OUGD603: Brief 3- Research/ Background

Who is Caitlin Moran? 

Catherine Elizabeth "Caitlin" Moran (born 5 April 1975) is an English journalist, author, and broadcaster at The Times, where she writes three columns a week: one for the Saturday Magazine, a TV review column, and the satirical Friday column "Celebrity Watch". Moran is British Press Awards (BPA) Columnist of the Year for 2010, and both BPA Critic of the Year 2011 and Interviewer of the Year 2011.In 2012, she was named Columnist of the Year by the London Press Club, and Culture Commentator at the Comment Awards in 2013.

Times Journalist 

As a writer she comments on a variety of different issues but is mainly known for her wiring for women and girls, mainly from a feminist perspective. She has written a variety of books which include; Moranthology, How to build a girl, How to be a woman, Moranifesto. All of her books tend to focus on her own opinions and ideas on society which follow feminism and she writes in a humorous manner. Her witty humour can also be seen within merchandise that is sold on her website: 

Books she has written: 

(Book for the penguin cover competition) 

Other books: 

After watching a few of her videos where she interacts with audiences I found that the majority of the audience were female and this may impact the design of the book, as a feminist book the audience largely will be females of a variety of ages, but particularly younger readers as Caitlin is a new and modern feminist. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtFT7xOmeLE

Caitlin Moran can be found quite often on various youtube channels instead of tv shows and I suspect this is because she wants to be seen as someone fairly normal instead of a neatly polished celebrity. In this video above Caitlin meets Broadly who describe her personality and what I gained from watching this is learning further about how Caitlin portrays herself to the public.. as a brash, sex positive feminist but as also as a writer with a funny candid voice for contemporary feminism. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0Fp-S0SE94

What makes Caitlin's personality so endearing is her blunt nature when talking, this can be seen especially in videos such as the one above with various you tubers which appeals to younger teenage girls as her audience such as in her book How To Build A Girl. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyDuG-gCX0k

Having teenage daughters of her own means that the writing she produces as she has stated is an attempt to change culture society for young girls and make it a better place to grow in. The video above contains a read from an extract a letter to teenage girls which really is inspiring to girls of any age with the struggles that they face. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ4DzEJ8ax4

The approachable nature of both her writing and how she explains feminism not only makes it humorous but also assessable to everyone and not just academics who read large texts on feminism. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkzJFogIwjw

I can't write like what has been written before ... but there are all these things that haven't been written yet. These are the things for me. 

Linking this idea of her writing to feminism... women CAN'T do that. or SHOULDN'T do that. As she explains in this video to think past that all you need to add to the negative comments are 'yet'. We don't do it like that- yet. 

There aren't women like that. yet

The world isn't like that. yet.

The great thing about this quote is really important as her attitude to society is that things should always be changing. This can be linked to the design of the book, to look at what has been done before and maybe what can be done different. 

Channel 4- Raised By Wolves 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/raised-by-wolves/episode-guide

Comedy series written by Caitlin and Caroline Moran, set on a Wolverhampton council estate, it's a modern-day reimagining of the brilliant chaos of the Morans' own childhood. 

Again, another example of how Caitlin's personality and life is put across into not only writing but a tv series. The British comedy aspect along with the locations and characters makes the series approachable for everyone as it is based on a council estate with various stories about childhood which most people can relate to. 

How To Be A Woman 

The book and quotes for inspiration: 

“We need to reclaim the word 'feminism'. We need the word 'feminism' back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29% of American women would describe themselves as feminist - and only 42% of British women - I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of 'liberation for women' is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? 'Vogue' by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY?” 

“I’m neither ‘pro-women’ nor ‘anti-men’. I’m just ‘Thumbs up for the six billion” 

“When a woman says, ‘I have nothing to wear!’, what she really means is, ‘There’s nothing here for who I’m supposed to be today.” 

“But, of course, you might be asking yourself, 'Am I a feminist? I might not be. I don't know! I still don't know what it is! I'm too knackered and confused to work it out. That curtain pole really still isn't up! I don't have time to work out if I am a women's libber! There seems to be a lot to it. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?'
I understand. 
So here is the quick way of working out if you're a feminist. Put your hand in your pants.

a) Do you have a vagina? and
b) Do you want to be in charge of it?

If you said 'yes' to both, then congratulations! You're a feminist.” 

“What is feminism? Simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy and smug they might be. Are you a feminist? Hahaha. Of course you are.” 

“It's difficult to see the glass ceiling because it's made of glass. Virtually invisible. What we need is for more birds to fly above it and shit all over it, so we can see it properly.” 

“We must recall the most important of humanity guidelines: Be polite. Being polite is possibly the greatest daily contribution everyone can make to life on Earth.” 

“Because the purpose of feminism isn’t to make a particular type of woman. The idea that there are inherently wrong and inherently right “types” of women is what’s screwed feminism for so long — this belief that “we” wouldn’t accept slaggy birds, dim birds, birds that bitch, birds that hire cleaners, birds that stay at home with their kids, birds that have pink Mini Metros with POWERED BY FAIRY DUST! bumper stickers, birds in burkas or birds that like to pretend, in their heads, that they’re married to Zach Braff from Scrubs and that you sometimes have sex in an ambulance while the rest of the cast watch and, latterly, clap. You know what? Feminism will have all of you.

What is feminism? Simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy and smug they might be.

Are you a feminist? Hahaha. Of course you are.” 

OUGD603: Brief 3- Penguin

The Brief

How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain. . . 

Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask you when you're going to have a baby?

Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin answers the questions that every modern woman is asking.

‘This might just be the funniest intelligent book ever written’ Stylist

‘Moran's writing sparkles with wit and warmth. Like the confidences of your smartest friend’ Simon Pegg

‘It would almost be unkind to call this an important book, because what it mostly is is engaging, brave and consistently, cleverly, naughtily funny, but actually it is important that we talk about this stuff’ Katy Guest Independent on Sunday

The Brief

We would like you to design a new, classic cover for Caitlin Moran's book, How to Be a Woman.

The design needs to feel timeless and classic, whilst at the same time making it clear to the reader that it is very entertaining and often very funny. The book should feel very accessible, immediately ‘pickupable’ and something that exists within the world of Popular Culture. You are welcome to use an image of the author, but do not feel that you need to take that approach.

The ideal design will make us smile, make us want to own a copy of the book, and keep it proudly on our shelves for a long time.

What the judges are looking for:

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 126mm wide, spine width 20mm).

The winning design will need to:

have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief

be competently executed with strong use of typography

appeal to a contemporary readership

show a good understanding of the marketplace

have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops.

Copyright must be cleared for all images used in your cover design.

OUGD603: Brief 1 Tumtums feedback

Tumtums was a brief from a website called brief box which was created by the design company Orca, therefore I sent them links to my work for feedback as they actually wrote the brief. 

http://www.onlyorca.com/work/

This is my email below:

Hello team of Orca, 

I wanted to share with you the work I've been doing for the rebrand of children's clothing store 'tumtums'. This is because I know your studio created the website and I enjoy looking through the projects you create. 

http://briefbox.me/design-brief/branding/baby-clothes-with-style/

I put the brief together on behance and would love for you and others to have a look at it and perhaps give me some feedback too.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/30911823/Childrens-clothing-rebrand-tumtums

Thank you for your time,

Melissa Morris 

Level 6 BA Hons Graphic Design student of Leeds College Of Art

..........................................................

Their response is below: 

Hey Melissa, 

First and foremost I am so sorry for the late reply! We have been a little manic here trying to close down for Christmas and juggling the studio move. Thanks for sending this through! They're awesome! 

This is exactly the reason why Joel set up Briefbox, and you have interpreted the brief wonderfully. It is great to see you using your initiative and adding extra collateral to the brief to help bring the brand alive. 

Good work Melissa! 

Ellen

OUGD603: Brief 2- Logo experimentation

As Flora is a florist, felinity tends to be something that they express so therefore I started with looking at how nature could be represented through script or handwritten type. 

Examples:

However, they don't suit the simple, modern clean look that Flora as a brand are aiming for. Therefore I looked at serif and sans serif type (see below).  

The two examples above show modern elements through the firs having quite high letterforms, and the second through letterforms being extremely circular, however the brand could be shown to clean and simple without these extremely modern typefaces. Within examples of luxury brands, the logos were mainly plain and simple and not complicated, this is something to consider within Flora. 

This specific example of type I like because the height of the LORA is lower than the F, this layout I want to bring forward by using a serif typeface as it would make the brand appear to be more stylish and classy looking in a traditional manner. 

From the example above I will take forward the use of the change in x height. Below are some samples of serif and elegant typefaces. 

These examples above are exactly the style which I would want for Flora. However instead of using italics, I believe a strong looking serif font in capitals would make the brand stand out especially with some tracking. This is because a large amount of florist companies tend to use script fonts and appear feminine, this brand wants to stand out and therefore the type should also do this. 

Here are some experimentation with serif letterforms:

As you can see, within these experiments I have looked at subtle changes which can be made such as the tracking/ kerning between letters, but also changing the size of the letters so that even in capitals the F is much larger. The increased tracking of letterforms is often seen within luxury brands and shows clarity/ refinement. 

Images/ icons:

Within the brief it states to experiment with an icon which could work alongside the type, I believe a simple icon of a flower would be most suitable as to distinctly show the brand. After asking for some feedback from family members and friends who often buy flowers they suggested that the sunflower be used as roses are extremely common. 

This is the logo I have created so far and this is something I will get some peer feedback on for how to move forward in terms of design and implication of brand such as colour combinations and other typographical elements. 

OUGD603: Brief 2- Flora, Research

Existing Florist branding: 

I looked online for existing standard florist branding

I was found disappointed by the usual designs which are created for Florists. Many of these include a large amount of colours which wouldn't work across a range of media. The designs aren't considered and a number of these logos I find difficult to be legible as they use a largely flourished script font, this means that they wouldn't work on a smaller scale. The logo for Flora needs to be completely different to these as they do not represent higher end quality flowers. 

Examples: 

This design style wouldn't be suitable for FLORA because of the over usage of flourishes and curls within the typography. FLORA needs to portray class and elegance and this would be through simple lines rather than a busy logo. The use of several flourishes also makes it difficult to read and this wouldn't be suitable to be placed on the side of a van or shop signage. 

In terms of the FLORA branding, this logo style wouldn't be suitable as it isn't simple enough. The use of photographs instead of the letter o makes the logo difficult to read and therefore isn't a strong enough concept, this could maybe work if the flower was alongside the typography as a separate icon. 

Although this logo isn't necessarily bad design, it wouldn't work well for FLORA as it contains too many details, the delicate flower in several colours would be difficult to put across different aspects of branding including various coloured bunches of flowers. The design requires a minimal approach to show off the flowers so therefore when designing the logo I need to think about how the logo can be discreet. 

Again, similar to the above logo. This design is rather delicate and beautiful however FLORA is a high end and modern florist so therefore dainty lines with soft edges are not something that would portray the brands ethos. FLORA requires more defined lines through created of artwork on illustrator instead of hand rendered. 

What I found when looking at luxury florists for wedding or flower designs for events were a selection of logos like the ones below: 

The simple design of the above two images are perfect examples of how florist branding can be used in a simple way but still look effective. 

The above two here are more script based and floral but the type is still simple, they are the opposite to what I was previously looking at. The main point to get from this is that small flourishes are allowed by the design as a whole needs to considered and subtle. 

The two designs above have beautiful typography which is incredibly simple and elegant through tails in the serif. Serif fonts are considered traditional and formal and this is definitely something to remember when I am designing for Flora as they want to be seen as a brand who is sophisticated. The tails within the serif allow for a feminine edge and within a florist brand femininity is a great attribute. 

The design above with a black background and white text is possibly my favourite as the idea is great, it is very rare florists are seen using a black background but it really works. I have seen colours used in this way through fashion and perhaps this is something to explore to give Flora something different than the large majority of florist designs. 

Flora want to be branded as a high quality florist, therefore to understand the conventions of high quality within brands it is important to research what key elements are used within logo designs and the overall aesthetic. 

What I noticed most about these logos and the design of these brands is that they are all extremely simple and refined. A large number of the designs tend to use serif fonts for brands that want to show they have heritage and perhaps trustworthy as this is an old style that seems to show class and style. Some of the more modern designs include sans serif fonts with large amounts of tracking between the letterforms which brings attention to the typography. Occasionally script fonts are used but this is generally for more feminine brands, and therefore not as common. For flora, the designs need to mainly focus on sans serif and serif fonts with the option of creating a small image to work alongside.