Studio/ Live Brief: 'Design Is About Doing/ Secret 7" Evaluation

Crit:

For our crit, we were put into selected Groups and had to crit each others work. The aim of the crit was to be able to come out of the crit knowing which visual we were going to submit for the Live Brief deadline.

After explaining the research, initial ideas and presenting the different handmade and digital variations of the 5 ideas, I was given these comments:

• The ones that were produced handmade were the best visually and went better with the style of the artist
• The favourite of the group was the Transitional Footprints- Nice Texture and Concept behind the idea

Based on the fact that the Transitional Footprints were the groups favourite, I was given these suggestions to work from to try out in order to improve the imagery for the final Live Brief submission:

• Try different colour- both in the paint and in the card stock colours
• Change the stock- keep it off-white but choose better quality card
• Needs extra texture in the image so that it translates easily when scanned in digitally for submission
• Try a black and white version and some brown on brown variation

I feel that these suggestions were helpful in regards to the presentation and expression of the concept of the work so I am going to try them out and develop this before I settle on a final impression of the idea.

Self-Evaluation:

• How did you approach the brief? - I was worried about the brief as it is the first live brief we have done and I have never produced any work that other people would consider and judge in a real life setting outside of the college course. I felt it was hard to choose a song and get connected to the artists so in a way, it was quite restrictive of the choice we had but, in a way, this was good as it was reflective of how we would work in real life.
• What was your thought-process behind the brief? - My thought process behind the brief was that I wanted to be able to represent the message and themes behind the brief rather than present an entirely literal translation of the title as I felt it would be too obvious. This subtlety and recognition into the possible meanings and translations behind the song was important to me as I wanted the design to seem considered.
• What worked?/What was Good? - What was good about this brief was the fact that I got the opportunity to actually start considering stock within this brief and try out different stock weights and thicknesses in order to get the best visual. I haven't done this in any other brief before and I felt this added to the overall visual outcome of my design. Particularly as I didn't go straight for the standard bright white card and instead considered off-white stock and then went onto textured handmade card. This shows that I have listened to the feedback I have been given in previous briefs and have tried to take the comments on board.
• What didn't work?/ What was Bad? - I think the clarity of the message could have been better and the clarity of the footprints on the actual card could be clearer as well. The fact that I handmade the vinyl covers is quite good in the sense that it fitted with the artist but it meant that I felt it wasn't the most well-produced or cleanest approach to the brief, especially when it would have come out differently if I had done it in a digital way. 
• What would you change?- I think I would change the song choice so that I could choose a song where a digital outcome would have been more appropriate so it would seem more professional in regards to the aesthetic. A handmade outcome suited this song but it doesn't look as sophisticated or aesthetically pleasing then if it was made digitally.