Flex Student Newspaper: #31 Freshers 2012

Freshers Mood Board Cover

Production has begun on the Flex Freshers issue for 2012/13. Above is the mood board for the cover and we are pulling in articles, building the mood board and designing as content comes in. I am currently trying to find illustrators for the issue as well as the cover. Myself and the Editor-In-Chief Dan Simpson know that this issues cover should set the standard for the rest of year and this is what we want to kick off with.

There have been a few changes over the summer. All of the design team I had in 1st and 2nd year and left so they can focus all their time on their 3rd year. That was also my plan, to pass it on to a new designer but I could not find anyone willing to take it on. I sort of understand it because being a design director is a lot of pressure. So far I have one other, soon to be 2nd yr, student designing a long side me and I am very grateful. I will have a lot to balance for my third and final year but I will have less on my plate than I did last year as I was freelancing as well as Treasuser for the African Caribbean Society at University College Falmouth.  In October is the fresher fair where we hope to recruit new people for all departments I will have to find some new designers. We also have a Facebook group but will try to rely more so on email and phone calls for communication as simply being Facebook can result in procrastination.


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Flex Student Newspaper #30

Flex #30 June 2012 is the final issue of the academic year and I am very pleased with it. Being the last issue of the year meant is was produced while people were trying to meet last minute coursework deadlines. I felt some departments looked quite strong and I will go into the summer holidays with a few ways we can improve our design. I will need to take some time to evaluate the year, production process and my team before making changes. Below are the pages I did the design & layout for in this final issue.

Flex #30 June 2012 Cover

Flex #30 June 2012 Editorial/ Contributors

Flex #30 June 2012 News Page 4-5. We have started to run the very short articles along the bottom. The black, blue and yellow bars serve as links to online and social media.

Flex #30 June 2012 News Page 4-5. We have started to get more vertical with some of the layouts as well as work things across the page and use the space more creatively.

Flex #30 June 2012 News Page 12-13. The centre page spread was one of the cover stories so we did something a little more special working closely with Sheri Matthews the Features editor. We decided to run the two articles along with a timeline of the queen at the bottom running the length of both pages to serve as a visual hook.

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"Where Do Magazines Come From" - with Nicolas Brett, Managing Director (MD) of BBC Magazines Worldwide

On Monday 14th May 2012 I attended a seminar entitled "Where Do Magazines Come From" by Nicolas Brett, Managing Director (MD) of BBC Magazines Worldwide.

I took some notes during his presentation. Below are some of the key points and questions I took away.

Can you take a company property and turn it into a magazine?
What is a magazine?
1) the dont disappear
2) companion & friend
3) people feel they own them
4) advisor
5) personal and community

Key Points to take away:
build (what the readers want) and they will come.
build a community around peoples common passions and interest.
set and lead trends. do not follow.

Keep the audience at the heart of everything you do.
Build a brand with international appeal.
Embody that across several channels; print, web, motion, newsletter, social media, podcasts, events, etc.
Define the role each channel will play in embodying the brand playing of each ones strengths


Market Segmentation: Present reader with (illusion of) choice?
same topic/ different viewpoint.

The Problem with children's magazines: (do other publications face same/ similar issues?)
forced to find new audience every few years.
feast and famine because of age group

____

At the end of the seminar I approached him to speak about internships of work experience at BBC Magazines and Nicolas was nice enough to give me the contact details of

Having wokred on the student newspaper I can now see more of the strengths of print, digital and online so I plan to learn the following.:
Learn HTML, CSS & javascript
Learn to develop for the iPad, iPhone and Android devices


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Flex Student Newspaper #23

#23 Cover

Rugby World Cup double page spread

London Fashion Week double page spread

Lifestyle section

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Flex Re-Design: Freshers Guide

On of the articles in the Freshers Guide is called '10 Things To Do Before SecondYear' by Hollie Anderson. I asked if I could see the articles before it was proofed so I could get an idea of what I have to work with. I will also be doing with for the other sections too.


After reading the article I felt that it would lend itself well to a poster quality approach. As you scroll down you will be able to see how the design has developed. I plan to experiment with illustration for maybe 5 of the 10 'things' and upload this later. But i personally feel that the last one, the most simple is the best and will continue to develop this.

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Flex Re-Design: Lifestyle Section

Today I decided to take a shot at the lifestyle section. Photography will play a large part in this section and is ideally at the forefront of the writer and editors mine. The only catch is that Flex has had consistently poor not to mention low resolution images. I want to take much more of a magazine approach to lifestyle as I feel it would lend itself well. Text-over-image is something I have been discussing with Henry but I will also need to run it by the printer. I would like to get the editors confident enough in letting us run full page, full bleed high resolution photos. Below is what I have in mind for lifestyle.

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Flex ReDesign Progress

Over the summer me and the Flex Design Team began redesign the student newspaper. Just to remind that the work you will see from Flex posted here has been a team effort and could not have been done without them, the editor and our new but small marketing team. Below is a sample of that design. We began by looking at typography and grid systems. The 12x12 grid was chose because fo the flexibility of use for a grid. It can be used at 6, 3, 4 or even an off number of columns for white space. Being  newspaper we felt this was the best option.


I have decided on some general rules for design and layout.
1) Establish a visual hierarchy:  Every page is structured from top left to bottom right. Important articles are placed in the top left, the less important ones are placed in the bottom right. Don't use the same headline point size for each article, it must vary.
2) Big pictures, big info graphics, use the strength of the paper medium (the photography is dependant on the story so this may not always be possible.)
3) The center fold should be like a poster and fill the field of vision. The centerfold should be so nice that you want to take it out and hang it on the wall. (I have begun to develop some info-graphics to go in the centre pages and online.)

12x 12 grid for Flexibility, 10mm Margins, 5mm Gutter.

Visual Hierarchy test

When it comes to typography we new the old Mercury and Ziggurat typefaces had to go as they did nothing for the publication. We wanted a much stronger serif/ sans-serif mix. We all settled on Baskerville, designed by John Baskerville in 1757, for body copy, pull quotes and captions quite easily. It was chosen because of its good legibility as a result of the difference between the thick and thin parts of the letterforms. We have used slightly looser leading; Baskerville will be sued at 9pt on 12pt leading where as Mercury G1 was used at 8.7pt on 12pt leading but when you realise Baskerville has a smaller 'x height' we wend up with looser leading making any long runs of copy look softer in tone and easier on the eyes.

Baskerville Regular for Body Copy. 

Baskerville Test

The headlines were not that easily decided. We put forward font such as Gotham and Futura but found although they work alone they did not have what it takes to be a headline. When Knockout came into the picture we experimented with several weights and were eventually able to settle on it.

  

Knockout: Headlines

Knockout Test

We have been talking with the editor about changes in production, distribution and design over the summer. It looks like the future of the paper will be exciting. I would also like to send it to Its Nice That magazine as well as a few others to see if we can get featured and some exposure. For now the deadline is fast approaching and there are still a lot of changes to be made as well as the looming Freshers Issue deadline. Keep an eye out for the full redesign at the start of September.

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Tumblr

I set up a tumblr over my christmas break from university and I am starting to become a regular mircoblogger. Whats I like about tumblr is its simplicity when compared to blogger and wordpress. Its is incredibly easy to use.

www.ThunderInTheSky.tumblr.com

Feel free to check it out and follow or re-blog anything you like. All the images on there are found on other peoples blogs or on the lesser know design blogs hidden in the corners of the web. The work is not mine. I merely collect random sources of inspiration and eye candy.

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This Year Will Be Different (2011)

Be Fearless/
Allways bring Your 'A' Game/
Organize & Prioritise/
Embrace & Collaborate/
Be the Best you can Be at what you Do/
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Research/

When it comes to design projects the more you put in at the start the more you ge out at the end. What follows are a series of questions I have devised that should be put to clients before a project begins with the question I feel that are most important highlighted in red. This would usually be in the form of a brief. How ever these question shave not yet been broken down yet. As you can see the questions are not a linear process and certain questions affect other answers. My plan is to put these into a more effective brief for clients to make it faster for me to give them a quote, understand the project and weather it is worth pursuing. 

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University College Falmouth: First Term/

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Flex: Student Newspaper Issue 13/

Now that i had some previous experience working on the paper I knew that we could do better this time. After having a meeting with the editors we proposed that there was much are feedback between the designers of and editors of each section

The team for this issue was Me, Morwenna, Rachel, Nadya, Lou, Henry and Guro For this issue below I had to put together Sports and heavily alter another section as well put in a lod of last minute adverts and prepare the paper for the printer. The cover was designed by Guro.

This issue the paper was much better. There were only issues with names of certain sections of the articles. To counter this I have made myself a strict checklist to run through before sending the paper off to print. One of the strength of this issue was in the process; the idea of having more feedback between the editors and design team made the work much smoother and meant I had to do much less tweaking in the end. I hope next issue there will be zero mistakes as it will be the final issue before the christmas break.

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My Design Process

Below is my design process broken down into stages for you. I have done this to demystify the design process and so you can understand how extensive this process is. I believe it is a common misconception that designer can jump in front of the latest version of photoshop and begin designing immediately as this is not the case. Each stage has a brief explanation going over what this stage consists of so you as the client know what to expect.

Brief/
I will supply you with a template brief that can be found 'here'. The purpose of the brief is to ensure everyone involved in the project understands what to expect and by when. It also serves as a reference point for me as it will contain the important details such as the intend message, target audience and keywords. The brief will outline things such as; who you are/ what you do/ how you do it/ why/ target audience/ 'the message'/ project budget. All of these areas will need to be filled in thoroughly as possible. The more we put in here, the more we get out at the end.

Agreement & Meeting/

Once I have received a brief I will send you a design agreement. I know many people  get concerned when agreement gets involved in business, I know I used to. The purpose of the agreement is to protect ourselves and make sure we all know what to expect and by when, but it's okay, the agreement is negotiable and I often alter it for specific projects.  I usually meet with the clients if this is possible, or relevant. If it is is a small project then a phone call or e-mail will suffice. I prefer to meet because I feel when people talk online some meaning is lost an their can be communication errors. Also t this stage we are tying to build trust an nothing will do this better than a face-to-face meeting. It is likely that we will have a few questioned for each other; me based and the brief and you based on my a my work. The agreement will cover things such as start & end date/ stages of design & payment/ design rights &confidentiality. The sooner we get the agreement & meeting out the way the sooner I can begin the research.

Research/

I will begin to research immediately. Some of this information I will get from the brief and through talking to you in the meeting. The research will also consist of me looking into your current brand,  the history of your company, history of clients industry, what designs client do/ dont like, the future of your company, potential competition, marget/ industry trends, gaps in market/ industry, design trends, analysis, target audience, what sets you appart from the competition. The more in depth my research at this point the better the results will be in the next stage.

Brainstorm/ Idea generating/ Sketch/

This is where I begin brainstorming. I take the intended message and key points from the brief as well as the target audience and avoiding design trends into consideration. First I produce a brainstorm based on words. These words are used to spark images. I focus heavily on quality of ideas here over quantity though often enough plenty of ideas are generated.

This is where sketching begins. I focus heavily on quantity of ideas here trying go generate as many solutions as possible in the space of 15minutes then trying to beat it. I create a variety of logos including but not limited to; typographic, image only, combination of both, reversed out, silhouette, etc. 

Prototype/ Mockups/

I will then whittle down the ideas to the best 10 and execute them using Adobe Illustrator. This may either involve sketching the brand mark and scanning it in or woking into Adobe Illustrator. These ideas are then put into context by presenting them in real scenarios; stationary/ multimedia/ display mock ups, print outs. 

Client Review/

I will send you the designs as PDF document with several pages. The logo design will be presented in black and white/ greyscale. I do this because colour is subjective and will affect your interpretation of it. It is also important that logos work in black and white and do not really too heavily on color. (Colour should 'elevate' a logo not 'make' it.) At this point it is important that we focus on the form of the brand mark. Once the client has seen the logo they may with to take it as it is or make refinements. At this stage it is important that the client make these decisions based on brand values/ target audience/ the message beging conveyed/ where the brand mark will be.

Refinement/

I will then make the appropriate refinements specified by the client. Colour is then considered based on brand values/ target audience/ the message beging conveyed/ channels in wich the brand mark will be implemented.

Final Submission/

I submit the brand mark to the client in various formats, sizesblack and white/ grayscalce and full colour.

Additional Material/

If the client has requested Stationary/ Animation/ Motion Design/ posters/ leaflets/ flyers/ etc, then these will be executed with reference to all of the above.

Customer Service/

I am available to the client at any time to answer any design questions, give tips or advice as how best to implement the designs.

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Motion Graphics Identity

I have just made my first motion graphic identity for Omari McCarthy Design. Check it out here.

Untitled from Omari McCarthy on Vimeo.

Too see the full project Click here

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Lessons Learnt

I have been freelancing since the 16th June 2010. I have worked on several projects some have been more successful than others. But they have all been worth it because of what I have learnt. Below are several pieces I created to articulate what I have learnt and my opinion on certain things in design. 

Never work for free: it causes people to undervalue design. This includes spec work and competitions especially under the disguise of good exposure. Design is more than worth its price and designer should not have to prove themselves to client who come to them for jobs.

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Listen to the client: Communication is key. This also works both ways. It is important for the designer and client to listen to each other and accept they do not fully understand each others field. To avoid erros later down the line and streamline the entire project it is important that their is a clear line of communication between the designer and client.

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Do not underprice yourself: you will be branded as the "cheap guy". This is very true for freelances like myself who are just starting out in the business. It is easy to think that you will get more client by dropping you price however this is not the case. When you have a lower price client will asume that you are worth that price and find someone else. It is safer to overprice and negotiate back down that to underprice.

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Netwok Netwok Netwok: you never know who you might meet. This is true for all areas of design. Personally i never leave my house without a stack of business cards to hand out just in case. Attend exhibitions, talk to other designers, talk to non designers, family, friends and just let people know what you do. If you dont tell anyone then how will they know to come to you when they need design work. This has always worked for me I have not been without a project since I have begun.

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Be a businessman first, designer second. I have heard some say that most people get into freelance for the design but the successful ones get into it for the business. This must be true as I have heard freelancers make between £5,000 and £100,000 per year. As much as we enjoy the creative side its time we put down out pen tablets and picked up some business books.

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Fight for your rights: Or no one lese will. As a designer. You have more rights that you know. To find out more please visit: The AIGA Copyright Basics.

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Quote early and honestly: It avoids a lot of hassle later. Coming back to price this is one of the things that freelancers often stumble on. It is best to decide on a rate once a design brief has been completed and both parties know what to expect. There are a load of variables to consider such as cost of materials, times taken, research, printing cost and many more all of which have to be weighed up agains bills, software cost, overhead cost, taxes and making a profit on top of that.

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Doodle before you Mac: Never underestimate the power of the pencil. Raise your hand if you have you had an idea, jumped strait onto your mac book pro and begun working (*hand raised*). i think we are all guilty of that. What we need to do is sketch, sketch and sketch some more. You woud surprised how often getting an idea down onto paper can help ideas flow a lot faster. They dont have to be works of art, it is about idea generation not creating a masterpiece. Try it. You will be pleasantly surprised.

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Glastonbury 2010: Guardian Guide

I know it is a little bit late but I made a few posters fro Glastonbury. These posters were actually made on my Art Foundation course at BCU. Our brief below was fairly open brief which instead of being a breath of fresh air, most found daunting.

Brief: "You have been commissioned to create the front cover publicity material for the Guardian Lounge and the Glastonbury Festival 2010. This will include designs for the front cover of the Guardian Guide, Flyers, Pass Badges and other items for the interior of the lounge."

Research: I began my research by looking at past issued of the Guardian Guide. I observed, analysed an critiqued the different covers looking at the design aesthetics of each piece, their purpose and effect on the audience. Many things had to be taken into consideration such as the size of the magazine (roughly A5), target audience, existing fonts and logo.

Ideas: I began to brainstorm possible solutions to the problem using a mind map. Focusing more on quantity of ideas and generating a large amount regardless of weather they could be executed kept the process free and open. Once I has several ideas down I began to look at the swiss deign movement, retro design, the work of James White and color psychology.

Glastonbury 2010 Kinetic Type from Omari McCarthy on Vimeo.

Grade Received: Merit

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