#i can instead do a 1.5 hr commute 1 way to work

[oleander-teacup]

living in florida rn as a disabled lgbt person rlly has me muting notifications to my news app so i can microdose despair on my time

[grad701-katie-shepherd]

Formative Feedback

Negative/dumb

Note 1 Branding is cool, but a little standard – is there a way to make it pop/more contemporary? Is Bauhaus overused? Will you include all-gender toilets? The dash marketing is a good avenue!   Social media is a good outcome. Merch is cool but can you be more original? See the Gen Less tote bag/backpack.   Sketches are cool! Clear. AT lite; ooh nice logo!   Commute: it takes me 1 – 1.5 hrs to get from Glen Eden to AUT on bus/train/bus. Not too bad; faster in some ways than car. Agree need more trains, trams, or light rail etc. Investigation: excellent focus question. Have you seen the murals on the trains? Stop, look, listen by Floc etc.

Note 2 Would love a light rail. Designing and selling merch where 100% of the profits go towards the construction of the rail will not bode well with 90% of residents and would piss a lot of people off. Taxpayer dollars are already spent towards these projects and people who are hardworking will not spend their additional leftover income on this. Particularly when transport projects are always delayed, and the cost is always more than the proposed budget. Shouldn’t the t-shirts go toward a social initiative? Or something that’s giving back to the communities.  

Note 3   In a design sense, would it not be more beneficial to create a new logo/company as Auckland's transport, rather than slapping ‘Lite’ at the end”?

Note 4 So, you’re advertising an already planned council project? What part of the visuals are authentically your own? The logo and visuals of maps and trains are council property, aren’t they? BE CAREFUL WITH PLAGERISM!!!

Note 5 How are you working around the expanse of the money issue? It would close much more than people could give, and would the money end up towards the train?

Note 6 Seems to be quite similar to AT. Perhaps you could use another name with the same idea? Love the designs!  

Note 7 Auckland topography (landscape) has so many hills and dips, how would you work around this? Also, areas of land/under buildings aren’t structurally sound to move Research that for more blog posts, haha :)

Constructive Feedback

Note 1 “Stuart Hall. Talks beautifully about modernism in terms of society.”

Note 2   “Instead of Bauhaus a very European and German design style why not make decisions to incorporate NZ landscape/Maori designs/patterns to make it unique and different to the rest of the world.”

Note 3   “Paula Scher did New York train lines  - interesting and timeless designs” “Clean design and very well thought out campaign.” “helpful to have all output supporting each other”

Note 4 “Possibly make sure you identify if this is your personal campaign or a contribution towards the pre-existing light rail project”

Note 5 Could make the train more colourful.

Note 6 Really need to sell it to people.

Note 7 Essential to locate in the now – the lauding and the collective information. Selling the idea to the public on getting funded How are you asking the population to participate? What do you want to know from the audience? Have you seen the train signage for the stop and look campaign? Collaboration with artists? An idea is to bring nature into the design of the trains, showing kiwis it’s a more eco way of traveling.

Note 8   Make sure that the designs are completely different to refresh the appeal to the new train love the app idea.

Note 9   Way finding could investigate augmented reality.  

Note 10 And the film on Helvetica that shows NY subway.

Note 11 If you use “...” you need a page to reference it properly

Note 12 Check the brand and infographics of London underground.

Note 13 Check if it is not too much in terms of outcomes it is quite a lot. Have you reached out to AT? They will have lots of info to help you and permission to use their logo. The outcomes are very thought through and cover all important aspects and some fun additions like the app.

Note 14 Agreed! Taking the bus takes so long! Really like your proposed visual styleHave you contacted the team working on the lite rail? They might give you some interesting insights.

Note 15  It’s easy to say that AT-lite will be more reliable and efficient but how can you make people believe this? Maybe through experiments from the game/app”

Positive Feedback

Note 1 Good job on the thorough research. As someone who often uses public transport, I’m very interested in your project. Looking forward to the final outcome.

Note 2 Really like the Bauhaus inspiration + look of your campaign – really well thought out.

Note 3 Well thought out project; the different design artefacts will work well together. Bauhaus style will work well with the goal for the project.

Note 4 Love the imagery and motion graphics

Note 5 I really like the combination of transport to design

Note 6 I really like the logo ideas.  

Note 7 Great concept sketches. Love that you guys went in depth with what you will be creating. Allows audience to understand well. It’s smart how you’ve used a simple, clean art movement for your aesthetic.

Note 8  Love the topic, Auckland Transport sucks and needs to be improved. I liked the poster series of the trains getting closer – simple but eye catching. Very professional looking.

Note 9 “Very well thought out design outcomes, can’t wait to see them.”

Note 10 “Very creative idea :)”

Note 11 “Presentation was super clear and well laid out, great topic and choice of artefacts.”

Note 12 “Well contextualised and good research.”

Note 13 “Love the design problem. Great way to give yourselves a nice baseline for design but also has enough gaps for you to design for.”

Note 14 “Very interesting, you are idealists, and the world needs more people like you.”

Note 15 “Cody, you opened well!!”

Note 16 “Well planned presentation, all of you spoke concisely and confident.”

Note 17 “Bauhaus design I think will work very well with your topic and help all your artefacts look cohesive.”

Note 18 “Wooow, I wish public transport was faster and more reliable. Sometimes it takes me nearly 3 hours to get home from uni. Love living in Pukekohe :) Your campaign looks like it is going to be sick! All of your inspo looks cool. Can’t really think of any feedback, just make sure you don’t over commit yourself, so you are happy with your final outcomes!”

Note 19  “Love the examples of driving times from each area.Like how you had graphs as part of your research.

Note 20 Love how you included logo design development + storyboards.Love the train wrap idea!

Note 21 Like how you’re using Bauhaus as inspiration”.

Note 22 “Great research! Really supporting why you chose to undertake this project.

Note 23 “Great research. Easy to understand”

Group Reflection

As a group, we organised and discussed the different areas of feedback for which we received.

In terms of negative feedback, there were some concerns around the overused nature of Bauhaus. However, our research supports our decision for this influence given its success throughout history and within railway designs around the globe. There was a suggestion to possibly look into more Maori native patterns and relate it more to NZ culture. Currently there is a lot of Maori culture used as a differentiation point for branding and systems in New Zealand however so we feel that perhaps our researched visual approach could be more refreshing and applicable. This could still be further discussed. And/or investigated if deemed relevant at a later stage (future thinking?). There was also some additional negative feedback, which we discussed; however, this was possibly feedback coming from a place where there was a lack of understanding.

There was then also feedback around our branding and how it would sit alongside AT. There was nervousness for the possible plagiarism of their branding, confusion around whether we were a separate brand/campaign to this system etc. We have considered this in-depth and made the decision to sit as an integrated brand with AT given the credibility it would give the brand. Additionally, the system plan is already existing, and it sits with AT so to ensure that our project is feasible we are approaching it in this way. Furthermore, we also believe there may have been some miscommunication where some of our peers may have thought the logo, we presented was the existing branding for AT lite when in fact it was logo we are currently developing. “In a design sense, would it not be more beneficial to create a new logo/company as Auckland's transport, rather than slapping ‘Lite’ at the end”?

Additionally, some feedback questioned the engagement of the logo as well as how considered simply “slapping lite on the end of AT” was. However, this was a researched approach based on existing AT branding methods e.g. AT. Metro etc. Additionally, there is the presence of an icon, which was not emphasised enough in our presentation. It is currently still in development, and this will be considered. There was only a couple of negative comments around the branding however, which allowed them to be heavily overweighed by the considered positive feedback around the same things. Additionally, we take confidence in our supporting research and development for our approach still.  

Feedback also raised the concept of feasibility. It asked us to consider the infostructure around the topographical landscape of Auckland as well as how we could ensure the system is faster etc. However, this is something we originally began approaching in the early stages only to realise, based on extensive research, feedback, and discussion, to be an approach, which is not so applicable for us Graphic Designers. Hence, we are well research in taking an approach of campaigning and branding around getting people to engage with this new system. The operational nature and funding are a responsibility held by Auckland Transport. This is currently just a concept that will be developed over the coming five years.

Despite the negative/constructive feedback given above, there was still an overwhelming amount of support for our project. People recognised the need for improvement to Auckland’s transport systems, discussing with us their own negative experiences with travel within the city. They felt we were well research with a clear focus point, and many appreciated the Bauhaus influence and basis for our projects visual approach. There was a lot of enjoyment for the range of design outcomes and how they would interconnect.

Moving forward, there are some additional points of reference/interest suggested to us as bullet-pointed below:

- Paula Scher - New York train lines and their interesting and timeless design - Stuart Hall - talks beautifully about modernism in terms of society - Helvetica film that shows NY subway - Brand and infographics of London underground - Reaching out to AT and/or the team currently working on the light rail -  -  -(something we are already currently considering)  - Investigation of augmented reality for wayfinding - Train signage for the stop and look campaign - collaboration with artists like Flox

Overall, the feedback we received for our formative presentation was supportive and encouraging for us moving forward, providing us with possible points of research and design direction.