Since the meeting, the work on this brief has entailed bringing the annual report closer to completion so that we can get that signed off and begin to concentrate on the accompanying website. One of the main problems with the report as it was at the stage of the meeting was the number of pages, which at the time was 22. In order for the printers to bind it like a book it had to total 20 or 24 pages as they are multiples of 4, otherwise there would be two blank pages. Francesca Davies was more keen to add a further two pages of content than reduce the report as there were articles available to use, and so this was the approach taken.
As she was due to leave on holiday at the end of that week, she spent Wednesday collating extra content and we worked all day on Tuesday and Friday amending the report. We achieved this by working remotely and communicating the changes via email, a system that worked very well and allowed simple communication of some complex changes.
The final version from that Friday night was then distributed to Claire Neville as Francesca Davies left on holiday, and she had until the following Wednesday to outline the changes she would like to see, which she then emailed to me, and were completed the next day. As she too had holiday time booked my latest correspondence has been with Rob Byrne, and the final amendments are now in place and hopefully won't change again before it's sent to print.
The Changes
The cover remained the same for a long time, and has only been changed in the past few days, as one of Claire Neville's requirements was that 'Our Happy Place' takes centre stage, with the word 'project' removed. I was a little unsure about changing this as I felt that the previous cover looked more balanced with the type colour and sizing but the final result doesn't lose too much.
The inside cover features the same illustrative style, which I am glad about as if we had reduced the report to 20 pages this would have been lost, as would the balance of the report. The only change here is a more rounded style to the thick blue band which is there to represent the River Severn, as I feel it is a more organic shape and softens the image.
The contents page features the same minimal style with a simple title and the house icons for page numbers and the footer which remains throughout the report and provides the iconic visual style, as well as the two-tone blue shades which are also used extensively throughout. The changes are more items on the contents page, and some of them have been renamed by the clients. The Volunteers Badge was added after the module hand-in, and the explanatory text for the hyperlinks is new too. I designed the badge to fit in with the style of the report, and used a simple V icon in white and a two-tone background which in this case utilises the reds from the cover.
I had placed the explanations for the Volunteers Badge and the hyperlinks in the bottom right corner of the page, away from the Contents to show that they are separate. However, the clients were keen on moving these to their current place which I feel doesn't make such good use of the space. This is one of the few places in the report where we disagree, and I don't mind settling on their placement here.
The photographs are finally sorted, so I could see the final design of the pages and whether I'd left enough space for the photography that they wanted to include. The page with the Foreword looks good, though maybe doesn't fill the space as well as the placeholders that were in the version I handed in.
The alignment of the text has changed a few times throughout the report. Originally all the text was aligned left, and I would manually edit the lines if there was a hyphenated word across two lines to ensure all words were seen whole. Francesca Davies asked if I could consider changing the alignment to a more newspaper-style column style for which I justified all the lines centred, and while she thought some areas looked better (and I agreed), for some lines it didn't work. However, I decided to compromise and justified left all of the text which although creates some hyphenated words, it also gives the columns a professional and square look and on the whole I prefer it.
In this case, both photographs have high resolution and are large enough to fit within their spaces, which has caused problems elsewhere.
The left hand page has been largely untouched, with just subtle changes to the infographics such as the titles and the key, but it does feature some links. I decided to make these blue to stand out from the rest of the text and also fit in with the main colour scheme.
The page on the right is one that was added after the meeting, with the results from a recent residents survey. I was worried when Francesca said that she wanted to add another two pages as there wasn't a lot of time to create a page and I wasn't sure how much input I'd have to add. However, I found that it was easy to fit in and has become one of my favourite pages in the report, and allowed me to create a couple of small infographics which I enjoyed.
These pages are essentially unchanged, although they were not previously part of the same spread. The only real change is on the 'Health' section, with the removal of the UK map which I agree was a little confusing and was only in there as there was an empty space with no text or photography. Now, there are another few paragraphs which fills that space, and also led to me having to rearrange some elements which was quite difficult. I am quite happy with the final look of this spread, though it appears a little cramped and confusing in places.
The page on the left about 'Young People' and 'Crime' has undergone a few changes, with the addition of more text and the removal of some of my least favourite infographics. This has led to a very balanced and attractive page which I am very pleased with. The paragraphs are paired in columns with similar sized ones which has led to a very structured style.
The 'Partnership' page features the same gridded structure that I designed for the hand-in, and works well with the photographs that were submitted to me. I remember struggling to design the layout for this page initially, before finding that the simplest solution worked best in the context. Overall, I feel that this spread is one of the best in the report, for its balance and structure as well as showing the full variation of elements that have been included in this report.
The 'Local Priorities' infographic was removed entirely and was replaced by an explanatory blurb, although the icons I created are still used in the headings for the Priority stories. These pages have undergone huge changes since the version that I submitted for university, and are almost unrecognisable in subject matter and appearance. Therefore it is difficult to give an accurate comparison, though one big change was the addition of quotes in the articles, for which I created speech bubbles which fit in with the colour scheme and show the views of the residents.
The photographs used in these reports have also helped with the colourful nature of the report and added a human element.
These pages have a very similar style and are very text-heavy so I wasn't able to give much of a creative spin to the design but I feel they look professional and wouldn't be out of place in a magazine so I am happy with how they have turned out. They have undergone many changes but those were almost entirely in the articles themselves, and so it hasn't been too difficult for me to edit them when necessary although it has been difficult in places to stop it looking cramped.
The conclusion has changed a little, with the addition of another paragraph from another Councillor, and photographs and logos for each. This has led to me moving the logos of contributors to the inside cover, where I have also been asked to add a blurb about the University's, and my own, involvement in the design of the report.
Finally, the back cover features an unedited version of the illustration, which I feel will create a very nice effect when this is sent to print and will be iconic and easily recognisable.
Once this is finally agreed and sent to print I will be able to look more closely into the web design element of the brief. I feel like the visual identity of this report should be brought across into it, but I currently am not sure how that will be achieved. I feel that house icon would make a nice 'Home' icon on the site, and maybe different ones could be created for the other pages with elements from the other infographics within the report.
