Final Development - End of Year Show Branding - Collaboration Brief

Because I was unhappy with the final designs for the end of year show, I decided to do some slight modifications and create an alternative poster design. The design uses the fundamental concepts of the previous work but I believe this piece showcases the university better. It is bold, vibrant and exciting and should stand out against other pieces of advertising. The bright primary colours show the building blocks of all colours and work to convey the idea of construction and togetherness. The shapes have been altered so it appears as if they are slotting into place, to suggest how as a university we are coming together to create a final, unified collaboration in the form of a show. Yet with the construction lines it shows we are not quite there, showing that as students we have more to come and are not the finished article. It did not feel necessary to have the figures pushing the type together, this felt too gimmicky and childish. The university needed to be presented as professional and mature - and this clean and contemporary design showcases hard work and talent.

It is interesting that through use of colour the design has been transformed into something quite different from the original designs. I find that using black creates a far more contemporary and professional frame to the imagery and reflects the university's status in the art world. This style of design would be carried out across all of the paraphernalia, using this alteration of the typeface for each of the course titles.

The finished poster was printed on photo-print paper, this meant the colours were able to stand out bright and glossy - to show high contrast and vibrancy. For the actual paraphernalia the design would have printed on large A0 poster and A6 glossy flyers. I believe this type design would work well in both applications as it is bold, clear and simply lays out the information with fineness. 

Evaluation - The End of Year Show Branding - Collaborative Brief

Overall the designs are bright, bold and welcoming. They are heavily researched with a lot of experimentation and development behind them. They use an interesting, contemporary use of typography and have a simple and clear concept - we are a community and coming  'together' to create the end of year show.  This was especially important as last year's winner did not have a clear concept and consequently were criticised for it. It also means it has high impact and the general public are likely to understand it, it is not overtly 'arty' or intimidating.

That being said, I find that perhaps the design is too palatable. The colours are very soft and remind me of design for children. I think colour wise, vibrant, contrasting colours may have worked better, conveying more our status as a serious and contemporary arts university. I also think the figures that have been added should have been developed further or not used at all. They vary in size and some of the angles don't seem to quite work. If we had more time this would have been something we would have refined. They all appear to be holding the type together so perhaps there could have been more focus on the process of actually getting the shapes together, with some in the process of being pulled into place. There is also some issue with the fact the figures don't show much diversity. They are very basic to convey just general people, but could be mistaken as only men, which would not be very representative. I was also unsure about the size and colour of the logo and the drop shadow applied to the shapes. These did make the shapes appear 3D to an extent, but I thought it also made them appear quite digital and over-edited. Although without the shadows perhaps the design would appear too flat.

In terms of the collaboration, these seemed to go well. We worked well in sharing research and conducted regular meetings to assess the progress of the project. There was some issues with conflicting ideas of how the project should look, however these were resolved with several compromises. One issue was that we seemed to deviate from our assigned roles and each one of us seemed to be creating designs going down a different trajectory. Eventually we came together and honed our focus, but in future collaborations I hope to have a clearer idea of what each of us is doing and ensure there are regular checks to make sure everyone is happy with the designs being developed. I found that because I was working with friends I struggled to voice the elements I disliked, and when I did sometimes I felt like I was causing unnecessary problems. In future, I hope to be better skilled at suggesting compromises and be more confident about changes I would like to make. This concept was my original idea and design and although it has developed in a way I am not quite happy with, I need to accept that and appreciate the outcome since it is a product of compromise and collaboration.

Why the winning design 'We Don't Quack Like Other Ducks' was successful

The winning design of the competition was very controversial, people thought it lacked merit as a piece of design and did not reflect our university well. However, I believe there are several reasons why it was successful and perhaps answered the brief better than our entry.

• The design was photography based, which was something that was mentioned in the briefing as something the judges have often gone for in the past.
• The design had a clear concept, the public will immediately understand it.
• 'We don't quack like other ducks' references the university's point of uniqueness and specialty as artists.
• The 'duck' line references Yorkshire slang, and again links to pride in being situated in the North.
• The mottled water imagery is interesting and experimental, showing creativity but with a very obvious tagline to keep it relevant. 
• It potentially takes a more humorous edge which hasn't been explored before.

Final Mock-Ups - The End of Year Show - Collaborative Brief

Final Mock-Ups were produced of the designs for the concept board. In context the designs are given a bit more life and are no longer 2D designs on a screen. The designs are colourful, bold and by putting them in context it shows how the type shapes really pop from the page.

Final Collateral - End of Year Show Branding - Collaborative Brief

Another member of the group then developed the designs for the general collateral needed for the end of year of show. Including general posters, course titles and the typeface recoloured to match the new colour scheme. Light blue was chosen as it seemed bright, welcoming and celebratory, it also matched the University's colour scheme. Additional shapes were taken from the typeface and minimised, almost appearing like confetti and the men was placed against the design as if they were helping construct the words. I found these looked out of place and inconsistent, some of the angles didn't match the positions the men were in, so perhaps more men should have been drawn with consideration about the task they're doing for each letter. However, the rest of the group were pleased with the composition so I compromised with a few minor edits. 

Some of the letters were edited to be less complex, simplifying the number of shapes used and making them clearer and bolder.

Because our main design involved splitting the word 'Together' apart, for the course posters it was decided that they should adopt this style too. With some courses this worked better, for example 'Fash-ion' is still very legible. However, with some of the longer courses such as 'Grap-hic Desi-gn' this appeared less legible. The titles were also placed on landscape posters and potential banners and since the text was not split apart these seemed to work a lot better. Yet both were taken forward as final designs, I suppose in many ways they show an atypical approach and keeps the branding consistent. If we had more time I would have liked to explore this further to make it more legible.

Finally, the posters were also tried in several different colours, so that variations could be seen around town. These colours again derive from the university's colour scheme to show some consistency but perhaps don't look serious enough for an end of year show. The colours are very soft and appear very child-friendly, perhaps brighter, more contemporary colours could have been experimented with if given more time.

Additional Figures - End of Year Branding - Collaboration Brief

For the figures holding up the type, we decided they should look simple and bold but with some character. I researched into Keith Haring and his style of figures, I liked how they appeared like ordinary pictogram shapes, but with added character and uneveness. I wanted to achieve an element of this in my own designs. I particularly took note in how the feet of the figures looked. By giving them curved feet the figures feel more characterful and humanistic.

After some development and refinement, I came out with several figures that look almost like Otl Aicher pictograms, but with elements of character. They needed to be simple and understandable so as not to distract from the type design. This was a style choice too, if they had been made too illustrative, it might have confused the branding. I used pictures of myself in order to make sure the refined figures still resembled natural body shapes.

Once these were designed they were sent to Megan to be placed in the final compositions, there was some dispute about how they should be arranged and if the sizes should remain consistent to fit within the typeface. However, this was eventually resolved with some compromise and although the outcome was not entirely what I envisioned, it still worked well. One thing to consider was that the brief suggested an image based outcome, illustrative characters may not have had the right tone or image that the university is after.

Typeface Development - The End of Year Show - Collaboration Brief

With some experimentation, I developed the typeface which could be used in application for all the course titles and other branding requirements. This used a grid layout so that each letter would be the same height and width - creating consistency and improving the compositions.

Feedback and Developments - The End of Year Show - Collaboration Brief

Group Discussion

After discussing the typographic designs I had made, we decided to take the idea forward. With several alterations and developments to be made. These included:

• The size of the text needed to be larger.
• The colour of the backgrounds and the main shapes cold be simplified into only three colours - black, white and another.
• The figures needed to be developed in a consistent style in a variety of poses.
• A simple shadow could be added to the shapes to make them more 3D. Harking back to our original tile developments.
• The additional information needed a typeface which should be experimented with.

Initial Visual

Type Developments - End of Year Show Branding - Collaboration Brief

I then began developing the designs without using the photographed black and white backgrounds, these immediately came out a lot better, especially when the title was divided into three rows so they could fill the page better.

The first experiments involved a white background with block colours added to frame the page. These worked fairly well and definitely made the colours stand out. However, within the brief it was suggested that the designs using white backgrounds have been less successful in previous competitions, so I decided to move away from this. The primary colours were chosen to represent a strong and bright foundation for the piece - colours which can be mixed to make all the other colours.

I then began experimenting with coloured backgrounds and varying the colours of the typography. The red, white and black design felt striking, but had perhaps too many connotations and didn't exude the welcoming and friendly personality of the university. The yellow design also felt like a strong composition, but then used across multiple platforms, on a large scale, it may have become too glaring.

I felt that there was something missing and perhaps the meaning behind the shapes coming together might not have been apparent to the general viewer. So I decided to experiment with adding in small figures who could push the shapes together, working as a team to make the construction. This felt like it added an extra layer to the design, making it more than just the type but not overcrowding it.

I then did several more experiments involving coloured backgrounds and the darker tones seemed to be more successful. The dark blue especially made the colours stand out quite nicely. One thing I knew we had to consider was the colour of the figures in the design. One colour was to be used to represent everyone from the university, but by making them white, this may have been seen as offensive or not very considered. It was discussed that making them black might be a better baseline colour for all the people the university includes.

Name Ideas - End of Year Branding - Collaboration Brief

Type Experiments - End of Year Branding - Collaboration Brief

After doing some research, I came across some poster designs by Evonne Li, designed for an Ikko Tanaka exhibition. This exemplified how shape could be used to form abstract type and was something I wanted to experiment with. By having the shapes coming together to form type, it suggests ideas of collaboration, community and diversity - which are key to the university's ethos. Within the brief it was suggested that the poster should reflect 'creative community' and this design idea builds on this.

I briefly did a sketch of how the type could look and began experimenting digitally with phrases and form.

I decided to experiment with the word 'Together', reflecting how the shapes were coming together. I made sure that a limited number of shapes were used so there could be a constraining factor for the typeface. I tried a variety of different colours too, thinking about what might be bold from afar and what colour combinations haven't been used so far for branding. It was also important to consider the softer tones that the university branding uses.

The shapes worked fairly well but when placed on the black and white imagery, they no longer stood out and clashed with the background. The two aesthetics conflicted with each other, no longer appearing contemporary and consider. I considered that perhaps it would be better on a simple background, making the type the soul focus.

Digital Tile Developments - End of Year Branding - Collaborative Brief

We then conducted several digital experiments, below are a select few, showing how the tile shapes could be created using digital means. These create quite a different aesthetic, but still work to convey our concept: each shape and image relating to a different discipline. This time however, the arrangement was more random than the ordered lines we first experimented with. This seemed to make the image simpler and bolder, although for it to be effective the text would need to stand out in some way - becoming a main part of the composition.

After a critique it was discussed how having an individual shape for each course might cause some issues. In the 'Made Here' branding a similar idea was employed and this caused some issues between the courses in regards to which shape they were assigned. It was suggested that something more non-specific might be more appropriate and 'all-encompassing'. 

Several experiments were made into how typography could be placed over the image, the experiment below felt too information and less celebratory. This led me to consider that perhaps the typography could be made out of the actual shapes, allowing there to be convergence and diversity.

Scan Experiments - End of Year Show Branding - Collaborative Brief

We then invested in some tiles which would suite or shape-based, stained glass theme. They were placed over the images in different arrangements and colour themes. Something we noticed was that the shapes were best seen on the lighter photographs - which led us to consider that some might need to be edited or re-shot.

For example, the red and blue experiments are far more distinctive than the green. The full colour experiments also have quite high impact, but for this idea we planned to have one colour per course. This became quite a restrictive idea which we started discussing moving away from. By having full colour in our compositions it better reflects our aim to express diversity. The clear tile experiments we originally thought would be appropriate to represent photography, these worked quite well and distorted the image behind in interesting ways. However, these stood out less and would have needed highly colourful type overlaid to make it distinctive.


The tiles were also arranged in several different ways to experiment with composition. I found that the ordered ones were most successful - appearing refined and bold in their arrangement. The more scattered ones, although appealing, appeared too similar to the previous 'Made Here' branding in 2016. By having them in curated, organised lines they become individual and bold and not lost in the scatter.

Although these scans have an interesting effect, the print quality isn't very good. If this style was to be adopted the tiles would have to be photographed or they could be digitally produced. Although digitally producing might mean the specific light reflecting effect may be lost.