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Learning agreement tutorial

Over the last few tutorials, Rich has mentioned that my project did not have enough depth but I did not understand how I could grow my project further. However, during my tutorial agreement, Rich pointed out that within my tutorials and initial research I have been vaguely talking about the death of the high street. He pointed out that looking at a subject such as this or proposing a scheme that helps solve the fall of a certain area for example will allow me more breathing room to meet the LOs.

Based on this I have decided to explore how I can solve a problem based on a specific area of the high street that may be facing problems. To expand the breadth of my project I will spend the next few days exploring in-depth where the current problem lies and how this can be solved. However, for my project I still would like to explore branding so I will make sure this is a key part of the concept I create.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Refined action plan

Week 1

Generate ideas for Translate and Transform brief.

Conduct initial research to develop my ideas further.

Create 1-2 practical experiments around 2 of my ideas.

Use tutorial feedback to direct further research

Week 2

Use further research and feedback to being developing final idea.

Create mockups of my final idea

Begin creating my idea using research, reflection and tutorial feedback.

Generate ideas for major project.

Start initial research around my ideas.

Week 3

Research into the business mindset and how to run a small business.

Contact small business to ask for an interview or chat about their personal experience.

Research around user experience and start looking at how users interact with a brand's identity.

Week 4

Research into existing businesses that combine multiple concepts.

Interview Lav who is employed at a vinyl café in York.

Research why florists and ceramics studios do not already coexist.

Visit a ceramics cage to understand how they have created their customer experience.

Week 5

Define the concept and audience of my business, using my initial research.

Create learning agreement and action plan, based off my research and tutorial feedback.

Research contemporary brands that combine two business concepts.

Refine learning agreement, using tutorial feedback and further research.

Use this research to experiment with a range of mediums that will help to form visual identity mock-ups.

Week 6

Research contemporary florist and ceramic artist brands, to see how they have established a unique brand.

Use research to experiment with digital software that will help to for visual identity mock-ups.

Use my research into how to make small brands successful and contemporary design to create 5-10 sketches of a visual identity for my business idea.

Use my experiments to quickly visualise 3-4 of my initial sketches.

Week 7

Conduct research on what my target audience are appealed towards to inform the development of my idea.

Use my audience research to narrow my ideas down to one idea which holds the most potential.

Create a Pecha Kucha that shows the development of my idea and project.

Develop my idea using audience research and tutorial feedback.

Easter Holidays

Begin to create layouts for my process book, using my research and experiments to inform my choices.

Continue to research around industry trends, to see what is popular right now and what I may need to avoid.

Week 8

Create mock-ups of my visual identity to put my existing design into a realistic environment.

Reflect on these mock-ups, using my target audience and primary research.

Refine my designs using my research on industry trends, reflections and tutorial feedback.

Week 9

Continue to develop layouts for my process book, using the development of my project to inform what I include.

Use Adobe dimensions to look at the customer experience my brand creates.

Reflect on my customer experience, using primary research around current businesses.

Refine my design using primary research, reflection and tutorial feedback.

Week 10

Test print my process book and reflect on my designs.

Research around how contemporary businesses advertise their branding to their customers.

Use this research to refine my designs.

Using mock-ups and Adobe dimensions, place my refined design into a real-life setting.

Refine my designs to solve problems I may face when placing them into mock-ups.

Week 11

Continue to develop my process book, making sure to clearly show the narrative of my project.

Create a presentation showing my current designs and my reasoning behind them.

Use my presentation feedback to conduct relevant research around my area of interest.

Use my presentation feedback and further research to refine my designs.

Week 12

Continue to refine my designs, solving problems I may face using research and experiments.

Place my final designs in a presentation and other appropriate assets to clearly show what the brand will look like, what the customer experience is and why it will appeal to the target audience.

Test print my process book, making sure my process and reflection are clear throughout.

Use this to make necessary changes to the design.

Print off process book and bind using my chosen method.

Critically reflect on my project, looking at how I have solved problems throughout and what I have gained from the project.

Week 13

Hand in - 13/05/2024 at 10.30am.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Forming a rough action plan

To form my action plan, I have decided to use a bullet point list to clearly indicate what I need to complete each week. This will make sure I am on schedule throughout my project, lowering the chance of my project not hitting the learning outcomes. I have decided to only write the future weeks for my rough action plan as I have already planned the first 4 weeks of this project.

Week 5

Define the concept and audience of my business, using my initial research.

Create learning agreement, based off of my research and tutorial feedback. Creation rough action plan Using tutorial presentations, research and my outlined proposal.

Research contemporary brands that combine two business concepts.

Refine learning agreement, using tutorial feedback and further research.

Use this research to experiment with a range of mediums that will help to form visual identity mock-ups.

Week 6

Research contemporary florist and ceramic artist brands, to see how they have established a unique brand.

Use research to experiment with digital software that will help to for visual identity mock-ups.

Use my research into how to make small brands successful and contemporary design to create 5-10 sketches of a visual identity for my business idea.

Use my experiments to quickly visualise 3-4 of my initial sketches.

Week 7

Conduct research on what my target audience are appealed towards to inform the development of my idea.

Use my audience research to narrow my ideas down to one idea which holds the most potential.

Create a Pecha Kucha that shows the development of my idea to Rich and Dot.

Develop my idea using audience research and tutorial feedback.

Easter Holidays

Begin to create layouts for my process book, using my research and experiments to inform my choices.

Continue to research around industry trends, to see what is popular right now and what I may need to avoid.

Week 8

Create mock-ups of my visual identity to put my existing design into situe.

Reflect on these mock-ups, using my target audience and primary research.

Refine my designs using my research on industry trends, reflections and tutorial feedback.

Week 9

Continue to develop layouts for my process book, using the development of my project to inform what I include.

Use Adobe dimensions to look at the customer experience my brand creates.

Reflect on my customer experience, using primary research around current businesses.

Refine my design using primary research, reflection and tutorial feedback.

Week 10

Test print my process book and reflect on my designs.

Research around how contemporary businesses advertise their branding to their customers.

Use this research to refine my designs.

Using mockups and Adobe dimensions, place my refined design into a real-life setting.

Refine my designs to solve problems I may face when placing them in mock-ups.

Week 11

Continue to develop my process book, making sure to clearly show the narrative of my project.

Create a presentation showing my current designs and my reasoning behind them.

Use my presentation feedback to conduct relevant research around my area of interest.

Use my presentation feedback and further research to refine my designs.

Week 12

Continue to refine my designs, solving problems I may face using research and experiments.

Place my final designs in a presentation and other appropriate assets to clearly show what the brand will look like, what the customer experience is and why it will appeal to the target audience.

Test print my process book, making sure my process and reflection are clear throughout.

Use this to make necessary changes to the design.

Print off process book and bind using my chosen method.

Critically reflect on my project, looking at how I have solved problems throughout and what I have gained from the project.

Week 13

Hand in - 13/05/2024 at 10.30am.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Writing learning agreement synopsis - Week 5

Small businesses are constantly struggling to survive in the current market. A looming recession and lingering effects from Covid has led to businesses failing and losing the loyal following of their brand. My initial research has found that having a strong visual identity that surround customer experience, gives a small business an advantage over large corporations. This makes them stand out and allows them to build the loyal following they need to survive.

I will develop visual identity for a fictional small business that combines ceramics and flower arrangements. It will focus on the customers experience and how they will interact with the brand. This will need to be designed and created to a professional standard, making sure to use mock-ups and software such as Adobe dimensions, to visualise the brand in a physical space.

To inform the direction of my project, I will continue to research existing brands, surrounding the combination of two business concepts (LO1). I will also explore current industry trends to inform my visual experiments and developments by looking at contemporary branding and rebranding of locally owned businesses (LO2). To efficently structure my project, I will use a rough time plan of my full project to inform weekly in-depth schedules (LO3). To develop my designs I will reflect on my research a experiments to make my choices informed (LO4).

This project will help me to understand the industry I wish to explore further throughout my career. By looking at why a visual identity is important for a small business, I will be able to form an insight which may change how I approach design for their visual identities. This will expand my knowledge of industry trends as well as being able to form my own design ethos. I will be developing my research skills by using more primary forms of research, such as interviews and visiting locations. This includes asking business owners about their experience as well as looking at industry standards for current visual identity designs.

My target audience will be decided by the research I conduct to form the concept of the business. This will allow me to look at the audiences current likes to form decisions on how I will design the brand. I will need to make sure that the audience is suitable for a ceramic and flower arrangement business.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

All Fired up - Ceramic Cafe

For my research into contemporary brands and how small business create a unique customer experience to stand out from larger brands, I have decided to look at a ceramic café called All Fired Up. This will aid my project because it will show me how a customer experience can be crafted from finding out about the brand to receiving a final product/service.

When opening their website, I was immediately created with pastel colours and friendly instructions informing the steps I would complete to create my own painted ceramic object. This made it simple to understand and immediately created a friendly atmosphere where I felt comfortable to explore it further. What I found interesting is that I couldn't book a table online. This meant I needed to call or visit the store which makes the experience feel more personal and human interaction centred from the start.

I found this interesting because it makes the relationship between the brand and customer more personal, making it feel more special.

When I entered the shop I was greeted by a friendly employee who brought me to my table. The table was clean with a personalised plaque stating my name and the time I had booked. I quite liked this small detail because it made me feel valued and welcomed. The member of staff then clearly explained each step and brought us a range of brushes and water to use for our ceramic pieces. He than pointed out the paints and ceramic shelves before leaving me to start.

The first step was to choose a ceramic piece from the shelf. I liked hoe the prices were on the pieces themselves, making it clear how much this would cost and stopping the chance of prices being mixed up throughout the day.

The second step was to choose colours. I liked how they had a fired ceramic tile colour palette on the table as this allowed me to see what the colours will look like when it is fired as they look more pastel when painted on before firing.

I also liked how there are small circular tiles benear the bottles, making sure you find the colour you want easily.

To make it easier to understand the process, they have placed multiple places and tiles around the room showing how the colours will look when layered and how they should look before firing. This made the process less stressful becuase I was reassured that I wasnt doing it wrong.

This created a calm and fun atmosphere where I felt comfortable to talk, and express myself with my painting.

Although the table was small, I liked how organised the materials were. This made the materials easy to find.

I decided to paint a decorative ornament for my room, because I wanted to choose something I could test multiple techniques on. For this I decided to try making a blend of different blues using a sponge method which should create a textured transition. I also looked at adding small details, using smaller stroked and a steady hand. This also allowed me to test my attention to detail.

I enjoyed making this because I was able to have creative freedom whilst using a template, as the ceramic base was premade. Overall the experience was fun and calming with clear instructions, helpful and friendly staff, soothing music and a warm and cosy atmpshere.

I also found that the store offer pre-made cards and ceramic pieces, with some proceeds going to charity. This continues to form a helpful and friendly image that the brand had started to form the first time I called them. This gives me a positive view of the brand and makes me more likely to return back to the cafe.

From this visit, I know that ceramics attract a family centred and younger audience, meaning I will need to create a younger centred audience than a flower show may have. However, I noticed that the ceramics painting and firing created dusty and humid air. This may not be suitable for taking care of flowers, as when I worked in a flower shop the temperature was cool to keep the flowers fresh. Therefore, this business concept may not be viable unless there were two separate spaces for each section.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Customer experience

In conclusion, these businesses are successsful combining two concepts by creating a fluid customer experiene. This stops the concepts from seeming separate and instead combines them into one cohesive brand.

Therefore, for me to create a successful visual identity for a ceramics and florist, I will need to focus on the customer experience. This will allow me to see what I need to create to show how this mix of business concepts may work under one brand.

Based on my research, I have decided to brand one business where a ceramics artists and florist have come together to open a store that combines the two aspects of creating a floral arrangement into one customer experience. I think this will allow me to create a more cohesive brand because it has a fluid narrative compared to trying to combine two separate entities who may have their own brand as well.

However, Rich pointed out in my tutorial that I need to look at if ceramics studios have combined with florist before, to see if this idea is viable. As the main shops I have found, have been cafes combined with other businesses. This concept is successful because it draws people in using the cafe then introduces them to the second aspect, either a shop or service. However, having two shop aspects may not work.

Therefore, I will look at whether this concept already exists and what conditions are needed for a florist and ceramics studio to see if there may be any problems with creating my brand and customer experience. As I will need to look at the store layout and hoe the customer will encounter the components of the brand, to form the customer experience.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Collective

When walking to cathc the bus, after leaving the Crooked book, I found the Collective. I had been intrigued by this cafe and beauty salon since Dot brought it up in tutorial. However, I had been having trouble finding it.

The metal sign, instantly creates a modern and elgant feel to the brand, as the quirky sans serif typeface links to other beauty salon brands. Howefver, unlike other beatuy salons that usually make me feel nervous and too scared to entre, the cafe at the font of the store, gives a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, with the staf chatting whilst making drinks, and comfy chairs waiting for the next group to sit and chat. The beauty salon area is seperated by a wall of glass. This allows the cafe customers to see what services there are and be intrigued by the skills of the workers.

What I found interesting it how the menu of treatments are not only set out as a cafe menu but also organised into a map. This allows the customers to easily find the treatments they are looking for, whilst connecting the cafe and treatments into one brand.

Therefore, before creating the brand I will need to consider how the ceramics and flowers will interact with each other, as I will need to portray this in the visual identity and assets.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

The Crooked Book Bournemouth

I have decided to look at the crooked book because they're main selling point is their cosy atmosphere. Therefore, I want to look at how they have used their brand to create an experience.

When arriving at the shop I noticed that the logo and window decals are hand painted. This immmedicately gives the shop a rustic appearance. The handmade element makes it stand out from large corporation owned cafes becuase it shows that it is owner by local people who are apart of th community. The fairy lights handing in the windows, make the shop look inviting and starts to create a coy amosphere using soft yellow lighting.

When I entered the shop, I was immediately bombarded by the smell of dust and old paper, aswell as upbeat soothing music. This immediately set me at ease when I had been overwhelmed and stressed earlier in the day. The first thing I noticed in the shop, was a cosy seating area, with mix matched furniture. This made me smille as it fit with the rustic vibe the shop gave with the hand painted logo. Behind the seating area, was what reminded me of a antique jumble sale. Counless wooden shelves and tables were filled with ceramics, hand embroidery and old styled glass bottles. Wherever I looked I found something new. One thing that excited me were these old letterpress type blocks. I instantly started to sift through to see what I could find.

I was also intrigued by these old maps from around the country.

When walking further into the shop, I found tha the counter to order drinks was built onto a book case. With piles of books surrounding it. I found this quite interesting because it shows that the books are a part of the coffee aspect, integrating the two business concepts into one fluid customer experience. When walking further into the shop, I found that the books were separated into different genres. However, what intrigued me was that old books were placed next to newer books. This instantly creates a community vibe, where different generations can come and still find something they are interested in.

This is shown in their customers. When I arrived, a family with small children were enjoing a coffee in the front widnows, whilst oldder gentlement were browing the history books section. On the way to the book section, a young couple were chatting whilst looking at the non-fiction books, whilst young kids were darting towards the comic and cildren's sections.

In this small cafe and shop, the owners have created this community paradise where people from different walks of life can chat, drink coffee and immerse themselves into a range of literature, antique collectables and nick nacks from around the world.

By looking at crooked book I can see that the method and material I use to create the assets of the brand will change how it feels. For example, crooked book have used hand painted illustrations and logos, as well as hand drawn signs. This gives the cafe a more personal and warm vibe that feels welcoming. Therefore, I will need to carefully consider how I will create the visual identity as this will change the atmosphere it creates.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Updated plan for this week

Thursday 22nd - Research into existing businesses that combine multiple concepts. Interview Lav - ex employee at a vinyl café. Look at contacting business owners to see why they combined the two concepts.

Friday 23rd - Start looking at why florists and ceramics studios do not already coexist. Visit ceramics studio to understand their customer experience

Monday 26th -Create a rough synopsis - detailing what I plan to do and why. This will be based off of my research and tutorial feedback. Creation rough action plan Using tutorial presentations, research and my outlined proposal.

Tuesday 27th - Redraft learning agreement. Refine action plan. Print off two copies of action plan and create presentation of my research and how this has directed my project.

Wednesday 28th - Present learning agreement to tutors. Use feedback to refine learning agreement and action plan.

0 notes

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Following my feedback I have decided to slightly change how I am planning to approach my brief. Instead of jumping into visual experiments, I have decided to continue researching around how this business may work and why, to create a solid foundation to begin experimenting next week.

Therefore my plan for this week is to Research existing businesses who have combined concepts, to see how they have succeeded and creating a cohesive brand. I will also look at whay florist and ceramic studios may not already coexist, by visiting both businesses and researching what needs each businesses need.

However, I will still contact businesses to discuss their experience on branding a small business, so I can gain an understanding on what problems a small business may face when creating a visual identity. This will allow me to create a brand that is more focused around making a business successful.

I will also visit local ceramic studios and florists to look at how they create their customer experience, and why their customers like the environment.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Feedback from Dot and Rich

They found my idea quite interesting because it changes how we think about businesses.

Dot pointed out that my research shows that this focuses on a lifestyle, as it looks at experience aswell as the product.

However, Rich pointed out that I need to consider narrowing down my target audience as it is quite large right now.

Rich also pointed out that I may need to look at how I can fulfill LO2 as my idea is mashing together to business concepts into one. Therefore I might need to think beyong florists and ceramics, as insteead look at how other businesses have mashes together to create a fresh and novel brand. Like Collective on holdenhurst road.

they also suggested I could look at contemporary branding to influence my project, like bar brands and other popular businesses.

Dot pointed out that I could create one sentence and what I am doing that captures nuance pieces. This will make my project more focused.

They also pointed out that I could look at why these concepts have not been combined yet as they both agreed that florists and ceramics do closely link with each other.

Rich also pointed out that I need to define whether this is two separate businesses who just share a space, or is it one combined business.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Preparing for tutorial

Using riches advice, I used the tutorial pro forma to prepare for my tutorial. I found this useful because I was able to create my presentation, based on how I have used my previous feedback to develop the concept of my project.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Business Idea.

What - A shared space for a ceramics studio and Florist. These businesses use workshops to build their customers skills and offer a unique experience. However, they also offer a service that allows customers to buy pre made bouquets and vases, or order their own unique creations.

Why - This will allow me to create a brand that stands out because it has an interesting concept and relies on interactive experiences. This will allow me to look at how a brand can be led by customer experience.

Who - People who are interested in creativity. This main target audience will between 18-40 because it is aimed at people who buy flowers for themselves or others. As well as wanting to learn new creative skills as a hobby.

Where - The main space for the brand will be a shared commerce space, that is split into a shop and creative studio. The brand may also use a website to allow their audience to place orders and book workshops and will have a social media presence as their main marketing. The business may also attend creative fairs as advertisement for their workshops and products.

When - For use in the contemporary market and high street.

How - Creating a unique customer experience that encourages customers to learn more about flowers and ceramics. Through the use of a logo, message, colour scheme, website, merchandise, social media posts, packaging, decals and business cards.

This idea also imitates how businesses are currently sharing one space, to create a community that customers can belong to and lower overall costs businesses are facing.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Talking through ideas with Tom

When discussing my ideas of businesses I could brand with Tom, he pointed out that I could combine ideas. We both agreed that the book shop and bakery could be quite restricted with how I could brand it, as they both have pre determined images that people recognise as they are quite popular right now.

However, when we were discussing the ceramic studios, tom pointed out that I already described it as a shared space, so why can I combine the idea with the florist idea. This would be allow me to be more creative with creating the brand because both businesses are based on creative skills. I like this because I have experience in both ceramics and floristry as I studied ceramics in college and had to privilege of completing a placement in a small florist. He suggested I visit All fired up - the local ceramics shop in Bournemouth. As this will allow me to see how they have created a creative visual identity and a unique customer experience.

I think this idea would work quite well because flowers require ceramic vases to store them. Therefore, the two businesses would work hand in hand. I would also be able to look at creating a unique customer experience that could be based on interactive marketing techniques. I would also be able to explore the community space, which I have become curious about when conducting my research. I also think this idea will allow me to experiment with different ways I can create customer relations which will help me to my communication skills.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Business idea generation

Based on my research, I decided to create the visual identity for a Pre-established stage business that relies on strong customer relations to be successful as I think this will allow me to create a portfolio project that will showcase a range of my skills to employers. I also think this will allow me to hit the LOs because I will be able to explore contemporary work and critically reflect on my skills, outcomes and research.

I started by creating a broad mind map describing all the types of products or services the business could create. When reflecting on this mind map, I found myself drawn to businesses that combined multiple products or services because I think this will allow me to create a fun narrative to guide the visual identity creation.

Following this I decided to create a mind map of different locations the business may sit. From this I was able to see that I would want the business to be online or a community space, since my research has found that current small businesses do not start in their own physical space because of high rent prices and lower profits. Therefore, I am limited to what products/services the business could use as most services require a physical space and some products are hard to sell online (especially if they have a small shelf life).

From these two mind maps, I created ideas on what the business could be, where it would be based, who it would be aimed at and what their main message could be. I found this useful because I was able to see which concepts would allow me to hit the LOs and which may create problems near the end of the project. From this I was interested in designing a visual identity for a ceramics studio (because it can combine selling products, providing lessons however, it does require a physical space). or a book shop/cafe (this will allow me to explore how businesses are combining into one space, whilst remaining individuals.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Dimensions workshop.

Task - Create a scene for a beauty brand

I started with the lotions bottle - experimenting with materials and colour. Decided to use a blue colour scheme as this reminds me of water. To create the logo I decided to use the stock image of a water illustration with letters to show the brands link with water, calm and peace. I used illustrator to script the logo using the b and h because I like how I was able to. create a fluid shape. I also liked how I can use the logo on different areas of the shape and it will change depending on the angle of view.

Final renders

When rendering I found that they take ages, so I will need to consider this when creating the action plan for my project.

Overall, I think dimensions could be a useful software for my project because it will allow me to quickly realise packaging, logo placement, photographs and locations. This will make it quicker to create different assets that I may have had trouble creating in other projects, such as packaging.

[hollyoxleylevel6]

Dimensions workshop

Step 1 - Set up the document

This is similar to most other adobe files however I did find it strange than the scene units can be different from the canvas units. Therefore, I will need to double check these units if I use dimensions in the future.

Step 2 - Insert object - scale, rotate and move

Using the arrows I found it easy to manipulate the box into the place and size I wanted.

Step 3 - add materials

To make the box more realistic, I found adding materials easy and useful. I like how I was easily able to switch materials, making it easy to test different materials if I was to use this in a future project.

Step 4 - add lighting - scene and directional

I found this quite hard because the lights layered. This made it easy to make the scene too light when trying to test different settings. However, I did find it useful to add realism to the scene. Therefore this programme may be useful for creating quick mock ups of photographs for websites, print and assets.

Step 5 - add decals

I found this quite useful because I found that I could quickly add logos, details and patterns. I also liked how I could easily experiment with scale and location.

In conclusion, I found dimensions was useful for visualising a photograph or 'scene. Based on my experience, I think I could use this software to create packaging mock up or quickly add logos, and branding guidelines to different merchandise and locations to show how it could work in the real world.