OUGD503 - How to Be A Woman

The Brief

How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain. . .

Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask you when you're going to have a baby?

Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin answers the questions that every modern woman is asking.

‘This might just be the funniest intelligent book ever written’ Stylist

‘Moran's writing sparkles with wit and warmth. Like the confidences of your smartest friend’ Simon Pegg

‘It would almost be unkind to call this an important book, because what it mostly is is engaging, brave and consistently, cleverly, naughtily funny, but actually it is important that we talk about this stuff’ Katy Guest Independent on Sunday

The Brief

We would like you to design a new, classic cover for Caitlin Moran's book, How to Be a Woman.

The design needs to feel timeless and classic, whilst at the same time making it clear to the reader that it is very entertaining and often very funny. The book should feel very accessible, immediately ‘pickupable’ and something that exists within the world of Popular Culture. You are welcome to use an image of the author, but do not feel that you need to take that approach.

The ideal design will make us smile, make us want to own a copy of the book, and keep it proudly on our shelves for a long time.

What the judges are looking for:

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 126mm wide, spine width 20mm).

The winning design will need to:

• have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
• be competently executed with strong use of typography
• appeal to a contemporary readership
• show a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against
• be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops.

Copyright must be cleared for all images used in your cover design.

OUGD503 - Collaborative Practice - Studio Brief 02

Picking A brief 

After establishing a creative partnership, we then had to decide on a D&AD or YCN brief together which we both wanted to work on. This was particularly easy as we both wanted to work with each other due to a similar interest in areas of design. Once we realised that branding was our strongest, we then focused on our individual skill sets so we can both bring something different to the table. After discussing this, we initially wanted to work on The Feel Good Drinks brief but as I had already worked on this it wouldn't of been beneficial to do it again. We then found a brief named UCC Coffee (details green below) as it involved me working on logos something I'm passionate about and my partner working on the packaging something I'm not very specialised in so we both knew it would be important to learn from each other and both add different skill sets to the brief. 


UCC Coffee

Creatively re-launch Grand Café coffee to improve engagement with current and new customers.

Brand Background

You may not have heard of Grand Café coffee but the chances are you will have tasted it! As our most popular coffee brand; there are over 10,000 customers using it in the UK.  This market leading ethical food service brand is credible coffee at its best and the ideal brand for the ethically aware business. Grand Café promotes the social and economic benefits of certified coffee whilst providing a feel good factor and peace of mind to the customers who buy it.

These coffees can't stop showing off when it comes to credentials - each of the four variants in the range are fully certified, showing that we’re doing our bit to sustain the lives and lands of the farmers who grow our coffee. The certifications are Rainforest Alliance, Soil Association and Fairtrade - all unique concepts that support communities and projects in different countries around the world. Not to mention that the coffee is great — freshly roasted beans, expertly blended and each with its own distinctive taste. 

Our Audience

We don’t sell directly to consumers; and our core current customers are non-branded coffee shops, cafés, pubs, quick service restaurants and contract caterers but that isn’t to say they are the only target for the brand. The nature of Grand Café means it ticks a lot of the boxes for companies to fulfil their corporate responsibility requirements. More and more businesses are becoming aware of the impact of their buying choices and looking for an offering that promotes sustainability in the industry.

Creative Challenge 

The Grand Café brand performs well amongst its current customers but we’re the first to admit the design doesn’t bring the brand to life as expressively as it could do. We want to make it an iconic visual brand — and that’s where you come in!

Your challenge is to visually re-think and revitalise the brand, creating designs that will not only communicate what great coffee Grand Café is, but also the good that it does.

We want to move Grand Café coffee from being hidden in a cupboard underneath the counter to having pride of place on display in our customer’s outlets!

We're keen to understand the thinking behind your work; and how you feel your proposed designs, relate back to our brand DNA. We have included some notes on it in the Project Pack that supports the brief, and so please do provide a short written summary to support your visualisations.

Creative Considerations

No aspect of the brand, product range or communication channels are off limits. It’s up to you to choose the formats and applications that you wish to demonstrate your re-launch within. For example — you might choose to focus just on the identity and its application to packaging or you may wish to take it further and show how it comes to life in campaign elements; digital contexts or an animation that tells the story.

Consider the product family and how each member might creatively relate to each other. You might want to consider renaming the products or introducing a new blend. Think about innovation in sustainable products and how this could support the direction we want Grand Café to go.

We want to strengthen our messaging around certifications, and focus on the impact they have — so you are also welcome to think about point of sale and show us how your design thinking might come to life in such contexts. That might be great design ideas for a uniform, posters, table talkers, information booklets or something different that no other coffee shop has tried before. Consider what will empower the staff serving our coffee to communicate the stories around the certifications.

Things to bear in mind:

The certification logos cannot be changed and would need to be displayed on any packaging design.

Current Product Range

In the supporting Project Pack at the YCN website you’ll find product imagery relating to each of the variants below, as well as the relevant certification logos.

Grand Café Rainforest 

Tasting notes: Chocolately, sweet, with a hint of its slow roast, gives this blend real character. Bright and balanced with citrus hints and a clean and balanced aftertaste.

The source: Colombia, Honduras, Brazil

Logo: RFA

Grand Café Fairtrade 

Tasting notes: Deep, intense coffee with a full body and lasting taste.

The source: Colombia, Vietnam, Peru

Logo: FT

Grand Café Triple Certified 

Tasting notes: Rich, balanced coffee with red fruit top notes and a sweet creamy finish.

The source: Peru, Guatemala, Sumatra

Logos: RFA, Fairtrade, SA

Grand Café Fairtrade Decaf 

Tasting notes: A clean mouth feel with a hint of sweet watermelon. All the flavour but without the caffeine.

The source: Peru

Logo: FT

Deliverables & Additional Information

Websites for further reading:

Rainforest Alliance 

Soil Association

Fairtrade 

For guidance on how to submit your work, please adhere to the main Deliverables information which can be found at the YCN website.

Any additional information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting Project Pack at the YCN website.

Next, we had to plan our time and commitment to each other to make sure that we effectively completed the work on time and to a high standard. We read the brief a few times over to concrete what we were definitely going to deliver. We decided to use the studio every Tuesday to work on this and discuss ideas with each other. 

OUGD503 - Penguin Random House Uk Design Award

Penguin Random House Design Award 

The Penguin Random House Design Award is an opportunity for students studying Art or Design at HND or degree level to engage in design for publishing during their studies and to experience real cover and page layout design briefs first-hand.

To make the process even more similar to the way our designers work, once the judges have selected the shortlist, the Art Directors will give the shortlisted entrants feedback and further art direction on their submissions. Shortlisted entrants will then be invited to resubmit their work, taking on board all the comments, before the final round of judging.

The closing date for entries is 12:00 (GMT) on Wednesday, 9 March 2016.

Shortlisted entrants will be announced on this website by Thursday, 21 April 2016.

The shortlisted entrants will be contacted by Thursday, 21 April 2016 with feedback and further art direction on their covers, and the closing date for resubmission of their work is Friday 6 May 2016.

Sign up for the Penguin Random House Design Award newsletter

The small print

The 2016 Award is open to any student on an Art or Design course at HND or degree level. It is also open to MA students. The award is not open to students on Art Foundation courses.

Non-UK residents are welcomed, but all entrants must be eligible to work in the UK so that, if they win first prize, they can be employed on the 4 week work placement.

We advise entrants that ideally they should have a reasonable standard of English so that, if they win the first prize, they are able to get the most out of the work placement

There is no fee for entry.

All entries must be supplied digitally via the link which will be available on this site from Wednesday, 13 January 2016. Entries submitted in any other way, including by email or hard copy, will not be accepted.

Download a copy of the announcement poster here.

OUGD503 - Individual Brief - Secret 7

Vinyl Mock - ups of competition album sleeves

Studio Brief 01 - Licence To Print Money

Brief title: 'Licence to Print Money' In an age of Apple Pay, Bitcoin, contactless, Paypal and other options for the transferring of funds, is there a future for "real" money? Undertake research into the development of coinage and banknotes while also exploring the cultural understandings of legal tender. Following this initial engagement (including the research trip to the People's History Museum's Show Me The Money exhibition), begin a more developed interrogation of financial transactions in order to complete your own proposal for the future of the banknote. Your proposed banknote design should be presented as a finished print that makes use of any of the varied analogue print processes available within the college's workshops. Submissions should additionally be created using a minimum of two colours/finishes. Paper size for completed work will be 21cm x 26cm with banknote designs displayed landscape. (The size of the actual banknotes are to be determined by the student when based on their design rationale. It is up to the student whether they choose to display one or two sides of a banknote on the print.)  Each 21cm x 26cm print is to be submitted by 21st April 2016 for inclusion in a Level 4 and Level 5 group show that will run in May 2016. Please note, finished prints for this brief are not digital prints.

Background / Considerations

Think visually, explore both literal and lateral responses. Explore working with text and image, both combined and separately. Consider the various techniques and processes that are available to you and their suitability for conveying or re-enforcing the ideas that you are trying to communicate.

Mandatory Requirements

Analogue print on 21cm x 26cm stock for completed designs.

Deliverables

Final print. 2 x A3 design boards submitted as PDFs that provide a condensed overview of your research, process and design decisions. Documentation of your development via posting to your Studio Practice blog.

OUGD503 - Secret 7 Album Sleeve Competition

Secret 7

Secret 7 takes 7 various tracks from up and coming and the best musicians around and asks creatives from around the world to interpret the tracks in their own unique way on a 7" album sleeve. The winning sleeves are then exhibited and people come along and buy the sleeves without knowing who's made it or for which track its for. 

I decided to do this as one of my smaller briefs because I have a keen interest in the music industry as it is something I'm passionate about as I consider myself a musician. I taught myself to play guitar at a young age and from this I learnt how to sing by the tuning on my guitar . I also occasionally write songs so this brief was perfect for me. I sat down and played all these tracks individually and then learnt them on guitar along with the lyrics to understand what they meant to help kick start the creative design process. I then decided on which two tracks had the most meaningful lyrics to me and were the easiest for understand. Learning them all on guitar enabled me to slow down and die-sect the lyrics and meaning behind each song.

Chvrches - Clearest Blue

I started by listening to the song and the lyrics over and over and just use a pencil and paper to create shapes based on the melody, tempo and tone etc of the song. As the main singer was a female the pitch was quite high however the melody was up and down so therefore soft hill shapes were drawn as well as sharp triangles and pyramids. 

I then drew these shapes out into illustrator and made loads of different triangles joint together to create a complex pattern. Next I coloured each individual triangle in to create a texture that looked as if some of the shapes were exploding out of the cover. Each colour used were colours similar or made from blue, or colours that complimented blue well to reflect back to the name of the song. I didn't want the design to be simply blue as I felt that it would loose its vibrancy and vividness if just one block colour. I then placed the design into photoshop and adjusted the image to create different textures and vibrances. 

Below is my favourite design.

I also did a second design based on the same track however instead of listening to the tempo and beat of the song I created a cover designed on the lyrics and name of the song.

Then combining the elements from the two to see if they would work well together.

Jack Garrat - Worry

I spent quite a lot of time listening to this track and in return I learnt it on guitar and interpreted it into a way I would understand the lyrics more. I also researched into Jack Garrat as an artist. A london-based singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist who combines electric guitar, drum machines, keyboards, and an R&B-friendly falsetto to fashion smooth, club-ready electro-pop. 

I based by design around the song lyrics "As if this moon of ours only shines a half to make me feel whole."

Adding an image of him with his iconic beard to represent the texture on the moon, I created a typeface that was similar to the ones used on his exisiting cover designs as I felt it worked well to represent him.

OUGD503 - Studio Brief 02 - Collaborative Practice

Finding a creative partnership

After being briefed on studio brief 02 in various lecture and seminars it was advised to find someone who you didn't know or was on another course to enable you to step out of your comfort zone. However, I knew that the briefs that I wanted to do were very Graphic Design dominant and working with an illustrator or animator would only force me into a corner where I would be doing most of the work myself. Which isn't necessarily a problem, as it is what I usually do. However, this was a collaborative brief. I therefore I decided to find someone on my course who was interested in the same kind of element of design as me, in particular branding which were the briefs that I wanted to work on. This enabled the work to be shared and would enforce a better outcome as it is something we were both passionate about, which led to increased motivation and better quality work. Being on the same course also enabled time management to be easy, as we were both available at the same time on the same days to simply just get on with the work.

OUGD503 - Responsive YCN Feel Good Drinks Development

Feel Good Drinks Bus Stop Poster

I developed this poster as I already felt that their original packing design was very effective so I wanted a way to get feel good to become more well known in the soft drinks industry. I created an illustration using one of their plastic bottles as I knew this for me would be the easier bottle to recreate as well as being the cheapest bottle to buy on the market. This would then target consumers directly through a low cost price strategy enticing them to want to buy the product even more. Creating the illustration to look the exact same shape will then enable the target consumer to link back to the poster when viewing the bottle in the shop.

Next I added an explosion like array of illustrated lemons drawn to a similar style as the bottle to create consistency bursting out of the top of the bottle which symbolises the strong flavour and fresh ingredients in each bottle. It also links back to the health benefits of the drink as it clearly shows there is no added sugar or preservatives just the natural sugars from the juice itself making up of the drink.

Colours used such as a pink background and lime green/yellow text and illustrations contrasted  with one another and made the text and illustrations pop.

After feedback I changed the colours around slightly.

Although this was one of the bigger briefs I didn’t really feel the need to completely rebrand the product as I felt that most of it it was already effective in targeting the target customers. However, the only thing that I felt was missing was the way they were advertising the brand and the way in which it was being portrayed. The brand and product itself is good enough to be successful but it just needed the right direction to promote its core values and its USP. I wanted to focus this brief on my advertising campaign skills, meaning not just graphic design but through creative writing and english to combine both elements to work on a more professional level. I wanted to use good literate and creative writing skills coupled with effective design to produce a campaign that was successful in its aims. I therefore managed more of my time in learning and teaching myself about different advertisement strategies and literacy such as alliteration and slogans, in order for me to work on a much more deep, commercial professional level and not just base things solely around something being visually pleasing and lacking concentration on the purpose of the design. So therefore thats where most of my time was spent on this brief. I felt it produced a much more effective outcome, than if I had just redesigned the brand for no purpose.