Learner Survival Guide Evaluation

The 'LSG' project was an assignment with almost no limits. This left us with an extremely large field to experiment and research into ultimately anything we felt would fit with the entire project and would appeal to our target audience. My chosen theme would be, being 'happy' and enjoying yourself within in the college, which narrowed my field slightly down. However, I felt as though I had opened a lot of doors by setting myself that theme. My dedicated sketchbook for 'LSG' holds ideas-after-ideas; showing a path through my idea's and showing where my final pieces came together. I aimed to portray a happy, playful, joyful and acceptance image to the audience yet showing a little sophistication without it looking too juvenile or too serious.

However, my first design was based on a food restaurant named 'Taco Bell'. Although it isn't that well known around Worksop (because there isn't one in Worksop), it is a HUGE fast food chain and everybody will have heard of it (due to it being on TV programmes a lot.) Plus, they have just opened a brand new one near by in Sheffield, which I know a lot of people I surrounded myself with have been to recently. It's colour scheme is very bright and eye catching, it isn't gender stereotyped plus it's typography (Impact) isn't overly complex; this therefore making it eye catching and very simple and easy to read. The bottom of the front cover reads 'think outside the college', in which instigates a positive image of everybody at college being an open minded individual which is willing to learn and test how far their idea's can go creatively. But, I did find that using the template didn't particularly relate or portray what I intended entirely; however it did show a youthful, eye catching, exciting outcome that would appeal to the vast majority of the college and people looking into our college when possibly contemplating applying.

The first design that I designed entirely, is a creative and intriguing piece. It's colour scheme is gender neutral and isn't conforming to gender stereotypes (therefore appealing to all) and has a relatively 'strange' illustration on both the front and back. This out-of-the-box individual design has the intention to show those outside of the college (and in the college) that everybody is welcomed in equally! It's black and white illustrations contrast with the sky background, which I intended to give the message that, despite who you are or where you are from, you are treated happily and equally. Plus, the illustrations are alien-like as they most definitely don't look human; which I perceive to be a pleasant way to send a positive outlook on our college and that we don't pass judgement by appearance. It's writing style is a generic university font, which is used widely across the world and is extremely recognisable. I think it is a youthful font which appeals to everybody, especially the younger generation. The years '2015' and '2016 are messily framed with a hand drawn box and so is 'LSG'. This adds a relaxed feel to the entire piece and sets the idea of our college being a happy, tranquil environment with a flexible yet stern approach. The stern approach is somewhat portrayed through the structure of the entire cover; with it being spaced out and the writing being bold and placed intentionally in places you must read it, to get the message across. The information about the college is placed on the back, subtly small but large enough to read and is in the font 'helvetica' to enable professionalism and easy reading.

The final design I created was somewhat similar to the previous ones, again using the sky as the background, but for a slightly different reason combining with the previous reason. This time, I thought I would us this background to portray the image of "sky is the limit in NNC" and that when you're working, you will always carry on working positively, happily and creating things you are extremely happy with. I incorporated a heart, with a surrounding 'goo-like' image, with genderless faces in. The intention of this was to say, it doesn't matter who you are, you all get along and somewhat will have a happy experience within NNC. The heart in the middle is a representation of a human heart, therefore telling those who are looking at the cover, everybody is human and you will all be treated in the same way; with respect, as an individual and NNC will ensure a positive, happy experience. The title is large and unusual as it's curved around the top of the illustration. This again enables professionalism subtly due to the design being well put together and portrays the message that, despite us being a laid back and a happy environment, we do also encourage those in NNC to take their work seriously whilst having a pleasant time. The NNC logo is placed in the left hand corner relatively large, to ensure those acknowledging the LSG are aware it's sporting NNC. The back has the alien-like illustration for the same reason as previously stated and again, the text is small yet readable and in 'helvetica' to portray professionalism.

I tried to maintain a positive, youthful and relaxed image throughout the designs but incorporate a professional image into it. I researched into many different designs that are aimed at the target audience I am aiming towards; studying the composition and the templates used for inspiration. Along side that I incorporated many of the other designs in my own, therefore creating a stronger piece each attempt. My sketchbook and blog shows the process I went through to get to the final design. In conclusion, I prefer the final design I created because I feel as though it is the most successful and strong piece created and that it is rather fitting to my target audience and portrays the message intend, well.