generating content for cover and spreads

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tomorrow I need to

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pray that the wallpaper tubes will arrive

create a swatch book to print on Monday

prepare postcards for print

design 'make your own card set' (brownies)

mock up tube seat design (again-better)

badge testing
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board planning

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finished prints

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finishing off

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fully aware of the potential scope for this brief, however it was meant to be a black and white short pattern design brief and I must stick to this at this stage in the game.  Lots of other things to do.

>

brownies//web
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I am merging together the concept that this booklet triggered of uniting the brownies to share their celebrations and experiences of the 100th anniversary through  a pen pal kit with the modern age of web.
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the little picture below showed a video call so I decided to propose a website so that it is a safer easier way for 9-11 year old Brownies to go online and conduct a group video call to other Brownies during their celebrations.
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both will be linked to the main website to ensure an easy and obvious access and too avoid confusing separate distribution methods.

BRIEF  SIX *NOT FOR SUBMISSION*

mocking up

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this looks horrendous.   have decided to take the decision to leave this brief and develop it properly and hopefully more successfully in the next module using a more professional mocker upper.  I cannot expect interior design to be ready and available now.  I will seek their help further in advance.

labels
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After last crit I made it very clear that I wanted the branding of this wallpaper to be very neautrial for two reasons.  The first was to make sure that is neautral to all wallpapers.  The branding was their to tie the range together as they vary so much in image style.  It needed to exist to push it out of just image making into a product.  Secondly, branding itself is a whole other brief.  I didn't want this brief to be about branding, it was about playing with image.  So, to be quick and clean fit to the brief as a neutral solution/extra to the brief.


It had to be hand drawn, it just had too.  I had originally boshed out some crayon examples but thought I should give some other strokes a go.  However, I think that the pen stroke is too alike to some of the wallpapers and I wanted a label that spoke for itself to unite them as a whole and not some more than others.  It's playful and different and I think that it is the strongest.


I will add colour to the titles of the wallpaper to match with the cap on the tube to give the customer a quick way to identify their wallpaper of choice as well as making an attractive and functional way to stock the wallpapers in their point of sale.

 

PLAN

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develop wallpaper label a little more!

penguin brief poster

bookmarks-experiment with jumping beans idea

Charles Dickens bookmark

draw up Brownies website

prepare prints for tomorrow's wallpaper printing

design additional prints

watch tree of life for research

national trust mocking up the poncho with stickers-stock testing/ dodgy photos apologies

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NOT HELPING

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additional in store promotional poster development

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FROM THESE QUOTES & OPINIONS

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I feel as though the readers of the magazine who wrote most of these have agenuine interest in film in the way that they enjoy film.  They want experiences through films. However in some cases (the bold as an example below) they enjoy it so much that they feel as though their brain has had so much experience of film they are able to grasp plots and appreciate aspects of films uick er and better than non film fanatics.  Little White lies seems to be an instrument of refrence of such opinions.  It seems to be a club of 'good opinion' and appreciation of deeper analyissis of film.

Another point that was made about this film in particular not being about ballet, its about a woman.This is important as one of the reasons I picked this brief was because I liked the subject matter ballet.  I completely agree with this statement and I'm glad I saw it to realise the true relevance of ballet in the imagery I intend to make, ie none.

Glad I'm not the only one that sniffs it as soon as it arrives! Love opening a new copy 

a thing of beauty.  

This is really inspiring! Love the magazine. Great, great work. 

The cover illustration is wonderful, is there anywhere it can be seen without the text? 

I'd love to keep it in my mac! 

Even better if you made an ipad app for it

great video! and awesome mag, does anyone know what typeface is used for the final front cover? it looks like a "A tribute". 

Great short for a great movie.  

I dont know how I can ever achieve what you guys have done in the realm of editorial design..this is really good! You guys are really cool!! I have alot to learn & I think it's really not too late that I discovered you guys

Swan Lake came to be viewed as Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece. The same may be true of Darren Aronofsky’s contemporary refi

Black Swan is a film about transformation and transcendence.

it is also a self-reflexive film of mirrors, doubles and doppelgängers

The New York City Ballet may transform the Swan Queen using make-up and choreography, but up there on screen, the magical metamorphosis of cinema is real.

a remarkable transformation, occupying both the mind and body of a vulnerable dancer

Gaunt and timid

Swan Queen represents a nineteenth-century ideal of womanhood,

If Black Swan is Aronofsky’s claim to creative genius, it’s one that is undermined by an overcooked finale and the film’s own dual nature.

It is dark and deep and complex.

So now I think that perhaps a standard semiological framework would aid people in reading the film who have, perhaps, not watched hundreds (probably thousands for the people at LWL's) of films previously. And that can only be a good thing. 

 

What bothers me about this review is I get the feeling he doesn't really like the film that much, but is giving it a good review because he's a fan of the director. 

ittle white lies is a good mag but it could do with seeming like less of an advertorial each time out with how it dedicates about half the issue to one mere film. then again at least its black swan and not some new pirates of the carribean sequel like empire. bah, what do i know lol.

I am asking myself how much research did Mr Aronofsky do before making this film? 

Film should be judged on the entertainment it delivers, the impression it leaves in the ensuing days.

Black Swan is not a film about ballet but a film about the mind and demise of a troubled, naive woman.

         

PLAN

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due to the change of schedual after my talk with Fred I had to rearrange my plans of making the website as I spent the day rethinking the wallpapers and finishing a final design.

I have also decided to leave this until after my final print slot for designs as it is soemthing I an do after I have prepred files for print etc which takes priority.

Dutch moved his deadline forward as did Aaron and Ben so I need to get those small briefs wrapped up today.

I need to think about makingt he additional printsfor the wallpaper

attend Fred's workshop

start the competition brief

I need to buy jumping beans and glitter spray at some point too

rethinking magic

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 original

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The point of this brief was to explore image making.  I am happy with the use of colour and image int his wallpaper but agree that the scales needed to be changed.  

i tried taking a segment out of the original and blowing it up but it was still pretty hectic if it was used as a complete wallpaper instead of a feature wall.  So I re did the composition to increase the negative space.

I am finding it hard to make general wallpaper as they can be used on loads of different scales.  For example I could create wallpaper that is custom for a particular space by adjusting the scale and spacing of the pattern.  Or a full blown wallpaper or stickers for wall or prints for feature walls.  It is very hard to cover all different types in one pattern.

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a late post!

I had made these for the crit to show how I wanted some plain branding for the range of wallpaper to tie them together.  I think that they work well in reflecting the raw hand crafted feel yet still remained plain enough to let the wallpaper speak for itself.

I will have another play with the layout of the label but I think that the content is sufficient enough.  I referred to b&q labels to make sure I had covered all the necessary content.

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after having another little play with the pet pattern and applying the same technique and scale to it as the ice cream wallpaper,  I still feel happier with the original colour palette.  I don't want to make this about having a limited colour range but I do think that it has benefited from the change of scale!

TIME MANAGEMENT

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drawing up weekly timetables aren't engough as the deadlines arent reliable due to unsure timescales of completing a piece of work.  I need to start documenting my daily objectives instead to make the deadlines more realistic.

for example.

today.

9:30

 PRINT PREP

10:30

 PRINT SLOT

-national trust 6 A2's

-penguin book jacket

-brownies sticker sheet

-national trust postacrds (if ready)

-4 wallpapers

12:30

 RESEARCH FOR DICKENS BRIEF

 BRAINSTORM BROWNIES WEBSITE

 PLAN WEBSITE

 DESIGN WEBSITE

TALK WITH AMBER OR FRED ABOUT WALLPAPER BRIEF

13:23

spoke to Fred.

I raised a couple of issues regarding my wallpaper brief.  I have set myself to produce ten wallpapers, each exploring another way of image making.  This is exactly what I hope I have done so far, however, I am finding that I am just bashing out pattern now for the wrong reason.  I want to spend more time pushing the pattern and making it a product rather than a student's pattern.

so, after showing Fred the wallpapers I have just printedI was advised to cut it down to 5 and make the wallpapers relate to one another more.  Each needs more work and they need to have some consistancy.  Wheather this is through the colour pallette, scale or an extra such as 'colour it yourself'.

I did feel happy with the 3 I presented and would like to show them in my portfolio as they are, but for this brief I do think it is right to push them further and see what happens.

crit aftermath

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In short my own evaluation of my work involved me talking about feeling comfortable in the fact that I have worked hard and achieved the minimum response to each brief.  However I am fully aware that there is so much more that I could do and despite being EXHAUSTED I need to keep going along the same tracks I am on now. I need to push my briefs out of student standard into co-corporate products that have a place in the outside world.

Brief 1 for example (wallpaper).  I am pleased with the amount of variables of image making that I have put together so far, as well as a ore interesting format of the packaging idea.  however, I need to keep pushing and really bring this brief through to the other end.  I dont want it to be a branding brief but I need to ensure that I pull the wallpapers all together in the way that they are packaged and sold, especially given the fact that the imagery and methods of producing the image are inconsistent.

Brief 2 (brownies) is coming along.  however I feel I have hit a wall after again producing the minimum and now it needing a push to improve it and to make it a real one of a kind product.  I think that i need to stop recycling the imagery as despite them being the only consistent imagery world wide-I cannot rely on them any longer to produce more deliverable in a range.  I d like to push it into another medium.  For example, the brief is about uniting the brownies world wide to celebrate their 100th anniversary.  Why not push it into the 21st century and involve some web-maybe skyping etc to add another element to the response.  

I have a few more smaller briefs been set for me;

wallpaper for Dutch- 80s theme-yet to receive

Dickens cover- artist's impression- for Ben and Aaron

I'd like to do these next week and come back to Brownies to make sure this idea is still a good one...

I also want to get these wallpapers DONE!

 

Overall a good crit. However, it was very clear that it is up to me and my ideas to push these briefs through with as much effort as I have been putting in. I can't slow down, if anything this is the trickiest bit!

A little something extra
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100th year Brownie Pen Pal Badge-

stock testing 

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I was trying to decide which of these variations to use when I thought -hang on- i am sure that they will each send more than one letter so why not include all of them for them to mix and match as they like.  The other side of the envelopes so i mocked up a pattern to go on the other side of the envelope to brighten it up and tie it all together.  I think that the stamp works well on these stocks but I need more variation with those as well.

 stock and colour test

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the text box on the back needs work.  cartridge works best as the colours are more vibrant and just looks better quality.  It folds nicely too.