COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM UPDATE

It is important that I document the challenges and weaknesses about my journey throughout this project, and not just the positives and what is going well.

I thought I would touch base and update this blog regarding the collaborative project. Our introductory posts about each member and our team name/logo were really successful. We were very proactive getting the platform started and active, and one of the first groups to do so. At the end of my last blog post relating to the collaborative project, I said we must take on board what Nataria said from her meeting, about being efficient with posting and possibly assigning roles. None of this has been done yet, which I hoped it would have been. However, it has been Easter and people have been spending time with their family and taking some time out. FMBe Creative made a post on our platform, wishing everyone a Happy Easter, which we thought was a really nice, friendly and engaging thing to do.

Next week is a new week. I plan to communicate with my group about arranging a group call to hatch a plan for our platform. Also, I hope by next week we all have some updates regarding our brand creations that we could start to think about posting about. I have looked at several of the collaborative platforms from last year and taken some key points away from them. Now it’s just implementing those things into our own platform, to get the ball rolling and truly get the most out of the project.

ADOBE SKILLS: GLITCH EFFECT

Glitch; “an unexpected defect, fault, flaw, or imperfection”

Since creating my visual mood board that sparked some ideas, I thought about how glitched effects would be fitting and work for my brand’s concept. When I last communicated with Evie, she too liked the idea. Ocean pollution is becoming evermore concerning; disturbingly killing off coral reefs and marine life. I thought the glitch effect would be a good way to visually represent this factual issue in a way that is not too disturbing or graphic, but impactful and creative.

As aforementioned, I really want to challenge my creative skills throughout this module and project. I love the glitch effect and I think it looks so cool, but at this stage I had no idea how to create it. So I decided to watch several YouTube tutorials on how to do them.

The first video I watched covered how to create the glitch effect with text. Here is a test sample that I created using Illustrator:

I then watched a second video which showed how to create the effect with images. I found this a much more straightforward video and process, and I will likely use the effect more on images rather than text. Here is a test sample that I created using Photoshop:

I am really pleased with myself that I have learned this new creative skill that I hope to take further and use throughout this project. I would absolutely love if I could create this effect on video, which I could use for some of my communication ideas at a later stage.

INITIAL VISUAL RESEARCH: MOOD BOARD

Admittedly, I am finding getting started with this project very difficult. This is why I decided to create a visual mood board to stimulate inspiration and get my creativity flowing.

I have never done a project like this before, and I think this why I am struggling to get the ball rolling. I feel like I have understood and grasped the strategical thinking elements of this course, but have lacked on the creative thinking side of it. I really want to push my creative skills and I have a good feeling this project is going to do that. As previously mentioned, I like the ideas to come to me straight away, but this really isn’t the case with this project. I know it’s a process, but at this stage I have been really struggling to vision a brand that is new, competitively advantaged and fits with Evie’s vision. However, as much as I am getting frustrated by this, I must understand that all of this is developing my skills, particularly creativity and problem solving.

Today I decided to get out of my rut and do something that will hopefully help me get going. I decided to create a visual mood board, consisting of a range of photos that will hopefully inspire my direction. I used Behance and Pinterest as platforms to find inspirational and fascinating images and visuals, and put the mood board together using Pages with several annotations. Some key visual aspects that I would like to takeaway and potentially use when creating the brand are:

• Curved and squiggly lines and splashes of colour.

• Pattern - turtle shells, waves, netting, oil spills etc.

• Contrasting/stimulating effects e.g. inverted colours, glitched effects.

• Colour palette consisting of bright bold colours e.g. cobalt blue, hot pink, coral, peach, yellow, and a colour that hints damage such as red or pale grey.

I hope the mood board speaks for itself and reflects some of my visionary ideas. As a next step in my journey, I am going to research into the topic and gain firsthand knowledge of the matter so I truly understand the brand I am creating and what it will stand for.

Once I created the mood board, I was really keen to run my ideas past Evie to see what she thought. I sent her a video of myself explaining my thoughts and ideas, in particular my thoughts on colour palette and effects, and her response was great! Fortunately she really liked what I had come up with, and her and I are both excited to go onto the next stage and develop our ideas further.