Drawing
Drawing in art is a well-established traditional skill, but what about graphic design? Do
designers actually need to be able to draw? The answer is yes and no. Designers do need to
be able to draw, but they don’t need to be good at it in the same way illustrators and artists
are. Drawing in design is used primarily as a tool for analysis and description, for unpicking
your visual thinking on the back of an envelope, sketching out rough page layouts or
explaining your ideas, in other words drawing as a tool for visualisation. In these instances
you might be using a marker pen as much as a pencil.
Thumbnails
Thumbnails are rough visualisations of layouts also called thumbnail sketches because they
tend to be small, simplified drawings that allow you to quickly place the visual elements of
your composition.
Mood boards
A mood board is a simple way to collect secondary visual research that you think is
appropriate and use it as a tool to help communicate your thinking around a brief. For
example, how do you describe your audience, their likes and dislikes, the kind of things they
already associate with? You may have more than one mood board to describe a variety of
approaches to any given design. Some may focus on the type of photography you would like
to work with, while others focus on the colour, texture and quality of the paper, and others
on the typography and layout.
Mock-ups and prototypes
As your design ideas start to develop edit out the material that you don’t need, leaving the
design elements that you feel are important to answering the brief. Using mock-ups or
prototypes is a good way of putting your visual thinking together in an appropriate format.
For example, a mock-up of a book jacket design would be either a computer printout or a
sketch of your design ideas wrapped around an existing book to give a sense of what your
designs would look like when finished; in this case you would be able to pick up your mock-up and see how the book feels in your hands or on a shelf. A mock-up of a billboard advert might see your designs superimposed over a photo you have taken of a range of billboards to get a sense of the designs on the street. Prototypes are mock-ups that involve more physical making, such as folding packaging or product design. At this stage your mock-ups can be quite simply executed, for example some paper folded and roughly sketched out to represent the folds of a leaflet or what content goes where in a booklet.
Exercise: Visualising your ideas
Paper is something graphic designers take for granted. For this exercise you will explore
some of the different ways you can fold paper to make a leaflet.
You have been asked to design a leaflet for an organisation, inviting people to
volunteer for a task. (You can choose the task for example, school governor, fundraising
or building a community garden). In addition to a title the information has been broken
down into four chunks each of about 120 words. You will also need to leave space for
contact and address details.
Working with a sheet of A4 paper or larger if you prefer, and ignoring the actual words and subheadings, explore the different formats for leaflets that are possible. Consider and experiment with options for final size and types of paper as part of your visualisation.
The organisers are particularly interested in trying to attract new people. Your job is to find a way to make people want to pick up the leaflet. Be creative and playful in developing a range of ideas. Will the leaflets be put in racks? Will they be handed out or sent in the post? You will need to do some research to see how other people have solved similar problems.
As you try different folds write on each new page what is going on it and which way up it
will be. Choose a combination of different ways to visualise your thinking, such as mounting or photographing your mock-ups and prototypes, presenting thumbnails or drawing your ideas. In your learning log describe how you found turning ideas into visuals. Did you discover anything unexpected?
Exercise Response:
Picking the topic for this was a no-brainer!
May bank holiday myself and my colleagues are (were) due to walk the Yorkshire three peaks for our charity partner – Mental Health UK. Yorkshire and Mental Health being very close to my heart, so it seemed a good topic to choose that met the requirements of the brief.
The target audience for this subject is as broad as it is long. Everyone is effected by Mental Health in one way or another, be it directly or through someone they love or have cared for. The whole point in this leaflets is to raise awareness of just that and get volunteers of all age ranges to get involved to support the cause.
With that in mind, a design would need to appeal to all ages. The leaflet would need to be picked up without much encouragement. It would need to be balanced enough to appeal to both the young and fun (not dumb), and mid – older generations.
I imagined this would be distributed in public places – Local shops, Libraries, Town Hall, Cafe’s, Tourist Centre’s, Medical Practices etc. I found this website which explains how individuals can promote an event doing just that – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/event-flyers-need-to-know-ds00/
Most of these businesses will have community boards or leaflets display racks, Providing the designs are of a standard-ish size and shape, it would be easy enough to display these leaflets amongst others.
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I then moved on to gsm…
Having worked for an envelope manufacturers and printers, the subject of paper weight wasn’t so alien to me. However I thought it best to expand on that knowledge by researching typical paper weights specifically for leaflets. I managed to source the below image which I found really useful.
This is a great example of how various paper weights are used for different subjects.
It would make sense for leaflets that aren’t folded to be thicker for a more professional look. Although this wouldn’t work so well for folded leaflets as 200gsm might be a little difficult to fold. As a result the printed design could suffer wear and cracking down the folds.
I then began researching the most obvious folds. The options shown below seemed the most recognisable to me. Quite easy to understand why too. After all, they are fairly safe, clean and easy to navigate.
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I considered the ability to meet the expectations of the brief with this range of folds, and with the layout structure, how easy it would be to achieve what is required with four lots of 120 words.
These folds are likely to be the most cost effective too. Keeping the complexity of the design to a minimum, which in-turn reduces any potential confusion on the printers end.
This then led me to the more complicated, origami-like options. I found some inspiring designs. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, the more complex the folds are the more difficult the design becomes. This can be time consuming, sometimes less effective, also furthers potential issues at the printers end and of course, makes things more expensive.
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Below is another unique Origami envelope design I found on Youtube. I was surprised to find this ACTUALLY WORKS!
While it makes for an interesting little gimmick, it’s not the most effective for getting a message across, nor would it be easy to design or print due to it’s never-ending folds. I imagine it wouldn’t be great for ease of displaying in the most common of display units either. Overall making it quite a complex job that again would likely come at a cost.
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Below are my mock-ups of some potential designs. (Modelled beautifully by my boyfriend Chris’s fair hands). I tried various folds and approaches to the designs – Turning Leaflets into games, mountains and envelopes, various cut-out ideas, simple folds, complex folds, quirky and comedic. Some worked, some didn’t… Take a look and i’ll explain why.
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4 Panel:
I like it, but…. The 4 panel fold could be really classy and work for some briefs. Although for this particular brief I don’t believe it would, due to the requirement of four lots of 120 words. I came up against this issue with a lot of the folds actually. Not something you consider until you come to doing it.
I did what I could by spreading type across 2 pages, but overall I just didn’t like it. There seemed to be a need for too many spacer’s. Which is not a good thing!
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Fortune Teller Game:
This was fun to create, I remember making these at school. Usually containing rude jokes or dares. I can see how for the particular subject of mental health this could work really well, especially with the smiley’s / emoji’s, or whatever they call them these days, especially to the younger generation.
Through it’s design it promotes the togetherness that Mental Health UK stands for which I believe works really well.
Inside would have info about the charity etc and the fully unfolded paper could contain some form of walking map.
I’m not entirely sure how you would go about displaying this, but for it’s quirkiness, I would expect people would pick it up. It’s something to fiddle around with. People love that!
The obvious issues with this fold is space, and of course the design. You would need the patience of a saint to get this right, and god forbid what would happen when it arrived with the printers. With all that in mind, it probably wouldn’t be the most suitable option.
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Gate Fold Cut-out:
I’m quite fond of the gate fold. I’m not entirely sure on my design but the idea was to have a brain shape cut out of the front, exposing a brain inside with mental heath related words inside such as: Anxiety, depression, etc..
There is enough space to meet the requirements of the brief but not too much to cause the viewer any unwanted panic.
Inside the first page would explain a little about the charity, the top centre would give more information about mental health and include some UK stats. On the left page there would be information about how to get involved, ideas for fundraisers etc, and on the back would be left clean with contact details either on the bottom or centre of the page.
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4 Panel Mountain:
Well, the idea was there….. but it went no further than that! Mostly because I had no clue how I would display this leaflet without it loosing shape, or how I could get the message across that it is the three peaks. Obviously it looks like 3 peaks, but only because I know that. Next!
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Origami Envelope:
This was my own take on the video above. I enjoyed creating this fun little number and are quite proud it turned out as well as it did. I doubt very much I would have enjoyed creating an actual design to fit this fold though. I could find no way to justify this fold other than that it ‘might’ be a good option for a leaflet being distributed door-to-door. The likelihood of it being distributed like that is slim. In addition to that, it would again appeal to the younger generation.
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Origami Envelope No.2 with internal leaflet:
Again, another take on the above envelope idea I sourced on Google. While it’s easier as an envelope to create than the previous envelope, i’m not impressed. It looks messy and out of shape. It might look different printed with a nice design but the folds make it near impossible to have 4 lots of 120 words without the need for spacers. I added a mini booklet to the inside with the view that the main envelope leaflet would focus on the charity itself while the inner leaflet would focus on the walk.
The positive about this is it would be a great option for door-to-door leaflets. However, the need for a sticker to keep it closed adds to the expense. Is it really worth the additional cost and complexity of design and print? Probably not.
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Backpack Cut-out:
For it’s quirkiness I like this concept. It appeals to all ages. It would be fairly straight forward to produce. It gives the impression it relates to Walking and the charity can be incorporated in to this easily. The layout is simple which makes it easy for the reader to navigate and equally a breeze to design and print. It also leaves just enough, but not too much space. A positive response to the brief.
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Single Fold:
Of course this is the most basic of folds. I’m sure in the normal setting of one of it’s distribution hub display units it would sit nicely, but the design would have to be mind-blowing for it to stand-out amongst the leaflets either side. It didn’t really inspire me.
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Tri-Fold:
The good old Tri-Fold!
This is definitely my favourite fold. There are 4 predominant pages for information. It’s easy to navigate (Unlike a Z-fold), and there is enough of an open space (Inside) to get creative with illustrations / photo’s.
You tend to see these leaflets in display racks so I am confident they would sit well. The ‘unwrapping’ to reveal the ‘full picture’ feels a bit like unravelling a little mystery, and so could instil a level of interest in the reader to continue reading. It has the ability to reach all ages with the right design.
I designed some Tri-folds after this and found them easy enough to design. Print shouldn’t be too difficult, nor should it impact cost.
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Tri-Fold Cut-out No.2:
Another Tr-fold, only this time with a cut-out of the mountains. I am mindful that the last tri-fold has it’s positives, but equally like a single fold, it is a very ‘standard’ approach. I would also imagine this version would appeal more to the younger generation for it’s playfulness of the cut-out.
I created this design (See designs below) which wasn’t difficult to do with regards to lay out and shouldn’t be a problem for printers.
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Z-Fold Smiley:
Funny how folding the paper in a different direction can make all the difference. Although this is the same fold as a Tr-fold, they layout it very fussy to navigate. When reading you can’t tell if you’re meant to be at the front or back.
After trying, I realise it’s not as difficult to get your head around when designing it, but it does add limitations. A Tri-fold has a full open inner, whereas the Z-fold is a bit of a mess when fully opened.
I feel for the reader it’s a little frustrating and I expect this would also have an impact on the readers interest in the leaflet.
Conclusion:
There are many different folds that can be used to create a range of designs however there are a few things to keep in mind when selecting a fold. For example: Paper weight, Cost, ease, reading, designing, and printing, how it will be distributed and displayed and to which target audience. My personal favourite is Tri-fold.
Below you can view the leaflets I designed in response to this brief. Please ignore the page guides.
Leaflet Designs
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Graphic Design - Core Concepts: A log by Jade Wylie 