My Postcards

So my postcards arrived! Printed by moo- really excellent quality and I am very very happy with them! I opted to cut a box in half and cover it in paper to create some kind of holder for them (I have no idea if we will get table space but this seemed like the simplest option). I have attached my teabags to the back with paperclips (I was originally planning on using pegs but paperclips ended up being more sturdy) my only criticism is that they sit funny when laid flat which is why I came up with my box idea I am just hoping that there will be somewhere to put it. I have 50 postcards all in all so i'll probably put half in on the first day and then the other half in the second.

Adding the Logo and Additional Information to the Branding Poster

When first designing the branding poster I didnt actually have all the information that should have been on there- logos and times for example.  Although I have hidden the logos in the design, I was told by Sue that more obvious logos (unaltered) would have to be added- she said that it would be ok on the invites- because they are hidden and on there but the overall branding posters would need the logos added. Sue also said to bring more attention to the "graduation show" phrase since this is supposed to hook people and make them come to the show. 

I put the two logos at the bottom of the poster to keep them out of the way- included the additional times and dates in the middle. And added the course and college as well. Positioning them required more tweaking. Having the graduation show phrase at the top draws attention to the words -although I think they could be a little bigger and more central.

I think this iteration is a little bit too top heavy- and the FDA BA graduation show isnt as obvious.

I think the layout above is my most preferred one out of all of my experimentations  I like keepinf the text near the laptop since it keeps focus on the centre of the page and keeps the text generally balanced.

Sue and BA Meeting...

We had a meeting with Sue and the BA's it was incredibly awkward. They pitched their own branding posters and accompanying movie clips (they had also been tasked to make clips promoting the show- like trailers). I can't say I really got or liked their stuff it seemed a little odd- getting away from the digital (but I don't really get that because we are a digital course everything we do is digital) and some of the concepts hadn't been refined enough (they had concepts but in my opinion they would require too much refinement and wouldn't be ready in time). One of the designs was also very impractical because it depicted pill bottles which inferred that we as designers were all on drugs (of course this wasn't intentional but it was indadvertedly implied). When Sue then suggested that we vote- Shirley brought up that the invites had all been printed with my design. They were irritated that we had had them printed- I dont think printed invites was something that they wanted to do- although I think it works well as a better hook- people see something visual and they are intrigued- I get why they would be annoyed that we had done this without them but unfortunately in order to maintain good show timing we had to get moving with the project and we were given the go ahead by Andrew. In the end the BA's opted to use ours (I am very glad because we have spent a long time on this and because I wasn't convinced on the BA's pitches as final ideas).

Printed Invites

So we finally got round to printing the invites- they look really good- unfortunately they all need to be trimmed so they have the same border- a task which Andrew Pledger has undertaken (he is really good at being precise so he's the best man for the job). The print is really good quality and cost £30.00 of our budget which I think is relatively cheap considering! Really happy - and I like how Connor has introduced his sleek style onto the back design- it contrasts well with the crowded chaos on the front.

What I have done for the Show so far...

In class I've actually been losing steam mostly because everything that we can do has been done at this point- but in order to clarify my involvement with the show (since we are being graded on this) im going to list my contributions thus far.

Contributed heavily to the name discussion,

Contributed heavily to the discussion regarding how the branding should look after our poster pitch

Produced a branding poster (we have all submitted these, but as my poster was chosen as branding, I have resized and tweaked to meet the full needs of the show- adding a more interesting background and all the right text etc)

Produced branding poster colour variations- with the help of Chloe Honeysett and (Gina Allen as an additional judge) additional colour schemes for the branding poster were carefully selected to provide variety.

Produced a page full of different logos to be used within the invitations, the show reel and the press release (I left he final choice up to the others since I didnt really have a preference, since I made about 25 lots of different people liked different ones so when Connor needed the logo for the back of the invite Connor made the final logo choice).

Gave Gina Allen pieces of work that could be tweeted about on the twitter page.

Helped briefly with the printing of the invites- (Chloe and Connor had/have this handled) but a few times I have voiced opinions on invite sizes and prices on our two print websites- not my domain at all and very light pointers on my part.

After saying that I had nothing to do for the show anymore teacher Andrew suggested that I look into promoting the show on Linked in but after looking into linked in an creating an account - I found that it wasnt a site used for that purpose- its a site used for designers looking for jobs to put their cvs on - its not really used for show/exhibition/work promotion.

Since linked in was a bust I made sure that I shared the dots per inch page on my Facebook page (my mum has liked it so far). Whilst I have a twitter account I dont use it so I have no followers whatsoever so I didnt really think that tweeting about the show would actually be of any use, especially since Gina seems to have twitter under control.

Paid in 30 pounds

Stuff that I will be helping with

Putting up work in the show space/helping with layout (although this of course will be a joint effort)

Probably have a hand in helping Connor print everything- since its a big job for him alone (depending on whether he needs it or not) I was originally in the print section but I had the branding to worry about at the time so I sort of faded from that area. Now the branding is done I can now rejoin if needed (none of this can happen till wednesday since the BA's need to submit work and it probably wont go to the printers straight away because we will get the work on a wednesday afternoon and I think the print office is closed). Printing will probably not commence until the monday after.

Stuff I have done for personal promotion
Produced a responsive portfolio site (my twitter page) with my own personalised banner design

Made sure that all of my work is on Behance and is copyright protected under a creative commons licence.

Produced postcard designs (rather than business cards) to hand out around the show with my email, website and behance portfolio.


At the moment I feel like I have done all my input into the show - Im not sure if anyone feels the same- but I think we have done everything we can do at the moment. I have also been really organised with my own personal promotion (im really proud of my postcard designs)- I think its because I got excited and did all my tasks quickly - now I have nothing really to do until printing.

Back of my Promotional Postcard...

So before ordering my postcards - I realised that in order to have full creative control I should also design the back, so I can just stick the image on the back of the card and I don't have to worry about using the print sites layout. The back would need to contain my details for sure and I plan on including one of the phrases I have previously come up with to make it more fun.

This is the design for the back that I have come up with, I have left the top space clear because thats where I plan on attaching the teabag, and I have incorporated some of the triangles to preserve continuity but also because they fill up space and it looked a little bland without something in the background. Very happy with how they look and cant wait to get them printed!

I 

So Far...

We had a meeting with Sue about what was going on with the show- since interaction with the Ba's has been limited. I think that we are supposed to be presenting our branding posters again on wednesday along with the BA's so essentially any of the branding work we have done is probably going to be disregarded. It doesn't bother me that mine wont be used- I just don't like the fact that we have all been trying to work towards something and we are now back to square one. I dont understand why we have been allowed to get this far into the project if our ideas are going to be scrapped. Since its the BA's last year then of course it should be their show- I just dont really know what I am supposed to do towards the show now since everything has yet to be decided or confirmed as of yet.