Design Process Brief 3 - OUGD405

BRIEF - To produce 5 double page spreads on each of the five areas of research I looked into for brief 2 (20 words, facts, opinions etc). The content should be specific to my own interests in the area I have looked into. 

I have started my layouts by thinking about how specific I want to be within my research. 
For my research within brief 2, I looked into sensory play and the development of how play improves a child's skills and senses. As I narrowed down my research for 'handles' in brief 2 I feel my research into sensory play is already quite specific and so for this brief will narrow down this specific research into to the key parts that I find the most interesting within sensory play. Initially I am thinking of developing my five double page spreads around the development of sensory play and how a child's language and brain development etc is effected by this type of play. 

As I now know I want to focus on the key areas of sensory play like the development behind it etc, I have started my initial thumbnails regarding this. As my target audience would be towards the parents, I  have thought of designs that not only have to be visually appealing but they would need to be quite formal and to the point, as parents do not have the time to be reading pages full of information but they still need to know the key facts. From this, I think some of my initial ideas would work and some not as much. I feel my layout would need to be quite strict to appeal to parents but with exciting elements to get the sense of a fun topic of sensory play. I could achieve this with design choices such as the type, colour and imagery. Even though the layout needs to be consistent and structured, it does not mean my other design choices have to be, after all I want it to look visually interesting and achieve the sense of 'fun', 'play' and 'children' across. 

As I am trying to appeal to parents but have the sense of 'play', I think the thumbnail below would work the most effectively. I think it has a structured layout that would appeal to parents. From my research, I found the majority of children's information packs have a lower heading or imagery, because of this my headings would be lower on the page to give the sense of a child's height. This would be consistent through all five spreads to make them link. I then am thinking of bleeding colour or imagery off the page and experimenting with type to add a playful but subtle feel:

I created more thumbnails that would go with my previous idea. The idea behind it, would be a consistent and structured layout with the main type been lower on the page, to give the idea of a child having a smaller height. I would then bleed colour and imagery either off the spread altogether, or onto to the reverse page to give a more interesting playful feel. I still need to think about the amount of columns, subheading etc but think I will try experimenting with composition when I'm developing digitally to see what would suite my theme best:

Before I start my layouts I have been looking over my 20 photographs to see which would be the most effective to use. I have been experimenting with cropping, tone and colour to improve my photos. As the children were moving as I was taking the photos, I think I am going to have the most problems with pixelation and blurriness but will have to see how they come out digitally. 

I have started my layouts by bleeding one of my main images off the spread as well as onto the reverse page, I have done this to create something that would draw the viewers attention, as well as adding a fun and playful image:

I started to experiment with type. I wanted something playful and childlike to express the idea of sensory play. I am not sure whether to add a script font to a minimal amount of text to be more subtle and have a more legible font for the rest of the body copy and headings:

I experimented with having a more structured font to represent the idea my target audience is for parents. In doing this however, I feel I may be restricting it slightly, as it is supposed to be a fun theme:

I played around with mixing the headings up into two fonts, to give the mix of structure for the parents, but also with a slightly more 'child-like' theme. I have also added a subheading and experimented with adding coloured quote marks. The colours themselves are picked out of the child's apron to link the imagery and layout together. I am not sure however, whether these colours may be slightly too dull for a child orientated theme. The layout I have started by aligning the headings to the left with the subheading following the grid. I will use and develop on this for my other pages: 

I developed on the grid, thinking about constructing my layouts into two columns of text. I thought about the compositions of these and aligned them up to the main heading. On this spread, I would include the most interesting out of my 20 facts or opinions to answer the question 'what is sensory play'. I am not sure whether this page needs more exciting colour choices but I will need to think about this when developing further:

I moved my gird onto another page to see if it would work consistently. Like my previous page, instead of using an image I would have a colour to link the idea of bleeding something across or off the page. I also continued using the colour green off the child's apron to link both page, image and layout together. I am not sure whether this colour works and so this is something I will ask in the interim critique:

I followed and continued the layout and composition with the gird used on the first page. The idea being on this spread, I would use further facts and statistics for this page but include the most interesting one on the reverse side as shown. I would try and have more interesting layouts for the typography on the reverse side to show my opinion on which I feel is the most important to know. I have aligned this up using the grid to keep the layout consistent with the concept of height. 

I experimented with having more than one fact on the green side, however I would lose the consistency of the layout doing this:

I have carried on experimenting and developing the pages to see which is the most suitable. I played around with adding different typography and imagery which I do not think works as well, as they have no reason or relevance to be there. I need to further experiment with colour, but at this point in time am thinking of keeping my layouts to one or two colours to keep the spreads consistent. The idea the colour and layout needing to be consistent relates to my theme of children and sensory play, as a child needs consistency and reliability when growing up:

I have also experimented with using different techniques with my imagery. I used the pen tool and created the image to have an outline that my text could wrap around. The problem with this, is that my photographs are slightly pixilated due to the younger children playing and moving around. I am not sure whether this would look visually appealing or not and so will not be using this idea in my double page spreads:

Again I have developed and experimented with different layouts and compositions that I could use. I will show some of these in the interim critique to see how I should develop my finals. My main problem so far is choosing the right colour and something I am going to ask in the critique. Some of the layouts below I feel have too much body copy and perhaps look to chaotic and cluttered. To take these forward I will use more negative space and think more about composition:

Work after the Critique:

After my critique and looking at the majority of feedback, I found the green colour I had initially picked was not visually effective and peers thought did not suite my target audience. It was suggested to look into pastel colours and something much more calming than something overwhelming and bold. I completely agreed with this. I initially thought the colour had to represent something of a child, and the best way to that was the brighter the better. However after trying this I thought pastel colours would not only be calming to a child but suite my target audience of parents as the bright colour would not overwhelm my information I was putting on the double page spreads. 

From this I tried out a softer shade of yellow, orange and blue. I think the orange made the photos look set back into the page and did not make them stand out. The yellow I thought looked ok, however if I was to have type on the white side of the page, the yellow would not show up and so the type would be illegible. 

I then settled on blue, as I thought blue is known as a calming softer colour which I thought would link in well with both parent and child. I also think it is dark enough to make type legible if I was to use this on text. I experimented with opacity's and different shades of blue to achieve the exact colour I was hoping for:

I found the correct blue after picking a suitable shade out from the image I was using for my first double pages spread (the apron on the child). I then kept the layout the same as I had previously used before the critique as the feedback for this was positive and no changes needed to be made. I carried on the theme of lower headings to represent the concept of height.

For my type choices there was 3 fonts I wanted to use, I wasn't sure whether this was too many but as I was experimenting with composition, found they worked in conjunction with one another. For my main headings I played around with a simple sans serif font that had rounded bowls and counters, which to me, represents a child friendly type as it is simple and legible. I am going to use this font for all my headings on each double page spread to create consistency to the pages. I have also used a child like type for certain words that I want to stand out i.e. 'sensory' and 'did you know', I am not overly keen on fonts like these but think they work well with what I am trying to create and represent. I have done this to show the theme of children but not in a overwhelming way, I may have this type maybe once or twice on a page to again make all the spreads link but will need to experiment with this:

For my third font I am going to use gill sans. I think the sans serif works well for my body copy as it is simple and clean cut, which works well for my target audience of parents as they need straight to the point information:

I used the same layout and grid system I used before my interim critique as I think this it is the most effective for my layouts. I have continued with the idea of a colour or image bleeding off the page. I have extenuated a certain fact that I feel is the most interesting and added this to the reverse side to hopefully grab a viewers attention when looking at the spread. The composition of this single fact has good use of negative space which makes the information easier to read, making it more breathable. I have aligned this with the heading on the reverse side, which will lead the viewers eye to the information on the reverse page. I have also linked both pages using colour to keep them consistent:

I have used the same grid system to create another one of my double page spreads. I used the same type and colour for the body copy, and like my previous page taken the most interesting of my 20 statistics and used these for the reverse page. I have linked these two pages again using colour. The numbers on the stats themselves are in a larger point size, as I want these to grab the viewers attention which will lead them to reading the rest of the statistic. 

Within my double page spreads I have only used two images so far. This is due to them not having good quality when taken. Not only this, but I do not feel it is necessary to include images when they are not needed. I am only wanting to add an image if it is linked to what is getting talked about on a certain dps. I am slightly worried that once I come to produce these, the quality of the photos are not going to come out well. I have made sure they are scaled correctly with the correct resolution, but as I have taken these with no tripod and the children moving quickly when trying to take these photos, they are not going to be the best quality due to blurriness and pixilation. I will need to remember to take photos properly for future briefs to get the best imagery as possible:

I then moved on to create my final double page spread. All my double page spreads so far have had headings, these have been linked to the words I collected in my research of what either parents or children have said about sensory play. I wanted to include more of these words as I feel there are some interesting ones that I could use for a page.  

With my words I wanted to create a page that could include these but in a subtle way, as I don't want viewers put off the page if it is too chaotic. I initially had them white which seemed too bright and overwhelming. After speaking to a few peers about what they thought about this page, it was suggested to try and reduce the opacity which worked effectively. I have bled the words off the page to continue this link of bleeding the photos, colour and now type. I have done this concept of bleeding, as in my research I found the most visually appealing ones to have this design choice. Not only that, but it attracts a viewer to the page as it grabs their attention but in a subtle way. 

I then wasn't sure what information could be included on the reverse page. I then thought of either adding more words or images. The words did not look visually interesting and the images had no relevance to be there:

I then thought of what could link to the words I chose. I then realised I had research on my two words of cognitive and linguistic senses are and how they are helped through sensory play. I decided to add this research to further explain the development behind sensory play. 

Finals and Evaluations

I am overall pleased with my final double page spreads. I think the concept of height makes the pages have a constant link throughout. The colour and type choice I think work well with my target audience and give a child-like but calming theme through the spreads. I am not sure however, whether the colour could have been slightly more interesting but think the reason behind the pastel blue is justified. The one thing I would do differently, would be to take more notice of how I take my photos. They are not going to be the best quality once printed due to how they have been taken. This has now made me aware of  how important it is as now this is going to effect the overall design but now I know for future briefs. I think the grid system used gives a consistent link through all the double page spreads and the choice of only using the two colours gives a more sophisticated look.  Hopefully how I have kept one page as minimal as possible by using bleed and not having too much information makes the design not look too chaotic. If I could take this brief further, I would work out the pagination and create these spreads into a small information booklet.