Final Year University Projects

On reflection, I enjoyed working on the Handmaid’s Tale graphic. I struggled at first with the project concept as I wasn’t familiar with the source material. Once I started watching clips from the TV series, I began to understand the synopsis and core themes of the Handmaid’s Tale. Taking these motifs and creating a design for the ballet adaptation was challenging. Firstly, the deadline was originally November 24th, which did not allow too much time to ‘think outside of the box’ due to other deadlines. Therefore, I created a design quickly using the assets provided. Although I created a poster which looked professional, there wasn’t much depth behind its meaning. After the deadline was moved to January, this gave me more time to think laterally and how I could incorporate the ballet element into this.  Photographing the ballet shoes for my concept was interesting. I’m not professionally trained in this field but thought this would be the best way to create original content. As I wa...

On reflection I believe that my project was a success. I gained a substantial number of followers using hashtags and by liking and following other accounts who subsequently followed me back - overall gaining 365 followers. Instagram users genuinely seemed to enjoy my content and interacted with posts regularly, either leaving a comment or simply liking a new post. I used captions to my advantage attempting to be relatable to current affairs in politics with a light-hearted spin. This worked well as most individuals are in-tune with important government decisions regarding Brexit and the pandemic, which meant they understood my references. Providing a lighter tone, likely helped to battle the spread of negativity on social media, which may be another reason I gained so many followers. Making politicians into their fruit counterparts added humour without being mean-spirited. Making Boris a lemon fits with his personality and people’s views, Dominic was a chilli, as he brought pain to the...

All images/assets that are not stated in this blog post are my own work. For the below mock-ups: Brochure Bus Shelter Computer & Mobile Underground Train Postcard I used Adobe Stock as I have a monthly subscription for a one year licence. This allows me to download and use images for personal and commercial use. The only images that were not from Adobe Stock were: Theatre Curtain (used in my final artwork) - sourced from usplash.com by photographer Rob Laughter  https://unsplash.com/@roblaughter ENO London Coliseum Banner cropped - purchased personal-use licence from alarmy.com ENO London Coliseum image was provided by Dean while logos were either provided by Dean or from the official ENO website.

Mocking up my work is my favourite part of completing a project, as it showcases my designs in the environment they're meant to be in. I am pleased with the professional look that my mock-ups have as I haven't created my own mock-ups before using purely images. Some of these images definitely need improvement such as the train and underground images. These were taken at a very slanted angle with the main focus not being the poster. I believe that I could have taken better photographs myself, however, this isn't possible at present due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, this is something to consider in future, to showcase my work more realistically.

Previously, I would use mock-ups that had already been edited to include a design. However, during this project where possible, I wanted to create a large portion of my mockups myself, which was achieved using images from Adobe Stock. Being new to this, I did the best I could with my already-existing Photoshop knowledge regarding masks, layers and smart objects.  However, I kept coming across a problem with corners not fitting correctly as the image was slanted. Wanting to fix this, I watched a tutorial which revealed a new tool named, 'Perspective Warp'.  This ultimately, helped me save a large amount of time and I will be using this tool in future. (Design eLearning Tutorials, 2015) Design eLearning Tutorials, 2015. Photoshop: How To Change The Perspective Of An Image | Design Elearning Tutorials. [video] Available at: <https://youtu.be/42-7ecpYNiU> [Accessed 10 January 2021].

After resizing my print-material, I focused on my web-based assets. This included the two website banners and social media asset. These were relatively simple to achieve, however, I was fairly limited in terms of positioning due to the nature of the ballet shoe asset. As the arm holding the ribbons is coming from the right side, I had to play around with this in order for my copy to fit concisely. 

After my tutorial with Dean, he mentioned that the colours of my poster had exported quite dull, which was due to exporting in CMYK. He suggested adjusting the brightness, contrast, saturation and hue in Adobe Photoshop in order to achieve a more similar colour the RGB version. I attempted to get as close as I could to the RBG colours and changed my export settings so that InDesign wasn't converting my colour profile twice. I tweaked some of the overlays to make sure that the ballet shoes were able to stand out from the background. This was my final outcome for the A4 poster which I am really happy with! As I was happy with this version, I began to start resizing the graphic to fit the other print-ready materials.  This included: Bus Shelter/Underground Poster London Coliseum Banner

By continuing to use my marketing strategies, I have slowly been gaining more followers. Recently, I have found the #followforfollow and #likeforlike particularly helpful. I'm unsure whether the recent lockdown and political angst has contributed to my success but the likes per post have been faster to attain. Previously, when followers would like my posts this would take a number of days to reach a substantial number of likes around 20 - 30 likes per post maximum, now this is achievable in less than a day. So far, I have reached 347 followers, my most liked post has 40 likes, the most amount of comments received on a post is 6. I have actually really enjoyed this project and hope to post more content over the next week or so. Through completing this project, I have realised that creating high-quality original content requires a lot of thought and the caption needs to marry the visuals. In my opinion, my audience are engaged with the content due to the quality of the posts. Even th...

This short video showcases the prototype for Grumble Tum, the IBS informative solution. I decided to prototype the mobile application instead of the website as I hadn't had any experience designing an app in previous projects and therefore knew I would need longer to perfect this.

Sketched some ideas surrounding my app design for Grumble Tum.

A tutorial I used explaining how to export the prototype and view this on your phone by creating a mobile shortcut. Anima App, 2020. Create A Mobile App Prototype With Anima. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSd-NPr-TqU> [Accessed 5 January 2021].

I have put together some Pinterest Mood boards to showcase the type of style and structure I would like my website and app to have.

I updated my original Gantt Chart to include more testing and contingency in my overall plan.  In essence, I will have 340 study hours available to complete my project. My only other commitment outside of the course is part-time employment. Currently I am contracted 12-hours/week on a part-time basis as a Customer Assistant at Sainsbury’s. Although this should be taken into consideration, it will not affect the progress of my project.

During this project, there will be a substantial amount of home working and therefore a Display Screen Equipment Assessment is required to evaluate my working environment.

The hazards that may occur while disseminating my project at the degree show have been reported below in a separate risk assessment.

The hazards that may occur while working on my project (From my home office) have been reported below.

Once graduated, if coronavirus has substantially affected jobs in the creative industry, I will opt to complete postgraduate study instead of seeking a full-time position. In 2021, I will apply to postgraduate study and hopefully secure a place to have a potential next-step confirmed. Otherwise, I would like to primarily find a job as a Digital Designer or Web Designer as a graduate scheme, internship or junior position. Due to my previous employment, working part-time as a Graphic & Web Design Assistant during my second-year at Hertfordshire Students’ Union and a placement year as a Design Intern at the Walt Disney Company, I feel more confident that I would be able to successfully secure a position. My project relates to my chosen job descriptions as these roles require the same transferable design skills that I will develop while completing this project. As mentioned above, this project gives me the opportunity to progress further as I will be creating the majority of the conten...

People I will require participants for my survey I will require six participants for my user-testing Each participant will be from my target audience I will aim for balance in gender, experience, cultural background & familiarity with similar products Skills This project requires an array of creative skills and quite a demanding skill-set. However experiences gained throughout my educational and professional career should have taught me the fundamentals of these skills which this project will allow me to develop and refine further. Already building a website for Ramsay Safety Solutions using a HTML, CSS and a Bootstrap template for my second year Independent project, has already given me a good skill-set in order to complete this project. The key differences are that: This project requires original assets and is more illustrative I will ambitiously attempt to build a complimentary mobile application Although I feel confident with developing the website, my back-up plan for the mobi...

Hardware Laptop (MacBook Pro - 13-inch, 2018, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports) OS: MacOS Big Sur Processor: 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Memory: 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 1536 MB Resolution: 13.3-inch (2560 × 1600) Dimensions: 304 x 212 x 14.9 mm (H x W x D) A laptop is needed to create my project as it is an online digital web-based solution. These specifications surpass the minimum hardware requirements to run the software listed. Mobile Device (iPhone SE (2020)) OS: iOS 14.2 Processor: A13 Bionic Chip/3rd Generation Neutral Engine Storage: 128GB Resolution: Retina HD 1334 x 750 Screen Size: 4.7” Dimensions: 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm (H x W x D) Using my iPhone to test the mobile application is beneficial to this project as many of Apple’s mobile devices use the same or similar dimensions to this phone. Mobile Device (Google Pixel 5) OS: Android Version 11 Processor: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 765G 64-bit Octa-Core Adreno 620 Storage: 128GB Resolution: 1080 ...

This project allows me to develop my design skills further by giving me the opportunity to create original content. All creative assets will be my own content, illustrated using Adobe Illustrator and potentially animated in After Effects for interactivity. For processing, I will attempt to use original code where possible however I may need to use open-source websites and forums to code complex elements or to research unfamiliar topics. This will likely be using sites such as: W3Schools Stack Overflow CodePen I will ensure to detail any images, tutorials or websites used in my project for inspiration or use in my list of third-party resources, this will not exceed 15%. As I will be using a MacBook Pro running MacOS for this project. Any software that is not developed by Apple is considered third-party. This is the list of my paid third-party licences, that I intend to use for this project: Adobe Creative Cloud (1 yr licence) Adobe Stock - 10 assets/month (1 yr licence) Sketch (1 yr lic...

Release forms are important to ensure that a company or individual isn’t liable for compensation to participants involved in modelling, filming and audience testing. As this is legal documentation, I used the University of Hertfordshire’s release form template which was copy-edited and includes Grumble Tum’s branding. I will distribute this form online using Adobe Sign (included in my Adobe licence) allowing participants of the audience testing to add their signature easily.

Testing my prototyped design with members of my target audience, is extremely important when developing a project. This helps to understand the users needs and gain feedback to ultimately improve the design further. 1. Plan Test Initial briefing welcoming participants to the IBS informative solution, Grumble Tum including a brief description of the project and explanation into the project’s aims and outcomes. Set specific tasks which allows the user to interact with the website/app. These are likely to be information seeking tasks such as, find what is meant by Inflammatory Bowel Disease. This will give me data on how the user’s interact with the navigation bar in order to find this information. Reflective Survey to be delivered immediately after testing specifying information from each participant about their experiences with the product and improvements they would make. This survey will include a mixture of open and closed questions for a range of data. 3. Recruit Participants I will...

Usually any work with people requires ethics clearance. However, as my project includes audience testing and structured user-testing, I will be covered by a class protocol which allows me to complete this research without submitting an ethics approval.  When completing research, it is important to be respectful of participants’ rights and autonomy. According to Kelly, Clark, Brown and Sitzia (2003), “Any survey should be conducted in an ethical manner and one that accords with best research practice. Two important ethical issues to adhere to when conducting a survey are confidentiality and informed consent.” “The respondent’s right to confidentiality should always be respected and any legal requirements on data protection adhered to. In the majority of surveys, the patient should be fully informed about the aims of the survey, and the patient’s consent to participate in the survey must be obtained and recorded.” (Kelly, Clark, Brown and Sitzia, 2003) There are no ethical implicatio...

By planning and considering the social responsibility of my project pro-actively, I can be aware of the negative impact that my project may have on the audience and users. The aim of this project is to decrease the worry and stress associated with getting an IBS diagnosis, therefore it is important that consideration is put into the copy and visual elements. Although the risk is low, it is important to use cautious language known as ‘hedging’ in my website and app when explaining complex topics, examples of these are:  My aim is for the audience to relate to my illustrations. In order to achieve this and reach as many individuals as possible, I aim to be inclusive and promote diversity by creating characters from a variety of BAME groups. When creating the copy for this subject matter, it's easy to become too crude in a negative way. As an example, I’ve written below what is and is not appropriate

Having a good user experience is extremely important in the design and overall functionality of a product. Regardless of the nature of the product, if the user experience is pleasant and simplistic, the audience will continue to interact with the product. Positive experiences with a product can result in the target audience becoming loyal to your product or brand. When we look at user scenarios, personas, and behavioural segmentation these are all additional elements that we can use to understand the target audience and their needs. A user journey can help us determine which parts of the products the audience are most likely to interact with and the number of steps it takes for the user to reach their end goal. “Better designed products can meet the changing needs of older people and still be attractive to  younger consumers; they can open up new markets by offering older people independence and  dignity and still attract younger people with good looks and functionality.” (Pet...

Due to Coronavirus it is unknown whether the degree show will be hosted online or physically at the Art & Design Gallery at the University of Hertfordshire. However my project is flexible enough that it can be disseminated in both settings. If the degree show is held online my project can be easily distributed as it will already be hosted on the web. The mobile application will be more challenging to disseminate as this will require an additional step for the audience, however this should be relatively straightforward. Additionally my interactive prototype can be displayed online which will allow employers to see my good use of prototyping and UX skills first hand. If the degree show is in person, my project will be disseminated slightly differently. Providing devices that users can interact with such as a laptop, tablet and mobile will be beneficial for both myself and the user. As the audience interact with my project, I’ll be able to see their reactions in real-time. To promote ...

This will be an online solution which users will be able to access using an internet connection. The website will be hosted online and responsive for all devices allowing users to view Grumble Tum on a mobile, tablet and laptop/desktop. The mobile application will be uploaded to both the Google Play and IOS app stores for users to download using an OS and Android mobile device. Print material used to promote Grumble Tum will be exported for print using CMYK colours at 300dpi minimum. This will be in .pdf (print) format with print marks and a suitable bleed depending on the size of the document. The majority of digital illustrations for the website & app will be exported using RGB colours and use .png format at 150ppi maximum and 72ppi minimum to help compromise for loading speeds. Any important logos will use .svg format as this will need to be scalable for numerous devices. For social media channels, Facebook/Instagram posts will need to be 1080px x 1080px using RGB colours at 150...

 There is no easy treatment for IBS, and no cure, the most common medical treatments are: Bulk laxatives Stool softeners Antimotility drugs Antispasmodics Antimuscarinics Antidepressants (Maxwell, Mendall and Kumar, 1997) Some individuals benefit more from alternative therapies such as behavioural therapy or biofeedback, stress management, and hypnosis. Considering there is no cure, there is no surprise that patients opt for alternative treatments to relieve symptoms - these are named CAM treatments (complementary and alternative medicine). Peppermint oil Probiotics Soluble fibre Tong xie yao fang Hypnotherapy CBT (cognitive-behavioural therapy) (Shen and Nahas, 2009) Maxwell, P., Mendall, M. and Kumar, D., 1997. Irritable bowel syndrome. The Lancet, [online] 350(9092), pp.1691-1695. Available at: <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673697052768> [Accessed 31 December 2020]. Shen, Y. and Nahas, R., 2009. Complementary and alternative medicine for treatment ...

Unfortunately diagnosing IBS is not straightforward. Symptoms are shared with different diagnosis’ such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease and there is no quantitative test for IBS specifically. This is mainly diagnosed by testing to rule out other possible diagnosis’.  According to Maxwell, Mendall and Kumar (1997), attempts have been made to develop a criteria when diagnosing IBS. “The current standard definition of IBS was reached by consensus at an international working party of experts in Rome in 1989 and again in 1992 (Maxwell, Mendall and Kumar, 1997).” I have detailed the Rome criteria below due to it’s relevancy and recency.  According to Maxwell, Mendall and Kumar (1997), “Application of the Rome criteria allows a positive diagnosis of IBS to be made with confidence.” Using the Rome criteria, it is possible to have an Inflammatory Bowel Disease alongside IBS, however because both diagnosis’ share similar symptoms, this factor needs to be taken into account (Maxwell, Menda...

According to Maxwell, Mendall and Kumar (1997) in the Lancet’s journal article ‘Irritable Bowel Syndrome’, IBS was described by Osler in 1892 under the name, ‘Mucous colitis’. This definition evolved over numerous decades until 1929 when Jordan and Kiefer used, ‘Irritable colon’ to describe a “colonic musculoneural disturbance present in 30% of gastroenterology outpatients. (Maxwell, Mendall and Kumar, 1997)” Maxwell, Mendall and Kumar (1997) states, “Irritable colon described abdominal pain and disordered defaecation; it thus had a meaning similar to its present one.” IBS can have a magnitude of causes which are specific to each individual, however a figure in Maxwell, Mendall and Kumar’s (1997) article states the potential causes of IBS as a debate using the data found in other clinician’s research - I have presented this figure below to give more insight into the variants of the causation of this condition. Maxwell, P., Mendall, M. and Kumar, D., 1997. Irritable bowel syndrome. The ...

To advertise Grumble Tum, there may be a need for print material. The most suitable place would be in a doctors surgery on a bulletin board in the waiting room or as a leaflet for individuals to see in a medical environment. This would support Grumble Tum’s initiative and promote this product to the appropriate audience. Print material, unlike social media requires a colour conversion to CMYK as this is the format that most printers prefer. Unfortunately this can dull certain colours so it is important to take this into consideration. Colours may need to be converted to appear brighter as a workaround. While researching, this statement made me consider the role we have compared to the software/machinery we use to achieve results when designing. “The graphic design process is a constant exchange between uninhibited experimentation and careful judgement. Designers have various ways of facilitating a quick-ideally, uninterrupted feedback loop between imagination and analysis. The computer...

For important headings and brand name, I have decided to use the sans-serif typeface family, ‘Acumin Pro’, designed by Robert Slimbach, due to it’s versatility and variety of weights and styles. This font is not native to MacOS or Windows OS, and therefore will need to be linked using  Adobe Fonts in the HTML head in order to be accessed.  For body text, I will be using ‘Allerta’, designed by Matt McInerney. This web font will be accessed by linking to Google Fonts in the HTML head. I will be using ‘Trebuchet MS’ as an alternative font as users should already have the font pre-installed on their computers (especially those running Windows OS). Both fonts are simplistic and readable, making them perfect choices for body text. While researching these two pieces of information were the most useful to me while choosing my fonts. “Typography is possibly the most widespread of all the arts, but needs to be the most discreet. If the type distracts from the content, then it has failed...