Brief 7: DBA Design Boards and Evaluation

DBA (Design Business Association) set us a brief to work in groups of 4-5 to develop a concept encouraging people to invest in the North. The brief wanted people of all ages to see 'the North' as a Brother to London, highlighted the benefits of moving their businesses or lifestyles to Northern grounds. The title for the campaign had been previously decided to be 'Capital North'. For this project I worked with Isabel Tanner, Ellen Setterfield and Laura Bruce.

We decided to brainstorm our own ideas in preparation for DBA’s return. Issy and I spent the first day with DBA coming up with a logo and identity for the DBA brand. We had been encouraged to think about ‘the big idea’. We had a very productive day as we have always worked well together. Due to Ellen and Laura being absent, there was a lot of pressure for us to produce the same amount of work of work as the other groups, who were working in teams of 4-5. However, we were really proud of the work we managed to produce regardless.

In reflection, I'd say this was one of the least organised projects. Due to my placement falling right in the middle of the development time, and my mac also breaking, I felt as though I was unable to contribute as much as I would have liked to. As we were all very busy during this time, there was not enough time to arrange group meetings where we could all attend, so the ideas were not as well developed as I feel they could have been. We received a mixture of feedback after presenting to DBA. They were particularly positive about our icon, including that it was one of the best they had seen all day. They also complemented Laura’s choice of imagery for the HS3 train mockup. However, we were questioned on out choice of maroon and Helvetica. It was suggested that this was slightly outdated for a project set in the future.

I found this brief challenging due to a lack of organization at times. However it was a beneficial experience designing work for an external brief and hearing first-hand professional feedback on our design process from start to finish. It was a good confidence building experience to stand up in front of a group of professionals to present our ideas.