OUGD603 - Brief 01 - Information Guide Conception & Production

The union agreed the most effective way to send the guides out to new students would be to ensure the guide packages itself, so we combined the previous year's tear and open finish with a simple book. We agreed that keeping it square would make it a manageable size, easy to transport and keep in a bag.

Concepts for the guide were sketched and drawn out. The use of having a tear related well to the 'fresh' element replicating peeling an orange. The peel could be situated along the top or the bottom. Other ideas involved cutting a circle in the cover so the logo peeks through, and using bright orange stock for the cover. The use of a Pantone orange would achieve the bright orange colour.

The Union gave feedback to the ideas. Many of them weren't achievable because of the limited budget. There was no budget for orange stock or Pantone colours so the design had to work around cmyk colour.

To determine what style of grid to use, the average number of segments in citrus fruit was considered, again, a literal take on the 'fresh' theme. There are 10 segments in an orange, 8 in a lime and 9 in a lemon. This number of columns would have been excessive, and not determined a style, so the decision was made to half those numbers and work with five or four columns.

The union provided all the content for the guide, including,

- an introduction
- an introduction to the union
- an introduction to the union members/representatives
- an introduction to the societies and sports teams
- information about staying in leeds
- information on both Vernon St & Blenheim Walk campuses
- information about student welfare
- a checklist of useful things for new students

The Union also provided artwork for adverts to be included in the guide at full bleed. Using a small mock up, the pages were planned with the amount of appropriate pages. There were enough pages to allow for a few feel bleed artwork pages.

To determine a design style and finalise a grid layout, a few spreads were designed and sent to the Union for feedback.  The use of different guides were experimented on using the introduction page. The copy was kept to a legible paragraph size and the image provided converted to an orange monotone and inserted inside the title page text. This is more engaging and makes the colour palette unified across the publication.

Because there were a few spare pages once the all the content was inserted, this allowed for content that could be juxtaposed. Full bleed type pages and title pages were included to break up the information and be a contrast to the other pages that are busy and full of information. This stops the content from being too overwhelming for new students and suits the overall design fitting to trends. The decision to include a contents page was made to ensure all the information was easily accessible for the new students. Creating an engaging and legible contents page was a challenge, but following the grid and replicating the type style in the rest of the publication made it possible.

It was crucial that the cover design worked around the peel concept already established. A variety of logo and peel designs were created. Along the peel edge, a design replicating orange peel makes the cover engaging and signifies the 'fresh' theme working with the peeling action.

SMALL MOCKUPS

The Union were happy with the design and only had minor adjustments to make. Some drop caps required altering to ensure it is uniform, and some of the pages with full bleed type needed adjusting. It was felt that words like 'squeeze' weren't appropriate for the new students. With the final design completed it was sent to print.