Studio Practice: OUGD505 - Studio Brief 2 - Final Designs and Evaluation Against the Brief

Final Outcome and Evaluation Against the Brief

The branding for the City Patch Project reflects a sense of the contrast between green spaces and the city environment through colour and type, whilst the idea of a patch is reflected in the shape of the logo, which plays on the projects name. The logos square shape reflects a physical patch with the lines around it representing the stitches that hold a patch in place. All of the designs are square in format to reflect the patch shape. The grey outline around the green patch in the logo reflects a sense of green space within the city. The green and grey colour scheme reflect a sense of urban and green spaces within the city, with tints of both colours being combined to complement each other, creating contrast and a vibrant aesthetic. Using Basic Sans as the logotype combines organic elements with the geometric, reflecting the angularity of the city and curves of nature. The typeface has a playful aesthetic which is used throughout other elements to create consistency. The use of the patch ornament is used throughout the designs is used as a way of integrating the branding into the designs in a subtler way without using the logo all of the time.

The project aims to protect, increase and maintain green spaces. To reflect the idea of protecting green space the green space is represented using diagonal lines creating a sense of a designated space / area. The idea of increasing green space is reflected in varying imagery. Imagery which extends off the page creating a sense that green space extends beyond the city, which when combined with square images and negative space suggests that there is room for growth of green spaces within the city.

The membership pack will be posted so the 20 x 20cm square format makes the pack compact and can be posted as a large letter rather than a parcel. This allows it to fit through a letter box so it can be posted in normal mail, reducing cost for the client. The use of varying stocks in the pack create and allow for different effects. The thicker stock of the certificate makes it feel more substantial and official, whilst the thinner stock of the booklet and map allows for easier folding. The folder was laminated for extra protection creating a durable cover.

The design appropriately represents the variety of green spaces within the city through the use of varying sized imagery within the square grid which reflects how the patches are all different in size. The patch ornament which can be found at different scales throughout the designs reflects the same concept.

The target audience is 20 – 29 year olds who have an interest in wildlife and nature and / or value and use green spaces. The use of Basic Sans as a typeface creates a contemporary and playful aesthetic whilst the use of a vibrant colour scheme and large images creates a visually appealing design for target audience. The tone of voice within the design is colloquial and friendly making it appropriate for the audience.

The patches are promoted through the use of lots of imagery which varies in size and allows the patches best features to be highlighted. The grid system and margin within the design allows the images to be framed, whilst the off-white paper, which has a more natural appearance, allows the imagery to contrast and stand out on the paper.

The design encourages people to get involved through the use of colloquial language in headers and titles which creates a friendly and positive tone of voice. The use of capitals within the design creates a sense of action suggesting the project has impact, however Basic Sans and its subtly curved aspects creates a friendly sense.

To reflect the local aspect of the project and create a community feel to the design each pack would be tailored to the area that you live. This making the project more relevant to the audience as it will provide them with information that they can act on easily within their community which is more likely to motivate people to get involved.

It was considered that to be more sustainable the design could be printed onto recycled paper, however this could affect the quality of image printing. The typesetting the body text could be improved if dealing with actual content as all hyphenated areas would be removed, however the text box size allows 5 – 8 words per sentence which is similar to other magazines looked at and the body text point size is legible when printed. When the design was printed the dark grey used in the colour scheme was over saturated and looked almost black when compared with test prints on other printers so the colour may have to be brought down a shade for it to accurately print. Also the vinyl car sticker which was printed onto clear acrylic, changed the green, however this is because of the transparency of the vinyl. This would have to be produced in a different way in order to get the same colour.

All images within the final printed outcome are my own