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Make it Matter!

I worry that I’m very particularly minded, and that I often go with the first idea that comes into my head.

Even through I’m sure that idea is often the one that most accurately fulfills the requirements, I need to get better practice at producing ideation examples and evaluating existing designs.

I worry that I often control the conversation and don’t ask enough questions or break enough for better input.

I have good plans for output but I am often last minute to make changes. I delay to make things as I am bad with time management, I need to have set times to think things through, organize myself, and schedule.

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Project 2 - Creative Brief

Brand / Publication: Hah Beets / Today’s Parrent

Background

Hah Beets is a specialized sub-brand of BCFresh Vegetables Inc. Of which, has tangential links to Hidden Garden who specialize in vegetable cookies, and Naturally Homegrown Foods Ltd. That specialize in vegetable chips.

The publication we’re adapting our advert for, “Today’s Parent”, is a parenthood magazine for new parents specialized in advice around discipline, health, behaviour, education, and nutrition.

Target Audience

Parents trying to get their kids to eat healthy and balance their nutritional needs. Kids looking to find something to occupy themselves and take interest in.

Intention

Page 19 in the example publication has a notable mention of letting kids explore food. This is a notable approach I wish for the adverts to adopt to adapt better with the publication.

The parent should be able to see the produce as their own option to introduce their kids too, kids should also be able to read this advert and discern a similar intrinsic ambition.

There is a good opportunity here to give context and inspire them to incorporate beets into their family meals. One such example recipe is roasting them with oil and herbs such as dill, oregano, and basil.

Another such unconventional idea is incorporating the beets as art&crafts veggie stamps as a kid’s activity.

The advert should also serve as way of informing our availability as a business, including contact details and possible events such as our presence in farmers markets. We should also be transparent about being an advertisement for buying produce and not extend our expectations of the reader beyond that.

Tone

Curiosity, Fascination, Hearty, Juicy, Optimistic, “Kid-Friendly”, Approachable, intrinsic motivation

Guiding Principles

Hearty, Approachable, Intrinsic

Possible Layout and Design Elements

Large Text

Bold Sans Serif Fonts

Translate text into attractive visual patterns

Use circle whorled cuts of beets as a friendly shape, like the rings in a tree stump

Use a pale yellow or another soft colour as an accent colour in contrast to the red beets.

Have photos extend past the bleed

Incorporate the taproot point into a dynamic pointer shape

Means

Use of photography, minor illustrations, and patterns to create an engaging layout that makes use of focal points. Have the layout of visual elements paired with simple worded context for both kids and parent to engage with; marketing details can be exempt to provide parents with actionable information.

Production Schedule Deliverables

MAR 7th

Review brand and publication, Consider hierarchy and alignment, Brainstorm thumbs, Keep simple, Download font families, Review thumbs for Logo.

MAR 14th

Thumbs and layouts x5, collection of possible photos for editing, grid layout

Review pros and cons of each layout including hierarchy and alignment, discuss tone and planned edits for photos, discuss possible colour choices

MAR 21st

Content Laid out, Roughs x2 printable, colours

Review pros and cons of each rough, adapt if possible, review colour hierarchy, simplify

MAR 28th

Refined roughs printable, photos formatted

Feedback, Nitpick, Review and Discussion for Presentation

APR 4th HEMLOCK PRINTERS / STUDIO DAY

APR 11th Due Date

Print Ready File, Web Ready File, Presentation

Specs

CMYK for print.

PDF for on screen view.

File name: (First name Last initial) 310_AngusM_P1_Editorial_v1.pdf

Full Page: 7.875”x 10.75” Half Page:

7.875”x 5.375”

Banner Space: 7.875”x 2.25” trim

Source Links:

Inspiration Links:

https://recipecenter.stopandshop.com/articles/1111/how-to-make-veggie-stamps

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Proof 3

Our third proofing session really showed the progress we made. Mackenzie provided a third format that we agreed was our strongest composition.

Jason Lanier’s profile was formatted in an ideal way that lent no further complications to the formatting. His pull quote was an accurate reflection of the main take-away from the article.

We considered incorporating the VR visor into the waterfall photo as a continuation of the subject of the technology, but decided against it in favour of reincorporating our superimposed Man in Forest concept from earlier.

Our hope was that with some photo editing we could have the superimposed image refer to a simulated outdoor environment. The image acting as a solid introduction to the concept of the article and it’s relation to the publication’s subject.

We spent the remainder of our time proof-reading and checking minor forms such as letting and orphans. We came to the agreement that the font size could be changed to better fit the material and leave room for more negative space or imagery.

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Proof 2

My second proofing session with Mackenzi was similar to the first. We had made significant progress with adapting to the FolkLife Publication’s format that it was somewhat expected we would differ from original scheduled deliverables.

I encouraged Mackenzi to experiment with her layout of the articles and selection of images. Our goal was to have images that reflected the sentiment of the article within proximity.

The image Mackenzi had chosen for Jason Lanier’s profile had a similar sentiment towards the article, but we had come to the agreement that the sentiment should match the publication primarily. We found a great substitute image together.

Upon reviewing the magazine some more we found interesting formatting nuances that we incorporated into the project including an article continuation header.

I did notice some elements on the digital file including photos still had their digital signatures as their names instead of identifiable labels; however layers were labelled and layered appropriately.

Our goal for our next proof was to experiment more with our layout to evaluate our options across our previous two layouts and evaluate the pros and cons between them in regards to the creative brief.

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Proof 1

Had my first proofing session with my designer Mackenzi Beck. Our project entails incorporating the Jesse Barron’s article “The Ghost Machine” into the publication format of the “Folk Life” magazine.

Our conversation was very thorough thanks to the creative brief, Mackenzi often asked questions for clarification.

We had the idea of incorporating Jason Lanier’s profile into the formatting to make the article more personable. Lanier’s perspective also aligns with the sentiments of the publication.

We agreed that getting the formatting of our project correct early will allow us to make more efficient aesthetic changes going forward. Our focus now was to gather as many sample photos as possible along with their sources to discuss what photos suit the project's formatting.

Pull quotes need to be identified and incorporated into the formatting of the layout.

The front layout could stand to have the paragraphs break just before the subject changes to discussing Lanier's background. The cover image is also very dark and requires the publisher logo to be white on black instead of black on black.

Strangely enough the original publication does not use hanging quotations.

Foot notes and end notes need to be adjusted in respect to the magazine's binding; this raised the question as to whether the first page was left or right binding.

I didn't get a peek at the digital file as I did provide a digital template alongside the creative brief during our first meeting, although we did recognize that Indesign objects need to be appropriately labelled and grouped.

Printing Hard copy was excellent and was a great help in communicating possible changes in the formatting that would aid the composition. Mackenzi believes we can reduce the body text's font size to make room for more photos and adhere to the 45 character minimum line length.

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Creative Brief

Background

This article is a poetic opinion piece

featuring Jaron Lanier, a computer scientist responsible for the foundations of Virtual Reality.

The article opens with heavy criticism of digital culture and social media and how it promotes unsustainable destructive habits.

Later however, the article begins to describe and discuss the optimistic outcomes of Virtual Reality and it’s power to inspire empathy.

The article publisher is “UTNE Reader” is a digital digest of articles focused on emerging cultural trends.

The magazine publication we’re adapting for, “FolkLife”, is a slow-living lifestyle magazine comprising of a Matte aesthetic, Poetic editorial, and vibrant photography.

Target Audience

Those who are concerned with technology and it’s sustainability.

Those who live off the grid that are curious as to what technological trends may impact outside their “off the grid” lives.

Intention

The reader should initially feel critical of the modern digital life, but become hopeful after reading the positive developments later in the article.

Give context to the developments of tech and it’s ability to connect and provide unique experiences.

Commentary and criticism on tech businesses.

Discussion of how businesses plan to profit from empathy, yet how the technology could be used to ensure the users benefit through personal experience.

Tone

Informative, Imaginative, Sarcastic, Opinion Piece, Philosophic, Personal, Hopeful

Guiding Principles

Grounded, Optimistic, Skeptical

Layout and Design Elements

2-columns body copy

40 character length OR 70 character length

Justified text, paragraph breaks

First paragraph bolded

Big focus on photography

photo extend past the bleed

Pull Quotes Italicized (word wraping)

Minimalist formatting

White text overlapping dark image (vice versa)

Means

Photography should convey the message between this unlikely target audience and the article topic. Rustic imagery contrasted with personal experience with VR. Photography’s tone should compliment the adjacent segments of the article.

Typography shouldn’t take priority over imagery regarding the hierarchy.

Production Schedule Deliverables

JAN 24th

Review article and publication, Understand hierarchy and alignment, Brainstorm layouts, Keep simple, Download font families.

JAN 31st

Thumbs and layouts x5, collection of possible photos for editing, grid layout

Review pros and cons of each layout including hierarchy and alignment, discuss tone and planned edits for photos, discuss possible colour choices

FEB 7th

Content Laid out, Roughs x2 printable, colours

Review pros and cons of each rough, adapt if possible, review colour hierarchy, simplify

FEB 14th

Refined roughs printable, photos formatted

Feedback, Nitpick

FEB 21st STUDY BREAK

FEB 28th Due Date

Print Ready File

Specs

CMYK for print. 10 x 16 trim

PDF for on screen view.

File name: (First name Last initial) 310_AngusM_P1_Editorial_v1.pdf

Source Links:

FolkLife Magazine

Jaron Lanier

Jason Lanier social media criticism

Article “The Ghost Machine”

Area Font

Display Font

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File Structure

I tried to work this file organization way earlier into course projects, but couldn’t get into the habit of it as each project had me doing something a little different.

I’ve gotten into the habit of using “-” and underscores “_” to break up subjects in a naming convention as I’ve heard it helps prevent a file from becoming corrupted.

I also tend to use capitals instead of spaces when it comes to the main descriptive name, as it’s still easy to read without adding more spaces.

From the tutorials I’ve watched and read, the project folder after selecting the class folder usually starts with a sequential job number followed by a conventional name.

For this class though, I will still be attributing the class along with my name and the project name.

Within a project folder is the actual contents of the folder, yet since this project will have me working tangentially on two separate projects, they will be split with the same naming convention and file structure, but be given a different conventional name.

The actual file structure has at least 5 levels along with a creative brief.

The first category is assets, this is where I would store all the font-families, raw images, base assets, colour pallets, and anything else that would come along with the creative brief.

The second is the work folder, where the multiple drafts and iterations will be stored in a series of rounds base on the average time taken on a work session. It’s helpful to have only one folder you need to copy into your backup with each working session.

The third is presentation, here the latest working files are stored including artifacts, deliverables, and any feedback documents or iterations that were made. Having these closer together in the directory makes it easy to evaluate.

The fourth is the delivery folder. This folder is the final stage in the project process where a file is given a final naming convention specific to the client’s format. Usually the naming convention starts with the date submitted, so that the latest iteration can be found first in a search function. This is followed by the job number, project number description, round number, version number, and then finally my own initials. Afterwards the file is zipped and compressed ready to be distributed.

The fifth and last folder is for legal documentation. Always good to have on hand for reference especially when someone else is consulting your files.

I may have to rename these file conventions at some-point, but having all these files in one place makes it easier to back everything up to my hard drive.

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What is an Art Director?

To my mind, an Art Director co-ordinates with the Designer regarding the strategic impression or function the art is meant to achieve; an Art Director must be able to clearly and concisely articulate the intended experience and relate that back to design choices made by the Designer.

Inspiration

I find project “Just Type Playing Cards” compelling as there is a lot of subtle design systems in play that work to make each card feel immediately obvious, distinctive, cohesive, and complimentary to the rest of the deck.

The choice of a warm black and vibrant orange with the pale white creates this nostalgic colour scheme. The Bauhaus style of letter-forms create some uniquely distinct cards that can be identified even when partially covered while in someone’s hand. The Woodblock type also seeks to create this nostalgic feeling by having the suit’s shape baked into the singular letter-form of the card.

Playing cards are actually a very unique way of experiencing art as they’re quite often not shown, but when part of them is revealed you remember quickly between all 56 different versions of them.

The design of the cards needs to be distinctive enough at a glance, yet be cohesive enough that one doesn't need to spend a moment telling the cards apart.

Some artistic decks take the approach of putting a unique illustration for each of the 56 cards. I feel like that's somewhat unhelpful in terms of design to make every single card unique. The function of playing cards is to make pairs and associations as well with them, so making them all distinctly unique makes them harder to associate.

Guiding Principles

For guiding principles for this project, I would expect the three main descriptors to be: Cohesive, Memorable, and Welcoming.