Final evaluation
This project started out very broad as something to do with nature or history and got narrowed down by Researching into British Nature and how we are losing connection with it, I felt strongly about this as most of my childhood was spent in nature as we went camping a lot. Growing up in London I noticed how spending time in nature and learning about it was rare. As I researched more into this topic it was worse than I believed as the daily telegraph reported “one in eight young people have never seen a cow in real life”( ref 1) therefore I wanted to design something that would encourage people to get out, learn and explore nature even if it was urban nature as my target audience would be people living in towns and cities who are losing touch with nature. I got my information from government research, books and websites along with primary research such as interviewing peers and professionals to collect information and data. this research massively helped as I wanted my outcomes to be informative and design for good.
This project has gone through a lot of changes and developments as it started out as just a project on nature or history and I needed to massively narrow this down to something I would enjoy designing and something that would be visually pleasing and help people. I started out wanting to do a campaign however when I saw peoples love for a virtual connection to nature through games such as Pokémon go and animal crossing, I had the idea of an app/game that would be educational and enjoyable. While I was out walking in nature taking pictures, I found this much more enjoyable then just going for a walk as I felt there was a purpose for my walk and it was for a reason as I was taking pictures, this made me realise the app/ game could not just be educational it had to have a form of something to collect or a way to take pictures and share with friends. I started out wanting to have aspects of illustration however I felt this was limiting my style and would not appeal to my target audience, I had the idea of using a collage style and when you collected animals, trees or plants you could pick where to collage these to your forest. This instantly made my app come together and look more appealing to my target audience. It looked visually interesting as imagery worked well together.
My time management throughout the unit went well considering I adapted to all the changes due to covid-19. I planned my time day by day on a calendar that I added to my learning agreement and followed it quite well However due to AUB extending the term time this allowed me to spend more time critiquing and changing my work. I felt this made the whole project really come together and allow each piece to work nicely alongside the main app.
I asked for feedback throughout the whole project from peers, tutors and family members. Asking for their opinion helped as a pair of fresh eyes see things that you don’t, when I was stuck on my logo development, I put a poll up on my Instagram to see what my friends thought. They picked the one I was less sure on, I took the advice onboard but took a design decision to go with the less voted one as I knew it would work well on its own and even better as a logo for an app icon despite the other one just being a leaf , I felt that was overdone and less imaginative, however the advice that I got from the Instagram poll was so helpful and allowed me to develop the logo.
Throughout this project I learnt so much on after effects as it was not my strong point before and making a video explaining the idea was not my original plan however I learnt as I went and am so pleased with my final video, it would have been nice if I was confident with after effects when I started the video as I also had to learn XD as I went to design my app and navigate it, luckily I really enjoyed designing the app and found XD user friendly. In this project I also made type using illustrator with shapes and letters based off collage and cut out newspapers and magazines, I wanted to properly make this on glyphs however when I tried glyphs before I took so long to make it and would not have fit in with my time plan. Making it in illustrator worked well for this project however given more time I would learn glyphs and properly make the typeface.
From this project I have learnt a lot as I researched the topic of urban nature so much, I also have a better understanding of XD and aftereffects. I researched into app design, advertisements and brand identity to create a project with a lot of outcomes that work extremely well together.
On reflection I am very proud of my final outcomes and the body of work I have produced. The app navigates nicely yet in a simple way, so it is easy to use. The colour scheme is simple and works well throughout the whole project on each piece both digitally and printed, while the posters work on a variety of scales so they can be placed in different placed throughout cities and towns such as bus stops, train stations and busses each having a different size requirement however the design works well throughout. The logo is memorable and simple. It works small for the app icon, yet it also works bigger for posters. The collage type works with the imagery and keeps the collage theme throughout, it also adds some interest to the app and posters. The social media aspect gets people involved and is another platform to advertise on while the video overall explains the idea and brings the whole project together while explaining it.
Ref 1 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/31/one-eight-young-people-have-never-seen-cow-real-life/
