NHS Maternity Pack

Final 3D Prototype https://vimeo.com/271623494 Pinterest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/donnelly911208/ Behance  https://www.behance.net/donnelly918b3

Im sure many of you expected my last post to be the end of this reflective piece but this is my last module of final year and it doesnt end until the end of year show. I will discuss my end of year show planning and preparation, but first a recap. The submission date: Considering it was now 9 am Thursday and i hadnt slept since Sunday afternoon i was surprisingly awake and confident walking in to the Viva. In summery.... it didnt go well.  Yes they had no major issues with the design as far as i could tell, however alot of features i was trying to present were overlooked. For example the branding. And the focus seemed to be on the non starter features the clients just didnt want, for example typography. These were aspects i could say i looked into but unfortunately it was the clients final say at the end of the day. I left with a piece of feedback i found useful (include see pg x-xy instead of just the link to the service and the standard ask your midwife) I feel i mus...

There was alot of back and forth with the layouts and assets, But its now sent off for printing alongside my brand work. I have thought a good deal on how i wish to present my work, as a returning student its difficult to know the norm, according to the current students they just send the final PDFs... no sketches. Whereas when i was last in university you submitted your reflective journal, all back up work, and on a usb you submitted the final outputs in different formats and the most recent file it was created with. This was as far as im aware to judge professional practice and how efficiently the skills were used, rather than just a final image. I have decided i will submit my books within a portfolio alongside a printed prototype. Finding somewhere to print on a ziplock wallet or an alternative was surprisingly difficult. My usual printers dont do product printing, so that was a non starter, the supervisor suggested a printers in Belfast, also a dead end, i researched every pr...

I mentioned very early on, even before the project proposal that an incentive for taking on this limited and time heavy project was my name or branding may be mentioned somewhere on the pack, up to designers discretion was the term. I dont want to distract from the work but i will include my brand alongside the acknowledgements at the bottom of the back of the pack. Creating my own brand started very early on, during the lull where i was getting no further with no client feedback. I occupied my time with my own branding so i do think its an essential part of the project and should be mentioned. As you can see in the branding  sketch book scans on my behance profile, i started where i left off in a graphics module in second year, With my initials, this was boring and over used. I tried to think differently, think what can put me, my skills and my values forward. And i came up with a bird, Inspired by a robin but usually tweaked to have a cutesier appearance than a real robi...

Unlike other university projects that follow the same basic discover, define, develop, deliver stages, i couldn't put my current work at any point into a single box, some designs were in develop while some that hinged on developed designs were still only in define stages. I've probably mentioned it before here but this project had so much to it that nothing felt linear, be that because feedback sent me in a U turn or because the smaller details needed decided on on some illustrations before another illustration could even  begin to be defined. I used the double diamond process and several apps including evernote and mind42 to keep my progress organised. When i originally proposed this project i had no idea how much time management and client correspondence i would actually need. I remember touching on the topic but in hindsight i didnt see the actual amount being needed. Because of this i think my design process book is coming across quite scattered, and if its tidier and...

Feedback has been the driving force behind the development process. This design is slowly but surely going beyond the clean concise content filled product akin to the English pack, its becoming a brand of its own, its inclusive and visually inviting. This has been done by feedback from fellow students, expectant mothers women in the postnatal workshops, my supervisor and most importantly the client. The reason i question whether its a blessing or a curse is that although i prefer the product thoroughly developed and everyone is happy, most client choices were unexpected. While presenting options as a rule of thumb i gave one i liked, one they would like and a drastic one just to show variation and make the other two look better. Without fail every time they chose the most unexpected option. In the short term this felt like U turns but in the long run it allowed me to explore styles and layouts i wouldn't have pursued alone. Examples of these can be seen on the behance por...