Evaluation

Scott Harrand

Constraints: CopyrightThere are numbers considerations I have had to take into account throughout the course of this project with regards to copyright. While the majority of the content I used for this project was of my own production, I still used certain assets that I myself had not created, such as the fonts. In selecting my fonts I had to ascertain whether these fonts were freely available to use, as many fonts that are available download are stipulated to be used only for personal usage, and not commercial usage, as mine would be. It was important that I did not choose fonts that were prohibited from being used commercially, as if my client did choose to use the content I created commercially, then they would potentially face legal issues as a result of their use of the font. Many of my fonts were taken from DaFont.com, which uses a system that allows users to see the legal status of each font. The fonts that I used were labelled as “100% free” and “public domain”, meaning I could use them in my project. I also used fonts that were already readily available to me in Adobe Photoshop, and therefore had already been bought within the Adobe Photoshop package. At one point, I was considering trying to obtain the Indiana Jones style font for the creation of my Brass Monkey poster, which is intended as a parody of Indiana Jones. However, this font was not freely available for commercial usage, and thus I selected a different font.

Constraints: RegulatoryAs the content I created would be used as advertising material for a company, it therefore falls under the jurisdiction of the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA has very strict guidelines surrounding the advertising of alcoholic products, especially in order to safeguard against the promotion of alcoholic substances to minors. Therefore, the ASA states that advertisements of alcoholic products should not in anyway attempt to target anyone below the age of 18. The ASA also stipulates that advertisements of alcoholic substances should not suggest that alcohol has a positive impact on social abilities and attractiveness, or that it positively effects social status. I believe I have adhered to these guidelines throughout the production of my content.

Constraints: FinancialI did not have to deal with any financial constraints in this project as the resources that I required to create and utilize the content I needed was readily available to me and free to use at college.

Time ManagementI structured my schedule carefully for the course of this project, in which I allotted myself a certain amount of time to do certain tasks, and deadlines by which to have completed certain sections of the project. The main bulk of my schedule was that, of the three weeks of production I was given, I would spend the first week production of my Lunatic poster, the second week on production of my Brass Monkey poster, and the third week on improvements upon these posters, to ensure they were of the standard I was aiming towards. I believe this schedule was extremely beneficial to me, and I found it gave me a decent amount of structure within my project which allowed me to continue through my work with more clearly defined aims and goals. In following the schedule, I found that I often completed work ahead of schedule, giving me even more additional time to work on content, and therefore making it less potentially detrimental if I took a longer time than previously allotted on the schedule. Ultimately, the schedule was of enormous benefit to me in how I conducted my project, and was a crucial aspect of ensuring that I finished my project in a timely and effective manner, and made the most of my production time.

Communication ManagementMy communications with the client were relatively few, and mainly limited to the delivering of the brief and my brief treatment. However, these communications, while they were minimal, were all relatively positive. I received the brief from the client, with some basic requirements and outlines of what I was to do within the project. I did not have any issues with the brief, and went on to develop ideas for concepts based around the names of the products I was given, trying to remain in keeping with the desires of the brief. I laid out my ideas for how I intended to proceed with the protect, and how I expected the end product designs to appear. Alongside describing the expected end-product, I also created basic mock-ups of the poster designs, that were intended to clarify the basic layout of the posters and give a suggestion of what the finished content would look like, while not being an exact replica of what the finished product was intended to look like. The response to this brief treatment was positive, and the client was enthusiastic about the concept and mock-ups. They also ensured me that they were available for further communication if I ran into any issues and needed assistance from them. I was able to proceed with the project following the concepts and ideas that they had been interested in from the brief treatment, and created content not dissimilar to the mock-ups (although, this time using wholly original content, and using a far less rough layout and design) and did not require any content or information from my client. However, the fact that I knew I was able to contact them if required is indicative of the fact that we had an effective level of communication that could be utilized if necessary for the development of the project. While we rarely contacted one another, lines of consistent communication had been established for usage if they had been necessary. As it stood, we only communicated at times when it was necessary, and they had all been positive communications.

Requirement ManagementThe brief that I was given in order to conduct this project laid down a few simple requests and guidelines, detailing the basic demands of the project, which was to create poster designs based on the names of three beers, which were intended to attach a narrative to these products. There were only a few specified design aspects that the brief asked for, such as that the logo should appear in the poster designs. I have fulfilled this specific requirement and placed the Brass Castle logo in both of the poster designs.

Development of Skills/AbilitiesI believe that this project allowed me to develop and improve upon a number of my skills, and encouraged me to bring my ability in the technical, creative, and professional sides of the graphic design industry to a higher standard. This project was one of my first instances with working in a professional capacity with a client, and therefore helped me to develop my abilities with working to a brief and ensuring that my content was of it’s best possible quality. I believe that, as this was the first time I worked within a genuine client’s brief, I therefore worked to a higher standard, and was more intent upon trying new techniques in order to achieve more effective work. I believe that this project allowed me to improve upon my digital art style and create work that was more consistent within this style, while still creating varied and distinctive characters and content. I also believe this task helped me to improve my abilities when it came to arranging and laying out content in the most effective and visually interesting way possible, making use of techniques such as visual hierarchy to ensure the most vital information was portrayed most clearly. I have used visual hierarchy in the past, but I believe it was especially vital in this project as the aim of the poster designs was to advertise new products, and thus I had to keep in mind the goal of ensuring these products’ names were clearly visible and immediately noticeable, while still ensuring that the images and designs were not overshadowed. I also believe this project encouraged me to better improve upon my time management capabilities, and ensure that I created a schedule that would allow me a reasonable and realistic amount of time to fulfil my goals for the project, while still ensuring that I would be finished at the deadline. I found the schedule I created for this project to be very useful, and was of vital importance to me when it came to keeping my mind focused on specific goals, and being able to more clearly see the steps I had to take to complete my project. I believe that working in this professional capacity has been of the utmost help to me in familiarizing myself with how a professional brief fulfilment works, and by being more familiar with this concept and process, I am therefore making myself better suited towards the graphic design industry, it’s environment, and it’s processes. I believe that these newly developed skills and abilities have improved the quality of the content I can produce within this medium, as I have received positive feedback from both peers and my clients regarding the work I have created.