#learningagreement

Small businesses are constantly struggling to survive in the current market. A looming recession and lingering effects from Covid has led to businesses failing and losing the loyal following of their brand. My initial research has found that having a strong visual identity that surround customer experience, gives a small business an advantage over large corporations. This makes them stand out and allows them to build the loyal following they need to survive.

I will develop visual identity for a fictional small business that combines ceramics and flower arrangements. It will focus on the customers experience and how they will interact with the brand. This will need to be designed and created to a professional standard, making sure to use mock-ups and software such as Adobe dimensions, to visualise the brand in a physical space.

To inform the direction of my project, I will continue to research existing brands, surrounding the combination of two business concepts (LO1). I will also explore current industry trends to inform my visual experiments and developments by looking at contemporary branding and rebranding of locally owned businesses (LO2). To efficently structure my project, I will use a rough time plan of my full project to inform weekly in-depth schedules (LO3). To develop my designs I will reflect on my research a experiments to make my choices informed (LO4).

This project will help me to understand the industry I wish to explore further throughout my career. By looking at why a visual identity is important for a small business, I will be able to form an insight which may change how I approach design for their visual identities. This will expand my knowledge of industry trends as well as being able to form my own design ethos. I will be developing my research skills by using more primary forms of research, such as interviews and visiting locations. This includes asking business owners about their experience as well as looking at industry standards for current visual identity designs.

Name: Holly Oxley  

Course: Visual Communication  

Level: 5  

Unit: Concepts of Visual Language 

Unit Code: VCO565 

Credit points: 40  

Study hours: 400  

Tutor(s): Rich Hurst and Mark Pavey 

Synopsis of Study 

Creative students find it hard to manage their time efficiently. They may have multiple projects running at the same time, which can make balancing the projects and their personal time hard. Through initial research I have found that half of students do not use a tool to aid them with time management because they find that planners and apps do not always have the features they need. 

I will develop a tool that aids University students, in creative subjects, to manage their time efficiently. It should focus on structuring a creative project and managing different projects that may be running at the same time. This will need to be designed and created to a professional standard, making sure to create prototypes throughout the project.  

I will focus on exploring how I can make my page designs engaging by looking at contemporary designers (LO3). I will also explore industry standard methods that students may be able to implement into their creative practice. To inform the generation of my ideas, I will use questionnaires to gather information on the types of features my audience needs (LO2). Throughout the project I will gather feedback from my audience to make sure my designs suit the audience’s style and needs (LO2). To make my designs simple and easy to use I will explore semiotics and theories behind ways to improve time management (LO1). 

This project will help me to develop my design skills, which is a subject I wish to explore further throughout my career. It will also develop my skills with experimentation and organization. Through the research required for this project, I will expand my knowledge on Industry methods. I will be developing my research skills by looking at methods to include the audience in my creative process. This will include questionnaires asking for feedback and asking a group of people in my target audience to test out the planner and provide more detailed feedback. 

My target audience are university students, on creative courses, who are aged 18-24. Although this audience is narrowed, I will need to make sure I ask a variety of people for feedback within the audience as they have different preferences and needs. 

When creating my ideas, I will need to consider what needs to be included to successfully structure and plan a creative project. I will need to include what methods I should use to help the audience plan their time efficiently. I should also consider methods to separate the projects as my audience has stated that tasks become overwhelming because the tasks from multiple projects get overlapped. 

Aims 

A1 To identify links between my specialist topic and relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks through independent led research and critical understanding. 

A2 To strengthen my ability to define problems and generate ideas using different approaches to solve them appropriate to my audience. 

A3 To develop my creativity, knowledge and understanding of practice through effective use of communication in professional contexts. 

Learning Outcomes 

LO1 Demonstrate my understanding of relevant theoretical/conceptual frameworks through independent led research and critical reflection. 

LO2 Demonstrate my ability to problem solve using different approaches and defining my ideas in relation to audience/user/viewer. 

LO3 Generate effective communication that demonstrates: 

Solutions that show an awareness of contemporary practice within professional contexts 

Work that shows a high degree of creativity and aesthetic judgment.  A body of work containing sketchbooks, process book, blog posts and worksheets showing your design.  process: research, analysis, ideas development and final designs. 

  Assessment Components 

All digital files must be named / labelled correctly and submitted. 

  All final outcomes must be presented to a professional industry standard. 

  100% body of work (Tutor Assessed) 

Reference 

Allcot, G. (2016). How to be a productivity ninja: worry less, achieve more, love what you do. London: Icon Books. 

Levacy, M. (n.d.). An Art Student’s Guide to Time Management. Cry The Bird. [Online]. Available from: https://crythebird.com/other-stuff/time-management-for-art-students/. [Accessed 4 May 2023] 

Virtual College. (2021). A Guide to Time Management Models. [Online]. Available from: https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/time-mangement-models/. [Accessed 4 May 2023] 

Roos, D. (2016) Don’t read this book: Time management for creative people. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers. 

Action plan/time plan 

Week 1 

Wednesday – Unit introduction 

Thursday - Briefing with EMP. Start generating ideas with group. 

Friday – Conduct initial research into existing apps. Start planning the basic wireframe for the app, using research to inform design choices. 

Saturday – Meet with the group to combine ideas and develop the wireframe. 

Week 2 

Monday - Refine UX design for App. Present concept and idea to EMP. Use feedback to refine UX design. Add colour palette and font choice. Combine avatar design, videos and logo my team have created. 

Tuesday - Design Buttons and Icons for App, using design elements from existing apps and my team's art style as inspiration. 

Wednesday – Meet up with group to refine app and plan out presentation. Practice Presentation and upload it to the online file. 

Thursday – Present EMP Presentation. Refine app using the feedback from presentation 

Friday – Refine EMP outcomes. 

Saturday – Use lists I created last week to start generating ideas for brief. Start sketching layouts for Process book. Look at existing book layouts to get inspiration. Choose 3 topics and conduct initial research to see which Idea has the most potential. 

Week 3  

Tuesday – Generate ideas for topic of brief. Use lists from last week. Mind map 3 ideas with potential, looking at possible research methods and outcomes. 

Wednesday – Binding workshop with Konstantina 

Thursday – Learning agreement workshop 

Friday – Choose the topic for the brief and refine idea using the ideas I generated. 

Week 4 

Monday - Conduct initial research (Questionnaire and looking at existing planners). Collect research together 

Tuesday – Visualize primary research. Start constructing learning agreement using bullet points. Write up learning agreement. Create a more in-depth time plan based on learning agreement.  

Wednesday - Refine learning agreement, making sure it fits the LOs. Tutorial with Rich. Use feedback to develop and refine learning agreement 

Thursday – Develop and finalise learning Agreement. Look at additional research material for my research project. 

Friday – Hand in learning agreement. 

Saturday – Generate initial ideas on the contents of planner and how it could look. Conduct further research for independent project looking at methods of time management. 

Week 5 

Monday – Create a Questionnaire to gain information on project structure and time management of audience. Generate initial ideas on the overall form of the tool. 

Tuesday – Start experimenting with ways to create the tool and how it will help. 

Wednesday – Create mini-petcha Kuta using experiments and research. 

Thursday – Tutorial. Develop ideas using feedback. 

Friday – Research Industry techniques and how they make planning easy and engaging. 

Week 6 

Monday – Use research of contemporary methods to refine ideas. Research reasons why students find it hard to manage their time. Research other methods to encourage motivation. 

Tuesday – Use research to develop ideas. 

Wednesday – Choose 3 designs from my idea generations and implement ideas into refined prototypes. May have tutorial. 

Thursday – May have tutorial. Create prototypes and critically reflect on them. Develop the designs using reflection. 

Friday – Gather a group of volunteers from the target audience to choose one of the 3 Prototypes and test it for 1 week. 

Week 7 

Monday – Create a feedback form/questionnaire for the group testing the prototypes. 

Tuesday – Research Semiotics to explore ways of making the tool easy to use and understand. 

Wednesday – Experiment with the aesthetic design of the planner. Look at experimental mark making, photography and other image creation methods. 

Thursday – Continue experimentation. 

Friday – Gather feedback from audience who have tested the layouts. Combine these experiments with the tool design that has been most successful.  

Week 8 

Monday – Use feedback to develop one of the designs, using the experiments and previous research. 

Tuesday – Create a presentation for the final Critique. Create a small mockup for the final critique. 

Wednesday – May have final critique. Refine designs using feedback 

Thursday – May have final critique. Develop designs using feedback. 

Friday – Create final tool, using my research and feedback. 

Week 9 

Learning agreement

Football at all levels is experiencing arise in instances of discrimination. This has led to a rise in football-related arrests for the first time in almost a decade.

To tackle this issue will create a magazine that will educate and change the views towards discrimination with football. I will consider how the publication will be laid out and take the audience on a journey. I may also investigate how the publication could encourage people to play football and how they can make an influence within the game.

I will consider how the publication will educate people about discrimination in football. During the planning and layout of the publication, I will make it a safe place to discuss the issues such as personal security, accessibility, and freedom within. This will be carried out by research that investigates different footballing events. With the publication I will aim to change the public attitudes towards sexism and misogyny and how they need changing within the footballing community. To support it I will look at the projects and groups that are already involved within tackling these issues.

Depending in which social issues are included within my body of work, the magazine aims to change those who attend football matches and those who have discriminated against those involved within a football event. The book will be a mixed between edited photography associated with football.

Notes from tutorial.

·       Unpick Bournemouth fc

·       Chants, creativity, influence

·       Social values, language, format rhymes

·       Unite

·       Editorial – typography reflect environment.

·       Conservations/relationship – bringing people together.

·       Personal point of view

·       Interaction when ball goes off pick.

LO1 needs to be considered.

Zoom idea out as planner is too restrictive.

Focus on the idea of students having trouble managing their time.

Good to use broad audience.

Questions the notion of a planner.

Is a planner creatively restrictive.

Look at agile work flows and design sprints.

A platform to design a planner - Idea

Could you look at motivational queote.

Discuss methods with learning support.

Background (field of study): North Korea is one of the most oppressive authoritarian governments in the world and an estimated 1,000 of its residents escape every year. The journey to reach freedom is extremely dangerous for defectors and charities such as LINK need every donation they can get.

Creative Challenge (methodology): You should consider the best way to bring awareness to this issue and think about the ways in which to cultivate donations from an audience.

Considerations (context): The consideration for ethics is important in the deliverables of representing refugee stories and you should think about how you can ensure you represent their experiences accurately and without exploitation.

Target Audience (context): The UK are yet to be educated on the struggles of North Korean refugees so consider how you can inform this audience in hopes of them empathising and donating towards the cause.

Synopsis of study

For this assessment I aim to produce an exhibition piece depicting the journey of defectors escaping North Korea in hope of bringing awareness to the charity Liberty in North Korea. This organization helps defectors cross the borders and into safety, whilst also providing mental health support to refugees after they have settled. The journey to freedom is a dangerous feat and charities are reliant on donations to support refugees. North Korea is thought to be one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world and an estimated 1,000 of its residents escape every year. I am passionate about the wellbeing of all people and have touched on marginalized communities within previous projects, such as my work on the Peaceful Pods project and its aim to provide sensory-friendly spaces for autistic individuals. I wanted to further explore the impact design could have on marginalized communities and allow for my design to cultivate charitable donations in aid of supporting Liberty in North Korea. My illustrative skills have yet to expand beyond abstract representations and so my aim for this project is to try a different style of working. My work will be inspired by the silhouette artist Kara Walker and her exhibition pieces that depict the violent history of American colonialism and slavery. The UK is still behind when it comes to helping North Korean defectors, with 30 out of the 40 asylum appeals rejected in 2013, according to a report from European Council on Refugees and Exiles. It is clear that education on North Korean defectors is needed in the UK and an exhibition piece would allow for this. The feasibility of creating a physical exhibition within this time limit is unrealistic and so the proposed outcome may be restricted to that of a conceptual design.

Ethical issues

Stories from defectors are published and available on the web, but do I need direct consent to base artworks on their stories?

Aims 

        A1 To identify links between my specialist topic and relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks through independent led research and critical understanding

A2 To strengthen the ability to define problems and generate ideas using different approaches to solve them appropriate to an identified audience

A3 To develop my creativity, knowledge and understanding of practice through the effective use of communication in professional contexts

Learning outcomes:

LO1 Demonstrate my understanding of relevant theoretical/conceptual frameworks through independent led research and critical reflection

LO2 Demonstrate my ability to problem solve using different approaches and defining my ideas in relation to audience/user/viewer

LO3 Generate effective communication that demonstrate:

solutions that show an awareness of contemporary practice within professional contexts

Once I had written the main synopsis of my learning agreement, I began looking at the other sections including the LOs and time plan. I will present this draft of my learning agreement to Rich in the tutorial.

Learning Agreement 

Name: Holly Oxley 

Course: Visual communication 

Level: 6 

Unit: Concepts of visual language 

Unit Code: 

Credit Points: 40 

Study hours: 400 hours 

Tutors: Ruch Hurst and Mark Pavey 

Background 

Ordinary, everyday planners do not always work for creative students. They make it hard to separate projects and become crowded because of the limited writing space. When planning out a project it can be hard to visualize the different tasks that need to be completed because a planner is based on weeks and years, not the tasks that need to be completed.  

Creative challenge 

Develop a planner that aids University students, in creative subject, to manage their time efficiently. It should focus on structuring a creative project and managing different projects that may be running at the same time. This will need to be printed and bound to a professional standard, making sure to create prototypes throughout the project.  

I will focus on exploring how I can make my page designs engaging by looking at contemporary designers (LO3). To inform the generation of my ideas, I will use questionnaires to gather information on the types of features my audience needs (LO2). Throughout the project I will gather feedback from my audience to make sure my designs suit the audience’s style and needs (LO2). To make my designs simple and easy to use I will explore semiotics (LO1). 

This project will help me to develop my book design skills, which is a subject I wish to explore further throughout my career. It will also develop my skills with experimentation and organization. Through the research required for this project, I will expand my knowledge on contemporary book designers. I will be developing my research skills by looking at methods to include the audience in my creative process. This will include questionnaires asking for feedback and asking a group of people in my target audience to test out the planner and provide more detailed feedback. 

Target audience 

My target audience are university students on creative courses, who are aged 18-24. Although this audience is narrowed, I will need to make sure I ask a variety of people for feedback within the audience as they have different preferences and needs. 

Consideration 

When creating my ideas, I will need to consider what needs to be included to successfully structure and plan a creative project. I will need to include what methods I should use to help the audience plan their time efficiently. I should also consider methods to separate the projects as my audience has stated that tasks become overwhelming because the tasks from multiple projects get overlapped. For the planner, I will need to consider what size would be most comfortable to use: It should be small enough to fit into most bags but big enough to write information in each section. 

Deliverables 

A Printed and bounded planner. 

A process book documenting the in-depth process. 

A blog documenting the whole process. 

Ethical issues 

Aims 

A1 To identify links between my specialist topic and relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks through independent led research and critical understanding. 

A2 To strengthen my ability to define problems and generate ideas using different approaches to solve them appropriate to my audience. 

A3 To develop my creativity, knowledge and understanding of practice through effective use of communication in professional contexts. 

Learning Outcomes 

LO1 Demonstrate my understanding of relevant theoretical/conceptual frameworks through independent led research and critical reflection. 

LO2 Demonstrate my ability to problem solve using different approaches and defining my ideas in relation to audience/user/viewer. 

LO3 Generate effective communication that demonstrates: 

Solutions that show an awareness of contemporary practice within professional contexts 

Work that shows a high degree of creativity and aesthetic judgment. 

Time plan 

Week 1 

Wednesday – Unit introduction 

Thursday - Briefing with EMP. Start generating ideas with group. 

Friday – Conduct initial research into existing apps. Start planning the basic wireframe for the app, using research to inform design choices. 

Saturday – Meet with the group to combine ideas and develop the wireframe. 

Week 2 

Monday - Refine UX design for App. Present concept and idea to EMP. Use feedback to refine UX design. Add colour palette and font choice. Combine avatar design, videos and logo my team have created. 

Tuesday - Design Buttons and Icons for App, using design elements from existing apps and my team's art style as inspiration. 

Wednesday – Meet up with group to refine app and plan out presentation. Practice Presentation and upload it to the online file. 

Thursday – Present EMP Presentation. Refine app using the feedback from presentation 

Friday – Refine EMP outcomes. 

Saturday – Use lists I created last week to start generating ideas for brief. Start sketching layouts for Process book. Look at existing book layouts to get inspiration. Choose 3 topics and conduct initial research to see which Idea has the most potential. 

Week 3  

Tuesday – Generate ideas for topic of brief. Use lists from last week. Mindmap 3 ideas with potential, looking at possible research methods and outcomes. 

Wednesday – Binding workshop with Konstantina 

Thursday – Learning agreement workshop 

Friday – Choose the topic for the brief and refine idea using the ideas I generated. 

Week 4 

Monday - Conduct initial research (Questionnaire and looking at existing planners). Collect research together 

Tuesday – Visualize primary research. Start constructing learning agreement using bullet points. Write up learning agreement. Create a more in-depth time plan based on learning agreement.  

Wednesday - Refine learning agreement, making sure it fits the LOs. Tutorial with Rich. Use feedback to develop and refine learning agreement 

Thursday – Develop and finalise learning Agreement. Look at additional research material for my research project. 

Friday – Hand in learning agreement. 

Saturday – Generate initial ideas on the contents of planner and how it could look. Conduct further research for independent project looking at contemporary designers. 

Week 5 

Monday – Create a Questionnaire to gain information on project structure of audience. Generate initial ideas on the overall form of the Planner 

Tuesday – Start experimenting with page layouts and features. 

Wednesday – Create mini-petcha Kuta using experiments and research. 

Thursday – Tutorial. Develop page layouts using feedback. 

Friday – Research contemporary book designers and how they make information engaging using page layouts. 

Week 6 

Monday – Use research of contemporary designers to refine designs. Research colour theory to explore what colours would be best used for the planner to increase motivation. Research other methods to encourage motivation. 

Tuesday – Use research to develop Page Layout designs. 

Wednesday – Choose 3 designs from my idea generations and implement design for all the pages. May have tutorial. 

Thursday – May have tutorial. Print out page layouts and critically reflect on them. Develop the designs using reflection. 

Friday – Gather a group of volunteers from the target audience to choose one of the 3 developed layouts and test it for 1 week. 

Week 7 

Monday – Create a feedback form/questionnaire for the group testing the layouts. Research possible binding methods. 

Tuesday – Create prototype of binding methods to explore which method would be most suitable for the planner. Ask feedback from the audience. 

Wednesday – Experiment with the aesthetic design of the planner. Look at experimental mark making, photography and other image creation methods. 

Thursday – Continue experimentation. 

Friday – Combine these experiments with page layouts. Gather feedback from audience who have tested the layouts. 

Week 8 

Monday – Use feedback to develop one of the designs, using the experiments and previous research. 

Tuesday – Create a front cover, using the images, marks and illustrations used for the page layouts. Create a presentation for the final Critique. Create a small mockup for the final critique. 

Wednesday – May have final critique. Refine designs using feedback 

Thursday – May have final critique. Develop designs using feedback. 

Friday – Create final planner, using the chosen binding method and type of paper. 

Week 9