End of Module Evaluation.

This was and was always going to be the toughest module of the entire course. I have however gained more than just experience and a portfolio I dont feel ashamed of, I have gained acceptance from a group of peers I thought would chew me up and spit me out like the previous year. I have made some friends, designed some good work and gained a whole heap of new lessons that will bank within my cortex for many years to come. My practice has reached a stage where I feel as if I could happily carry on and create even better and more visually stimulating work without fear of ridicule or personal defeat. I think from what I have talked about with tutors, pros, peers and mates is that I have a much clearer  - yet not fully formed - idea of what my future holds. From how to present myself, how to get myself known, who not to call, who to call and how to be someone I will be proud of.

I believe to have succeeded in my illustration abilities and learnt that if I spent time on what I am doing whilst keeping in mind a strategy for producing work, I can create wonderful, high quality and near professional imagery. I have managed to achieve my goal of actually making full use of the processes and workshops available to me, rather than wasting time and deliberating over what can and cant be done. Being a doer not a dont. I took on a range of briefs to make up for lost time in previous years where I would create abhorrent, unprofessional, unconsidered work that just wasted my time on the course. I think that I set the bar a bit too high for myself in order to try give myself the best chance to seek out employment/freelance work when I graduate, but have loved the extremities of late nights and hard work despite the overall outcome.
The briefs were diverse enough for me to try and test a range of abilities I thought I did not have; type, illustration, in fact the whole bag, but I am confident that I can and have applied my own personal touch to my projects, despite my feeling of "its all a bit late for that now" syndrome. I can confirm though that after all of this work and tribulations that I am indeed an image driven illustrator/designer with a long way to go, but I have accepted this and am eager to see what I can do, where I will go and how I will shape my future.

The lack of actual hand drawn illustration was a fault of my own, lending to personal confidence issues and an overall draining of time and responding to managing multiple briefs. I think I really could have found more ways to include my style of illustration to fit into some of my other briefs, but once again down to self-doubt and relevance to each brief's context. I really believe that I have enough time and experience to develop my skills further for future endeavours. From feedback from peers and others, I feel as if I am at a stage where I could confidently approach others to collaborate or work for.

The products I have produced are a mixed bag, to be honest I think I could have produced something of a much higher quality than I have submitted, but that's down to not trying everything due to financial restraint and poor planning.

The 2920 brief could of been sent of much earlier, but I was being finnicky about the outcome and paid the price as it has not even arrived yet. I am proud of that brief as a whole, as I created a whole range of top quality prints, especially concerning the Treaty and the Morag Tong writ of sealing. They were the pride of the range of deliverables because they came out the best in terms of how I foresaw them and how they manifested physically. The map was the weakest, as I should of screenprinted it onto cloth, but decided that it would of been safer just to print it digitally and then deal with the outcome. The method of production for the map would have changed if I were to redo the brief, as the tatty ends do it NO JUSTICE. I was under the influence that I would make it look presentable, but time has not been my friend. The chest itself will be redone after I get it back so it fits in with the rest of the brief. I will also be making the brass replica dagger as it kills me how unreliable blacksmiths can be.

The quality of Jenny's deliverables were a mixed bunch, to start with the production was left until very late, as I believed I could satisfy the deadline as well as produce something that, physically looked professional. The box looks amazing, but that is because I did not make it. The prints/postcards came out unaligned, but that is because I let Jenny print them as she was disorganised and had to take my later slot which cost me valuable deliverables for the other briefs. I am not entirely pleased with the entirety of the brief's deliverables, but I am glad that she has some cool promotional materials that I can reproduce in time for her EOYS.

Code magazine came out pretty well, despite the draft issue in the cover being made by myself, which turned out terribly, yet rectified by sending it off to be produced. The quality of the VG book in tandem was not entirely up to what I expected, but the positive is that I managed to research and discover a whole range of self-publishers and their respective quality when concerned with publications. I think I really should have produced more prints for the VG feature, but once again poor planning and lack of project management did not allow for this.

If I were to redo this module, I would definitely make sure that I stuck to a brief until it came to fruition rather than allowing it to fall through my grasp and then I lose all interest in it and its subsequent impact. I would also develop more deliverables and try to exploit everything to its fullest potential rather than scaring myself into thinking I cannot produce something to a high or acceptable standard.
I would definitely get everything designed, and sent off to print much quicker as I have been waiting around for ridiculous amounts of time and generating a whole hotbed of stress for myself which doesnt really help at all.

I came out of this module feeling more confident but not entirely convinced of my level of skill in relation to graphic design. I do feel as if I could go out and effectively collaborate or apply through gritted teeth due to the existing levels of peer professionalism which tends to dampen my spirits and overall confidence. I am worried but excited about my future, I worry about my time management, I worry about alot of things, but I will give it my best, try get a job in a print studio and be the best damn illustrator I can be, hoping to join the ranks of those I worship.

2920: Need to move quicker, much quicker.

Not the greatest point of reference but I needed something to kick start the brief in terms of visual direction. Been messing around with Code for far too long, now I need to get myself sorted on this brief.
The context/setting of the brief itself revolves around a 15th/16th century feel that is shrouded with fantasy. I want to create a leatherbound foil blocked book, since embossing and foil blocking books was the nearest thing to entertainment, and were valued as archaeic tomes of knowledge. This I want to get across. A tome so important and precious it has been well preserved and looked after centuries... at least thats the reasoning behind having a plethora of fantastic looking kit at the end of this module as opposed to dust worn leather and metalwork smelling of musk and blood.
SO unfortunatley this brief is the only brief that is essentially context funded (if you can call it that) through genuine historical references, with some odd game textures thrown in for additional colour references.

2920: Method and Production

Due to the fact that hand in is drawing in much too quickly for me to deal with, I have decided that my bookmaking skills are poor enough to qualify myself to buy my way to success in terms of the end product. This is rationalised by the fact it is so near to the end of the course and I want at least a week to sort everything out for the show and whatnot.
James offered a bookbinding service that is next to none in terms of producing premium quality work. Spink and Thackray in Leeds, offer a whole load of bespoke bookcrafting services, although not the cheapest, I didnt want to duck out on quality, so I am willing to pay the price. Taking into account I have to screenprint and hand foil the map of Tamriel as well as waiting for my blacksmith to finish my draft dagger.

SO, in summary,

2920: The Last Year of the First Era - Perfect Bound B5 hardback with red, or black bookrum cloth, foiled cover with off white 100/140 gsm stock for the body copy

Pocket Guide to the Empire - Perfect bound A5 hardback with embossed cover, same stock for body copy

Tamriel World Map - Screenprinted A1 print, with foild blocked compass in bottom left corner

Morag Tong Deathnote - Screenprinted on hand made paper 230 gsm from screenprinting

Morag Tong Dagger - Brass casting


Presentation Box - Varnished/worn wood, clasp cast in iron

Format and Finishes

Just thought I would catch up with some much needed print knowledge, especially since my SOI declared that I knew alot about the subject and intended to produce work integrated with some interesting finishes.
The book was a great source for some of my briefs and sped up development of the CODE brief significantly. The rest of my annotation can be seen in the PDF.

BRuNO Magazine

Good reference for how to use layout to my advantage and to easily envision what sort of grid/approach to use when dealing with content.

Symbols/layout

H

Images courtesy of ill studios. Think this is bangon the mark for how I would use icons and symbols for my DC publication and how I would think about presenting the information for the eureka brief, giving it a semi-contemporary feel as well as appearing as cutting edge. The work is selected specifically for the brief, as the studio's work is not something I would be interested in as it revolves heavily on branding and promotion for brands. I still think their work holds weight for my briefs out of their context of practice.

Fluid replaced the water in my body.

Fluidesign are a bespoke agency who specialise in branding, promotional packaging, print promotion, POS and identity.
I think that alot of their work is of such an industry standard it dwarfs my own work, but inspires me to be on a level with their portfolio of work. They use alot of photography/artwork that is supplied by the clients, but some they source themselves, or render in photoshop. I particularly like their work on game promotion and branding across a range of print based ephemera to enhance the marketing side of gaming, something that I am interested in.
Since the game industry offers the most jobs at the moment, I figured that I would indeed like a piece of this pie. CASE STUDY.

Infamous 2 promotional materials sparks the consumer within me to instantly want the products in my hands. To inspect, double check their authenticity with the game - as I am banal in detail in research - but it evokes such pleasure in myself as I know what it is like waiting for a long anticipated, highly commercialised, rich in depth game world that offers a limited edition packaging.

Project


inFAMOUS 2


Client


Sony Entertainment Europe


Year - 2011



Deliverables


Media Kit
Website




Specifications

Limited edition of 2000: Custom inFAMOUS 2 embossed leather wallet, Lost Property letter, brown manilla post marked envelope, localised newspaper clippings on newsprint, A2 Chromalux art poster, concertina foldout map, 6 polaroids, Cole's bike courier ID and bank cards, local flyer card, scrumpled fake money, restaurant receipt, CD-R styled game asset disc, review code disc and moral reward website.

Overview


They have produced a presskit for SCEE's inFAMOUS 1 the year before, putting them on top of the list for producing similar work as well as actually winning the pitch for the game.
The brief asked for a high quality, limited edition media kit that would depict inFAMOUS 2's key features, new setting and it's creative proposition; "the power is yours, how you use it is up to you" to engage the recipient, having them make a choice at some point which evaluates whether they are good or bad.
Their concept played on the main character's use of parkour and that his subsequent pocket content had been handed into the council Lost Property Office whilst exploring the city of
New Marais.

The media kit arrived in the envelope along with a letter from the New Marais Lost Property office asking if the enclosed items belonged to the recipient.
The assets were directly sourced from the game, with key marketing information integrated into the newspaper clippings, concertina map and the polaroids featuring in game screenshots.
The moral choice is do you keep something that is yours or do you return the items to the Lost Property Office website and try to return it. Those who did however were rewarded with an exclusive DLC (DownLoadable Content)


Result


"The presskit got great feedback, with SCEE commenting it was "one of the BEST kits we've ever made!! So so pleased with it", and was featured on a number of prominent videogaming websites, alongside a plethora of 'unboxing' videos on YouTube."




There are so many amazing examples of press kits on their site I might as well turn this into a case study!


Project

God of War III Media Kit


Client

Sony Computer Entertainment



Year - 2010



Specification

Limited edition of 2800:

- Custom made distressed wooden box with inlay and screenprinted lid


- Concertina booklet with wax seal 


- A4 Chromalux scroll poster with hessian tie


- 6 x art cards with gold foil block


- Engraved metallic coins 


- 2 press discs.

Overview


Commissioned to produce a press kit to support a pan-European PR campaign for God of War III.
Despite the game's 18+ rated content, the kit couldn't be too extreme in order to publicise the game to a wider audience.
Collaboration with manufacturing specialists to a tight timeframe, they created a battle-scarred wooden box full of God of War themed content that looked like it could have been found on the brutal battlefields of Greek mythology where the game is set.

"The highly tactile materials and attention to detail showcased the game's artwork creating a dynamic, visually impactful press kit representative of the realm, furthering the marketing impact of the game and earning it rave reviews."





I chose this next project in particular due to its concept; zombies are associated with consumer culture and tuning out from the 'real world', so I found the irony in the campaign laughable, since both the concept and the content reflect this, especially since the merchandise is worn by the zombies in game.


Project

Dead Rising


Client

Capcom



Year - 2008




Specification


Packaging, print advertising, POS.



Overview


Design of the global campaign for the Xbox 360 version of Dead Rising, and the packart and advertising for the Wii version, Dead Rising: Chop 'Till You Drop

They have also done a series of case studies, but I will be focusing primarily on the study on Sony Computer Entertainment.


Background

Sony Computer Entertainment send out regular media kits to the mainstream media (print and online) to publicise their hardware and software. This was to be their largest presskit to date - a mediakit that spanned hardware, software, PSP and PS3 to reflect and publicise the new Playstation 'Brand Glue'; a philosophy, house style and tone of voice that would make it distinct than its rivals. (Xbox, PC, Steam, Wii and DS)


Brief


"Produce a creative, high quality, vibrant and engaging media kit that packages together all PlayStation 3, PSP and PlayStation Network related content into one pack. It will need to cover a range of different brand messages whilst targeting a range of different media - trying not to encompass everything under one creative idea, that does not alienate the campaign objectives of the separate platforms and content"


'PlayStation offers surprising and unexpected experiences. Rich experiences with open-ended potential and a tone of voice which is entertaining, playful and direct'


"The design, materials and techniques should all be high quality, and tactile (but not expensive to produce) and also reflects PlayStation's tone of voice and the brand guidelines. The media kit needs to of course catch the attentions of or engage the journalist receiving the kit and also deliver all the information on our products and content in an uncomplicated way.

"We are open to and looking for new, untraditional, creative ideas on how we can present the media kit from what has been done in the past, that will surprise and engage our media."