Wednesday 13 March 2013

Portraits: Design Brief, Learning Outcomes & Analysis

Design Brief


University of Kent at West Kent College
HND Graphic Design
Year 2,  Term 1
Modules: Option Module Illustration
     OR    Option Module Photography
(please note that whichever module you pick you must also use for the second project in this portfolio for Options)

Preamble
At this stage of your HND you are offered the chance to undertake further work within a pathway – these are illustration or photography.

In answer to this brief you must produce outcomes that conform to ONE of the options. You should check the appropriate learning outcomes and work to achieve these.

The Brief
 New Scientist magazine is running an article about the psychology of faces. You are asked to design an editorial image made in any format that you like (providing it can be assessed against either the Illustration Module or the Photography Module).

Design the editorial image to fit one page of the magazine (using the proper format).

You should also include on the page in any way you feel is appropriate a small label that details the name of the sitter and no more than 20 words describing them.

Specific Learning Outcomes
Please see Moodle and your course handbook for the specific learning outcomes for each module. Please note that the pathways options (photo and illustration) have different learning outcomes.


Design Brief - Analysis

After looking at the brief and highlighting the key points, I have taken those points and I’m now going to analyse them bit by bit so that I could ensure that I understand everything completely.
  • At this stage of your HND you are offered the chance to undertake further work within a pathway – these are illustration or photography.
  • New Scientist magazine is running an article about the psychology of faces.
  • Design an editorial image made in any format that you like
  • Design the editorial image to fit one page of the magazine
  • Include on the page in any way you feel is appropriate a small label that details the name of the sitter and no more than 20 words describing them.


I have already decided to pick the Illustration side of this project, so this means that I would need to look at the learning outcomes specifically for this option. But in general I would need to produce an editorial image relating to the psychology of faces for New Scientist Magazine. This can be done in any format – which I assume means either an illustration or photograph – but I would need to have a small label alongside it including the name of the sitter (the illustration, perhaps?) and a 20-word description. This image would have to fit one page of the magazine, and no more than that.

So what I would need to do first is to research into editorial illustrations to see what they are exactly and how they work. This includes looking at different media and illustrators as well as existing articles in magazines.
But, most importantly, I would need to look at scientist magazines and figure out the dimensions of one page so that my image isn’t any larger than it.


Learning Outcomes Analysis - Illustration

Here I have copied and pasted the learning outcomes for the illustration option, and I’m going to analyse them like I had done with the design brief.
  • Critically explored the role of general and specific research to inform an illustrative solution in relation to a given brief.
  • Produced one or more research journal containing both visual and verbal material that evaluates and analyses the student’s illustrative processes and developing illustrative techniques.
  • Produced a series of research journals containing both visual and verbal material that has been critically evaluated and analysed in relation to the student’s illustrative practical and creative techniques and processes.
  • Demonstrated via research journals and final pieces an awareness of visually communicating to a specific audience or illustrative category.

These learning outcomes seem fairly straightforward; throughout the duration of this project I would need to ensure that my research is relevant so that I’m not led astray. The “research journal” mentioned would be this blog, and on here I shall keep record of all of my research, sketches and experimentations under the category “Portraits”. At the end of each section I would evaluate it so that I could summarise what I had learnt and why it’s relevant to the project.
I would need to figure out who my specific audience is, and could do this by looking at other scientist magazines.
  • Demonstrated an awareness of visually communicating to a specific audience.
  • Developed and experimented with appropriate media, aesthetics and visual language. Evidenced by means of research journals and final illustrations.
  • Explored and documented the relationship between the individual’s research and practice.

Some of these points are similar to the ones I have analysed above, but they have heavily stressed the importance of experimentation with different medias (which could include – in my case – watercolour, paint, ink… Etc.)


Conclusion

To conclude, I would need to produce an editorial illustration to fit one page of the magazine. This illustration would have to be relevant to the topic, and along the way I would need to dab my hand in different illustrative medias. All of this research would have to be included on my blog.
I can now start my project and keep this analysis as a guideline to help me along the way.


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