Out of a selection of previous outcomes to past university briefs, I have chosen to critique them and see if I believe that they answer their respective briefs well.
These are the questions I will be answering about each:
1. Does it provide a solution that fits the brief?
2. What colour schemes have been used?
3. What art styles have been used and are they appropriate?
4. Does their use of type work?
5. Has the corporate ID been incorporated well?
6. Is there visual complexity or simplicity?
7. Are there mock-ups of the info being on location?
8. Do you think there could be any improvements?
After answering the above questions for each example, I will then answer the following one:
– Do you feel that the analysis has added to your ideas for your own project?
- I do believe that this piece answers the brief nicely as it has all the elements that is needed on an information board in nature, such as facts about the route/surrounding area, a map and a set of illustrations that come together in a nicely composed format.
- The colour schemes that have been used are a combination of greens and off-whites for the backgrounds, titles and illustrations. Red is also used to highlight key areas on the map, fun games for children and a factfile about the Wyre Forest, not just the route.
- I do believe that the illustration style is appropriate as there are so many information graphics and boards that just use the standard graphic design style. Graphic design styles are not bad but because they are over used, it allows for the more illustrative styles to really stand out among them.
- The type that the designer has chosen fits the graphical style well. As far as I can tell, they are existing fonts but they work so well with the artist’s illustrations, it is very hard to tell as it looks as though one was made for the other.
- The corporate ID runs along the bottom of almost all of the designs and acts as the darkest shade of green used. It works particularly well in the information board as it appears to be the forest floor in the illustration featuring the Gruffalo and the trees. This means that, despite the logos and text being white, standing out from the dark green, they can be easily overlooked if the viewer is not hunting for them, thus not compromising the illustrations or the flow of the overall design.
- Despite looking like there is a lot going on and the illustrations are detailed, I think that the board and designs are at least a little simplistic. There are some areas that don’t have anything in, allowing the audience to view the board and not feel overwhelmed with the amount of text or drawings that are present. The argument could be made that this board has complexity, however, and I would definitely be able to understand why.
- There are mock-ups included of the board being within a forest and demonstrating the eye line of someone with average height which helps show how it would look in location. There is also an image of the app in use on a phone, something that the people following the route will also use.
- I do not believe that there can be any improvements to this design. I am a big fan of the illustrations and how well they work with the composition, corporate IDs and the font. It all feels as though each element has been thought of and nothing feels out of place.
1. Assuming that the brief was similar to the one that we are currently working on, this outcome does fulfil the brief requirements. However, there is not a mobile/digital version of the map. This could have been a difference between this year’s brief and the example’s year’s brief.
2. The colour scheme that has been used is a four-tone green with a blue which I assume is the corporate ID’s colour. This works well as there are no contrasting or jarring colours. All colours used are nature themed which means that would largely go unnoticed by people who weren’t looking for them along the trail.
3. The main art style that has been used is cartoons but, as far as I can tell, digitally rendered, unlike the previous example which was hand rendered and then digitally enhanced.
4. I feel like the typeface does work a little with the overall design, however, I feel like a sans serif font might have worked better with the cartoon style. This could be a stipulation given by the client in which case, sans serif was not an option.
5. I believe that the corporate ID has been incorporated well because it is a little difficult to tell exactly what is on there as part of the corporate ID. This means that the logos, colour schemes and fonts are not so obvious to the audience that they subtract from the overall design.
6. The design is definitely simple in it’s style but the map looks a bit too complicated to flow properly with the simplicity of the rest of the board. The map might have had to be complex in design though, if there was too much information needed to include to simplify.
7. As I have already stated, there is a lack of a mobile mock-up but that may have been intentional. The finger post as well as the main information board works well on location. The leaflet looks very good on the mock-up and I especially like how it folds and it is not a conventional shape.
8. I do believe that there are improvements that can be made and I think I covered them all in the above points, as I was going along!
– Do you feel that the analysis has added to your ideas for your own project?
I feel as though I at least want to try an illustrative style, like the first example, as it stands out and looks very appealing. Having similar colours in the same scheme has also proved to work with the brief and I would also like to attempt to have the the corporate IDs working with the design, rather than be separate.
Information Graphics 