OUGD504 : Design Production - Studio Brief 1: What Is Design For Print? (Studio Session 2)

To begin the second studio session of the 'What Is Design For Print?' studio brief, we were asked, using our findings from last weeks task to discuss within our group and give a brief definition of each of the six categories of print (format, colour, stock, production, process, and finishing).

I found this task particularly useful as, as well as giving me a more in depth knowledge of the six categories of print which will be valuable when producing the outcomes for the 'What Is Design For Print' brief, the task also gave me a better understanding of how all of the categories is interlink with each other.

Once we had discussed our findings within are smaller groups, we were then able to discuss in more depth as a class to give a final definition of what each of the categories are.

For the second half of the session we were asked to pool together all the examples of print which we were asked to bring in as part of last week's session which we then categorised into the areas of print and documented.

Format

Our sub-categories for format were; bags, business cards, flyers, leaflets, newspapers, magazines, books, 3D packaging an vinyl covers.

Colour

Our sub-categories for colour were one colour + stock, two colour + stock, three colour + stock, full colour and mono colour.

Production

Our sub-categories for production were mass production, short run production and bespoke production.

Process

Our sub-categories for process were foil, screen print, letterpress and digital print.

Another categorisation we were asked to make was whether each example would be expensive or cheap to produce, this decision was made by taking into consideration the areas of print such as format, colour etc.

High end to low end

The final categorisation we were asked to make was into the five areas of Graphic Design, branding & identity, packaging & promotion, publishing & editorial and information & way finding.

Using all the information we had be given in today's workshop and task we were asked to reflect upon our knowledge of print, what we didn't know and what we would like to know.

Therefore creating ourselves a 'To-Do' list of things we would like to find out about print, which we are now required to research and resolve using the internet, books and workshops as resources for this information.

1. About the different production methods - mass production, short run and bespoke production
2. What effects a piece of print in terms of cost - process, colour etc.
3. How does embossing and foiling work
4. How a stock effects the print

Task: Bring in five examples of logos / branding taking into consideration the various design decsions that have been made and who the target audience is.

• Dove is primarily aimed at women, which is perhaps why they chose the bird which is quite a feminine image
• The bird also represents nature which is part of the brand ethos and is the theme of many of their ad campaigns

• Jaguar is targeted at high-end consumers, this is represented by the animal jaguar which is top of the food chain. 
• The Jaguar is also leaping which I believe is quite a powerful move

• Fairtrade is targeted at consumers aiming to persuade them to make the world a better place by buying fairtrade products
• The colours chosen, blue and green represent the organisations ethos as they are 'earthy' colours
• The earth is also represented by the green shape which I believe looks like a leaf
• The designer as cleverly used negative space within the logo to show a image of a figure picking something
• The design is also reminiscent of the ying yang symbol

• Nike is primarily aimed at males who are interested in sport
• The 'tick' is a positive image which represents that you can succeed

• Innocent smoothies are health conscious individuals
• The halo imagery is angelic and shows that the product is 'good'
• The illustration also has a childlike quality to it, perhaps representing a childlike innocence