Final Group Project - Millennial’s Guide: Bags
For this project, my group decided to focus on different types of bags for young millennials around our age. We chose this as we considered that most of the millennials at this age are starting to/already working, hence, having a good quality yet affordable bag is important to them. Since the millennials are just starting to earn their own incomes, we thought of possible budget constraints and did not include the higher end luxury bags.
Initially, the group decided to work on Le Pliage from Longchamp, however, based on feedback, the scope seems too narrow and might only interest people who likes that brand. Therefore, we expanded our range by including a few more brands that we feel are useful to our target group. The additional brands are Fjallraven (kanken), Fila and Coach. We decided to split up the work by each taking up a brand that we are more familiar with. Since the brands all have different styles, we decided to make each spread according to the general styles of the brand.
I gained from the sharing of knowledge among the group, as well as improving my designing skills and becoming more familiar with the various software. Prior to this module, I have zero experience using the Illustrator, Photoshop and In-design. However, through the various individual assignments, I learnt and explored the various functions, and able to decide when to use which software when designing. For instance, the pen tool at illustrator is the best to trace the bags, then moving on to Photoshop to crop and edit the colours. I also learnt how simple edits can easily change the looks of the whole page. Simply by adding shadows, the bags have a depth effect added to the page, making the page looks less plain.
Additionally, I learnt the importance of compromising during group projects and learn to look at things as a bigger picture. In my group, we split up the work that each of us takes care of a brand’s bags. Although we discussed the general layout and style for our spread, when we collate all for the critique, the guidebook seems more like a forced collection of 4 designs instead of viewing it as a complete book. For instance, the minimalist vibe of Fila is contrasted with the other brands who have more words in the spread. Although some designs might look nice if I add it into the spread, I reminded myself to always consider how it will look like as a whole book. Therefore, after looking at my group mates designs, I made various changes to the pages in order to ensure maximum consistency is achieved when we collate the pages. For example, I used to have a white border surrounding my model, however, I decided to remove it eventually in order to fit in as a whole, replacing the white borders with labels that explains features of the bag as what I got from some of the tutorial’s feedback. When we were working on our parts, I actively provided feedback in group chat when we share our designs, in order to ensure we have a sense of consistency for this guidebook.
After this project, I feel that one of the difficulties faced from our group project is ensuring everyone is on the same page and level of understanding. Due to Covid-19, the only tool of communication we have is through calls. As such, although we tried to discuss and standardize through the calls, there is still a limit for what each of us understood. It is only until we share our sketch that we realised what it means. To improve the consistency in the booklet, we agreed on changing all of our backgrounds to a pink tone palette, and having a brief standardization of our spread layouts.
In addition, due to the various commitments of different members, I volunteered and took up the role of reminding the group whenever we are near our submission deadline. I also volunteered to consolidate the prototype, as well as designing the cover page and provide suggestions for the introduction and content page. Initially, we missed out the second page and made the content page landscape. However, this issue is resolved with us including an additional introduction page before content page, based on the feedback received.
Generally, I think we work well together as we all finished our parts before the deadline. We came a long from from our first draft, with massive changes made after each feedback sessions. I am proud that we improved a lot since our critiques. Within the group, we help out one another frequently. For instance, I helped out to draw the coach signature bag when one of my teammate faces difficulties drawing with the Illustrator. However, I also noted that there is a limit on the amount of feedback I should give and it is up to them if they want to accept or reject the comments. I set a limit to my feedback as I respect that it is a group project and I should also respect the decisions of my group mates and their design styles.
In conclusion, I learnt the importance of having inspirations (being creative), ability to use the tools effectively and learning from the mistakes made. I used to forget to save my products in the indd file. As such, every time I need to edit, I have to redo the whole design. Now, I always save a copy as the various editable formats just to be extra safe. Also, sometimes after looking at the design for a long period of time, I tend to neglect certain parts of the details. Only through reading the various comments and feedback from the tutorial class that I realised I should modify some parts of the pages. Therefore, I conclude that one of the most important things when doing design is having an open mind. Most of the time, compared to the original draft, my final product looks nothing close to the initial sketch. The parts that I am thankful for are the comments and suggestions from the tutorial class that made me improve every time. It is the only way the designs will get better each time it is edited. Thank you!
