~ Interim crit - design process - OUGD504 ~

I decided to go for the origami fold as I felt it was a way of instantly attracting people towards the leaflet when placed around others. It creates something interesting people are more likely to keep rather than just throw away like they would most leaflets.

I initially had the type running on different angles throughout the leaflet but before the crit edited this so it was all on the same angle to make it more legible. 

I chose Gill Sans, I wanted to use a clean sans serif typeface for legibility and to represent a neat state of mind that the design process needs. I didn't want to use for example Helvetica as I believe its often and easy and overused choice and I wanted my leaflet to represent the point that you can still use a well constructed typeface without being too obvious.

I started with the colour scheme of a bright blue and orange. I wanted something bold and bright to grab people's attention and suggest an element of fun. The connotations of orange to me are fun and excitement; blue is more professional and practical so I felt it was a good balance of colours for this topic. 

I decided my leaflet would be printed on one sheet of a3 double sided, in terms of production this reduces costs which makes it realistically much more of a usable design in context. It also means the leaflet is pocket sized, so if I were to aim it at students they could carry it around as a little prompt. 

The crit

For the crit I had specific questions I wanted to ask about my design to develop it further using the feedback.

What could I use to illustrate the blank squares?

- Possibly a collection of hand rendered symbols 

- Symbols, patterns or photos

- I don't think it needs anything

- Patterns

- Maybe illustrations but it could look too cramped

- Icons 

The opinions were pretty divided a lot saying symbols and a lot saying nothing to avoid the design being too cramped. But a few people said you could create some simple patterns that represent each section of the design process, this would solve both issues without the design being too full but still adding some illustrative content. It would also be a good opportunity for me to combine digital and analogue design which I think is inspiring to the creative audience.

What could I put on the back side? Pattern? Blank?

- A pattern would finish it off well

- Pattern or blocks of colour

- Abstract pictures of the steps activity in each block

- Blank or pattern

- Maybe a pattern using the two colours you've chosen

- A pattern (do an illustration style one)

- Blocks of contrasting colours

This feedback was pretty clear most people felt a pattern of some kind would be the best way of incorporating the back of the leaflet into the design without it grabbing the attention away from the main design. Possibly use a pattern from the main side to keep a balance throughout the design.

Do you think the folding style is effective?

- Brilliant fold, a little confusing at first

- Fold is lush, works well

- Great to illustrate the steps 

- Love it! Don't think it too confusing

- Unique idea and fun to play with

- Yes! Its adorable and easy to carry around 

- Yes! Very intriguing without being overly complicated

- Perhaps a belly band to hold it together?

- It's not simple but it's impressive and eye catching which is great

- Looks super and engaging

There was a few comments about it being confusing but most people felt the intricate folt made it interesting and fun to play with. I feel this is a successful fold and the feedback shows this. Hopefully using this kind of fold would inspire people to think more out of the box and not go for regular design decisions.

Other comments?

- Maybe put less type on it as at that size it's too overcomplicated.
- Looks a little overwhelming with so much small text - how easy is it to read when printed?
- Consider the block colours more? Why blue and orange? 
- Looks good, fold is lush but not a fan of the colours

Firstly I agree with the comment that the leaflet is a little type heavy, for a pocket guide you just need a quick reminder to get your brain flowing rather than a full paragraph so this is something I will address in my design development.

Secondly people were unsure about the colour choices. I wanted something bright and eye catching so it's something that needs re-thinking. The brightest most eye catching colour possible with a standard inkjet printer without adding spot inks is yellow. This seemed like a logical change of colour scheme to do yellow and black, this would be much simpler, brighter and still suggest a theme of happiness and excitement.