Emma Prout Portfolio

Third Year BA (Hons) Graphic Design student and the University of Portsmouth, originally from London. 

[emmaproutdesign]

Professional Practice - Live Design Briefs (YCN-Orchard Pig)

The Pig Event is a weekend of the best in music and comedy organised by Orchard Pig. Alongside this, a wide range of their ciders will be on offer for guests to try and enjoy. This event will be a weekend festival in the heart of Somerset where Orchard Pig cider is made. The idea is to promote the brand in a fun and exciting way which brings people together in a natural, friendly location with plenty of entertainment.

I have designed two posters, one showing the full line-up for the festival, and the other showing the brand image and details about where and when the event takes place. Both include the Orchard Pig logo and a bottle of their cider which promotes the brand. Alongside this I have created a ticket and wristband for those attending the festival. Both use the same design style as the posters and the colour scheme is taken directly from Orchard Pigs bottles of cider. This therefore represents the brand through the promotion of a festival.

I have designed a leaflet which provides information about the history of Orchard Pig and about their ciders, as well as information about the event and the line-up. It will be handed to people as they enter the festival as a starting guide, and by scanning the QR code on the back they can find out more detailed information so they can begin to plan their weekend. It is also something for people to keep as a memory of the weekend, like a souvenir guide. I have used the same design style as the posters and ticket to create a strong and consistent brand image and all designs and products relating to The Pig Event are identifiable.

I created an application which can be found easily by scanning the QR code on the leaflet about the event, or in the app store. This app provides further and more detailed information about the weekend which people will find useful. Stage times of all performances across the two days can be found in the app and, being digital, this can be updated if there are any changes. Also a map of the site (camping areas and the arena) has been included for easier navigation around the festival. Both these elements efficiently help people to plan out their weekend and have a more fun filled, enjoyable festival experience. Using an application to present information results in reduced printing costs of large leaflets or booklets containing all information, as well as reducing the amount of litter around the site from people dropping info sheets and maps, as this is all contained within the app.

A range of merchandise will be on sale at the festival all containing the brand image and logo. This image of the crowd and a woman drinking Orchard Pig cider works very well across multiple products and will become a memorable and recognisable design by the end of the weekend. The image is designed in a cartoon style to reflect fun and to not take yourself too seriously, which are the key traits of Orchard Pig. The paper cup design will be used at all Orchard Pig bars throughout the festival in which a variety of their ciders will be served in. I found the other merchandise on offer to be very popular at other events, so should therefore have successful sales and as well as this, they can be used while at the festival so people will be getting their full use out of them.

[emmaproutdesign]

Developing Design Practice (The Tell Tale Heart)

This project involved creating a book for the story ‘The Tell Tale Heart’ by Edgar Allan Poe, which is a short story published in 1843. The story is very dark and builds up tension throughout which I have represented within the design of the book. I made it completely by hand with a screen printed dust jacket and French folded inside pages.

The design style of the book is typographic with a simple line image on the front cover, where in places, I have used type as image. The typeface on the cover is simple and bold, and to help make it stand out I have used uppercase and a large size. I continued to use this typeface inside the book for headings to create a consistent design style; the layout and colour of these headings create the main design feature of the book. The positioning of the body text and headings vary within each page to create an unpredictable design which keeps the reader interested. I have used a strong and bold colour scheme to represent the narrative, the red signifies danger and blood whereas the black represents death which is symbolism for what happens at the end of the narrative however the reader is unaware of this in the early stages of the story.

[emmaproutdesign]

Ethical Design (Change The Record)

I created a campaign about an ethical subject I believe to be an ever-growing issue nowadays that I am passionate about. My campaign, which raises awareness and presenting the harsh reality of music piracy, is titled ‘Change The Record’. This is a play on words relating to the playing of music but also referring to changing your actions.

The campaign is a series of posters communicating the negative effects of illegally downloading music, which will be placed in locations people are likely to be listening to music such as public transport or in mediums which will be seen by fans of music like magazines. I have also created a leaflet which provides more detailed, further information and be placed in student unions to directly target students. I have used a hashtag across the campaign which allows people to take instant action to show their support and help spread the word. My campaign is aimed at music fans who are young adults and in particular, students. This group of people are very active online and typically aim to save money on everyday items and cannot afford luxuries, resulting in a high music piracy rate within this age range, which I found from my research.

The main message of my campaign is to raise awareness about the impact music piracy has on artists and the music industry, resulting in people considering and hopefully changing their actions regarding how they obtain music. I have communicated my message primarily through the use of typography as this allows me to present shocking facts which many people may not have considered or be aware of and ask rhetorical questions, resulting in the audience querying their actions and whether they are really doing the right thing. This text, along with some use of vector imagery I created, will hopefully lead to a reduced amount of illegal music downloads.

[emmaproutdesign]

Fundamentals of Graphic Design - On White Space Magazine Design

I created two double page magazine spreads in the article ‘On White Space’ by Keith Robertson. The article explains the importance of using white space within a design to help it look clean, organised and professional. I then applied this to the design of these pages, using large areas of white space to avoid a cluttered design. I used a sans serif typeface throughout for modernity and a clean design, this style of design would work well in a higher end magazine. The clear use of a grid system with text organised neatly into columns helps to reach this professional appearance.

The images I chose also reflect this idea of white space as they are very simple, close ups containing few elements. The images I used are my own photos which I edited into black and white and increased the contrast and brightness for a more interesting image and to increase the amount of white in it. The photos are of architectural buildings in London, which subtly hints to the idea of structure within a design being discussed in the article.

[emmaproutdesign]

Professional Practice - Identity and Branding (Studio Gumball)

For this project I worked with four other graphic design students to design and create a new graphic design studio. Studio Gumball is a 1950s America inspired company with an ethos of working with local businesses to produce fun and quirky work. We went for a more simplistic logo which uses a colon as the gumballs and features our main colour scheme of pastel blue and pink; this meant the focus is not on the logo, instead it is on our work and promotional materials and allowed us to create more visual designs featuring our typographic logo. The colour scheme is based on common colours found in our research of 1950s America products and diners, so therefore represents our style.

I created the poster, business card and letterhead promotional outcomes for the brand. The poster is inspired by an American diner menu, using the common three column layout with a range of typefaces and combination of imagery. The poster displays information about the studio and the designers, written in the style of language you would find on a menu. I designed it well so it does not get mistaken for a menu but the elements are clearly identifiable.

The business card uses a triple layer design, with one of the colour scheme colours trapped between the front and back. This makes the business different from other companies and adds some interest and extra colour to the design. Also having three layers makes the card much thicker so it more of an object than a card which may make people notice it more. I used a repeating pattern of the gumball machine as this creates imagery to work with our name and is a bright, bold design, which is slightly busy but this will draw people’s attention to it as it is different and exciting. The reverse side simply displays all the contact details for the studio, which gives people the choice of method they wish to get in contact with. The envelope is designed to match the pattern on the front of the business card for consistency within the design of promotional materials.

The letterhead is a more simplistic design featuring a watermark of the gumball machine so people can write over this without difficulty reading the text or finding space to write. I also included all the contact details at the bottom of the page separated by a line of circles to represent gumballs so information does not become mixed up.

Studio Gumball Instagram: @studiogumball

[emmaproutdesign]

Screen Design - Interactive Design

This is a piece of design I did for screen, displaying internet usage of the working age in London and the UK in 2011. I found this information very interesting and carried out some further research into the possible reasons for these results. I found a variety of useful articles displaying data about the changes of internet usage between ages over time, a common statistic was that much of the older generation is now moving online which is contributing to a larger overall number of people using the internet every day. I also found that many everyday tasks, job roles and studying is now virtually impossible without the use of the internet, so it is a necessity for modern day living.

My design is a circular bar graph as this is much more modernised and interesting to look at than a standard bar graph. It clearly displays the data through the size of the bars which makes it easily comparable and for added detail I have included the actual data which links directly to the part of the graph. The layout of my design is simple so the audience can gain a quick and easy understanding of the data without unnecessary features being included, distracting them from the main information.

I have used levels of information, with the global level displayed first, the overall internet usage in the two areas. The next level down is displaying the age breakdown within these areas, this displays the proportion of people in each age group who have and haven’t used the internet before. The final level down is showing the actual number of people in each age breakdown.

[emmaproutdesign]

Professional Practice - Live Design Briefs (New Leaf & Co)

I created these designs with a fellow graphic design student. Our brief was to create new packaging and a logo for the company New Leaf & Co (previously known as Teatonics). The company specialises in unique herbal teas inspired by the culture and flavours of the local drinks they discovered on a trip to South America.

Their aim is to encourage people in the UK to try new and exciting flavours of tea instead of keeping to the same traditional one. We designed packaging for two variants of the tea New Leaf & Co offer, Mate Zing and Mate Spice. The colour scheme used on each is taken directly from the ingredients of the tea so this represents the flavour accurately and each is easily identifiable. The main design feature on the packs is the coloured tea ring. This is imagery British tea drinkers will relate to so will be drawn towards it, also without reading any of the details, the audience will know what the product is, and the use of bright colours distinguish is from traditional tea. We continued the use of the tea stain pattern on the sides of the box which are a large block of colour so helps differentiate between flavours. Also on the side we included a map of South America, which along with the text provides the audience with the important cultural background of the product.

The typefaces used for the heading and slogan are both rough around the edges in a handwritten style so form a sense of handmade creativity rather than factory printed packaging, which fits with the fact New Leaf & Co are a small and up and coming brand.

[emmaproutdesign]

Research Informed Design Thinking 

For this project I created a leaflet about music venues in Portsmouth. Music is something I am very passionate about therefore wanted to undertake some research into what was available in my local area. This extended my knowledge and I found out some interesting facts about each music venue and discovered some new venues.

I created vector imagery of the venues and a central concert scene to go alongside the information from my research which made the overall design very visual. As well as this I used the folds of the leaflet to my advantage by incorporating it into the design. I designed the first part of the leaflet to look like doors which when opened reveal the concert scene, as if the audience is walking into the venue.

On the reverse of the leaflet I designed a typographic poster. The type used is the music venues I discovered and researched in Portsmouth which I arranged into the shape of a guitar to represent the music element of the leaflet. This is a more interesting way to display a list of information.

[emmaproutdesign]

Fundamentals of Graphic Design

This poster goes back to the basics of ‘what is typography’ and aims to remind graphic designers, and in particular students, of the importance of starting off with a good type. It may seem simple but the typeface can either make or break a design.

My poster design uses a large hierarchy between the two typefaces which emphasises the difference between a headline font and a body text font. The headline font is very bold and of a large size so it stands out, I have also used colour for this to help separate and differentiate it from the main body text.

Alongside a strong type choice, a piece of design needs a good structure, the use of a grid system. My poster also displays this by organising the body text into three equal neat columns situated at the bottom of the poster so it is easy to follow and the reader isn’t distracted by other elements. This content of this poster is important to graphic design as the ide of type has to be fully understood to create a good, working design.

[emmaproutdesign]

Information Design 

This project involved drawing up pictograms for six different animals on Adobe Illustrator for an infographic piece. This helped me to develop an illustrative style, and the animal drawings I produced are vary cartoon like with smooth curves and edges. I selected a variety of animals so the data displayed in the infographic for each would be interesting and not too similar, which makes comparisons easier as not all the data is the same.

My poster compares the amount of dreaming and non-dreaming time in each animals’ sleep. Also the animals total sleep time is displayed by the total length of the bar. Firstly, this is interesting to look at the size of the animal and then amount of sleep they need, then compare how much of that time each animal dreams for.

I represented the data in a circular bar chart as it fits with my smooth style pictogram drawings, as well as it being more interesting to look at than a standard bar graph. The colours used for each section, contrast each other very well so there is a clear distinction between the dreaming and non-dreaming, which creates a clear and easy to under infographic.

[emmaproutdesign]

Screen Design - Motion Graphics (iAnna)

iAnna is short story written by Will Self about a girl who thinks the world is an iPad and interacts with it in the way a computer would. Told from the point of view from two doctors who are captivated by her condition, trying to both understand and help as well as finding a way to make money from the situation. Her condition is thought to be the new mental health illness derived from a technological world.

I created a short title sequence for a show called iAnna which is based on this story. My main image is a vector drawing of an eye filled with a circuit board. This represents the veins in the eye however they have become a circuit board due to the constant use of technology, all the eye sees is a screen and we are becoming de-humanised. The title sequence slowly reveals this image of the eye along with tense background music to create a sense of mystery so the audience doesn’t know what to expect.

I also used the key imagery from this title sequence to create a DVD case for the programme and a simple visual poster. Having one main image makes this design easy to apply across media and is clearly identifiable.