OUGD602 / PPP3: DR ME One day workshop.

OUGD602 

DR ME 

WORKSHOP

COLLAB WITH LIZZY GOSNEY.

We recently had a workshop with DR ME and it was my first face to face studio contact of the year. Overall it was a really positive day, and although the work we completed is not something I would usually work with, I feel that I learnt a lot from the session. It was really awesome that DR ME stuck around for the full day and constantly came around to us asking how our ideas were going and what our thought/design processes were, it was almost like working within an actual studio. DR ME filled us in a bit about their practice and the day workshop was very much reflective of how they work. Often they are emailed and asked to complete short one day projects with a fast turn around, this is what inspired the workshop. They also work a lot with music, creating gig posters and viynl covers. Although it was a really positive day, and a challenge to complete the work in such a short amount of time, I learnt that I prefer working with design that is much more extensive and extends across different elements and platforms that gives you the ability to really build something such as a brand. With such a small time scale it would be really difficult to do something really well researched and put together, knowing that you couldnt have done anything better. 

Our outcomes:

My Thoughts on the day:

Working with Lizzy:

Working with Lizzy was another positive experience I had collaborating on the course as we both had skills to offer each other during the project. It was a real eye opener working together as we hadn't really socialised much on the course together, and so probably wouldn't have chosen each other for a collaboration. Where as I was very much involved and excited by creating concepts, Lizzy was really great with the more technical stages of the brief as I had, at this point, not much practice in Photoshop and was therefore counting on Lizzy to help realise and communicate my thought process. 

Our Outcomes:

The outcomes work really well to not only answer the brief which was set in an especially short time frame, but also bring something unique and well considered to resolutions. The attention taken to listen to and analyse the track which inspired the vinyl design has really made the end application a success. Successful visual contextual references were implemented such as the nod towards the Duga-3's nickname the woodpecker, in which feathers were incorporated into a propellor like formation representing the DUGA-3's likeliness to the sound of whipping helicopter blades. The second section of the brief was dominated mostly by aesthetic ideas of what we, in the short time we had to research and develop ideas, imagined punk music to look like. We focused on the idea of being bold and eccentric, and a little bit out there which seemed to work well and appropriately for the band. 

What could we improve on?

Towards the end of the brief in which we were going to have to start moving onto the second section in which we were asked to produce a gig poster, we began to run out of time and so the outcomes and avenues travelled could not be as well considered. If there was opportunity to redo the project, or partake in something with a similar short time frame, I would suggest a rigid plan in the early stages to capitalise on time, so that each outcome could have just as much success as the last. If we had more time to work on it together It would have also been really nice to extended the projects, particularly the vinyl cover, which we could have furthered with other band merchandise and possible tour printed collateral etc. It was my first time working with a music based brief and although it was a very new experience, It is one I have really enjoyed. 

  

What did I learn?

I learnt a lot again about working relationships during my collaboration, in particular about working relationships with possible collaborators that you wouldn't expect or if given the choice choose to work with. It has taught me not to look at collaborating with people I wouldn't primarily gravitate to in a negative light, but instead view it as an opportunity. The project has again taught me about the importance of research and analysis, and that thoroughly investigating certain aspects within my methodology such as context as done so within the designing of the vinyl will result in a much stronger outcome. i have also learnt a lot more technically within Photoshop, previously to working on this project I would always avoid he program and work in illustrator. This brief really required me to step outside of my comfort zone and therefore experiment with processes I don't usually fall back on, teaching me technically how to use these programs, but also that I would like to become more comfortable using them, which I did when creating my individual piece of collage (part 3). In addition I learnt that often experimentation can lead to great things, as previously stated the vinyl was my favourite piece of work we created collaboratively in which we played with both physically cutting up and creating collages, as well as transferring this and editing it digitally.