Studio Brief 2: 10/10 (Presentation and Evaluation)

Today we had a crit and we presented our branding concept for our film festival (Overlay Film Festival). We presented it to the whole class and got feedback back as to how well we did our presentation.

After the presentation, we got feedback on mostly how to improve our work and presentation skills. Some of the feedback we got were:

• Think about the colour of the background that would bring out the images more out of the screen.
• Credit people's work or ideas in the presentation (as we put Pat's illustration on our presentation which we got doing our interim crit.)
• Maybe setting out a tripod when capturing a video order to have a cleaner and more professional looking outcome.
• Instead of loads of writing, only have the most important parts of the idea on the presentation.
• have a grid for the presentation; text and images are on the same place throughout and makes it more professional looking.
• 'Think graphic design throughout' e.g. from the layout of the presentation, in order to show the client that you do know what you are doing and they can trust you with branding a product or concept.

Overall, I think that as a group we worked quite well with each other. We pulled out great ideas and concepts for our branding strategies from creating merchandise and creating identities for each film in the festival. I also think that as a group we distributed the workload quite well as most of the members of the group had contributed to the making and completion of the branding project as people were researching and making designs for each individual piece or design for the festival e.g. tickets, popcorn box and social media branding. I also think that by doing this, it only not made sure that people contributed to the team but it also made the work go faster and quicker as well, and this worked because we already decided on a concept that would go throughout the branding which was the logo and the colours red, yellow and orange. I think that by establishing these 'rules' and concepts made it easier for us to design work which link to each other and the festival and runs through the project, with little outliers. 

However, throughout the 2 weeks that we handled this brief we did have some disagreements within the group and with members of the group having little to no participation at all which hindered us from progressing stages of our project. I think at the start of the project we were a little bit slow and our ideas were not going anywhere, which made me anxious as people were worried about the others not coming in and people being very hesitant and passive to share their ideas and to solidify an idea. However, we sorted this problem out by getting everyone to do a design for an idea (e.g. logo) and deciding which one is the best through votes and by doing this, everyone has the freedom to make what the have in mind which they wouldn't have shared in the group and made the process easier as time went on people started to put ideas out and get the project going. 

Also, I think that our concept and branding would've came out better if we solidly knew what we were going to do as a group at the start and we could've pushed our ideas further e.g. we could've made actual visual stimulations during our presentation about our idea of people drawing while watching a movie, in order to strongly get the idea across and for it to be more engaging and interactive. But, overall I was mostly satisfied with the work that me and my group did during this brief and was only disappointed that some people didn't really participate in the group which I thought was quite a shame as I thought all of us working together would've brought in more ideas into the table with different perspectives. If we were to continue working on this project and make it better I would've liked us to polish our videoing abilities in order to produce better quality videos which we can show on the festival and produce materials for the activity we had in mind for each film in order to attract and engage people from different design disciplines n order to encourage them to link up and meet new people that they would necessary not be friends with and be inspired from the films themselves, wether this would inspire them to create fresh new content or to indulge themselves in new techniques and materials, this way I think would make our branding much more effective and have a much better purpose.

Studio Brief 2: Further Brand Development

Overall as a group we all did different things individually in order for us to finish working faster and get together quicker.

Ticket Designs - Me
Sticker Merchandise - Laveeza
Design Board - Alex
Booklet & Social Media - Jake
Popcorn box Design - Josh
Wristband and Guespass - Lee
Other Merchandise - Selina
Presentation - Cara

 Sticker Designs

We decided to also include stickers for an extra merchandise design. The stickers can be given to the viewers in the festival which they can take home and use; it also a way of branding and advertising the festival as it uses the logo of the festival and can therefore become a symbol which people can recognise and identify with.

                                         

Design Board

We also made a design board which shows the development and refinement details that we went through in order to produce the branding for our film festival. It includes initial research, developments and significant changes we have made in order to develop our design further. The design boards include explanations of our design decisions which describes what, how, and why we made those design decisions, which explains that concept of our design in more in-depth detail. 

Booklet & Social Media

We made an Instagram account (@overlayfilmfest) in order to promote the film festival. The social media account includes promotional videos that explains the films that are going to be included in the festival. It's very engaging and people can view it see what the festival is all about as it promotes all the films in the festival in a very dynamic and entertaining way. The videos are also made handmade and are filmed quite roughly which I think makes it more effective as the rawness of the video effectively fits the mood of the festival and how it's made by students and for students making it feel very warm and welcoming.

                                         

Popcorn Box Design

The popcorn box design was made in order to fit the shape concept of the festival (square and circle) and using the chosen colour scheme. The popcorn box design looks quite interesting as it's a square shape with a circle lid. This may attract viewers to buy popcorn in the festival, making it a successful branding product. 

Wristband and Guest Pass

Having wristband and guest passes will make viewers feel that they are very much part of something and it's something that is official. It's also an effective way to brand the festival as it is worn and seen clearly and can also be kept as possible merchandise or memorabilia by viewers that have been to the festival. 

Other Merchandise

Similar to the wristband and guest pass, other merchandise such as a tote bag or pencil is also something that can be kept  by the viewers. Also, as the festival is primarily aimed at students having merchandise that they may possibly want is also effective as this means that they may potentially buy it and use it everywhere they go, which makes the merchandise more recognisable in public. 

Presentation

We also created a presentation which we can use in order to show what we have done for the film festival from it's beginning to it's final refinement. We can also use the illustrations and pictures in order to explain what we have done more clearly as they can be seen visually than writing in paragraphs. It'll also make it easier for people to understand our overall idea as they can quickly absorb the information through visual representation.

Studio Brief 2: 9/10 (Brand Development (Stickers))

Today we have finalised the look of our tickets by combining mine and Laveeza's designs and ideas along with our groups suggestions. I worked on the final design of the company as our group delegated separate jibs to everyone so that we would work more efficiently.

Final ticket design

We have created this final design collaborating mine and Laveeza's design. We used the shape of the logo as the shape of the ticket as we thought it would suit the concept and would well with the theme of the festival. We also used the red, yellow and orange colour scheme that is the concept for out festival, making it look very bright, fun and vibrant. Our ticket included the name of the festival date, time, logo, slogan, the names of the films and a barcode which can be scanned in order for people to see the festival. We also thought that the circle part of the ticket can be cut off and be kept by the viewer as the back of the circle contain's a pattern/illustration and can also be used as a coaster for cups while people are watching the movie.

Coaster design

This is the coaster design for the back of the ticket. We used the logo as a motif for the pattern making it look illustrative and bright. It also relates to our minimal yet fun concept as the motif restricts us to use minimal designs however having it in a pattern and bright colours also gives it that bright and fun atmosphere to it, which can attract viewers and people and take it.

Studio Brief 2: 8/10 (Brand Development)

Today I made some ticket designs which could be used in the branding of the festival ('Overlay'). For the ticket designs, we thought that the could be in a circle shape in order to go with the them of our logo design. As it is a circle we thought that one side could show all the ticket information and the other side could be used as a cup coaster that the viewers can take home and use. Having it as a cup coaster as well as a ticket will increases the usability of the ticket and it also serves as another merchandise which can be distributed in the festival.

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These are the ticket designs that I made. I made sure to put all the necessary information that might be needed for the ticket e.g. time and date. In each design I tried to put the info. in different positions and layout to see which one looks the best. I made it quite professional looking and clean by suing the typeface 'Futura' in order to give a slick look and relate to the festival itself as it was recommended by creatives from the industry. I also used red, yellow and orange for the colour scheme as it represents the fun and vibrant atmosphere the student's give to the festival as it is for student and by students. The back is made with bright and colourful illustrations which reference the logo of the festival with it's usage of the circle and square shapes. It's more free and illustrative which can give it a very fun and playful tone which also represents the fun aspect that we are trying to portray in the festival. 

In addition I also thought that the back pieces of the ticket can also be a separate designs by themselves which can also alb e added as extra merchandise items for the festival. I thought maybe they could be used as stickers, badges or pins which can be sold to the viewers and I also think that it'll appeal to the viewers as the festival is aimed at young students and young creatives. 

Laveeza has also made some ticket designs which we thought were also good as she approached it differently to me. Her designs were more illustrative and varied it colours.

As we put our designs together we decided as a group to use my ticket shape design (6) and Laveeza's design with the logo on the top left. We decided to do this as we wanted to combine our designs together as we selected the best designs from each of us. 

After doing this, we will then finalise the tickets and print them out physically.

Studio Brief 2: 7/10 (Brand Development)

Following yesterday, each of us in the group created a logo design which can be used as the final design for our festival ('Overlay Film Festival'.) We presented each of our designs to the group this morning and decided to use Jake's designs as we thought that his logo design was quite transferable to different products and merchandise that can be presented in the festival. It also looks very playful yet minimal with his use of the two shapes and including the word overlay on it, it looks very dynamic and fun. We also thought that the logo he made with the two shapes kind of looks like an old film or a film lens which also links to the film festival itself which we thought was quite clever.

Lee

Brylle (me)

Today, we allocated work for people in the group to do in order to distribute the workload and  make the process faster.

I'm aiming to create tickets with Laveeza and also researching for references and creating fresh ideas and designs which we can use in our festival branding. We have started to write down ideas which we have also started to make and do.

Our aim tomorrow is to have solid designs that we show and share with our group, along with what the others from the group are doing, as well as  continue with the making of our merchandise and branding of the film festival.

Research on Popcorn Bags for 'Overlay' (Film Festival)

As agreed in our group, we were to do our own research on topics we were allocated and agreed to do. I'm going to be researching about different popcorn bag ides and designs that can be used as inspirations and references for our own promotional material for the film festival.

I found these examples of popcorn bags and packaging while searching the Internet however they all looked quite similar and generic, mostly a rectangular box and with a simple striped design which is commonly the design we typically associate with popcorn bags in cinema's etc.

I therefore looked at some general innovative food packaging ideas and found some more inspiration which I may be able to use for our festival branding.

I thought the idea of using unique shapes for a packing and kinda making it look like a puzzle piece and intricately opens is a great idea for a packaging design and something I could take as part of our branding idea. We could maybe utilise the shaped that we have chosen and use them to create a packaging which will be appropriate for a popcorn bag design which also relates to our festival branding.

I like this idea of literally using the fruits/food and making  them into the packaging of the product. It's not only eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing to lookout but it also saes the producer the effort to label wha the product is as the consumer can already see what it is. Maybe we could also use this as reference in our designs and play with maybe using the pop-corn itself as the bases for our design.

Logo Design Ideas

Following what me and my group decided to do for the logo designs, I created some logo design ideas and picked a final design which I could pitch to the group.

I decided to do this design as I tried to create a minimal structure yet which a motif to it (circles on the edges), this also creates a pattern which goes with the style of them logo we were trying to make. I used red and yellow as they re harmonious colours that work well together and are also very bright and fun, relating to the quirky element to the logo.

I tried to convey the 'Overlay' them on this design however I think it's a bit too basic and plain. 

For this design I tried to play with the scale of the squares a bit. It can represent different films and the different mediums or genre the films may have; e.g. documentary.

I quite like this design because of how simple and clean the overlay is between the two shapes and how the two colours complement each other quite well, however I have only used the circle which doesn't really follow the rule that we made. 

I liked this idea the best and will be the idea that I'll pitch to my group. I like this idea due to the usage of different sized squares overlaid with each other and the circle with creates an abstract logotype/logo. I used red and orange for this logo as they compliment each other quite well and are bright, however if it's taken further it may also be other combinations of other colours or colours schemes to match the them of the festival more and could go well in a series. Also, the squares are laid out in order to spell the letters O,V,L which can be an abbreviation for 'OVerLay'.

Studio Brief 2: 6/10 (Start of Branding)

Today we started the branding part of our studio brief. We are to brand a film festival/series that we have created through the film recommendation's that the designers we interviewed gave. The film festival is essentially a curated film series by students which are for students and are recommended by professional artist's in the industry. We are to also rename the initial festival name which is "Film Festival for Young Graphic Designers".

In our group we started to come up with a list which we thought were the key themes and ideas that we find interesting and that links to the festival which ties all the films together. We also included words and phrases which we thought could give us ideas on the new and look of our film festival.

From the list that we made we noticed that most of the things we wrote come under two categories "Minimal" and Quirky". We decided to do a vote on which one we think suits the festival better, but came out with a tie; because of this we decided to do a mixture of both. We decided that stylistically it should be minimal with a quirky and fun characteristic.  We also decided to to this, as we thought it would be more appropriate to go with a style which is very general and puts all the films in 'one umbrella' as combining the genres and types of films in the style and layout of the festival will be too complicated and chaotic.

We also stated the purpose and essence of the festival in order fro us to come up with an appropriate theme. At the end we decided to name the festival "Overlay" as we thought it suited the mood and personality of the theme well, which is to 'overlay' or 'combine' minimal and quirky characteristics into one.

After choosing the name for the festival we decided to move onto the logotype design. We decided to use a circle and a square for the logo design for our festival as we decided to choose the element of pattern to relate to the quirkiness of the festival but it is also quite minimal as it's only two shapes combined together. (We also decided as a group to do individual logo designs which we can pitch to the group tomorrow so we can pick which ones the best and pick as our final logo design for the festival.)

After doing an initial idea for the logo design we then decided to split workload between the group in order to do things quicker and more efficiently. We are then to collate and present our research to the group tomorrow (Tuesday) and bring it all together in order to create more refine ideas on how we can do the branding for the festival. 

MY TO DO LIST

• Create a/ or a series of logo designs that I can pitch to the group tomorrow to decide a final logo design.
• Do emulsion on the screens for screen print.
• Research about popcorn bag ideas.

Studio Brief 2: Deciding Poster to Screenprint

Today our group also had a talk on which design we are going to use as our final and the poster we are going to screen print. We each pitched our final poster developments and voted which one we thought was the best.

These are the poster designs we all pitched in and voted on:

Jake

 

Brylle (me) 

Laveeza

Josh

Selina

Cara

Kocha 

Out of all these designs, Jake got 3 votes, I got 2 votes and Laveeza, Cara and Kocha got 1 votes each, we decided to go with the majority and went with Jake's design. 

I liked Jake's design as it clearly shows the influence from From Form and is very clean and simple. Though it's clean and simple it also holds a lot of meaning and is conceptual rich which I liked. It represents the movie well and although it's abstract it can still tell the meaning the film. It's also very minimal which also represents Aki Kaurismaki's way of directing and making his films. 

We are going to screen print this poster on Monday and hopefully finish it by then in order to move on to the next step of the project which is branding the film.

I think so far we have worked quite well as a group and have shared ideas and responsibilities quite well without much problems along the way. So far I am enjoying working in our group and I hope it stays that way as well, however we do have some group members who have been missing quite frequently in our meetings and have not really given any proper contribution to the group which is quite a shame.