OUGD501 - chosen idea and initial research

My three main ideas were brought to a COP session to gain feedback from Simon and a peer from my class. After explaining my ideas thoroughly, Simon and Jen gave me feedback regarding my ideas so far. This can be seen below.

Prototype solution 1

I discussed the idea to create a publication about the things I talk about within my essay with Jen. I noted my aims on interactivity and linking with digital content. My main essay points were outlined to help give a better understanding of how my user would combat the design problem. I also explained my ideas for interactivity including bar codes linking to a web page. At this point I was unsure about the distribution methods as it was unclear how many people would buy the publication. This was something I discussed with my peer.

Jen was enthusiastic about this idea as she felt the interactivity element between print and digital could make this book unique. She liked how I had decided to use bar codes rather that QR codes as they look more professional than the latter. After running through the points I wanted to discuss within my essay, such as the popularity of independent books and highlighting the importance of interactivity, my peer felt this content would work well and appeal to a large, creative target audience. As I was unsure about distribution methods, this was something we discussed within the critique. Jen felt this publication could be sold well online and within bookstores such as Village as the target audience would most likely be from more of a creative background.

Prototype solution 2

I explained this idea to Jen in detail as I was least confident about it compared to the others and felt it would need improvements. We spoke about my intentions to redesign the online editorial for Cosmopolitan. Jen felt this idea was weaker than the other two as there are already varies digital formats for Cosmopolitan. Although my idea would differ from the website and apps by this popular magazine, she felt there would always be a different place where the information could found such as Cosmo’s website. Because of this, I have decided not to pursue this idea any further.

  

Prototype solution 3

As the work for this app idea takes longer than the other three developed ideas, only wire frame sketches were available to show my peer. Despite this, because of my research and knowledge of my idea in conjunction to my essay’s themes, I feel I was able to give a good explanation of the concept. Jen favoured this idea out of the three because of my ideas so far and the opportunities for development from Cereal’s original travel guides. I noted that these guides are available both in physical and digital formats however my hope is that I can create an app that is more useful because of its digital and interactive elements.

Jen felt these added ideas were essential in producing a final product that abided by the design problem as they meant the app better linked with the focus on interactivity. She suggested I looked further how my app could interact with the user. Ideas included further sharing options such as adding reviews and photos within the app. Talking with Jen also inspired me to add a bucket list page to my app wire frames. She noted that users would want to plan journeys to cities before they visited so a bucket list feature would enable this.

I first looked at the physical edition of the publication as this is the entities main focus. One thing I noted within my essay was how the distinctive minimal theme is used consistently across all its media.

Although Cereal does not yet have an app for their publication, the mobile web page works well to show how it may look. Examples of this can be seen below.

OUGD501 - Studio Brief 02 - Research

Contextual Research



Target Audience Research

Persona 1. Millennial

Target audience:

The age range is 25-35 and a home owner that carefully spend income on magazines that reflect their lifestyle of choice the future. Professionals who are well educated and working towards their  dream.   Likely to be active and fit choosing holidays in cities across Europe that may be short breaks but are  meet their ideal stylised life.

Generation Y

Also known as Millennials, born between about 1980 and 2000.The phrase Generation Y was first used in a 1993 Ad Age article, while Millennials was coined by sociologists Neil Howe and William Strauss. As well as being comfortable sharing their entire life online, this is a selfish, self-regarding generation - this is a group who were brought up and pampered by their Gen X parents.

Gender - male of female

Nationality likely to be European city dwellers 

Persona 2. Generation z

Target audience

The age range is around 20 years old with an interest in design concepts choosing publications that reflect their personal possibly niche interest in design or life style. At this time the concepts may not reflect the reality of student life but are seen to support ideas and seek out publications in all formats that reflect their interests. 

Gen Z are the group born since just before the start of the Millennium (Gen Y) A significant aspect of this generation is the widespread usage of the Internet from a young age. Members of Generation Z are typically thought of as being comfortable with technology, and interacting on social media websites for a significant portion of their socialising

Gender - male of female

Nationality likely to be European city dwellers 

Persona 3. The privileged 

The age range is 25-60 and enjoy magazines that reflect the lifestyle they chose to live with excess money to enjoy a privileged life

Generation Y and baby boomers who are well-educated, well-travelled, very influential and very affluent. Baby boomers who are idealistic and uncynical, this was the generation that fought the cold war and smashed down the Berlin War. But just as many sold out the moment they were able to buy a house and a car. They were the first generation able to go abroad not to fight a war -but to sit on a beach. 

Gender - male of female

Nationality likely to be European city dwellers who actively seek experiences in other cities

Summary

Each of these groups can be summarise by Emma Duncan, former deputy editor of The Economist, who told Newsline she wasn't worried about falling victim to general trends in circulation declines.

"Obviously the media market has had a lot of problems over the last 15 years but [The Economist] has done pretty well, even in these difficult times," Duncan said.

"Even though, in some ways the internet is damaging magazine and newspaper business models, there is an appetite for paying for good content. A lot of advertising has gone - some bits of the advertising market remain good, some bits don't - but through all this confusion you can see people are prepared to pay for the sort of content The Economist offers."

Visual Research

It’s nice that’s magazine, printed pages shows how a primarily digital outlet can create a physical publication that has grown in popularity since starting. It’s development is partly down to its target audience. The design conscious reader will have an appreciation for print. This leads to highly anticipated issue which regularly sell out.

This magazine started out publishing the best content submitted to its online blog. It’s nice that found that this to be less popular than they had hoped as the audience could find the content for free online. Because of this, the magazine decided to start printing its own independent content. This brought the magazine more readers and it became more sought after. It has kept growing into the successful independent publication it is today.

Penguin books have a number of editorials published in app form. Interactivity is again a key feature within the majority of these apps which range from cookbooks and children’s books to novels.

National Geographic magazine is an example of a printed publication that has successfully transferred into a digital format. Interactivity is a key element in the publications success. This is used across several media. They have apps for different age ranges which broadens their audience.

Some series such as ‘Mars’ (seen below) are critically claimed and award winning because of their interactive elements. This is added to a highly detailed design which is appropriate for  all users. It is also available on a number of different platforms adding to its effectiveness.

OUGD501 - Practical - Establishing an idea

COP 2 asks to create a visual response to the essay question chosen within COP 1. This is to be done by applying one of a number of graphic practices including:

Typography and type design

Advertising / public awareness

Branding and logo design

Editorial design

Design for screen

Print making

As my essay focuses on magazines and other similar publications, I decided to look at the main points and base my practical work off this. Such points included how print and digital media can work together in the modern age and how despite the advancements in technology, print has continued in popularity.

I created a mind map to help me develop ideas for this brief. This included all my thoughts for progression and any possible ideas I felt were appropriate for this body of work.






I had three main ideas that stemmed from this mind map. These were to:

redesign a successful magazine such as Vogue or Cosmopolitan so it would work digitally and in an interactive way,

create a physical publication that has a separate digital element linked using QR codes or other similar features,

to redesign the cereal city guides so they are available on a digital platform.

My next step will be to research each idea and bring what I find to a critique for feedback and development.