My students’ work

Branding with Part 3

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:31:00 +0000

Coinciding with a celebration of the work of Ken Garland (a teacher at Reading for many years) and in the spirit of the First Things First manifesto, Part 3 students took on five not-for-profits and social enterprises to ‘brand’ as their last project of Part 3. Thirty-seven students worked for five clients: Charmian Allright from The Luton Hoo Childrens’ Book Festival, Don Rowe from Friends of Hlekweni — a charity fundraising for the Quaker Training Centre in Hlekweni, Zimbabwe, Nikandre Kopke from Mazímas — a roaming restaurant to showcase the cuisine of socially marginalised women, Lucy Colbeck and Owen Everett from Watford Food Revolution — a food coop campaigning for the benefits of local food, and Simon Chapman from Notmymum.com — a student accommodation swap.

The project lasts for four weeks, and brings together skills learned over three years. It is an opportunity to work on a relatively open brief from a real client, in any direction that students think appropriate, and plays to their particular interest or skill areas — for instance, the Childrens’ Book Festival inspired students to make their own illustrations, one of the Mazímas groups made a bespoke typeface, one of the Watford Food Revolution made their own video, and one of the Notmymum.com groups coded their own interfaces for a website and app.

We used the following process:

Clients brief the students on the first day, and where possible, students choose who they want to work for.
In week 1, students research the genre, the competition, develop a proposition, and present evidence for their proposals.
In week 2, students experiment with various graphic representations that reflect that proposition.
In Weeks 3 and 4, students develop that proposition and make any brand applications that students think are relevant and useful to the client. Look out for the the Notmymum student union print campaign, the Mazímas aprons, the Luton Hoo Walled Garden marquee passport, and the ‘create-your-own-character’ playdough.
Finally, in week 4, students make a succint, well-evidenced brand proposal to the clients, and listen to client feedback on their ideas.

Photo

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:18:43 +0000

Craig, Becky, Emma and Sarah propose age-specific characters to...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:13:23 +0000

Craig, Becky, Emma and Sarah propose age-specific characters to roam around the Walled Garden. Children make their own playdough versions and upload to the website.

Clare and Becky’s Walled Garden book-devouring plants....

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:07:30 +0000

Clare and Becky’s Walled Garden book-devouring plants. Collect ‘library’ stamps as you visit the authors’ and illustrators’ tents.

Photo

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:00:24 +0000

Photo

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:19:45 +0000

Abi and Sarah’s versatile lettering-in-a-circle for...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:33:06 +0000

Abi and Sarah’s versatile lettering-in-a-circle for Friends of Hlekweni.

Video

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:13:43 +0000

Bex and Aimee’s campaign ideas

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:02:15 +0000

Bex and Aimee’s campaign ideas

Chris, Zoe, Amy and Katy’s Hlekweni tree in the style of...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:33:00 +0000

Chris, Zoe, Amy and Katy’s Hlekweni tree in the style of Ndbele art.

Photo

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:26:55 +0000

Emily, Sarah and Hannah propose a bespoke Mazímas typeface in a...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:24:00 +0000

Emily, Sarah and Hannah propose a bespoke Mazímas typeface in a low tech brown paper presentation, spot-on for the ‘together from scratch’ look & feel.

Beth and Shauni’s innovative table-booking countdown to...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:16:35 +0000

Beth and Shauni’s innovative table-booking countdown to launch night.

Kathryn, Sophie, Megan and Martyna propose a combination of...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:11:00 +0000

Kathryn, Sophie, Megan and Martyna propose a combination of simple distinctive mark, retro pattern and photographs of Mazímas cooks.

Photo

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:04:32 +0000

Posters, recipe cards and food packaging. Emily, Siobhan, Lauren...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Posters, recipe cards and food packaging. Emily, Siobhan, Lauren and Sarah used the idea of a letterpress poster to give a feeling of an organisation with a mission.

Photo

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:46:23 +0000

Jake and Robbie created impressive editorial content as well as...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:44:32 +0000

Jake and Robbie created impressive editorial content as well as a working interface for a responsive website and app.

Henry and Sam proposed ‘Wigwam’ with a website an...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:37:00 +0000

Henry and Sam proposed ‘Wigwam’ with a website an app interface, and a student union poster campaign.

Designing a journey, Part 2

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:47:00 +0000

At Reading, we often use the words ‘problem-solving’ to describe the activity of designing information. In the Part 2 ‘Designing a journey’ project, emphasis is given to thinking about how to present complex information in an effective, accessible and attractive way.

Students take the given data – a geographical map of The Chatsworth Estate, a bus timetable, prices, and list of five stops with various amenities toured by ‘The Chatsworth Shuttle’, the name given to the hop-on-hop-off bus – and make logical, clear, easy-to-use tourist information, using the following graphic techniques:

— Transforming raw data, i.e. use words, diagrams, symbols, typography, sequencing and layering of information to restructure messages so that they tell a story more effectively

— Writing for clear communication, i.e. writing or editing to make messages clear, unambiguous and understandable by their intended audience(s)

— Making good decisions about the typographic treatment of continuous text, map graphics, tables

The second task was to explore how a change in the mode of delivery of the information presented different design constraints, and design opportunities. So, the same content needed to work across three platforms: a bustop poster, a portable timetable in the form of a folding piece of print that reduces to pocket size, and an app for an Apple smart phone.

Students produced some surprising results: in some cases presenting innovative solutions that went beyond some ‘nice, clear graphics’. Look out for the fluid maps that change according to where you are on the bus route, the smart app that knows what time it is and tells you when the next bus is due, and the interactive ‘pop-up’ bus-stops that tell you the amenities at each stop…