Thursday, 26 May 2011

Evaluation... Product, Range, Distribution

I enjoyed reading through the briefs before the brief started properly, it really opened my eyes to the diversity of briefs out there, and showed how terribly they can be written too. I selected 5 briefs, not having a clue what we were doing with them, but secretly preferring one in particular, Channel X.

Forming the brief was incredibly challenging, I am used to being given a brief with a small amount of flexibility and a given set of deliverables. This time however, we were forming our own briefs, using the chosen ones as a foundation. This proved very time consuming for me, as I am not the kind of person to jump straight into a project, without ‘testing the water first’.

After my first concept crit I was still unsure, and spoke to different members of the group to gain their opinion. A chat with Fred made me realise I had to stop writing and start making decisions and getting on with it. The brief wasn’t long enough for hesitations. I decided on the idea of a music channel, but changed the genre numerous times. When I noticed people sketching, I realised I have to decide and just get on with it, and I am glad I did.

It was this hesitation that lead to my quick development of the logo, I was worried I had fallen behind, and made a rapid decision before fully exploiting all avenues. Looking back now, I am actually glad I did this, as it allowed me to concentrate on the development of my work.

I am pleased with the identity I built for my channel, Infrasonic. A lot of people have commented on the ‘I’ being made up of graphic equaliser bars, which leads me to believe it is a strong logo. It had to be strikingly obvious it is related to music, as infrasonic isn’t a regularly used word and may cause confusion.

I think I exploited the range well across a variety of formats. The postcard idea is appropriate as people can keep them, with the chance of people they know seeing them too. The posters for nightclubs and music shops was an idea to directly target music lovers, I can imagine the postcards being distributed in locations like this also. The London Underground advert was an idea designed to expose the logo to the public, regular tube users would get used to the design and it may encourage them to look at the channel. Similarly, the outdoor billboard advert was another strategy for exposing the logo, with not as much information, as it would only be seen on the go. It wouldn’t be something people stand and stare at like they would in a tube station. The web banner was a way of expanding my communication, again directly targeting music fans, but more specialised as the featured websites would be Drum and Bass Arena and Mixmag. The magazine advert was about targeting television watchers e.g. featuring in television guides and again, Mixmag.

My proposed range was not as strong, for example, the website. I believe this is because other elements were included that weren’t part of the branding. Also, I am really upset about my ident, I would like my speciality to be motion graphics and felt this would be a fantastic opportunity to engage in my area of interest, ready to set myself up for the third year. After some development and a tutorial, the feedback wasn’t overly positive, I went away, corrected the areas for improvement and again, still nothing great. However, peers had really liked the idea, and thought it should be a product rather than proposal. I must admit, I didn’t do anything new visually in After Effects to try it, although I did pick up some technical knowledge.

I feel my boards communicate everything that is necessary, and are much better in layout than my pre-submission boards which had far too much information on.

I would really like to propose an event, a launch party for the music channel, I think it would work really well, and it was mentioned by 2 peers at separate occasions. Sadly, time was thin, and I had enough to sort out.

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