Graphic Design 2.1: Professional Practice, Project 9: ‘Take a Stand’ Assignment 9
This assignment is completely self-directed. Therefore, you will be writing your own brief and working through a unique personal project.
For this assignment you are expected to:
Clearly articulate the boundaries of the project, including the theme or subject of the work, the form of the deliverables, the target audience, and the client. Stick with the boundaries you establish.
Convey a position or opinion on a topic to incite action. This can be for a social cause, it can be promotional advertising or political propaganda. Your project should stir up a response from the audience.
The subject you will be working with and the form of the deliverables is completely up to you. The following are some examples that can serve as inspiration:
Call for Change: Advertising campaign for a social justice cause. Raise awareness of an important topical social issue. You could design posters on the theme of education, health, crime or politics.
Recruitment: Promote a profession that needs more workers, volunteers, or apprentices. Encourage young people to join by designing a pamphlet that will be distributed through a university or career centre.
Subscription: Create digital assets that will be shared on social media, email, and digital platforms to encourage people to subscribe to a sustainable coffee and chocolate delivery service.
Identify what the key aims and objectives are. For instance, what is the call to action once someone encounters the work? How will people engage with the brand/product/cause? What considerations might you need to address, when viewing work on a smartphone? How might you animate a brand logotype? Would a design work better with a level of interactivity? Can you add further meaning to a piece by using different materials or processes?
Once you have established the project and set the brief’s objectives, develop ideas and iterations in your sketchbook and document your process in your learning log.
Next, you need to remember that refinement is not necessarily about ‘adding’ but importantly, editing. Ensure your final pieces are properly proofread, (it is always a good idea to get someone else to read through) images are at the correct resolution and any typesetting is consistent.
Finally, Presentation needs to reflect professional practice. Although you might not have access to professional production facilities you can still present your work in a professional manner. Consider how the work will be presented in your portfolio.
With the general subject in mind, I researched various Men’s mental health charities and considered what my brief could be. I made notes of potential brief ideas/deliverables.
There were various charities that I hadn’t heard of before which seemed more intriguing than others such as ‘Andysmanclub’ and ‘Tough to Talk’. I particularly liked the concept and straightforwardness of Andysmanclub, being drawn in by the succinct statements and strong branding. The already strong branding would make this a challenge to design for and put my own mark on as a designer due to the visuals already being great, with a fun colour palette and typeface.
I began this task by making some general notes/creating a rough plan to move forwards with. The first subject matter that came to mind when considering this assignment brief was Men’s mental health awareness. As this is something I am passionate about, I felt that it could be the best subject to create a brief/design for.
When considering my self-set brief I again wanted to challenge myself. I am always drawn to creating posters- something I am comfortable with. I perused my initial brief ideas and considered which areas of design I have had less experience with designing and decided to move forwards with a leaflet design, both physical and digital. Creating a physical and digital leaflet would give me the chance to create some physical mock ups as well as digital- the physical mock-ups are something I would like to create more of in general, so this is a good opportunity to do so.
The Brief:
Client: AndysManClub
Project Title: "Empower Yourself: A Guide to Mental Health for Young Men"
Overview: Andy’s Man Club is a men’s mental health charity that provides a safe space for men to discuss their mental health struggles. This project involves designing a Z-fold leaflet which will be handed out in person and a digital resource guide scanned by a QR code. These designs will be specifically targeted at young men aged 18-25 and are to be provided at talks from the charity to University campuses and at sports games. The aim of the leaflets are to engage young people, encourage and empower them to attend the AMC meetings, seek help for mental health issues and promote talking about their problems. This can be shown by general information about AMC, testimonials, alternative mental health resources etc.
Deliverables:
Z-Fold Leaflet: A visually engaging leaflet that can be easily distributed in public places, universities, and community centres.
Digital Resource Guide: A more succinct, online version of the resource guide that can be accessed via scanning a QR code.
Information to include:
Introduction to Andy’s Man Club: A brief overview of the charity, its mission, and how it supports men’s mental health.
Testimonials: Real stories from young men who have attended Andy’s Man Club meetings and benefited from its services.
Resources: Information on how to join Andy’s Man Club meetings, contact details for support services, and links to online resources.
Call to Action: Encourage young men to take the first step in seeking help, with clear instructions on how to get involved.
Slogans and hashtags: #ITSOKAYTOTALK, #THATONEMAN, ‘WE’RE HERE FOR YOU’, ‘WE’RE A BUNCH OF BLOKES HAVING A CHAT OVER A BISCUIT AND A BREW’.
Design requirements:
Visual Style: Modern, engaging and relatable using brand identity including…
Typography: Andysmanclub typeface, in a legible form that are appropriate for both print and digital formats.
Imagery: Use a mix of photos and illustrations (photos/brand logo provided) that positivity, emphasising the community aspect of Andy’s Man Club.
Layout: The Z-fold leaflet should be intuitive/easy to navigate, most importantly engaging to 18-25 year olds. The digital guide should be mobile-friendly and succinct.
Technical Specifications:
Z-Fold Leaflet:
Size: A4 folded into thirds
Print: Full colour, double-sided
Digital Resource Guide:
Optimised for mobile use. Succinct ‘2 scroll’ design
Figures 7-10 are some great examples of leaflet design projects I came across on Behance. I like the different styles of leaflet and colour palettes used. A particular design that helped inspire some design ideas was the bold pink and blue in figure 10 with the white type/icons. This design was very simple, yet affective, with simply using different sized elements.
FIGURE 11:
FIGURE 13:
Figure 14 shows some examples of work by Eleanor Shakespeare, an illustrator who works primarily with collage, combining digital and physical techniques. Her use of colours and hand drawn elements were what I was specifically focusing on to draw inspiration from for this task.
Figure 15 shows works by Concepcion Studios. They produce posters primarily for films and musicians in a stylised way. I really like their use of imagery, they create scenes within their posters, collaging people, emotive objects with colourful shapes, having the elements interact with the environment around them.
FIGURE 16: PAULA SCHER
Figures 17 shows a calendar design, saved from a previous task but I felt that it was a good idea to reference here too as it is visually interesting, again using hand drawn elements with characters interacting with the parts around them
I continued to sketch ideas both for the leaflet and online compositions, noting any ideas for colour or type.
Moving forwards, I tried to find a typeface that best matched the one that Andysmanclub uses. I came across the Dharma Gothic font family and experimented with various weights of text.
Moving forwards I worked on the main illustration inside the leaflet- the Andysmanclub logo, blown up and altered slightly. Inspired by Concepcion Studios’ characters (figure 15) within their designs which interact with other elements of the illustration, I designed 2 characters ‘having a brew’ on top of the hand- the quote above their heads which features on the Andysmanclub website.
I aimed to be succinct with the information included within the leaflet, only including what needed to be there, again to attract the younger audience and for them not to be put off or overwhelmed with information.
Final leaflet mock up:
I aimed to include the most important elements such as what Andysmanclub is, along with the locations near them that they can visit. Taking elements from the leaflet such as the illustration and the ‘it’s okay to talk’ I aimed to make the mobile design as cohesive and interesting but straightforward as possible.
Final mobile mock up:
Now I had finalised my brief, I moved onto researching leaflet designs, more about the charity and collating mood boards with other visual inspiration.
Figures 11-13 are excerpts from Andysmanclub website, a video about their charity and from their social media. I aimed to get an idea of the charity as a whole, in order to try and represent their core beliefs as opposed to just designing solely for visual purposes. The charity stresses the importance of community for men, and the need for talking, no matter what the issue. Considering this, I noted down a view key visual ideas, such as a message box (representing speech) and notes/hand written elements to add a personal/more emotive feel.
Paula Scher’s re-brand for Altantic Theatre Company (figure 16) is a great example of using simple shapes with vibrant colours and imagery to convey emotion. Scher’s use of different sized type adds a fun dynamic to the designs- an area to note for my design work as it needs to appeal visually to younger people.
Figure 18 shows a lookbook/magazine design, I really liked how each double spread was treated as a single page, with each design elements bringing both pages together- this is something to bare in mind when designing, how can I bring each page of the leaflet and online design together?
After I had came up with a few concepts, I merged my favourites into a ‘mock up’ where I quickly sketched the compositions onto a z-folded piece of paper, to see how each page would interact with one another. I found this very helpful as it allowed me to visualise how holding the leaflet would feel and consider the questions:
‘How do I keep someone interested?’
‘Would I put the leaflet down now?’
‘Would there be too much or too little information?’
‘Which information is most relevant and important for the person to read for the charity and themselves, before putting down the leaflet?’
Referring to my sketches, I began to design the first page. Inspired by my research from the Andysmanclub Instagram page, I wanted to create a ‘text feed’ with 2 friends messaging each other about attending an Andysmanclub session.
The aim of this, as opposed to having the main brandname across the front was to intrigue someone younger to want to read more. If there is something such as a conversation, the person is more likely to engage with the leaflet and want to know more.
Inspired by Eleanor Shakespeare’s work (figure 14) I added some hand drawn elements, including the quote ‘It’s okay to talk’ which is one of Andysmanclub’s slogans. I wanted to create depth and visual interest within the design to engage the younger audience.
Once I had my layout, I experimented with a ‘ripped’ texture in between the pages, in an attempt to make the leaflet feel cohesive as opposed to in ‘sections’ and to make it more visually interesting.
I then printed out a mock up version to see how this worked in person.
I waited to produce the simplified mobile version until I had completed the leaflet design, with hopes for them to be cohesive. For the mobile design it needed to be even more succinct as there is limited space to scroll before someone will click off the page.
I found this task very challenging. Coming up with my own brief was a good experience and a good opportunity to practise/experiment with a different area of design. I haven’t made many leaflet or info designs before and this was a challenge for me. I struggled with considering the context it would be viewed in (for younger people) and debating what information was of most importance and how to convey it in an interesting way.
I really found my initial rough sketch mock up of the leaflet helpful as it allowed me to physically turn each page and consider what information is best where.
Overall this was a fun task which gave me the chance to experiment and improve on an area of design I haven’t put as much work into as I would like. I look forward to self-led design tasks in the future!
Resources:
Figure 1: (No date) Oca.ac.uk. Available at: https://learn.oca.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=25355&chapterid=6245 (Accessed: 11 August 2024).
Figure 2: Movember (no date) Movember. Available at: https://uk.movember.com/about/mental-health (Accessed: 11 August 2024).
Figure 3: Who we are (no date) Andysmanclub.co.uk. Available at: https://andysmanclub.co.uk/who-we-are/ (Accessed: 11 August 2024).
Figure 4: MANUP? (no date) MANUP? Available at: https://www.manup.how/ (Accessed: 11 August 2024).
Figure 5: TOUGH TO TALK: Leading men’s mental health and suicide prevention charity in the UK (no date) TOUGHTOTALK. Available at: https://www.toughtotalk.com/ (Accessed: 11 August 2024).
Figure 6: About UKMSA (2023) UKMSA Men’s Sheds Association. UK Men’s Shed Association. Available at: https://menssheds.org.uk/about-ukmsa/ (Accessed: 11 August 2024).
Figure 7: Behance (no date) Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/76043057/Tate-exhibition-leaflet?tracking_source=search_projects|leaflet&l=75 (Accessed: 12 August 2024).
Figure 8: Behance (no date) Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/49630429/Hala-Koszyki-public-transport-promotion?tracking_source=search_projects|leaflet&l=76 (Accessed: 12 August 2024).
Figure 9: Behance (no date) Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/198055317/mother-dictionary-Leaflet-Design?tracking_source=search_projects|leaflet&l=92 (Accessed: 12 August 2024).
Figure 10: Behance (no date) Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/175523423/Leaflet-Design?tracking_source=search_projects|leaflet&l=200 (Accessed: 12 August 2024).
Figure 11: Andy’s man club (no date) Andysmanclub.co.uk. Available at: https://andysmanclub.co.uk/ (Accessed: 13 August 2024).
Figure 12: Andy’s man club (no date) Andysmanclub.co.uk. Available at: https://andysmanclub.co.uk/ (Accessed: 13 August 2024).
Figure 13: Instagram (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/andysmanclubuk/ (Accessed: 13 August 2024).
Figure 14: Instagram (no date) Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/eshakespeare/?hl=en (Accessed: 13 August 2024).
Figure 15: Portfolio — Concepción studios (no date) Concepción Studios. Available at: https://www.concepcionstudios.com/design/ (Accessed: 13 August 2024).
Figure 16: Paula Scher designs bold new identity for New York’s Atlantic Theater Company (no date) Itsnicethat.com. Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/paula-scher-atlantic-theater-company (Accessed: 13 August 2024).
Figure 17: Behance (no date) Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/66244177/Calendar-Design-All-we-ever-wanted-was-everything (Accessed: 13 August 2024).
Figure 18: POLAND Creative Portfolio (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/296815431706317389/ (Accessed: 13 August 2024).
