What started out as a straightforward brief with a subject I hold dear to my heart snowballed into a much larger problem, with regards to cost and production values. Initially it was going to be a brief that demonstrated to myself and others that I am capable of producing a professional looking project that I could be proud of. I wanted it to be the crown jewel of my third year, showing to others that gaming culture and being a nerd is cool and can produce really interesting work. I wanted to stick to the sort of feel the Elder Scrolls' universe has which is a sort of late 13th/16th century decor to it, but being able to push it in the direction I wanted it to be and how I wanted it to look.
It began as a publication brief, creating two perfect bound books that would work as a set, with a rough idea for accompanying deliverables to compliment the content within. This would have been a perfect time to develop and lay the foundations of some incredibly practical bookbinding skills, which I did not even engage with. I did do some mocks, but I realised pretty early on that I am not that talented when it comes to crafting or creating perfect publications. It was around then I decided to outsource the book, partly due to my skills, but mainly due to the high content nature of the brief coupled with the fact I had not produced a single piece of work I deemed worthy to show anyone, be it professional or peer. The research turned out to be very useful, I got to visit two establishments to talk to the binders and even got my girlfriend interested in the profession. So not all lose-lose really.
The content of the main publication for the brief was compiled from 12 separate volumes, and I spent far far too much time deliberating over what type I should use, being terribly unfamiliar with both the inner workings of indesign and the formalities of type/layout. The accompanying publication (Pocket Guide to the Empire) that I started yet never printed partially because of lack of funds, but also due to the project as a whole and the changing of the concept if I decided to keep it in. I laboured over the minor details of both the type and layout throughout even until the latest possible time I could submit the final artworks for the brief.
The ornate stamp detail on the front was subject to much internal debate over the style it was created; do I use my own interpretation of the visual approach the game favours, or do I go with an illustration I have developed and feel comfortable with? This sense of delusion coupled with the angst and confusion of trying to see my project from a potential customer's/audience's view tended to cause a large amount of dissonance with myself and the alter ego checking for "fanboy" mistakes. In the end though, I just went with the design and felt it worked fantastically. The feedback from my mocks were positive despite most people not understanding the context/content of the brief, though this didnt dissuade me from the outcome at all.
I feel that the only major positive from this brief were the additional deliverables that were inspired from the narrative in the book, mainly the Treaty and the Morag Tong deathnote. I very much enjoyed going into the printroom and building up relationships with the staff, gaining more confidence with my skills both practical and professional. After I had created the map on the digital printers and tried doing foiling correctly I got a real sense of achievement not felt when in digital print, which inspired me to research the possibilities of getting a job in the profession.
This aside, I felt as if overall I gained the most practical skills and development from this brief, I love screenprinting, figuring out registration for each print, mixing the ink and producing a whole range of products. The deliverables for the brief had a focus on traditional fonts, layout, type and logo design. The logo design element was a minor focus, yet put the proverbial icing on the cake for the range of printed products. The use of simplistic vectors when applied to a time period was a shaky move, but like I said, I wanted the old to clash with the new and I believe I have created a project that not only suits the audience, but has an element of me in it somewhere.
