Liz Owen
BA (Hons) Graphic Design - Top-Up Degree
Final Major Project
Background Information
"The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival is an annual literary festival where visitors can meet and listen to authors and experts from a wide range of fields discussing a variety of topics from literature, politics, history, philosophy, economics, science, culinary, travel, environment and religion, to mention only a few." - Taken from the Sunday Times Literary Festival website.
Despite the name change - as they are now the Oxford Literary Festival - the event still continues today, attracting a wide variety of talent every year as people gather to listen to lectures on literature as well as meet well-known authors. Both children and adults attend this festival so there's something for everyone!
The Brief
You are to design a book of quotes which integrates both illustration and typography wherever possible. It will be pocket-sized paperback so that it's easy to carry, nothing more than 200mm x 200mm. How you bind it is up to you, as long as there are around 4 quotes within.
This book will be displayed at the Oxford Literary Festival and made available to those who attend this event. If possible, at least one of the designs within will be carried across to poster designs in order to promote this festival which takes place in March (details are on their website). This festival is quite well-known and so the target audience will be quite large but those who pick up the book will be both literature and typography enthusiasts.
Research and Methodology
I shall be looking at any existing poster designs that promote this festival as well as looking for typographic posters and books. As it's for a literary festival I shall be displaying relatively well-known quotes within my book so that it's possible for them to be recognisable by all ages.
Here are some of the websites and books I'll be looking at for inspiration:
The Oxford Literary Festival - http://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/
Behance - http://behance.net
Waterstones (I could look in store and online)
"Typography Sketchbooks" by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico
Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/
By looking at existing poster designs for this event would give me an idea on how they have displayed their information before so that I can maintain consistency in my design. I shall try and make it slightly different but it'll be ideal to do a little bit of background research to base my design on.
I have covered hand-lettering in my previous APP project (Words) but I hope to go a bit further by experimenting a lot more and trying out more styles. This means that I would have to extend what I already new and maybe start from scratch so that I could figure out the basics of each type style. Looking at how other people have illustrated quotes would help me out as well by giving me a general idea on how to layout my words properly.
Speaking of quotes, I shall be looking at multiple websites as well as the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs. I want my quotes to be as accurate as possible because it would just look silly if I displayed an incorrect quote at a literary festival. It would bring an unprofessional appearance and might not attract as many people to go to the event.
Reflection, Testing and Learning Outcomes
Making sure that my quotations are as accurate as possible is one of the things that I will be testing continuously throughout my project as I don't want to get to the final stage only to realise I had worded it incorrectly. This means I'd have to ask someone who has an extensive knowledge on literature or look up at more than one website source to make sure it's legitimate. Another way to confirm my quotations is to flick through the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs.
I've mentioned above that I've only dabbled in hand-lettering since my previous project, so another form of testing would be to post up what I'm working on to gain feedback so that I could correct any mistakes made in the type. Obviously the “mistakes” would make the design more organic but I want to be able to do the best I can to make it look more professional. At the same time I will jot down some notes on the feedback I received so that I can show I have considered all options to ensure a better design.
I could also gain feedback on the design as a whole to see if my target audience – literature and typography enthusiasts – like my design. If they could recognise my chosen quotations then that'll be brilliant.
Most of the learning outcomes for the FMP (Final Major Project) are quite similar to those for my APPs, although one really caught my eye: “Developed a high level of intellectual and conceptual involvement with their chosen subject area, including skills of project proposal, documentation of project development and the presentation of outcomes.” This further emphasises the importance of me knowing what I'm working with and only makes me want to try harder in creating a near-perfect set of typographic piece. Obviously I won't be able to be completely perfect but it doesn't stop me from trying my best. I shall analyse other learning outcomes in a separate post.
Experimentation
I have partially covered what I shall be experimenting on, and this includes different type styles as well as trying out different methods on how to display my book. The brief states that I have a bit of freedom when it comes to binding and I would love to try some hand-made methods. If these methods don't work out then at least I have shown that I've tried.
I shall keep of record of each experiment with reasons of how it did/didn't work for future reference when I want to go back and improve on it.
I will experiment my final piece by showing it to my target market and assess on how they are using it as well as seeing if my quotations are recognisable.
Professional Practice
To ensure that I have covered this section I shall produce “the real thing” and actually create the book so that I could present it at an interview or a show. This means that I will have to consider different binding methods, paper, and printing companies in advance (perhaps a couple of months before my deadline) so that I don't miss the deadline because of having to wait for it to be printed. I know that our university has a connection with GFSmith so I might contact them for some paper samples.
I shall also buy a sketchbook specifically for this project so that I could show my thought process as well as a link to this blog.
Production and Contingency Planning
I shall be drafting out a time table for this project and label all of the different areas that need to be covered: research, inspiration, sketching, experimentation, and designing. I shall aim to make my schedule as spread out as possible to avoid cramming everything at once and to take it at a steady pace. It is important that I stick to this schedule to avoid panic and not producing a sufficient design. After I have completed each section I shall tick it to give me a bit of a positive-boost as I can see that I'm slowly on my way to finishing the project.
N.B Please note that this is a university project, meaning that this isn't a brief provided by the Oxford Literary Festival. I am just using them as a potential client.
Learning Outcome:
[2] Developed a high level of intellectual and conceptual involvement with their chosen subject area, including skills of project proposal, documentation of project development and the presentation of outcomes.
BA (Hons) Graphic Design - Top-Up Degree
Final Major Project
Background Information
"The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival is an annual literary festival where visitors can meet and listen to authors and experts from a wide range of fields discussing a variety of topics from literature, politics, history, philosophy, economics, science, culinary, travel, environment and religion, to mention only a few." - Taken from the Sunday Times Literary Festival website.
Despite the name change - as they are now the Oxford Literary Festival - the event still continues today, attracting a wide variety of talent every year as people gather to listen to lectures on literature as well as meet well-known authors. Both children and adults attend this festival so there's something for everyone!
The Brief
You are to design a book of quotes which integrates both illustration and typography wherever possible. It will be pocket-sized paperback so that it's easy to carry, nothing more than 200mm x 200mm. How you bind it is up to you, as long as there are around 4 quotes within.
This book will be displayed at the Oxford Literary Festival and made available to those who attend this event. If possible, at least one of the designs within will be carried across to poster designs in order to promote this festival which takes place in March (details are on their website). This festival is quite well-known and so the target audience will be quite large but those who pick up the book will be both literature and typography enthusiasts.
Research and Methodology
I shall be looking at any existing poster designs that promote this festival as well as looking for typographic posters and books. As it's for a literary festival I shall be displaying relatively well-known quotes within my book so that it's possible for them to be recognisable by all ages.
Here are some of the websites and books I'll be looking at for inspiration:
The Oxford Literary Festival - http://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/
Behance - http://behance.net
Waterstones (I could look in store and online)
"Typography Sketchbooks" by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico
Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/
By looking at existing poster designs for this event would give me an idea on how they have displayed their information before so that I can maintain consistency in my design. I shall try and make it slightly different but it'll be ideal to do a little bit of background research to base my design on.
I have covered hand-lettering in my previous APP project (Words) but I hope to go a bit further by experimenting a lot more and trying out more styles. This means that I would have to extend what I already new and maybe start from scratch so that I could figure out the basics of each type style. Looking at how other people have illustrated quotes would help me out as well by giving me a general idea on how to layout my words properly.
Speaking of quotes, I shall be looking at multiple websites as well as the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs. I want my quotes to be as accurate as possible because it would just look silly if I displayed an incorrect quote at a literary festival. It would bring an unprofessional appearance and might not attract as many people to go to the event.
Reflection, Testing and Learning Outcomes
Making sure that my quotations are as accurate as possible is one of the things that I will be testing continuously throughout my project as I don't want to get to the final stage only to realise I had worded it incorrectly. This means I'd have to ask someone who has an extensive knowledge on literature or look up at more than one website source to make sure it's legitimate. Another way to confirm my quotations is to flick through the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs.
I've mentioned above that I've only dabbled in hand-lettering since my previous project, so another form of testing would be to post up what I'm working on to gain feedback so that I could correct any mistakes made in the type. Obviously the “mistakes” would make the design more organic but I want to be able to do the best I can to make it look more professional. At the same time I will jot down some notes on the feedback I received so that I can show I have considered all options to ensure a better design.
I could also gain feedback on the design as a whole to see if my target audience – literature and typography enthusiasts – like my design. If they could recognise my chosen quotations then that'll be brilliant.
Most of the learning outcomes for the FMP (Final Major Project) are quite similar to those for my APPs, although one really caught my eye: “Developed a high level of intellectual and conceptual involvement with their chosen subject area, including skills of project proposal, documentation of project development and the presentation of outcomes.” This further emphasises the importance of me knowing what I'm working with and only makes me want to try harder in creating a near-perfect set of typographic piece. Obviously I won't be able to be completely perfect but it doesn't stop me from trying my best. I shall analyse other learning outcomes in a separate post.
Experimentation
I have partially covered what I shall be experimenting on, and this includes different type styles as well as trying out different methods on how to display my book. The brief states that I have a bit of freedom when it comes to binding and I would love to try some hand-made methods. If these methods don't work out then at least I have shown that I've tried.
I shall keep of record of each experiment with reasons of how it did/didn't work for future reference when I want to go back and improve on it.
I will experiment my final piece by showing it to my target market and assess on how they are using it as well as seeing if my quotations are recognisable.
Professional Practice
To ensure that I have covered this section I shall produce “the real thing” and actually create the book so that I could present it at an interview or a show. This means that I will have to consider different binding methods, paper, and printing companies in advance (perhaps a couple of months before my deadline) so that I don't miss the deadline because of having to wait for it to be printed. I know that our university has a connection with GFSmith so I might contact them for some paper samples.
I shall also buy a sketchbook specifically for this project so that I could show my thought process as well as a link to this blog.
Production and Contingency Planning
I shall be drafting out a time table for this project and label all of the different areas that need to be covered: research, inspiration, sketching, experimentation, and designing. I shall aim to make my schedule as spread out as possible to avoid cramming everything at once and to take it at a steady pace. It is important that I stick to this schedule to avoid panic and not producing a sufficient design. After I have completed each section I shall tick it to give me a bit of a positive-boost as I can see that I'm slowly on my way to finishing the project.
N.B Please note that this is a university project, meaning that this isn't a brief provided by the Oxford Literary Festival. I am just using them as a potential client.
Learning Outcome:
[2] Developed a high level of intellectual and conceptual involvement with their chosen subject area, including skills of project proposal, documentation of project development and the presentation of outcomes.
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