Practical Research

Shown above are a number of images that inspired my ideas for the design of the practical outcome. I had two criteria's for the design of the certificates, ease of use and an official, high end aesthetic. These documents are used for official purposes so ease of use is important due to the number of people who will be accessing the information. I wanted the certificates to have a high end aesthetic as they would be kept as keepsakes. I also wanted a continuous aesthetic to run throughout the designs but a slight change in colour to differentiate between each certificate. I considered using colours of the sun and sunsets as I felt this fit conceptually with the idea of life.

Print Finishes

As my essay tackles the issue of traditional print processes I wanted to ensure that I used at least one specialist finish within my practical work. I looked at various pieces of work that use embossing, foiling and spot varnishing.

Giacomo Gabrielli Healthcare forms

Shown above is a project that I came across on Behance when I was researching for my initial idea to redesign healthcare forms. This has been really helpful with the design of the birth, marriage and death certificates. I want my design to be slightly more stylistic than this but the functionality of this design was something I have been trying to relpicate. Giacomo Gabrielli's strong use of grid, utilisation of colour tints and clear type hierarchy have all informed my own designs.

OUGD501 - Physical COP outcome Idea

I spent a lot of time considering different outcomes for the physical part of my Context of Practise brief. I wanted to redesign something that legally has to be printed as my essay is about the relevance of print design in the modern day. I considered redesigning NHS medical forms but found that it was difficult to get my hands on these without actually being ill. When I did see a sample form I realised that the design already fit the purpose. Obviously there were improvements that I could make but not enough to warrant a complete redesign. I also looked at diabetes log books but after speaking to a nurse at my local practise I discovered that the majority of patients keep track of their insulin levels digitally, which completely goes against the whole purpose of the project.

A friend suggested looking at birth certificates and this led me on to looking at marriage and death certificates also. The design of all of these was absolutely dire and a complete redesign would make sense. Names for the project such as life on paper, life in print and life documents sprung to mind. I feel this has a lot of potential to be a really nice project.

I also considered looking at redesigning driving licences and prescription forms as part of the project. I am unsure whether to include them or not, I feel it may unnecessarily complicate the project.