So the first thing I did before we left for summer was set myself a little project. Actually I started it all before we had even finished our last brief of the year (well done me). 

Fathers day was on 20th June this year and I wanted to make something nice (mainly because I was too poor to buy him anything). Almost as an extension of the product - range - distribution brief I decided to design a range of labels for my dad's fruit, veg & eggs. 

The idea was for people to know exactly where the produce he grows comes from, and because it's only him and mum at home these days they usually have more fruit/veg/eggs than they need and end up giving it away to anyone who wants it (his customers, people at the pub, friends, family) and it's always nice for people to have an idea of where a product has come from.

Initially I was only going to do eggs, strawberries and tomato labels as they are the things which grow in abundance, but after I made those the idea sort of grew and grew. I made many more than pictured but most of them I scrapped because I had made labels for produce he doesn't actually grow which was a bit silly. 

Because it wasn't a project for college I didn't bother with much research/development work - I just sort of got stuck into it. I did a few rough sketches and then went straight into making them. Obviously the design was tweaked a bit as I went along. It took me a couple of days and then I went and printed them.

If I did this as a serious project for a client (who I'm guessing wouldn't be as easily pleased as my dad) I would have done like hundreds of variations on the design, I wish I had done that as I went along now. I also wished I had done this for my product range distribution brief, because I really really really enjoyed doing it.

Oh yes, and to complete the packaging I ordered 100 medium brown paper bags for him to pop his fruit/veg in and then use the sticker labels to seal the bags. 

There are lots more photos of all of the labels on the bags but I'm a shit photographer and I feel a bit embarrassed about my overly girly photography skills. One of my 3rd year resolutions (like new years resolutions but far more scary) is to embrace the photography department and actually learn how to use a camera. 

Erm, oh yes and this little project of mine has lead me onto a brief I have written myself for this year.

I plan to either expand on this range and pretend it's not just bits and bobs for my dad but actually a real business I am designing for. I will be making business cards, potential web layout/design, letter headings, more product packaging design, anything and everything a business needs design-wise I want to do it. 

I think I will start from scratch though - make up a company a bit like what my dad is doing (fruit & veg).

On mary queen of shops she re-vitalized a manky old green grocers and made it all fancy and nice. Anyway I might use their business. Here it is... http://www.hoylakejunction.com/3-sisters-grocers-opens

Strange that they don't have a website though? I will make them one.

This module has been a bit make or break for me. Luckily and thankfully, I think I've made it. Certainly this feels like the best project I have done so far and has been the most enjoyable and I have learnt more in the last two months than previous modules. The two briefs within the module were a perfect learning curve for myself. The enormous and daunting task of having to work with another person was something I wasn't looking forward to, it was a time that I was seriously doubting my place on the course. I felt extremely incompetent as a designer and that working with someone else would just let them down. I have to admit I didn't enjoy working with a partner, which is absolutely no fault of Leigh's. She was the best partner I could have asked for, in terms of skills as well as personality.  Soon enough I realised even though I didn't enjoy what we were doing, I had to do it or it wouldn't be fair on my partner. Forcing myself to be responsible and the work forcing me to do that got my back into the swing of design practice. I still wasn't completely happy with my efforts on that brief. Again, and for the very last time it was a case of too little too late.


The self initiated brief was a dream, a total perfect project. I can't describe how much I have enjoyed working the past month, I haven't felt this way about design ever. Thinking about it, the combination of this brief and Enterprise and PPD has given me a huge drive to do well.  The sudden realisation that Enterprise wasn't just making something to present to get marks, it really is a plan for the future. That and PPD helped motivate me for my brief.


Starting off I don't think I quite grasped the point of the module. I was being a bit thick and thought we just got to pick what YCN or whatever brief we wanted to do, I didn't realise we had to write our own. So I turned up to the first crit with the Style brief to re-design the Sunday Time's Style supplement. Actually having to write my own brief was weird and at the time I still wasn't sure exactly what to do so to be on the safe side I stuck to the idea of producing a magazine for a newspaper. As I had already decided I wanted to work with print processes and illustration I thought this would be a good way to develop these skills. 


Once i started designing I was feeling really very ambitious and planned to create a whole magazine, I started out with good intentions and once I had clarified my brief I felt like I knew what I was doing. I wanted the magazine to follow a traditional format with adverts etc (which would also give me more to illustrate) but that would mean having to do some layout and grids and type. I decided to just get on with it, regardless of the fact I know very little about type. In hindsight I feel annoyed with myself about not talking to Graham about it. About half way through the project I had only done research and type, which meant at the crit I got some mixed feedback, I think I knew hot things were going to work out but no one else could . I think the biggest mistake was and still is thinking of this project as something for me. Like Fred said in my tutorial, it's not all about me. I really need to stop thinking of design that way if I want to do good things next year. Hopefully working non stop through the summer should help with that.


Anyway, the brief got off to a slow start with just doing type and layout. After I had done that the fin bit started, I loved every part (ok, maybe not the type) of making the magazine. I do wish I had thought more about the range. I  didn't exercise the full potential of the range. If I were to do anything differently It would be that. And the front cover of the magazine. The face of the range isn't quite right. I also didn't experiment and test enough. I would make a page without much planning and without making any variations to choose the best from, I just went with the first one I made and if I liked it, it would go in the magazine, if not I just didn't use it.
Another thing I wasn't happy with was the production of the magazine. Well, I do like it. It's nice, it just isn't what I pictured it to look like. I spent too much time on the content of the magazine and didn't have time to do any of the print processes I really wanted to, or experiment with stock and scale. In that sense, I really haven't accomplished what I set out to do but I have been luckty in this project that I have discovered new skills to develop. A good example of this is my magazine adverts and the hand made type in a few of them. I enjoyed making those adverts so so so so much, and I never thought I would. That has helped shape my illustration style and skills.


I'm finding it hard summing up this module, there were a lot of contradictory elements to it all. The product I made is something I am incredibly proud of, it feels like a real achievement. I set out to challenge myself and I did and it worked, but on the other hand the brief wasn't answered to it's fullest. I  concentrated too much on what I wanted to do, not what was required for the module. I sort of ruined it for myself in that respect.