To start off the session we were asked to identify what we as individuals want to get out the module:
- Experience within the industry
- Developing my skills
- Contact with clients and professionals
- A wide variety of briefs to show versatility
- Learn how to be professional within the industry
- Improve on my time management skills
- Identify which briefs are best suited to me
- Be able to approach a brief with confidence
We were then asked to feedback our answers to come up with a list collectively:
- Time management and discipline
- Understanding realistic time scale
- Effective professional communication
- An award/prize/fame
- How not to get exploited
- Try out a range of briefs
- Identify individual practices
- Brief analysis
- Creative Compromise
- Exposure
- Portfolio development
- Contacts and opportunities
After we had done this we were asked to answer another question by ourselves and then feedback to the group.
Why do we think live/competition briefs are useful?
- Designing for a purpose and a use within the industry rather than a fictional college need
- Industry experience - deadlines, terms condition etc
- They are challenging
- Allow versatility and exposure
- Working within the industry
- Allows us to see how others (not within college) view our work - Feedback
The group list:
- Improving professional design skills
- Challenge of a professional brief
- Commitment to being more than a student
- Developing clearer/more effective working practices
- Real world benchmark
- Professional responsibilities
- Gathering contacts
- Professional feedback
- Professional experience
The second part of the session had us looking at our briefs and explaining why we had chosen them.
- Content interested me
- I can relate to the content
- Ethics relate to my way of thinking
- Quick brief
- Allowed a creative range and opportunities to further my skills
- Wide range between all of them
Group List:
- They look straight forward
- They are short briefs
- Try new things outside your comfort zone
- They were free to enter
- An interest in the content
- Ethically motivated design
- Prize
- Best available
- Creative scope/freedom
- Range of problems
Brief selection should start with us deciding if it is appropriate.
We were split into groups and each given a brief from YCN. My group was given Eurosport.
We were asked to read over the brief and then answer a series of questions:
- What is the problem?
They need to attract customers
They are competing with ITV
- What is the brief asking you to do?
Promote to a wider audience
Attract more viewers
- What is the brief trying to achieve?
Attract more customers/viewers
- Who will benefit?
Eurosport - Money
Viewers - coverage
- What is the message?
Eurosport is better than ITV
- Who is the audience?
Male and females 18-55
Event fans
- How will the message be delivered?
30 second TV spot
Website banners
Printed material
- Can you foresee any problems with this? or specifically how the message will be delivered?
Advertising platforms are all wrong for the target audience
People will be more attracted to ITV because it is free
These problems are all relevant but the bigger problem is the fact that the bigger companies are loosing money and need ideas but do not want to pay a company to rebrand when they can have a student do it for free.
For the next session we have been asked to:
Choose a brief be it one we already have or an new one which suits the task more. This should be a competition brief we must answer the 8 questions above as well as 4 new ones:
- Why have I chosen the brief?
- What do I want to get out of it?
- What do I want to make/produce/do in response to the brief?
- What do I NEED to make/produce/do in response to the brief?
We must also have some initial brainstorms and thumbnails to show our ideas
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