OUGD603: Brief 2 - OAC Photography // Look and Feel Pitch

Since this brief is a live brief, I need to present the client with a look and feel before I get started with the design of the website. Obviously, this isn't the final design. This is just something I've created as a style setter almost. It's only the homepage. I learned about creating look and feel concepts during my placement at Bloom Agency over summer.

Following this, there will be research, wire frames, more research, design, more research and then development. Once this concept is signed off - or I'm given the necessary criteria to being building the design of the website.

I also sent over a concept for the website navigation. When I was working on Codex Books over summer (a freelance project) I developed a nav system, where the header collapses, and follows sticks to the top of the page. I've implemented this to the concept for now - I mocked up a video showing how it works.

Client Feedback

Having looked through the basic layout of the site, I feel it could use a more 'fun' feel to it. With it being a site to attract families and show colourful shoots, It appears more formal than fitting to the audience. I do think the layout and the idea of the images linking to other pages is easy to use and is a good idea to use throughout. Maybe make the images more of a main feature? The black and white theme is a good touch, giving a lot of my main images are shown in this way, but maybe add a bit of colour to odd pages or sections.

Giving odd things that are not really a huge deal, the site altogether looks clean, professional and I really do like it.

-

Fairly pleased with this feedback. Adding some fun to the website could come in the form of the addition of colour, or even more full width design. Impactful, and memorable. OAC does actually have an additional brand colour, a deep red/purple. Which has been used on the business card, which I created last year. Not pictured very well in the photograph below. 

Will amend and resubmit to the client. I also asked to to look at a Demo Select theme, and tell me what she likes and doesn't like about, to see if I can implement any of it's features into the design.

OUGD603: Brief 2 - OAC Photography // Concept Design

As this is only a look and feel, I didn't bother with scamps for wireframes, as they will be done at a later stage, when I start to actually design the website.

I sort of forgot to document the progress of this, as I've not really done any blogging over the summer, so I've had to work backwards, almost. I started off by created a 1366x768 document, which is a fairly standard web design size to work with - the height was later altered to fit all the content, but the width remained the same. Working in 72dpi RGB as it's a web document. 

Something I picked up at Bloom whilst working on a website for a client, a quick way to create accurate grids in photoshop is to use Grid Calculator. I opted for a twelve column grid, as it's divisible by two, three, four and six. Grid calculator lets you enter the width, and the you have to play the gutter and margin widths (to reasonable level) until the column width and the page with both go green. You can then download the JavaScript file for the grid. 

It's really easy to add the grid in photoshop - File > Scripts > Browse - select the JS file, and it adds the grid to the document for you. 

Ignore the horizontal guides, they are there just to get my spacing right, but you can see the vertical guides added by the JS file. The overview of the design is to keep it really simple. Using a large image which would either promote a shoot, or feature OAC's best work. The image can work on a slider, and even have a link over the top - like a button or something.  

Below the main image are two sub images. Because of the grid system, there can be even three or four, depending on the clients needs. Really simple, they link out to secondary or tertiary pages within the website. A photography project, or a testimonial, for example. Vertically, I've classed 50px as the spacing. You can see the type below the images, with a spacing of 50px. Whereas the spacing between the main image and the sub images is 100px - to separate the sections. 

Working on the nav, I wanted to communicate the different menu actions - active, inactive and rollover. To do this, I added a cursor to the design, which shows the rollover. The Home button is active, and the remaining are inactive. 

OUGD603: Brief 2 - OAC Photography // Initial Website Research

As I have to create a look and feel proposal for the client, I need to do some quick initial research to get some ideas of what the website could look like. This won't be the final design - it might not be anything near what it will end up looking like. It's just a taster, an idea, so we know which direction to head in with the design of the website. 

Pictured above is OAC Photography's current website - it's a wix website, created using a template. I believe the client selected this template as it's quite minimal. Clean, uncluttered and easy to navigate. Below the image is the navigation bar - personally, I think the navbar should be at the top, or to one side. However, you need to scroll to see this nav bar, which shouldn't be the case. 

The website above is one of the stockholm demo themes, which I often use as the base for the majority of my web development, as there are so many variations. The layout is clean and easy to navigate. The nav bar is at the top of the page, below the logo. The double spacing (assuming the horizontal spacing is single spacing) between the different sections makes it easy to differentiate the different parts of the website. Clean minimal button designs are also used, and a simple black and white colour scheme, which fits OAC Photography's portrait style. 

Another example of clean website to draw reference from is Invincible Journeys. A very minimal format. Simple clean text, and a very tidy nav bar tucked out of sight in the top right corner. 

OUGD603: Brief 6 - Green Spot // Context

To get an idea of the product I will be replicating, I need to understand the context of the company who produces it, the product itself and any special features.

-

"Green Spot is a single pot still Irish whiskey, produced specifically for Mitchell & Son of Dublin, by Irish Distillers at the Midleton Distillery, Cork, Ireland. It is one of the only remaining bonded Irish whiskeys, and is currently the only brand specifically produced for and sold by an independent wine merchant in Ireland."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Spot_(whiskey)

Green Spot was described by whiskey writer Jim Murray as "unquestionably one of the world's great whiskeys."

http://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/product.asp?pf_id=0010000012484

Green Spot is one of the few single pot still whiskey brands produced today(along with Irish Distillers' Redbreast and Yellow Spot). Note that all single malts are also purely from a pot still, but single pot still whiskeys use partially unmalted barley, so they cannot be technically called a single malt. Also, single malt whiskeys were generally distilled twice, whereas single pot still whiskeys were generally distilled three times.

http://whiskyscience.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/triple-distillation-in-scotland.html

Mitchell & Son wine merchants were established in 1805; however, it is uncertain exactly when Green Spot was first produced. It is known though, that by the 1920s Jameson's Bow Street Distillery was supplying Mitchell & Son with at least 100 sherry hogsheads of pot still distilled whiskey per annum.

Half of the casks used had previously held oloroso and other darker sherries, while the other half had held lighter finos. This was to prevent the wine from overpowering the whiskey. The whiskey was allowed to mature in the casks for five years, before being vatted and allowed to blend and mature for a further five years. It was then bottled and sold as a ten-year-old.

The blend was originally known as "Pat whiskey", and the labels carried the logo of a man on a green background.

The Mitchells sold a range of whiskeys under their ‘Spot’ brand name. This name originated from their practice of marking casks of different ages with a daub or spot of coloured paint. There was a Blue Spot, Red Spot and even a Yellow Spot, but Green Spot emerged as their most popular whiskey and is one of the few “whiskey bonder brands” to survive to modern day.

When Jameson moved production from Bow St. to Midleton, the make up of the whiskey altered for the first time in living memory. This, coupled with low stocks of maturing whiskey, led Mitchell & Son into an agreement with Irish Distillers whereby the whiskey would be matured by the distillery in their own casks, with Mitchell & Sons having sole rights to market, sell and develop the whiskey.

The current Green Spot is slightly younger than the original. It is a blend of 8-9 year old single pot still whiskey, 25% of which has matured in sherry casks.

500 cases (approximately 6000 bottles) are produced each year.Most of this is sold through Mitchell and Son's shop in Dublin. As a result, it is difficult to obtain outside of Ireland, except in specialist retailers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Spot_(whiskey)#cite_note-1

OUGD603: Brief 6 - Green Spot // Demographic Research

As part of this brief, I need to understand the demographic of whiskey drinkers and enthusiasts. I've conducted some research into who drinks whiskey in 2014. The common perception is that an older gentlemen would enjoy the taste, however surveys and studies have begun to suggest otherwise. 

-

"No longer the reign of stuffy old men, premium whisky is finding an audience with young men and women.

While it may be coincidence, when the images of Mad Men’s charismatic Don Draper, Roger Sterling and Joan Holloway sipping single malt hit screens in 2007, more 25-34 year olds started drinking whisky.

The Roy Morgan survey found 25-34 year-olds were the most likely group to be whisky drinkers, followed by 18-24 year-olds (11.9 per cent), with 35-49, 50-64 and 65+ groups remaining comparatively steady.

Angela Smith from Roy Morgan Research said “metrotechs”, (otherwise known as young urban professionals), were also considerably over-represented in the premium whisky market."

http://thenewdaily.com.au/life/2014/01/21/why-we-are-mad-about-whisky/

"Scores of country songs praise whiskey-drinking women, but it’s only in the past few years that, as a demographic, women have embraced “brown” spirits like Scotch, rye, and bourbon.

“In the 1950s, women had a more open mind about whiskey,” Greene says. “That’s the beauty of nostalgic shows like Mad Men: We see strong women drinking hard spirits.” In fact, while Don Draper slugs back Canadian Club, it’s actress Christina Hendricks who in real life stumps as a brand ambassador for Johnnie Walker.

Another factor may come into play: Some women worry that ordering a single malt might be construed as too masculine. That perception is changing rapidly."

http://vegasmagazine.com/dining/articles/whiskey-women-drinks

OUGD603: Proposed Briefs

OUGD603 Briefs

OUGD603: Extended Practice

Test post.