OUGD603 - John Lewis - Evaluation

OUGD603

John Lewis

Evaluation 

I wanted to enter D&AD as in previous years I have always missed the deadline. I began by doing research into the Adidas brief but soon realised the outcome would just look like other pieces in my portfolio and I wanted to move away from this. Instead, I gave myself two weeks to complete the John Lewis and Partners brief which outcome had to be illustrative or an animation. I wanted to do this brief because I really enjoy illustration and think it is one of my strengths but have not had the opportunity to showcase it. 

I began by only illustrating the letters for JOHN LEWIS as there are no repeating letters. I wanted to animate the slightly but not so much that the actual animation would be distracting.

I went through the alphabet and assigned every letter an activity that is available to buy as part of John Lewis and Partners gift experiences range. 

Originally I planned to use BEBAS as the base typeface as it is an equally weighted bold typeface that would lend itself well to having illustration inside it.  However, I conducted further research into John Lewis and Partners as a brand and realised that I should probably use the typeface they use across their brand - which is Gill Sans. I also chose a limited colour palette which helps all the designs look consistent. The colour scheme is taken from the branding of John Lewis and Partners and Waitrose and Partners branding. The colour scheme was difficult to work with at times and didn't lend itself that easily to most of the designs, especially those that included people as there were next to no natural-looking skin tones. But the importance of the designs being consistent outweighed this. 

Having the sketches to refer to was very helpful and I hardly changed the composition of the designs on Illustrator after I had figured it out with pen and paper. 

It took me a while to get the hang of aftereffects but once I had watched a few tutorials and had a good understanding of the software I was able to animate the illustrations quickly. I then illustrated the rest of the alphabet and animated them. This took a long time and I had to work hard to have them finished for the day of the deadline. This meant that I only had a few hours to put together my submission for D&AD. I created a video that explained what my outcome was in the first 30 seconds, just like the brief suggested. If I had more time I would have added a soundtrack to make it more energetic. I didn't do this because I don't have a great understanding of copywriting and didn't have enough time to research into this. I would have also liked to apply the final designs to digital touch points such as digital screens in store, websites and social media. As well as physical outcomes like till roll, gift bags and point of sale stands. Although I was unable to create these in time for the D&AD deadline.