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COLLABORATION

Improve design projects through collaboration.

MAJOR PROJECTS
Feedback and Improvements

Each of the major development projects of the MADMANZ March branding was developed over four weeks per project. Each week, feedback was given to improve the material being produced and reflections were considered when the next week’s work was done.

 

These developments were made before asset delivery to avoid potential design pitfalls and to avoid spending essential funding on fixing easily avoidable errors, a tactic highly recommended by marketing strategy experts for maximum design effectiveness (Philips, 2020). The first impression a viewer gets will always be the most important, as the first few seconds of viewing can reveal whether a viewer feels disgust, boredom, or intrigue in the design, which determines whether the design is successful or ineffective (Whitenton, 2018).  This process is also done to avoid various types of biases that could show up in the data if the focus group and ROI tests are done appropriately (Full Sail Online, 2024).

 

All sections will have feedback from the professional team and the A/B testing or focus groups for each project, as taking both into account increases design effectiveness while keeping the design team grounded and confident, increasing productivity (Demers, 2020). Each section will contain an officially instated critique and a self-reflection, each technically counting as a single “feedback.” The official critique will be labeled “Feedback” along with the number, and the self-reflection will be labeled “Self-Reflection” with a number label.

KnarrE_Album_Cover_Illustration.png

Cover for the MADMANZ Album

Click images in gallery or "Read more" to expand and view full Critique Notes

Specific notes on Changes Made/Actions Taken are shown in the galleries.

LOGO DEVELOPMENT
(Feedback 1-8) 

Week 1

Feedback 1

 

Avoid picking logo options based on personal aesthetic preferences and elaborate on what makes each option effective or ineffective. Explain how it fits into the look and feel of the brand. Consider combining logo options 6 and 11.

 


Self Assessment 2

 

Thumbnails feel stiff and stereotypical – there is a vagueness that can be applied to any brand. The thumbs were almost applied mindlessly. Knowing this was with the intention of determining general design motifs, this might be acceptable but might not be for other projects. Sketchy quality and poorer quality scanning might be a deterrent for clients in the future.

 


Action Taken

 

Many of the initial picks from the logo thumbnails were made with the preferences of an individual designer in mind with no regard for the band. This was because it was initially perceived that all the options would be an appropriate fit for the band, but this was quickly disproven. After further reflection, options that fit the brand better were considered.

MATERIAL CREATION
(Feedback 9-16) 

Week 1

Feedback 9

 

The first step was to create a schedule and show a “current” vision board – steps were taken to improve upon the initial vision board (See: Solving Problems), specifically adding the logo, adjusting the palette boxes, and tweaking the Onlyness Statement to fit the brand vision, making it so that it was a mission statement rather than an Onlyness Statement. Consider changing the time schedule so that it would not include specific work times, class times, etc. No comment on the thumbnails.

 


Self Assessment 10

 

It would be incredible to include an aspect that went above and beyond the minimum for each. For example, incorporating all three animated logo designs into one logo animation, including all major social media platforms for the mockups, not just sticking to three “swag” concepts…While the thumbnails provide a good map to start, expanding beyond the thumbnails on these concepts would benefit the brand and the presentation thereof.

 


Action Taken

 

While the critique for the vision board and thumbnails were helpful, keeping the “extra” bits on the production schedule was essential in planning out the project. Dedicating specific objectives to each day rather than an estimated work period for each day was the ideal solution for the scheduling issue, as on the first week into the plan, a severe injury limited what progress could be made on the project. These looser guidelines which gave no guarantee of specific timeframes for work, just objectives, were ultimately more helpful in this project’s specific case.

STYLE GUIDE DEVELOPMENT
(Feedback 17-24) 

Week 1

Feedback 17

 

The first tidbit of critique was actually given during Week 4 of the Logo’s development, as a beta formatting of the style guide was formulated at that time. It was recommended that some assets be reworked to fit the brand’s presentation better, keeping within the color palette and line quality, and that the color combinations be elaborated upon. It was also determined that the asset used to determine “clear space” around the logo needed to be more distinct. The base for the new style guide was set so that the development of the pages could flow smoothly. It was suggested that the contrast be considered.

 


Self Assessment 18

 

Edit the graphics and images taken from other sources to fit the tour’s color palette. Consider where extra assets like duct tape are placed for visual clarity, making sure nothing is obscured. Consider removing rough paper overlay to focus on essential assets. Reconsider making vision board smaller, let it take up the whole spread as intended. Try to get main body copy and titles on each page next week.

 


Action Taken

 

The contrast suggestion was confusing, but ultimately ignored considering the pages were black and the type was white – however, this would later be revealed to be a mistake. There was an error in the file transfer process that made it so the pages were white with the white typeface – making the entire thing illegible. This would not be discovered until the end of Week 2.

WORKS CITED

Demers, E. (2020, September 5). The art of “Frankenstein-ing”: When and how to combine designs through rapid A/B

testing. Retrieved from Medium. Retrieved from https://uxdesign.cc/the-art-of-frankenstein-ing-when-and-how-to-combine-designs-through-rapid-a-b-testing-7ac97cedad05 .

Full Sail Online (2024). Week 2 case study: Testing design effectiveness. In Measuring Design Effectiveness. Full Sail

University. Retrieved October 13, 2024, from https://online.fullsail.edu/class_sections/186436/modules/779759/activities/4485963 .

May, T. (2023, October 6). The NBC logo: A history. Retrieved from Creative Bloq. Retrieved from

https://www.creativebloq.com/features/nbc-logo-history .

Novena, S. (2023, September 27). Street art and graffiti: expressing culture, creativity, and rebellion. Retrieved from Medium,

from https://medium.com/@nienovena/street-art-and-graffiti-expressing-culture-creativity-and-rebellion-bb16aaf924c9 .

 

Philips, J., Fu, F.Q., Philips, P.P., & Yi, H. (2020, October). Part I: Why this is important. ROI in marketing: The design thinking

approach to measure, prove, and improve the value of marketing. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from O’Reilly. Retrieved from https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/roi-in-marketing/9781260460438/ch1.xhtml.

 

Phoenix, R. (2024, January 14). Rebellion to mainstream, and why not having one is the new trend. Retrieved from Medium,

from https://medium.com/@elijahwilliams9557/the-changing-face-of-tattoos-from-rebellion-to-mainstream-and-why-not-having-one-is-the-new-35baf133707a .

Whitenton, K. (2018, June 17). How to test visual design. Retrieved from Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved from

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/testing-visual-design/ .

© 2024 by Emelia Knarr. Supported and facilitated by Full Sail University's Media Design MFA Program.

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