aubabiwilson

[aubabiwilson]

will it blend? tactile + atmosphere :) notes

[aubabiwilson]

year 3 , term 1

[aubabiwilson]

Third Term Evaualtion

Third year is complete and I am really happy with the position I was in this term. I feel like I was much more motivated and encouraged to develop and adjust my work through tutorials with Sally to help me improve my work to create a strong body of work. At the start of term, I am always lost with ideas and what I could produce for an open brief but once I have an idea and it's something I'm interested in it all comes very naturally and easy to design for me. This term I wanted to push myself and stick to a graphic design approach, instead of an illustrated style which has been the focus of my previous. So I wanted to to change up my style to experiment with different medians to create a wide variation for my portfolio. For my overall design, I was really happy with the body of work I had produced, and revisiting XD Adobe to create an animated video to introduce the new feature within the Spotify app. I want to continue to develop my skills in different programs for future projects in my spare time to improve my variety of outcomes.

My designs correlate throughout with a consistent colour palette as well as my simplistic illustrations relevant to each social asset I have designed. I've been inspired and collected data through primary and secondary research to help me determine certain elements within my projects such as features suited for my target audience. Having a selected target audience helped me lead my designs toward my purpose and solution for this brief.

As a reflection on improving my own design skills, I want to experiment with developing my video further and including transitions and pop-up features during the 'how it works' section at the end. As a step into the third year, I want to discuss with Jordy about different features within Aftereffects and have another tutorial that goes over this to help me improve my work. this would be in preparation for my final major project. Thinking about developing as a designer and showcasing new pieces of work I want to push myself and showcase a different component each term. For example, adding that extra component to go through colour palettes and type at a professional standard.

On the topic of my final major project, I want to brainstorm over the summer to think about what I want to do for my final project. I will brainstorm ideas and concepts relevant to what I want to do when I leave university.

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updated learning agreement - ready for submittion

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Video referencing - copy right

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Tweaks from my additional feedback

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new and improved video

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Portfolio website

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additional feedback

File Naming:

Ensure your files maintain consistent naming conventions prior to submission. There should be guidelines on Canvas for how we expect these to be submitted. If not, ask Sally. 

I would also get into the habit of naming your files in this format, with V1, V2, V3, etc. for each new version as this is industry standard. For instance, some clients won’t open a file if it’s not named correctly. This is for organisation purposes, but also for data protection (e.g. a randomly named file could lead to data breach if opened).

File Size:

Currently, your PDF is a whopping 458MB. Try to keep this below 20MB if possible. I’d recommend using Adobe’s Compress tool for this. Reduce image resolution to 72dpi, and check your presentation slide size is less than the size of your Mac screen (1920 x 1080px is standard).

Type Treatment: 

Revisit font size, weight & leading to improve readability. For instance, on page 2, your Problem/Goals/Solution column text have awkward line-lengths, leading to orphans & widows (screenshot attached highlighting orphans/widows in blue & how it creates awkward line-lengths in green). You can learn about orphans & widows here. You can use a forced-return to tweak these, but often altering the font variables (size & weight), or adjusting the text’s bounding box can improve this. 

Display type looks a bit disjointed due to the large leading between lines. I’d tighten these up for improved reading & impact.

Your LO3 grade will increase upon improving your text handling, as this is a core skill of a Visual Communicator. 

If you need help with type handling, speak to Briony, as this is her field of expertise. 

Spelling & Grammar:

I’ve noticed several spelling mistakes throughout the document (e.g. “Soultion” on pg.2, should be ’Solution’ — although I do like the way yours sounds!). Duolingo has also been misspelt (missing the letter ‘u').

Do a spellcheck throughout. If you’re using InDesign, use keyboard shortcut: ⌘ + I (here’s a cheat-sheet to all InDesign keyboard shortcuts). A spellcheck won’t notice all errors, so I encourage you to go through several times by eye, and get others to review your copyright also (like Jordy or Briony if they have time). 

It looks like you might be using American English (e.g. z instead of s), which is great for when you're working in the U.S., but for UK HE (higher-education) English spelling is preferred. 

There are also some double spaces in some areas, and spaces before a line starts, which creates awkward indents. I’ve attached a screenshot highlighting some of these (in red) for ref. 

Syntax:

There are some repeating of words in obvious places which disrupts the flow of reading (e.g. “enjoyable” and “enjoying” sit above one another on pg.3, with “Enjoy” written a few lines up). Use a thesaurus to find other descriptive words.

Mockups:

Some mockups look stretched. Ensure you are retaining aspect ratio when embedding your designs into the mockups. 

Sometimes the mockup file automatically warps the images, and so you might want to try a different mockup provider.

Navigation:

You might want to consider adding page numbers to help orient the viewer. There are some really beautiful ways to do this, outside of the standard: 1, 2, 3. Have a look on Behance and some of the books in the library for inspiration. 

Context:

Great to see you engaging with moving image, but ensure the content is relevant to your context. The beginning shots feel a bit displaced as they’re not directly referencing Spotify & Duolingo (e.g. it would be good to see how the app works earlier on), but does demo activities akin to them (like dancing and eating with friends). Brands often want to be at the forefront so people know it’s them, as after all, they’re trying to promote their brand(s). Have a look at how others are doing this, as well as at existing Spotify & Duolingo ads for inspiration. 

Copyright:

When using others work (e.g. videos in your Spotify reel), ensure you are crediting the video source. This doesn’t need to be anything huge, just a small credit note somewhere. You can write this as a Harvard reference, as a Copyright line, or as a URL. Examples below for if you were using this video:

Harvard: Heider F. & Simmel M. (1944) An experimental study in apparent behavior. The American Journal of  Psychology 57 243-259.

Copyright: © Heider F. & Simmel M. (1944)

URL: youtube.com/watch?v=VTNmLt7QX8E&t=8s 

[aubabiwilson]

development slides + video

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Final crit feedback tutorial - Sally

First illustration - refine and limit down

Address the language side of my feature and naturalise it with the music aspect

Adjusting the script to language-based and introducing the learning side to my feature - include examples - include what and how you'll be learning

a slide to introduce 'how easy it is to learn'

how my feature will help people learn - bullets

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Initial feedback from Sally

thin down my own illustrations - too bulky on the screen

experiment with fun illustrations

updated and refined spreads with the swirls

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development of my video

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Presentation Slides

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Billboard mockups

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mockup design - posters