Ditto Press Workshop: Part 1

Ben Freeman

Influences:
When he first came to set up Ditto, there was only ever 2 photos that came up on google when typing it in.
Its cheap & has total freedom.
I have a gallery, bookshop & design studio.
Now has 8 people which started off with two people.
Now he doesn't have time to do projects like Grobesque because the running of the business is so demanding.

Risograph:
Learn how to do interesting things with it, which didn't know before.
The aim was to make it a new process, just like any other known one.
As all processes have got there own aesthetics & qualities.

Publishing: This is the distribution, making it avaliable to the public & getting it out there!

DONT MISTAKE PUBLISHING FOR THE ACTUAL PRINTING OF THE PUBLICATION.

We do around 80% printing for others & 20% designing & publishing. People always email saying can you publish this for me mistaking it for printing, which really annoys them!

Ben is more interested in difficult to navigate subjects.
He doesn't use the topic as an influence to graphic design, its a tool.


"Graphic Design is a vehicle for the content." - Ben Freeman 2014.




TASK

Methodology, work yours out make it unique!

He gave us this brief...

And told us!

You are going to work in 4 groups which are preset, you need to find a way of researching things for you! (Interviews, pictures & opinions)
How do you work? How do you present it?
Research whatever you want.


I was very confused at first, as I was think I am working in a group but I need to make it personal to me how does this work as everyone works differently. But then he explained that we are working in a group to help each other but doing our own methodology. 

Then I hit another brick wall of how can I make a methodology to create the best possible research without focusing it on the topic of the research. As different topics have different aspects.



Firstly, I wrote down what I do naturally...

• Highlight the brief.
• Pick out keywords.
• Mindmap the most important keyword...
• Whats the problem?
• What are they asking for?
• Target audience?
• Background of subject.
• Collect images of internet...
• Create a concept.
• Idea Development.

Then I wanted to thing about what really helps me & what am I really interested in?

• Opinions.
• Collecting things.
• Rewording & redesigning information.
• Psychology.
• History.
• Physical log of info.

My final methodology I have decided is unique to me is...

Highlight keywords.
Background (History, timelines, evolved)
Put into own words & breakdown.
Collect materials, prints & images.
Find out opinions, through interview & blogs.
Observation.

The feedback ben gave me was that, I should focus on the observing as this is isteresting and the way I record this inoformation could make it very interesting & unique.






When he was giving others feedback I took down key phrases that I thought was powerful & interesting:

Graphic Design is about problem solving in your eyes, so how would a detective behave? Although the only problem there is that a detective is looking for one criminal, whereas you have many solutions.

I create moodboards, put different materials & images that influence.

I noticed you all doing mindmaps, but whats your own version of a mindmap?

Dialogue is important, I don't like YCN & D&AD in students portfolios as this will make it tedious! This is not the real world. You will have lots of dialogue between your client & yourself, never just given a vague brief where you can't ask questions.

The more parameters you set yourself the easier you will find this. As you are your own client, this makes it difficult.

Experience is key! Have you ever learnt a programme from a book, IMPOSSIBLE!

The main part is how you document it to make it individual.

How much of what you have documented is useful? Delete inappropriate parts.




Next time I want to see: How it has developed? How to prove it has been useful, TEST IT! Research into other methodologies of actors, fashion design etc...




Conclusion: 
I feel much more clearer about the task in hand now and think this is good to break the mold. I think this was very beneficially. I wish we would have done it maybe in second year as now it is making me question if I am just the same as every other designer & do I have time to change & define my methodology.

Design Manchester: The Science of Imagination

We got there quite early and there was a delay with letting people in... So there was a GF Smith stand outside so therefore we was speaking with the lady about the new photography books they have where you can send a file with your images and you can get them printed in hardback book with good quality paper. We also got some free samples & books.

Tony Brook & Adrian Shaugnessy

Firstly on to the stage was Tony Brook & Adrian Shaugnessy from Unit Editions. They started by talking about how they got into what they was doing today. They said people kept asking them why they would want to create a publishing agency in the world of internet?

Magma - Marc Valley - his business has rapidly decreased due to people coming into the store to have a look then going home to buy it on the internet. And therefore his business caved in.

Then google images came along also... people don't have to go anywhere these days to have a look at something, everything is on the internet.

The only thing is with the internet is that it has no context, and you can never find it again! Also the idea of having the books to your side while designing is more appropriate & efficent.

"The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved. You cannot make a spoon that is better than a spoon... The book has been thoroughly tested, and it's very hard to see how it could be improved on for its current purposes." - Umberto Eco

Studio Culture - creating own studio straight after eduction.
This was one of the first books they produced and sold it through the book trade which was a big mistake.

So therefore on the outcome of that they decided that the only place you would be able to buy unit edition books would be on the unit edition website & the public phrase.

Adrian - Says that "he doesn't want to disengage with the internet as the only reason where they are today is because of it, but its a paradox"

Also with not selling through the book trade they have lots of rules they don't have to follow like they dont have to follow the paper & print choices & the title doesn't have to be on the middle of the page etc...

"If you are going to chop down a tree, make it decent! Make it tangible & physical as well as a good balance between image & content, be responsible" - Tony

Scratching the Surface By Adrian Shaughnessy LOOK AT!

Type only come to life since computer it was a very restrained subject.

Spin Studio - Love to see books.

Each individual packaging for each box.

FHK Herion - pioneered the concept of professional Graphic Design.
We can all learn something from him & we all owe him something.

Landor - War posters for MOI
Everyone else was using crayons & airbrush in this era but Landor realised how to use technology.
KLM logo was designed by him.






David Hurschmann

Technology will save us.

21st century learning (Instigating)
Digital & Physical.

Gadgets that anyone can make, inspiring people to make, play & learn.
DIY electro kit
DIY thirsty plan kit
DIY speaker kit.

User centered design.
What & why ill buy what you will make?

Minimum viable kit.

DIY gamer - coding, understanding UX!
This was helping the younger generation to critical think, debug, problem solve & computational think.

People learn differently!
Trying to fulfil all areas to benefit & facilitate all.

"Im so 3008 your so 2000 & late" Will.I.Am

Hursch&mann:
Make with red stripe.
Tangibleness added to magic where people was there when it was unfolding into reality.
Did the whole thing in CG - could never have done this with computers.

"A lot of ambition, helped bring a concept to life. Willing to try anything & didn't need any robotics company."

Siemens - How city shape changes, this came off the back off a self initiated project.







Supermundane: Rob Lowe

Anovak - unisex childrens magazine talk to them on the level of entertaining not educative.

Fire & Knife - Made to feel like made up of individual booklets.

Organic feel, mundane alphabet, no outline.
 
Frankfurt Exhibition: Listening & speaking tubes - children.

Electrical tape - ace hotel.

webwewant.org this is a festival.








Rejane Dal Bello

The year 2000 - new millenium
Expecting flying cars etc...
This shows you can't predict the future.
It doesn't confine with the world, and what they are telling you, what you have to do?


Expressive & embraces so 2 cultures can work together.


"If theres life, theres change" - Rejane Dal Bello.






Ross Phillips

Dalziel & Pow
Fabrica 2001

Show studio- beyond vogue what can fashion be?

Mirrormirror
-This was a installation in Topshop that gave you fashion advice.
-Live feedback
-no interface so you don't have to know how to use it, as not everyone does.
-still a mirror if failed - not a blank space.

Readaloud
-This was a exhibition set up in Bradford museum
-The outcome from this was that he was expecting thugs to come in and be bad & rude but infact if you give them space with some trust they will give you something back.

Argos
-turning them from print to screen.

The white company
-Sensory experiments.
-Projectors hidden in books.









Michael C Place in convosation with Angus Montgomery from Design Week.

Build - Craft/detail

"Technology is something I use, but it doesn't rule my life" - Michael

"understanding how print works, learning how you can use technology in a different way" - Michael

Hand lettering was something I think is very dull & boring, but when I look back its invaluable.

Designers Republic - Intern this is where he started, was there for 10 years until he wanted to have a break.

Build is a small studio and is only going to ever be a maximum of 5/6 people.

They are big on collaboration, someone is always better at something than you! Let them do it.


Modern life is rubbish... Check this out!

Self intiated: not just to do things without restraints. Its a fun job you might just get a few harsh customers.

Long project is 4/5 months.
The average project is 2 months.
Short project is couple of weeks.
They work on alot of briefs at the same time.

Maximum of 6 months.

Our work is very organic - 3 or 4 years ago you wouldn't see Virgin approaching a small studio to have their belief in them to handle it. But now they are looking for them.

Do you do lots of pitches? they don't do them if they are unpaid. Also they are small so they can't afford to take  people away from a project for something that might not happen. It devalues the design, we don't want to put time in a project that might not be.

Do you have any specific clients? Clients that come to you! They must like your work, or someone has recommended you. Meeting someone you get a better idea of someone who want to engage with you? There's no formula.

Proudest project? Ukrainian TV channel. Didn't really understand what they was wanting for the money. But they pulled together and worked as a team. Which made him very proud!

Whats your dream project? An airline, something really like to do. I have a big interest in planes, I like how its a big canvas. You can be futuristic.

Client base proportion:
25% long term - Had the time to build up rappor already so its just the point of keeping that up.
75% short term - A lot of work to build up a new rappor everytime.

Handmade - "Clients looking for things that are handmade authentic. But now drifting & depending on what meets the brief" Supermundae

"A great example of this is from the album. CD & digital downloads. But the vinyl is coming back & you can get the physical side by the vinyl, its beautiful & engaging that downloading can't." Michael

Educating sophisticated clients: They now know more about the world and what is out there. They know how things work, and are more willing to comunicate & help with decisions.

Exposure is small within design compared to other industries.

How do you create the balance between professional & personal work: 
"They are the same as I do things I do at work & that is what I love" Ross
"The things I love I don't get paid for so I have to make money somehow" Regane
"Professional & personal are linked & inetrconnected" Supermundane
"Play & work is the same for me, but I have worked through alot of shit to get here! Its down to us if we don't do what we want to make fun" Micheal









Peter Saville

Peter Saville wasn't suppose to be coming as he cancelled, but he managed to get there for the end of the day during the Q&A time.... This was basically his show as he took over the microphone.

Tips of getting things out of clients:
Writing the brief - told what the brief is people will know what they want- up to the designer to find a solution to the problem.
Put yourself in there position, what is it that you believe it will unlock the problem.

"They only come when they have a problem."

You need to understand about the sector, how can you solve the problem if you don't have no empathy of the landscape of the sector.

Pay: You have to have a day rate that adds up to an end figure. You will probably have to discount it - explain why you are discounting it and what you can do for that price?

If you think you don't get paid enough within a studio, then you have to bring in three times as much as you want to get out. It works out about 2.7 times due to all the other deductions.

Whats the next big thing?
"To me the next big thing is that technology is jumping from one to the next to the next advancement. We need to keep up, so while the next technology is been released I am trying to keep up with the last." - Ross
Ways to engage with there audience - Professor David Crow.
Strategy - Peter Saville.

DR. ME Talk & Workshop

Talk

So today DR.ME came in to talk about the way they work & how they started out.

So they started out by going to work with Mike Perry in New York who mainly focuses on illustration. This is where they started the idea & tips for starting there own design studio.

Wonderroom.eu 


They mainly focus on record sleeves & posters for the music industry, but they never rule anything out. They like working by hand & prefer more of the tactile approach.

"Always start out in analogue, then move into digital. Happy accidents happen." DR.ME Mark Edwards.

Elephant Magazine - Get it!

Work out what medium to work in...
Work as a collaborative with the client - give them options to choose.

A good name for your studio is very important, your setting yourself into the world with this!

Pricing - Always ask whats the budget? If they don't mention a price. 
               How long do you think this will take? 3/4 days £1000?
               Then battle out till you find a good negotiation! Don't turn down work if they don't have money.


Workshop

So they put us together how they met each other in the first place. They went down the register and put people into pairs next to each other on register. I was paired with Adam Garbutt.

So me & Adam are both very hand on with our design process & therefore I was very pleased to be paired with Adam. We started by going to get materials from the library, as we knew that our design was going to be made from different materials.


When we retrieved our materials we sat down & read the briefs we was given.... We started logically with the first brief and then we did some idea generation while listening to the music for the vinyl cover to direct our thoughts.



Then we decided to get ideas down for the second one before going into starting making the first one... As it would be very messy mid way...
So the second brief was for a music gig poster so we looked at the bands current vinyl covers etc... and this helped the direction of this mainly along with the listening to a couple of songs from their album...


We them started by mark making and we did some squiggles on to some paper with different coloured markers etc....



Then we did mark making with ink & water.... I loved the spread out of the freedom of the ink expanding on the page and Adam preferred to create free hand lines just letting his hand take him where ever I think this worked well together. Firstly we just did this with black but them we thought we would try the droplets of ink on the water to see what interesting combinations we could make.

Then I said we should go photocopy them with motion to see how it would effect the image of the lines... So after photocopying with motion all the previous outcomes of mark making we got back & decided that we should rip them up to create the different textures together to make a collage. This would be for the background of the poster as it shows the different bands together.
This is the final outcome...

We then tried adding hand rendered type too but this created the poster more into a punk era style and therefore we thought this was too far away from the genre of music. So we decided we would scan it in to add more a reform typeface.

Then we started running out of time so we created the ink & water splodges, for the vinyl cover. But only in the three colours that we thought worked the strongest together. We decided to create a circle to make sure there was negative space around the ink splodges to give it some room to breath. 

We attempted to digitalise the ink splodges and we likes the enhancements we made on photoshop. Although this created strong gamma and therefore wouldn't be able to print. So we decided, due to the time restriction we would just cut our original down to size for the time being.

Then we worked on the poster and we enhanced the collage outcome by trying to add a splash of colour and also upping the saturation etc... This was the outcome... 

We tried overlaying the type of the background but it took the elegance away from the background and therefore Adam tried a border & then tried to add type around the edges. Which then the focus would be on the pattern again which would draw attention then you would see the title of the bank & gig.
 

Tea Branding Development

Logo Development

Firstly I did some research into names to call my tea brand.

Some words that came to mind when thinking of tea...

Tea room
Tea pot
Tea cup
Kettle
Golden Brown
Milky
Yorkshire
Bloom
Blend
Loose Leaf
Cuppa
Brew
Proper
Herbal
Breakfast
Stewed
Night
Brown
Chai




The first options are:
The Blossoming Tea Company
The Tea Room Company
The Lovely Brew Company
The Proper Cuppa Company
The Lovely Cuppa Company

I have decided to call it The Lovely Brew Company, this is because I wanted it to be a Yorkshire inspired brand and the word brew is a Yorkshire term used for tea. This works alongside the adjective Lovely, as this is a common term used within the Yorkshire slang. Therefore these are both reinforcing the background of Yorkshire influenced tea.



Here is the development of the logo...


Here is my sketches of the logo.. I was still deciding on what to call the brand so thought that I would do designs  for both and allow this to be the decider for the name as I believe that they was both on par.

So I have decided the best name for the strongest logo outcome is The lovely cuppa company....

I digitalised my favourite three logos, to make sure that the one that looks the best on paper looks the best digitally also.

Different Flavours/Types

Silver Moon Tea
White House Tea
Tea Party Tea
Earl Grey Gentlemen Tea
White Christmas Tea
Geisha Blossom Tea
Morning Rise Tea

Rejuvenate - take a break
Relax - Bedtime story
Detox - teatox
Refresh - Pick me up

Over A Cuppa
Tea & Talk
Tea & Natter
Tea Date
Tea Party
Ladygrey

Breakfast Tea - Rise & Shine
Tea & Cake - Elevenses
Catch up - Tea & Natter
Bedtime Tea - Goodnight
Highlight - Pick me up at 3
Inspiration - Get outside the box
Tea party - Wonderland tea



The final outcome:

I have decided to concentrate on the times on the day as my ideas was all over place and therefore if I focus it on times of the day then this will be a good result in the focus.

Breakfast tea - Rise & Shine
Tea & Cake - Elevenses
Highlight of day - Pick me up at 3
Bedtime tea - Goodnight Sweetdreams



Colour Decisions


I used the colour palette scheme to work out a few colours that would go together and then linked these with flavours & types of the tea to see which one fits the best.

This was going to be the one that I thought worked the best at first but then I realised this looked very dull & boring very fast.

These are my final colours for my branding.. I have decided to go for the beige rather than the grey as I don't want the onlooker to perceive the tea as a bland dreary brand. Also this will allow more titles to be added with a larger colour palette easily.

 

These are my final colour choices or my titles. I thought these best suited the titles and also worked well as  a set. They are not too bright but also not dull. 

 

Then I did the quick sketches for all package titles:

Then I decided that these would develop once the packaging was made...

Packaging Ideas:

I also did some mock-ups to make sure that they would work...

From the crit they said that they liked the lid of the cube packaging, as this would be an interactive and the tall one would be unnecessary for the excess room at the top where it diagonals off.

I have decided that I am going to use the titles within the illustration of the teapot. I have decided I am going to use all the same stroke and not mix the strokes as that created an unclean outcome.
 

This is the development of the pick me up at 3 title, I couldn't decided how much illustration as I found it hard to find something to go with this title. Flowers are also a pick-me-up and therefore are a good relation. I have added the touch of the low key theme of the arrows going up.

I did this for all four titles and this is the finished outcome...

Not time for the packaging:

I decided that I was going to have the packaging 10cm x 10cm. This would be a good size to hold a good amount of packets of loose tea. I had all the working out done from the mock-up so therefore this made it extra easy when building the net. I knew what parts had to be upside down etc....

Then all that is done is the changing of the title illustration and the title & description of the tea everytime...

Then I made the packets for the loose leaf... These was very easy as I just juplicated the title illustration and the logo onto the net.. I made them 5cm x 8cm as I felt this would be a good size to apply the right amount of leaves within the packet.

I have decided to add the logo on to the back as the logo would have to be very small on the tab therefore illegible.

I have decided to print them onto trace due to the idea of been able to see the leaves through the packaging as I do believe they should be a part of the design as they are so beautiful...