NHS Maternity Pack

This final image of the project at my workstation didn't go according to plan. if i use this image for the end of year show or for further evidence i will Photoshop the final two PDFs on the screens so you can see them instead of just glare. Its been a very long worthwhile project, hopefully its successful. Wish me luck watch this space for more end of year show and examiner updates, but for now this is the last shot of ongoing work. End of a project but not end of the blog or university. YET.

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...

While working on this project i have the opportunity to create my own brand, this will help with crediting my work in the final product but it will also set me off on a more professional foot when i graduate. To achieve this i have researched branding and attended workshops and lecturers on the subject and actually have developed the idea that this illustrative style on the maternity pack could be a brand on its own.  This product could be so successful that it becomes the bounty back of antenatal care.  From personal experience women all know and ask for the bounty pack, most never use it but they all know to receive one as soon as their baby is born, this could be the bounty pack they all know and want when attending their first midwife appointment.  I think this could be done by using the illustrative style through the maternity care publications, be that online, possibly an app, future posters and products distributed by the HSC.  An example of this c...

This while continuing digital concepts and development work i've also begun thinking what else i should submit for this project to give the examiners an insight into the thought and design process. I like the idea of a fast paced making off, similar to the animatic i made in my second year, where a little chibi version of myself discusses the project while introducing reference photos with unique or comical transitions. There is a scene in marley and me (link below) with a upbeat tempo with opportunities of pause, reflection, humour or a jump forward in time, it was a unique way of condensing large amounts of time and experience into a few minutes. I have looked for potential royalty free instrumental background similar and to quot the clip NADA, so i have reached out and secured a musician happy to help come up with something equally upbeat and simple, collaborating with a musician will allow me to dictate the amount of time needed. I have begun designing the characters and t...

During this project there has been alot of back and forth as all aspects could've be designed at once thoroughly, some hinge on the developed design of others, so early concept work is very rough. The initial layout experiments were more for the benefit of colour scheme brainstorming. I tried soft, maternal, feminine colours and cross overs of existing products colour schemes and the collaborations logos colour scheme. None of these were overly successful, but did help me figure out not so much what i do want the end result to be but more what i dont want it to be. Although theres nothing necessarily wrong with these colour schemes, i think they're too much, nothing is cohesive. Alongside this i have been developing my illustrations sketches, trying to find the right blend of the three chosen artist styles. Line work experiments they weren't all that different but colouring style and actual illustrative ...

After the meeting i started experimenting trying to combine their favourite artistic styles but the clients did choose more designs than i was originally prepared to include, meaning i need to re-shuffle the layout to get the same level of text on the pack. REMINDER : this is a professional piece of design not an art project and the text takes priority.  I printed copies of my favourite wireframes to have a physical product to mix and match with, i found this easier for decision making but by the time id made a decision i realised how little space i had allowed for the health messages.  For example i left only three areas for text in which at least seven topics need included.  Back to the drawing board.  I have shuffled some of the designs over and or reduced their size. Although i'm pleased with these final wireframes it will still take a large amount of experimenting to actually get the right prop...