OUGD406 STUDIO BRIEF 1 - INTERIM CRITIQUES

This interim critique was very different to all of out previous critiques, as it was an anonymous one. We had to lay out our final few designs next to a piece of sugar paper, and write questions we wanted answering next to our designs. Other people came round and answered the questions we had left and also left comments of their own as well, on what works and how to improve. I thought this was a really useful way of gathering a large amount of feedback off a variety of different people, which we don't get in our normal interim critiques where we present our ideas to a group of people, and then we received verbal feedback off them. This method also allowed people to see our designs in a fresh light, without having an prior knowledge or information about what they were supposed to be, which is how our designs are going to be judged for Secret 7, we won't be there to give reasons for our design choices, or to make things a little clearer, our designs must speak for themselves. This method of interim critiques helped this, as we weren't there to speak for our designs, and this really highlighted which designs people did and didn't understand, and which messages were the most clear.

Chosen designs. 1 being top left, 12 being bottom right.

From my interim critique I gathered:

• People generally preferred the designs with more colours, rather than the ones which used only one or two colours.
• People either loved or hated the tooth theme. Some didn't understand what the reference was to the song they presumed my designs were for, and others loved the ambiguity of them.
• I gathered that people didn't like my lamppost designs, and also didn't understand what they represented either.
• They thought the woman looked creepy, but not in a negative way. It was suggested I could make her look even more creepy by using hand drawn or PhotoShop manipulation. Some also thought that the vector design lessened her scariness.
• Design 8, St. Vincent in bed, showed most clear what song my designs were for, purely because St. Vincent was in it. Although this was a very clear message, most people said they preferred the designs which were less obvious.
• One person preferred my lightbulb design over all the others as it has connotations of being wired, awake and not sleeping.
• Most people preferred the full brain design over the half colour brain design, because they didn't understand what the half brain represented, and thought the aesthetics of the full brain worked better, appearing more complete.
• Most people thought that the blank space around some of my designs was a positive aspect of my designs, not a negative one. It was suggested however that I could try replacing the white space with a white texture perhaps, if I felt the space needed to be filled with something non obtrusive.
• The designs people thought portrayed the most clear message were the brain and lightbulb designs, however several people also said that the message didn't necessarily need to be clear.
• A few people commented that the blue teeth design make it look clinical, but that this wasn't a negative thing.
• Many people said that Design 1, with the teeth, was their favourite design, even though they didn't understand the meaning of the design or the link to the song. Some people chose this design as their favourite even if they said that the brain or lightbulb designs gave a clearer message.
• Someone commented that the muted pastel colour palette I had used makes it look as if someone is sick, or our brains are ill from overuse of technology.
• One person suggested I experimented with black and white designs, as all of my designs use full colour.
• Someone also suggested I try replacing the circle on the lampposts with a USB port to make my designs appear clearer and more relevant.

These are all really useful pieces of feedback, which I will consider and take forward when I come to develop my designs. Although people said they didn't understand the half brain idea, I think this is a really interesting message, so perhaps I could try and make this a bit more clear. I don't think I will continue with the lamppost designs, as many people said they didn't understand them, and I think my other designs are a lot more powerful and relevant. The lightbulb design also seemed to be popular amongst my peers, so I think I will experiment more with different colour combinations to find the best one, as at the moment I am not satisfied with my colour choices for that design. I think I will also experiment a bit more with the teeth design, as so many people said this was their favourite design, perhaps trying a black and white colour palette to make it appear less cheerful.