jayhalimdesign

[jayhalimdesign]

hand drawn Geordie post cards

[jayhalimdesign]

Personalised birthday card

I have set myself a task to draw as many personalised birthday cards for friends and family as I can. This way I will develop and learn new skills using different applications and techniques.

For this card I began by tracing an image using a light box and digitising it using at first Illustrator as seen on image 3. I played around with different fonts and textures however was running out of time and decided to take the document into photoshop as I am able to use it faster. I might have gotten a better outcome had I given myself more time and used illustrator, for this reason I plan on using illustrator for my next card.

[jayhalimdesign]

Davison family portrait   

For Christmas I was low on funds and decided to make a print for everyone in my family. I used photoshop (I know) to digitise my sketches and add colour. My plan is to make one personalised card at least once a month to better my illustrator skills.

[jayhalimdesign]

Personalised birthday card for Beth’s 20th!

In my spare time I make birthday cards for friends and family. Staying up until 5am to sketch a rushed drawing is often a regular occurrence before birthdays and Christmas. 

[jayhalimdesign]

Advertising Processes and Concept Development

For my advertising brief set by JCDecaux (the worlds leading digital out of home advertising company), I was tasked with creating an advertisement for the ‘#LondonIsOpen’ campaign. From the beginning I found this project quite challenging as we learnt about how companies try to communicate meaning or a message from an ad which often is totally unrelated to the product / service they are selling. We were taught about how in the past advertisements were plain and straight to the point, however today advertisers have to think of more creative ways to promote their message due to the broad range of competition there is.                                                                                                                 

Starting my research I began looking into the idea of London being “open”. I created mind maps and word associations to discover what being open really meant or could mean. I researched into the existing campaign and what it had already done. I also looked at different ways of advertising in bus shelters across the world which I found quite interesting as I found many different examples of the ways in which advertisers can be creative, which also gave me motivation and inspiration to think of something different.

As I was in London during the project I took the opportunity to do some primary research while I was there. I visited different attractions and things less well known in comparison to attractions like Big Ben or The London Eye. I took pictures of street art, botanical gardens, art galleries, food places, bars and anything I found interesting, (including a cemetery for the rich and famous!). 

I explored my target audience which was pretty much anyone and everyone either visiting or living in London as the campaign was for everyone and wanted anyone to be involved. The brief stated it wanted the advertisement (50 JCDecaux bus shelter screens on Oxford Street) to interact with the audience. After researching into QR codes, I came up with the idea of people being able to scan a QR code as a way of communicating with the ad. I thought of the possibility of creating an app that could link directly to the advertisement.

I also looked into ‘Humans Of New York’ and how New Yorkers are able to share their stories across the globe through a photographer and his Facebook page. I then came up with the possible idea of focusing the advertisement on everyday people from London, possibly by having images of different people in their work uniform on the bus shelters with a quote on what London means to them. This would promote diversity and openness using the campaign however I decided not to go with this idea because I think it has been used too many times. I came up with multiple ideas and ways I could create the idea of London being open so I was quite set on what I wanted to create by the end by using a process of elimination of my ideas. I was satisfied with my final idea that I believe gave the campaign a more personal touch but was exactly what the brief wanted. 

The final idea came from people’s front doors! While walking up a street in Tynemouth I seen two brightly coloured Victorian style front doors. I decided to take a pictures of front doors with different colours, styles, eras and shapes. My idea was to have all these different doors on the screens, SO THAR people could walk up to the doors, press the screen / virtual handle and the door would then open. ‘Behind’ the door on the next screen would be a different attraction you could visit in London, depending on the time of day etc this would change. If you scanned the QR code it would take you to an app which would download an app on your phone with all the different attractions around London, how to get there, opening times, admission fee’s etc. 

Strengths:

Managed my time effectively 

Was confident in decision making, I was able to create meaning as an advertiser and was happy with my final idea

Explored multiple ideas with lots of idea generation

Broad range of research from worldwide sources

Weaknesses:

Not completing enough annotation, I knew what I wanted in my head but often didn’t evidence my thought process clearly or enough

Opportunities:

Getting to learn how advertisers come up with ideas, helping motivate and drive me to create my own ideas through a process

Job possibility; opened my eyes to the world of advertising

Targets

Aim to present my work in a more consistent manner

Annotate more

[jayhalimdesign]

User Experience & Interface Design

Research

For my second project I was tasked with redesigning a website while taking into account the user experience and interface design. I began by deciding to redesign my dad’s photography website. I then started researching into world famous photographer’s websites to find inspiration and ideas. I looked at Steve McCurry’s responsive website and the layout. I focused on how the website adapted to being open on a mobile, tablet or desktop. I also conducted a bit of research on Mario Testino’s and the Baltic’s responsive websites. I only looked at one non responsive website: Colin Davison’s. I missed the first session while starting this topic so I had to catch up which made me quite confused about the actual brief to start with and as a result, was behind on work.  I created three user personas to gage the audience that would access the website while also creating user stories, which define what the user must, should, could and would be able to get out of the website. If I done this research again I would find more out about user experience while engaging with websites, I would also annotate my work more precisely so that I get more out of my research rather than just screenshot images which don’t help evidence my work. As a smart target, moving onto my research I planned to focus more on annotating my ideas, explaining my decisions and creating as many different outcomes as I could to make sure I was happy with my final outcome. 

Development

After completing my research I drew out 9 wire frames for each device (mobile, tablet and desktop) making 27 hand drawn wire frames in total with a great deal of annotation. I was quite proud of this stage in my project because I presented my work in a professional manner while exploring different ways the website could be designed. I then developed my best wire frames that I found would be the most useful. I did not annotate my digital wire frames so I think I could have done this better and added a bit of info as to why I chose these designs. From there I made a mood board using my dad’s photographs and images of art that he had taken to create an aesthetic for his new website. This was supported by a style guide which included important design decisions such as a colour palette, fonts and the style of buttons and menu that I would include on my final designs. Overall I believe I produced a high standard of work for the development of my work. Finally I made my chosen wireframes into actual mock ups of the website using photoshop. I used photoshop as I found it easier to work with and hadn’t quite grasped Illustrator yet. As a smart target I planned to start experimenting more with Illustrator as I knew I would have to use it more in future projects and next year. I was happy with my final designs as I organised my time effectively and was able to get everything done on time but would spend more time on research if I was to do this project again.

Strengths:

Annotating my work thoroughly  Clean and organised layout of my sketchbook Completed large amounts of development which helped me improve my final outcomes

Weaknesses:

Not spending enough time on my research Using Adobe Photoshop over Illustrator

Opportunities:

Getting to redesign a website for the first time

Learning how to create wire frames and about User Experience which could come in useful in the future if I was tasked to re design a website

My dad ended up taking my designs to his web developer who is currently in progress of renewing it

Targets

Work harder to complete more consistent research

Learn how to use illustrator to a better standard

[jayhalimdesign]

Language Of Design

Development of ideas

In the next steps of my project I started off by drawing different designs and shapes on tracing paper over the wall plan dimensions. I made quick sketches using pro markers to see what it would look like to have different shapes that communicated the message of each step in the ‘road to recovery’. The colours were quite important to my design and I was influenced by my research into advertisements. I found the bright colours in the advertisements to give off a positive feeling depending on the publication and message. I didn’t spend enough time developing my sketches due to not organising workload efficiently. While researching into the 12 steps to recovery, I chose one word to summarise each step so that I didn’t have a large amount of text on the walls. I used capital letters to empathise the importance of the words however I think that I could have used a better font which I could of spent more time experimenting with while developing and digitising my work. If I was to do this again I would dedicate more time to my final piece and research into typography to help inspire my final piece.

Strengths:

Continuing to learn the basics of illustrator Clean and organised layout of my sketchbook Work selected for possible opportunity to be used at George Street Social

Weaknesses:

Not organising my time well efficiently Struggled using illustrator at times

Opportunities:

Was able to work on live brief with real clients Good experience to add to my portfolio

Targets

Aim to work at a better pace Work harder to complete more consistent research

[jayhalimdesign]

Language Of Design 

Research and Development

For this first project I began researching into typography and advertisement. I looked at street artist Laser 3.14 who’s work I found quite thought provoking, using street art to create poetry, mixing literature and urban culture. I also collected research into different advertisements and editorials, looking at the aesthetically pleasing ‘Toiletpaper’ magazine. I absolutely loved this part of my research and have since been following the online publication. As this was my first project I was quite motivated and spent a lot of my time on research and think I managed my time quite well while doing this. While reflecting I am quite happy with the broad range of research I conducted and don’t think I would change much of it. 

After conducting research I then played around with different aspects of hand written type and did quick workshops and experiments to do with typography. This would become useful to my development of work where I was tasked with creating a wall mural communicating the 10 steps of recovery to a cafe in Newcastle called George Street Social. I learnt basic steps and how to make shapes in Illustrator while re-creating the image of my favourite trainer. I found this quite difficult but eventually got the hang of it.