This is my final design for my CV. I have changed the layout so it fits a landscape page, and by doing this as well I have been able to add an about section, giving employers more of an insight to who I am.
The only other significant change was the replacement of the image of me, with a little character version instead. He is a running theme through out all of the items involved with this project and I feel he gives the design and me a bit more friendly personality than if he wasn’t there.
This was my first outcome of my CV design. The theme and style is bold and modern, things that I feel both describe me well. The elements that give it this feel is the choice of colour and fonts, both loud and very noticeable.
The First thing you see is the name, I felt this was very important as it would be made easier for future employers to know who I am etc.
The problems with this design is that there is not much personality about it. This is because there is no ‘About’ section which tells the employer a little about who I am and what I do. Also the image of me is hard to see because of it being on the red background, so I feel this may need to change in some shape or form. The only other change that would possibly make this design better is if it was laid out landscape. This is because most of the CVs sent today are sent electronically, meaning by having it landscape I can utilize the screen space better.
After having a long break from the branding project, I decided to revisit the designs and update them accordingly to the feedback I had received.
This posy just includes a few initial fonts, colour schemes and possible layouts that I will be using to create my PDF portfolio and CV.
This project is about branding ourselves as graphic designers, ready for the real world when that time comes. During this project we have to create a CV, PDF portfolio and an online portfolio to give us a presence in different medias.
So to simply kick start this project I have been looking at different forms of inspiration which I think are good pieces of work to get my creative ideas going.
All of these are nice looking and are simple to follow, including all of the needed and necessary information. The one I ma most interested in is the one with illustrations. I wish to experiment with designs like this as well as I feel it will catch an employers eye for being very different compared to the other designs. I would probably pair this with a ‘serious’ design as well when being sent out to different places.
Starting off with the designs, I feel there was a lot of great things about them. They were eye catching and looked different in terms of layout and style to what other people had produced.
The top three things about my design for me would be, the icons, dynamic layout and scenario themes and then making one of them into an animated video.
Starting with the icons, I feel these added something really interesting and eye catching to the poster. By creating them, they helped reinforce all of the statistics on both designs and making the design more visually appealing with more colour and dynamics.
Linking closely to the dynamics of each design, I felt they were very intriguing, making more interesting to look at. Because of this and the two scenario style I designed them as it made them look less flat than just a regular 2d design. I was able to achieve this with the use of drop shadows especially, making items look as if they were raised off the page, making the designs look as if they had different layers, much like a rain forest should do, linking nicely to the project and theme.
The third thing that I thought was good about my design was that I was able to bring one of them to life by turning it into a short animation. I did this because it would add a different aspect of my work and hopefully give it an even more engaging and realistic edge. I thought the sounds in particular were really good, making in more immersive for the client watching. But in general the video made my project a lot strong and interesting as a whole as I believe people are drawn more to them, rather than flat designs.
Things that could possibly change with my design are some of the icons, different layout experiments and point size.
The icons in question are the ones on the Aims an Achievements poster. Although they are all nice looking and help back up and reinforce the statistics, I feel they could be produced in a similar house style, more like the other infographic. This would make it a bit clearer to understand and increase its professional finish.
Moving on, I am not sure what I would do differently when it comes to the layout of the Aims and Achievements poster because I believe it flows quite nicely. For the General stats on the other hand I Would try and change the positioning of the icons and statistic to see if they could flow and sit a bit better on the page. At the moment I feel that it just doesn’t have that consistent flow.
The point size. The only reason I would change this is for digital use. During the presentation it was difficult to see the text on the big screen. This is not a great concern to me because these designs are meant for hard copy use which the text can be read clearly.
Thing that went well in our presentation is that everyone spoke clearly and knew what they wanted to say about our work. The presentation on the screen was also clear, well put together and followed a simple structure which kept it all looking professional, making our life easier when presenting but also the clients.
One thing to improve on a personal level is that I should have spent a bit more time rehearsing and finalizing what I wished to say. I had a general idea of what I wanted to say, bu should have been more clear with myself as I missed out a few things that I shoud have mentioned, like I had created a video for them.
On group level all I can say is that we should have rehearsed together so we knew our cues when it was our turn to speak.
Overall, this project has been great fun to work on and has opened my eyes up even more when it comes to working with and understanding clients. I am also glad o have used imovie as I feel a lot more confident using video, and feel it would be a good idea to use it other aspects of my work.
This blog post is just a short write up about my animated infographic.
It was a long process but in the end I managed to complete my animated video. As I previously explained in my last post, I wanted to create a video to help keep the audience engaged as I feel people are more interested in moving image, rather than just a flat one.
The most difficult bit of the process for me was the cutting up of my infographic into individual scenes on Photoshop. I had to add layers in one by one, making sure they came in a sequential order, meaning I had to pay close attention to each layer and where it was.
After this was complete I imported all of these to imovie, where I put the clips together and edited each time frame so the video could run smoothly. This part of the project was alright seeing as I have had previous experience using this tool, meaning I could be a bit more adventurous with trials and ideas. This is when I came up with the idea to zoom in and out of the text to make it clearer to read. I felt this made my video more dynamic and therefore more engaging.
Finally, I added sound. By using royalty free sounds and the ones provided by imovie, I was able to create a good atmosphere and more enjoyable and believable scenario. Hopefully the sound will draw the immerse the audience in even more.
Overall I am proud with how the video went and believe it will add another dimension to the whole project, making it that little bit stronger and stand out more.
Our brief for this project was to create some infographics about the Size of Wales and the work they have done. I decided to go a step further, and to make my idea more interactive and interesting by aiming to make one into a short animation.
For this I have had to draw up a storyboard, just to give me some form of direction when I sit down and make it on the computer.
The basic idea is that the tree stumps from will pop up from the ground, creating a scene of deforestation. The stats will each individually rise up from these tree stumps, where the shot will then zoom in on the information, making it easier to read. The image will then zoom out to reveal an animated icon to reinforce and so the audience can also visualize the statistic. In addition to this there will be sounds in the background to add to the atmosphere.
Some of the sounds I aim to use are:
These will help add meaning to the moving image, and will hopefully make the whole piece more engaging.
Again, with design there is significant development that has taken place. The first is the removal of the Wales tree stump. At first I thought it was a good part of the design, but looking back it wasn’t really adding anything to the design. It wasn’t linked to anything and was just there for the sake of it.
Secondly, I decided to carry on with the deforestation scene, as Claire the client liked that idea. This is supposed to be a duller contrast to the other design, the doom and gloom that would happen without the Size of Wales. And from the tree stumps that are left, all of the statistics are popping out of them now. In the previous design only some were, making the design look a little mismatch.
The only other modification to this design are the icons. I thought I should make them more detailed and interesting to draw the corporate audience in more, and to help back up and enforce the stats they are paired with. Apart from this I haven’t done any more developments.
To make this piece even better I asked for some feedback in a tutorial and the only point was to make the font size bigger (at least 14point) to make it readable from distance. When I do this I will have to re arrange other bits of the poster but this shouldn’t be an issue.
This is how the ‘Plans and aims’ infographic has developed. The first significant difference and development is the leaves added as part of the background. This was to add to the vibrant colours of the design, making it look much more forest like and vibrant, reflecting on the work that the Size of Wales do. That is the general feeling of this design, it is supposes to show off the good work that the organization are doing.
I have removed the extra figures like the client asked, to hopefully make look clearer and at first sight I feel it is much more obvious and clearer to understand from an audiences point of view. In addition to this I have added and designed more detailed icons. This was to enhance the design and make it more vibrant again, adding to the good feel of the Size of Wales and the project they are working on.
The only other change which I have made at this stage was after a tutorial. To make the design and layout more consistent, the points coming from the map of Wales in the center, all point to the image now, instead of being randomly placed.
To develop this design further, I wish to make it more consistent. I will do this by changing the colour scheme a small bit so the blacks icons become dark greens, making them stand out a bit less as they are not supposed to be the main feature of the design. The icons should all have equal hierarchy.
Overall I am very pleased with how much first attempt of an infographic is going and developed.
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