Design Practice: Rationale and Brief Proposals

Dissertation Title:

Discuss the London Olympic Games 2012 brand as a piece of graphic design entering the mainstream public consciousness.

Dissertation Tutor:

Lorraine Mcckee

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rationale:

A print driven investigation into identity and brand with a focus on process and finish.

This year I'm aiming to focus my practice around developing visual identities and brands which are applied through carefully crafted and effective print based resolutions. This will build on successful elements from last year which included publications, posters and promotional work whilst giving me the opportunity to make my work more commercial and professional.

Statement of Intent:

When approaching my statement of intent for my final year I felt it was essential for me to take a period of time to step back and reflect on my own work to help inform and remind me of what I’ve already done and what I want to do more of. Up until recently I knew that I definitely prefer designing for print, but after that I was unable to be anymore specific. I have also taken the time to focus on researching into designers and studios I admire and then pin-point exactly what it was within their portfolios that really interested me.

Through doing this I have realised that visual identity and branding are aspects of graphic design that particularly engage me and yet are practices I haven’t really covered much so far. I see this area as addressing both the look and feel of something with the chance to apply visuals across a wide range of variable media, covering all access points to a brand between customer and client.

Then, from reviewing my own body of work from the last two years I can also say that I enjoy editorial and promotional based briefs after producing a few successful publications for a variety of projects and pieces of poster art which I’d like to expand on. I also think that just because I’m entering my final year, it doesn’t mean I can’t keep having fun and experimenting. Last year I really enjoyed developing a typeface for a placement competition and I would like to do more of it whilst I think it could fit well with my planned identity and brand work with regards to producing custom lettering and logotypes.

Taking all of this into consideration, the briefs I have chosen to source and write should cover these areas of interest and allow me to start building a portfolio that represents what I can do and what I enjoy. Through my ongoing research into contextual references I have taken briefs from projects I liked and then re-written them with a whole new subject to base it on. I intended to strike a good balance so other briefs are live competitions or based on successful aspects from last year whilst I have also organised collaboration with a fellow student. I also expect further live briefs to come up throughout the year which can be for competitions or to gain placements and I certainly intend to react to these.

In terms of the briefs themselves, I’ve tried to include subjects/themes relevant to the kind of small and medium size companies that I’d like to produce work for. Obviously designing for creative industries often allows much more freedom and so is highly competitive but I also intend to aim at independent and ‘boutique’ businesses which tend to look for creative identities and quality printed media.

This should help me to develop a more commercial edge and ultimately a more professional execution to my practice and produce a body of work that suggests carefully considered, crafted and effective print-based design.

Brief 1: Colour Exhibition