Brand Reflection

Today I started by watching the morning meeting. They announced a live brief but I don't think I will do it because it is very illustrative and that is not really my style.  I spent today finishing my Instagram advert. I was really happy with the outcome. And it didn't take as long as I thought it would either. I then started work on a second one that focuses more on why people should come to the art gallery.  I am not sure what I will do when I have finished that. But I have a meeting with Matt tomorrow so maybe he will be able to give me some ideas. 

Today I started creating a short video Instagram advert using Adobe After Effects. I have had a couple of Abby sessions with this program, but I have no other experience of using it. I managed to work with it without too much trouble, but then I was doing fairly simple stuff and it did take me quite a long time. I am sure I will get quicker in time though and I enjoyed the challenge of something new. 

Today I made the final model of my star. I decided at the last minute to make 2, a big and a small one. There could be one large main star in a prominent location and a trail of small ones leading to the gallery. I photographed them in the dark outside and they looked great. I am really pleased I chose to make it physically. 

Today I had textworks. We had another live lecture, which I quite liked, but it meant our discussion was shorter. I found the topic really interesting. I didn't know nation branding was a thing. The discussion was good, too, as quite a few people joined in this time. I then did some ambassador work. I like doing ambassador work, but it's started getting in the way recently. I think I am going to take a break for a couple of weeks to make sure I meet my deadline. I can stop easily. We can sign up to as much or as little work as we want and I don't really need the money. It's not like I am going on lots of nights out at the moment!!!! In the afternoon we had a seminar. We were in a bigger group compared to normal which I liked a lot. It meant we had a better discussion. We then chatted about the looming dissertation. It turns out it is only 6000 words, not 10000. I am very relieved by this. In year 13 I did a 5000-word essay with very little help so I think that will be o...

Today I created a sign to accompany my glowing installation so people knew what it was advertising. I then created an advert that could be shown on an advertising screen at a bus stop or train station. It would change and show something different at night.  I then brainstormed ideas for an installation. I want to make a scale model prototype out of glow sticks. I know I could mock it up digitally but I love making things.  I am really enjoying this part of the project where we are actually designing something. I am loving how we are being encouraged to think outside the box and so something really unusual. The last module was good, but we weren't able to be quite as creative as we can with this brief. Also, now I have got the essay out of the way I have the time to enjoy what I am doing rather than just trying to get everything finished on time. 

Today I started work of designing a piece of environmental graphics for the side of the building. It featured the names of the artists in the art gallery.  In the afternoon, I had a 1 to 1 with Matt. He said it wasn't a good idea to feature the names of the artists as they are not well known. He gave the idea to have the gallery only open at night, as this is when my target audience is out and about. We discussed how I could use the idea of something "coming alive at night" in my advertising, with posters that say something different at night or a projection on the side of the building. He suggested I should focus on creating a neon installation to go in a busy city area.  I spent the rest of the afternoon coming up with an idea for an installation. I then decided I was going to make a scale model prototype out of glowsticks and ordered a pack of 100. I know I could just fake it in photoshop but I like making things. 

After a day of chilling Sunday, I was ready to work Monday. I watched the morning video and then spent the morning creating a logo. In the afternoon I had a video call with one of my friends who is also in Stage 2 and discussed the project. We chatted about what we were going to do next and both decided we needed to explore possible touchpoints.  I spent the rest of the afternoon brainstorming possible touchpoints. 

Today I did the workshop tasks. I quickly came up with 3 brand identities I liked, one of which I thought had a lot of scope. As I was happy with the name I picked earlier, it didn't take me too long to create my final brand idea and brand story.  I really liked writing the brand story. I love creative writing and I really enjoyed coming up with something outside the box. I was super happy with my final brand story might use bits of it for my posters. 

Today I made the final changed to my essay and submitted it in the morning. I meant to finish the workshop tasks in the afternoon, but I just flopped. After 2 weeks of working constantly and enjoying little of it I couldn't take any more. I figured as long as had it done my Monday it would be ok. 

Today I had textworks. We had another live lecture, this time from Martin. We had an interesting discussion, and this time a few others contributed which was nice, as normally it is just me and the tutor talking.  In our seminar, we discussed the essay. Tim told me my references we good but gave me a few other things to sort. I then swapped essays with George and he gave me a few more pointers for improvement. I am pleased we did this and will definitely do it again. 

I started today with a 1 to 1 with Matt. We chatted about my choice of name, which he liked. We discussed that I was a little bit behind and she said it was ok because we had until Friday to have everything done.  I then focused on my essay. I wrote up everything I had researched but the word count still wasn't enough. But then my mum had a few more ideas of things I could include, which bought my word count up to over 1900.  I was really worried about doing my referencing, but then my school friend taught me how to get word to do it for me. I feel much better now that is done. 

Today we had a workshop for brand. The workshop had several short tasks. I completed the first 5 in the morning and enjoyed doing so. They were fun and playful but also really helpful, especially the 20 names in 20 minutes one. I came up with a name I liked so much I decided to keep it.  However, I couldn't finish the workshop in the afternoon because my internet was down, so that set me a little behind, which with he essay due in at the end of the week scared me. 

Today I watched the morning meeting and the videos. I enjoyed them far more than I did last Monday's content which made me feel much better about the week ahead. I then found a good and bad example of brand language and uploaded them. In the afternoon I did some research for my textwork essay. I found some information on all the topics Tim gave me, giving me much more material to write about. 

Today I wrote my "Day in the life". Once I got into it it wasn't too bad. I still feel like most of it was arbitrarily chosen, but it did help me get inside their head a little.  Normally I love the tasks we have to do and get a lot of enjoyment out of them. This week I really haven't and it has been really hard. My love for my degree is one of the things that have kept me going this year and so when I dislike what we are doing it has a major effect on me. 

Today I had textworks. Instead of giving us a lecture to watch before the discussion, we had a live lecture by Jessica. It was more engaging that way, but the lecture was shorter and less detailed. We then had an interesting discussion. I had a 1 to 1 with Tim about my essay. He gave me some ideas of more things I could research and include. 

Today I focused on writing my essay as I have textworks tomorrow and I want to have some work to discuss with Tim in our 1 to 1s. I managed to write up all my research into an essay, but it was only 1200 words and I need 2000. Hopefully Tim will have some good ideas for other things I can include to make it longer. 

Today I watched the workshop video. I panicked at first when I realised it was group work, but then I realized there would be lots of other people who weren't attending. I put a message on a group chat of all my graphics friends asking who else was doing the art gallery and at home, and Jacob very quickly replied. We had a video call and came up with lots of good ideas about potential demographics. It seemed to come quite naturally. The answers where quite logical and it didn't feel like we were making stuff up for the sake of it, which is what I had worried.  Then I watched the second video and started the "day in the life task". I found it rather pointless. Even though my profile is quite specific, the people in it would still lead to a wide variety of daily lives. Nothing in that description gives me a clue to whether they sing in the shower, or what they wear to work. In order to come up with a specific "typical day" I would need to arbitrarily make stuf...

Today I watched the morning meeting and all the audience lecture videos. I don't think I fully understood the ideas about audience segmentation. I don't think people engage with a brand for one key reason, I think they engage for lots of different reasons. And I don't think it is possible for them all to have that much in common. But I guess there isn't really a better alternative.  I don't really feel that strongly associated with any brands, but I did come up with 2 that I feel "speak" to me. I think a am definitely in Animal's target audience and I am probably in Ikea's, at least will be one day.  I think one of the reasons I don't like this module much is I don't really have much of a relationship with brands. Some shops I like more than others, but I am not brand loyal in the way some of my friends are. I know lots of people who will only buy apple tec or are really fussy about where their clothes come from and I don't really care....

Today I did some work on my essay. I finished my research. Then I created a plan of what order I am going to discuss each topic in. All I need to do now I write it! 

Today I had textworks. Normally, I get up early and watch the lecture before the discussion. Today I talked to my mum over breakfast for so long I only got to see half of it. This is the problem with being at home! I need to get my act together!!! I still knew enough to participate in the discussion and I had time to catch up later so it wasn't a big problem. I then did the reading for the seminar and uploaded my branding work. The seminar was useful and interesting. I haven't started my essay for textworks yet!! I know what myth I am doing and have done a little research but that is it! I am going to tackle it tomorrow as I have done everything else I need to do. I will be alone in the house so I won't have distractions. 

Today I was scheduled to do student ambassador work from 11am until 6pm. I was worried this would take up too much of my valuable study time, but it turned out all we had to do was sit in front of our screen and answer any questions that were sent in by prospective students. As very few students sent questions, I had plenty of time to work in between. As I was forced to stay in front of my computer I got loads done. It kept me focused and stopped me wandering off! Hopefully, I can sign up for more events like this in the future.  I continued to work on my brand values. I tried the words from my bubble map in different combinations until I created a set of values I liked.  I then started finding visual representations for them. This was very difficult. The values were abstract and didn't have any obvious imagery associated with them. Typing them into google image search didn't help much. Eventually, I tried thinking about what I associate with those values and that lead me to s...

Today I got up early and took my photo and uploaded it as quickly as possible so I wasn't too far behind. I then watched the workshop videos and completed the first task. I found it a little challenging to work out what my chosen brand's values were, as they weren't explicitly listed anywhere, but I managed to find 4 key themes within the text they had written about themselves and they lead to possible values.  I then started work on deciding what brand values my Art Gallary should have. I started by creating a mind map of all the key info from the free and associated works and ideas. I then picked the best and most powerful ones and started looking at how these could become values. 

I have decided to stay at home with my mum for the next few weeks. I was already at home when they made the lockdown announcement and it seemed mad to travel halfway across the country for a few workshops in a rapidly worsening situation. However, this does mean I will have to adapt to working from home, with distractions from family etc.  Today I watched the morning meeting, then read the brief. I picked the Art Gallery, as I also believe the art world needs a big shakeup to allow fresh talent to get recognised, as well as involve new audiences. I then watched both the videos and made notes. I understood all the concepts discussed and found the examples very interesting. I then started thinking about what object I should take a photo of, but I didn't actually complete this.