The end is steering closer...

Well, we've nearly come to the end of the year and I can't believe how quick time has flown by! I've thoroughly enjoyed my first year on the course and feel that my knowledge and understanding of the industry has progressed tremendously. I've met some awesome people and can't wait to continue my second year with them next year.

I'm looking forward to the second year of the course as I know we will be furthering the subject of Digital Skills, learning about television advertising (as well as continuing with what we've been doing).

Through summer I intend to produce the start of a book, working on a couple of campaigns and gathering my thoughts, ideas and scraps which I think will help my creative stride.

I have my accomodation sorted for next year and intend to find a job to help save for trip opportunities if any arise again next year.

Hope everyone has a good summer and I'm already looking forward to seeing everyone next year :)

Every now and then in my spare time I like to research different adverts. Looking at allsorts of kind of adverts to give me inspiration. I've seen some awful ones, but also some great ones.

These Heinz visuals I really like, they were created by art director - Gary Marjoram from a London agency called McCann Erickson.

I think it works really well and shows that Heinz tomato ketchup is as fresh as a fresh tomato.

The strategy line 'No one grows ketchup like Heinz' conveying that theres no other ketchup better than itself.

I really like Heinz' concept for this visual advert too. I think it works really well, implying that without Heinz your food would taste bland and boring. With the only colour as the red tomato ketchup bottle, it makes the product stand out of the page, encouraging the audience to look at the product.

It communicates with the audience really well, as with no communication the advert wouldn't work.

I used this advert at the beginning of the year for my 'I love that ad' in AD106. I really like the concept of the advert, it's different and like how they relate there work to the strategy; 'doing things differently leads to something exceptional'.

I feel the song (Ceremony - New Order) works really well with this advert, it's the right pace and tone. Some people could argue the fact that using the environment doesn't relate to vodka but I feel it has a different edge to the usual vodka adverts, encouraging you to remember it.

Within this advert, you not of noticed but the man and the piano changes three times, supporting the strategy - triple filtered. I feel the music could be different as I don't think it's strong enough for the clip, however I do like how he plays the piano in tune with the song at the end.

I feel it's a tangent from the Guiness advert with the dominoe effect. As below:

I get the same feel with the man running after the piano down the italian street as I do when I watch the Guiness advert.

I have always been a big fan of the Guiness adverts, joining their big fan base. I feel their adverts are bold and exciting, thoroughly getting the message across but only once the strategy line is shown. 'Good things come to those who wait' I think this is a strong strategy and is able to create many more tangents of ideas from it.

Digital Skills

Towards the end of the year we had a series of Digital skills lessons with Ben, an ex student from the course. During these sessions we learnt the basics of photoshop, digitally enhancing photos and airbrushing.

I found this very useful; as I haven't got much experience using Photoshop. Within one lesson he provided all the meanings for each button on the toolbar. He helped us digitally enhancing photos with internet tutorials which I found straightforward and easy to use. Seeing the effects of what I had done to the photo, allowed me to further my knowledge,as I could digitally present my work rather than the normal unprofessional drawings.

We only had a handful of lessons with Ben and feel I need more practise within the area to progress my knowledge and understanding.

Cadbury's adverts always cease to amaze me. I really like there creativity and style of each advert that they do. I become fixed on the screen wanting to watch what happens. The adverts I have included I think work well, being the subject of many people's conversations. Whenever I hear people talking about them, I smile at the thought of me creating an advert as big and as talked about as the Cadbury's adverts. The recent one of the three, consisting of the man with the pottery wheels makes me feel comfort in the fact that they put dedicated time into each individual chocolate bar.

Presentational Skills

Presenting or speaking to an audience regularly tops the list in surveys of people’s top fears, to me, this is extremely believable, as I find it one of my top fears.

It is said that presenting yourself or your work is simply practising the art of communication.

A bad presentation consists of; closed body language, low, unclear voice, punctuality, speed of speech and not having an interest in your own workings.

A good presentation consists of; confidence, open body language, clear, projectful voice, communication with the audience, preparation and practice. Being proud of your work, know what your talking about and having an interest in it.

I feel that my presentational skills have improved more and more throughout the year. I enjoy my works and feel that getting feedback from the class helps my way of think and doing things.

My self analysis before Christmas included; weaknesses of nerves, body language, scared of criticism and having too much arm movement. With a concern of getting over the fear of being looked at.

The strengths of my presentation was making eye contact, speaking clearly with a smiley, happy facial expression.

Today, I feel that I'm confident with still a smiley friendly facial expression. I try to avoid too much arm movement with open body language. I encourage feedback for my work, asking questions of anything I don't understand. I still get nervous until the presentation is finished, but I don't think I make this noticeable.

Recently for one of our modules we were recorded and marked on our oral presentation. I received feedback from this where Kay implied that I had good subject knowledge, with excellent confidence and presentational skills.

Tutorial Feedback...

Throughout the year, I’ve felt having feedback has been slow. I had one tutorial on the 11.11.09 where we talked about how I had settled in to the course. I wasn’t worried about the course and from my tutorial sheet, I was, and still am, happy and enjoying the course. The targets which me and Alison devised for myself was to improve my time management, tackling my research folder first, getting it out of the way and gaining the appropriate knowledge before diving head first into the creative side of the modules. The plan in which Alison wanted me to follow was:

Week 1 – Research what was to be learnt about.

Week 2 – Research product and start with ideas.

Week 3 – Ideas and development

Week 4 – Final Idea

Throughout each module I have tried to stick to this plan, detailing it in my own way of using a calendar plan.

My next tutorial session was on the 27.01.10 where I felt I needed to talk to Kay about the problems I had been having at home, as I felt they were distracting me from my work. Having said that, she was happy with my marks and voiced to improve my research file by researching the Harvard Referencing system, showing evidence of it through my next module.

I try and reference my work, stating where I received the information I include but still don’t feel I do it accurately enough. Having said this, I am still unaware whether I’m doing right or where I need to improve due to the lack of feedback as we’ve done 5 other modules since then.

Overall from my tutorial forms, I feel both Alison and Kay are happy with my work and improvements so far. The feedback they give me I try to accurately improve on and work to my fullest on each project. My attendance I feel is at a high standard which both Alison and Kay agreed that it is of an excellent standard, having only missed a handful of days. My punctuality, progress and motivation is of a good standard, which I agree with.

Alison left for London...

I'm not sure if it came as a shock to me, I heard things through the grapevine and figured that from all her trips to London that she was making something was to come of it. I'm happy for her, like she said she's motivated and happy about it. With having the holdback of life before hand it stopped her from doing it and now the opportunity has risen for her it's a sort of second chance.

Since she's left everything seems to of jumbled up and deadlines have been all over the place. We've had to cram in modules that I feel we could of done before hand and also our PPD (Personal Professional Development) files have also been literally 'get as much in as possible'. I feel as if we've been at a disadvantage with her leaving, as we haven't had much feedback on our marks or tutorials. Kay has been great, I understand how much pressure is on her and don't blame anyone for my disadvantage feeling. But by Alison leaving I do feel the course hasn't ran as smoothly as it would do if it had been consistent throughout.

AD103 - Vo5

This module concentrated on visual communication and campaigns, therefore to fuel our ideas we needed to be fully in the knowledge on each of them to create a brilliant concept that would work visually.

Within this project I followed a time plan to help me with my time management; I did this by using a calendar, as shown:

MON	TUES	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
		18 Time Plan Introduction	19 Start Product Research	20 Communicating messages	21 Visual Literacy	22 Visual Tools
23 Images and Symbols	24 Typography	25 Visual Language	26 Solving Concepts Problems	27 Colour Theory	28 Response through advertising	29 Examples of Campaigns
30 Concepts	1	2 Developments	3	4	5 Final Ideas	6
7	8 Mount	9 PR	10

I found that this method worked and I have used it many times within other modules too. It helps me devise my time wisely, allowing me to do the social things I want to do without worrying about work.

From my feedback for this module it implied that I had covered all the topics on my brief, for example; Communicating messages, visual literacy, visual tools, etc. But it went on to say that I hadn’t gone into depth on each of the subjects, which I knew and commented the depth of work within my reflection. However, I did include primary and secondary research within the module helping me gain a mark of 48%. I was happy with this mark, as researching isn’t one of my strongest skills, receiving an average half mark doesn’t make me worry, it shows me I need to improve on my research techniques and skills.

My feedback and marks for this module was giving to me on the 27.01.10, therefore improvements which I could have made I couldn’t improve on immediately.

AD105 - Lurpak

Lurpak was our first brief which we were to devise 50 concepts, with development and a final idea. Throughout this project I worked with Natalya, another member of the class and found that we worked together brilliantly, putting both of our team member skills to the test. Using verbal ping-ponging accurately we talked about our ideas, developing them further if we felt the need to. From my feedback, it suggests that there was an enormous amount of work within the module, and a large amount of effort in our development and ideas. This statement I couldn’t agree with more, throughout this module I feel both, Natalya and I worked hard and pushed our efforts to the maximum creating a good final piece.

The research aspect of the module I found average, as re-writing the information I’d found in my own words has never been my strong point. I collected research on each topic required to help me create a strong final concept. I researched subjects such as; advertising agencies, analyzing a brief, binary briefs, research techniques, dimensions, presentation skills and also included primary and secondary research within the folder. By conducting my own questionnaire on the brand and accumulating information helped me for the second half of the module.

The improvements suggested in my feedback for the research file were to use a varied of sources to research the subjects, not just the internet. I find the internet easy to use and I am aware that library sources are available for me but find reading books one of my weaknesses. I do intend to improve my reading list, as I am aware that the more knowledge I have will help my creativity within the future.

We managed our time well and handed the project in on time, presenting our work in front of the class the same day. For our presentation we managed to create the time to create a downsize version of our idea. Our idea being, a billboard made out of bread, where a Lurpak lorry situated next to it would give out samples of the spreadable Lurpak on bread for one day. We managed to prove that it is possible by researching other companies/brands that had done a similar project, this helping create a realistic image.

Overall I felt this project was strong and I felt happy receiving marks of 75% for our practical work and 54% for my research file, giving me an overall formative grade of 67%.

I didn’t receive my marks and feedback form for this unit of work until the 27.01.10, which stopped me adjusting faults and improving my research techniques until AD108.

Art Direction and Copy Writing Session

We had a session on the finding the difference between art direction and copy writing, where we were taught to either think logically or laterally.

Art Direction - Opposites.
We did this exercise in order to increase our creativity. Where we had to make a list of 20 things/items etc, finding the opposite for it and then turning it in to a creative concept.

For example, an egg - it's oval in shape, where the opposite could be spuare - the concept being that crisps are usually oval so square crisps could make an advert of genetically modified foods.

Being honest, I found this difficult to do. I consider myself to be an art director, as I like to think visually and creatively but with this module I couldn't get to grips with the concept process. Instead of finding opposites I just find another purpose for the product.

For Copywriting we were given day briefs, where we were given a product which we had to go away and come up with 20 strategies for.

Again, I struggled with this one too. Like I said I'm more of a visual person than a logical one. I tried my best to come up with strategies, but only found through feedback that a couple worked well. The second years and the tutors reassured me that a good strategy could come within hundreds.

Analyzing a Brief

A creative brief is a report that the project managers prepare to pass instructions and recommendations along to creative staff. Within an advertising project, usually, the creative brief contains the intended target audience (If any), what specific messages the company wants to convey, along with any specific mandatory’s which have to be included; for example, the company logo or slogan, any specific colours the company is recognized for.

A typical creative brief is shown below:

Creative Brief:

Client – The person you work for begins by giving you the brief consisting of a few standard parameters.

Product – The item you’re advertising.

Proposition – The point you’re trying to make, the single minded

Objective –Outcome, what you want to achieve

Media – Format of advert. For example, TV, press, radio, direct marketing. The client should look at the client’s budget an advise on which medium is most suitable. TV is, an expensive medium with which to broadcast your message, and may not be suitable for your target market or the product/service you’re selling.

Manditories –(otherwise known as “obligatories”) Got to be in the advert, things that the client must have or will refuse to accept no matter what.

Target Audience – Advert is aimed at a certain audience.

To show an example of a brief; I’ve chosen the brief we we’re given for AD105 – Lurpak.

Brief Given:

Client –– Danish Dairyboard

Product –Lurpak Butter

Proposition – “Spreads straight from the fridge”

Objective – Increase sales

Media – 48 Sheet poster - Billboard

Manditories – Logo, Slogan, Corporate colours

Typography – Digital, Web Address

Target Audience – Women aged 40-50

The purpose of writing a creative brief is to describe the current project, explaining the purpose and the plan to implement the project. The brief should provide the project outline to the parties involved. The marketing team clearly define what they want the creative team to create.

SWOT Analysis

During a talk session, Kay went through SWOT analysis's with us, encouraging us to write down our self analysis in the form of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Strengths – having the capacity to do something, the will power to do something.

Mine being:

· Work well with deadlines

· Support from friends and family

· Determination

· Will power/Determination

· Creativity

· Punctuality and attendance.

Weaknesses – an inadequate quality in a person’s character.

Mine being:

· Socialising

· Presenting in front of a group of people.

· Time management

· Referencing

· Research

Opportunities – a situation favourable for attainment of goals.

Mine being:

· Trips/Visits

· Support from teachers

· Group Talks – improvements, feedback and amendments

· Summer placements

· Have the time to make improvements

Threats - an indication of probable trouble.

Mine being:

· Financial

· Need a job

· Long term boyfriend

Trips..

Within the year we've being given the opportunity to attend trips, these being; A day trip to London, a 4 day trip to London and a 5 day trip to New York. The trips totaling to a cost of approximately 800-1,000GBP, this being my only hold back. I'm grateful for being giving the opportunity to go to these places but I didn't have the money to pay for them so soon into the year.

However, I saved the money so I could attend one of the trips; which was the 4 day trip to London. I have never been to London, yes... I heard that right, I have never been to London. Some people are quite shocked at the fact that I have never been to the Capital city but I have never really thought about it. I plan on going but it just never happens, so I was really looking forward to visiting the Advertising agencies that Alison had arranged.

BUT... and it's a big but, I became ill a week before we were due to go. I had a water infection but still being the ambitious person that I am I carried on with my work until the weekend before we were leaving for London. I went home for that weekend and attended the doctors, they advised me to rest and prescribed me with antibiotics. I'm not a believe in everything happening for a reason, but something doesn't want me going to London!

Therefore, I had to miss the trip, so while I was resting in bed, my class mates were enjoying the sites of London and getting firsthand advise and knowledge about the industry. Next year, I plan not to be ill... so I can get the most out of the trip.

How to research:

Increase your knowledge – fashion, shopping, football...

Why do we need to research? To find out as much as you can about the subject, this helping you not be at a disadvantage, fuelling your ideas creating an advert that will stand out from the crowd, being different from everyone and everything else.

Provide evidence to show you have looked and understood your subject, resulting in better marks and grades along with developing your understanding.

Primary Research is finding out things for yourself, this can be questionnaires, observations (eavesdropping), searching, you’re own experiences and collecting your own ideas which helps with visual communication.

Secondary Research is re-examining facts that someone else has collated. For example, existing articles, internet, books from the library and other people information.

Research is only valid when it’s deconstructed, rewritten and annotated to show you’ve understood the task or subject in hand.

A research file consists of:

Professional file – Name, Student Number, Course Title, Course Code, Submission date, Hand in date, Course Leader, etc.

Contents – a list of all subjects within the research file.

Introduction – a small paragraph including how you intent to research the subject.

Primary and Secondary research into the subject.

Examples of the subject area – specific and non-specific.

Critical Analysis is an important tool enabling you to make up your mind, asking questions and research.

Conclusion – Summary of main points, concluding statement and recommendations, suggesting what you think should happen? What I learn? What I found?

Reflection/Evaluation – How I feel? What would I change? What would I improve if I was to do the project again?

Questions – Problems – Solutions – Argument – Comparisons – Evaluation

Finding an idea:

There are many methods that can be used to find or develop an idea; which could be:

Verbal Ping Pong – used with a group of two or more people, which includes an idea being suggested by one person, voiced and then improved by another member of the group. The idea continuously ‘pingpongs’ across the table until everyone’s happy with the developed idea.

Personally, I like and use verbal ping ponging a lot. Me and my partner Natalya use the method throughout each project, spreading our work across the table. Noting good concepts, thoughts and ideas, ping ponging our ideas across the table and also including others, asking for their feedback and thoughts on the ideas we’ve come up with.

Barrage – One member of a team creates numerous strategies and shouts them out one by one to the other members of the group until they shout stop at one they like.

We don’t tend to use this method within our group, as we use the verbal ping ponging to create the ideas together. We don’t tend to work alone creating numerous strategies; we improve or draw up concepts when we’re apart.

Another technique is no egos, where one member thinks of a strategy in the shower, at home, or working and tells the other member, leading to the other member really liking it.

The ad I like at the moment is...

Weetabix Advert

I really like this advert as it has a humorous touch to it, being that the horse can talk. It's unrealistic and something that you least expect, with the man racing without a horse. This helps you remember the advert, helping it become the topic of conversation, however, I don't feel as if it makes me want to go out and buy Weetabix. It's creativity is good but does it actually do it's job?

I’m coming to the end of my first year and for my personal development file (PPD) we were meant to be noting and writing our thoughts and feelings about each of our modules down within this blog. Unaware of this, we, as a class, hadn’t even started our blogs let alone it being nearly finished it. So, let’s go back to the beginning and I’m going to try and include as much detail as possible.

As we started the course my eyes were opened to the different ways of thinking creatively. Firstly, I started the course looking into what ‘creative thinking’ actually is? Where I found that there is two different sides of the brain that are used to think about different things. We don’t just decide which side of the brain we want use at what times, it happens automatically.

The right side being; more emotional, visual, creative and imaginative - usually being the Art Director.

Where the left side being; more strategic, logic, verbal, predictable and practical - usually being the Copywriter.

By practising our right side of the brain, we, within groups had activities to complete which then at the end of the module we had to create a creative ‘carrier’ to carry all the creative thinking activities we had done within our groups.

Methods like;

Eavesdropping – walking around a public place listening to other people’s conversations and creatively making up a full story from a few sentences. In another way, it can be seen as creating a life you think they might lead.

We, as a group went to the centre of town and eavesdropped on two men sat on the cafe chairs outside a cafe.

The picture shows me eavesdropping on the two men. I personally, found it quite hard as when you’re trying to concentrate on something specific it was difficult. Where when you’re not concentrating on something it comes easier.

Save a life with a £1, was another technique; where we, again as a group, went out and brought an item that would save a life for £1 only. We chose a belt and then, when back in class named 50 imaginative things we could use the belt for.

Brainstorming, is a formation of ideas and thoughts. A brainstorm is a mind map a process of noting down pictures and/or text of a specific key word, this being either a task or a product. An example of a good brainstorm would be detailed, descriptive and full of thoughts and ideas.

The picture shows an example of a good brainstorm, which includes pictures and textual content.

Word association is another technique to help create a tangent of ideas; starting with one word leading to a completely different one.

I find brainstorming and word association very useful and have used them continuously throughout my portfolio work. Both help me chose a creative direction of where I want to proceed with the brief.

Ok, so a little about me...

I consider myself to be a friendly, enthusiastic and energetic individual. I’m a smiley person who likes to be loud and proud, standing out from the crowd. From a young age I’ve found an artistic talent within me and still, enjoy creating and developing ideas. I’m 20 years old and feel I’m heading in the right direction to achieve my ambitions for a career. I want to be a person that creates an advert that everyone talks about, be the person that changes the topic of conversation and be the person that turns heads, making people look/watch and believe in the advert.

I’m currently studying a foundation degree in Creative Advertising in Rye Hill College, Newcastle Upon Tyne. I grew up with my family in a small village called Llanymynech, Powys, in Mid-Wales which is situated on the border between England and Wales. I went to a bilingual high school and 6^th form, where the Welsh language was compulsory, where I studied GCSE’s and A levels. I took a gap year after achieving my A levels as I wanted to travel, I’m an ambitious individual and when I want to do something I work for it to achieve my chapters in life. Through my gap year, I looked forward to getting stuck into studying and focusing on something I wanted to do.

I’m enjoying my course and feel I’m progressing more and more, whilst finding out more information of what the advertising industry in tales. I feel it is helping me think creatively, creating good ideas and developments.