Olivia created designs for her friend Owen's pub called the Commercial to help advertise. She created beer mats, posters, and a wine list cover with colorful, artistic designs featuring drinks and slogans. Her designs aimed to appeal to the pub's wide age range of patrons from 18-60 years old. While she enjoyed exploring new design skills, Olivia felt her designs may not be as practical as other advertising options for attracting new customers to the pub.

1. Client project
evaluation
OLIVIA GROOM

2. Audience
Characteristics
 For my target audience, I had a range from 18-60’s as it is a local family friendly
pub where I go with all my friends along with my family and people who live in the
local area. It is a popular, vibrant, endearing pub with a landlord the same age me
and my friends are. So when it came down to making my work appeal to the client
(Owen Bower, the landlord) and the range of ages that attend the pub most
weekdays and every Friday, I had to go for something simplistic but fun with a theme
similar to the Commercial itself. I wanted my work to reflect the kind of pub it is
without changing anything up, as you can’t advertise something false, you want to
look at a poster of beer matt and link it to the pub so its unique. At first I planned on
creating a new website or taking photographs, however to me this seemed almost
pointless as the best type of advertisement is seeing something in the pub itself so it
is more memorable, then anytime you think of the pub you link the two. So I came up
with the idea of creating personalized beer matts that resemble something from the
commercial that you take away with you as a memory. I also thought of posters, that
hopefully could be up around the pub, the toilets, outside the pub and around the
town itself, Easingwold. The Commercial doesn’t have that many posters up currently,
so I thought I may as well create something completely new and original instead of a
re-make. When it came to creating these, I knew I wanted to make it personal and
relatable. My first thoughts were involving an alcoholic drink that is popular in the
pub, such as a pink gin and lemonade. I wanted to create typography at first but as I
went on I preferred the more artistic examples I had started to progress with as they
stood out a lot more, I could play around with Photoshop filter gallery to give it this
vibrant 3D approach.

3. Typography ideas

4. Audience
characteristics
 My first idea was to design a business card or beer matt in
the shape of a gin glass, however as I went on I realized this
wouldn’t work and being too creative could lead to it not being
as appealing. I played around with designs and made sketches
and came to the conclusion that it could work as a poster
design as I liked my drawing, and thought if I edited it on
Photoshop and made it really vibrant and colorful it would be a
really eye catching poster that would draw in all audiences. As I
had such an age range, my characteristics had to be pretty
minimalistic and could relate to all ages. After speaking to my
client, he also told me he wasn’t keen on anything to different,
and didn’t like the idea of a business card or beer matt that
wasn’t the usual shape. I’m glad he gave me some constructive
feedback as in the long run it wouldn't of worked out and the
design element was too complicated and wouldn’t of looked
professional. When I showed my client the gin glass he wasn’t
actually that keen on the brightness of the pink on my final
poster design, so I put the opacity down and made it less
contrasting. Personally I like the design itself but agree it might
not resemble to Commercial well, even with it being a popular
drink it is quite feminine and gives off a different impression to
what the pubs atmosphere is like.

5. Audience
characteristics
 My favorite design that I thought appealed to all
audiences and had represented the pub as a whole was
this one. This is a personalized design with the use of a
pun ‘com on in’ after it being named the commercial,
which is clever and snappy- making the advertisement
memorable. The element of the design is simple yet all
links to the commercial. It is the outline of a pint glass,
with the words all linking to alcohol. I think with it being
a poster for a pub, you need big bold letters and quick
witted words as people don’t tend to be in a pub to
focus, they're there for enjoyment and fun. So when it
comes to advertisement you want color and eye
catching shapes especially when under the influence of
alcohol. When I showed my client Owen Bower, he said
this was his favorite design and he would consider using
it. He mentioned it would look good as a beer matt, so I
went a played around with that idea. I think the designs
are good for both a poster around the pub or a
personalized beer matt, either way I am happy with the
design as I think it has character and would appeal to all
audience.

6. Other poster
designs with
similar
characteristics.

7. Audience
characteristics
 When doing my Audience Research, I looked specifically at social
media as I know the commercial is very active with updates on Facebook
etc. I personally already follow the Facebook page, so I went on and had a
look at the activity. I noticed all my friends actually liked the page, which
showed a younger generation interest. It was also liked by all my friends
parents and people in their 30’s-50’s which showed me that it was an
open age range from the beginning, which I actually already knew from
going there myself a lot of the time. This then gave me an overall idea of
what I need to design in order for it to bring extra life and interest to the
Commercial, I wanted to create something that could also be posted on
social media, such as photos of my drawings that had slogans, as social
media is a big platform currently. I also created my own survey, which I
sent to all my friends and family and that gave me some good responses
that gave me the confidence to create the products I have. I also
researched the household composition and found out the area around
Easingwold is 57% family orientated. On my Audience survey, I asked
questions such as who people socialize with at the Com and who they
think the pub draws in most. This was really useful and gave me an
accurate representation on what the audience themselves think and how
they view the pub and what kind of people who regularly go.

8. Design
 When it came to my design, I think I succeeded in making my products
original. I think artistically I have quite a specific kind of technique that
makes work different. I create quite abstract and colorful designs with
vibrancy. Once I’d started on one design, I got the hang of what
characteristics they involved such as how they were edited and the color
and font choices. I think I learnt some new graphics skills during this
project which I am very happy with. I can now use a graphics tablet, which
I had never actually used before this project, so that was a new
experience for me. Once I got the hang of it after practicing, I actually
ended up creating all my products using one. I’m really happy with having
a new skill set using a graphics tablet as I think this has, and will in the
future, let me explore more aspects of graphic design and be a bit more
creative. A lot of my designs have this firework, sparks kind of effect on
them. This rooted from when I was drawing a pint glass and wanted to
make some splashes, then I thought It would look quite different if I
exaggerated this and added lots of color. It was really useful using a
graphics tablet to do this as the angle of the pen determines the
thickness or thinness of the strokes, and then editing this on filter gallery
gave it a unique finish.

9. Design
 When it came to my wine list, I wanted something authentic. I brought one of the menus to
college with me to copy the prices and wine, and there was actual spillages of wine on the menu
which made me think of designing a menu with these on already. I wanted them to look accurate
but also obvious that I'd drawn them myself on photoshop. Surprisingly I didn’t really struggle with
making it look realistic and I quite enjoyed making these splashes, It was very easy to do on a
graphics tablet. For the smudges, I made the pen size really high and lowered the hardness right
down, so I could make these ring like shapes that look as though a wine glass has been placed on
the menu. With the spillages I used a small size for the pen and made the strokes really thin and
light, creating little circles and putting dots around. To shade it I used a light pink color and then
varied within a deep dark rouge pink and in the middle of them both. The colors I used were quite
authentic and warm, they reminded me a bit of Italy. The Commercial has this warm color around
the pub especially the off yellow ish tone I used for the background, so I thought this would fit in
to the pubs theme. The font is simplistic and elegant, however I used a separate one as well which
had more of an edge to it giving it a variety. I think for a wine list, the font should be quite elegant
as wine is more of an expensive and sophisticated drink to have in a pub. The layout of my wine list
was quite tricky to set out, as I didn’t have a lot of room after the drawings around the page for
text. I had to play around a bit with sizes of text and worked out what would suit best, once I got a
good idea of this it was pretty simple in writing all the prices and wine descriptions out and it
worked well.

10. Design
Out of my poster designs, these 2 are
definitely ones I can imagine seeing in
the Commercial. I think they go well
together too. They are both very
simplistic yet effective, especially the
second. I think out of all my designs
these 2 are the most professional looking
and pub related, just very to the point. I
think using alcohol glasses is very
symbolic and gives off the right
impression, and obviously resembles the
pub well. I drew both these from scratch
with the graphics tablet. The second was
quite tricky as I wanted the glasses to all
be in proportion and accurate, since they
are just outlines of drinks. I especially like
the chalk like effect I've used as it will
match to the chalk boards you see
around the pub with menus and slogans
on, so it works and comes together
nicely.

11. Design
With the wine list cover, I wanted to create something new and
exciting and use my artistic skills instead of something basic that you
would usually see in a pub. The colors are quite deep, I used a warm,
cream background to ensure it had more a rustic theme to it than
bright and with a modern touch, I think the rustic look fits in more
with the commercial and what it represents. This was quite easy to
sketch out as the graphics pen was really good for creating this
splashes. I think it looks a bit candle lit which I like, like flames. The
filter gallery gave the edges this rough effect and more of a swishy
stroke, as well as the detail around the wine glass like shards of glass,
its got a thickness and almost 3D look to it which I like a lot. I think
one weakness I struggled with was making my designs look detailed
and as professional as they maybe should. However I have quite a
specific technique which I wanted to explore especially with drinks,
there was loads of things I could create such as these splashes around
the glass. I think it also conveys how wine and drinking makes you
feel in a nice way, its soothing and gives of quite a relaxed, slumped
impression.

12. Design

13. Design
 When I created this wine bottle poster, I didn’t expect to make it this vibrant
and abstract but I think it works really well. I spent the most time on this
drawing, as I think the detail was important for it to resemble a wine bottle
otherwise it would of looked pretty basic. The most intriguing part of this
product is the vibrant sparks around the bottle. I played around a lot and it
ended up creating these bright warm fire like colors that actually looked quite
realistic almost like fairy lights or a lit candle. This also made the bottle come
across more 3D, and the black background helped bring this forward. When I
first designed this product, I actually wrote it with some typography style text
saying ' I love wine' but decided the whole thing looked better more simple as
its already got a lot going on. I think this design would look really good
around the pub with lights around it, as a poster. Even though it doesn’t
include anything personal to the Commercial itself, it still has a lot of life and
elements that the Commercial has to offer. The colors on this bottle all blend
into each other well, and there is no harsh edges which I like, its got quite a
watercolor effect to it.

14. Client
 As my client was also a good friend of mine, I've been able to have a lot of face to face
conversations about my production as its progressed over the course of making it.
Starting with my research, I have been communicating with him and speaking on the
regular asking for advice and opinions on what he likes and dislikes from my designs.
When I first showed him my gin poster design, he wasn’t keen on the bright pink
colours so I knew to stay away from them, and go for the most rustic approach. I think it
was really useful knowing my client on a personal level as I could speak to him about my
production whenever needed, instead of trying to get in contact and having to wait for
replies. He never told me what he would like me to design for him, so this gave me a
wider design element that I could explore myself and made It more of an independent
project for me, which was challenging but I much preferred it as he let me do my own
thing, and if he liked it he could use it. It would have been more professional of me to
go for a company I knew nothing about, where I didn’t know the client, but I think I
would have been half-hearted if it was that case. It was more useful knowing my client
as I know what he would like and how he feel about his pub. Business is very important
to him but he also invests a lot of his time into his customers and locals, which is why
the pub is so well loved and popular.

15. Strengths and weakness' of my
Designs.
 When I first began this project, I mainly wanted to focus on typography.
However, I had never tried out typography before and I found it a challenge to
make it look professional and accurate. I practiced sketching out a few designs
and then scanned and edited them on photoshop. I definitely noticed
improvement as I went on, but I didn’t feel any of the designs were at a good
enough standard especially with the time limit. I definitely want to extend on
my typography skills and I'm happy that this project has allowed me to of
explored this technique on a whole, as it is a common skill set for graphic
design, and the research I did was really helpful in this area. I think on a whole
the research I did for this project defiantly gave me a head start on what to
focus on. I searched a lot of drawings and paintings of drinks and alcohol
slogans, as well as typography shapes. This really helped me with the use of
colors for the different types of alcohol, as I wanted it to look realistic
especially when it came to the red wine spillages.

16. Strengths and weakness' of my
Designs.
 I'd say with this project I definitely explore some new techniques and gained new skills,
but perhaps didn’t expand on this as much as I could of. I think all my designs are great
to look at, and I like them a lot. However, I think they are not needed, but just a bonus
to the pub and advertisement. This isn't a bad thing, but I feel as a client project you
want to create something they need to persuade an audience in, and with poster and
wine lists they have to come to the pub to see them, unless the posters are around the
town or on social media. I do however think knowing the Commercial as well as I do that
my designs are very relatable to the pub and would be a credit to it on a whole, as they
are full of life and have personality like everyone who goes to the commercial, including
the owners. If I was to do this project again, I'd maybe do it on something I'm a bit more
passionate about. I am very fond of the Commercial and my client as they are a good
friend of mine, but when it came to production I felt as though I was limited within how
feminine and colorful I made the designs as of course a pub is very gender neutral,
maybe something more along the lines of fashion. Although, I do think I still managed
to find a balance on this project as I needed to.