Design Cycle

Brief:

Research:

I started to research into solicitor websites to see what kind of style they were going for. I noticed that they were all clean and professional designs that kept to a colour scheme. I liked this one because it's very simple but yet very sleek and presentable. I love how they've used minimal colours because it adds to the professionalism of the site, plus being solicitor are a very professional line of work and I believe that this design represents that. The use of colour within is also very nice, they've used a grey and navy blue and kept to other spectrums along this colour line which gives a very nice effect and is appealing to the viewer, they've also added in a very colourful sidebar which stands out a lot but doesn't odd with the two main colours of the design as they've kept it to a minimum. I really do like this design but I do have one fault; on the right hand side there's a light grey stripe flowing down through the text on the side which I don't think needs to be there and looks a tiny bit of place to rest of the site.

Besides looking at solicitor site I also looked into holiday sites and brochures as the design brief was based on a company called "Ocean Solicitors". I very much like the design of this website as I thought the colour contrast of blue, dark blue and yellow went very well and everything was clean and professional within the site itself. It was very colourful as expected from a holiday site but still professional at the same time which is I want to implement in my design for the brochure.

I looked into brochures for solicitors as that was one of the things I will be designing from the brief given at hand. I noticed that the design was very sleek just like the website I researched before. The design also kept to the same colour co-ordination which in this one was red and blue. Another thing I noticed in the brochure was the logo, it was very simple and smart but still appealing at the same time, which is something I'm going to take on board and try put into my design for the logo. The brochure was very nicely laid out and easy to read but also stood out at the same time which is expected from a solicitor company as the information they're putting across is very important to the reader. They also included pictures of employees, I noticed these people were dressed smartly and looked professional which tied in with the job role.

The last thing I researched was "Ocean" into google to try and get some inspiration for my design. My couldn't include waves, so I started to look into the colours of things to do with ocean and noticed the beach picture and they way the colours went from yellow to light blur to a darker blue and I wanted to try and implement this into my design as it stilled went with the whole "ocean" brand name and I wouldn't need to include waves because the colours represented the brand name.

Experimentation:

Effects:

Here I experimented with different type of imagery over the text. As I wasn't allowed to use any waves I had to try and think of others thing that correspond with the title "Ocean" I came up with water droplets dripping from the text and splash droplets. As this was for a solicitor I thought that the droplets dripping from the text looked a bit tacky, but the splash droplets looked a lot more professional and gave the logo a bit of zing as well as keeping to the professional look. 

Text:

I also experimented with different fonts to see what would work best with my design, I decided to go with Aldo Semibold because it was quirky but still looked sleek and professional. I tried various fonts from Aparajita to Helvetica but I believed that Aldo and Gill Sans were the right ones for the job.

Colour:

Another thing I experimented with was the text colour, I didn't experiment with the droplet colour because I wanted to keep to my beach/ocean theme I had going on. I tried various colours, mainly greys going through all the different tones to see what worked best, I took feedback from fellow peers on what they thought about it, but they preferred my original blue which I also preferred as it went with my whole theme.

Final Designs:

Sizing Chart

Colours Used

Fonts Used

Title Page Of Brochure - I like this design because it's very colourful and stands out, attracting the eye of the viewer. It's a very clean and well laid out design which I believe all blends nicely together. All the wavey lines were smooth with no pixelation along with the text, typeface and pictures, as I managed to find some professional high quality images on the internet to go on this front page. All in all I'm very pleased with how this design went and I believe the final outcome is somwhat of a gem, there's only one minor fault that I have with this design and that is the subtext "legal aid service for the of today" it just seems to blend a little to much with the other colours which may make it hard for some people to read, but for me it's fine.

Second Page Of Brochure - Here is the second  page to my brochure design. I really like this design as it's simple but it stands out still corresponding to my colour theme that I've kept along all my designs. I really like the way I've managed to put a yellow bar around my pictures making it look as though they're slotted in a 3D perspective. Although I really like this design I have a couple faults e.g. The amount of text I've put into the boxes may be a little to much and put off readers and the boxes around I think would may have benefited from being a different colour but all in all I'm very pleased with the design as I've kept it simple and professional but still making it stand out to the viewer.

Back Page Of Brochure - This is by far my most favourite page of the brochure because, because I've kept everything to a minimum but still kept with my colour theme and placed in the same same design of waviness as the front which will when print be attached to the front page and create this pattern all around the book. I have no faults with this design of mine as everything is well structured and appealing to the eye.

First Page Of Brochure - I like this design for my first page of the brochure as it's simple, clean and professional  but in turn still stands out. I've used this page a page to describe what the company is all about, keeping it minimalistic and added in an image for presentation which I believe this is what a first page should do. If people don't like the first page are they going to keep on reading? no. The only thing I can fault about this design is maybe the blank space I've left in the top right which may have benefited from having a little design there or something, but I'm happy with my design overall.

Business Card Front - I really like this design as it corresponds with all the other designs I have done keeping with the same theme. It presents all the necessary information that someone viewing the card would need. I do like the design but I do have some downsides to it, I think the design its slightly cluttered with the wavey effect on the side and I think I should've have made it a bit more simplistic.

Business Card Back - I'm very happy with design of the back of my business card as I've kept it simple, I love the way the colours are contrasted as it give off a very sleek and modern feel to the image. I have no faults with this piece of work and I think it has been well constructed and portrayed keeping it professional in it's appeal.

Logo - Here's my logo design, I'm very, very happy with as I've managed to create a simple professional logo that is clean but yet colourful which appeals to the viewer, drawing peoples attention. I have no faults with this design everything is well laid out and the structure is perfect.