OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Creative Report - Ideas Crit

After successfully completing all 3 of my interviews it's time to actually start making the physical creative report. As the interviews went down a different route to the one I was expecting - originally hoping it would be a publication highlighting the opportunities Sheffield presented to young designers, I don't know whether a booklet will be appropriate now for the content I have gathered. For this reason, I took part in a crit with a few members of my class to discuss and go through ideas.

Idea 01:

My first idea was to create a small book/publication/zine, splitting up the 3 interviews and showing examples of the studio's portfolio's, the studio's space and the designers themselves. The book would talk a bit about Sheffield as a city first to make the questions asked in the interview relevant and highlight how it was a book on an interview with Sheffield's up and coming design studio's. 

However, once I explained the problem to the crit group about what the design studios said about Sheffield's design scene being lacking, they all agreed that maybe a book of this nature wouldn't be appropriate. 

We also agreed that the design studios featured wouldn't be that bothered about having a copy to keep as the would have known what they had said in the interview and the advice from the other design studios wouldn't appeal to or be interesting to them.

Idea 02:

My second idea is to create a poster series showcasing the interviews on the back with, quotes of advice from the design studios on the front. This would be beneficial as ultimately the interviews would be read by young graduate graphic designers as a lot of the questions I asked covered how the designers started off in the industry, their way of working and any advice they would give to younger creatives. 

Everyone agreed that this idea seemed a lot more relevant as the Designer's/studios that I interviewed could put the posters I made up on their wall, as a thank you gift for taking part in the interview and it would also be a good token to remember me from. 

The posters could also then be sold to design students and graduates as pieces of advice to have up on their walls to look at when designing. Then when they wanted they could take the posters down and read the interviews on the back for more advice and put it back when they didn't need it.

Idea 03:

Create an Instagram to showcase the interviews. I could make it in a really stylized way zooming in on particular quotes, using different styles of typography and featuring images of the studio's work and office spaces to make a really digitally interactive platform to showcase the information. The content gathered from the interview could also be written in the captions of the posts, keeping the main feed visually bright, bold, eye-catching and engaging. I could also tag and link in the studios and it would be a good way to keep in touch and regularly update the account. Some of the images could connect to make larger scale photographs. 

This idea could lead on to conducting more interviews and developing the Instagram which more studios both inside and outside of Sheffield with the goal of informing young creatives and sharing advice and ideas - building a large support network.

Idea 04:

Finally, a blog. Similar to the Instagram idea I could create a blog to showcase the interviews. However doing this idea would mean I wouldn't have anything physical to send back to the studios as thanks for doing the interviews. 

Feedback

Feedback given from my peers stated that they liked ideas 02 and 03 the best. A lot of people stated that for Idea 02 having a poster series would succinctly link all 3 interviews together and it wouldn't matter that the questions asked about Sheffield weren't as in favour of the Sheffield design scene as I had hoped, as they are their honest opinions and it doesn't affect the advice they gave for the quote on the front. 

It would also mean that I could give them a copy of the poster which they could put up in their studios to remember me by. This would be good as it would mean I had successfully branched out and started networking with creatives in the Sheffield area and if I ever needed help on anything in the future they would know who I was.

There was also a lot of positive feedback about Idea 02. People said that they liked the idea of having an Instagram building a support network for young designers through interviewing experienced creatives. However, you wouldn't be able to give the studios you interviewed anything physical. 

After the Feedback, I have decided to go forward with Idea 02 as it is the idea that received the most positive feedback and the one I think will be most effective for what I'm trying to achieve.