YCN Submission Confirmation

So today was the daunting day when we had to submit our final boards for Fedrigoni submission! After some last minute alterations, we were ready....

Done.

YCN//Final Edits

As a result of the feedback gained in our final crit, Liv and I went over our boards to make a few final edits before we submitted our boards.

The most integral criticism we wanted to rectify was make the background of our images entirely white so that it matched the colour of the stock. However, once we had done this and saved it again the quality of the images were not as good as before the editing. It also proved difficult to create the white background without effecting the image itself.

  We tried various ways to create this white background....

 

-COLOUR PICKER TOOL AND BRUSH

-EDITING THE LEVELS

-LAYERING THE PHOTOGRAPHS ONTO A WHITE BACKDROP

-CUTTING THE BOOK OUT USING CUT TOOL

Nevertheless, the image was extremely pixelated when it was re-saved and positioned back onto the board...

Consequently, we decided to keep the images as they were. After all, the slight difference in colour was as prominent on screen as it was when printed (YCN are going to be viewing these on screen) and the shade of white created a kind of bounding box for each image, which ensured the grid used within our boards was visually apparent.

We also needed to spellcheck our boards to rectify the spelling mistakes that had been noted to us during our final crit.

  We also spent some time rectifying some of the more intricate details of the images (but ones that will make a big impact) ....

BEFORE

AFTER

this is the difference....

We then packaged our boards into a pdf zip file ready for submission...

 We also ensured our file was named appropriately....

 

Dreamweaver Workshop

//Aims:

1. Identify purpose of website
2. Identify and distinguish the target audience
3. Identify and evaluate the target audience needs
4. Demonstrate understanding of interface design & basic layout techniques


//Purpose of a website:

Showcase portfolio
Practical
Self Promotion
Accessibility
Get a job
Freelance


//Target Audience:

Potential employers
Clients (type of work put on website will reflect the type of work you receive)
Collaborators
Like minded people
Awards


//Audience Needs:

/Potential Employers:
Contact information
Examples of work
Awards
CV

/Clients:
Reference/Reviews section

/Collaborators:
Links to their work

...these are therefore the pages we need.

(talk to potential target audience to find out what they want)

//look at similar websites (work out what works and what doesn't)

BROWSE THE INTERNET AND LOOK AT OTHER GRAPHIC DESIGN WEBSITES (good and bad)
Design the website and bounce ideas off peers


//WEBSITES
The average user will take 3-5 seconds to decide whether to move on or not.

WEB STANDARDS...Google W3
(bend these but still work)

Lightbox ...present videos

SCAMP: sketch of the web design layout
SITE MAP: shows all pages linking together
(produce both of these for next session)

WEB SAFE FONTS:
Specify a 'font family'.
The text on the website isn't embedded onto the computer, it uses whatever font is available on the machine accessing it.
(can make button as an image to use a non-web safe typeface)
Only a body copy using web safe fonts are searchable by a search engine (if left as an image it would be searchable)

WEB SAFE COLOURS: in photoshop tick 'only web colours' box on the colour picker. Use html code displayed #33333

800 x 600 will fit on any screen.
USE 1024 x 768
file: new: web: preset
(need to consider how it would fit on a tablet, phone etc)

Adobe flash does not work with any of Apple content.

Static Website: never updated
Dynamic website: updated (Facebook, blog)
...design of our website needs to be easy to update.

Can use dreamweaver to update the website (However, it costs a lot of money so a client probably wouldn't have it)
CMS: Content Management System
www.cushycms.com (simple to use and free)
instant dynamic content

http://www.awwwards.com/

YCN: Final Notes

I have been a little lapse on blogging my notes and time plans for the past couple of weeks. So here is my collection of notes...

Final Final Crit.

For todays final crit we had to have our final boards printed out and presented on their own on the table. This was to ensure that our boards 'told the story' without us actively being present to talk through them. It proved very useful and we got a little (but constructive) feedback; it was especially good to find our spelling errors. Now we have a little tweeking to do to our boards, but it's all for the better.  

Photographing the books

Today we took a trip down to the photography studio to photograph our products in a semi-professional manor; using the studio setting and lighting. This proved to work considerably well and we were able to get some good shots of our products ready to put on the boards once we have photo-shopped the colours slightly in order to get them all coherent.

Boards

These are our boards to present tomorrow. Although we have tried to design them to a high standard, we are hoping to get some feedback on them tomorrow to ensure we are presenting our products correctly and it all makes sense.

Final Apps

The sample picking app works coherently across the three devices which is what were looking to do, as it demonstrates that we have given the app an identity which is distinguishable.

Putting the boards together

So, today we spent our whole day in college photographing our work and putting our boards together.

Above is the working of putting our boards together using the photographs we took down in the photography studio. I re-worked the online page and phone app and created a tablet app.

Got to do...

Final Crit Boards

These are the final boards we presented today and have shown the 'story' of our products through....

Post Crit

Our crit went considerably well today but there are a few point which we need to take into consideration. From posing our 5 questions to our crit group....

The responses we received made it clear that we need to incorporate a hint of colour which can be used to inspire people to order coloured samples or use the colour picker tool. The idea that our mail out will focus more on the stocks and then have the colour picker tool to play on the colour factor was received well. However, we are going to insert 4 pages of colour at equal intervals throughout the book to hint at what the papers would look like in colour. Each coloured page will have a perforated net design using the shape which corresponds to the colour book it is from (linking it back to the app). In doing this we will be getting potential clients to interact with the book as well as seeing how the coloured papers would look. If they want, they can then order the coloured papers individually or the whole 'Imaginative Colours' tool (which will come at a price). Using the net designs within the books will also tie the two proposed products together.

Overall, our crit was a success and has given us more of a direction in terms of where we need to go with our products in order to push the brief further and make it all work as a whole.

Photographing the books.

We have photographed our books today so that we can put them onto our board for tomorrows crit and see what we are going to have to photoshop for our final YCN submission boards....

The Fedrigoni Shield

Jane mentioned to us that rather than using the random 3D shapes in our colour sample app, we should use the Fedrigoni shield seen as that is their logo. So, we thought we would try this out and construct a 3D shield of our own....

In doing this, however, we realised that the other random shapes worked better as it was not very obvious that the 3D shield was in fact a shield without being informed. So we have decided to stick with the various coloured 3D shapes as it creates more interest and variety. We can then use the symbols of these shapes throughout our products in order to tie the range together. 

Talk with Jane

Today we sat and had another chat with Jane about our YCN product proposal. She looked through what we had and gave us some guidance to improve our proposal. The main criticism she had was that we had not branded the products prominently enough; once the books were in context and being used, people may forget where the books have come from and who sent them. It is going to cost Fedrigoni a lot to make these high quality books, so it needs to be obvious that Fedrigoni have spent the money and sent them. We need to ensure there is a constant reminder throughout the books so that people are given a visual reference to Fedrigoni and are being pointed toward the Fedrigoni 'Imaginative Colours' tool; after all, this is what we are trying to promote. So, to do this we are going to have Fedrigoni debossed into the back cover, a cover letter inside the cover of the notebook (to explain why they have been sent the package and instruct them on what they should do with them), four pages throughout the books to showcase colours from each of the four colour books, the Fedrigoni logo at the bottom of the silk bookmark, the logo on the bellyband holding the two books together (although this quite possibly will then be binned), the logo embossed into the corner of each sticky note in the pad, Fedrigoni written on the pen and Fedrigoni written on the envelope. This will ensure it is evident that Fedrigoni have sent the package to them and they are promoting the 'Imaginative Colours' tool. By sending a bespoke package to graphic designers and potential buyers of the paper, it ensures the client that they can invest their money into Fedrigoni and that Fedrigoni will provide them with high end papers as we will be sending the packages to people in a position to invest a lot of money into Fedrigoni.

All in all, I feel like we'd took a few steps forward and have now come a few steps back; having to review the choices we had made and remake them. Nevertheless, I can see it is for the better and our product will benefit from the changes to be made.

Final Board Designs

A rough outline of what to include on each of our boards which we will be submitting to YCN

Creating a QR code

I created a QR code which will link directly to the colour picker tool which will be on the Fedrigoni website. For now, I have simply linked it to the Fedrigoni homepage, however, we would propose it be linked directly to the colour picking page for ease....

Designing the app

We wanted to make an app that allows people to choose the colour paper. This will be shown on a 3d  paper model of the Fedrigoni logo. People will then have the option to order a sample of the paper.

We wanted to create an app which allowed potential customers to digitally view the colours offered upon the paper (without them having already ordered the colour swatch book). After all, there is no point us giving clients all the paper samples in the notebook we send them as there is then no reason for them to order the sample book. In taking this approach, we can showcase the quality of the papers through the notebook and the colours of the paper through the interactive devices. Even if the client does not receive a mail out, they are still able to access these products which promote the colours of the paper that Fedrigoni have to offer. 

We then wanted to simplify the page down to make it more readily understandable. In creating a first page that allows you to select the Imaginative colour book you wish to view (each of the four colour books will be represented by a different 3D paper model), the colours in the paper range will then appear along the bottom of the app in a triangular pattern. When a colour is selected, the colour of the paper model will change accordingly....

We still need to play around with how we will instruct the viewer as to what they need to do in order to use the app, but the basic structure is there.

Ordering a black envelope

So today we had a nightmare trying to get hold of a black metallic bubble envelope. We found that staples had packs of them available in colours black, silver and red but they could not guarantee the colour we would get as they are selected randomly from the warehouse and they didn't have then in stock in either Leeds branch (we rang up to enquire about this). Are only other option was http://www.allcolourenvelopes.co.uk however, these come in bulk packs of 100 for £49.95. So we decided to ring up and enquire as the whether it would be possible to purchase just one and they kindly said they would send us one as a 'sample' if we filled out the online form....

 Fingers crossed it will be here tomorrow as it should be being sent next day delivery.

Designing Post-it Notes

We want to include a post it note stack within our pack as this is a product designers often use.

We are thinking of using this pattern on the bottom of the post-it notes at it relates back to the colour picker tool we are proposing and showcases colour in a minimalistic way (keeping in theme with the whole range). We will propose that the logo is embossed into the corner of each page of the sticky note; this will give a constant subtle reminder as to who sent the package to the potential clients, it will also allow the client to effectively use the notes on a practical level.

We Pantone matched the teal stock Liv purchased in Manchester so that we use this colour in our designs.

Designing the initial pages

We are going to have 4 pages at the beginning of the notebook that uses a 3D object to represent each of the four colour books. Each 3D shape will have all of the basics colours from the colour book on the exterior............

We have considered the stock that these designs will be printed on and think that if we use a different stock to the rest of the book then it will draw attention to them and make them stand out. Potential stocks are a translucent paper or and high gsm embossed paper to create a texture.