dream a little bigger

[saraholmesdesign]

Final Portfolio Response

First of all, here’s my portfolio website!

I’m pretty proud of my portfolio overall. I remember starting this class and not being able to fathom at all how I could self-brand myself. It has been a period of self-reflection these last few months and while i’m glad to be through it, I know it’s never ever. Despite having the base of my website, there are a few things that I’d like to fix.

So learning Semplice has been a trial and a half. If you want my honest review, if you already don’t know how to use wordpress and you on’t have time to learn a whole new system, do not choose semplice for your first go. Just be a friend to yourself and choose a squarespace or wix template and then try semplice later. I’m saving you a lot of pain by saying this. Still, I’m glad I’ve put in the work and I vaguely get it now.

That being said, there’s some weird spacing that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to deal with. Semplice prides itself on how easy it is to edit but unless you already know how to use it, it’s really not. So I guess I’m going to figure out how to deal with the big gap between the footer and my information in my about page somehow. 

Otherwise all I really want to do is update some of my images in my project pages. For example, my balanced. project page could use a mockup of the booklet or a shoot of the booklet. I’ll try to get that when the print shop opens again. 

I’d also like to eventually add light boxes to my photography and illustrations page. 

Other than those items, I’m pleased with it.

[saraholmesdesign]

Erin Gibbs Response

This past week, we had Erin Gibbs join our class and present her process to us. She was extremely knowledgable and very thorough about her process. As someone who creates items for a customer base already, I found it really cool and helpful to learn about how she creates and how her items get manufactured. It was our task to come up with a piece in response to her work or inspired by it. I remember immediately scratching out this phrase after the class, perhaps the fact that she showed us a jungle-inspired line was to blame. Either way, I had a lot of fun making this piece though it alone took me 5+ hours. I can’t imagine creating a whole line based on it! 

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covid got me feeling like the world is a simulation

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DT: Secondary Research

So last time I posted about this, you know, before the world was ending, I was talking about the importance of coffee valves in a bag of coffee beans to keep the bag from exploding from the buildup of gasses. The valve allows carbon dioxide from the beans to escape, making it necessary. The problem with this, is that means it’s one of the things that makes a coffee bag not entirely compostable. So I was looking into that in particular and found that there’s a company called TricorBraun Flex that is working on a sustainable bag line called Biotrē that currently has a 60% compostable coffee bag and is working on a 100% compostable bag, so that’s great for the future of coffee. 

On that note, we researched what’s already out there for improving the coffee making process and I found it interesting that despite how old coffee is and the multitude of different ways of brewing it, most cultures have a certain way of doing it and have predominantly stuck to their methods and tools through history. Of course things have updated as technology evolved but there’s definitely been an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach to at home brewing or, people have developed their own methods.

Of course, there are many influential coffee shops and brew masters out there, even on the west coast, that are constantly developing new methods and shortcuts that often make their way to the home via baristas but we’ve yet to see a significant, single method in coffee brewing. 

The reason for this is that brewing is a very personal, particular thing. People like their coffee a certain way and everyone stores it, grinds it and prepares it differently. Still, I did find some neat little things that have been introduced to the brewing world in the last century!

I mainly looked at spoons when doing my secondary research and really enjoyed this concept:

Using the spoon as a clip as well to keep the coffee bag closed is a neat idea because the spoon would always be around for measuring and the bag gets closed, meaning the coffee keeps fresh for longer.

Alternatively, a coffee scoop with a sliding lid could help when scooping coffee. This is a picture of one used for medicine. 

Another cool thing is that there are a few drip coffee makers out there that actually grind the beans for you. It’s a no mess method because it also portions out the beans, making a pot of coffee is just keeping the water tank full and clicking a button.

[saraholmesdesign]

Portfolio Progress #2

What a time to be alive, a worldwide virus has put most of the world on hold at this time but that doesn’t mean we’re any less busy. We’re finishing this term remotely and it looks like my part-time job will be unavailable for the time being so I guess the silver lining here is more time to work on my portfolio?

Accomplished:

Figured out the Nav bar

Have got a footer going

more pages have been made

a hover feature has been added

project pages are slowly being built

To Do:

nav photoshoot with the latest issue

bilk out project pages

reduce image file sizes

about me page

lightboxes for photography and sketch page

[saraholmesdesign]

Frame Your Design Challenge

What is the problem you’re trying to solve? The problem that we are trying to solve is that making coffee at home can be a messy process due to the current packaging for coffee or the tools used to brew it.

Frame it as a design question What can we do to streamline the brewing process for a better at-home coffee experience? State the ultimate impact you’re trying to have. To make at home brewing the chosen method of coffee drinking.  

What are some possible solutions?

Redesign coffee packaging

Redesign the brewer (hassle-free load option)

Design a scoop with a lid that you can flick closed. 

Write down context and constraints that you’re facing

Time constraint of >1 month.

Small budget

Perhaps context is bagged coffee + using a scoop.

The reason that coffee is bagged as it is:

Coffee bags have that little valve on them for a reason “A Degassing Valve: Sealed bags without a valve usually inflate and can even explode. A degassing valve allows the carbon dioxide that roasted coffee releases to escape the sealed bags. It's a one-way valve: carbon dioxide goes out, but oxygen doesn't come in.”

There has also been a few different neat redesigns of coffee bag to solve the sustainability and mess issues! 

“Tchibo created a new kind of coffee package for its Caffe Crema Vollmundig coffee beans. The bag looks standard at first glance - side gussets and a one-way valve - but upon further inspection, a capped plastic spout is discovered inside the top of one of the side gussets. When the consumer desires to open the bag, they push down and unscrew the cap, cutting a hole in the film. They can then pour out their beans with greater control and reseal the screw the cap, eliminating the need for other reclosure systems.“

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Before reading anything much about circular design I felt like I had a vague concept about what it was already. My understanding was that circular design focuses not only on the design of the project but the scope of it and the life cycle. 

Now I think I can understand that Circular Design is more focused on the reusability of the product and how many times it can be reused within its cycle, which seems like an interesting ideology as there’s been a lot of focus on proper recycling in the past few years. My dad likes to talk my ear off about how back in the day, people used to fix stuff instead of throwing it out. There’s evidence of that too when you look at food packaging from back in the day, cracker tins could be reused to hold bits and ends. Flour sacks were purposefully printed with fun patterns in the 1930′s after manufacturers realized that women would make clothing from them. 

Maybe they weren’t thinking about it that way at the time, but that seems to be a prime example of circular design. It’s the idea of the continuity of the design’s life after its expected death and giving it a new purpose. 

I think that circular design ties in nicely with design thinking but wouldn’t say that it’s here to replace design thinking. I think if anything, that it’s just something to consider when using design thinking. 

One concept I don’t like is the idea of subscriptions. While that works for single-use items like books or games that you might want to eventually pass on, it annoys the living hell out of me that there are so many subscriptions in the digital sense. For example, why do I have to pay monthly or yearly for the Adobe cloud when I’d be better off just buying it in one go?

I think when it comes to our show at least, we can definitely think about circular design. Here are some ideas:

reusable frames for the display that we can leave to the next year or take home for personal use.

personal branding that can be reused for other purposes, eg. a program booklet that refolds with guides into a paper airplane.

Renting table cloths instead of buying them.

I think we need to also think about the environmental impact of printing for our show and consider less projects but a more careful selection on what to show.

[saraholmesdesign]

Unfortunately, I still have a lot to do on my portfolio but I’m not really mad about it. I chose to work with Semplice which is a plugin for WordPress. This meant I had to learn a whole new system! while it’s been a learning curve, I don’t have any regrets. While not very intuitive, it’s a beautiful, clean system. I’m pleased so far with what I have and also feel comfortable taking my time.

Things to do:

design the footer + what I want in it -> eg, contact info?

about page (or just put it on our main page.)

grid layout separate for each page?

photoshoot for new nav once newest issue launches?

More sketches exported for my little joys page

create asset library

reevaluate my case study and redraft. 

remember to keep it minimal and stretch from there.

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Place Brand Brief Schematic

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Opportunities for Change & Innovation

This seems like a very self-centred approach to this project because I might be one of the select few that faces this problem. But hey, I think it’s important to do a passion project every now and again.

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Having completed my Logo and drafted my brand standards, I began trying to figure out ways to apply my brand. Here’s what I came up with for my presentation.

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Design & Thinking Documentary

Design & Thinking is an interesting documentary to watch as a designer because it has designers in the working field that agree and disagree with it, and designers who don’t know exactly what it is. I’m always fascinated when we get to hear from other designers in a visual sense, much more so than the written word. I thought some interesting things were said, here are some ideas that I really quite liked.

“Design Thinking is applying design methods to the working class and world.”

I thought that this was a neat little concept because it really helps me as a designer understand more what Design Thinking is and what we’re trying to do with it. This makes it feel like Design Thinking is less a scientific method and more of a way to bridge a gap.

“Design is a sport where you have to participate.”

I think a lot of designers, myself included, feel like we have to figure everything out on our own but Design Thinking really cements the idea that design thinking is a team effort. I really like how this phrase puts it into such easy terms. 

“Rapid Prototyping: It’s ok to have a bad idea.”

Luckily, this is something we’re taught well in our program but it’s nice to see this concept out in the real world. I’m so nervous about having to be perfect when I leave school but making wrong decisions seem inevitable. 

“Ask Why”

This I think, is my favourite idea from the documentary. I feel like it’s so easy to just take a client’s request and push it out without thought to exactly what they asked for. It’s easy to fall into a rhythm and just forget how to use our design minds, but I never want to forget how to be creative.

[saraholmesdesign]

Case Study Draft

Project Title Balanced.

Class Name Design Research Project

Date of Completion 11/29/2019

My Role Art Director

Summary Balanced. is an organization focused on promoting a healthy work/life balance that I designed in the final year of my degree. It is an integrated ecosystem focused on providing a healthier schedule for those that tend to overwork themselves.

Project Challenge

Possible header photo: Waving/animated Ish with the balanced. logo Overwork is dangerous for not only your mental health but your physical health as well. working more than 55 hours a week raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. At this point in time, overworking yourself can officially be a cause of death. Something needs to be done. The challenge lies in ‘What’ and ‘How’? How do we change the way a whole society perceives work/life balance in an appealing way, especially when the target audience is most likely too busy to go through and set up a whole system?

Strategy/Methodology Show pic of Ish

Using myself and my own experiences as a key target audience, I realized that the most important aspect of Balanced. had to be a simple entry point. A simple voice command system in the form of a smart speaker program would be necessary and from there, the rest flowed. The system would be wrapped around the central character of a little AI robot named Ish. 

Ish can be likened to a little assistant that lives inside the user’s phone. It helps plan the user’s day, sends messages to ask how the user is feeling, sends the user on forced breaks and is the face of the Balanced system.

Show Ish screens

Design Process Identification Conceptualization Ideation Show ideation/drafts of Ish Show logo ideation (sketches and final)

brand ideation Production Revision & Feedback Deliverables

Solution/Contribution Show images of the completed booklet, al stages of the ecosystem Balanced has been developed to become a foil that fits snugly around the user’s life. At the beginning of integration, Balanced studies the user’s day to day activities using the deliverables that will be described in the coming pages.

This sounds like a lot, but Balanced knows that not everyone has the time to set a whole system up, so it has been designed with the intention of ease of access. Balanced will bring awareness to the issue of overwork and what it does to an individual’s mental and physical health. It will impact the way that people value their time and themselves as a person and deconstruct the idea that overworking oneself is admirable.

Balanced is an app, a smart speaker, a website, a watch integration, a friend, a secretary and a resource.  Takeaways - This project taught me a lot about the design process from start to finish and also showed me that everything starts from a poor looking sketch but end well depending on the amount of effort and skill you put in.

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The Rise of Design Thinking in Meetings and Events

I really enjoyed the relevancy of this reading for this class and felt that although it uses some industry-specific language it is still accessible. It seems like such a simple concept to ‘design from the attendees’ perspective’ but it also et like a ‘eureka moment’ to read that phrase. I think that in the past, many events have been designed specifically with the organizers perspective and it feels like designing for attendees is just common sense. What better way to use a people-oriented method like design-thinking?

Opportunity, Formulate, Build and Debrief

It’s easy to fall deeply into the design aspect of our grad show because that is the primary focus, displaying our work, but I think this reading has an excellent point about involving the attendees to keep their focus. There’s the yearning to want to make a whole new experience and refresh the Design grad show but there’s also the need to work with the space (and items in that space) that we have. We want the attendees to feel welcome but not overwhelmed, and we want to make sure that everyone involved is getting the same amount of attention to detail and care as everyone else because all attendee’s motivations for being there are different and in the case of our event, they’re most likely there to support one or two students in particular. 

“Consciously think about event design from the user perspective.” I think that our focus for the grad show, now that we’ve obtained a speaker and location, is to really focus on wayfinding and hammer out how we want to display our work in a way that does the work justice. We need to map out the floorplan in a way that prioritizes the attendee’s experience and can maybe be interactive.

I’m wondering what might be a good way to make our show a bit interactive? We were thinking about creating a walk through an area of our work that would require the attendee moving through all of it, sort of like a museum floor, but even better could be printed objects they can pick up and touch or digital screens that they can swipe through.

I think we have many opportunities here and after this reading, I’m feeling inspired.

[saraholmesdesign]

Refined Rationales Blog Post #5B

Project Title: The Nav

The Nav is a unique project because it undergoes a visual identity change yearly. The challenge lies in creating new energy for the student-led press while keeping it recognizable as The Nav but it is also an opportunity to push myself as a design student and push the boundaries. This year I had the task of redesigning my own design from the previous year. The goal was to reign it in and give it a cleaner look from last year while maintaining the distinct personality within. I also needed to make sure that the layout was simple enough that a team of three could ay the 40 page magazine out in one day. 

Project Title: Balanced

Overwork is a worldwide social stigma that promotes an unhealthy lifestyle. Through this project, I wanted to work on a solution for people who lead an unbalanced life by giving them tools to change their relationship with work. The challenge lay in creating something usable that could be integrated easily into a busy lifestyle. I decided to create a scheduling app that would guide users to make healthier choices through education on mental health and forced rests. To this end, I designed a smart ecosystem that learns and adapts to the user through use. 

Project Title: Fox & Koi

Last year, I realized that I needed a way to reconnect with my passion for graphic design and push myself to create outside of classwork. I’ve always loved enamel pins and so along with a business partner, I began an enamel pin shop. There’s a lot that goes into a pin from conception to iteration and the final physical object. Through Fox & Koi I’ve not only worked on my illustration skills but my business skills as well. I run the business side of fox & koi. I speak to the manufacturers, find new manufacturers, coordinate locations and markets for selling the pins, create the websites, package the pins, do the marketing and I also design pins, stickers and prints.

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PLACE - Mood Board

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This week I created some rules for my logo. My logo is interesting because it’s rather playful in nature and there’s a lot that can be done with it. I have three possible marks that can be used to represent place and four base colours to play with as well. 

This base set of rules is a good way to get me going on my brand guide. There’s a lot more to implement though, and I’m excited to keep going.