Parker
Pens Ad – 07/10/11
Evaluate your performance:
- The role you played
- How others helped
- What would you do differently next time?
- Was your role a success?
- As a group, did you use everyone?
- If not, why?
In today’s class task, we were briefed to create an ad campaign
for Parker fountain pens. My role was mostly just as a creative, however I also
helped to maintain a bit of order and clarity during discussions as I felt that
at times the group could get sidetracked and that because the team leader was
actually our equal, she didn’t hold proper authority over the group and
therefore didn’t feel it was her place to interject at times. I also neatly
scamped out my campaign with the help of Liam as it was using his strapline.
Almost half of the group spent the first hour of the task doing
research. Although it was necessary, I don’t think it really uncovered anything
that we needed to know in order to complete the task. One of the things that in
retrospect was quite important, but was missed, was the way competition
advertise. The competition was looked at but in nowhere near enough detail,
especially considering one of the targets of the ad was to lure biro users to a
fountain pen and show it as a worse product.
If we were to do the task again, I think that having more
“mini-deadlines” in the project would have benefitted us. Showing people what
you’ve done more often allows them to give suggestions of other direction, and
in the case of a researcher find out other related things that could benefit
the design team. This would also clearly point out those that are pushing the
group forward and those that aren’t pulling their weight.
I think that my role was a success. My campaign idea, with a
slight alteration of the strapline, was one of the two used in our final presentation
so in respect of being creative and making an ad that fitted the brief and SMP,
I was successful. I also think I was successful in helping the team choosing
which ads should be continued and scamped by referring everyone back to the SMP
in the brief so that everyone could judge the ads by how well they met the
brief rather than how much they appealed to us.
Throughout the exercise everyone participated in some shape or
form and contributed something to the group. However, in the afternoon a couple
of people didn’t really contribute during the idea generation process which I
thought was quite disappointing and generally a bit of a letdown.
Overall, I felt that the team produced two good ad campaigns and,
compared to past experiences of group work, worked well as a team and helped
each other in various disciplines where possible.
SMART Advertising - 09/06/2011
For this assignment, the brief required us to create three advertising campaigns, one of which had to be fully developed and the other two to be left as comps. Later on in the assignment, we were then told that our campaigns had to include at piece of ambient/guerilla/viral advertising however this was not part of the written assignment.
In my opinion time management was made difficult. I would normally use notes and lists which could be updated regularly. However working in a group made this quite difficult as what we needed to do, based on tutor feedback, was changing on a weekly basis to the point where I felt like the group was no longer in creative control and we were simply doing as we were told which I found very irritating. The group also made it difficult to meet up as whenever I asked people to come in, I would regularly get one person who was always willing to come in and do work, another who would do their best to come in but either be late or not be able to come in at all and the last who it was rare I got a reply off.
As there were multiple people in the team, we were each able to research specific areas and then collate this information in our sketchbook. This allowed us to get the maximum amount done in less time than it would have taken us on our own.
Ideas were generated differently by each person in the team and each person did what felt right to them. For example I generated ideas by mindmapping, listing ideas and doing sketches underneath a headings. When it was necessay for us all to generate ideas together we would mindmap using both words and image.
In my opinion the solution to the brief was a good one, however I feel that the solution to the brief was better in it’s comp form rather than it’s final photoshopped form. This is because we don’t have a budget to go out and take professional standard photographs that would have been suitable for this project.
Throughout the assignment we used predominantly Illustrator as we were constantly creating scamps and comps and this programme is strongest for doing that. We also used Photoshop and InDesign to create the final campaigns.
When presenting to the client I was very pleased with the way our team did. I felt that we acted professionally and spoke well. The comps that we presented looked good, the information was presented with good hierarchy which gave it a sense of order and directed the eye well.
As individuals, each person had different strangths and weaknesses. Andrew was quite easily distracted which made it very difficult for the group to work as a team. Andrew isn’t the best at written work which meant his work rate wasn’t that good but I think as time has gone on he has improved which I’m happy with. His general work rate wasn’t particularly good considering how skilled he is on the software, again this was because he was easily distracted, but as a result there isn’t much of his work in the sketchbook. Olivia was always able to attend group meetings, even if she had commitments she would be on time and leave when she had to. Olivia also contributed a good amount of work to the project and was the only person in the group I could rely on to give a task over the time we weren’t in college and she’d have it ready for the next session. Liam’s attendance which was simply not good enough. Every time the group met up, he only attended once. This led him to be less and less valuable as a team member as the weeks went by and is evident in the amount of work that is in the sketchbook. I felt that I was constantly under pressure by my team members to give them work and rather than be productive I was being put off by people asking me what they were meant to be doing. This was more of an irritation than anything else because I have quite a good work rate and I’m quick on the software. I felt that outside the session I was working the hardest with Olivia also doing extra work. I also had to organise the group to meet which was a pain, I consistently got a reply off Olivia straightaway with andrew being slower to reply and sometimes not being able to come in. I often didnt get a reply for Liam.
In review, I think that the biggest learning point was to not work in groups at this college level. People in the college prioritise things such as work and social life over college work and this brings a lot of unnecessary stress, tension and an overall bad atmosphere to the class. This brief has also put a number of people off advertising which a college brief shouldn’t really do.
11/1/12 - Development since project reviews
As a comparison between the two project reviews, there is a clear tone of voice difference between the two which shows the Parker Pens work as a much more positive experience. I think that this change of tone is the first indicator that my ability to work in a group is improving as it is now a positive experience.
As a class, I would say that we now have more knowledge and skill to tackle a group project. The major difference between the two projects were that the Parker project was completed over a couple of hours on the same day. This was a factor that benefited us as a group and because it meant that there was no room to relax or slack off. There was a clear deadline only a short period of time away and because it was done on one day it meant that the amount of people didn't change due to absence etc.
End of Unit
SMART Advertising - 09/06/2011
For this assignment, the brief required us to create three advertising campaigns, one of which had to be fully developed and the other two to be left as comps. Later on in the assignment, we were then told that our campaigns had to include at piece of ambient/guerilla/viral advertising however this was not part of the written assignment.
In my opinion time management was made difficult. I would normally use notes and lists which could be updated regularly. However working in a group made this quite difficult as what we needed to do, based on tutor feedback, was changing on a weekly basis to the point where I felt like the group was no longer in creative control and we were simply doing as we were told which I found very irritating. The group also made it difficult to meet up as whenever I asked people to come in, I would regularly get one person who was always willing to come in and do work, another who would do their best to come in but either be late or not be able to come in at all and the last who it was rare I got a reply off.
As there were multiple people in the team, we were each able to research specific areas and then collate this information in our sketchbook. This allowed us to get the maximum amount done in less time than it would have taken us on our own.
Ideas were generated differently by each person in the team and each person did what felt right to them. For example I generated ideas by mindmapping, listing ideas and doing sketches underneath a headings. When it was necessay for us all to generate ideas together we would mindmap using both words and image.
In my opinion the solution to the brief was a good one, however I feel that the solution to the brief was better in it’s comp form rather than it’s final photoshopped form. This is because we don’t have a budget to go out and take professional standard photographs that would have been suitable for this project.
Throughout the assignment we used predominantly Illustrator as we were constantly creating scamps and comps and this programme is strongest for doing that. We also used Photoshop and InDesign to create the final campaigns.
When presenting to the client I was very pleased with the way our team did. I felt that we acted professionally and spoke well. The comps that we presented looked good, the information was presented with good hierarchy which gave it a sense of order and directed the eye well.
As individuals, each person had different strangths and weaknesses. Andrew was quite easily distracted which made it very difficult for the group to work as a team. Andrew isn’t the best at written work which meant his work rate wasn’t that good but I think as time has gone on he has improved which I’m happy with. His general work rate wasn’t particularly good considering how skilled he is on the software, again this was because he was easily distracted, but as a result there isn’t much of his work in the sketchbook. Olivia was always able to attend group meetings, even if she had commitments she would be on time and leave when she had to. Olivia also contributed a good amount of work to the project and was the only person in the group I could rely on to give a task over the time we weren’t in college and she’d have it ready for the next session. Liam’s attendance which was simply not good enough. Every time the group met up, he only attended once. This led him to be less and less valuable as a team member as the weeks went by and is evident in the amount of work that is in the sketchbook. I felt that I was constantly under pressure by my team members to give them work and rather than be productive I was being put off by people asking me what they were meant to be doing. This was more of an irritation than anything else because I have quite a good work rate and I’m quick on the software. I felt that outside the session I was working the hardest with Olivia also doing extra work. I also had to organise the group to meet which was a pain, I consistently got a reply off Olivia straightaway with andrew being slower to reply and sometimes not being able to come in. I often didnt get a reply for Liam.
In review, I think that the biggest learning point was to not work in groups at this college level. People in the college prioritise things such as work and social life over college work and this brings a lot of unnecessary stress, tension and an overall bad atmosphere to the class. This brief has also put a number of people off advertising which a college brief shouldn’t really do.
11/1/12 - Development since project reviews
As a comparison between the two project reviews, there is a clear tone of voice difference between the two which shows the Parker Pens work as a much more positive experience. I think that this change of tone is the first indicator that my ability to work in a group is improving as it is now a positive experience.
As a class, I would say that we now have more knowledge and skill to tackle a group project. The major difference between the two projects were that the Parker project was completed over a couple of hours on the same day. This was a factor that benefited us as a group and because it meant that there was no room to relax or slack off. There was a clear deadline only a short period of time away and because it was done on one day it meant that the amount of people didn't change due to absence etc.
End of Unit
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