Gdes3004: London Bookfair 2014 Research Visit

Great research trip today to London for students on the Gdes2001 Graphic Information Design module along with the third year Gdes3004 Children's Book Design students..

Second years were asked to analyse and document wayfinding signage in the capital and it's effectiveness to tourists/visitors and third years undertook a research task based around new developments in Children's Publishing at the London Bookfair at Earl's Court..

Student feedback on route back to Worcester suggests all had a (busy but..) good day - and all for a tenner each!

Gdes3004: Nice Examples of Student Roughs - 2014 Cohort

Here's a few quick references to ongoing rough work from students in the latest cohort of the Children's Book Design module. Some really nice early ideas and good research evidenced this week. Notable great rough work from: Polina and Cat, Matt, Rebecca and Zoe.

Cat

Andy: Cat you always create a great set of ideas and roughs and this time's no exception.. They're clear, we get an idea of both layout, design/art style as well as additional features. We suggested that you could refine by working on colour/art styles and make sure that you kept up your collection and analysis of a range of supporting research.

Matt

Andy: Matt you've pushed the boat out and have started to look into colour, art styles and visual treatments. You'd also got a range of very interesting refs in your research on your blog - I thought the 'woodcut' bold art style of particular interest and could see that it was one of your front runners too. A good early start.

Rebecca Hamilton

Andy: It's clear that you've enjoyed the development process so far here Rebecca. Your initial sketch ideas show promise, are clearly annotated and pay reference to classic characters from the likes of Beatrix Potter - which you aim to use as a narrator/character to support your menu/cooking process. Some good accompanying early research too.

Polina

Andy: You're my 'rough work hero' this week Polina. Some really lovely, well thought-through and clever ideas exhibited in your rough work. Some excellent early research undertaken and some clear and in depth annotations so we really see all of your thinking at this point. Some really good initial work - well done..

Gdes3004: Examples of Last Year's Cohort's Rough Ideas

I'm going to put up some of the great examples of last year's cohort's student ideas in this post.. There was a range of really great ideas and early thinking exhibited this week (last year) and I'm keen that students this year see examples of good practices and different approaches..

Flick: Journal research and associated notes.

Flick: Initial ideas and early sketch concepts.

Flick: Great early research examples in journal.

Rossouw: Some great initial thinking and 3x possible treatments..
Liking the messy play ideas in particular.. :)

Adam's experiments with pop-ups 01

Adam's experiments with pop-ups 02

An example of Adam's initial supporting sketches.

GDES3004: Added Features Feedback - Session Task

Please add your comments in line with the session task (link on R/H side this blog) as 'comments' to this post.

Please format as: (your names) and (book title) first.

• Describe the content of the title, format of the book and added features used.

  
• In relation to the information provided in the Powerpoint (about the way in which children learn), describe how the added features (or format) might enhance the content and engagement of the book for the child.

  
• List the senses that have been stimulated and describe how the format / design does this.

  
• Do you consider this an appropriate way to present the content (if ‘yes’ then why?). If ‘no’ discuss why and suggest an alternative approach. 

  
• Note down your responses, return the book to the rest and repeat the above with a different title. 

  
• Make sure that you look at a minimum of two titles between you

Do feel free to add additional thoughts and comments if you feel they are relevant.

Gdes3004 Wk 5 Blog Task: Make One of Your Chosen Recipes

Here's an example of me documenting myself making the 'Local Food Lunches' Purple Sprouting Broccoli recipe.

Examples of student work returned (this to be added to further):

Hannah Wood

Click to see larger version.

Andy: I think you've worked in some lovely ideas here Hannah. It's clear, the well-numbered steps are clearly separated and legible, the photography is appropriate and compliments the wording well. I really like the focus you've made on food miles and the associated graphical treatment too. A great piece of early work in this genre.

Sarah Kimbrey

Click to see larger version.

Andy: Some great photography here Sarah - lovely short depth of field shots, clear staging of imagery, like the informal-looking annotations too and linking arrows etc. Job well done in respect of this task!

Megan Feeley

Click to see larger version.

Andy: Like the 'polaroid' treatment here Megan and the idea of informally pinning/sticking a recipe to a corkboard etc. Clear staged imagery and you've also managed to summarise the process in the original recipe somewhat too. I think there's room to do this but it may need some kind of user testing to ascertain if the level of detail is still appropriate to effectively tackle the task.. Some nice early work though..

GDES3004 Welcome and Last Year's Students / Their Project

Welcome to the new cohort(s) this year for the Gdes3004 Children's Book Design module.. This is (still) a growing area in publishing and employs a range of graphic designers in various roles within the industry and as freelancers. This year we're helped-out by Lynda Murray on thursday evenings. Lynda has also worked within the children's publishing industry and will also be helping us out on the annual module trip to the London Book Fair in early April this year.

Student comments:

“This module and project has both widened my knowledge and introduced me to key considerations in children’s picture book design and has enabled me to understand why they are so important… I have enjoyed this module immensely and feel that with that learnt I will be able to take forward in my illustrative practise and build on this in the future.” 

“The module has given me a completely new perspective on design in the method of designing for children. This audience is more versatile than any other user group I have ever designed for and getting into the mind set and really trying to think about what a child would find interesting was incredibly challenging to begin with. However appropriate research into child behaviour, learning styles, mentality, testing and even getting my hands dirty my self, aided this development.”

Samples of last year's student work:

Sample cover page.

Sample inner page spread.

Sample inner page spreads.

Sample cover/mockup

Sample inner page spread.

Students Aim to Spark Interest in the Natural World

Designs from graphics student Tom Game

(This is a copy of a UW News Article)
Graphic Design students from the University of Worcester have been working alongside a children’s author on a project designed to encourage children’s engagement with nature.

The students were asked to research and develop graphical solutions to help authors Gyles Morris and John Cook – of rural studies centre Naturesbase – to create an activity book that would appeal to school age children.

The concept for the book came about in response to growing discussion linked to ‘nature deficit disorder’- a condition associated with British children losing touch with the natural world.

Author Gyles explains: “All of the recent research into children’s lifestyles points to the remarkable collapse of their engagement with nature and the huge reductions in time and growing restrictions on playing outdoors. Growing numbers of children are missing out on the real experiences of the natural world and the awe and wonder of being amongst trees, wildlife and landscapes.”

After spending time at the University and continually monitoring the students’ progress, Gyles and his team are now in the process of reviewing the various student submissions, and he believes that the link-up between Naturesbase and the University has been successful.

He adds: “The collaboration between our rural studies centre and the Graphic Design & Multimedia course has been an exciting one and especially informative, with the project now ready to go to the next stage.”

Senior Lecturer in Design, Andy Stevenson, says that the project has been beneficial to his students in a number of ways:

“The subject matter has touched on various areas including sustainability, learning activity design and methods to help re-engage primary age children with their natural environment.”

He continues: “It’s been a great collaboration to undertake and Gyles’ workshop earlier in the year took the students out of the classroom and made them really think again about the value of their outdoor environment.”