For our unit 12 project we had to work with the civic gallery
on a knitting project for a day, the cooper art gallery app where we helped
design the app and we also helped with the web design department to design the college
website or to revamp, to give it a better look. For the majority of the project
we had to design a library wall design and a display board design for a local
primary school called Shawlands primary.
For this project I went and looked at what my brother looked
at with a book seen as though he went to the school we were designing for. I
looked into books such as captain underpants, Goosebumps, the cat in the hat,
the lorax and other well-known children’s books that my brother read. I
developed my research by looking at what designs and styles I could use looking
through the internet on what styles and materials I could use that were in my
£100 budget. This lead to creating mood boards on library walls and display
boards to show in my presentation and to give me ideas for my design sheets.
Into my designs I took the elements of artist research, from
illustrators such as Quentin Blake, Dav Pilkey and Tony Ross looking into what
I could use to draw the children into learning and wanting to read. These influenced
my whole design idea as this is what we had to stick to with our brief. I took
illustrations such as the BFG, Matilda, the boy in the dress and other simple
designs that are easy for the children to draw if they wish to as well as
inspiring them to read more and learn more to achieve more. I used bright
colours to appeal to the children and used interactive materials in my designs
such as black board paint for them to draw on the walls.
The client did influence what we made as we had to stick to
guidelines on what they wanted designing and what the art work or piece had to
look like or have in it for the client to display. For example the knitting
brief we had was with the civic which had to be a 30cm by 30cm square in black
but did not matter what materials we used. With the library wall and display
boards we had to incorporate the love of reading and friendly designs to appeal
to learners aged between 5 and 11. This was effective in helping design our
products as we had guidelines which made it easier to narrow down what we had
to do and what we could use to produce our outcome.
For this project I did experimentation with my different
styles of wall and display board designs along with the knitting brief I
experimented with different materials to find which one I prefer to use like
out of wool or card and I chose card as in my opinion it looked better and was
easier to produce a product with in the time given. With problem solving we had
to overcome the sizes of the wall and how much paint and materials we would
need along with working with a tight budget and not being able to go over this
budget of just £100.
If I had no client constraints I would have done something a
little more to my taste like cartoon characters instead of book characters and
would have chosen a more colourful outcome for the knitting brief we were given
as black was a little dull and boring.
I decided on my designs with the help of the constraints we
had so I chose designs that were colourful, interactive, fun and appealing to
the young audience our designs would be seen by every day.
Throughout this project I have used processes such as
Photoshop and the class we had showing us how we could incorporate it in our
design and how we could use it to make the designing process go faster. The
designing and planning went well but the costing did not really go to plan as
the display boards went a little over budget as I did not take into account
that £100 pounds was to be spent over 2 display boards which is why I would
change my designs a little to stick within the budget given to us next time.
I did manage my time well with this project as I have
completed everything in time or before the dead line that we had been given to
us. I wrote in my diary what I would be doing each day but it did not really
help me in a way as I knew what I had to do so I did not pay much attention to
it in this project. In this project I have used my blog effectively showing
what I have done, when I have done it and what I have done to make it appeal to
the customer and what will make the customer happy.
To prepare for my presentation I gathered all my work and
organised it into which sheet I would show first and went through what I was
going to say in my head before I presented, this gave me a good start to the
presentation and helped me look like I knew what I was talking about and what I
was doing. Next time I would prepare more by having the costing sheets on the
front of the design sheets and maybe go over what I would say to the client in
the presentation a little more before going to present.
It was different and a challenge to work for someone you had
just met and didn’t know very well. They influenced my work with what they
wanted from us with the project they handed us which was a child friendly design
that would influence children to read and love to read.
Overall I am happy with my presentation and this project as
my designs have turned out better than what they started off as and I have
become more confident with speaking to new people and in front of a small crowd
of people. If I were to change anything I would add more things that the
children could interact6 with in my designs and maybe use my time a little more
effectively.
