Critique feedback: Message & delivery - Mailshot

After producing our mail shots we gathered for an entire group critique, in this critique we were asked to pair up with a partner and sit on a table were two pieces of other peoples work was presented. There were 4 mail shot editions along with a mailing list (these were the deliverables which were required) some of the work also came with key rings, labels and other small things you could find in a mail shot that they had designed.

As a pair we had to critique these two individuals pieces of work, the same procedure was carried out on my work by two pairs of two people during this process. The feedback I got from these two pairs of two people were documented on the critique sheet which is shown below.

 

Summary based on feedback given:

• Audience are not sure what the EU budget is, maybe clarify this further. 
• Mailshot is about British finance , theres a formality associated. 
• All deliverable requirements are met along with colour ad stock requirements.
• Purpose is to INFORM

Self Evaluation based on this feedback:

I feel that I defiantly could improve of clarifying what the EU budget is to the audience, some may not be aware of what the budget s firstly and how it is effecting them, I could make this section of the mailshot a lot more explanatory and highlight how it is effecting the society and taxpayers money. Although I have used the same typefaces that I used within my poster my critique sheet feedback states that I should possibly experiment with the typeface, I do not completely agree with this however i do feel that I should defiantly change the script typeface used as I have had numerous feedback on its illegibility.

 

Summary based on critique feedback:

• Use a different display font. 
• British flag represents the subject area well.
• Mailing list has far to many fonts, maybe think about reducing number of fonts.
• Purpose = Inform
• Place address panel inside the 'O' 

Self Evaluation based on feedback:

I do agree with this pair when they say that the display font should be different, after our learning in our workshop on 'The anatomy of type' I have learnt that script typefaces should NOT be used as display fonts, the reason behind this is because when they are in a larger point size they become illegible as it has been stated from feedback numerous times. If i could improve this factor then I would replace this font with a Block typeface which when in a larger point size it is more legible. From this feedback form they have also highlighted that the image could be of a higher quality on the front of the mail shot, I also agree with this, the reason behind it being a lower resolution is due to the fact that i mistakenly put the DPI at 72 rather than its intended value of 300. 

Critique Feedback - Message & Delivery : Posters

After producing our posters we had a critique session with Simon and our peers in order to see how effective the delivery of our message was, to an audience. In order to get honest feedback we were split into two separate groups, the first group were asked to lay there work out and leave the room, we were then given critique sheets with a set of questions to answer based on the other groups work.

After we had critiqued 3 different individuals pieces of work we then spread our work out in preparation for the other group to carry put the same critique process on our work.

Summary of feedback

• Image lacks 'detail'
• 'Conserve'- 'seems slightly vague' - what should be conserved 
• Unsure to the use of stock 
• Image piece is unclear 

Self Evaluation based on feedback given

I feel that this particular person has given me purely negative feedback towards my work, I do not feel that they have outlined the reasoning behind why certain issues have arisen which have disoriented them from fully understanding the message which is being delivered. Although I feel that there is very minimal constructive criticism within this feedback sheet I do agree with this person to a small degree when they have outlined that there seems to be something missing from the 'image poster', however not to the extent that they have mentioned that the 'image is unclear' as the scissors are a clear connotation of cutting. 

Summary of feedback

• 'Browns spending cuts wasn't prominent' - had to read everything else first
• Type on the poster little to cluttered
• All deliverable requirements are met in terms of colour and stock
• ''Colours are patriotic , reflects british public''

Self Evaluation based on feedback given

I found that this persons feedback highlighted the positive features within my work then followed up by giving me constructive pieces of criticism, it emphasised that I had applied colour well in correlation to the message and the subject area of British Politics. The individual outlines that the script typeface was slightly illegible, I agree with this person after printing out my designs and looking at them and reflecting upon them, I could improve this by using a script font that has a more clarity however still pinpoints this direct speech idea that was mentioned previously. 

Summary of feedback 

• Text and image poster is the most clear 
• Image poster us slightly unclear
• Consistency with fonts and colour 
• Type poster is the most memorable 
• More attention needs to be paid to the image poster  

Self Evaluation based on the feedback

From this feedback from the critique I definitely feel that I need to work on my image poster, not only because it is simplistic in its form and lacks detail however due to the fact that three people have individually outlines that the image poster lacks detail in comparison to the poster. 

Study task 3: Alphabet Soup - Typeface Feedback

APPROACH

To help me kick start the project I decided to ask Roxxie a set of given questions, I didn’t feel that this was sufficient information for me too start researching so I decided to from this ask a series of question, from this point I drew up spider diagrams which I then identified areas that I could route down. Gathering and gaining knowledge on her personality I decided to start developing some letterforms based on her most preferred typeface: Gill Sans, in order to produce a set of type that reflected my partners personality I decided to experiment in the developmental stages by combining influences from artists/designers that she mentioned to find inspirational along with including other elements of her personal interest. As I was absent for the power critique where we were suppose to discuss our research decided to approach my partner and discuss the resources I had gathered over the research period. From this point onwards I had decided that the basis of the type should be created from the negatives of the Gill Sans typeface in order to maintain a formal bodily structure and to then from here onwards added hand rendered detail focusing on influences from Jessica Hische and my partners love for body art (tattoos and piercings). 

OUTCOME: 

A1 poster

Name badge

CRITIQUE:

After producing my final piece we were asked to present our typeface to a group in a critique, whilst presenting our final piece we gave an explanation of how we had come to chose that this particular design represented our partners, as you can see from the text above I have outlined the approach that I took to the brief and the design decisions I had made and presented to the group in this critique. Below are some images of my groups work including mine and my partners. 

(Entire groups final pieces prepared for critique)

(My final piece above along with my partners final piece below-to the right hand side) 

After presenting my final piece in the critique I gained feedback upon my design from tutors and also my peers within the group, the feedback that I received was fairly positive however I also received some constructive criticism about the improvements I could make to the design or certain characters/glyphs within the set. 

FEEDBACK:

• The negatives used form Gill Sans typeface works well.
• Characters are very powerful as a set.
• The A1 sheet works a lot better as a set than the name badge. 
• Quiet like the type fairly compact on the name badge however maybe leave on a straight line with an equal distance between each character instead of skewing them off-centre. 

Alphabet Soup -illustrator tutorial notes

ALPHABET SOUP - EVALUATION

APPROACH

After conducting research into different letterforms of the alphabet using the word 'expand' I decided to start developing my chosen characters using the letters 'A B,C,D,E,V,W,X,Y,Z’ within a sketchbook. I decided to select one out of the 30 designs from my initial summer research as the foundation of my design; from this point onwards I developed the chosen character based on either altering the scale (height), scope (perspective), volume, enlargement of the actual character. As you can see the development in my sketchbook is fairly rough and some designs are thumbnail-like, I find it easier to sketch my designs and thoughts and then refine them in terms if there measurement and clarity. 

WHAT WORKED & WHAT DIDN'T 

After conducting research into different letterforms of the alphabet using the word 'expand' I decided to start developing my chosen characters using the letters 'A B,C,D,E,V,W,X,Y,Z’ within a sketchbook. I decided to select one out of the 30 designs from my initial summer research as the foundation of my design; from this point onwards I developed the chosen character based on either altering the scale (height), scope (perspective), volume, enlargement of the actual character. As you can see the development in my sketchbook is fairly rough and some designs are thumbnail-like, I find it easier to sketch my designs and thoughts and then refine them in terms if there measurement and clarity.

For the character ‘C’ I started with a fairly simplistic character, fairly block and neat. However after developing the ‘C’ I moved onto this quirky and hand drawn approach, After developing it with black ink and a white background I decided to inverse it and use white ink on a black background as you can see the definition of the lines are much more aseptically pleasing and the design works a lot better on the black background. 

When developing the letter ‘E’ I found it fairly difficult make the character look interesting without confusing the audience by layering the character up. For this reason I decided to adjust the perspective of the piece rather than developing its 3-dimensional aspect. I found that adjusting this aspect of the design worked a lot better than trying to adjust the volume of the character. 

FINAL PIECES

You can find the full 10,10x10 designs on my design practice blog by clicking on the link below.

http://a-mistry1215-dp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/1010x10-letterforms-final-designs.html

GROUP CRITIQUE 

As apart of receiving feedback and response to the work we had produced we gathered to have a group critique to receive feedback on our final outcomes (10,10x10) letterforms. Instead of gathering in our usual blog groups we were put into larger groups of around 10-11 people, to present our designs too. After presenting our designs to each person we were asked as a group to select five designs from each individuals ten designs which we thought were aseptically stronger. We then stuck the five designs onto a wall along with the word which we were developing the designs from (expand).

After doing so we all correspondingly moved around the room to another groups set of typefaces (on their wall). As a group we decided we managed to narrow down the wall of letterforms to five chosen designs which we thought were most representative of the given word and that were the most aseptically pleasing.  

After a few disagreements and discussion over which five we should selected we managed to choose five which we all agreed were worthy to keep up and most representative (after discussing the reasons we had decided to take the other ones down- pro's and con's of each)

When going back to our wall after carrying out each task which had been set for the group critique I found that one of my designs had been selected by the other group as one of the five.

(My design is the first from the left- 'A'- Expand)