EVALUATION - Elmwood

Elmwood had been in to set us a brief titled 'brand the boring', where I was given the profession of a removal company. From this, I was lucky enough to be selected to go and pitch my final idea at the studio based in Leeds. Initially I was nervous, however when we arrived Steph was extremely accommodating and friendly which put me at ease. Before the presentations, we were given the opportunity to take a look around the studio to see the working environment, where a vast array of creatives were hard at work. The atmosphere was very inspiring and the surroundings were extremely motivational.

The pitch itself was quite casual and I felt confident in getting my concept across. It was great to get some feedback straight away, taking note on how I could build upon, expand and change my ideas. This experience really helped with my presentation skills, both in terms of speaking and visuals, which will become extremely useful when it comes to pitching my ideas to clients.

The brief itself wasn’t necessarily a brief I would have chosen to do, however it was a great opportunity and it allowed me to really start thinking much more conceptually, focusing on how this can make a brief stronger than the visuals. The visuals I created weren’t too my usual style, and therefore I initially struggled, however I felt that I had successfully branded a removal company to appear much more contemporary, updated and trustworthy. In terms of feedback from Elmwood regarding the practical work, they noted that the name ‘Shift It’ was extremely effective, as were the illustrations, yet they could be expanded on and played around with more in order to explore scale and application. 

ELMWOOD - portfolio surgery

Feedback from portfolio surgery with Chris from Elmwood

- Beautiful illustrations and packaging
- All looks extremely high end
- Champneys looks like something you would find in Harvey Nics
- Spread everything out
- Make specific images full screen to show off beautiful illustration and so can see type
- Champneys - need to see type on packaging
- App stands out as completely different work, either put in a hint of illustration or get rid
- Ted Baker - edit it and make it big
- Push type up so you have more space on your boards or spread it into three columns
- Cath Kidston - tile up the colour ways, or just have one and apply the others to products
- If you put in collaborative projects then explain what parts you did to show what you are capable of

ELMWOOD - pitch response

STUDIO VISIT - Elmwood

Elmwood had been in to set us a brief titled 'brand the boring', where I was given the profession of a removal company. From this, I was lucky enough to be selected to go and pitch my final idea at the studio based in Leeds. Initially I was nervous, however when we arrived Steph was extremely accommodating and friendly which put me at ease. Before the presentations, we were given the opportunity to take a look around the studio to see the working environment, where a vast array of creatives were hard at work. The atmosphere was very inspiring and the surroundings were extremely motivational.

The pitch itself was quite casual and I felt confident in getting my concept across. It was great to get some feedback straight away, taking note on how I could build upon, expand and change my ideas. This experience really helped with my presentation skills, both in terms of speaking and visuals, which will become extremely useful when it comes to pitching my ideas to clients.

Feedback

- Works just as well without the tagline
- 'Shift It' is extremely effective, maybe doesn't need the rest
- Beautiful illustrations
- How could you expand on your illustrations?
- Could stack illustrations on top of each other to create something more animated
- Make use of the pattern more on application of the vehicles

CRIT - feedback from Elmwood

Crit feedback

The feedback giving during the crit was extremely helpful and allowed me to gain a more direct and clear design route. Overall, my concept was positively received and I will therefore be developing it further.

Points mentioned

- Really like the name shift it, very friendly tone of voice and is something that you would find yourself saying yourself

- Good use of illustration

- Really effective tag line

- Could create a pattern from more than one household item and then create a blank space for text, as though the text is shifting the items out of the way

- Could include photography, images of living spaces where something has been 'removed'

- Images, something should be there but it isn't 

From this crit, I am going to develop one of the ideas that was suggested to me. As photography isn't a strong point of mine, I am going to stick with illustration and pattern and incorporate this into my designs. It was suggested that I simply used blank/white space to shift a hole in the pattern where text can go, as though pushing the items out of the way.