Colours
In preparation for making decisions about colour schemes I googled colour wheels, both complimentary and contrasting, watched the Wes Anderson video and researched his work, and looked at the Tate exhibitions.
09th July 20:30pm designers conference
14th July 17:00pm designers conference
In both we looked at early drafts of the poster and the video, discussing colours, fonts, positioning and images. I had collected and collated and shared data on the excel sheet, Andrew having set up a shared one drive for the submitted images. I shared an update of our activities for Gary on Slack.
Early on we agreed to have three alternatives for the posters having used an excellent blue wine rack image of Andrew’s as a basis for the design. Each of the three would be what we considered the best ‘best of’ and most suitable for the poster design from each of the three themes. The three theme posters were finalised with unanimous agreement as to the images to be used.
Continuing over the following week we met several times on Slack and by email, with Gary at times. The focus moved to the background colour and titling and ending text for the video, keeping some familiarity with the poster and exhibition page designs while showing individual’s ‘best of’ images in the best way albeit for a brief moment following the style of……. Ant rightly pointed out that the location and release timing for the video would be important as it was not an alternative to visiting the galleries in the exhibition. We agreed it had to be a complimentary and ‘fun’ reinforcement of the exhibition and might be better issued as advertising rather than as a button on the exhibition page.
With agreement I sent out emails to individuals who had initially expressed interest on two occasions as gentle reminders requesting the designers information as our deadline for completion was imminent. A few were able to respond.
This week felt as though we had a little breathing space for our own work. Gary has sent on some of our information to the webmaster and clarifying the format he would like further information passed over. We have agreed the site will be live adverting the coming of the exhibition from 6th August.
Reflection
I have been learning about; sharing on One Drive, Slack and Excel; that when a team has complimentary skills deciding who does what flows naturally; that there is a level of excitement that comes with the responsibility of achieving something for others; that taking part in something with others who are also committed to doing as good job and are willing to ‘go over and above’ requirements all sharing the work and all willing to put ourselves under added pressure to achieve the outcomes, is both satisfying and a confidence boost (when such a design task has not been experienced before).
I have also thought about whether our symbiosis means that we have not enough diversity of opinion in the group (I raised this in one of our webinars but no comments were made) and whether I personally have done enough for my part. I have been rather envious in very brief moments that I am not creating (although facilitating the creations) in having taken a more administrative role. I then rationalise that we have had a very limited time scale, we also have our own course work to do and expediency has necessitated getting on with ‘it’ and remembering it is a course activity and not a marked assignment. An additional concern about the role I seem to have taken in keeping Gary informed, making suggestions re themes, colours and wording to get discussions going between us, is that I may have been seen by Ant and Andrew as a bossy headmistress! We did not discuss leadership at the outset. This was not a deliberate omission but probably an assumption that we would all be contributing as equal partners as a collaborative venture in a flattened hierarchy recognising the different qualities and abilities we brought to the design table.
Additionally, as the task has unfolded and we have learned that the template is set for the exhibition page I do not feel we have experienced as much of a designing experience as I would have liked. However, that said having complied with the template and decided colours and background, the creative side of designing has emerged with our making posters, video and a ‘showcase’ zine cum catalogues cum exhibition publication (final title to be decided) to which I have loved contributing.
Sarah Newton Photography 