OUGD 203 Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I feel the main skill I have acquired during this brief is the ability to organise myself effectively in order see a project through to completion. This was particularly the case with the product/range/distribution brief which required us to both write a complete a brief; I felt there was a noticeable improvement in my time management as well as enthusiasm for the project, and I was able to produce a final product that I am moderately happy with. 

The module also taught me the basics of working collaboratively on a full brief; obviously working with just one other person was quite different to previous group projects, it required us to learn each others' strengths and weaknesses, and also required a lot of patience in terms of working with one other person for an extended amount of time. It was a new experience which I hope I can do again sometime. 

2. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

A lot of this module has been very software-based. particularly the product/range/distribution brief. This has allowed me to develop  whole range of new software skills which when combined with sketching and note-making allowed me to rapidly produce ranges of different design ideas.

The downside to this is that at times I lost focus of where I was heading with a particular idea, in a couple of instances I found myself producing work which was not moving in a logical direction; I would produce one idea, then move to something completely different which would leave me unsure of what I was trying to do. Of course the solution to this is to constantly ask myself why I am doing what I am doing. 

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I feel I have improved on a number of skills that I already possess; as in these skills showed through a little more within this module. My type and layout skills particularly appear to have improved slightly, particularly during the collaborative brief where we spent a long time taking great care over attention to detail with our presentation boards. 

Although it did not appear in my final product, I developed some skills with hand-drawn type and the vectoring of these, which I definitely hope to continue with in future projects.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

I have noticed that my colour selection is not always on point; mainly during the product/range/distribution brief - the colours I used for my final product in some ways missed the mark as such, I was not overly happy with them. In all fairness I did not dedicate enough time to researching and experimenting with colour schemes, I neglected the importance of this and as a result of this it is something that is high on my list of priorities to improve. 

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Spend more time investigating colour schemes and how to use them; I feel that this was the main let down in my final product. 

Choose a collaborative partner who possesses a different skill set to my own; working with Yaf who is also very type-driven was a good experience where I learnt a lot and enjoyed myself, but it would also be interesting to work with someone who is very much the opposite. 

Learn to question myself more in terms of what I am doing, otherwise I run the risk of designing in aimless directions.

Spend more time researching carefully and thoroughly, in order to get a better of idea of what I myself am trying to achieve. 

Spread my efforts more consistently; throughout the last brief I would do two days solid and then do less the next couple of days, which perhaps contributed to me losing sight of what I was doing.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance : 4

Punctuality : 4

Motivation : 4

Commitment : 3

Quantity of work produced : 5

Quality of work produced : 4

Contribution to the group : 4

PRD Boards

Open publication - Free publishing - More boards

YCN Boards

Open publication - Free publishing - More boards

vinyl labels

Open publication - Free publishing - More for

Specifications

vinyl layouts

Open publication - Free publishing - More layouts

photography for designs,,,,,

Open publication - Free publishing - More for

Nets

typefaces...

Testing out a few typefaces to potentially use for headings and stuff...I quite like the look of Franchise although I've used it quite a bit recently...might have to go with Bebas Neue, which is looking like quite a solid choice...

further texture experiments

Messing around with a few more textures; I felt the ones I were using already might have been a bit strong...i'm reckoning it would be more effective with a slightly more subtle texturing as to not take away too much attention from the text/logo etc.

The colours are not definite...I was just using these to get a good idea of how they would look with gradients....

Open publication - Free publishing - More always

Final style....

After the final crit session last week and talking to some of my class mates it was decided that this style was potentially the most effective for what I am trying to do...not sure whether I agree yet but it seems to be the general opinion of others so fair play, I'll mess around with this style and apply it to my products.

Final Crit feedback

Sheets from today's final crit. Got some pretty decent feedback and used this to create an action plan...which is down below...I've got a fairly good idea of what direction to head in which is good. I turned up with quite a range of visuals so it was helpful in terms of narrowing it down to a more consistent style which I will be able to apply across the range of products.

Packaging sketches

Been doing a few sketches recently for potential packaging for the vinyl. I'd like the whole thing to be in some kind of neat box but once opened have a certain level of interaction in order to avoid it being just another basic vinyl sleeve.

Having actually done a few sketches I've realised how big the actual nets would be...in some cases I would have to make 48" nets which is mad; I've got a print slot booked as well but I don't think I will be able to print anything larger than A2; so we'll have to see about this one.

cover development/experimentation 15-5

Open publication - Free publishing - More are

hello

Spent a little while longer experimenting with some visuals on photoshop; I moved on from textures to playing around with a couple of photographs, I figured that as a few of the more well-known releases sometimes incorporate photography it would be cool to develop a visual style that would combine the logo and imagery...the last few in this issuu doc demonstrate what I mean by this...I reckon they give the cover a fairly urban feel which would represent the label's nature fairly well.

Another quick texture idea

After spending a while messing around on photoshop (I've never really taken the time out to get to grips with it...so today has been the day...) I came up with this which I feel is perhaps getting more towards the kind of thing that would suit the label...as in the original logo is very much the focal point...although it would still be nice to incorporate the one I was messing about with before...

and in the words of Eddie 'I think you've gone a bit far with the whole texture thing' and I suppose he's right, I'm quite liking this layout though. Might be nice for a CD cover. For a mixtape or something...it may just be a little much for the vinyl cover.

Textures...

Open publication - Free publishing - More etc.

Messing around with a few textures; haven't done many yet because my macs been giving me grief all morning, not so much the mac but just moving files around generally...anyway yeah I quite like this kind of thing, they could look good for products inside the package, it's probably too vibrant for the overall packaging itself...

the first one was what I made the other day then I started messing around with combining gradients and textures to make some trippy effects....there's no end to how much I can do with this so I'm going to begin to apply designs to products pretty soon.

Research - audience/distribution...

A few of the websites the product would potentially appear on; redeyerecords, juno, surus etc. At some point when I have the designs finished and ready I'll mock it up on a few of these websites to see how they would work in context; perhaps mock up a feature on them + some web banners and the like.

covers development 11-5

Open publication - Free publishing - More blunts

Just been messing around with the covers a little more...re-positioning the patterns in various ways...adding a bit of colour...changing the use of the original HF logo...the last one is a BIT fuzzy because I made that in photoshop and imported it straight in without re-sizing it before exporting it etc. etc. which I probably should have done but I suppose it is Friday so I've been a little bit less than sharp with it.

I'm going to start experimenting more with colour and texture; which I feel will add a significant amount of depth to the design work. I should hopefully have the designs pretty much finalised very soon so I can begin applying them to products in various ways.

potential covers

Open publication - Free publishing - More covers

elaborated on the quick design I did earlier this morning; combining the pattern with the vectored type...I also incorporated the original logo back into the design which I hope works effectively. Each one is subtly different so I'll have to fetch some opinions and work from there. I feel as though this has a more sophisticated feel to it, which might not be entirely right for the label but I suppose it is for a tenth anniversary type thing. I still have to fix up the pattern design to get it more crisp, without any dodgy points here and there.

quick idea

Quick idea I put together this morning combining various bits and pieces that I've been messing around with already....will have to get some feedback as to whether it's any good or not..it goes some way to solving the problem of my design not really linking back to the original logo

further logo development

hello welcome back

Open publication - Free publishing - More colours

been continuing messing around with the whole hand drawn thing...playing with drop shadows and a bit of colour...this logo is slightly different to the earlier ones, I did another sketch but a bit more neatly, scanned and vectored it and all that. Then I ironed out all the creases that get formed by a silly number of anchor points appearing when they don't need to appear...obviously I'm no expert at using Illustrator just yet.

I also did a couple of how it could potentially look with the other parts of the logo (i.e. 10th birthday etc.) which instantly made me realise that this style might not be appropriate whatsoever for the label...it kind of looks too inviting and upbeat in a way.

I'll have to see how I could fix it up so it looks more appropriate to the label, or maybe even scrap it altogether.

Crit feedback

feedback and action plan from today's crit. I found it pretty useful in terms of where to head next, my group were helpful in terms of giving me some good ideas and directions as well as criticism...constructive obviously....after completing the tasks on my action plan I should be well on my way to having a good range of products.

presentation boards for progress crit

Open publication - Free publishing - More a3

Progress boards for the crit today.

pattern experiments

Open publication - Free publishing - More lines

Also been having a quick mess around with patterns ; something that could add a small edge of prestigiousness perhaps....these ones are pretty rough but a couple of them I feel have some potential, particularly the black and white ones. One of them is pretty bad and looks like a kaleidoscope or something. I'm definitely going to investigate patterns more and see how I could incorporate them effectively to give the overall range a tenth birthday feel.

logo development

I've decided I quite like the idea of making a logo that appears hand-rendered even though it is vectored...something that will look crisp and neat but stylish at the same time. I took my earlier idea and fixed up the 's' which was bugging me a bit and linked the 'F' to the 'l' just to keep it flowing. I'm still not massively happy with it yet and it will require quite a bit of work before it is complete, but I'm enjoying the direction it is heading in. Obviously I can't completely cut all ties with the original logos so I'll have to find some way to incorporate them at some point.

Open publication - Free publishing - More fun

Quick idea.

I thought it would be pretty cool to do a nice bit of type as it would be the label's 10th birthday, something a bit more classy than the existing designs used; perhaps not classy as such but just crisp, something that looks like it's been successful for 10 years. Although the current design does have a certain charm about it.

Anyway this is just from a rough sketch I made/vectored; I did it quite a long way though without realising so I should be able to come up with a ton of other ideas now I know how to do it more rapidly.

logo experimentation

Open publication - Free publishing - More brief

Took a few of the ideas I sketched out earlier to try and re-create them digitally...unfortunately they always tend look a lot different from what I expected. I developed on these a bit and messed around with a few other ideas; I quite like the one where the circles fade out either side, I may well develop that idea further and see what I can come up with. Of course none of these are polished designs at the moment...I'm not particularly happy with any of them just yet.

Initial logo sketches

A few initial sketches of how I could incorporate the fact that the label is ten years old (almost). I don't plan to change the logo as such, more just expand on it for the purpose of a special edition pack.

None of them are anything special right now, but it's good to get some initial ideas down.

Product Range

I quickly noted down my current possibilities in terms of product range; I'm sure there will be more I can add to it but I can't think of them right now, and this will do to get me started.

Research Boards/visual stuff.

Open publication - Free publishing - More music

Spent a while flicking through various bits and pieces in order to make some research/idea boards. I initially looked at some existing Hotflush records visual aesthetics and then compared these to similar record labels. I also put up some interesting vinyl packaging designs, most of which are not of similar music to Hotflush but they are fairly inspirational designs nonetheless. I plan to combine some interesting package designs with an aesthetic styling based on Hotflush's existing material; I haven't really seen much out there like that before, it should be a good look.

Hotflush logos/website

The current look of Hotflush's logos and website. In the top left is the 'main' sort of logo as such, and the others in the bar in the middle are for different branches of the music, as far as I can tell anyway. I'd quite like to neaten up the logos for the label's tenth birthday. The aesthetic of the website could also be switched up to represent the milestone, as if to recognise ten years of success, and to be update itself for the next ten years.

Potential Products

Drew up a quick mind map for potential products this morning. Gained a few other ideas from some of my class mates as well which might be quite cool, like packs of rizla and stuff. After getting all this down I am struggling to find ways of how to elaborate the potential products even further, so for today I plan to create some ideas/research boards to give me plenty of visual material to look at. I'm also going to try and get as many facts and as much information about the label as possible, I might well send an email to Paul Rose (aka Scuba) who runs Hotflush to see if he could offer any advice or perhaps even provide some material to work with.

Hotflush Records - Brief history according to surus.com

Quick piece written about the label on surus.com, a website that allows smaller labels to set up their own store within the website, reducing the expenses of running a full-on web store. Many labels of this kind, that still regularly push vinyl often don't tend to make much money off the back off it, but then again not much profit is needed to keep a label alive which is cool because it means quality music can reach people without the risk of commercialisation. 




"


Founded in London in 2003, Hotflush Recordings quickly became synonymous with the sound that came to be known as dubstep. During the genre’s formative period, Hotflush introduced some of its emerging stars, including Distance, Shackleton, and Scuba, and delivered some of the early landmark releases, notably Toasty - The Knowledge and Search & Destroy – Candyfloss.

The label continued to drive the dubstep sound forward with an onslaught of 12” releases from prominent artists including Benga, Loefah, and Martyn, always concentrating on fresh ideas and originality. 2007 brought the brought the first Hotflush long player in the shape of the Space and Time compilation and the label’s first artist album, A Mutual Antipathy (2008) by Scuba, was featured in Resident Advisor’s top 20 albums of the year.

In 2009, Hotflush continued its tradition of unearthing the best new talent while blurring its stylistic focus, bringing acclaimed debut material from Mount Kimbie, Sigha, and Joy Orbison. The latter’s single, Hyph Mngo, went on to be named track of the year in numerous publications including FACT, which also named Mount Kimbie’s Maybes in its top 3, and Resident Advisor, in addition to including Hotflush in the top 5 labels of the year.

2010 brought a second album from Scuba, the acclaimed Triangulation, and debut releases from George Fitzgerald and Sepalcure (a collaborative project by Machinedrum and Praveen). Mount Kimbie, now one of the most hotly-tipped acts in the UK, unleashed their first long player, Crooks & Lovers, which along with Triangulation was a fixture in many of 2010’s end-of-year best album lists, cemented the label’s status as a major player in the world of electronic music.

The new year promises to continue the excitement, with a second compilation scheduled for the spring, this time bringing together new material from the likes of Scuba, dBridge and Roska with label classics from the last two years. Fresh releases from Joy O, Sepalcure and Sigha are also scheduled for the first half of 2011.

Hotflush is one of the most exciting labels around, and the future just keeps getting brighter.


"

Re-written Brief

Unfortunately I couldn't find a blank brief on the VLE...the one I clicked on was actually a rationale sheet. So I'll have to do it in blog format and present it properly in a bit.



Hotflush Records 10th Anniversary


Produce a commemorative, limited edition pack to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hotflush Records. The pack should be a print-based product that crosses over to digital media in some form. Research and develop a range of products that will be either contained in the pack or work as a promotional tool; for example posters, web banners, vinyl sleeves, cd cases etc.

Background/Considerations


Hotflush Records was founded in London, 2003, by Paul Rose aka Scuba/SCB/something else... and since has consistently released forward-thinking, bass-powered electronic music, introducing many names that have become highly respected around various scenes. 2013 will mark its tenth birthday, which naturally calls for some kind of commemorative, special edition vinyl pack.

Mandatory Requirements


The pack must be typographically considered, and appeal to a worldwide audience in order to reflect the progression of music as an art form in the last decade. It must also be reflective of the types of music released by the label, as well as the audience that listen. As an entire range, it must cross over between print and digital media.

Deliverables


At the core of the pack will be special edition vinyl records. Of course surrounding this should be special packaging, a mix cd, and a publication documenting the label's history to say the least. This can be expanded upon in a countless number of ways in order to produce a range of products that will effectively commemorate the tenth anniversary of the label.

Progress Crit: 7th May
Final Crit: 14th May
Deadline: 25th May

Basic Action Plan.....

A quick action plan I drew up after the crit....I've already decided the label to focus on so I am nearly ready to move onto the next stages of the design process...

Crit Feedback

Feedback sheets from the concept crit earlier today regarding the brief I had written.

It seems pretty clear that I have not focussed my brief enough...I've jumped one step ahead by figuring out potential solutions before having a proper concept...I got too excited about actually making it before thinking about what I was going to make. That and I changed my idea at the last minute leaving me with very little to show at the crit. Anyway I have a pretty solid idea for my concept now which I'll move on to in a minute.....

PRD Rationale / Brief - first drafts....

I first draft of my rationale and brief...roughly identifying what I want to do and why I want to do it...at this point in time I found it pretty hard to come up with a 'problem' as such, the only problems I can possibly think of are completely opinion-based and hence only a problem to me.

Other than that the only problem is that certain music occasionally doesn't reach as many people as it perhaps should. So maybe this is the start of the problem. 

I'll re-write the brief again once we have had a concept presentation later on.

A slight change very quickly

I had a sudden change of heart just before I began to attempt writing my brief....

I realised that this brief was a chance to pretty much do something I really want to do in terms of design, so I made the decision to change my brief from festival design work to design for the music industry, which at this point in time interests me slightly more...which will hopefully result in a final range of products that reflect a greater level of enthusiasm and interest in the subject matter.

So I've now written the brief in such a way that will allow me to do this; whether I will propose designs for a new label or re-brand an existing one I am not sure yet.

Many of the things I wrote in the 5's exercise fortunately can still apply in terms of how I would like to complete this project.