Negotiated Project
My Proposed Brief
My Proposed Brief
During this project I will aim to produce a series of design pieces that will show my strengths as a graphic designer specifically in the areas of promotion and advertising design whist additionally demonstrating my typography and layout skills.
My aim is to produce an advertising and promotional campaign to be viewed in magazines such as ‘Transworld Snowboarding Magazine’ and offer small merchandise gifts to promote an annual snowboarding event in Whistler, Canada. The joint clients hosting the event are one of the sports leading brands ‘Burton’ which sponsors high profile board riders such as Shaun White to attend these competitions, and Whistler Blackcomb resort; an all-year location renowned for its excellence for extreme sports enthusiasts. Snowboarders from around the world will compete in world-class halfpipe and slopestyle courses for a cash prize. This event will also be a social event to attract spectators from around the world who will be drawn by offers and promotions given by the events sponsors and also the opportunity to watch the world’s best snow sports competitors in action. In addition to the sporting event there will also be other entertainment such as DJs, live bands, graffiti artists etc.
The final solution should reflect the extreme sports urban style and connect with the appropriate target audience that will be identified during the research stages.
I intend to produce a campaign that will promote a strong visual concept and identity for this event that can be used across a variety of media such as posters, flyers and merchandise.
4. RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY In order to produce the most effective solution to meet the client brief, I will research the type of events currently running, which will include and understanding of:
Target audience (demographic)
Event duration
Event costings
Appropriate/ alternative entertainment available
Other urban trends
I will read and understand what makes events such as this popular and exciting to spectators and competitors, and then aim to promote a unique selling point that differs from the norm. In order to fulfill this, I will complete further research into understanding the brands of Burton, Whistler Blackcomb and other leading brands within this field to try and find out what philosophy underpins their success.
The possible sources of information gathering are as follows:
- http://www.snowboardermag.com/
- http://www.burton.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Burton_US-Site/default/Events-Landing
- Transworld Snowboarding Magazine
- http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com
- http://www.ussa.org
- Cultural History of Snowboarding, St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (January 15, 1998)
- Street Logos (Street Graphics / Street Art) [Paperback], Thames & Hudson (29 Mar 2004)
- Street World: Urban Culture from Five Continents (Street Graphics / Street Art) [Hardcover], Thames & Hudson (Oct 2007)
Through this process I hope to demonstrate my skills to negotiate and execute my own design brief with the set time frame and produce work that visually communicates my skills as a graphic designer to an advanced level. The outcome should be useable and realistic and be at a standard that could be presented to this client in a real world setting.
The final solution will be backed up with evidence of research, idea generations and developmental analysis that will be used to refine and redesign any areas necessary.
I will test my work through the online student forum via a series of questions to test the effectiveness of my solution. I will also use the IDI Facebook page and ask family and friends to respond to the same questions set. Based on the outcomes, I will identify whether my work is successful in reaching the target audience within the set marketplace, or whether the work requires refinement. I will also seek clarification from my course tutor about the direction of the design, and using the feedback given, will alter accordingly.
Throughout the design process I will aim to be thorough in my investigation of new design styles, techniques and materials available. I will remain open-minded to the use of any solution, as this will enable me to fully explore and design a unique end product. By using a variety of methods, this will ensure that I can reflect on all possibilities so that I can select an appropriate solution to develop further to completion.
My work will be enhanced through an original mix of materials and techniques which will demonstrate my creativity in this area.
I will document the feedback received from my tutor and peers through the online forum at the specified stages of the design process. I will use this information to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of my work to identify possible areas for development and refinement. I will discuss these findings with my tutor before implementation.
I will create professional presentations of all my final solutions making sure that they are also presented in context to add strength and purpose to the finished concept. The outcomes will be of a standard that can be placed within my portfolio and showcase my skills as a graphic designer to future clients and potential employers.
I intend to follow the schedule I produced for this project to ensure that the deadline and all the success criteria are met accordingly. Please see Schedule of work previously submitted.
I have accounted for any problems or revisions that may occur in my time plan by leaving free time in-between each individual stage of the design process and by leaving the last two weeks of the semester free incase in case any unforeseen challenges arise.
Final Outcomes
Evaluation
As set out in my project proposal my aim was to produce an advertising and marketing campaign to promote an annual snowboarding event held in Whistler, Canada being hosted by top snowboarding brand ‘Burton’. Taking into account that Burton are the market leading snowboard brand with an iconic logo and that Whistler is known world wide as a winter sports resort I decided to take a minimalist approach which allowed these simple facts to speak for themselves. With this in mind I wanted to develop a concept that used the Burton logo as the base of the theme as this would initially attract the attention of winter sports enthusiasts across the globe.
During the research into the styles of previous Burton and other brand campaigns I could see that there was huge variation in themes associated with this area ranging from retro, through minimalist, urban, rock and roll, punk etc. Burton also strive to reinvent their brand annually, which created a challenge to identify a potential route, although at the same time this was empowering as I could investigate new approaches. This challenge encouraged me to experiment with various new styles and design techniques, and I found that one of the strengths that I have taken from this project is that it has allowed me to develop my skills to create multiple ideas and not be so narrow minded during the design process.
In my concepts which were inspired by several extreme sports campaigns - in particular the work produced for Red Bull - I wanted represent the movement of snowboarding and particularly the snowboarder moving through the air when jumping with a back drop of the snow capped mountains, as this is a key element of the event. This is something that I experimented with which led to my final piece where I have linked this idea to the Burton Logo with the snowboarder following direction of the arrow shape and in turn leading you to read the main message ‘Whistler Snow Jam’. I think that this is the strongest part of the concept and it enabled me to make a feature of the highly identifiable Burton logo, which is instantly informative of the key message to the target audience.
Looking at my finished pieces now that I have put them in context I feel that I could have applied a greater emphasis on the event details under the Burton logo and to the web address to add to the overall message and make the route to further information clearer.
Overall I feel that I have managed the project very efficiently and following my own time plan as closely as possible allowing me to finish what I had set out to do in my proposal on time. I found the refresher brief very useful as it gave a welcome break to the project allowing me to direct my thoughts onto a new topic, giving me the fresh eyes needed when returning to the ‘Whistler Snow Jam Campaign’. This is something that I am going to keep in mind as I advance in my career as a designer.