Journal - Part 2

This course has been about so much more than Graphic Design which is a huge and interesting subject in itself. Frank impressed on us the idea of having an online CV of our work which speaks for itself far more than anything you could put down on paper. Not just one CV but many strands, including a blog, a website, a LinkedIn page, a dedicated email address and an AboutMe page which links all of them together. The course took a huge subject and focused in on specific aspects every week. The ongoing projects forced us not to let projects pile up but think about each one, knowing we had to come up with the goods the following week. For such a diverse subject. it was extremely well organised and piqued my interest to explore it in more depth. The Interactive Design projects in particular made me aware of how central Graphic Design is in modern commercial life. I'll never look at an advertising poster or ticket booth the same way again!

Interface Design - iPad App Design

This is my poster design for SCD's Total Design 2013 Exhibition. And the design on which I based my iPad App Design. I've decided I'm going to change the font to something more simple and sophisticated - probably on a white background so the images can speak for themselves.I love the combination of greens, purples and blues.

Interface Design - iPad App Design

This is my mood board for the iPad App Design. I decided to base it on the theme of a poster and invitation for SCD's Total Design 2013 Exhibition.  I was inspired to use the grid of images by Claire Coullon's website - she's a graphic designer based in Switzerland - and I've always loved her simple, stylish designs with fantastic use of colour. Also the mood board for a garden design inspired me, again a grid of images with beautiful colour. The greens and purples of a garden landscape along with some highlights of blues and lime green defined the colour theme.

Map Design

The brief was to design a map to show visitors to the SCD website directions to the new College campus in Blackrock. This project is very much a work in progress. I took the map into Illustrator having zoomed in on the area I wanted to recreate. At this stage I've recreated the topography i.e. roads, sea by tracing and using the pen tool in Illustrator but there's a lot more work left to do to make it into something original. An ongoing project...

Metro North Ticket Kiosk Project - Navigational Structure

These Navigational Charts detail the steps involved in buying a ticket/Smartcard and updating a Smartcard at a Metro North kiosk.

Metro North Ticket Kiosk Project - Task Analysis - Concepts

These are my sketches detailing the stages involved in buying a ticket or Smartcard and updating a Smartcard for Metro North.

Metro North Ticket Kiosk Project - Buy Ticket

Weekly/Monthly Pass Chosen

Single/Return Ticket Chosen

Cash Payment Chosen

Card Payment Chosen

And this is the 'Buy Ticket' option.

Metro North Ticket Kiosk Project - Top Up Smartcard

Cash Payment Chosen

Card Payment Chosen

My final design for the Metro North Ticket Kiosk screens. Inspired by my experience of buying tickets and topping up a Smartcard for the DART, I took both approaches when designing the screens.  This is the Smartcard option.

Route and Station/Local Attractions

• The proposed route is located in different sites/centres which will cater to a varied cohort of customers. The route begins at one end in the main city centre business/shopping area and significant stops take in Hospitals, a University, the Airport and residential areas, both mature and newly developed.

Interface Design - Kiosk Design 2 - Personas

Personas, in the world of user experience design, identify and paint detailed key customer profiles and so help designers and information architects best identify the behaviour, desire and expectations of a specific group of customers or potential users.

In this project, to design a ticket kiosk for the proposed Metro North stations, I've taken a group of individuals with varying needs in relation to the use of the kiosk.This can be referred to in the design process to ensure that all needs are satisfied in the final design.

Information Design - Instructional

 

The brief was to create a design which would give instruction on how to carry out a particular task - first using images only and then adding text. I couldn't believe it when I came across a website dedicated entirely to different methods of tying shoelaces - http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/lacing.htm. I traced the diagrams in Illustrator but wish I'd changed the colours as it looks like I just copied the drawings. I promise I didn't!

Interface Design - Kiosk Design 1

Examples of Kiosk Design - An Post, DART, SuperValu

Advertising & Campaigns - Olympics Poster - London 2012

Advertising & Campaigns - Olympics Poster - London 2012

I love online tutorials for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, particularly Psdtuts+  and Vectortuts+. They guide and challenge you to try new stuff and you learn so much in the process. I've spent many wasted hours faffing around with Illustrator and Photoshop and learning very little because I didn't know what I COULD do. But introduce a good tutorial and all kinds of possibilities are opened up.

Postcard Campaign - Binge Drinking

 

This project which focuses on attempts to make people, young people in particular, aware of the dangers of binge drinking immediately made me think of the threats to young women and men on the streets at night when everyone pours out of nightclubs. It reminded me of a friend telling me about a young woman she saw lying on the street one night, comatose with drink, wearing one shoe.

There's no point telling young people that their livers might give up in their fifties. Young people mostly think you should be dead in your fifties anyway....or making drink more expensive. They'll always find a way to get it. But the prospect of being seriously harmed might make an impact. Here, a young girl, helpless after a night's drinking sees three young guys who, in her innocence, she hopes might help her get home. They see a vulnerable young woman out of control and have other things on their mind. The theme could easily be reversed to depict a vulnerable young man.

I used Photoshop CS6 for this project, using four different images. I used various selection tools, masks, blends and Refine Edge to put them all together to create the final image.