OUGD501 // Module Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

This module is always the toughest one for me personally, because i find it much harder to write the essay component compared to doing the practical side of the module. This time round i spent much longer thinking about the essay and planning it out before i went ahead and started it. Also choosing a subject i was genuinely interested in made it much easier to write. I was pleasantly surprised when i received the feedback and improved on that since so hopefully a good standard and good mark will come from my essay this year. I have defiantly improved on my writing skills through this module.

With the practical element of the module the major skills i have used in this is the book bind. I took on doing the perfect bound within my publication, this was the first time that i had done it and was a bit apprehensive about it because i didn't want al time spent printing and cost of it to be ruined if i did it wrong. But in the end after making use of my own heavy objects to press the book together i managed to get the perfect bind working and i was really surprised that it came off and worked so well. I knew that i could keep it looking tidy because i am so fussy with things like that, so this worked to my advantage and the result of the publication being bound like that makes it so much better. The communication of it changes with  it being perfect bound and i think it has enhanced the overall design and feel to the publication.   

2. What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
Within the publication itself i havent really used that many methods of printing except the bookbinding, but it didn't really need them, I would of just being doing them for the sake of it. I have used a variety of stock throughout the publication and the products to go with it. The publication case to hold everything together as one, i think was quite clever, in order to make it into the folder on such a thick stock, i created a spine within the grey board by scoring down the middle and opening these scores enough so that it made a curved edge, but it didn't cut all the through so it was still intact and created the folder. 

The design of the publication inside was kept to a gridded structure throughout and made the publication consistent. It is very visual throughout and i think i have managed the mix of image and type well within the spread designs. Each time that i create a publication i think that my editorial skills improve and this has shown again here, i think the design of it is strong and has a professional finish to it, especially with the binding technique.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I think the strength within my essay has come through with the analytical language that i have used within it. I found it really interesting to analyse the sources which i have used within the essay, which i think and hope shows throughout the essay. The general structure and wording of the essay has much improved personally and makes it read more like a academic piece of writing. 

The strengths within the publication, i think are the mix of imagery and type within the spreads, i think the publication is split down into good, useful and informative sections which are all illustrated with the images and the informative body copy to go with it. 

The binding of the publication is defiantly a strength, which i think is stronger because of the publication front covers. By using the two different aspects and stock within them they contrast each other and the designs complement each other too. There was a lot of thought going into the colour choice and how to portray the idea of Coca-Cola throughout the design of the publication and not just the content itself. Adding in the theory about the different sections and how this could relate to an advertiser reading the publication also makes it have a meaning and the publication will communicate this. 

Knowing that i am fond of editorial design and book binding i specifically choose these ways of working the publication to work in my favour but in doing this i have both capitalised on the fact i enjoy them and they are my strongest area of design but also made myself push myself within these area to improve and create something different. I think taking this approach in future will keep me as a designer improving and coming up with the new ideas within the field i enjoy. 

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
The weakness to this module as a whole is probably the more theory side of things, I have to find myself motivating myself to get them done and to complete them because this is harder than the practical side personally. This time round i have done them bit by bit and and worked on them sooner than later, this has made me enjoy the module more and get more out of it, i feel as though i have learnt a lot more this year than last and can see how it has been applied into my own practice. 

For the publication i think the weakness would possibly be the connection of the subject area and content to the how it works within the module. I could of maybe thought of a more interesting and creative way to link the two ideas together, but this has worked and i have created a high standard and well designed publication. 

With the design the publication could maybe have been more interactive for the user, but this was hard to apply for the content. 


5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
- Stay on top of lecture notes and make sure the notes are blogged right from the beginning.

- Think about the concept more and try be more creative with it, this will produce a more informed publication and the content will have more of direction. 

- Work on multiple design ideas to expand the product in general and the range that could be created. By doing this I will expand the project brief and create a range of products will show the connection of theory and practical design.  

- Not to be afraid of doing something different and out of the norm - with the design and the subject and concept. Again this will create a better informed publication outcome and the content will be more interesting for the user interactivity. 

- Keep pushing myself and trying to reach the highest standard in all areas. This will help me produce a much higher standard of design throughout all my design work and the theory of it all too.  

Attendance - 4
Punctuality - 5
Motivation - 4
Commitment - 5
Quantity of work produced - 4
Quality of work produced - 5

Contribution to the Group - 4

OUGD501 // Essay // Final Essay

Final draft for the Essay.

OUGD501 // Theory to Practice // Final Products

After creating the publication and poster, along with the CD the products are now done, which they are all held together in the publication folder.
I am happy with this publication and I think the standard to which i have produced it as is pretty high. I really like the outcome of the binding technique and the front covers really set the publication off well. The structure within the publication is consistent throughout and provides a clear and precise layout so that all the content is legible and easy to read for the viewer.

Products include:
- Publication
- Poster
- Digital Resource - CD - Within publication
- Publication Folder.

Publication Digital Design:

(This differs slightly to the printed version so that there is a front and back cover present)

FINAL IMAGES:

All Images:

OUGD501 // Theory to Practice // Source List

Within my publication I have used sources from various websites and books to create all the content for the book. This is mainly because I am not an expert on advertising and branding and I wanted content which was correct and provided informative information about the Coca-Cola brand.

Coca-Cola Girls : An Advertising Art History - Chris H Beyer

Coca-Cola Website - www.coca-cola.co.uk - About us / Heritage.

The Inspiration Room - www.theinspirationroom.com - Information about the Advertising Campaigns

Design Shack - www.designshack.net - Cola Wars - Information about each brand.

OUGD501 // Theory to Practise // Publication Case

After i bound the publication together and made it into the full finished book. The front cover pages kept curling and even after laying heavy products on top of it it was still curling. I also didn't want to ruin the book by it getting damaged or anything, so i thought i could make a protective cover for the publication.
I also thought this would give it an extra aesthetical feel to it and make it more of a product which you would relate to value and meaning of something.

To make the cover i used grey board in which I cut a rectangle into the front, so i stick red stock behind with the title of the publication.

The rectangle allows the stock to slow through and the title of the publication too. The red also stands out and contrasts against the colour of the grey board. 

When i was thinking on how to create the publication, I thought about how to use the grey board to make the cover but so it only folded around the spine. I spent some tim thinking of different ways in which i could do this and came up with the idea of cutting lines into the grey board, but not going right the way the stock, this would create scores in the stock. I then bent the grey board and the scores opened to create a nice curved edge to the cover and enabled it to fold around the spine of the publication. This made it easier for me cut out and used less stock. 

Publication cover with the cuts down the spine in order for it bend and create the curved edge for it to fold around the publication spine. 

This is the front of the publication. You can see the title of the publication coming through the stock, but it still looks a little plain. To fix this and make it more about Coca-Cola i am going to engrave the bottle design that is on the front cover of the publication in the space above the title. 

Having this case also helped keep the different products together, because i created the poster to go with the publication i was planning on putting this within the publication, but with the perfect bind being used it cant slide right into the edge of the publication and over hung the edge of the publication, but now it can be put behind the publication and be kept together within the case. 

OUGD501 // Theory to Practice // Publication Binding Process

I was originally going to stitch the publication together, but as i was designing the it, i thought it was quite a substantial amount of content and made it quite a thick and content heavy publication. As this was meant to be a sort of guide to advertising through looking at Coca-Cola i thought it could be better binded. 

I decided to go with the perfect bind. I had never done this before, so it was good that i was learning a new technique. After watching a few different videos online, i had an idea of what to do, to do the bind. Once i had printed the publication and cut it up i could bind it all together. 

 Normally you would use a book binding clamp, but because i didnt have one of these i just used some books and other heavy objects to keep the publication clamped down. Basically you bind the inside pages together using PVA glue and brush it onto the edge of the pages down the spine. After doing this you let it dry and then do it another three times. 

Applying the PVA glue to the spine, on the make shift book clamp

Once the three layers had been applied, i left it overnight to allow it to dry thoroughly. When it was completely dry, that was the perfect bind complete and it was now bound together and could be read as a book. 

Glue down the spine, holding the pages together. 

Page insides all bound together. 

I was able to flick through the pages and read it like a normal book. The small insert work really well within the pages of the case study too. 

From doing this i then had to add the front covers to the publication. After cutting them up and folding them to create the spines. I simply used double sided tape to attach the front cover to the inside pages. I overlapped the double sided tape on the spine so that the front cover would stick to the two inside pages of the book. This acts as a opening device, so when the front cover is opened the page lift up for you to start to read. 

The front cover is scored on the front so that when you come to open the book, it can be bent back further so the book can be opened wider to make it easier to read. 

As you can see here, with the front cover being stuck to the inside page, it lifts it up as you open the book, to make it easier to turn the page. It also is fully stuck around the spine and the inside pages, so they will stay fully attached to the book front cover. 

The book has a second front cover. This is shows the title of the book whilst hiding anything about coca-cola except the red and white of the logo. When you open the front cover it shows the illustration of the coca cola bottle. Again this front cover is also scored and folded so that it can be fully opened to see the illustration below. 

Publication as a whole. The publication is fully bound using a perfect bind. 

I found this bound really easy to do, there is alot of waiting around and takes longer to get the finished product than other, because of the time it takes for the glue to dry, but it is an easy one to do and gives a great product at the end. 

I think using this bind on this publication has made it more professional and gives it a different feel and look, because you associate these kinds of books with education and guides and something that you read to learn from - which is what the publication is all about, so it has enhanced the communication of the publication. 

The bind itself isn't the tidiest and i could of done it a bit neater, but i know this for future. The gluing the spine was hard the first time around because i didn't know how much glue to apply, i think i have put too much on, and it has added extra length to the publication which has made the back of the front cover lay slightly short of the edge of the book. Again i know for future to allow extra length on the publication cover and to apply less glue. For my first attempt I am really happy with the result and will definitely use this bind again.

OUGD501 // Theory to Practice // Poster

From the illustration of the pepsi and cola logo working together to create one logo for 2 brands, I decided to create this into a poster to work with the publication. This will be folded up and slotted inside the publication, this will probably be on the back cover within a small holder.

The poster is very similar to the page within the publication, this has the illustration at the top of the page and the type below with the information about it being 2 brands and one product.

Logo illustration - creating the pepsi logo by using the coca-cola logo. 

Type at the bottom of the poster. This poses the question of which brand will the user choose. Th idea of the poster is to to ask the question at the end of the publication, because they will have read all the content and learnt about coca cola mainly, but with the chapter on pepsi and coca cola, they will have seen the difference between the two brands and can make there mind up about each brand. 

The full finished poster with the two elements together. The poster is pretty simple, but with the clean layout, this leaves the pepsi logo at the top the focal point of it and the main things which the reader will see when the first look at it. 

OUGD501 // Theory to Practice // Digital Resource

Within the publication i am going to create a digital resource. This basically is going to be a disc which holds all of the TV advertisements of the advertising campaigns spoke about within the publication. The idea behind this is so that the reader can look at the tv campaigns at the same time as the print campaign and get a better understanding of it. It also creates a second use of the publication and makes it a bit more interesting.

To put the disc within the publication i am going to put it on the last page of the publication, it will be held in the publication by a cd wallet. The disc and wallet will have a design printed onto them to keep them inline with the publication.

The disc will have a sticker on the front to make keep it the style of the design of the whole publication and idea of coca-cola.

The cd wallet will also have this same design on be obviously be a square and have the type worked up different for the different format. 

OUGD501 // Theory to Practice // Coca-Cola vs Pepsi Illustration

For the section in the publication which is about coca-cola and pepsi and how they are effectively the same product but 2 different brands. This section looks at how they differ both as a brand and through the advertising they do.

To play on this idea of them both creating the sam product, i came up with an idea for an illustration, which was to use the coca-cola logo - lettering logo and make the pepsi logo out of it.

original Pepsi logo. 

To make up the logo with the coca-cola logo, i have layered the coca-cola logo over the pepsi logo, this helped me get the right shape of the logo and made it easier to work with the Coca-cola logo within the space. I have tried to use three different scales of the coca-cola logo to balance the design out throughout the logo. 

Once i had completed creating the logo with the Coca-Cola logo, i have selected the two pepsi colours they use within the logo - this will then be applied to the two sections of the logo to make it look more like the original pepsi logo. 

This is the final logo. From a distance it does just look like the pepsi logo, but then when you look closer you can see it is made up of the coca-cola logo. This is the result i wanted, i wanted it to be subtle, so it wasn't noticed straight away. 

This design will be used within the publication to create a double page spread on the cola wars. I will also use it within a poster i am going to create for the publication. 

Illustration used within the spread in the publication. 

Another play on type i have used within the publication is again for this same section, but as the article carried over one spread i thought it would be a good idea to incorporate another idea i had at the start within the publication. 

This again revolves around the idea of the two brands creating the same product. 

I have taken the coca-cola type to create pepsi and the pepsi type to create cola - swapping the colours around of the logo also help identify that they are different. 

As you can see this is the pepsi typeface - old typeface now. But by using the coca-cola title and red colour, it created the coca-cola logo but in a different view, you still acknowledge it is pepsi because of the renowned typeface but see coca-cola. 

The same idea is used on the pepsi version. Using the coca-cola typeface but the type of pepsi and the colour. 

Creating an image for the publication, the idea of choosing which brand you prefer. 

Type worked up within the publication spread. 

OUGD501 // Theory to Practice // Publication Design

Now i have re thought the idea of the content and got a much more visible design style for the publication i can again start to work on the publication. This time it will work much better and be more visually engaging, even though the layout has changed and involves much more text now.

For the publication, i decided to use a three column grid to each page, giving each double spread 6 columns. I have used this because the three columns on each page will give me more flexibility with the design of the page, as i can mix the the text and image up alot more with this adaption. 

The image above show the master page of each page. This has the book title and page numbering included. The idea of this design is to mimic that of the front cover, this keeps it consistent throughout the publication and makes it more professional. The page numbering is highlighted in the red used throughout the publication to make it stand out more so the reader can see what page number they are on. 

Moving on from these I have shown some screenshots of the publication, to explain the way they are designed and why i have the design for it. 

Even though the page is split into three columns it can be reduced to two columns by stretching aspects over two columns, this works well for a spread which includes lots of images and a smaller amount of text, like the one above. With the about section i have a select amount of information about each year period, to match this i will use a advertisement of that time to try and show what the information is saying. This shows the flexibility of the three column grid and how it can be adapted for different purposes. 

Title and fact page. Beween every chapter i have decided to put a fact about coca-cola in. This is to give the reader some small fact file style facts about the company and to showcase some of things maybe people wouldnt think about the company or know about the company. Its just a little insight into the company further. Also within these spreads i will work the title of the next chapter, each spread like this will include an image that is related to either the fact or the chapter - i have tried to match all three elements together to make it work better as a design. 

This spread is one which involves much more text and becomes more of an article within the publication. Again using the three column grid to my advantage i can span the text over two columns and use the latter one for images, to make the design more interesting, i have spread one image over two columns, which merges into the text area, but makes the spread look much more interesting and inviting. 

Again another spread to cover the gap between chapters. This is a good example of the use of the image within the title and fact. The next chapter is about product placement and the brand, the image is an advertisement which has the coca-cola bottle right in the centre and uses the polar bears which are part of coca-cola brand values. This all links in with the fact about coca-bottles and how many are drunk. The design with the diagonal line, both splits the page up, but also connects the two together and also creates more of a design which can be worked with over the two pages. 

Another page within the publication, this one has more images than text and this means the images tak priority within the spread. As mentioned before the three column grid allows alot of lee way and i have taken this for granted within the design. Using two of columns but leaving the end one blank, creates alot of white space within the spread, which works well for the images as there is nothing taking away the attention from them. The minimal text sits well within the off centered alignment, which is done on purpose because naturally you always look to the left of a book first, putting the info there will make the reader pay more attention to that section before the images.  

One of the more interesting sections of the publication and more creative within design of it is the coca-cola vs brands section. This is the comparison of coca-cola and pepsi which created a cola wars. The main illustration for this section is the pepsi logo made out of the coca cola logo lettering. This is a play on the idea that both brands create the same product, but are different and have different audiences. This section has a different layout again within the three column grid, with the illustrations taking up one page, all the info has be on the second page, making that text heavy, but it levels itself out because of the illustration. 

Image based pages towards to the end of the publication - these are still structured within the three column grid, but by spanning some images and not others i can create a visually good composition within the page. The top spread includes brief information about the images and what advertisement they are etc. Whilst the lower spread just has the title on the pages, this will include a further insert, in the form of a tip in, this will include information about the campaign and the idea and theory behind it. Having this on a separate insert means there is more room for the images  and they can be larger, the tip ins also make it more interesting to read. 

The final page is blank. This is because i will place the disc which holds the digital resource on here. This will be enclosed in a card holder. 

The contents spread includes all 6 sections of the book with the pages numbers, this again is created within the grid system, but has a very visual aesthetic to it, with the images for each of the sections. I wanted this to be a glimpse of what is to come throughout the publication, which i think works well, the added body copy on each side balances both pages out and makes it sit nicely as spread and the introduction to the publication. 

After designing the publication i test printed some of the pages within the publication to make sure it was all okay and ready to be printed properly. 

I was happy that i did text print the pages because i found that the titles were too big for the proportions of the layout on the page. This needed to be reduced so it all balanced out better. I was happy with the quality of images, this was a big concern because a lot of them were found on the internet and i wasn't sure if they would be good enough quality for print, but they have done okay. I just needed to adjust the title point size then the publication will be ready to print. 

FULL PUBLICATION