DESIGN PROCESS 2 - COLLABORATIVE - SESSION 3

Today we had our first progress criticism for the new collaborative brief. In the session we were given 15 minutes in which we had to present our progression with the brief so far. 

To help with the presentation of information me and Joe arranged to met up at my house to compose some design boards displaying our work so far.

DESIGN BOARDS

Below are the design boards we presented. At this stage of the project we are still currently collecting secondary research relating to existing desk calendar designs and their function. Due to the concept driven nature of the project we want to quickly move through the research stages so we can devote more time to idea generation and development.   

POINTS COVERED;

• The calendar brief is released every couple of years so there are a lot of existing responses on the internet already. We have reviewed these to see what methods of communication were applied to showcase the paper and engage the audience.  
• The most successful existing calendars show consideration for functionality, ergonomics and also engage the audience through form and aesthetics. Our response will encompass all these aspects and more.

POINTS COVERED;

• The tone of voice will communicate the professional, craft ethos of Fedrigoni while maintaing creative craft influenced aspects.
• As outlined by the brief, the main target audience is graphic designers, however we have outlined a secondary audience of other creative professionals and existing Fedrigoni customers who fall outside of these categories.  
• The concept is predominantly focused around promoting the Fedrigoni 'Woodstock' paper range as outlined by the brief. To achieve this we want to combine a minimal aesthetic theme to reflect Fedrigoni's company branding with a functional, craft based outcome that encompasses an ethos of sustainability. Ideally, the product will be reusable in some way to reflect the recycled nature of the paper range promoted.

POINTS COVERED;

• The final board covered some initial thoughts relating to the design decisions surrounding the outcome.
• Firstly, the typeface selected will be clean and formal to ensure that the font clearly reflects Fedrigoni's corporate identity. Additionally, due to the formal font characteristics the typefaces will also be legible, an important aspects that relates directly to the outlined target audience.
• The colour scheme, although not selected yet, will have a minimal influence to ensure that all user focus is directed on the stock promoted by the calendar.
• Finally, the most important aspect of the project is the outcomes form and function, the calendar needs to work functionally as a desk calendar so careful considerations must be given to its usability and size.
• As the form and function are such definitive aspects of the project I have planned in additional time that can be spent developing a range of ideas and prototypes to ensure that the highest standard of outcome is created. 

FEEDBACK 

After presenting the boards to the group we received feedback which is documented below.

• Look at other types of calendar such as the lunar calendar - different way of answering the brief.
• Research into paper craft - what can be produced/achieved?
• The calendar could include facts & information relating to design. For example, the date that the Bauhaus was first established. 
• Sustainability is an important aspect of the outcome - make sure that this is reflected by the outcome. 

GROUP MEMBER ADDITION

During the session our group also gained another member. Jake unfortunately had no partner and was left working in a solo group for the collaborative practice. Therefore, we let him join our group to ensure that he wasn't left working alone for the rest of the module.  

The new addition to the group will affect the whole project as with another member and the additional input we will be able to complete the project and all contained tasks in a much quicker time that first expected. However, as the project manger this also means that I will have to re-write the action plan and roles and responsibilities so that the workload is equally distributed amongst all members. Luckily, as I had already created a detailed action plan the re-organisation did not take.

NEW ACTION PLAN 

Below is the new action plane created for the brief. With the addition of a new group member I believe that we will be able to complete the outcome for the project in time for the next session, this gives us extra time to develop any proposals relating to range and distribution. 

PROGRESS 

The project is currently still in the research stages of development with members of the group analysing the form and aesthetics existing products. However, after today's session, and with the addition of a new group member, we should be able to generate the appropriate information and quickly progress past the research stages of the project. In doing so we will be able to focus on the far more important stage of developing an appropriate outcome which will be a definite aspect of whether the project is a success or not.

PROJECT RATIONAL (ROUGH)

Finally, at the end of the session we were handed a project rational sheet to complete. The sheet asked us to identity the problem and how we intend to solve it. However, unfortunately due to the stage of the project we are at we have only developed a rough concept idea and therefore could not successfully complete all sections of the sheet. 

Once we have developed a strong concept and finalised all decisions surrounding how it will be produced a member of the group will update the sheet with the appropriate information.