Along with the worry of not being able to pick anyones brain about my Dreamweaver issues my other concern was falling behind with the timed tasks in A6. Fortunately Steve agreed to allow me to try completing this weeks timed task via email. I have to admit I was quite anxious about this, particularly because of the higher risk of not meeting the deadline due to technical issues. However, I thought it would really put my time management to the test which in the long run could only be of benefit to me. So, when the brief arrived I was determined to succeed and knew the key to this would be to submit my work well before the deadline of 11am. A quick scan of the brief soon revealed the task was a lot more complicated then we had previously encountered, mainly due to the large amount of constraints to comply to. In a sense this made designing the layout easier but it also meant attention to detail was vital to avoid making silly mistakes! After a rough time plan was written I hurriedly sketched out as many ideas as I could, in the 15 minutes I’d allocated. Simplicity really was the key due to the label’s small size and high text content! I settled on a coloured circle as the dominant feature of the label to reflect the oriental theme (Japanese Flag). Then I made sure each element was positioned with proximity and hierarchy of importance in mind. Finding a Oriental style font proved to be tricky as everything I liked had a small capital lowercase family, which I thought would be altering the information given on the brief. Finally, I begrudgingly settled on Tempus Sans ITC as I knew I didn’t have time to search for and download any new fonts. I decided to use Times New Roman along with this feature font as I felt this would increase legibility for important information. Next I made sure I aligned everything with each other as much as possible and tried to repeat layout elements as much as I could. I reviewed the design printed it and then made a few final tweeks (see above). Even though it was a long way from the deadline I knew I had to stop as I still had to photograph my roughs and get everything ready to email. Thankfully everything went smoothly and everything was sent off with still 15 minutes to spare, a minor miracle! Overall I’m pretty pleased with the design and my performance and it started the day off really well.
For the remainder of my day I’ve been working on finalizing elements of my presentation. My handout is completed (see above) and any feedback would be really appreciated. My slides are pretty much there now its just a case of practicing and perfecting. Hopefully this will give me a more time to devote to A5 to ensure it is up to testing when we get back. So as half term approaches I sense a beautiful relationship forming between me and my 995 page Dreamweaver Bible, can life get any better?!
Targets
- Refine and practice presentation to audience
- Focus on joining all webpages together and rectifying any validation issues
- Develop my feedback form and get it working!
6 comments:
Hope you're feeling better now Michelle!
I really like the style you've gone for with the handout- although I've never seen a landscape newspaper! The one thing I would point out is that it doesn't seem to go into much detail with the fonts. I seem to remember Steve saying the handout should have more detail than the presentation slides.
One criticism of your paint tube would be that the circle of colour doesn't sit directly in the middle between the logo and the 'Gouache'. It kind of makes everything look a little squashed towards the bottom of the label. Other than that, I thing you interpreted the brief well, and your choice of font, despite what you say, fits in with the scheme well.
This seems like quite a critical blog comment, so I'll finish off by reiterating that for both your handout and the paint tube, you've really got to grips with a specific style, and incorporated these styles brilliantly into both designs.
I think both points are valid Tom, thanks.
I can see what you mean about the weighting of the tube. I guess with a little more time this point could have been rectified.But it's definitely something I'll bear in mind for the future.
As for the hand out I'll have to have a re-think, once again I take the point.
I actually had a similar problem with my paint tube, but fortunately I rectified it before the end of the time.
I'm sure you could have done the same if you hadn't had to take photos of all your drafts and stuff- I bet that took a bit of time up!
I love the style you've gone with for your handout Michelle, but do you feel it's gone a bit 'style of substance'? I think it needs to explain somewhere that it is your presentation handout, and it is part of your presentation. I genuinely wasn't sure whether it was your handout, and had to check the comments to realise whether it was or not.
Good design definitely, I just think it needs tweaking so it's clear that it belongs to you.
Hi Michelle, Hope your feeling better now and hope to see you ready to go after the half term!
Both of the designs look really good and the amount of time you have put into them is really reflected in the quality of the work you have produced.
Well done on your dedication in the timed task, you did well getting it in on time, given that you had a shorter deadline than us, as you had to photograph and eMail the work. You also missed out on the question time before we started. So well done on that!
As for the design of the tube, there is something that is really bugging me about it. Similar to Tom's comment but not quite. I have never been a great fan of text inside circles. I don't know if this is the type face but the text doesn't seem to be in the centre of the circle.
I like the way you have done the handout. It looks really good how you have laid it out like a newspaper!
I do have to agree with Tom though, the detail may need to be gone into a little more.
If I were to do it I'd keep the same style and layout but do it double sided carrying on with your content on the back.
As for the feedback on your web site. It is a valuable thing, you can see my revisions on my journal now. There is a dramatic difference which came out of feedback alone.
I think it will be a great idea if you upload you web site draft (in its current state) and post your URL or even eMail it to some of us. We can then give feedback which can be printed in physical form to stick in your sketchbook as evidence!
Also perhaps the forum is a great place to receive feedback.
I really like the idea of the Japanese logo, you've carried the theme well throughout the design. I'm unsure if you pulled it off though. I think the name colour should've been in there instead of the branding.
After all that is kinda what we look for first when skimming the shelves for paint. The green dot does jump out at you, so really you shouldn't have to read on from that to find its the exact right colour that you want.
I'm not sure if the coloured text works either, I think it might be the font you've used. I really do suggest a sans-serif font to make it just look that bit more modern.
But overall I did like the design.
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