Rationale

Rationale                                

Hannah Christensen

My brochure is about places to go on dates in Wellington. I wanted to create a romantic and dreamy atmosphere for my brochure. In each spread, I included a photo of the location, the couple doing the activity and an aspect that gives an emotive response from the reader. For the botanic gardens spread I created romance by using the colour red with the addition of butterflies and flowers. For the oriental bay date, I wanted a chilled atmosphere while also having a romantic undertone. I have used blue and yellow to represent the beach location and the cut out people adds the romance to the scene. For the carter observatory date, I wanted a magical night time atmosphere. I have used darker colours, stars and explosions to create this quality. I have used the watercolour splashes and soft blurred edges throughout the whole brochure to create a dreamy ambience. I have used a light typeface for the headings and subheadings to convey my theme as this makes a softer, delicate and more modern romantic look. The grid and type help to create flow and balance throughout the whole brochure. It also creates consistency so that the reader can follow with ease. I have learnt that it’s best to be consistent with layout and typography with any design project to make sure it is cohesive and can achieve visual harmony.

Final Brochure

Week 6 Monday

Today was our last chance to get feedback from our tutors. I tried printing my brochure on cream textured paper and it worked really well. It makes the whole brochure look more professional and less cheesy. I also fixed some final little details with the type. I am very happy with my brochure at the moment and am almost ready to print out my final one for hand in. 

Week 5 Thursday

Today we printed out our brochure to size and in booklet form. This was good to see what it will actually look like and how the brochure flows. I am still having trouble with my front page cover but after getting some feedback and critique I will be able to improve it. Instead of trying to fill up all the space I need to use white space to my advantage. Next lesson will be our final chance to get feedback so I will need to have it at the point where it is finished and have some last minute advice.

Week 5 Monday

Today we had a lot of one on one time to see how we are progressing. I feel I am in quite a good place at the moment. The shells on my beach collage create a bit of a visual wall that's not very pleasing to look at but other than that my collages are pretty set. My type is a good size, spacing etc. My heading font looks a little cliche and I could change it to something a bit more modern. I need to work on my map and front cover more. I am using a lot of the red and green colour theme from the botanical garden date spread. This flows well until the final 2 spreads which look a bit out of place. To fix this I could incorporate the other colours from the other 2 spreads in the rest of the brochure.

   

Week 4 Thursday

Today we started to look at how to go about making our map. I have not started mine yet but I will try and keep mine as simple as possible with little icons representing the place in the matching colour scheme as the spreads. I also got feedback on my latest collages. They are working a lot better now and are pretty much up to scratch. I need to include my icons but I am having a little bit of difficulty deciding where to place them. I also learnt how to use paragraph styles and fixed up little bits and pieces with the type. Next, I need to finalise a specific layout design because at the moment I have multiple styles of layout that I like. I will also need to start on the map and cover page. These are my newest spreads that I have iterated from the interim assessment.

Week 4 Monday

Today was interim assessment. It was very helpful to see critiques from other students because someone with fresh eyes was looking at it. I still need to work on my collages as they are still not quite there. My theme is clear and my layouts work well which was good to know. The font for my title needs to be a little classier and less cliche. I could make my text go across 3 columns instead of 2 to make it a bit easier to read. I also need to add in my icons but I want to finalise my collages before I decide where to put those. These are my three spreads and a page showing all my variations and iterations so far.

Week 3 Thursday

Today we had a critique on our first layouts. I need to make my collage have less white space and change the text columns so that it does not look like one big block in the middle of the page like a sandwich. I also need to make the two pages flow better by bringing aspects of the image onto the text side of the page. I think more colour should be added so it grabs the attention of the reader. I think my title should stand out a bit more, I could increase the size. The actual image needs to be a lot larger so the detail can be seen when it is printed out.

Week 3 Monday

Today we had a critique of our latest images. I need to combine my elements together better because at the moment they look bitsy. The romance also needs to be taken up a notch so that it is obvious it is about dates. Some quotes about romance could be a nice touch to my collages. We then started drawing up some thumbnails of possible layouts including the type. Next, I need to work on how to combine type with my illustrations to create a flow that's easy to read and looks professional. Over the weekend I also took photos of my locations to add to my collages which I have thumbnailed below. 

Week 2 Thursday

Today we looked at different styles of design and how stereotypes and cliches can help represent a certain theme. For example, a scientific theme would be very structured and limited colour use. It would be analytical and methodical with a lot of straight lines. A scientific approach could be useful for my design for the Carter Observatory because I want to show a digital and technological space. After getting feedback about my 3 compositions, I think the most successful is the Observatory collage because of the intricate details and the smaller components balancing out the larger shapes and image. Now I need to further develop my other collages as well as exploring and making more compositions. 

Week 2 Monday

Today we were asked to bring in a 3D object that represented our theme. My theme is dates so I decided to bring in a rose. We then drew our object using different techniques and materials in a short time span. We were then asked to quickly put together a collage out of the drawings we had done and the material we bought for homework. This exercise was helpful in learning to layer and combine different material types which will be useful for creating more collages and images. My collage is reflecting the botanic gardens as a place to go on a date. I have attached my collage below. 

Week 1 Thursday

Today we were further developing our subject for the brochure. I was originally thinking about doing desserts for my subject but I didn't want to compete with another student who was also doing desserts. I did some more brainstorming and decided the best locations to take someone on a date would be a fun subject to do. I have not fully committed to 3 locations yet but I want to do places that are unique to Wellington such as the Space place at Carter Observatory, The botanical gardens and the beach. When critiquing our matrix's we needed to consider that each location is different enough to have different illustrations but similar enough that the brochure flows. For homework I will be researching and finding inspiration that will communicate dates.

Week 1 Monday

Today we started to brainstorm some ideas for our brochure. The headings we have to choose from are food & drink, arts & culture and sports & recreation. I am leading towards a food subject as that would be the most interesting to me. I chose the subjects of desserts, sculptures and biking to explore further in my matrix worksheets. The matrix worksheets helped to give me some ideas about how I can use the emotional connotations associated with each activity and how this can be translated in design. I have attached the group brainstorm under each heading.