to this app if its the same interest or similarity. The use of online surveys of the app would be more appropriate to gain recognition of the app the more positive feedback communication it has from their current consumers, the more the app will raise and collect even more consumers. 

Feedback from peers:

• Majority of my peers agree that YouTube short adverts videos are a good way of communicating and distributing my app design for the right potential audience. 
• YouTube is a platform that any audience goes onto, there will surely be the correct audience viewing the app advert for their needs. 
• The style of the app design is very similar to other app advertising design such as deliveroo. The colour scheme, typefaces, flat design and function of the app. 
•  The use of rhetorical questions in the voice over of the animation clip and answering with a solution of the app is effective on distributing and communicating. 
• Linking the app to the advert is a adaptable way of short cutting and sharing out the free downloadable app.
• Surveys are a very good way of distributing the positives or negatives of the app function and how trustworthy it is for all smartphone users.
• When the apps are non skippable it is a good way for any type of audience to watch and observe how the app functions.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 02: Production / Distribution / Reception: Production and Distribution Considerations Part 2

Outline, justify and explain production methods and considerations. Consider how how production methods interacts with communication. Outline, justify and explain distribution considerations - how will your design be distribution to the best attract the right audience? You must also demonstrate an awareness of how your designs will be received by your target audience - this may mean “testing” your work in context or talking to consumers in focus group. 

Distribution 2 - Free downloadable app

A secondary way of branching out my app design (Apptise) is by the promotion of highlighting that the app is free to download. This production method is using the media and technology of spreading the importance of the app being downloadable. The communication of the app will be converse by the reviews on the app store. By the positive amount of feedback on the app store the more the consumers will download the app. For instance the app called Deliveroo is advertised on the app store and out in public. This app is also free to download for consumers to find the food brands they would like to eat. Similar to my app is to help consumers see the online adverts they would want to preview and see offers and sale promotions. This app will also restrain the amount of online adverts on social media platforms. By previewing the app on the app store there are images of the pages of the app to demonstrated each function and the reviews on how well it works. This can be posted by any person with an app store account. The more positive the reviews the more potential consumers will download the app. 

The communication of the app can be branched out further due to the audience passing the information of the app to friend and family who are smartphone users. The style and layout will also further help the promotion of the app to the appropriate audience. 

Below is an images of the the app page by page functions and how it would be displayed by in the app store.

Feedback on Peers:

• Majority of my peers agreed that the app being in the app store is a good way of communicating and distributing the design online.
• The function of the app pages are easy to follow, very similar to the iPhone settings system which is good for iPhone users to use straight away. 
• The communication based on the app store review of the app will also help distributed the app. Thus making the app go on the most popular apps to download on the first page of the app store.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 02:Production / Distribution / Reception: Production and Distribution Considerations Part 1

Outline, justify and explain production methods and considerations. Consider how how production methods interacts with communication. Outline, justify and explain distribution considerations - how will your design be distribution to the best attract the right audience? You must also demonstrate an awareness of how your designs will be received by your target audience - this may mean “testing” your work in context or talking to consumers in focus group. 

Distribution 1 - Posters

One production method and consideration of branching out my app (known as Apptise) is by producing a variety of posters designs which will be displayed in public. By the use of various types of printing methods for the poster being distributed and displayed on billboards, bus stops, public walls and even digital boards. This is an affective way of communication my design work to the correct audience. Nowadays there are many posters designs presented on public this could be driving pass a big billboard or even a digital one. Lots of people will go out shopping for goods if its in town or in a shopping centre their are plenty of walls, windows and digital screens to spread and establish my design to the correct audience plus spreading it further to others. My design is promoting an app for the target audience to download, most consumers will own a smartphone device and will have an app store to see the potential of the app. In addition by emphasising how the app is free to download will further increase the communication of the app branding out to even more potential costumers and by word by mouth will attract the audience significantly. 

The design of the app will also attract and communicate to the correct audience due to the contemporary ideal design of the app and how it is layout. Specifically establishing how the app functions by clicking each buttons and where it leads to and activate them. By testing my work on the targeted consumers I showed some mock up examples to my peers and asked them if they would notice and look at the posters. This will demonstrate their awareness and observation in public. 

Below of feedback of the mock up poster designs:

• Many of my peers agreed that my design would be good with the production methods of poster designs. The communication is affective due to the the aesthetic of the poster and the language/words use to attract the audience when reading the posters.
• The use of rhetorical questions help attracts the audience to the app, this helps them question if they need this app for the convenience of them. 
• The mock ups on how the app will look on the iPhone also helps to communicate how the app will function on the phone. 
• The communication display and laying out the different app pages are effective so the consumer knows what the are downloading. 
• The app page of the the social media platforms and shopping brand really catch my eyes are most of them I use on a day to day bases.