Learner Survival Guide

Project end

complete evaluation

15/12/14

The project proved rather challenging, as it required using software I had never used before as well as adapting an entirely new process and way of working. To begin with, I had to break out of my previously learned and preferred method of working, so as to help the project run smoothly.
We were also given a brief, and while it included specifications and guidelines as to what the project required, it allowed me space to interpret it how I wished and room for experimentation as long as the final product was within the boundaries, of which were virtually non-existent. The end design, however, was to be engaging and would not include anything that offended.

At first, my interpretation of the brief was quite limited, as I was used to having a specific guideline to follow, and this project offered little guidance, which pushed my to go about things my own way. I was pushed to develop the different ideas and go back to old ones when I hit a dead end.

To begin with, I started off by analysing the brief, and started by creating multiple spidergrams of things related to college. I also dissected the title of the project: 'Learner Survival Guide'. By doing this, I could then begin my thought process, and began writing things down that I associated with College, Learner, Survival and Guide.
Eventually, I came up with my first idea of using something that many people knew of, such as TV programs, films and things alike. I decided upon basing my first LSG design on a TV program popular with those of the age within the college and something that was renowned: Zombies.

I researched many things related to the topic, such as posters of TV programs such as The Walking Dead, film posters, such as Sean Of The Dead. I also researched the logos of different zombie related things, as well as characters from the game Plants VS Zombies. These would be used later to look back on.

After I had done this, I then moved on to researching the logos of global companies, so as to build an understanding of how graphics, colour and photo-imagery communicate specific meanings. Using the research I had collated, I then began working on a design for my LSG project, using the widely recognized Costa Coffee logo.

While I had previously used both Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, I still found it rather challenging to get used to all of the different tools, and I often got both of the software confused in terms of trying to acomplish something that could only be done in one of the software or the other. At this point, I was also getting used to what the many different tools did and how to use them correctly as well as picking up any things that make the process quicker throughout.
For this design, I had to take apart and reconstruct the Costa Coffee logo into a Learner Survival Guide logo. This meant I was using the ellipsis tool to create multiple circles to achieve the desired badge logo. While doing this I also used the pipette tool to take the colour used in the Costa Coffee logo and add it to specific circles and the background of the design.
Once I had eventually completed my redesign of the logo, I then set out to finding a suitable font that was similar to that on the Costa Coffee logo. Due to the fact that the font is curved around an ellipsis, and without knowing that there was an easier way to get the desired effect, I positioned each letter the same distance from each other as well as rotated each so that is was the same distance from the curve of which it followed. I now know, however, that there is a tool that allows me to write on an ellipsis, which will make the next time doing this a lot easier and quicker.
I also had to find a font similar to the 'Since 1971' text, as well as place it and space it out in a similar fashion. I also changed this to 'Survival'
Lastly, I moved on to switching the coffee beans within the Costa Coffee logo to the North Notts College logo. At first I was skeptical of doing so, and thought about either keeping the coffee beans, which, after consideration probably wouldn't fit in with the theme, or finding another image that would fit in with the theme. Eventually, I just used the North Notts College logo, and changed the colour from red to white.
Once I had finished the front of the design, I moved on to completing the back.
The font on this side had to be in the format of Helvetica, as the font its self is crisp and is easiest to read. I added on the college information and contacts as well as some additional information to finish the design.

For the second LSG design we were to photograph every day objects, whilst making them more intriguing using different camera angles and settings, which we were to then edit using Photoshop. After photographic many different items, I finally decided on an image of a key.

After I cropped the actual key out of the image, I then played around a little with the colours so as to get a bold image.

For this LSG design, however, I had to learn how to do many things, such as learn how to neatly crop the image out of the original photo, this took a while to grasp, but I eventually came to terms with it.
The first design was rather simple, so for this design, I decided to experiment by using Illustrator to see what affects I could achieve. Eventually, I decided on adding dots around the key design to make it seem bolder. The background for this design was a very pale yellow, so that the key stood out.
The only issue I had with this process was that, halfway through doing the dots around the design, I realised that the colour I was using was a dark grey, compared the the black I had originally been using.

With the key alone, I felt that the design was a little desolate, and especially needed some work doing on the back.

I decided to experiment with simple lines, that would not only liven up the front of the design more and get rid of unwanted space, but that also created an opportunity to carry on to the back of the design. These stripes proved rather difficult to do, as I had to press shift at the same time as moving the cursor in a diagonal fashion so that I could get a diagonally locked line, rather than a vertically or horizontally locked line. I also had to make sure that all of the lines reached the edge of the design and were of equal distance from each other.

At this point, I also began to place the text in an appropriate place as well as choose a suitable font.

As the college information and logo were required within the design, I incorporated the logo within the bottom right hand corner of the design, so that it didn't ruin the flow of the design, whilst on the back, I included the college information in a box decorated in the similar design that was around the key. The text was difficult to place, as I found that slightly tilting it would cause the collaboration of the text to go off, and so would ruin the layout. To finish, I added a little bit of information on the back so as to fill out empty space.


For the last LSG design, I wanted to expand the exploration that I had already done, so as well as taking images to later incorporate into my design idea, I also began to look into the idea of creating something that was 2D, using the traditional method of drawing and then photographing, but would also be 3D, such as 3D lined paper art, which was my main inspiration. As well as this, I also began to brainstorm idea's, eventually settling on 'what students do when in thought'.

I came up with an idea of creating an outline of a person and having a thought bubble that would be filled with doodles and photographs of things, such as the rubik cube and stick men, which would join together my 2D and 3D idea. The lined paper would be behind the outline of the person.

This required scanning drawings so that the process would be slightly shorter, and then incorporating them into Illustrator.

While getting the images onto the design template properly was a little tricky to grasp a hold of since the last time I did it, the design went together pretty well, since the arrangements were pretty straight forwards. In this design I had a mixture of drawings and doodles, graphics and photographs that I had edited to make look brighter and more captivating. The font I chose was similar to that of handwriting, and so fir into the design perfectly.

To conclude, I found this assessment fun to do as it allowed me to experiment. I did hit a few walls however was easily able to work my way around them. If I were to do this again I would definitely think things through more and also create more thumbnail sketches so as to help the design process come along easier. Now that I know how to use each process and technique with the software, I feel that I'd be able to expand my horizons and experiment a lot more than I have this time round.