Week 17- The Last Week

This week the focus was on tying everything together, finishing up my research folder, completing my portfolio and creating my 3D aspects. I had continued my research as I progressed with this project, printing as I went along so completed it didn't take me too long, it was mainly development of my promotional ideas. I wanted to include all the different designs I created to highlight that I tried several different ideas before picking the final outcome. When compiling my research and development boards I wanted to keep them as relevant as possible as in a lot of cases they are all people will look at to see where the idea has came from. The design is consistent across all 4 boards.

I got my 3D aspects and portfolio professionally printed on Tues 14th to give me time to fix up any mistakes I came across. I really like how my promotion looked when printed, the colours are really vibrant and I think they all work really well as a collection.

Once I had completed my 3D aspects (cut out, assembled etc) I had a play around with the design layout for my table. Since the artificial grass I am going to use is the right depth I marked out on the floor the proper width so i could see how much room I will have. I was unsure whether to leave white space either side of the grass but I felt it made the display look unfinished so I filled them up with the leaflet design. Front to the left and the reverse side to the right. i wanted to keep the whole display symmetrical as I feel it makes it look more professional. The cups will be placed in the middle of the table acting as the main focus.

I got the rest of my postcards printed on Friday leaving me the weekend in case I think of other parts to go in the research.

Now that the project is over on reflection I feel I have managed my time rather well, I think if I hadn't of kept up research throughout I would of been panicking more towards the end but from previous experiences I knew I wanted to keep on top of it. In terms of design I am quite impressed with what I was able to achieve.I wanted to keep it as fun as possible in a quite cartoon like manner which I think turned out well. I gave myself plenty of time between printing and actual deadlines so I could really check they turned out how I wanted to. I feel this project reflects my design abilities well and will hopefully work well in my favour when it comes to interviews.

Week 16- Art Board Completed and Sent

The main focus of last week was to complete my art board, get it checked and sent to print. I took on board the comments Paz said about what needed changed and sent him the final piece on Wed 8th ready to be sent on the 9th. My finished board layout I was happy with as I felt it showed of the work well without each item getting lost since it is all very graphic.

Now that it has been sent I have moved back to focusing on my research folder and 3D aspects. As I fixed up my research folder (mainly development of my promotional ideas) I took out the most relevant aspects to use them for my research and development boards. I didn't want them to look to messy so I tried to keep the text to a minimum. For the design of the boards I adapted the summer scene that is present in a lot of my promotion and used it as the header and footer of each board to keep the consistent and flow from one to the other. My aim is to get these printed on Mon 13th May allowing me plenty of time to change them if they don't look as good on paper and need a few edits.

The items I have left to do are the design the media and campaign plans on their A3 boards, complete the 3D aspects and finish up and last bits of research to make it all flow together. My postcards and leaflets are already designed and just need to be printed professionally to get the right finish on them. I will also start mocking up how I want my final table to look so it works well with the final board layout eg don't place the tall items in front of a design on the board.

On reflection of the last week I feel quite confident on how my work load is panning out. Especially now that the promotion has been sent to print, I feel that the final deadline is well within reach in terms of what I have to do and I feel I have the relevant time to get it done to the best of its ability.

Week 15- Art Board Layout

Now that the only thing left to do is the promotional aspects it is a lot easier to tie up all the lose ends that the marketing report has been handed in. The layout of the the art board is very important especially for me as all my designs are very graphic. I need to be careful when placing my images as I don't want them to get lost and start blending into each other. I originally want to include my website designs, 2 social media, Lush Times front cover, cup designs, van in context and the instruction foldout but discovered it makes the board far too busy. I cut back the promotion by taking out the foldout as it will already be on the table as one of my 3D aspects, I think I will just make more of them so they are still fully appreciated as a lot of design work went into creating them. To create more white space on my board I imputed the van with a plain white background along the bottom in its various forms.

I have tried to keep the layout as stripped back as possible so it doesn't look too busy, I have booked a tutorial on tues to go over the design before it is sent for print on Thurs. On evaluation of this week I feel I am on top of the work that I need to do. I have created a list of what is left:

1. Sort out the layout 
2. Create and print postcards and flyers
3. Create 3D aspects
4. Print logo onto apron
5. Fix up research
6. Complete research/development boards
7. Print promotion for portfolio

My aim is to have all this completed by next thurs so then I have the weekend to fix up and lose ends that  will make my end result look as good as it possibly can. After thurs (9th May) I can focus on the 3D aspects as they will take up the most time to complete.

Week 14- Marketing Report Done

On Thurs, 25th April was the deadline for the marketing report. Up until then I focused primarily on that and made sure the promotional aspects I was including were at a high enough standard to show how the campaign will look. I got it finished in good time (Mon 22nd) allowing me time to check it over and get it printed before the rush happened the day before. Since I designed my report to be double sided I decided on a ring bind as the pages would be easier read this way. The overall printed copy turned out really well, the promotional aspects came out very vibrant and really showed off the detail in the design. I am happy with the outcome produced. In terms of time management of the report I feel I dealt with it quite well. I gave myself many targets to complete and I think this kept me on track up to the hand in date.

Now that the report is completed I need to go back and look at the promotion for the board. I feel that I have done enough promotion to work from for the board instead of creating even more. I will include more options in the research folder but the main aspects have already been designed and just need touched up and edited slightly. I have started creating mock up boards to try and see how it will all look. I like how I have kept everything consistent so when they are placed beside each other on the board it is obvious they are for the same brand and campaign. 

My aim this week is to finalise the promotion I want on the board and make the necessary tweaks to them so they look the best they can be. My over all aim is to get the promotion completed by the time we have the computer room booked in class (Thurs 2nd) as then all I have to do is the layout.

Week 13- 1 Month to go..

Today marks the 1 month mark until the whole project is handed in and third year is officially over. I feel confident I am on track to get all the work completed in time and to the standard I want. Over the past week I have focused on fixing up my marketing report and laying out my campaign and media plan. I brought these to tutorial on thurs to check I was on the right track and I got a few pointers to change but overall it is good. The hand in of the marketing report is this thurs (25th April) so this week I am going to focus mainly on the layout of the report. I want to print it double sided as it fits well with my design ideas. My aim is to get it finished this weekend and get it printed on Mon which allows me time to amend and print again if needs be. In terms of my promotional aspects I feel the pieces I put in my report won't need much changing for the boards as I have spent a great deal of time already making sure they look their best. If I do change stuff it won't be drastic and will still resemble what is in the report.

I need to make sure the overall report isn't too big to fit on the CD for the digital version. For the digital version I will need to change the layout slightly as it will be PDF and will not open like a book like the printed version will. They will still look consistent just the page numbers and titles changed slightly to fit better with the PDF style.

After hand in on thurs it will be back to focusing on the promotional aspects. I need to print off all that I have done so far and have a play around with ideas of how I want my board to look. Also need to start thinking of what I need to get to create my 3D aspects.

On reflection of this week I feel if I keep up the work ethic I have been on I will be well on track by Thurs to hand in my report confidently knowing I have done all that I could do. 

Week 12- Back in Preston

Now that I am back in Preston after the Easter holidays I feel I have achieved the amount of work I wanted to get done over the period of being at home. I am now at the point where the majority of my design is completed but some parts still need tweaking to keep it all consistent when it is displayed on the boards.

This week I have focused primarily on the promotional aspects as I wanted to get them read up so I can input the visuals into my report (due a week on Thurs) I changed the original cup design to look more like a smoothie cup by adding a dome lid. I have purchased several of these for the 3D aspect at my final show. I will have these displayed with the cup holders I designed.

I also created the Facebook and Twitter pages for Lush Juice, for the imagery I tried to keep it as summery and fresh looking as possible as it will be the main links. Instead of focusing on the campervan (like a lot of the other promotion) I focused on the cups themselves and displayed them in a typical advertising display, one large in the front with two behind either side. I think they turned out well and still hold the Lush branding.

This week coming I am going to set aside the promotion again and focus mainly on the report as the deadline is approaching. I need to check over all the information I have included and start developing the creative format I want to present it in.

Week 11- 10,000 words

This week I had a solid week of work as I wanted to get as much done as possible before heading back to Preston on Sunday. I focused mainly on the festival scene as I knew it would take a while to look the way I wanted it too. I had a play around with adding people into the scenario or just leaving it without, I prefer without as I think it makes the main focus on the camper van, I will make my final decision when I show my designs when I'm back in uni. 

The other design aspect I looked at this week was the  Lush Times front cover and article. I made the text very fun yet informative to keep it with the usual style of writing found in Lush Times. The article design still needs development to decide what works the best. I like how the apples can act like hearts for the front cover, double meaning. 

I finished the Place part of the report and focused on the Vectors. I need to get them checked over as I am not sure I have covered the right details for each of the 4 sections. I have reached 10,000 words but theres still parts I need to add in. By next week I want to get all the information I want in the report included and then start going back and taking out parts thats are irrelevant to make sure I am within the word count.

Also this week I want to go back over all the different design work I have already done to see what bits I want to use and develop and what parts won't work as well. Then I can really start finishing up the loose ends.

I feel confident with where I am at the minute with my report and design. I feel I will get the work I intend to do done over the next few weeks in time for hand in.