End of Module Self Evaluation

This module was something that I considered to be very challenging to begin with, having the daunting task of using a traditional print method to produce work and also having to design for a big issue. More hands on traditional print is something I’ve never really properly experienced until first year where we had a similar brief to Studio Brief 1 of this module; producing a traditionally printed bank note. Although I did complete that brief to a good enough standard, screen printing was still something I considered to be daunting and arduous. But getting to grips with the screen printing process and facilities through the studio brief 1 project has allowed me to become very confident with it up to a point of where I was then able to help out others who weren’t too confident with it. I was extremely happy with my outcome for studio brief 1 as my design ended up better than I could have imagined to begin with but also because I managed to screen print it to a high standard.

Studio brief 2 was tricky to begin with also, finding a relevant issue and having to design something as a resolution for that I felt was a big task, almost like there was some form of responsibility to produce something really considered in response. The process as a whole helped me to better understand my issue of stress along with other things. Included within that was Cinema 4D, using the programme to visualise my final product meant I got to grips with elements such as textures, lighting and composition. All of which will come in handy in the future. Overall I feel that the product itself was well produced visually and was well considered in response to the brief but my distribution outcomes could have been expanded upon. My outcomes were limited to the catalogue as a form of distribution, but I missed the perfect opportunity to display this on their website also, mocking it up as though it was a product within their range.

I personally feel like my time could have been better managed with this module. I say this because I have a tendency to put all my efforts into one brief at one time and so trying to work on multiple projects at once such as CoP, PPP and 505 proved to be a bit of a challenge. But it is something I’m slowly getting better with, even with the two separate briefs within 505 I felt I did a good job of managing my time to allow for traditionally printing my poster and also preparing for my presentation pitch. Overall, this has probably been the more enjoyable module simply because of how much I’ve learnt within the process of doing it working on both physical and digital means of design. But also because of how I’ve learned to really appreciate the process and not focus too much on the final outcome looking aesthetically pleasing, as I would maybe have done within first year. I think that designing for an issue really gives your work some value and meaning over maybe a branding piece for example, as it’s an opportunity to hopefully have an meaningful impact on the real world.

Evaluation

This project has been the most enjoyable out of all modules this year simply because of how self led it was and how much freedom we got over setting our own brief. Doing this meant that I can explore more of what I’m personally interested in as designing for an issue or for a change is challenging but very rewarding for me. Having a resolution that could potentially provide some form of answer to a problem is very motivational.

The project itself went quite well I think, developing my idea further and further up until a point of where I felt it became a full resolution. Learning a lot along the way through Cinema 4D and understanding more about distribution methods.

I feel as though my end outcomes could have been improved and expanded upon. I made a mention of IKEA’s website as a form of distribution and I think this is one thing I could have produced as an outcome to further support the catalogue.

To further improve my final outcome, I could have potentially animated the chair itself to illustrate how it would work. Ideally I would have created a small 3D model of the chair itself in woodwork shop as I prefer to produce physical pieces of work.

A further expansion of my idea could have been to partner with Headspace, the meditation app as this would help further promote people making use of the cocoon to reduce stress and improve health.

Distribution methods

As far as distributing the cocoon is concerned, given that it's a collaboration with IKEA, the methods of distribution would align with those already existing with IKEA's. Their catalogue and website are two big ways of how their products reach their audience and it's for this reason that I will follow along with that and show how the chair would be displayed within their means of distribution.

The first distribution method I am to consider is the catalogue, this neatly showcases each individual product in it's own light which is what I will do with mine.

A rough sketch gave me a basis to start off with.

I took advantage of IKEA's already existing style of editorial and adapted my work to it so that it worked somewhat seamlessly with the rest of the catalogue.

I made most use of the environment shots I had rendered as I felt these create the most depth and appealing aesthetic as opposed to blank studio shots, although I feel like one isolated studio shot could have helped to break up the spreads.

Creating 2 double page spreads and mocking them up helped to bring what was before just a digital solution into the real world, making it appear as though they're part of the catalogue.

Final environment renders

After settling on a layout for my environment, I rendered a range of different angles so that I could pick out the most visually pleasing ones for potentially both in a catalogue and on the website.

Cocoon environment mockup

Now that I had the shape and textures organised for the cocoon, I need to create an environment and work on lighting to ensure it showed off the product in the best possible way.

I found one pre-existing room set up online that came with lights and such but it didn't really work well with what I was aiming for, also it meant that I wouldn't get to grips as well with the tools of the programme.

Instead I started from scratch using a combination of soft boxes and planes to create a small corner of a studio. Using some pre-existing textures made bringing the studio to life somewhat easier.

Adding in natural light boxes created a soft finish to the environment, almost like a natural sun light coming through the window.

I began playing around with adding in typical studio objects such as a radiator, shelves and storage units to see which arrangement worked best in allowed the chair to stand prominent within the renders.

Adding in a plant definitely gave the room some life.. and colour.

Pre-render

Rendered shot

Final studio environment

Isolated cocoon

I created two environments; one to put the chair into context and the other to contrast those so that it would just show off the chair in all it's glory.

Creating the cocoon

The whole process of visualising the cocoon began with a couple of rough sketches that of how I roughly wanted it to be, knowing it would be based off of the shape of a circle gave me a good idea how to begin creating it.

I had two thoughts on how I could visualise the chair; illustrate it in a similar way to IKEA already do with their instruction manuals or to create a 3D chair in software such as Cinema 4D.

IKEA's instruction manual style

I quickly decided that given my past experience with Cinema 4D, I felt I could be confident enough to create a 3D mockup of the chair which would give me the options of plenty of different angles, textures and lights on demand. Creating an environment in Cinema 4D could help put into context the chair into a typical studio so that it would fit in with the same style of IKEA's already existing products in their catalogue.

It took some time to get used to Cinema 4D again but once I got into the swing of things it become much easier to progress quickly.

Most of the process was relatively easy, combining shapes to create the look I wanted. By using a few different tutorials I was able to find out how to make certain things such as the pillows to add to chair.

Adding textures to the chair was a tedious task, having to find ones that complimented each other whilst retaining the sleek look I was going for. I decided on a deep, dark brown for the colour of the wood as this was something I wanted to appear inviting and warm and to me a dark, natural colour of wood works perfectly especially considering it keeps in fitting with my brand colours. I went with soft white cloth texture for the pillows and similar soft light colour for the cover of the cocoon to create a welcoming, calm look.

Collaboration with IKEA

Considering that the aim of the Cocoon is to be a cost-effective, easy to construct style of furniture, much like IKEA already does with their products. It come as an idea to me to create a hypothetical collaboration with them as a way of distribution for the product. This would be beneficial in multiple ways:

- Having access to their methods of production and material costs would allow for this to become much more feasible and cost-effective for the brand.
- Their already existing strong brand reputation for innovation and quality would shine through with the Cocoon.
- Using distribution methods such as their catalogue and online website would mean it could be easily viewed and bought by customers e.g. universities.

With this in mind I started to further develop my logo into something that could work professionally along side the IKEA brand. I took some inspiration from IKEA already in terms of simplifying my logo as I didn't think multiple bright colours was necessary. Instead I limited it just to two one two colours; a natural, woody brown along with white for high contrast and clarity. This would also give a more professional, high quality and mature look to the brand.

The logo on the left would be how it could be potentially engraved into the wood itself, de-bossing the logo into the chair would make for a sleek looking brand. The logo on the right would be for most other applications, catalogue, website etc.

The benefit of collaborating with IKEA also would be a great method of distribution, their catalogue is a popular way of displaying all of their products and for the cocoon to be in there also would make it easily available for universities to purchase.

Development of the cocoon brand

So at this stage I was still unsure of what typeface to go with, so I created the logo and coupled it with my chosen typefaces to assess which works best.

I tried once more to see if capitals would be appropriate but it creates too much of a corporate look.

Although the arrangement of the type and logo isn't final, it gave me a good idea of which typeface works best with the logo. Along with other people's opinions I went with the first typeface; Brandon Grotesque. It appears the smoothest and most rounded typeface without creating a childish appearance, it still retains a mature structure to it much like the other typefaces.

The last two arrangements seemed to be most popular when I asked which worked better, but I couldn't quite pin it down to just one set arrangement so it was suggested to wait and see which works better within my campaign.

As for colours for my logo, I tried out a couple that I'd considered in my previous blog post and asked for thoughts on them. People said that it seems very bright and in your face considering it's supposed to evoke calming feelings, a suggestion was to look into more natural colour tones to fit in with the calm nature of it.

Applying these more natural colour tones immediately gives off an impression of tranquility that I didn't get from the previous colours used. The combination of plant and wood colour shades suggests a calm nature environment.