Name and create a visual identity, for the Leeds College of Art End of Year Show 2016. The campaign needs to promote the show at the same time as reflecting the quality and values of the college. This look and feel will be applied to a number of different collateral from signage to print and online applications. I worked as part of a team of four to produce a host of digital material that supported our design structure, one that was heavily concept influenced.
Research
As previously mentioned, the brief is repeated every year, so we had a host of material that had been produced in previous years that we could analyse. Group critiques of the previous artwork mentioned resulted in the team agreeing that whilst everything that had won was on trend and visually pleasing, it was also flat, boring and safe. This led us in a direction that made us explore the possibilites of three-dimensional work, which we felt would be a much more striking choice.
Concept
The nature of the brief required that the concept was absolutely watertight; once the winning pitch was accepted, the remainder of the work was to be outsourced by external Design Studio: Peter & Paul. Again meaning that the strongest aspect of our design had to be the concept that tied it all together. We symbolised the whole reg rewgyi yufw Art College with the manifestation of a mannaquin (which in itself is fitting and has numerous connetations with the creative sector), and having individual bodyparts that made it up being representative of the different BA courses. These mannaquins would then fit under the tagline and theme ‘Montage’, and become the three-dimensional aspect to the visuals we would produce.
“The mannequins are the embodiment of LCA and its students, representing freedom, creativity and passion. Each bodypart of the mannequin represent a different course.”
Development
Knowing the deliverables, and deciding & delegating between us we were able to split up tasks. I was left with designing how the posters would be laid out, both for the external four walled folly and the digital fly prints for pasting around the city. I decided that with the visuals of the mannequins we’d created being so visually dynamic, any more design elements would need to be kept at a minimal as to not overcrowd the designs. So type and image was considered very carefully, I suggested to use Butler to the group for our titles, which we opted for due to its simplistic, and traditional beauty. Butler is also free, which helps fonts licensing (or the lack of). I’m skilled with Google Sketchup, so decided that to really get a feel for how the work would look in context, we should 3D render it, providing an even more in-depth view of the boards than what a 2D mock up would demonstrate. The concept of the mannequin extended to arranging the limbs to function as way-finding.
Artwork & Evaluation
Unfortunately my group were unsuccessful with our pitch, and my evaluation as to why I think that is, is as follows: I mentioned previously within my research that I concluded the previous winners of this brief produced work that was both aesthetically well thought through and trendy, yet were flat and uninteresting at the same time. The four boards outside the college get a tremendous amount of traffic coming by everyday, and a piece of 2D flat design just isn’t going to pull as much attention as a mannequin perched on top would. I stand by that, however perhaps we have been too outlandish in our approach, we made considerations in our pitch towards techniques to decorate the mannequins, and pricing for these effects. Through and through I thought the project was exceptionally well considered, the target audience would’ve responded well to the artwork.
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