Content for brief breakdown & calendar/to do list design solutions

Content for brief breakdown & calendar/to do list design solutions

Before beginning to make my design ideas for the brief breakdown document that will be given alongside the interactive calendar and todo list system I need to decide on what actual textual elements will be included in the designs so I can experiment with type, format, layout, color etc with these given boundaries. There would be no point in creating design ideas and thumbnails based on guessing what content the designs would include. 

Calendar content

For the calendar and to do list system I will include the months september to may. My original intention was to include all 12 months split up into weeks so each card could contain a todo list for that week and a calendar system to mark down important days within that week. 

But after some discussion with a friend who is starting a degree course next year I decided to go with only the months were they are been educate. As the first year of the course doesn't run for a solid 12 months It wouldn't be necessary to include all these months, this will cut down a little on print costs now.

I will follow these calendars from my macs calendar app to extract my content from.

Todo list content

The todo list will include a main header simply stating "Todo list" or "Todo" 
And will be either accompanied by a list of bullet points or a numbering system for them to fill in themselves. 
A numbering system would prove good to put the tasks into priority order.

A bullet point system gives me the opportunity to try out an idea were the user uses a color coding system to mark important tasks with a color marker system maybe small color stickers? I will be investigating this further. 

Break breakdown content

I looked through "the a-z visual ideas how to solve any creative brief" to influence the brief break down I am going to create for the students.

I will combine my own techniques and stages within my own personal process that I have worked to during my first year alongside the guidance I have extracted from the a-z of visual ideas book. 

Content for brief breakdown.

1. Analyse & unpick the brief. Highlight keywords and understand the problem your been set.

What is the purpose of the brief? 

What is the message I need to communicate?

Who is the target audience?

Break the brief down into bullet points? 

2. Basic concept & idea generation.

Collect and note down all initial thoughts from analyse of the brief. 

Start making mind maps based on these thoughts to begin generating more out of the box concepts and ideas.

Keep it simple, don't overcomplicate things.

3. Research. 

Find examples of design that may inspire you for both visuals & concepts.

4. Visualise your initial ideas.

Create a good quantity of rough thumbnail sketches to fully exhaust each concept idea. 

Take influence from the research you have gathered.

5. Create a plan of action.

What are you going to do?

Why?

What materials and process's may you use?

Will it be a print outcome or a digital outcome?

Will you be informing, promoting, interacting, engaging, clarifying, educating, entertaining, provoking emotion, instructing or making a statement to your audience? 

6. Develop your visuals.

Chose your favourite thumbnails based on feedback from other people and if you think there successful or not. 

Produce more advanced visualisations in a larger scale either digital or hand rendered experimenting with colour, typography, format, alternative layouts. 

Gather more feedback or reflect on these designs if you feel they are not working make improvements.

7.Refine your best idea.

Taking the best elements from your previous visual ideas.

9. Final visualisation.

Create your final solution taking into account all previous design stages making sure the concept is clearly communicated.

9. Prepare a presentation.

You will usually have to present your final ideas.

Create a presentation explaining your final concept, how you got to this concept, who the audience is, why is your concept suitable for this audience. 

10. Evaluate

Evaluate the design process.

What did you like?

What have you learnt? 

What did you do well, what didn't you do well with?

How can you improve upon these things next time?