Royal Opera House, Designating Tasks - OUGD503

Ben would lead the team within creating posters using an illustrative style, James is in charge of the online and social media advertising using animation and gifs and I would be in charge of typography and video editing. This will mean we will have a range of outcomes that when brought together will create a strong advertising campaign for The Royal Opera House. Regular group meetings and discussions will need to occur to make sure everything is sticking to one theme and that everything ties together.

Royal Opera House, Photoshoot - OUGD503

Below are the contact sheets for the photoshoot. Ryan managed to get us two more female dancers to help out with the shoot, we were meant to shoot in their dance studio but unfortunately the night before the roof had collapsed so we had to find a suitable location outside in Manchester. As we do not perform ballet and know very little about dancing or technique we decided to create a Google Drive in which we included the entire group and the dancers within the photos. The pictures were uploaded and we asked what images were the most appropriate as we wanted our campaign to be strong as well making sure all images used were approved by the models within to make sure all positions were correct. All the people involved in the shoot; Ryan, Keziah and Beth were more than happy to help and were very excited to be involved. They thanked us for the shoot and asked to let them know if there was anymore they could do to help. Everyone involved was amazing they performed incredibly even with the weather being rainy and windy all day, they provided great photos and we even managed to record some video. Afterwards we did pay for them all to get a Starbucks for their help even though they didn't ask for anything we wanted to show gratitude, we looked through the raw images with them and they really seemed to be impressed.

Further Research - OUGD505, Studio Brief 02

Pop culture/celebrities:

In the modern day it almost seems everyone's a 'celebrity' but what does that even mean and why are they put above the rest of us just for saying "Cash me ouside, how bo da?". A lot of this can be traced back to social media and what it means for the future. Even before the internet had the capability or vision of social media people could see what it meant, "the potential of what the internet is going to do society, both good and bad is unimaginable" - David Bowie 1999 Newsnight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiK7s_0tGsg

http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/celebrity-social-media-anger/

Is it O.K. punch a Nazi?

Recently Alt-Right Leader Richard Spencer was punched after the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president. This incident brought to life a big ethical debate on when is violence okay. Many debates are happening at the moment around concerns with the future of America. J.K. Rowling and Piers Morgan recently had a dispute on twitter over the political issues within America at the moment. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/15/j-k-rowling-scores-cuning-blow-twitter-war-piers-morgan

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/richard-spencer-punched-attack.html?_r=0

Mental Health:

A very taboo subject for many when it really doesn't need to be. The stigma around mental health has to stop just like most taboo subjects like equality. Things are changing in the world with these issues but it doesn't seem fast enough it is a lot to do with education which all points seem to relate to in a sense. Not the fact that teachers aren't good for society or education is teaching us what we need but it isn't teaching us all the points we need. Like how to live in life how to treat others, how to just be and it isn't teachers fault it's that the curriculum is outdated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqTTojTija8

Possible Issues - OUGD505, Studio Brief 02

Social -

Pop Culture
Celebrities
Awards/Talent Shows
Teaching


Ethical -

Rainforest
Animals
Mental Health
'Is it O.K. to punch a nazi?'


Political -

Brexit
Corruption
Terror
Trump
Mexico
Spain
Black Panthers

Grouped -

Race
Gender
Equality
Sexuality
Transphobia
Bi-Erasure
Heteronormativity

UK Greetings, Submisison - OUGD503 Studio Brief 01

The brief has been submitted to YCN and is awaiting judging. This project has really helped to express my illustrative skills and analogue design. Creating a brand identity/a character like this was something I have never attempted to do before, this was a great experience and has pushed my practice further. Feedback received on the brief was very positive explaining that the brand has potential to move into something more in the future but for now suits the brief for a cute character that suits the target market. Below are the presentation boards submitted to YCN

Royal Opera House, Development - OUGD503

After looking at past project, feedback and discussing ideas as a group we decided it would be best to go with a theme not too dissimilar to the existing campaigns as this is the style to expect. Instead of creating them exactly we would take them into more of a modern design suited towards the target market and add aspects to draw the eye. After the photoshoot we could use our own reference imagery to draw from and maybe even film aspects of a video advertisement either for online or on TV.

The idea is to take negative words from our survey and put a strike through them to show it is not what ballet is and instead it is something positive using one of the better describing words from our survey. Using both imagery and illustrative techniques we feel we can create a strong campaign.

Royal Opera House, Survey Feedback - OUGD503

We created a survey in order to gain a brief overview of what the target market thought of ballet and what we could take from that to develop our idea. 

The results are collated below, we established the audience early on within the questions to make sure we had the correct target market. After collecting the date we looked at the feedback people had written as comments on the questions. Many people had not been to the ballet and would consider going but they would need someone to go with. If someone had said they did not have an interest in ballet they too said that they did not have a desire to go but if there was something enticing they would enjoy to look into something new. Finally we collected together all the words people chose to describe ballet, this meant we could take these descriptions later on in our project and use them within the designs. 

Royal Opera House, Existing Work - OUGD503

Briefly looking at advertising campaigns for The Royal Opera House and some other unconventional advertising campaign. This gave a good look at the existing style and whether or not we could use this to either evolve the style of go against it completely. Often the posters were based around movement or attracting the eye with something a bit different to a conventional campaign, the information was given but it was more something to put the company or campaign in your head not necessarily to make you purchase anything. Often the campaigns weren't for specific events which meant that playfulness could be used throughout the designs. 

The project asks for a new look on ballet and asks to engage a younger target audience. This lead onto looking at other forms of advertising within the entertainment industry. Ben Suggested that we look at gig posters and use a similar style within ours to engage the target audience and maybe attract their eye. A great suggestion but we were unsure as to whether or not the posters would almost be tricking the viewer or not advertising the company appropriately. Often still posters were able to show off movement and a sense of what to expect from the event within the designs even just with typography.

Royal Opera House, Initial Feedback - OUGD503

We pitched our idea to fellow classmates to gain some feedback. It was clear we did not have a full idea to work from but people believed that the basis was a good start and had potential. We needed more research into existing projects and a more solid foundation for our idea so we decided to create a survey to gain knowledge of this and of the target audience.

UK Greetings, Final Designs - OUGD503 Studio Brief 01

The cards would be printed onto a stock similar to that of the watercolour used when painting the character. The design would look best slightly embossed into the thick stock so that the design would not look too mass produced. This method would be a little more costly but would make up for it with the design quality. Each card would be displayed at £2 each for an A6 design.

These designs are to show examples of how the design could be used on wrapping paper, notecards, gift bags and notebooks. The designs reuse some of the card designs and add an additional 'Naked' Clive into the design of the notecards. The Gift Giving Clive was used for both the wrapping paper and the gift bag as it was the most relevant. The Love Heart Clive is used on the not book with the addition of letterpressed type to reinforce the cute design and appeal to the target market. These designs would not be as expensive to produce on mass scale as the cards as they would use a basic printing method with no embossing. Stock used for the wrapping paper would be a matt light stock but would not be a budget brand it would be in the price range of £3-£5 per 3mx7m. The gift bag would be around the price of £2-£2.50 for the standard size. For a pack of 10 notecards it would cost £3 and would be on a heavy matt white stock. The Notebook would be designed similarly to a Moleskin design costing £8-£10 for an A5 book.

Print Methods - OUGD505, Studio Brief 01

Below are some traditional print methods that will be looked into further:

Screenprint

Monoprint

Etching

Relief

Woodcut

Letterpress

Lithography

Wood engraving

Letraset

Pencil

Marker

Paint

The methods are all unique and offer different finishes. Drawbacks to the different methods involve a lot of time to set up processes and there's no quick fix to a mistake.

Royal Opera House, Contact with Northern Ballet School - OUGD503

As stated in a previous post I have a contact at the Northern Ballet School in Manchester this was partially why this brief was chosen but also proved to be helpful. I asked Ryan his opinion on the brief and how could ballet be advertised to engage with a new younger audience. He was skeptical of how it could as it is and has been a traditional medium for so long that the existing audience has chosen to attend because of how it is, there is a belief and expectation around the area that people have almost made up their minds whether or not to attend. He also said he would be happy to help in anyway he could, I asked if it would be possible to set up a photoshoot with him to get some reference imagery. He has since replied and said that he would be more than happy to and would try to arrange for more dancers to attend.

UK Greetings, Final Feedback - OUGD503 Studio Brief 01

Overall people really loved Clives final designs stating that he suited the original intentions of being cute and engaging, they thought that the character development was really well thought out and that he had potential to move forward as a brand. There were a few concerns that the designs may be too simplistic or that it may be hard to recreate a hand rendered feeling when producing on a mass scale. This is something to look into for a future project but for now I believe that the designs are strong and hold real potential for the competition.

Research - OUGD505, Studio Brief 01

Roundhay Park -

Madonna and Michael Jackson are just some of the big names that have rocked roundhay park. The park hosts many events every year from firework shows to cricket matches but the musical history of this park is amazing.

Leeds Dock -

Waterfront festival 2007 - Present. A festival that has been going for ten years now annually that features Radio Aire’s Dragon Boat Racing, Street Food, Live music, British Street Food Northern, Heats Tasting Day, Kids Activities including face painting & sign making and more. An event that packs many family oriented and friendly activities into a 2 day event every years. 

Leeds University -

The Who played at Leeds University on the 14th of February 1970, the album was recorded and named Live at Leeds. This became the most successful album of it's generation. A blue plaque was unveiled in 2006 when the band returned to play one more time.

Kirkgate Market (Marks and Spencers) -

The very first Marks and Spencers was opened in Kirkgate market. There is a stall open in the market that represents M&S but it is the Clock in the centre that really celebrates the heritage as Marks and Spencers was relocated several times. One place the store was relocated to was inside the Parkinson Building at Leeds University, much of the history of the company is now stored there.

Royal Armouries -

A home to many events within Leeds, including one I attended this year's Thought Bubble. The collection of armour dates back to the middle ages and is the most important museum of its type in the world.

Royal Opera House, Initial Ideas - OUGD503

We needed to decide what we could do to change the negative perspective that people had for ballet. The best option would be to create an advertising campaign this meant we had to consider many different aspects.

Things to consider:

• Different modes of advertising; TV, Poster, Flyers, Billboards, Radio, Social Media/Online
• What roles fit who best
• Price and Distribution
• Time frame
• Existing Campaigns for both ballet and other entertainment
• What the brief is asking

We thought as a group we would split up the tasks, I have a friend in the Northern Ballet School, meaning I could get some primary research from contacting him. James and Ben both knew how to plan a storyboard so could work on creating an outline for the advert and both were familiar with poster design. I had some initial ideas from before the collaborative project when I was considering doing this brief on my own. 

• dark
• why don’t people go to the ballet and try and attack that problem 
• look into emotions not just the act
• film someone’s face to react to the ballet or to other sports and compare passion
• quote people “ballet is boring”
• footballers or other doing ballet poses
• awareness of male suicide campaign look into
• cineworld add
• Billy Elliot
• Powder photoshoot
• ballet street dance, step up
• Cillet bang dance ad
• Humorous
• Questionnaire on ballet

UK Greetings, Applying the Design - OUGD503 Studio Brief 01

Talk about the design applied to bags and in context etc.

Create a collection of greeting cards, notecards, notepads, gift bags and wrapping paper, this was the task set by UK Greetings. Below are mockups to show how the designs would work in context and how the character could be applied.

Leeds Public Spaces - OUGD505 Studio Brief 01

Below are just some of the public spaces around leeds:

Roundhay Park - One of the biggest city parks in Europe, host to a range of events.

Hyde Park - Host to smaller events around Leeds, student central.

Millennium Square - Many events hosted here, including the German Christmas Markets.

Headrow - Tour de France start line.

Leeds Canal - Open faster trade into Leeds.

Park Square - Georgian park.

Brigate - Main retail street in Leeds.

Kirkgate Market - Home to the first Marks and Spencers.

Town Hall - Nearly 200 years old, lots of history.

Corn Exchange - Victorian grade 1 listed building last of 3 Corn Exchange in the country.

Royal Armouries - Collection of armours and armouries historical presence and host to many events.

Docks - Many events hosted here.

Headingley Stadium - Large sporting event facility.

Art Gallery - Hosts a lot of leeds heritage.

UK Greetings, Digital Development - OUGD503 Studio Brief 01

Talk about digital edits and adding type.

Each illustration was scanned in at 600 DPI to ensure the quality would be kept throughout. Colours needed to be corrected so that all the designs fit together and the character would be understood throughout. Some areas needed to be edited with content aware so that the card would fit to the specific dimensions. The type was also added from a separate scanned in document just for ease within the hand rendered stage.

Royal Opera House, Group Contract - OUGD503

Royal Opera House, The Brief - OUGD503

Royal Opera House

Encourage culturally engaged young people to experience ballet for the first time.

Brief

The Royal Opera House and AKA, the international entertainment marketing agency, are challenging you to create a campaign that will encourage culturally engaged young people aged 20-30 to experience ballet for the first time.

Why Ballet, what can it bring to young peoples’ lives?

Ballet exists in many forms from the lyric narrative beauty of a Swan Lake to the abstract modernism of Wayne McGregor’s Chroma. Like opera it deals with the big human themes – life, love, death, loss, passion, joy, anger and humour – all things that we deal with in everyday life.
We believe in sharing this beautiful art form as widely available as possible, which is why we bring world-class composers, conductors, dancers, writers, artists, technicians, craftsmen, and administrators together in our iconic theatre to make it happen, and publicise what we do as broadly and inclusively as we can. 

The Problem

While some young people might attend the ballet once a year as a special occasion, we find that in some areas our audience is not as diverse as the population as a whole, and, in particular, young people are under-represented.  We want to change this and engage and inspire more young people to be part of our audience if we are to ensure the long-term survival of ballet as an art form.
To quote The Royal Ballet’s founder, ‘Somebody must always be doing something new, or life would get very dull.’ We are always doing something new on stage and we want you to help us do something new off-stage to communicate it to young people.
The people we’re talking about for the purpose of this brief are those aged between 20 and 30 who already attend plays, gigs, and exhibitions, but who don’t consider ballet. Why? Because they simply think it isn’t for them.

We want to challenge this perception, and to invite these young people to give opera a try – which is where you come in. 

The Creative Challenge

We – that’s the Royal Opera House and our advertising agency AKA – would like you to come up with a creative concept or idea that dispels the preconceptions and celebrates the beauty and emotion that ballet brings to the stage, something that challenges our target audience to look at ballet as an art form that could be a new love in their lives. Break down those preconceptions that have become a barrier to attendance. We’d like to you show them that ballet as an art form isn’t what they think is it – and moreover that it is for them.

Our target audience currently think that

• Ballet is old fashioned, filled with tutus, musically dry, stuffy, formal and traditional and not relevant to contemporary life
• Ballet is for the wealthy middle England and old people, not ‘people like me’
• You have to understand the language of choreography to understand or enjoy it
• There are certain accepted opinions about ballet, and open interpretation or appreciation of it is not welcome 
• Ballet is just men in tights and ladies en pointe pretending they are in a fairy-tale 
• Ballet is mainly for girls

We would like to communicate to them instead

• Ballet can be exciting and alive and a thrill to watch - it’s everything from graceful and beautiful to violent and passionate
• Ballets may have been created for the Royal Courts of Europe many, many years ago, but new ones are being created all the time – it’s a modern and energetic artform
• Because it deals with the big human themes – life, love, death, loss, passion, joy, anger, humour – it’s relevant to everyone, and everyone can understand it 
• Ballets can draw from a wide range of influences from fashion to literature and rock/pop music to full orchestral work. There are no rules. 

Creative Considerations

You need to show how your idea will work as an advertising campaign – across digital, print, out of home and social media advertising.
Creative needs to feature the Royal Opera House logo. 
You can download the logo and the brand guidelines here: roh.org.uk/for/press-and-communications/branding.

Deliverables & Additional Information​

Find out more what the Royal Opera House does and to see for yourself how we talk about ourselves:

www.roh.org.uk 
www.youtube.com/user/RoyalOperaHouse
www.facebook.com/royaloperahouse
instagram.com/royaloperahouse/
uk.pinterest.com/royaloperahouse/
@royaloperahouse
@TheRoyalOpera
@TheRoyalBallet

Please adhere to the Deliverables outlined in the Student Awards section of the YCN website. 
Any supporting information referenced in the brief can be found in the accompanying Project Pack at the YCN website.

Royal Opera House, Establishing Group Roles - OUGD503

We were told to find people we thought could help with our chosen brief to work together and push it to become a really strong submission. When choosing group members there were only a few Graphic Designers and many Illustrators for the chosen brief. Luckily I knew most of the Illustrators and therefore had prior knowledge of how they worked. The group I am working in is with Ben Farr and James Moore both on Illustration. I have never worked with these two before but have seen there work and have a brief understanding of their skills within their practice so they are definitely the ideal team.

Ben works with both digital and analogue design and mainly designs sports illustration such as footballers meaning creating movement within still images is something he is familiar with.

James works in both mediums again and has a knowledge of animation meaning creating moving image is possible within the project.

Josh (Me) agains works with both digital and analogue processes and has a photography background meaning that primary imagery can be collected easily.

UK Greetings, Production - OUGD503 Studio Brief 01

Talk about stock choices and how it would be produced on a large scale, printing, CMYK, etc.

When creating the illustrations a watercolour paper stock was used, obviously the best stock for watercolour painting. When the card goes through to being printed on a large commercial scale a stock similar to the original would be the best option to keep the watercolour feel and the hand rendered personal design.

Something to consider is the CMYK properties, if all the designs have been colour matched appropriately then printing shouldn't be an issue but test prints will be produced to ensure that all the designs work and look how they are supposed to.