Defining the Developed Designs
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 easier to read in terms of development it jumps between illustrations.
I dont want it too heavy in terms of written content but It is looking more like a small glimpse into the project at certain stages rather than all the work at once. I will try bring this up with my supervisor when i see him in class this week but theres the possibility he may say to just stick to a PDF and not a book, but then that doesnt really fix the non linear flow of work.
I will add all the pages to Behance at the end of this blog as PDFs arent possible on this site.
The illustrations are now finished, i was over thinking them because theyre closer to my own style instead of an imitated style like i would normally do for client work. Because they were so personal i kept thinking they werent good enough. The turning point for this was my supervisor said they were done, even on characters that werent done he thought they were done, so surely anything after that could only be an improvement. I do understand illustrations are subjective and they shouldnt matter but in this case they are supposed to grab the user and further the content, so they cant just be illustrations, they need to be engaging and relatable.
After that go ahead i finalised the illustrations had a bit more feedback from the clients in terms of shirt patterns, i felt block colours was too cartoony, although i dont want the designs to date or age badly, they did need to have a more human touch, i was hoping to do this through patterns on the clothes. stripes polka dots and florals, in this instance i went against the clients wishes, they said they like stripes on both the non-binary could (character 3) and polka dots on the bonding illustration (character 2) however i felt the stripes and polka dots went well together and had bit more different folks different strokes effect when put together, that left the florals for character two, this is something i could change down the line but i feel it ties the design together more effectively.
Once i had sorted the illustrations at the weekend i began layouts, Although me and the clients had decided on a very basic layout my supervisor pointed out there was no hierarchy, i thought because i had organised the content in sections and by sides that i had sorted hierarchy but he meant visually. It was one of those 'how did i not see that' moments.
I began reworking side ones layout, there was nothing overly wrong with side two but i must implement whatever designs are done on the front to the back to keep it all consistent.
I have uploaded my layouts sketchbook to behance. I narrowed down my favourite layouts but felt i was going in circles, so i started asking others, unfortunately because it was similar to an opticians 1 or 2 1 or 2 it was difficult for others to see the difference or make an informed decision.
My solution to this was to have rough sketches on post it nots, on a wall and allow each person to narrow down their preferences, out 9 the same three were chosen, I experimented with the most popular but it actually looked too intense and cluttered with colour, i then chose another popular design very similar, but i felt it was too artsy and developed that.
This layout development can be seen briefly in the design process.
The layout ive chosen to develop came from the swirl colouring style the clients choose a few weeks ago, the one i really didnt agree with but developed to the point i think it fits the entire design together and only boosts the maternal feminine appearance of the pack, it succeeds in my original aim to make the pack more exciting and less clinical.
I researched and experimented through the illustrations with the swirls until this point. but now i see the style can be extended to the layouts and sections.
My supervisor mentioned Si Scott to me, this lead me to find a few other swirl based artists, which i will cite at the end, and it was such a turning point in terms of style and design, the swirls were an after thought but once they were made a priority the linework, the colouring style and everything in between was exaggerated and had a more fluid look than before.
The more i pushed the limits on the design style the more i found it works, it seems a drastic change than the English pack i was to be inspired by but it works, its quirky, its fun, its engaging, and it helps the hierarchy, not just in terms of organised content, but it leads the users eyes to the priority information, it has a knock on effect and shows the user where to look next and eases the entire process.
This is what makes this pack different than existing products, It doesn't just inform, it engages, its a starting point and lets mothers know they arent alone and they can ask for this information or these services from their health visitor.
The more i develop the designs the more i realise this pack doesnt need to tell you everything, it just needs to start the conversation to be informed. its clear, its concise and hopefully when i finalise the layout it will be enjoyable to read as opposed to the mine field of irrelevant vague content on the other packs.
I have been the target user and i can confidently say i would read this. I wouldnt have read the English pack front to back, and because the information repeats itself id have assumed id already read that section, whereas this design offers bite size straight to the point information.
The layouts colour scheme started as a very neutral blue, then the client suggested to tie it in with the HSC blue, however when i did that the whole design was overshadowed, the clients agreed and the colour scheme was taken down to more pastel tones, Unlike the HSC colour scheme yet thats where it came from.
So far i have preliminary layouts, but i will develop them as i include the assets and see further issues with the design.
Assets include the links to social media platforms, the Alice in wonderland style 'eat me' 'bring me' book icons and the actual health message icons.
The icons were defined and decided on very early on by the clients. i've had minimal feedback in terms of the health message icons. but now the projects come on and i have preliminary layouts to add them too i realise their colouring style was never updated to the swirls, i fixed this and now im adjusting their size and positioning to suit the layout and when possible adjust the layout to suit the icons. I felt keeping the icons simple and singular image wise when possible was vital to be easier understood. I have mixed views on the health message icons because there was so little development, most of the development happened through sketches, then i developed a specific style and really only changed two features, and now im updating their colouring style to suit the swirl theme but it feels too straight forward, like theyre under developed, but feedback from everyone is that thats them finished and theyre easy to understand and have a consistent design.
I had the most difficulty deciding on the exercise icon, all exercise equipment was too heavy duty, the message is more yoga or light walks, but those would require figures which would throw the overall icon design off as the other icons are all objects. Its been agreed on by my supervisor peers and clients but personally i feel the icon says watch your weight not stay active, however that was an original health message i didnt feel was a priority (don't eat for two) so it possibly kills two birds with one stone. The written content beneath the icons leads the user to yoga and light gym work and the icon will remind them not to put on unnecessary weight at the risk of complications.
Although the pace is slow and its all down to trial and error, the end is finally in sight.
Because everything was designed and illustrated separately its so satisfying seeing it all come together at last.
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 easier to read in terms of development it jumps between illustrations.
I dont want it too heavy in terms of written content but It is looking more like a small glimpse into the project at certain stages rather than all the work at once. I will try bring this up with my supervisor when i see him in class this week but theres the possibility he may say to just stick to a PDF and not a book, but then that doesnt really fix the non linear flow of work.
I will add all the pages to Behance at the end of this blog as PDFs arent possible on this site.
The illustrations are now finished, i was over thinking them because theyre closer to my own style instead of an imitated style like i would normally do for client work. Because they were so personal i kept thinking they werent good enough. The turning point for this was my supervisor said they were done, even on characters that werent done he thought they were done, so surely anything after that could only be an improvement. I do understand illustrations are subjective and they shouldnt matter but in this case they are supposed to grab the user and further the content, so they cant just be illustrations, they need to be engaging and relatable.
After that go ahead i finalised the illustrations had a bit more feedback from the clients in terms of shirt patterns, i felt block colours was too cartoony, although i dont want the designs to date or age badly, they did need to have a more human touch, i was hoping to do this through patterns on the clothes. stripes polka dots and florals, in this instance i went against the clients wishes, they said they like stripes on both the non-binary could (character 3) and polka dots on the bonding illustration (character 2) however i felt the stripes and polka dots went well together and had bit more different folks different strokes effect when put together, that left the florals for character two, this is something i could change down the line but i feel it ties the design together more effectively.
Once i had sorted the illustrations at the weekend i began layouts, Although me and the clients had decided on a very basic layout my supervisor pointed out there was no hierarchy, i thought because i had organised the content in sections and by sides that i had sorted hierarchy but he meant visually. It was one of those 'how did i not see that' moments.
I began reworking side ones layout, there was nothing overly wrong with side two but i must implement whatever designs are done on the front to the back to keep it all consistent.
I have uploaded my layouts sketchbook to behance. I narrowed down my favourite layouts but felt i was going in circles, so i started asking others, unfortunately because it was similar to an opticians 1 or 2 1 or 2 it was difficult for others to see the difference or make an informed decision.
My solution to this was to have rough sketches on post it nots, on a wall and allow each person to narrow down their preferences, out 9 the same three were chosen, I experimented with the most popular but it actually looked too intense and cluttered with colour, i then chose another popular design very similar, but i felt it was too artsy and developed that.
This layout development can be seen briefly in the design process.
The layout ive chosen to develop came from the swirl colouring style the clients choose a few weeks ago, the one i really didnt agree with but developed to the point i think it fits the entire design together and only boosts the maternal feminine appearance of the pack, it succeeds in my original aim to make the pack more exciting and less clinical.
I researched and experimented through the illustrations with the swirls until this point. but now i see the style can be extended to the layouts and sections.
My supervisor mentioned Si Scott to me, this lead me to find a few other swirl based artists, which i will cite at the end, and it was such a turning point in terms of style and design, the swirls were an after thought but once they were made a priority the linework, the colouring style and everything in between was exaggerated and had a more fluid look than before.
The more i pushed the limits on the design style the more i found it works, it seems a drastic change than the English pack i was to be inspired by but it works, its quirky, its fun, its engaging, and it helps the hierarchy, not just in terms of organised content, but it leads the users eyes to the priority information, it has a knock on effect and shows the user where to look next and eases the entire process.
This is what makes this pack different than existing products, It doesn't just inform, it engages, its a starting point and lets mothers know they arent alone and they can ask for this information or these services from their health visitor.
The more i develop the designs the more i realise this pack doesnt need to tell you everything, it just needs to start the conversation to be informed. its clear, its concise and hopefully when i finalise the layout it will be enjoyable to read as opposed to the mine field of irrelevant vague content on the other packs.
I have been the target user and i can confidently say i would read this. I wouldnt have read the English pack front to back, and because the information repeats itself id have assumed id already read that section, whereas this design offers bite size straight to the point information.
The layouts colour scheme started as a very neutral blue, then the client suggested to tie it in with the HSC blue, however when i did that the whole design was overshadowed, the clients agreed and the colour scheme was taken down to more pastel tones, Unlike the HSC colour scheme yet thats where it came from.
So far i have preliminary layouts, but i will develop them as i include the assets and see further issues with the design.
Assets include the links to social media platforms, the Alice in wonderland style 'eat me' 'bring me' book icons and the actual health message icons.
The icons were defined and decided on very early on by the clients. i've had minimal feedback in terms of the health message icons. but now the projects come on and i have preliminary layouts to add them too i realise their colouring style was never updated to the swirls, i fixed this and now im adjusting their size and positioning to suit the layout and when possible adjust the layout to suit the icons. I felt keeping the icons simple and singular image wise when possible was vital to be easier understood. I have mixed views on the health message icons because there was so little development, most of the development happened through sketches, then i developed a specific style and really only changed two features, and now im updating their colouring style to suit the swirl theme but it feels too straight forward, like theyre under developed, but feedback from everyone is that thats them finished and theyre easy to understand and have a consistent design.
I had the most difficulty deciding on the exercise icon, all exercise equipment was too heavy duty, the message is more yoga or light walks, but those would require figures which would throw the overall icon design off as the other icons are all objects. Its been agreed on by my supervisor peers and clients but personally i feel the icon says watch your weight not stay active, however that was an original health message i didnt feel was a priority (don't eat for two) so it possibly kills two birds with one stone. The written content beneath the icons leads the user to yoga and light gym work and the icon will remind them not to put on unnecessary weight at the risk of complications.
Although the pace is slow and its all down to trial and error, the end is finally in sight.
Because everything was designed and illustrated separately its so satisfying seeing it all come together at last.
Comments
Post a Comment