Week 11 - independent study
Writing up parent handbook
I had a framework for how the parent handbook might flow like and was only planning to do a spread and the cover, ended up doing the whole thing as I wanted to get it printed properly.
Working through the framework I had already planned out > started writing up the content for it, this will probably be helpful for my design report which I need to start writing soon!
Cover and Purpose planning
What to expect from Kea Kit Part 1
What to expect from Kea Kit part 2
What to expect when you first visit prison
What to do in between times and direction to more info.
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Advent calendar
I had all the narrative and window text written up for this so decided to start with a basic layout of how this might come to look and flow through. I’m going to design two a3s a top sheet and a bottom sheet and stick them together – would be nice to have some thicker stock for this but going to go with the same feathered stock i’ve been using for the letters as it needs to either fold or roll nicely to sit in the box for storage.
I wanted this to feel like a treasure map so it made the kid’s curiosity and anticipation for their ‘adventure’ more exciting. It was quite a challenge to lay this out due to the varying lengths of text underneath. This definitely needs some more refinement. Currently feels very all over the show and the bottom is quite crowded.
The white background felt very bright and stark. All my other collateral has a solid background colour. Having a test of a low opacity background to see if this will help break up the elements a bit more, give some contrast to things etc. Still not feeling right about this. I think I’m gonna need to move somethings around.
Shifting some things up the top down to add in a title and also make the squishy-ness/busyness feel purposeful. Also tried adding in some of my other little illustrations which go along with the narratives of some of the text – this looks way too overstimulating and I don’t really know where to look first. Still unsure about the background colour. I do like the addition of the grass bits though.
I felt like the opaque background didn’t quite fit in with the rest of my collateral so changed it to a solid bold colour and swapped the tracks from yellow to white so they don’t blend in. I took the little extra creatures out and have hidden them under the numbers/flaps that they are relevant to.
Was thinking about having this folded in half to fit in the box and wanted to have an outside cover. Nothing was really working for me though and I tried to roll it instead of fold it which actually looked a lot better in my opinion, so blank back side of this calendar it is!
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Spatial Planning
I went to check out the block 10 dungeon to see if it was ideal or not for my spatial mock ups. There was a bit too much shit lying around and had the idea of checking out blocks 5 & 6 as i know that those hallways are a bit more hospital like which is very similar to inside a prison according to conversations and research.
I took my camera around with me and got some snaps + videos or the space and what it’s like to walk through it with nothing implemented in there.
photos from blocks 5 & 6. Very stark and boring, the doors look heavy as if to keep you in or out.
Video walking through the space. Pausing at where things might be on walls.
Notes from spatial planning, measurements etc. I want to get some large formats and stick them up in the space then film again walking through. Also going to do a photo mock up of what you might see at a first glimpse of this hallway.
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Large format print chat with Luiz > decisions on what to do
I had a big chat with Luiz about the filming I wanted to do to show how my spatial was implemented and he said that photo mock ups should be fine + more professional and that I was rushing to get large format and filming done that day - there were too many variables to consider so I decided just to get some large formats done to install in my preso room instead.
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Full spatial mock up
I started off with an overview of what you’d first see when you arrived in the hallway space I was focusing on. this took quite some time to get all the perspectives and angles right but I’m pretty happy with how this looks. It gives a real feeling of an adventure up ahead, a lot of my friends said it looked like fun and they were curious to see what each speech bubble said. It’s also nice to note how much this looks like a hospital space too so this project definitely has the potential to work across similar environments.
This is a before image, I hadn’t quite got the lighting right on my post processing – i wanted it to feel cold and threatening but i think that i really just needed the space to look bland and nothing. Showing how there is nothing to distract the children from their thoughts and emotions.
before pic - bland and sterile space.
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Narrative mock ups
beginning with the outside of the prison – using the photos I took up at Mt Crawford Prison. It’s quite rundown due to abandonment but the Kea start to build curiosity and take away some of that anxiety around these buildings.
The first part of the Journey starts with the notion of tāwharau (protection)
The narratives that follow (in order) to lead to the visit hall. I envision that this could be adapted every 9-12months so that each visit could be different and exciting each time. This could be co-designed with the prisoners as to what their children like or what stories they’d like to tell/teach.
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Large formats
Luiz had my large formats done so fast! literally by 8am the next morning. They’re HUGE this big kea is about 1m long! Super happy with how these look.
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Parent handbook
I don’t have all the image content for this book yet (planning to have a full bleed image on the left side). So started off by figuring out my type systems. Definitely prefer the two column system to the top version!
What a spread might look like with a full bleed image. I’ve also colour coded each of the sections/phases of the project.
Cover – simple and more formal for parents/adults.
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Photos
turned my desk space into a photo studio for the afternoon:
some pics that came out of this session:
took quite a few, detailing all the little bits and pieces but haven’t had a chance to go through these yet as this was all i needed for the parent hand book.
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Printing from Wakefields
I got my storybook cover and parent hand book printed professionally at Wakefield’s Digital. The Cover is a PLC gloss hard cover and the booklet is just a 2up saddle stitch 12pp booklet on gloss 120gsm stock – feels a lot more formal for the adults.
The cover is a little bigger than expected and doesn’t quite fit as well in the box as well as I want it to. As you can see it all over flows just a little too but remembering that not all of the kit comes in the box at once so there is definitely room for the first kit to be sent in this.
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Writing preso - first draft
first script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R7DT8JvgjCrCrKfFzALbS2_3qABJSykBVI5P3jWTB1s/edit?usp=sharing
This originally started off quite formal, as if i was pitching to government. It didnt really sound like me and felt a bit dislocated from the project so i re-wrote it a bit more emotively. It’s very heavily centred on developing empathy for the user journey, I’m a bit worried that I have got enough about my process and solutions in it. Will read it out to Jason in class tomorrow and see what he has to say.
