For the final project, I have made sure to include all pieces of work that I have previously worked on aswell as new ones. For ease of reading the evaluation, I have split all pieces into tasks, while it was stated on the brief that we have two tasks to complete (Poetry Type Setting and Postcard Type Setting) I have also completed additional tasks of redesigning my previous final pieces for both the Book Jacket and the Seasons Greetings Card. Everything below has been seperated into headlines, not just so you can read and understand it better, but also so I don’t get confused:
Task 1 : Poetry Type Setting Final Piece
Task 2 : Postcard Type Setting Final Piece
Task 3 : Book Jacket Project Different Versions Final Pieces
Old Design 
New Design
Task 4 : Seasons Greetings Project Different Versions Final Pieces
Old Design 
New Design
PDF File of all Tasks
Evaluation:
In what ways does the visual communication/message of the piece meet the needs of the brief?
Task 1:
As the brief was clear to state that this project was strictly type based, with no inclusions of either imagery or illustrations, I think it meets the needs of the brief very clearly and effectively. The only piece of illustrative detail that can be seen within the design is a small, black Poppy fleuron – this was the extent of illustrative detail that we were allowed to include, as the Poppy Fleuron has many connotation and links to the poem itself, I think it ultimately ties the Poppy together nicely while also adding a small eye-catching embellishment for the reader.
Task 2:
As the brief was clear to state that this project was strictly type based, with no inclusions of either imagery or illustrations, however we were allowed to use colour for this project, I think it meets the needs of the brief very clearly and effectively. Even though the brief states that colour is now a available source, I decided to stick with the black and white colour scheme because it supports the clarity and importance that the type Helvetica is seen to be used for.
Task 3:
This is the first re-design project that I started, the brief for this project stated that this piece was meant to have no images or illustrations, but it was approved by the tutors that we could include a pattern as long as it was not intruding on the main aspect of the design – the type. I belive when compared to the brief, that both the old and new design support the brief completely.
Task 4:
For this project, the brief stated that we are meant to work with hand-rendered type, and insure that the hand-rendered type is the most prominent aspect of the design. The design again must have little to none illustrations to insure the type is not overpowered. In addition to this, the card itself must be all-inclusive (does not favour one religion over another). With what I have mentioned above, I believe that my re-design fits the brief better as the zodiac symbol has been removed and the re-design consists of now overpowering illustrative aspects apart from dots to resemble a snow fall.
In what ways does the visual communication/message of the piece fail to meet the needs of the brief?
Task 1:
I personally don’t see anything that could fail the visual communication/message needs of the brief. The design itself is clear, readable and eyecatching and holds no illustration or imagery to divert away from the type-setting.
Task 2:
Again, I personally don’t see anything that could fail the visual communication/message needs of the brief. The design itself is clear, readable and eye-catching and holds no illustrations or imagery to divery away from the type-setting. Not only this, but as the quote I chose was one that I could use with designers integrity as the quote is not a direct copy of what was said.
Task 3:
In terms of the brief, it never actually states the inclusion of a pattern, this was instead allowed by our tutors via word. In the eyes of the examiner, this could be seen as a breach. This is true for both designs but especially so for the re-design which consists of multiple different size and colour hexagons.
Task 4:
In a matter of aims, I think my final piece is well adversed. In my previous evaluation I stated that my use of the Sagittarius star sign lacks information as many people will not know the link between the star sign and December. Now that I have removed the star-sign, I think the design comes together in a more stable manner and the essense of the Seasons Greetings Card is more clear to the audience.
What are the strengths of the visual communication? Why?
Task 1:
I think that the strengths of this design is the main aspects of this the design – the type used and how it is set. For the poem, I chose to focus on a display type that would connect with the theme of the poem and a more readable, clear font for the verses. I think this idea of type-setting worked really well, and strongly supported both the poem and the design.
Task 2:
For this project, I think the strengths again are the main aspect of this design – the type used and how it is set. For the postcard, I chose to focus on different variations offered for the Helvetica font. Working with multiple different varitions allows the postcard to become eye-catching due to the vast changes seen with the type and how it is set within an interesting layout.
Task 3:
For both of the designs, the use of colour thorughout the front and back of the jacket is very eyecatching and conveys a strong yet subtle link to the books title. If I was to break the designs down further, I would admit that the original while consistent in its use of colour, also looks out of place as a book background because it resembles more of a chile playing wiht watercolour paint. As for the re-design, I can say that the new pattern used while strong in colour is also strong is representing the descent into darkness in two ways. The first being the more obvious colour descent, from reds down to black, and the second being the layered change and opacity levels that start from 45% and reach 100% by the black hexagon, showing the current decline into darkness thorugh various elements, such as climate change etc.
Task 4:
Both of the cards are strong in design due to their simplicity. Each card has a focus on the hand-rendered type, and there is little illustration on both designs to divert the attention away. In regards to the phrase ‘Sweater Weather’ which in its own is both creative and unique, it will maintain an interesting selling point due to this.
What are the weaknesses of the visual communication? Why?
Task 1:
I don’t think this task has any weaknesses in terms of the visual communication.
Task 2:
I think the only weakness I have for the postcard is the fact that the audience might mis-understand how to pronounce the quote due to the multiple repeated ‘different’ throughout the design.
Task 3:
As I have kept the use of the bright, rainbow colour scheme, it is still a possibility that people could say that the colour used is too garish and might be beneficial to tone it done – it could also be described as too noisy and ultimately distract the audience. In other terms, the blurb text on the original design could be seen as to big, and it might be beneficial to change the point size to a smaller one. For the re-design, I kept the rainbow colour effect, but with the opacity levels I was able to tone them down but it could still be referred to as garish and noisy. As for the blurb text, I made sure to the reduce it down to a 12pt instead of the 14pt seen on the original.
Task 4:
Looking at both the old and new versions, I can see more weaknesses with the old. The hand-rendered type that I went over with the use of my Graphic Pad came out very sketchy and messy – in some ways this could add to the idea of hand-drawn but in some regards, the messy nature of the text could also be thought as an incomplete design. For the re-design, I personally don’t think that there are any weakenesses, mainly because what I thought were weaknesses (mentioned above) are the design aspects that I have fixed.
In what ways could the piece be mis-read or mis-understood by the audience?
Task 1:
As I kept the layout and design quite simple along with the type and final type-setting, I don’t think this piece could be mis-read or mis-understood.
Task 2:
I think the only aspect of design that could be mis-read or mis-understood is the multiple ‘different’ used throughout the design. While it is a interesting design point, the many repeated words could cause confusion within the audience as the quote is not a direct version, and the man didn’t say ‘different’ 10 times like a glitch.
Task 3:
The bright colours used on the book jacket while eye-catching could be seen as having no link to the book subject matter. I do know that I have defended my design choices throughout my blog, but as the audience doesn’t have my design choices this is most likely the main aspect to be either mis-read or mis-understood.
Task 4:
For both the original and re-design, the word ‘sweater’ can be difficult to read due to the cursive font. But as I removed the Sagittarius star sign I think the design of the card can be understood more effectively.
In what practical ways could the piece be developed or improved?
Task 1:
I personally think that my final piece cannot be developed or improved. However, if I was given the ability to add illustrations or imagery to the design, I think the design could become more eye-catching with a full page of Poppy artwork on the other page which keeps in theme for the poem used.
Task 2:
For this project, I think the only improvement that could be made is attempting different compositions of the repeated words to create an eye-catching design. While I think that my design is indeed eye-catching, the possibility of compositions are endless with design and I had to stop because I could of kept re-designing right up till the deadline.
Task 3:
On my previous evaluation, I mentioned that it could be more practical to lower the opacity of the collection of colours remove the bold impact is has on the audience. As well as this, the text on the blurb needs to be changed to something that is less bold and changed to a smaller size. For the re-design, I kept these points in my mind and insured that the points mentioned in my previous evaluation were met in the re-design!
Task 4:
On my previous evaluation, I mentioned that if I was able to re-design this project I would leave the design as it is but possibly create a series of cards written and designed in the same style but with different phrases. Now that I am able to re-design the project, I decided to keep the overall style and theme of the card as it is but change the zodiac symbol. For the sake of my own portfolio, I may keep my word of turning these cards into a seris for the Christmas period so I can send these cards to my family and friends.
How was my time keeping?
Task 1 and Task 2:
As Task 1 and Task 2 are part of the same brief, they both shared my time keeping process. To begin with, I delayed the research process because I was uninterested with the idea of watching multiple videos but it turned out not to be so bad in the end. For this entire project we have all be submitted to working from home to the Covid-19 putting us into lockdown, as I had no college to go to or work to attend I had a lot of free time and spent the majority of my time keeping up to date with my college work.
Task 3:
For the original design, I struggled with the completing the project within a week but as I had the option to do a re-design, the original time keeping went out of the window because I had a guideline on what to do for improvements.
Task 4:
The original design was completed during a two week process, 1 week at college and 1 week at home during half term. For the first design I was stressed, but for the re-design the majority of the work was already completed so I had much more carefree and helpful process to the re-design final piece.
How was my research?
Task 1 and Task 2:
Again, the research period was one that was completed during the same time because both of these tasks were part of the same brief. The majority of my research consisted of watching various different documentaries about type and type-setting. In this case, the most useful piece of research that helped me the most with my design process was the shortest and the longest video – a 4 minute video about how to properly set a poem and the Helvetica Documentary that lasted nearly an hour and a half. The 4 minute video helped the most with how to set out my poem correctly, and the Helvetica documentary helped with finding my quote for the postcard.
Task 3:
All of my research was conducted within the original timeline of the project, and during this time I was unable to research as much as I would have wanted. However, with the re-design, I decided that the choice of research would have been pointless because I was focusing solely on the design aspects.
Task 4:
All of my research was conducted within the original timeline of the project, and as I wasn’t changing much with the original design, I decided that extra research would have been pointless because I wouldn’t use any of it for the re-design.
How did I experiment during the project?
Task 1:
Because this task was so simple, I decided to stick with the original layout/composition and decided that the experimentation process was something needed to the postcard project.
Task 2:
This is where the experimentation process kicked into gear, I worked through 9 different potential layout/compositions ideas which focused on how the text should be positioned, and the use of uppercase, lowercase of a mixture of both. While the experiments helped with generating ideas, I also really struggled with the process of picking a final piece because all of them, in their ow way, had there advantages.
Task 3:
With the original design, I experimented with different rainbow effect compositions, but for the re-design I didn’t do much experimenting because I was working from the advice of my classmates, so this guided my final outcome.
Task 4:
As I was working from my original hand-rendered design, I didn’t experiment with either pieces – old or new – because the hand-rendered task of the project was the longest part of the task, I decided to stick with the original and I was happy that I did because the final re-design is one that I am really happy with.
What parts of the project did I enjoy the most? Why was this the case?
Task 1:
I really enjoyed finalising the final piece, and seeing the improvements that occured during to the slight changes – for example, changing the bold page numbers to a thinner type style, reducing the thickness of the borders used etc. Seeing the final outcome compared to the first draft filled me with a sense of pride!
Task 2:
Working with multiple different Helvetica type appearances was really fun, especially when I had the chance to practice and play around with many different layouts and compositions.
Task 3:
For the book jacket, both original and re-design, I really enjoyed working with a large amount of colour. It was really fun to take the word ‘imagination’ and run with it!
Task 4:
Just like the original design, I really enjoyed working with hand-rendered type, especially when I had turn something from the original pen and paper into a more modern and stylish digital appearance.
What parts of the project did I enjoy the least? Why was this the case?
Task 1:
I don’t think there was anything that I disliked doing for this task!
Task 2:
I think the only thing that I didn’t like about the task was trying narrow down a collection of 9 potential experiments without the easy accessible input that I would of recieved from being within college and around my tutors and classmates.
Task 3:
Eventhough this is a typography project, I really disliked working with in in conjuction with a book jacket. Especially when the book cover is a non-fiction and from that genre of book there a few unspoken restrictions in place, for example if we were given the task of designing a book jacket for a fantasy young adult book, the typographyused would have been completely different to the one I chose for this project.
Task 4:
I don’t think there was anything that I actually didn’t enjoy about this project. The original and the re-design were both fun because I was creating a stylish seasons greeting card that I could use for my own purposes!
Anything else?
Nope, I think I mentioned eveything above!
Baxter's Designs 