SB2: Research

After talking to Dom and Orlando, we were advised to research more and provide a stronger and more solid pitch that will be beneficial and effectively in showcasing a collaboration between me and other people in other practices, right now it's a bit weak.

Research

What are zodiac signs 

Zodiac signs are divided into twelve signs each occupying 30 degrees of the celestial longitude corresponding to the constellations. 

Horoscope Astrology 

Kind of astrology that uses a visual representation of the heavens for a specific moment in time in relation to the planets in that moment.

Why are millennials interested in horoscopes? 

• Being overly superstitious
• Often horoscopes are true, reinforcing them to read it more frequently and giving hope that something positive will happen. Part of why they can be 'true' is also because they are kept vague keeping it relevant to everyone's life. 
• People still want to believe in them, so they read it for affirmations - read between the lines
• Idea of compatibility - make people expect something that may happen between them and the sign they are compatible with, keeping it relevant to their social/ personal life. 

SB2: Idea (possible collaboration with Jocel and an Illustration Student)

After the review with Helena, me and Jocel thought of possibly working together collaboratively for studio brief two. We took inspiration from last year's 27 Club and thought of creating a brief of our own and let students across the university to participate in it. We had various ideas which we thought would be interesting and would grab student's attention to want to participate such as.

• Conspiracy theories
• youth culture
• illustrating a line of a song
• illustrating 'your own practice'
• illustrating where you're from
• culture/ethnicity

We thought with these topics people would be willing to do them as they are quite relatable and relevant to the university and to themselves therefore they can also relate to it in a way. However, we thought that maybe it's too basic and 'done before' that we need something more quirky or even weird to get the attention of people. Therefore, we decided to brainstorm some more.

#flatearth

fake merchandise/brands

branding you favourite brand

visualising your own persona

exploring zodiac signs

From these, we thought of going forward with the 'zodiac sign' idea as it's something that it quite an interesting and broad topic that people may want to delve into. In addition, it's also kind of coming back as a trend if not a 'meme' therefore taking this concept could be something fun and exciting to do. Making it relevant to today's society again and perhaps making it more of a 'genuine' serious thing that people can believe it again. In addition, we've also seen it perviously around university such as from the NEST magazine poster up earlier in the year, revealing the events in a 'horoscope' way proving that it's becoming in style again. 

Taking this idea, we began researching more around zodiac signs and decided to create our brief from our research in order to be sent out to the students as soon as possible. 

Brief:

We decided to possibly create a publication out of the submissions that we may receive. For the publication, we thought of creating chapters for each sign which will include the artworks of the students and their own interpretation of the signs. In order to give the publication more depth and meaning, as well as more interest, we decided to pick corresponding words/themes for each sign e.g their corresponding characteristic. Doing this, gives the publication an overarching theme, at the same time give students the freedom to interpret the word in any way shape or form they want, as long as they are able to justify it within their rationale. In addition, we also gave the restriction of doing the sign for their own birthday's as will as create the artwork within the dimensions create in correspondence to the range of dates the sign falls under e.g. Aries 21 Mar - 20 Apr so it'll be 20.3 x 20.4 in cm). We also thought of possibly restricting them to the colours associated with the signs, however as we looked further, some colours overlap therefore it was deemed pointless and may end up confusing; also restricting them to a colour scheme seemed unnecessary as the students may want to use certain colours in relation to the words theme selves which contradicts our whole point therefore we ditched this idea.

In terms  of collaborating with people from outside the course, we thought of possible collaborating with an Illustration student, however as we don't particularly know any, we decided to also create a collaboration/open call brief that we can send to them and see if they are willing to do it with us. As we decided to creating a publication, we though tit would be best to collaborate with an illustrator as they may have a better interpretation and style in creating visual imagery which can fit the publication itself. If possible, we would like someone who could:

• Create visual imagery for the 12 signs.

In addition, as we know they may already have an established illustrative style, we also want them to input this into their designs in order to give the publication it's own distinct look, at the same time giving the illustrator the freedom to create it in any processes they wanted, at the same time fitting what we also envision. However, as this is only in the early stages, making this work and effective will require us to talk personally with the illustrator  in order to voice our own thoughts and hear their suggestions and thought in order to create a successful and well made publication. 

In addition, as we are working together, we had to fill in a form in order for us to have a 'green light' in possibly working together and with someone else, and sent this to Helena, Dom and Orlando for confirmation. We have highlighted our main points and key strengths and why we can and should do this project, however we both decided to not send the actual briefs to the university students yet as we need to wait for them to confirm that we can do it. Other than this, we are set and ready to go, and preferably as soon as possible, as we are planning to produce and launch this publication. 

Thoughts & Reflection:

As I'm quite worried more about this brief, I feel like we took quite  long while to figure out the theme and concept that we wanted to do, as well as the fact that we had different ideas that we wanted to put forward, for a couple of hours we weren't really going anywhere. At the same time, I feel like we were both quite passive- though we both did share ideas, we weren't committing to one. For me, it was mainly because I was thinking whether people would actually want to participate? and if they do would we have enough content to actually create something? so I was quite anxious and was second guessing every idea. Also, as time went on I felt like we were starting to overthink the concepts and making it harder for ourselves, which was quite frustrating. However, thankfully, we did come to a conclusion at the end that we were both happy about and spent quite a long time on, which we can hopefully actually take forward, because I think doing this project would actually be quite interesting and fun as well as teach me more on how I could go on to communicate and collaborate with other people and my place within the collaboration process, as I feel like up until now I haven't been as vocal about my opinions in group projects and I've been very passive with my opinions, as I didn't wanna look too bossy or critical, which may have looked like I wasn't contributing enough to the team. Hopefully, in this project this will change. 

SB1: Chosen Brief

For studio brief 1 I decided to do the RSA brief 'Beyond the Kitchen Table'. whilst, looking through all the different competitions and awarding bodies I found RSA briefs that most exciting as the briefs were theme based and briefs which can appeal to a lot of people, and particularly with the 'Beyond the Kitchen Table' brief, I found it the most relatable which motivated me to want to do the brief even more than the others.

What the brief want me to produce:

• design a kitchen product or spatial solution that enables people of diverse generations and needs to prepare, eat food and generally socialise with other and enjoy being with each other. 
• something that can help people to be more active in the kitchen and enjoy a more engaing and intuitive space/things. 
• sustainable and affordable which acknowledges diversity and put people first
• attention to style, mood, design (functional and emotional value - something people can feel nostalgic or attached to?)
• what is a kitchen? what is it nowadays?
• explore a multigenerational kitchen
• space limitations can be a constraint? How can layout be used? 
• Technology in the kitchen? concept of a smart kitchen? 
• safety, affordability

What I'll be judged on:

• Social and environmental benefits - does it benefit the society/environment?
• Research and insights - how is the issue investigated, what were my key insights?
• design thinking - how did my research inform my solutions, How did I develop, test, iterate and refine the concept.
• Commercial Awareness - does it actually have potential? finances? What is unique about my solution compared to other interventions? 
• Execution - final proposal that is pleasing and well resolved
• Magic - "a surprising or lateral design solution that delights"

Thoughts & Reflection:

I think I can go in a various different routes for this brief and maybe focus on an aspect which I find the strongest whilst still taking concepts and ideas from the other ideas. Also, as it's something that I'm quite familiar about, I may possibly look into concepts which I know a bit about e.g. cultures - how eating is different in different cultures, traditions? various rules, system in the kitchen? family rules? each family will have a different routine. Overall, I think I will really need to do rigorous research on this brief before starting any design at least, because I'm aiming to do this in such as short period of time that I will need to be completely solid and sure of my final idea before starting initial and final outcomes as I don't want to keep coming back or adding further research which can slow down my process.

Responsive Review with Helena

28th and 1st Feb - responsive presentations

Today, I had a review with Helena about my plans for this module. As this module clashes with Employability fortnight this review was held in order for us to have the chance to talk to them about our projects and concerns about the brief as we will be unable to be in contact with them for 2 week, and this module only runs for 6 weeks, therefore having this review was kind of helpful as it just confirms for me what I need to do and if I am on the right track about this module. 

Studio Brief 1:

Coming into the review, I was already prepared to say how I was genuinely unable to do any initial planning or research for the briefs as I had initial work schedules that I was already bound to do. However, before we broke up for Christmas I did look at most of the briefs that were available and looked as other myself to see which ones I'd like to do and I was set on doing the 'Beyond the Kitchen' brief by RSA, as it's something that I'm quite interested at and something lose to me as cooking is one of my hobbies therefore I thought during a brief which I can closely relate to will make it easier for me to come up with ideas. On the other hand, I did also thought of may be doing smaller briefs, such as one of the yearly Penguin book briefs and the one of the briefs that we get at least weekly in the university emails as I've found one quite fun (e.g. the Tote bag brief for the university). However, after giving it some thought, I realised that with the amount of time I have I know I will not be able to keep up with it or end up doing half-assed designs, therefore I concluded that doing one big major project for Studio Brief 1 is much more sensible. Also, coming to writing my design board it will be easier for me as well as I don't have to try to link everything together or make several design boards for each brief, which will save me time which I can use to do Studio Brief 2 instead.

In terms of this idea, Helena suggested for me to:

• think about various kitchen culture in different spaces

• rules or system in using things in the kitchen.

Studio Brief 2:

I didn't have much to say or show for studio brief 2 as I've honestly been struggling to come up with ideas for it and furthermore, I don't have enough contacts that I can possibly collaborate with. I do have friends in other courses in other uni's however upon talking to them, they had to decline as they also had their own workload to keep up with. I thought of possibly collaborating with one of the photography students that we've talked with however, nothing is finalised yet which tbh I'm quite anxious about as I should know what I'm doing already, especially for the collaborative brief as it may talk a longer time due to us working with other people and having to find time to communicate and work together as will as keep up with our own personal briefs and their's as well.

Timing

Time management wise, I'm aiming to possibly do SB1 in the first 2 weeks and SB2 in the next 2 weeks, fitting it in during employability week obviously. During the times where we are not required for the employability talks I would focus my time solely on the studio briefs and after the hours for employability sessions as well. I've also concluded I'll probably spend longer hours in the uni just to be able to focus on the studio briefs as well. In addition, I also want to give my self time and space to make my design boards and actually refine my projects, as I know that the Early Submission for the RSA brief is 13th of Feb, which is two days before the deadline so I may think of finalising it then, however, I may also decided to hand it in on the final submission a month later (13th march) giving me more time to focus on the other deliverables for the module.

In terms, of SB2, I know I've mentioned of doing it 2 weeks after SB1 but as it's collaborative I know it's better to start it earlier, as if we run into possible problems I know will still have time to correct them or think of other alternatives, without compromising the quality of the work.

Thoughts & Reflection:

After this review, I felt like I just kind of said everything that has been worrying me about the module (e.g. the fact that I haven't done much during the holidays) and being kind of relieved? in a way as people were on the same boat as me. But at the same time, it has made me think more and realise what i actually need to do now, therefore I think for me I just need to finalise everything that I want to do and give myself a fixed schedule that I can work through. Also, as I've mentioned a brief that I'm most likely going to do I will start to research about it even more this week in order for me to start doing designs for it.

OUGD503 Module Briefing

"This Brief offers you the opportunity to identify, develop and exploit your own individual design identity within the context of contemporary Graphic Design practice. You will be encouraged to make independent choices regarding the focus of your investigation and appropriate resolution of your ideas."

Studio Brief 1

• Select and resolve a range of live and/or competition briefs appropriate to your individual emerging practice and interests. This is an opportunity for you to investigate content, processes, products and techniques that will help you to understand and define your own creative ambitions within the field of Graphic Design.

Studio Brief 2

• Working collaboratively ;  focus on the role of the creative team and collaborative approaches to solving creative problems... where you stand within the team. Combine your technical, practical and theoretical skills (as well as identifying new skills that need to be developed).

Live Brief Institutions:

• D&AD *(Uni pays for D&AD £15)
• YCN
• ISTD
• RSA (Branding, Sustainability, Packaging)
• STARPACK
• Penguin (Book Covers)

Deliverables

• Studio Blogs
• Design Boards (if doing loads of live briefs, maybe group the briefs according to the theme e.g. logo briefs, packaging brief etc.) 
• Product/Proposals
• Written Evaluation
• End of Module Evaluation

504 End of Module Evaluation

Overall, I think that this module has been quite good. Doing two opposite brief in one module was really helpful as it helped me learn the different elements and methods which are appropriate and not appropriate for both and how certain design elements may have different impact or should be approached in a different way e.g. layout (layout can be dynamic and involve transitions and actions on design for screen however it's static on print). Studio Brief 1 was particularly harder for me as I felt like I didn't really have much content to work with despite the research that I did which may me really stressed out and felt like I was lagging behind and was failing the module. However, through going through with my experimentations has helped me with generating ideas for content and put me right on track. Although, I did have many many mistakes and problems along the way however communicating and getting feedback form peers helped me rethink my decisions and worry less rather than contemplating. Also, managing my time well has also helped me with dealing with these problems therefore correcting them and refining my design. However, the only bad thing was probably the cost, as I've spent so much money on buying materials which was kind of impractical although I do realise it is part of the production process. But personally, I felt like I was wasting money on some things.

In contrast for Studio Brief 2, I felt like I was finally settled into 'study mode' again which made me much more productive and got lots of work done in such a short amount of time. Maybe because it's design for screen as well which helped me to change and modify my design much quicker than on print as it's all done digitally and don't have to be printed or scanned etc. In addition, I was also able to decide on my concept quicker and actually liked it better than my Studio Brief 1 concept that I was able to produce it much better with ideas generating more and easier. And, I think the fact that the brief was short too helped me because it made me work in a much more productive way and made several developments that led me to a final outcome that I was happy about. All in all, I think this module has helped me in terms of carefully thinking about production methods and the advantages and disadvantages of design for print and screen along the way; and it was a very good brief to start the year as now I have more knowledge and experience which I can take to other modules such as PPP where we have to make a Creative Report.

Translate Your English - Final Outcome

This is the final outcome of my application after all the developments and refinements that I've made after the crits and feedback that I've gotten. 

My application is a translation app which translates English (loan) words for users, which are used and have different meanings in other countries in contrast to the users use of the word in their own English. The application is primarily aimed for immigrants and people who are staying in a country for a long period of time e.g. international students. This application will hopefully help them to integrate and get used to the new culture, environment and society that they are in through learning the different meanings and connotations of certain English words that may mean completely different to how they normally use it or a word that they just never heard of before. Secondly, the application can be helpful for tourists and travellers in order to quickly and easily communicate with locals whilst also learning the cultural meanings and implications of the words they are translating. 

Start up Page 

The users will need to sign up or login to the app in order to use it and once they are in, they will need to choose a Default English and a Translated English, in order to make it easier for them to translate the words and quickly just type in without scrolling through the languages, although if users do want to choose another language they can easily do this by clicking the flags on the centre top area of the app. Doing this give the users an indication what languages they are using at the same time straightforward enough for them to know that's where you change languages. The users will also need to choose which community they want to join, optimising their communicate and information for the specific language they're learning as here the can converse with other users who are learning or using the language which can also give them a much more accurate and detailed information. It's also a place for them to have a more humane conversation where they can share their experiences and thoughts, so users don't only learn about the meaning of words but also the more in-depth meaning integrated in the society, culture and environment. 

 

 

Main Menu 

The main menu of the application is the type mode where user can type in a word or sentence that they'd like to be translated. I did this as it's the quickest way for users to access information without going through an extra step of choosing what mode they'd like. In addition, it's also a similar format to other translation apps, therefore it's already familiar to the users and they don't need to learn how to use it. In the main menu there are also other features which are very useful to the users:

• Speaker Icon - Users can click the speaker icon on the top right of the page to listen to the pronunciation of the word. 
• 'X' Icon - Users can click this icon in order to delete what they have wrote, to start again or if they'd made a mistake. 
• Save - users can click this icon to save their translations to a folder.

(My Profile) 

Users can click on the icon on the top left in order to view their own detail and profile, including information about their chosen languages, posts and following and follower counts. Through here the users can also click on the 'your posts' section to view their post on the community board. 

English Language Selection 

Users can click the centre top icon where the country flag are directing them to a pop up list of all the available 'Englishes' they can wish to translate with. This is option is really handy as it allows users to easily select and change languages whenever they desire and gives them a wide range of access to different languages and not just the once that they selected beforehand.

Folder (Save)

The application includes a folder feature where users can save, organise and look back at translations that they've learnt. In order to optimise learning and organisation for users, they are able create their own folders without presets as they'll be able to individually locate and know which translations are where. In addition, it also adds to the personalised learning thus helping the users to learn in a controlled manner in relation to their learning speed.

Speak Feature

This feature allows users to use the microphones in their phones to dictate the word/sentence that they'd like to translate. It allows for a very quick way of translating a word and may be especially useful for travellers as they may pick up words while talking to locals. Although, I am aware that it may not always be accurate as it depends on someone speaking, so if they're too quiet it may not be able to pick up the word, and if they may have a strong accent it may translate another word which can be quite difficult to sort out. However, for the most part, this feature is beneficial and serves enough purpose for it to be useful and effective in the application and give users a good user experience.

Camera Feature

This feature allows users to take pictures of signages that they may see around. In addition, it also allows users to highlight parts of the pictures that they want to highlight for a more accurate translation, as users may only want to know a certain part e.g. on menus or book passages. 

Share Feature

This feature allows users to share the translations that they obtained to the 'Community Board' of the application. This sharing feature also allows the add a comment or a question which shows up on the community board to start a conversation with other users and start a thread with them. 

Community Board

Linking to the 'Share feature', the community board allows the users to engage in a more in-depth conversation between the words/sentences that they've translated and learnt and hopefully follow through to more personal conversations. In addition, through this users can also follow and message each other, allowing them to meet and discuss with users with the same language interest and experiences as them, thus creating a community between users in the application. 

*Design Elements 

Type

The typeface that I chose for the application is 'NexaBold' as I found that the typeface has a very good balanced characteristic of being friendly and welcoming but also relatively smart and contemporary, which gives the users a very good impression of the application and it's services. The typeface has strong geometrical features which kind of reminds me of 'Helvetica' and 'Futura' in a way as it has both sharp and neutral feel. But at the same time, I also found some script characteristics in particular the lowercase 'g' which bring out the bubbly and friendly vibe that I want the app to have. Overall, I think that the typeface is very effective as it doesn't overwhelm the users but gives them a sense of familiarity and assurance that it's a trustworthy app and accurate translations. 

Furthermore, in relation to type I have also considered the typesetting and use of type size in order to establish the hierarchy of information, especially because my application's main goal is to provide users lots of information this is something that is important in order for it to be successful. The heading of each page e.g. Share to Community are 20 pt., whilst the information are 15pt. Doing this, makes it extremely clear for the users to know which information to read first and where to follow through within the app, also making it easier for them to navigate through information. At the same time, aesthetically the weight is balanced and optically looks really good (not too big nor too small). 

Colour

Orange - #FF9D00 

Green - #3BB44B

Grey - #707070

At the end I decided to go with these colours as the three main colour palette of my application. I've taken my peers' suggestion to minimise the use of the orange and make it more subtle so I decided to make it a motif on the top bar of each page. Doing this made for a much cleaner and sleeker aesthetic for the application, however still implying to the user's the informative an immersive experience that I want them to have whilst using the application. In addition, I also matched the orange with green and carried this on to the highlighted portion of the context page in order to amplify the use of the colours in relation to the user's memory and attention. I thought that this would be quite effective as the colours compliment each other quite well, and with the addition of the grey for the text, creates a well balanced colour palette that brings out a bright and professional aesthetic fitting of the content and context of the application. Furthermore, I've also received good comments about the colour scheme with peers in crits saying how it reminds them of culture and society which validates it for me that I've chosen the right colour scheme for my application. 

Thoughts & Reflection: 

Overall, I'm actually pretty satisfied with the outcome of my application and I think through the development process that I've been doing I've create an application which have been well-thought out and revised. I also think that I've considered the user experience quite well in relation to the user interface and the user interface itself and how it aids to the user experience at the same time how it looks and the aesthetic of it which also affects how users will see and think of the application. In addition, I also think that the features that I have included in the application are very effective and useful in terms of users being able to obtain and learn information. The different alternative modes that the users can use also maximises the success fo the application as this means that the user can access information in various different ways depending on their circumstance and their urgency of need. Though it does look very similar to other translation apps, I can argue that doing this helps the users quickly familiarise themselves with the application without tutorials (and honestly should be anyways as my target users(persona) are people who would be used to using translation apps). However, the content the app is generating sets it apart from other translation apps as it gives a more detailed and in-depth look into a word/sentence, giving the users a way of learning the society, culture and environment they are in in a much more accessible method through the app, thus help them mix in more with the locals, as they obtain a richer understanding of what they are translating. All in all, I think that I have done enough in order for the application to be effective and successful both context and content wise and aesthetically and I think that the app effectively generates good user experience for it's target users through it's user interface.