OUGD504 Studio Brief 03 - Evaluation

For Studio brief 03, I had to create a publication from the research we did over the summer holidays. For my summer holidays I visited Montenegro. However, after taking several pictures on my phone I wasn’t happy with the quality of all of them. Luckily, I had photographs of several coffee shops that I saw in Poland. I decided to take these photographs as a backup as well as keeping them for myself. My parents own a coffee shop and I find different typography and different atmospheres within coffee shops interesting. Therefore, I decided to create a publication about Polish coffee shops which were all specifically in Warsaw, Poland. This brief was interesting as this isn’t our first publication therefore, we had to create something more innovative and interesting.

What I enjoyed the most about this brief was that we got more control of this brief. It was also a brief that last longer than one week so it was interesting to see how I would manage my time efficiently. I fancied creating something that was personal and something that I have not tried before. This brief definitely had the most experimentation within it. I created my own coffee paper that was made from placing paper in a tray of boiling coffee. This was entertaining and interesting as it was something that I have never done before and thoroughly enjoyed. I also enjoyed working with coffee to create both my front and back cover. I had created various stencils that were used with crushed coffee beans. Although it was challenging it will be something that I will be visiting again.

What I found difficult was perfecting my final publication. My final outcome was 200gsm therefore the paper was quite thick and was hard to put together. Although I found it difficult to create, I listened to my tutor’s comments and made the right adjustments towards my publication and I agree that it made it look a lot more professional and less like a one day use booklet (thrown away booklet). Another thing that I found difficult was taking out the paper from the coffee tray because the paper was soaking wet and when you picked it up it was very fragile and would easily tear apart.

What I could do next time to improve is to play more around with the front and back cover. After going to Vernon street and creating 3 separate books I then struggled to come up with a good concept for the front and back. I eventually came round to use coffee for both the front and back however, I would like to try to create a perfect bound book with content inside. I also struggled to come up with a good layout at first but with the help of Danny (my year tutor) we got together and bounced ideas from each other and this definitely helped me. Looking back at my first layout and then my final outcome I couldn’t have been more happy with the advice I got given.

To conclude, I am satisfied with my final outcome for this brief. Next time I attempt a publication I intend to use smaller gsm paper as it wouldn’t stick out as much as it does currently. I am also aware that I could use a scalpel to trim off the sides however, if I was to scalpel the sides then the writing would potentially be cut off. I am also very pleased to have created more than one booklet for this final outcome and I believe I managed my time well to do so.