IXD301 – Comic Book Exploration

After the feedback I got back from Kyle and the class I have decided to transform my e-book into an e-comic! I think this idea will work well and I think it will work better for kids. It will still have the e-book layout and it will read like one on a screen. I started by doing some research into the big comic book companies to see what their layout looks like. I did this because I have never read comics before so I am very unfamiliar with the layout so this was great

Marvel Comics

I was surprised to see the layout of these comic books. I wasn’t aware that there were various shapes of squares and rectangles, and how the page is very busy and there is lots going on. I like the separated sections, it makes for an interesting read but also makes it easier to read. I like the addition of speech bubbles and the meanwhile… parts. This comic books are so well known and loved for generations and I can see why people enjoy reading them, there is an equal balance of text and illustrations, making me want to flick to the next page.

Who are marvel?

Marvel Comics has been the top dog in comic book publishing recently, because of its well-received high-profile movies, strong sales, and popular characters. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has helped bring in new readers and has kept the spotlight on superheroes as a medium.

 

DC Comics

I wanted to look at another high contender when it comes to comic books so I then found out that 2nd to marvel is DC comics. I researched some images to see how the layout differed to Marvel and got what I wanted to know. The layout to me isn’t as clear and easily read as the marvel ones, its a little more chaotic but perhaps that is just he darker tones that is throwing me off. I think it is a really cool layout but I am unsure if I want my e-book to be so bold and out there. This appears t one for a much older age and looks quite intense.

Who are DC Comics?

Alongside Marvel, DC Comics is the other of the “Big Two” comic book publishers. It has a bevy of characters with near godlike powers that were some of the first that comics had to offer. Its trinity—Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman—are some of the most well-known and iconic superheroes out there today, making their first cinematic appearance together in 2015.

 

Dark Horse comics 

I found when researching another comic brand that the style does continue to stay similar however there are changes in each one, making them unique. I think that this one in particular is more panels going across which is easy to read, however the varying layers add depth but can be quite confusing was an on-looker. I think that this approach of background and foreground panels will not work for me and I don’t think I will be using this idea. But, I really enjoyed looking into this brand of comics and reading some snippets.

Who are Dark Horse comics?

Dark Horse first became known for its licensed properties: “Star Wars,” “Aliens,” “Predator,” and others. Since then it has become well known for its creator-owned series: “Hellboy,” “The Goon,” “Sin City,” “Groo,” “The Umbrella Academy,” and more.

Why was this helpful?

  • I got to explore comics, I have never done this before, it was interesting to see the layout
  • I got inspiration for my own layout of my e-book/comic
  • I feel more confident in turning my e-book in to a more comic layout with this knew knowledge I have
  • I looked into more than one comic brand, because there are so many different styles and layouts, so this widened my outlook

What is my next step?

The next step for me is to begin to look at my e-book and start fixing the layout to make it look like a comic book, this means I have to chop up the pages and add panelling. I am glad  I looked into so many comic series because I have a wider knowledge base and feel more adventurous now. I am going to do this on Figma and then put my prototype into an ipad screen to see how it works/reads.

 

IXD301 – Putting the E-book together

For the week 11 critique Kyle asked us to put together a prototype of our project so far. I have done this but before this I had to put together all of my elements – for example the illustrations and the story itself! I have done most of this on illustrator but then I made changes on Figma. The images below are the screens I have designed page by page. I put the images together on figma and then selected a few to look closer at.

 

Overall Thoughts

Overall, after putting the pages together I am aware they are not finished and something is missing. I feel that there is too much space around the illustrations and the backgrounds do not seem finished me. I am excited to get Kyles thoughts and my classes opinions because I think their advice will help me. I am excited to take this book to the next step and create a prototype that actually works I am currently working on this.

What does not work:

  • The spacing is wrong – it seems unfinished
  • The text is too small, kids may find this boring or they may not be able to see it
  • There are no buttons added yet – This is something I need to work on because kids need to know how to get back or move forward
  • The background needs work on the front cover and on some other pages

IXD302 – Presenting my Pitch – Week 12

This week was the presenting of the pitch. I have been preparing for this pitch for weeks now and I think that it went well. We had to present to our group for 5 minutes, this wasn’t long but it felt like longer as it was a bit scary getting started. It was great we were in groups because I got to see others ideas and how creative each idea was, I like group presentations like this because I feel it makes me a better designer by being exposed to other young and creative people. Everyones idea was unique and very interesting.

Save the World – My pitch

Feedback

Daniel and … gave me some tips and advice on my idea once I had finished with my presentation, this was helpful because they both know so much about pitching ideas so it was great to get feedback from the both of them. Some things they mentioned that would of improved my idea were,

  • I could have focused in on one aspect – for example, planting trees instead of selecting lots of different routes. … mentioned that he thought I should have led my pitch in a community app that plants trees together instead of something so vast. This made sense to me because I too felt there were too many elements to my app.
  • I should have went into depth on the market, and research. Daniel said that my user research was interesting and I should have talked about that more.

What did I learn from pitching?

  1. How to try and sell a product
  2. How to speak confidently infront of a group and two investors
  3. How to really think of a unique product that would benefit the planet and people
  4. How to encourage the nerves and turn them into excitement

Reflection

I felt I was happy with the way I presented and how I spoke and didn’t need any cards to help me but I agreed with Daniel that I could have went into more detail on the market and zoomed into a specific idea instead of having lots of different ones. I feel that public speaking was a great way to end the semester and is great practise for when we go out into placements because I will need to be speaking in group situations like that every week. Creating a pitch was difficult because I felt I had so many ideas, it was hard for me to be specific,  but it was a great learning experience and a bit of fun.

IXD302 – Final CV & Coverletter and Reflection

For this semester Daniel asked us to create a CV and cover letter. I have now completed these and feel like they are finally done to my standard, I wanted them to be clean, crisp and have a little bit of personality in there.

The final CV – caragreene_CV

The final Coverletter – caragreene_Coverletter

 

 

Reflection

I am really happy with how both of these have turned out and feel they have worked, since I now have a placement. Daniel was a great teacher and his advice really helped me make my CV and coverletter the best they could be. My favourite part was watching how they came together and how by adding my brand really brought them to life. I am really happy with my progress and the things I have learned about the workplace will stay with me forever. I now have the skills to create a good cover letter and cv which I need for out in the real world.

IXD302 – The Final Presentation

For the presentation now in week 12 I have finished designing it and finished with modifications and am ready to pitch. I feel like my design for my pitch represents my thought process well and the vibe of my idea well. The clean and fresh notion of a greener planet.

The pdf of my presentation can be accessed here – Save the World

I decided to open up with a eye-catching statement like save the world because I want the audience to immediately know what this is about. I think my pitch will be successful and my screens will be pleasant for the viewers to look at. I am happy with how this turned out and feel really pleased with my progress.

Reflection

Overall I think that the process of creating and coming up with a pitch was difficult at first but overall I feel like it was a great opportunity to experiment with idea generation and practising for speaking out loud and trying to sell a product. This is something I have never done and think that it will go well. I really enjoyed making an app, it is one of my favourite things to do in this course so it was fun to explore that this semester. Overall I learned a lot from Daniel and feel his tips and help have made me a more confident speaker and designer.

IXD302 – The Final Proposal & Invoice

Now it is time to write about my final proposal outcome. I feel like I have developed this design well and have made important changes throughout the way. I kept to my initial instinct of keeping it minimal and simple for that sleek and modern website vibe that I love so much and have came into some challenges along the way

The final Proposal can be accessed here – proposal

Invoice can be accessed here – Invoice

 

Reflection

I found it hard to understand the terminology of this project and even more so putting it into my own words and using my name in the middle of it all but I got there in the end. I wanted my proposal to be a sleek and modern and ultimately be easy to read and digest as a reader. I didn’t want to overwhelm the reader but I wanted all of the relevant information to be on it. I feel I have overcome challenges and learned some great new things with this project and I am glad with the outcome.

IXD301 – Finalising the Brand Guidelines for Elements Project

The next step was to finalise the brand guidelines for the e-book. I was excited to put the elements together and see what the outcome was. I put them together on Figma onto one board so it was easy to view the brand guidelines all together. I added in type, colour, buttons etc.

The Final Brand Guidelines

What did I learn?

From creating these brand guidelines, I learned lots of things. I got to put into practise my branding skills from year 1 and from my portfolio making which was helpful. I got to experiment with creating a book brand which I have never done before. One of my favourite parts was creating the typeface, because I got to alter it slightly and change elements of the text to make it my own. I also enjoyed making buttons and feel like they are kid friendly and feel that they can be easily used. I also think that the symbols I made really reflect the science element of this book and think that it could be used throughout the book. Overall I loved experimenting with type for this project and creating the brand guidelines, it is something I enjoy and can’t wait to do again.

IXD301 – Oliver Jeffers – Pocket Profile – Children’s Author Research

I wanted to research some childrens’ authors and illustrators because I have no experience in this area and I wanted to learn about successful authors in the business today. I wanted to focus on some local artists as I thought it was be fitting, so I landed on Oliver Jeffers.

Who is Oliver Jeffers?

Oliver Brendan Jeffers MBE is an Irish artist, illustrator and writer who now lives and works in Brooklyn. He went to the integrated secondary school Hazelwood College, then graduated from the University of Ulster in 2001.

‘Curiosity and humour are underlying themes throughout Oliver’s practice as an artist and storyteller. While investigating the ways the human mind understands its world, his work also functions as comic relief in the face of futility. Jeffers’ engagements and practice are truly international in scope’. Direct words from his about section on his website. This was a great insight into his personality and how he incorporates his beliefs into his work.

I was immediately interested because our lectures have talked about him before and I have always been fascinated in his success. I have watched his youtube video on his career where he talks about doing what he loves in New York, his success is very inspiring and I am in awe of how he gets to draw and come up with amazing plots for a living. I then took a longer look at some of his most well loved books and wanted to look into why they are so successful and what works.

The Boy Series

Oliver’s Boy series is one of his best sellers that has won many awards and was the series I wanted to look into. I found them on his website and clicked into it to see more. I found a big book that contained all of the stories in one, this book was interesting because he included his process. Which was great to see and so beautiful, as seen below.

His illustration style is the same throughout all of his books, which makes them so well known and beautiful. I loved seeing his process of how he came up with colour schemes, and his characters, you never really get to see this part of a book and I think it is so interesting to see how he included them. Because it really is the process that is important and can be the most intriguing part of the writing process.

One of the books in this collection is called Lost and Found, and this book is about the following,

‘There once was a boy and one day a penguin arrives on his doorstep. The boy decides the penguin must be lost and tries to return him. But no one seems to be missing a penguin. So the boy decides to take the penguin home himself, and they set out in his row boat on a journey to the South Pole. But when they get there, the boy discovers that maybe home wasn’t what the penguin was looking for after all.’

From reading this blurb I knew that these books are such a great idea and concept for children, the boy himself would go on multiple self discovery adventures. What child wouldn’t want to read about catching stars or penguins in the south pole. Oliver can make ordinary ideas something other worldly and I know why he is so infamous and going places.
I found an article he gave in 2017 and he was asked about his technique and how he gets started on a project. ‘Oliver’s approach to each the illustrations that live on each page or spread of his books is usually to start with a very simple focal point – both visually and conceptually.’ I found this inspiring, he can start a book by just a simple drawing or sketch!
What have I learned
  •  How Oliver works and begins a story with a very simple focal point
  • How he puts his humour into his work and how his work centres around comic relief
  • I learned that you should always write stories you believe in and that mean something to you, like Oliver does
  • I have also been inspired through this research, that an Irish illustrator now has sold 14 million books worldwide and is living his dream in New York. Encouraging me to believe anything is possible

 

 

IXD301 – Creating the Brand and Brand Guidelines (Elements Project)

For this project I had to create a set of brand guidelines for my e-book and to create and actual brand. I love doing this so I was excited to get to this stage of the project. I had a vision for this brand, I wanted it to be kid friendly but also relate to the science element of the project. I had to think about lots of aspects when creating the brand for example, type, colour, buttons or symbols and so much more.

This task made me tale into consideration everything I had learned in semester one for my portfolio and also last year Branding with Daniel. I think that in designing the homepage and creating the characters for the e-book, the brand came easily for me. I knew I wanted a simple brand that kids could remember.

Typeface exploration

I was searching for a typeface that was child friendly and one that would really stand out on the home screen of the e-book. I also wanted a typeface that could be used as text also to make the book cohesive but still interesting for the kids to read. I tried multiple typefaces but I knew once I seen ACME that that was the one.

Why Acme?

  • It has a youthful tone to it
  • It looks good as a title
  • It also looks great in smaller sizes for text
  • It will make the book interesting to read
  • It looks good in various colours, and sizes

Colour exploration

I then wanted to explore colour, both in text, buttons and in the overall colour scheme of the book. I was planning on using the primary and secondary colours throughout because this is a kids book, the colours I chose reflect the characters powers and their little icons. I also think the light blue is a key colour in this brand because it is used the most and I envision it to be used on the buttons and homepage symbols/icons.

Buttons

I wanted to add buttons to my brand guidelines because I am going to include them in e-book. I explored different styles, sizes to find the best button possible. I ended up with a blue and white button with a simple arrow. I needed the button to be able to become very big and noticeable because I am designing this for kids and their small hands. I think the end result turned out n ice but I could still work on this.

Why add buttons?

  • To make it easy to navigate through the e-book, to the next page etc.
  • So children know how to back to the home screen or add to library etc.
  • It adds to the interface, making it a better experience.

 

 

IXD302 – My Pitch

I wanted to breakdown all of the content I am going to include in my pitch. I used procreate to break it up into sections.

There are some main element I must include these are:

  • My app concept (Mockups)
  • User research
  • Competitor analysis
  • Facts and stats
  • The problem/ solution
  • Target Market
  • User personas

These are the topics I hope to hit in my pitch because to me they are the ones that are the most important and make sense to include. I want to keep the pitch captivating and hopefully interesting and I feel if I include these topics I will do that. The next step for me was making the pitch. I did this on google slides and below are some screenshots of how some of the slides turned out.

What works?

  • The white background – it is simple and not too distracting. It doesn’t take away from the information or images
  • The illustrations – I created most of the illustrations for this pitch, I did this on Illustrator and Figma. I felt it was a fun side project to create the app and the added illustrations i used in the pitch. It showed my skills and also it is something I love to do. I think the blues and greens really reflected the theme nicely
  • The layout of text – I like how there is text on the left and images on the right, it is easy to follow and it wont confuse the viewers
  • The app screens – I really like how the screens came together and think that my love for the idea really came across in the making of the app

Reflection

I really enjoyed working on this pitch and feel like the user research and competitor analysis was really helpful and great ixd practise as a designer it was great to put into practise all of my skills. I feel like there are things I could add like more market research etc but overall I really liked my product idea and the concept, I think wishing and planning for a better world can’t be a bad thing. I think it showed my personality and the type of person I am as regards helping the planet and wanting others to do the same.